Crowning the Slug Queen (A Callie Stone Mystery Book 1) (7 page)

Callie jumped up and applauded as hard for Bella as she had for Molluska. This was another true talent, she thought to herself and I'd have a hard time choosing a winner of the talent competition.

Last to the stage was Slimerita Rivera. Of the three male contestants dressing as women, Slimerita was only slightly behind Molluska in looking feminine. Her glossy black hair was pulled into a high beehive in front of a Spanish hair comb sporting the same slug figures that crawled through her hair in the photos.

The top half of her dress fit tightly to her body before expanding into waves of gray and green lacy flounces pouring down to her feet. Her shoes were plain black and surprisingly solid. As she strode onto the stage, Callie realized from the sound that the shoes were necessary to help with the flamenco.

Callie expected to be given a CD from Slimerita as well, but was surprised when she took her place on stage, arms upraised above her head. Wade once again turned on the spotlight.

Slimerita began the dance very slowly, almost as if she were giving her audience a primer on the basic sounds of the castanets in her hand and the loud clacks of her shoes on the wooden stage. After several minutes of basic moves, she began to combine them in a way that was melodic. The two castanets each had a separate pitch and the shoes added a bass note. Faster and faster she went until the sounds between the castanets and shoes were so fast that one immediately followed the other. Then Slimerita began to spin and the rhythmic sounds she was making with hands and feet went even faster, until in a flurry of flowing lace she came to a stop with one last loud beat.

Again, Callie stood and applauded. Dot seemed more enthusiastic about Slimerita than the other performers and also clapped loudly. The lights came up.

Callie went up the stairs at stage right and gathered all the performers together. "Wow--you guys were great. I'm glad I'm not a judge. It will be very difficult to choose a winner amongst such talent." Molluska preened and Queen Slugabeth II smiled tightly, but Gastronia, Bella and Slimerita looked at Callie expressionlessly. Callie shrugged. "I'd like to practice again on Wednesday. Dot, who's the emcee for this?" Callie turned to the first row, but to her surprise, Dot had disappeared. "Ok, um, I'll find out who the emcee is and I'll have that person here. Then we can do a full run through without stopping, so it should go a bit faster than we did tonight." Practice had lasted over two hours. "Are there any questions?"

No one answered. "Well, thanks and I'll see you back here on Wednesday at five." Callie went back to her seat in the front row and began making a few notes. She was reviewing the queens application packets again when she heard a throat clearing in front of her.

"Callie?" It was Slimerita Rivera and although he was in costume, he was using his normal voice and not that of his slug queen persona.

Callie asked, "Would you like me to call you Slimerita or Sherman?"

He laughed, "Sherman will do while we're off stage. I just wanted to check with you that you would be ok signing off on my community service hours. The last pageant director, Polly, was good with it." He shifted nervously from foot to foot.

"As long as my signature is accepted, I have no problem with it. Seems like a creative solution to community service, if you ask me."

He nodded. "I'm not really the type to be working at a homeless shelter or gardening, although I'll have to do a little of that as I won't get two hundred hours out of this no matter how many times I practice the flamenco."

"You're very good. I wasn't being sarcastic or anything. There are a couple of you with genuine talent in the show. It should make for a very exciting pageant."

"I learned from my grandmother when I was a child in Mexico. She passed away a few years ago. I'm glad she was gone before I got into trouble with the law. Even if I don't think I'm to blame, she would have taken it hard."

              Callie wasn't quite sure what to say. "In any case, she would be proud to see you dance."

"Thank you. I will remember that when I'm performing. I'll see you on Wednesday." He went up the stairs to the stage and in the direction of the dressing room.

Pulling out her laptop, Callie spent about ten minutes making some staging notes. She was being detailed because she wanted to make certain she had the event set in her mind so it would transfer easily to the outdoor stage. The more time she spent understanding it in here, the more she'd be able to successfully move it to a totally different venue.

She wondered who was providing the audio visual for the outdoor event. Callie thought she'd ask Wade. She wanted to find him to say good bye anyway.

