Ragged Point: Death on the Rocks

"Not yet. I've called and left a couple of messages, but she hasn't returned my calls yet."

"Shit. We can't release his name to the media until we tell her," Joe replied, but Eva knew that wasn't what was on his mind.

"Shit. I assume that you understand what his disappearing car means? We're going to be visiting the Big Smoke, whether we want to or not. Did I ever tell you how much I hate going to L.A.?"

Eva replied, her face almost as grim as Joe's, "Only a couple of times a day."

She hesitated for a brief pause, "Think I should call my ex and tell him to go to San Diego or someplace else."

"L.A.'s a big place, not likely you'ld run into him."

Wearing a grin that didn't reach her eyes, Eva pulled back her coat far enough to show her service piece and replied back, "Even if I was hunting his ass?"

{?}

Doing her part in 'the plan', Sunday morning, Barbara called up the owner of the resort at Ragged Point. She and Les had met him several times and he knew that Les was a Hollywood big-wig and accorded them a little extra leverage when they stayed there.

"Paul?"

"Yes?" he answered.

"This is Barbara Holder. Les is supposed to be staying up there this weekend — well, actually WE were supposed to stay there this weekend, but Les wanted some private time, so I came back home. But I've been trying to get a hold of him and he's not answering this cell. Can you tell him to call me?"

"Barbara, have you spoken with the police? No? Well, I'm probably not supposed to tell you this, but because you've been a friend for so long — geeze, I don't know how to tell you — but, there's been an accident and Les was killed. He fell off the edge of the cliff behind the cabin you and he were staying in. Please, I'm so sorry and the I'm sure that the police want to tell you themselves. Haven't they called you?"

Her voice betrayed the tears running down her face. "No. I went to stay with my Mom so I'd have some company for the weekend. I'm using her house phone now — I accidently left my phone at home. Dear Lord, if only I'd stayed. Oh Paul!"

"Again, I'm so sorry Barbara, I'm sure you're traumitized. But if there is anything I can do for you let me know. If you need me to take care of anything for you up here, I'm here for you."

"Thank you, Paul. I'll let you know, but now I've got to go and collapse before I faint away!"

They disconnected.

Then Barbara did exactly what she'd told Paul she was going to do and she went back to her Mother's guest room where she had been the night before and collapsed in her grief.

The media people in San Luis County knew that a dead body had been dragged up the from the rocks below the point, but they didn't know who.

Well, they didn't until they got an anonymous tip from a burner phone. They followed up on the tip and (with a small gratuity) got confirmation from one of the resort employees who had access to the guest register.

Because Les Holder was a well known Hollywood figure so it was the lead story on the local news broadcast. Once that got out, it made the headlines on the AP and was picked up by Daily Variety and The Hollywood Reporter — the 'trades,' and everybody else.

"This is just getting fucking better all the time," Joe grumbled at Eva as they sat in a café getting a late lunch of coffee and a sandwich and watching the news on the TV on the wall.

"Who leaked it? Can we bust their ass?" Eva asked, pretty sure that she knew the answer, but was going to ask anyway.

"Who knows. Probably someone up at the hotel. But it's a waste of time to worry about it now. We just have to talk to the widow ASAP."

The one piece of good news for the Detectives was that when they got back to the station there was a message from Mrs. Barbara Holder replying to their calls. At long last, they thought.

Eva made the call back, she and Joe agreeing that it might be better if a woman was doing the talking. Of course, Joe was listening on the second phone.

"Mrs. Holder, thank you for calling back. We've been trying to contact you. We wanted to tell you that your husband died from a fall, we think on Friday night, off the cliff at a cabin that he'd rented at the Ragged Point Resort."

"Yes," Barbara said, with a touch of irritation in her voice, "So I've heard. From the television reports, and the reporters calling me up for comments."

"Listen ma'am, we are very sorry for that and want to appologize, but we couldn't find you to let you know. Eventually this kind of thing gets out, despite our best efforts."

"It's OK," Barbara replied, "I was at my Mother's house and didn't have my cell with me. I know it's not your fault."

"Since we have you on the phone, ma'am, we would like to ask you some questions," Eva ventured.

"I'm sorry, but I can't right now," Barbara broke down again, "Perhaps tomorrow or in a couple of days when I've had a chance to collect myself." Then she hung up.

