Bond Ambition Read online

  I started to shake my head, but Maya was on her feet almost running to her desk. "I have a contact at the county medical examiner's office. I can find out her name in an instant."

  She was already on her phone.

  Jamie turned to Caleigh, who jumped up. "Check out this Antonio Machado."

  Caleigh gave a curt nod and rushed to her office.

  "I'll try to find out what the police have so far. I'll be right back."

  I wasn't sure if she was talking to me or herself, but she quickly disappeared behind the door to our left.

  Their voices were low from my position, but they each spoke rapidly, fishing for and demanding answers.

  I fiddled with the hem of my light blue cardigan and waited. I didn't always have a lot of patience. I preferred things at a relatively quick pace, although I wasn't always in control of that. Right now, though, the waiting was making me fidget more and more. I suddenly felt a little silly for bringing this to them. Surely the police were looking into it. I wasn't sure what I thought the girls could do, really. If I were honest, I guess I wanted to process what had happened with people who'd dealt with dead bodies in the past. And these girls had. But they were busy with their own paying clients. I didn't want to burden them.

  After another ten minutes, Caleigh returned with a notepad in hand. She walked to Maya's desk and stood there as my daughter finished her third call.

  Jamie emerged just as Maya hung up. The three huddled in the center of the waiting area, a few feet in front of me. They softly spoke to one another, as if I wasn't in the room. I couldn't hear them, so I stared at their mouths, trying to read their lips.

  Caleigh scratched the back of one leg with the top of her teal pump. Her pumps matched the short-sleeve sweater she wore with a charcoal gray skirt, and they were similar to Maya's, but hers were white with cute bows on top.

  Maya glanced to her notes. "The victim was nineteen-year-old Bonnie Graves."

  Caleigh shook her head. "So young."

  Maya rattled off Baby Bonnie's address and added, "She was a college sophomore studying marine biology. And she was poisoned. It was fast-acting, only about twenty minutes."

  I sat up straighter. I had been right. My triumphant feelings didn't last long. A poor girl was dead. It was no time for celebrating.

  Caleigh cleared her throat. "Chef Machado's record is clean. There were a couple of speeding tickets in his Jag but no criminal activity."

  "The other students were Judy Morrison, Fawn Lang, and Martha Gruber."

  Jamie nodded. "Okay, well, according to Aiden, Bonnie's death is being ruled as murder."

  Aiden Prince was an L.A. County assistant district attorney and somewhat of a special person in Jamie's life. How special, I wasn't quite sure, but I'd seen her shade of lipstick on his collar more than once. And it hadn't taken a PhD to detect the chemistry between them when I'd seen them together in Las Vegas.

  I realized all three girls were staring at me. Had I missed something?

  Jamie took a step toward me. "Charley, this means that everyone there last night is a suspect. And one of them is the killer."

  I glanced down to my comfortable leather flats.

  Maya squatted down in front of me and pressed her hands over mine. "Don't worry, Mom. The police will figure it all out. You never have to go back there again. You're safe."

  I stared into my daughter's eyes and saw many things. My reflection. The child who loved those porcelain dolls her father had bought her. The accomplished young woman that child had turned into. And a daughter who thought her mother was frail and a worrier.

  I was just as capable as any other person. For heaven's sake, a few crow's-feet and laugh lines didn't mean I was feeble, weak, or unskilled. It meant I was experienced, determined, and had a really great credit history. And when I walked out of here, I had every intention of calling Elaine and having her meet me at the mall to put that credit to good use. I planned to indulge in some therapeutic power shopping and some strategic power thinking. Because whether we'd known it at the time or not, last night we'd witnessed a murder.

  * * *

  Two pedicures and three shoe stores later, I was feeling much more calm and clearheaded. Elaine and I decided on an early lunch of Caesar salads at a quaint new café at The Grove. I could tell the previous evening had taken a toll on Elaine, as she was much more chatty than normal, almost as if filling the silence with idle conversation would keep thoughts of Bonnie at bay.