She packed the slug queen applications back in her large leather bag and walked to the back of the seating area to the sound booth. However, Wade wasn't there. She went further up the aisle to the doors at the back of the theater and took a look out in the lobby, but it was dark and she didn’t see anyone. She remembered Wade’s comment about always finding him in his office when he wasn't anywhere else, and so trekked back down the aisle to the stage.

As she went from the stage to the wings on the left she could see a figure slide through the door at the end of the dark hall. She hoped it wasn't Wade. If he had gone downstairs she'd have to wait to talk to him as she didn't want to run around the whole theater in search of him.

She knocked on the door to the sound room/office and it creaked open, so at least it wasn't locked, she thought to herself. She stuck her head in the door, "Wade?"

The overhead light wasn't on, but the room was dimly lit with the yellow and green blinking lights of all the staging and video controls. The room was also somewhat lit by the glow from the screen of the laptop. However, the glow from the screen was obscured by a body hunched over it and not moving.

"Wade? Are you all right?" But Callie could see it wasn't Wade, and they definitely were not all right.

She stepped fully into the room. The person hunched over the computer could only be Molluska as the diamante on her green dress flickered in the low light. "Molluska? Alex?"

Callie walked over to the figure and touched her. There was no motion. Callie put her fingers on the neck of the body and felt no pulse, although the body wasn’t cold. There was a gash on the back of her head, although Callie didn't think it looked like a serious enough wound to kill someone. Callie thought that whether you were confused and didn't know to call her Molluska or call him Alex, there was no doubt you would call this person dead.

Callie's training in risk management could not totally prepare her for finding a dead body, but it didn't desert her either. She had taken classes in basic first aid and CPR, but she was certain Alex Herrman, also known as Molluska, was beyond any skills she had, so she grabbed her phone out of her bag and dialed 911, but she was in a reception dead zone. There was a landline phone on the wall, so she called from there.

CHAPTER TEN

While waiting for the police, Callie had looked at the sound room, not touching anything and realized she was very glad she hadn't done more than barely touch the body. Callie noted the cup of coffee on the table next to the body and the blinking cursor on the computer screen. It looked as if Molluska had been trying to send an email.

Callie stood outside the room waiting for the police and heard the door at the end of the hall open. Callie jumped and was glad to see it was Wade. "Callie, why are you still here?" he asked. "I thought everyone cleared out a bit ago."

"Me, too. However when I came to look for you I found something else."

She swung the door open. "Molluska is dead. I've just called 911."

When making the phone call, Callie had trouble convincing the phone operator she had an actual dead body on her hands and there was no chance of resuscitation. She thought maybe they didn't get too many bodies like this in Skinner.

Wade shook his head. "I wonder what she was doing in here? I usually try to get everyone out and on their way after things are done on stage."

Callie wondered why she hadn't seen him after they were done with practice and how she hadn't noticed the exact time he had left the sound booth in the back of the theater. "It looks like she was trying to use the computer or something. I assume you have internet service here?"

"Yes, we have a data phone line connection here, because the reception is so poor backstage. We've got Wi-Fi out in the main theater. She could have used it anytime, although I would have liked her to ask first."

Callie said, "It also looks like she poured herself a cup of coffee."

Wade looked a little shamefaced. "While the fancy dancer was clacking along on stage I took the back way to the room and put on a pot. I wanted to have some while I was finishing up for the day."

"How did you bring up the house lights?"

"Remember? I told you all the a/v goes through the sound room. I watched from the camera we have on the stage and turned them on from there."

"Camera?" asked Callie, hoping something got saved on tape. "Were you recording?"

He shook his head. "No, it was just set to broadcast. As you didn't ask for it, I wasn't recording a practice."

First to arrive were two uniformed policemen who, after one look at the body, took Wade and Callie and placed them out on the stage at a distance from each other. She could see the EMT's arrive, but they soon came out of the room, apparently deciding they couldn't save what was left in the room and departed.

Crime scene tape was put up and other people began to arrive who Callie assumed were part of the team called in to investigate a suspicious death. She waited on the stage with Wade.

There was a stir as someone entered the door at the end of the hall, but the lighting was so poor, Callie couldn't see who it was. She had the impression of a man in a suit, but he immediately went into the sound room and she couldn't identify him. Whoever it was must have been in charge because all the other people began moving more rapidly after his arrival.