"L.A.?" Eva asked, looking at her partner.

"L.A." Joe replied, "We can poke around a little first before we see the widow."

"The woman in the car and then the car is gone. That raises a lot of questions, don't ya think."

Joe pondered her statement for about twenty seconds before replying.

"Yes, indeed it does. But so far we don't have anything that would tie the woman in the car to Holder's death. Or maybe the desk clerk just thought she'd seen someone in the car. Maybe the car was stolen. Holder's luggage was there in the room and there was no sign of anyone else. Nothing appears to have been stolen.

"There are some unanswered questions, alright. But we don't want to jump to any conclusions either. It could just be a case of someone drinking a bit too much and falling over a cliff. It's happened before."

Eva nodded her head, "That reminds me, maybe we could check and see if the Coroner has gotten any results from the blood tests back. He wasn't going to cut him open for a couple more days, but he might have something."

"Sure better than just sitting around on our asses," Joe concurred.

As it turned out, the Coroner's office did have some info. They got the tech who was covering the office that Sunday.

"Yeah, he'd been drinking. He wasn't what you would call falling down drunk, but he was skating above a 1.0, so if he'd been stopped he would have gotten a DUI," the technician on duty told them. "But you know that you can't use that measurement in court, right? There's no accepted post-mortum methodology for measuring blood alcohol. They aren't accurate enough. Just saying..."

"What about time of death?" Joe inquired.

"No way. The water cooled the body off so quickly that we can't definitely put a time on it. Sorry."

Joe shrugged his shoulders, "It's the hand we're dealt. At least we know when he arrived around 6 PM, and that by the next morning, no one saw him, and he wasn't in his room. By the time someone finds his body, it's the afternoon of the next day. So we only have a 21 hour window. Thanks a bunch."

"Joe, sarcasm doesn't become you," the tech said, grinning, "but we can only do so much."

As they walked back to their car, Joe looked at Eva and asked, "So what time do we leave?"

Eva checked out her watch.

"I've got a bag packed at my place ready to go. We could start down there tonight and surprise people bright and early tomorrow," she proposed.

"Just what I was thinking," Joe agreed.

They were on the road within an hour.

— Sunday 8:00 P.M. — San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, California

The hotel where they stayed in the Valley wasn't anything to talk about — pretty disgusting, really. Not that it was cheap; nothing in L.A. was cheap. But there were plenty of restaurants around to chose from, so Joe and Eva tried an Italian place that Yelp said was good food and not too expensive. So they splurged a little and had a couple bottles of Italian wine with their meal.

By the time they got back to their hotel they were feeling relaxed.

Joe had just checked his emails using his laptop when there was a knock at the door. He closed the screen down just in case and then walked over from the desk and answered the door. His jaw dropped when he opened it.

There stood Eva in a sheer negligee not so patiently waiting.

"For gods sake Joe, let me in — can't you see I'm standing here half naked?" she taunted him.

Joe just stood aside and let her in. He looked out the door up and down the hallway before he shut the door. Then he wondered why? What would he do if someone HAD been watching?

"Eva, can I ask just what you are doing?"

"Joe, I don't think that you're stupid and I'm fairly sure that you like girls, so I'd like you to take a guess."

"You look like you're ready to seduce someone!"

"Give the man a cigar. Yes, Joe, I'm ready to seduce someone and that someone is YOU! I figured if I didn't start the ball rolling and left it up to you, you would never make the move. So here I am!"

She took her hands and placed them beneath her breasts and lifted them while looking at Joe in the eyes.

"Do you want me to leave? I thought you liked 'the girls'. I mean, I see you sneaking a peek often enough..."

Joe looked back at his partner and thought to himself, 'I hope this isn't a mistake."

"Yes, I like 'the girls' and I like the rest of the package as well."

"Then let's get you out of your clothes and stop wasting time!" Eva commanded.

— Monday 9:30 A.M — Studio City, Offices of Lester Holder Productions

The next morning two very tired, but, oddly enough, smiling sheriff's deputies showed up at the offices of Les Holder Productions Inc.

"Can I help you?" asked the receptionist, in a rather sad sounding voice.