  She told me she'd called in sick that day for her job because of how upset she'd been the night before. She then discussed Derek and how sexy he'd looked in a pair of Kermit the Frog boxer shorts last night. She had surprised him on his boat after the police had let us go. She hadn't wanted to be alone. I envied her for that. Perhaps if I'd had someone lying beside me, I would've slept.

  As she rattled on, my mind wandered to my encounter with Maya, Jamie, and Caleigh earlier, and I tuned Elaine out. Their words about us being suspects echoed in my brain. Did the police see us that way? If so, I wasn't about to sit around waiting for them to investigate Elaine and me while a real killer was still out there. And I wasn't going to let the Bond girls take it all upon themselves to investigate either. I could hold my own. I'd been doing it most of my life. I was certain that Maya hadn't meant to sound critical or dismissive earlier. She was concerned about me, and I loved her for that. But there was only so much concern a woman could take.

  "Charley, are you listening to me?" Elaine's husky voice pushed through my thoughts.

  I blinked twice and glanced down at my plate. Except for several large croutons, it was empty. "Um, yes, sorry. I was thinking about this morning. But go on. You were talking about Derek."

  Elaine quirked an eyebrow and leaned back in her side of the booth. "Let's talk about why your jaw was clenched so tight. What exactly were you thinking about?"

  I quickly filled Elaine in on my trip to the Bond Agency, what the girls had uncovered about Baby Bonnie, and my daughter's obvious concern over my "fragile" state.

  By the time I finished, Elaine's eyebrows had risen further up her forehead. I couldn't help but laugh at the absurd look on her face. Which just made her frown.

  I laughed harder and placed my fingers on my lips. "Sorry. Your expression was funny. Anyway, I understand that Maya was upset."

  "Of course. Derek was worried also, but he didn't try to put a leash on me."

  I wrinkled up my nose. "I doubt that was what Maya was doing."

  "Not consciously." She stabbed her fork into the remains of her salad. "So what are we going to do?"

  I sighed. I'd been silently asking myself that same question all morning. "I'm not sure there's anything to do. I've been trying to remember anything more about last night, but there just isn't anything that sticks out."

  She quirked her brow again and gave me a look. "Aren't you the woman who wanted to go with the Bond girls to Vegas to hunt down a killer?"

  "Well…"

  "And aren't you the woman who refused to just sit in the hotel room? I believe you wanted to 'get down and dirty.' Those were your words."

  I softly chuckled. I had said that when Elaine and I had been left alone and out of the action in Vegas. While I'd promised my daughter that we wouldn't get involved, I'd been secretly hoping we could help in some way. Which, I'd like to think we had in at least a small way. It had been fun too.

  "So what do you want to do?" Elaine asked and then sipped her water.

  I raised my arm and signaled our server for the check. I didn't need to think about it. Elaine was right. We'd be remiss if we just sat on the sidelines.

  Elaine's eyes sparkled with enthusiasm. "You have a plan?" Then the emerging smile flattened. "I am coming with you, right?"

  I chuckled and dug into my purse for my trusty bank card. "Yes. You are my partner-in-crime today. How about we pay our respects to Bonnie's family? And hopefully find out more about who she was and who would want her dead."

  Elaine clapped her hands together and softly squealed.

  * * *

  When we arrived at the address in Burbank that Maya had found for Bonnie, I turned off my engine, and we stared at the small, Spanish-style bungalow.

  Suddenly my stomach was in knots. Was this a bad idea after all? I didn't want to intrude on their grief. When I thought back to the days around Robert's death, they were filled with blurry faces and conversations I didn't remember having. But I also recalled the warmth and support I felt from so many friends, family members, neighbors, and even acquaintances.

  Elaine turned to me. "Are you getting cold feet?"

  My gaze traveled to the new camel-colored, open-toe kitten heels on my feet. They were so adorable I'd had to wear them out of the mall. I wiggled my freshly pink-polished toes, then looked to my friend. "No. Let's do this."

  We exited my car and walked up to the front door.

  Elaine pushed the bell and squared back her shoulders. It told me she was ready for whatever we learned on the other side of this door.