Callie moved to the front of the stage, pulled her cell phone out of her bag, saw she had a signal, and dialed her mom's house. Grandma Minnie answered the call. "It looks like I'm going to be held up here for a little longer. I just wanted mom to know I'd be missing dinner."

Grandma Minnie snorted. "Lucky you. Tonight's special is beetloaf."

"Wow. That sounds, um, fantastic. I hope you don't eat it all," said Callie laughing.

"Just for that I'll make sure there are some leftovers with your name on them. If you happen to drive by a McDonald's on the way home, can you smuggle me a Big Mac?"

"No problem. See you later." Callie ended the call as the man in the suit came up. It was Scooter McMillan. She could see recognition in his eyes as he crossed the stage towards her. He was dressed in a dark blue suit and white collared shirt, but no tie. Callie thought that was a nice cross between dressing for the formality of the job, but working in the informality of Skinner. She surprised herself by thinking not only had he aged well, but that he was actually more attractive than he had been as a teenager. His black hair was cut short, and although an attempt had been made to style it, looked askew.

"Scooter," she said. "I didn't know you had become a detective."

He put out his hand to shake hers. She had also forgotten how his gray blue eyes contrasted with his dark hair. "Callie, nice to see you again," he said, although the tone of his voice didn't seem welcoming. "I got promoted last year. And I go by Scott now."

"I guess I kept my high school name. Only my mom can get away with calling me Carline," she said, feeling as if she were babbling nonsense.

"I don't ever think I knew that was your full name. Callie seemed to always suit you fine." He saw the phone in her hand. "The officers didn't take that away from you? You're not supposed to communicate with anyone until you've given a statement."

"The only person I called was my mom to tell her I'd be missing dinner and I didn't tell her the reason. Why? Am I a suspect?" She held out her phone as proof.

He took the phone and checked the time and number of her last call. "It's not that you are or aren't a suspect, but in this age of instantaneous communication, I like to try and preserve some privacy at the crime scene until I'm ready to put out information." He gave her the phone back.

She thought of how impossible a task that must be. She remembered thinking he was short in high school, but realized she had always seen him standing next to the willowy Audrey. He was actually Callie's own height and they could look eye to eye. He still had the stocky frame of the football player he once was, and she thought that might serve him well in his police work.

She realized he was eying her in the same manner as she was eying him. "Well, do I pass muster?" she asked.

He laughed and shook his head. "It's sometimes hard to translate the memories of our youth into the present. I'm sure we can just work through them. Why don't you tell me what was going on here? My patrolman said you found the body?"

"Yes, I'm in town on vacation and sort of volunteered to help out at Skinner Days. I'm coordinating the slug queen pageant and we had a practice tonight."

"Who else was in the building?" he asked pulling out a notebook from his pocket.

"All the pageant contestants were here. There are four others, plus Molluska."

"Molluska? Who's that?" he looked confused.

"Well, that was the stage name of the person who died. Really, she's a he and his name is Alex Herrman." Callie explained how it was easier for her to address them by their chosen stage gender. "Three of the five contestants are men in drag." She opened her leather bag and pulled out the stack of applications. "Here's all their personal information. Molluska, I mean Alex, is on the top."

Scott looked at the picture of Alex Herrman. "Hmmm...that's interesting. Collins, can you take these and get them copied?" A uniformed policeman came walking over and took the packets away.

She continued with her list of people in the area. "I was here, along with Wade, the stage manager."

"Were you together during the practice?" he asked.

"No, I was sitting in the front and he was in the sound booth. Oh, and Mayor Felson was here."

"Dot Felson? Why was she here?"

"She didn't actually give a reason," said Callie. "I just assumed she was here because she's overseeing Skinner Days or that she came to see her husband. He's one of the contestants."

"Steve Felson is playing a slug queen?" Scott seemed incredulous.

"Yes. He doesn't look too bad dressed as a woman."

"So what happened immediately before you found the body?"

She described how she had stayed after the contestants had left and her conversation with Sheldon Normal. "When I went to look for Wade, I saw the door at the end of the hallway close, but I couldn't see who it was." She thought nervously that it could have been the killer.

