Dial Emmy for Murder Read Online Free PDF Page B

wave appeared on the horizon. I waited for it to take shape and slowly began to paddle in front of it. As soon as I felt it behind and beneath me, I gave one last strong paddle and I was up. I rode it all the way in. One was going to have to do today. I walked over to my towel and picked up my cell phone. Jakes answered after the first ring.
    “How about lunch?” I said.
    “I thought you’d never ask.”
     
    We met halfway between downtown and Santa Monica at a little café off of Robertson. Not the trendy part by The Ivy and Kitson. A little south of there, where the paparazzi didn’t gather.
    “If you don’t mind,” I said, when we were seated, “I have to justify this to myself.”
    “Justify away.”
    “If I give you some names, I need your word—”
    “I promise it’ll never get back to them,” he said, cutting me off. “I won’t say a word about my source.”
    “No, that’s not it,” I said. “I don’t want the names getting into the papers. I don’t want these people’s lives ruined because of my big mouth.”
    “I promise,” he said. “I won’t even tell Len where I got them.”
    “Don’t be silly,” I said. “He’s your partner.”
    “Maybe not much longer.”
    “Why not?”
    “I’m up for promotion,” he said. “If I get it, we won’t be partners anymore.”
    “Really?” I asked. “Where does that leave him?”
    “Promotion? No, not Len.”
    “Why?”
    “Let’s just say he’s not the promotion type,” Jakes said. “Len’s gonna be right where he is now until he retires.”
    “And what about you?” I asked. “Where are you going to be?”
    “Probably in another squad.”
    “Oh? Where?”
    “In another part of the city,” he said. “Don’t worry, Alex. You’re not gonna get rid of me that easily.”
    “I’m not worried—I didn’t mean—”
    “Anyway,” he said, “I guarantee that nothing will happen with those people unless, of course, I find out one of them is the killer.”
    “Well,” I said, “they’re all women. I don’t think any of them would be strong enough to pull Jackson up into the rafters.”
    “A woman could have had an accomplice,” he said. “Besides, the body wasn’t secured very well up there, which is why it fell when it did.”
    “It wasn’t supposed to fall then?”
    “Apparently not.”
    “How was he killed?”
    “He was stabbed,” Jakes said. “Then he was tied sort of haphazardly with the chain—”
    “Why a chain?” I asked. “Why not a rope?”
    “We don’t know,” Jakes said. “Maybe there was no rope available. Anyway, the body slipped, the chain got wrapped around the neck and . . . well, you know the rest.”
    “Only too well.”
    We paused as the waitress came with our food. Jakes had ordered cottage cheese and a salad. I just looked at it.
    “What? Actresses aren’t the only ones watching their weight. Cops like to avoid heart attacks, too.”
    Then we looked at my greasy fish and chips.
    “I guess I’m in need of comfort food. Let’s just move on.”
    “Okay, Alex,” he said, taking out a notebook. “I’m ready.”
    “I can’t prove any of this, okay? I mean, I wasn’t there. And personally I have a hard time believing anything unless I see it with my own eyes. There is so much BS in the rags, and people make up—”
    “Alex, I get it, okay? When you think you maybe, sort of, have an idea, could I possibly know?” he interjected.
    “Well, word has it on the set that Jackson and this actress on the show may have had something. Their love scenes were just a little too real. And you could see he was slipping her the tongue. Which means he was probably personally invested. And that’s just not done.”
    “What do you mean not done?”
    “With professionals, there is no exchange of bodily fluids. In other words, you fake it. You move your lips and head in such a way that it looks real, but it’s not!” I found myself going through the motions of a stage kiss.
    I stopped when I