  It opened, and a tired-looking woman stood in a blue housedress and white ballet-style slippers. She appeared to be a bit older than I was. Her light brown, chin-length bob was in need of a color touch-up, showing her gray roots.

  "Hi," I said. "I'm Charley, and this is Elaine. We knew Bonnie and wanted to come by."

  The woman's watery, bloodshot eyes widened at the mention of Bonnie.

  My chest tightened, and Elaine shot a sad glance my way. She must've been feeling as much of a nuisance as I was at that moment. We should've waited a week or so before intruding.

  A man who appeared to be in his forties walked up behind the woman. He had her same square chin and thin lips. "May I help you?"

  "I'm sorry to disturb you right now, but my friend and I were with Bonnie last night, and we wanted…"

  Before I could finish my sentence, he was nodding. "Oh yes, please come inside." He gripped the woman's shoulder and gently led her out of the way. "Let them in, Mom."

  Elaine entered before me. The interior smelled like burnt onions and garlic. It was dim, and I could barely make out the table and chairs off the kitchen. The living room wasn't much better. The TV was on, and it gave some light to the small room, but the drapes were shut, as if they hadn't wanted to let the outside world in. Yet here we were.

  "Please, sit down," the man said while turning on a couple of lamps. He did realize it was daytime, right?

  Elaine and I sat on two armchairs that flanked the long charcoal sofa. One of its arms was covered in gray duct tape.

  The man sat on the couch, and the woman, his mother, hovered in the doorway behind me.

  "I'm John, and this is my mother, Tammy," he said, gesturing toward the woman. "You knew my daughter, Bonnie?" he asked while searching for the remote and lowering the volume of the already quiet television.

  "Not exactly. We just met her last night. We are so sorry for your loss," I said.

  He nodded repeatedly, not stopping, as if he couldn't. He stared at a picture frame on the coffee table. I couldn't see the photo, but I assumed it was of Bonnie. He sniffled. "Sorry. I just can't believe she's gone."

  My heart went out to him. Losing a spouse was one thing. When I was married, I'd known one of us would have to go first, so while it was something I'd never wanted to think about, the reality had always been in the back of my mind. Way back, like in a cave in a foreign mountain. But to lose a child… The idea made me queasy.

  "Did you know she loved dolphins?" Bonnie's father said with a smile. He pointed to the fireplace mantel and a photo of a teenage girl in a tutu standing on pointe. "She also loved ballet."

  That explained the way she'd walked out of the kitchen on her tiptoes last night.

  "Did she enjoy cooking too?" I asked and realized it was a silly question. Of course she did, or she wouldn't have signed up for Chef Antonio's class.

  His jaw clenched, and he glanced as his mother. "Bonnie went because my mother raved about it."

  I turned in my seat and looked to the woman. "Oh, you took Chef Antonio's class too?" I admit I was surprised. The classes had been an indulgence for me, and the woman before me didn't look like she had a ton of disposable income at her fingertips.

  She was looking off into the distance. She didn't respond. Which was fine. I could tell she was in pain—so much so that I wasn't sure how she was standing. I'd be curled up in my bed in the fetal position.

  When I turned back around, Bonnie's father was still staring at his mother with a look of disapproval. I couldn't imagine what caused it. Since I couldn't very well ask, I had to let it go. I didn't want to though. There seemed to be more discord here than just the death of their loved one. As if that wouldn't be enough.

  "Thank you for letting us visit. We are just so unnerved about what happened. I, um, found her."

  The woman softly gasped, and Bonnie's father frowned. Perhaps I shouldn't have said anything. I bit my lower lip.

  Elaine gave me a sympathetic look. "She seemed well liked by the other cooking students."

  A quick frown told me Elaine was making that up for the family's sake. Unless she witnessed something I hadn't, the other women had seemed indifferent to Bonnie. But it was a brilliant segue.

  "Did she like the class? What were her feelings about it?" I asked.

  Bonnie's father looked up quickly, frowned, and then returned his gaze to the photograph on the table. "She didn't say."