He could see the thought cross her mind. "In my opinion she'd been dead a few minutes by that time, so unless the killer was coming back to ensure the deed was done, it was probably the stage manager. I'll check with him."

"What did she die of?" She asked. As Scott was using the feminine pronoun, Callie stuck with it as well.

"I’m not sure,” he said. “There’s a head wound, but that doesn’t look serious enough to me to cause death. I won't know more until the medical examiner has a look. By the look of the bruises on her arms, I’m going to guess her death is somehow drug related."

"What was she doing at the computer? Did she try to send an email?"

"If she did, it was too late. There was nothing on the screen."

"I guess that explains why she was so thin. And she was shaking a bit during her performance, but I was putting that off to nerves," Callie said.

"No, it was probably the drugs. We'll be looking into finding her supplier as well," he said, furrowing his brow. "We've had some trouble with some sort of drug ring in town, but I'm hoping we'll close in on the organizers soon. I'm guessing this death is wrapped up in that somehow."

His shoulders relaxed and he put his notebook away. Maybe the business part of the conversation is over, thought Callie. "So what brings you to town?" he asked. "Have you left the bright lights of the big city?"

"To tell you the truth," and Callie did feel like finally telling someone the truth, "I've come home with my tail between my legs. I got fired, lost my boyfriend and decided Skinner looked attractive for a while."

"Home is where when you have to go, they have to take you in, isn't that the saying?"

She nodded. "I would never have guessed you a devotee of Robert Frost."

"I know. In high school I was interested in girls and football and not necessarily in that order," he said. "It's good life moves on and gives us chances to recover from our mistakes."

She knew he understood her reasons for coming back to Skinner, although she hadn't entirely understood them until now. "Somehow you managed to learn that without even leaving Skinner."

"You don't have to be a world traveler to learn that home is the best place to be."

She knew she couldn't avoid it any longer. "I heard about you and Audrey splitting up."

He blew out a sharp breath and looked down. "Which story was it? The one where I slept around on her or the one where I beat her?"

"The first one. I take it neither story is true?"

"I don't know. Maybe in a sense I did leave her for someone else. I got promoted to detective and became a workaholic. There's just always so much to do. If I had a mistress, it's my job and I know she wasn't happy about that." He looked tired as he ran his hand through his short black thatch of hair. That explained why it was so messy. "I know you don't owe me anything, but can I ask a favor?"

"Sure, what?"

"Can you not mention to Audrey you've seen me? When we...near the end, she kept accusing me of seeing other women, even when we both knew it was really the job. We're in a sort of truce right now and I don't want to upset it. She's finally letting me see the girls a bit more."

"I actually don't talk to her much these days. We sort of parted ways after high school. I haven't seen her in person since I came to your wedding. "

"Then you won't say anything?" he asked, looking directly into her eyes as if he could see whether or not he could trust her.

"Sure. I can't imagine that would hurt anyone."

He gave her a small smile. She thought he should do that more often. "Thanks."

The policeman came back and gave Callie the slug queen applications and she put them in her bag. "It is nice seeing you again, although I wish it were under different circumstances. Here's my card," he said. "Let me know if you have any questions. Where are you staying? In case I need to find you again."

She pulled her card out of her purse. "I'm at my mom's outside of town. This card has my cell and I'll write the number of her landline."

"I'd also like to ask you not to talk about the details of what happened here. This will probably hit the news tonight, so you can mention the death, but I'd rather not have anything else being spread about. I still have the rest of the contestants to talk with as well."

"That's fine. It's not really something I'm inclined to talk about anyway."

She took her bag and walked through the aisle towards the door she had come in at. The door that went directly to the parking lot from the stage was blocked by police personnel and crime scene tape. She thought she could feel Scooter's eyes on her as she walked. When she reached the door, she looked back, and sure enough, he was standing on the stage, hands in his pockets staring her way. He looked thoughtful. He nodded at her and she waved and went out the door.

She wanted a drink first and dinner second, but didn't think she could face Jeremy in the Cloudburst Pub without spilling the whole story to him. It wouldn't do to break her promise to Scooter so quickly, although she wasn't certain why that should matter. She didn't owe him any loyalty from the old days.