"Yes, thank you. We are from the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's office and we would like to talk to anyone who might know anything about Mr. Holder's activities last Friday, including you, and perhaps Mr Holder's personal assistant about his death."

The receptionist, Alice, almost immediately broke down.

"I saw that on the news last night! It's just terrible. He was always such a nice man. We've all been so broken up about it. I'm surprised that most of us even made it into work this morning!"

Eva and Joe just stood there trying to look sympathetic.

"Maybe you could find an empty office or room where we scould speak with Mr. Holder's P.A. (We assume that he had one) with a little privacy. And could your find him or her and tell her we're waiting to speak with her?"

With her typical efficiency, Alice did exactly as instructed even asked if they want a cup of coffee. They both did, of course, they were police officers, but they were almost overwhelmed by the choices she was offering.

"We have one of those Italian machines that uses a little cup of grounds — but it's different than those K-cup things. Mr. Holder loved his special coffees and wanted everyone to feel they were getting a special treat!" She went off, bawling again at the memory of Les Holder, with their requests.

Soon they were joined in the room by Les' P.A., Victoria.

Victoria wasn't at all what they had been expecting. Alice was a young, blond, maybe in her 20's, if not younger; she was the stereotype of what Eva and Joe would have envisioned as a wannabe actress working in an office to pay for living while she auditioned for roles in the movies or television.

Victoria, on the other hand, was a mid-to-late 40's woman, a brunette with a less than svelte figure and a very businesslike attitude.

"Mr. Holder was in the office until lunchtime on Friday, when he went out to lunch with one of our assistance producers, Linda Jensen. They were going to talk about a new television series that we are pitching to the networks and I think he wanted Linda to take over the lead role on the production.

"A promotion?" asked Joe.

"Yes, it would have been quite a step up, but Linda is quite competent and the current person slated for that spot is either retiring, or Mr. Holder was going to push into retiring."

Eva chimed in, given the sensitive nature of the question, "Did you have any reason to believe that Mr. Holder and Ms. Jensen were 'involved' with each other?"

"No I DON'T think that Mr. Holder and Linda were 'involved' as you so delicately put it. Mr. Holder was always clear that he did not believe in extracurricular relationships between people in the office and certainly not for himself. Additionally, his wife Barbara is here in the office most days and that, I think, would hardly be conducive to his having affairs with employees!"

"Is Ms. Jensen in at work today?"

"No, Linda is not in today; she called in — she's too upset at hearing about Mr. Holder's death I suppose. And no, I cannot give you her personal information. But I believe that you can use your police contacts to get her phone number and home address."

And that was pretty much all the detectives got from Mrs. Victoria Blanding.

On their way out they stopped again, nominally to thank Alice, but to also see if they could coax out of her what Mrs. Blanding wouldn't give.

"Your Mrs. Blanding is quite... formidable is the word, isn't she?"

Alice gave a small laugh, "Yeah. We call her the office dragon!"

"Well, she wasn't very helpful to us," Eva said, almost in a whisper, checking to see if Mrs. Blanding had gone back to her office.

"She seemed a little defensive when we asked her about Mr. Holder and Linda Jensen. Did they go out to lunch together often?"

Alice paused for a second, "Not real often, but sometimes. They would have business lunches."

Eva followed that up, "Were they long lunches? Did they always come back to the office after lunch?"

Alice wondered if she was saying too much, "No, they didn't go out for hours and hours at a time, except for last Friday. Neither of them came back after lunch, but I don't think anyone expected them to. I know Les wanted to go someplace to check out some resort — Raggedy something or another — to have an off-site retreat for the big-wigs."

"Thanks, Alice, you've been so much help. There is one other thing and I almost don't want to ask. 'The Dragon' wouldn't give us Linda's cell number or home address, but we would really like to talk to her before we go back up north. You wouldn't have that information, would you?"

"Sure," Alice replied, reaching for her directory of personnel, "Just don't tell anyone where you got it."

"We won't, and thanks!" Eva replied as she and Joe left the building to return to their car.

"So who next? Linda Jensen or Barbara Holder?" Joe asked.

Eva smiled at him, a smile that held a real warmth for him after the night before.

"We could flip a coin."