  I shared a look with Elaine. That didn't seem like an authentic answer, but I didn't want to push it. This family needed to be left alone.

  Another few minutes went by without any new information learned. We had stayed past our welcome.

  I stood up and glanced from the father to his mother. "I am so sorry for your loss. If you need anything, please don't hesitate to call."

  The father wasn't looking at me, and I doubted he was listening anymore. I stepped toward the door and glanced back. The photo was of Bonnie smiling at the camera. It looked like a school portrait, probably her senior year of high school, which hadn't been that long ago.

  I went to the woman and pressed a cocktail napkin with my name and number on it into her hand. I had written it at the restaurant, just in case.

  The woman stared into my eyes. She seemed to want to say something but didn't. I gave her hand a squeeze and walked to my car.

  When Elaine was strapped in beside me, she let out a deep breath. "Well, that was something."

  "Yeah." I started the engine.

  "Too bad we didn't learn anything." Elaine rolled down her window an inch.

  Hadn't we though?

  I'd learned that beneath the grief there was some sort of animosity or annoyance between Bonnie's father and grandmother and that Bonnie's attendance at the cooking class was due to her grandmother, who had also taken the class. That meant it was possible the other women from the previous night knew the grandmother. I wished I could get the grandmother alone, but I didn't think that would happen anytime soon. Besides, I didn't know how to get her alone without stalking the family.

  Instead, I wanted to visit the people who actually were witnesses to Bonnie's death. The other students.

  "What are your plans today?" I asked Elaine.

  She shrugged. "I'm free."

  "Good. Let's go find our classmates."

  * * *

  I was quite proud of my memory and my earlier stop to the Bond Agency now. Had I not gone there, I wouldn't have learned everyone's last names and wouldn't have been able to find them. Jock Judy was listed in the white pages online. I almost hadn't checked, assuming she wouldn't be there. Who kept her phone number and address public nowadays?

  Jock Judy lived in a small apartment building in North Hollywood. Not the best area but not the worst either. As luck would have it, she stepped outside as we pulled up. She was dressed in head to toe baby blue spandex and white sneakers. A black headband sat high on her forehead and pushed the front of her gray hair up into a peacock arrangement.

  I honked my horn softly, not wanting to scare the woman into a heart attack, and then parked a little crooked. Elaine and I met her on the sidewalk.

  Judy's eyes were wide, and a corner of her mouth upturned. "Ladies, what are you doing here?"

  "We wanted to visit," Elaine said, as if we were all old friends and just happened to be in the area.

  I figured the direct approach was better. "And wanted to talk to you about last night."

  Judy nodded. "Yes, I'd love to, but I'm going for my walk now. I like to stick to a strict schedule. Plus…" She pointed to the sky. "Looks like we're getting rain soon."

  Several large gray clouds were moving in our direction.

  "Then we'll walk with you," Elaine said.

  Judy cocked her head and then agreed.

  I didn't think twice and stepped in line with them. I expected to walk side by side, but Judy held her arms at a stiff ninety-degree angle and took off. When she said walk, she actually meant power walk. There was nothing leisurely about this.

  She whipped down the street so fast that I had to lightly jog to keep up.

  I stepped on a pebble, winced, and looked down, remembering I wasn't wearing my flats anymore. Shoot. I doubted I'd last long at this pace, so I had no time for politeness. I needed to be blunt.

  "Last night was crazy, huh?" I hoped I could get her to just spill everything she knew in a chatty way.

  "Yes, it was," she said curtly. She wasn't Chatty Cathy after all.

  I glanced to Elaine, who didn't seem to be struggling as much as I was. She animatedly breathed, pushing her lips out and in like an exaggerated Lamaze student would.

  "So did you know Bonnie well?" I hoped this trek would result in something more than sweating.

  "No. Last night was the second or third time I saw her. She usually kept to herself during class and then left immediately after." Judy increased her speed.

  I nearly tripped on a dip in the sidewalk, trying to keep up. "We visited her family to pay our respects, and it seems her grandmother used to take Chef Antonio's class too?"