— Monday 10:30 A.M. — Studio City, the Home of Art & Linda Jensen

Victoria Blanding was an outstanding P.A. to Les Holder. Efficient, bright, adaptable, quick on her feet, and also a paid in-office spy for Barbara holder. While the detectives were busy getting information out of Alice at the front desk, Victoria was calling Barbara.

Barbara, in turn called up Art Jensen to let him know that he might have visitors and to square up their stories. They were following the KISS rule — keep it simple stupid — and as Art knew from his own time listening to detectives investigating cases and ADAs prosecuting them, they were keeping it simple and NOT trying to flesh their stories out with a lot of unnecessary details that most people wouldn't normally remember. Being too exact about those kinds of small things always made the cops suspicious that they were being conned. Because they usually were.

Joe and Eva had decided to leave Barbara to last — not the least because she had the most potential clout with local authorities, but also as the widow of the deceased she would get the most sympathy.

With Linda Jensen's info on hand, that would start with her.

They didn't call in advance thinking that they might be able to catch Linda unaware, maybe get her unprepared and, if they were lucky, get her to blurt out the truth without thinking it through.

That seemed unlikely, though, when the door was opened by a man, presumably Mr. Jensen, as they came up the walk.

So much for a surprise.

"Good morning, detectives. Do you want to come in?" I said, trying not to show how nervous I was.

I'd been over things with Linda, including advising her to keep her answers short and simple. I was there to help her as well. Linda didn't want her name brought into this whole ugly episode. After all, she wasn't there when he died (she didn't think so, anyway.) I actually had more reason to be afraid, because I WAS standing there with a gun in my hand when he went over the edge. I was in real legal jeopardy.

Before the detectives arrived, Linda was on the verge of falling apart. I told her to tell them that she came right home after lunch and I would back up her alibi. That would keep her name out of this disaster.

"Art, I swear, he was still alive when I left. I didn't have anything to do with his falling off a cliff!"

I nodded at her, "I believe you my love, And I'll back you up 100%!" While providing myself with an alibi as well. I didn't tell her that.

"Your are the best husband." She smiled at me and grabbed my hand, "Art, you won't regret this. I'll be paying you back for a LONG time to come."

Anyway, so the detectives came in and I introduced them to my wife, Linda, and asked them if they would like something to drink.

"No thanks. We just had coffee at your wife's office.

"I guess someone made our presence known to you," asked Joe, making it a statement.

We didn't answer. After a moment of silence he decided to say something more.

"Well?" he asked, a little forcefully this time.

"Well, what?" I replied.

"Did someone tell you we were coming over?" he rephrased his statement, this time as a question.

"Yes. Barbara, you know, Barbara Holder, called me to tell me that you had been at the office this morning and she thought you might drop by," Linda explained.

Joe, playing the bad cop, then went on the attack, "Is there something wrong? You seem kind of nervous. Both of you."

"Yes there's something wrong. My boss, who was a real nice guy is dead and I'm pretty damn upset about it. Not only were Les and his wife Barb my bosses, they were also friends. Well, as much as anyone in Hollywood is really 'a friend'."

"What do you mean by that?" Eva chimed in, although she seemed actually curious about it and wasn't just asking to harass Linda.

"In Hollywood people are great friends as long as you are useful to them or until you are an embarrasment to them. So by those rather loose standards, we were friends."

The two cops looked at each other and it seemed like there was an unspoken agreement between them that Eva should take over questioning Linda.

"Linda, I know this is a delicate thing to bring up, but were you having an affair with Les? I mean, we were told about frequent lunch meetings where just the two of you would go out for a couple of hours?"

"First," my wife replied, a little hot under the collar, "there were a couple of times we had BUSINESS lunches — not 'frequent' and not 'for hours, for an hour, maybe." Linda looked at me and saw that I was very unhappy to suddenly hear that she was having little tete-a-tetes with Les. Another lie of ommission to me.

" And to answer your question, NO! I definitely was not having an affair with Les. The very idea is ludicrous. For one thing, he and Barbara were very much in love. Have you spoken to her yet? She is really beautiful and she makes the rest of us pale by comparison."

"And last Friday?" Eva continued on, obviously delighted at having gotten a rise out of my wife. Probably not too unhappy to see me glaring at my wife as some of this info came out. Linda understood and was looking at me with a certain deer-in-the-headlights look.