Mollie bought a hot dog from a street vendor near the limousine rental place, then caught an uptown bus to Seventy-fourth Street. She had called information and asked for Bridgton Imports’ address. When she got off the bus, she spotted the store across the street. A British flag was flying outside, and when Mollie walked in, a bagpipe blared.
“May I help you?” asked a saleswoman wearing a cabled sweater, a plaid skirt, and knee socks.
“This is going to sound strange, but … I found this tea leaf, and I was wondering if you could tell me what kind it is.” Mollie held out the green leaf, and the saleswoman took it suspiciously. She sniffed it a few times, held it away from her nose, then sniffed it again. She looked like a dog trailing a scent.
“Ceylonese Oolong,” she said, “without a doubt.”
“Do you sell it here?” asked Mollie. “I need to get some for my mother.”
“We most certainly do.” The saleswoman led Mollie past jars of blood pudding, lemon curd, and black currant preserves to a towering tea display. Hundreds of tins containing various kinds of teas filled the shelves. The saleswoman pulled down a tin and handed it to Mollie. “Will that be all?”
“Uh … I just want to look around a little,” Mollie said.
“All right, call me if you need me!” The bagpipe blared again, and the saleswoman went off to help a new customer.
Mollie stared at all the tins in front of her. There was no way Meredith could have picked the one that just happened to be filled with cocaine—the odds against it happening were too high. No one could have set her up that way. Just to make sure all the tins weren’t secretly carrying drugs, she opened several different varieties and inspected the contents. She smelled a lot of weird things, but she didn’t see anything inside except tea.
“I think I’ll just take this,” Mollie told the sales clerk at the counter.
“That’ll be eight-fifty.”
Mollie gulped and opened her wallet. Research was expensive, especially when she was retracing the steps of someone who had ten times as much money as she did. “I heard a rumor about this store,” Mollie said as she handed the woman a ten-dollar bill.
“What sort of rumor?”
“I heard that someone bought a tin of tea here that had cocaine inside it.” Mollie put the change into her wallet. “I was shocked, because I know you only carry top-quality products.”
“I’ve never heard of any such thing,” said the woman in an offended tone. “Who told you that?”
“It was in a police case I heard about on the news.”
“Well, anyone could reuse a tin that way, but they certainly didn’t buy it that way,” the woman said.
“So the police didn’t come here to ask you about it?” Mollie asked.
“No. I’m the manager of this store, and if there was anything like that going on, I’d know about it. I hope you don’t start spreading these unfounded lies.”
“No, of course not. I guess it was just a nasty rumor,” Mollie said. “Thank you for the tea. You have a lovely store.”
“You’re welcome,” the saleswoman said. “You know, it’s nice to meet a young lady with such good manners.”
Mollie smiled. It was amazing how much you could make someone forget when you complimented them.
“I’m so glad I can change out of these dumb shoes.” Mollie sat down on the couch and rubbed her feet. “I think I walked at least ten miles today.”
“And? What did you find out?” Johnny asked. He slipped his arm around her shoulder.
“Where’s your cousin anyway?” Mollie leaned against Johnny’s side.
“Working.”
“At night on a weekend? What’s he do?” Mollie asked.
“He’s a topless dancer.” Johnny kissed her earlobe.
“You’re kidding.” She punched his thigh.
“Ow!” Johnny picked up her foot and began cracking her toes. “He’s a cab driver. We should probably call in to the Truth Line.”
“Let’s call them tomorrow morning, after we’ve had a chance to talk to Hilary.” Johnny had pulled her legs across his lap and was rubbing her calves.
“When are we doing that?” he asked.
“Tonight at nine thirty.” Mollie glanced at her watch. “We have two hours to eat, recover, and go back into Manhattan.”
“So? When did you see her? What did she say?”
“At the photographer’s, and not much. But she didn’t seem too nervous—she was just surprised that I was there.” Mollie sighed. Johnny’s hands were both unbelievably strong and gentle. “She said we could both come by tonight.”
“Good move,” Johnny said. “What else did you do?”
“I went to the garage that rents limos to the Whistler Agency, and I found a tea leaf in the trunk of the BMW limo. There was only one.”
“Leaf, or BMW?”
“Both. Someone must have opened Meredith’s tea and slipped the coke in.”
“How do you know it was her tea?”
“I brought the tea to the shop where Meredith bought that tin,” Mollie said. “And the lady at the tea shop said it came from a special tin, exactly like the one Meredith got for her mom. And she also said that no one in the police department contacted her about the investigation yet.”
“That’s weird. You think they’re just not trying to find out the truth? I mean, the source is phony, they don’t follow leads—”
“Either they’re police academy dropouts, or they’re trying to frame Meredith,” Mollie said.
“You think it has anything to do with her dad?”
“It could,” Mollie said. “Or her uncle. Hey, what did you find out?”
Johnny rolled his eyes. “I found out that Moeller is one twisted little dude. First I followed him into Macy’s. He was shopping for ties, and he must have looked at about two hundred. Then he got in a cab and went down to Greenwich Village. He gets out at this bar and downs a couple of martinis—”
“Did you go in?”
“Yeah, when he wasn’t looking. I sat in a booth; he couldn’t see me. I couldn’t see him, either, but I could hear him. He kept laughing to himself, the way he did in the elevator. I mean, either this is one very happy guy, or one very drunk guy—”
“Hey, maybe he was on something,” Mollie suggested.
“Maybe. All I know is, he’s not dealing with a full deck. I also heard him talking to the bartender about the concept of reality or something like that.” Johnny laughed.
“Then what?”
“Then … I lost him.”
“You did? How?”
“Easy—there are eight million people in this city, remember?” Johnny said. “A movie down the block had just gotten out, and the sidewalk was packed. Moeller isn’t exactly easy to find in a crowd.”
“True,” Mollie said. “I wonder what his deal is.”
“We’ll see him tomorrow night. Maybe we can actually talk to him then.”
“Yeah, if we can think of anything to say about the concept of reality.” Mollie lay back on the couch and ran her fingers through her hair. She noticed Johnny was staring at her. “What?”
“You look different,” Johnny said. “I can’t figure out what it is, but you definitely aren’t the same Mollie Fox I saw this morning.”
Mollie blushed. “They put about an inch of makeup on my face. I tried to take it off, but some of it must still be on there.”
“Like that red color on your cheeks?”
“I think I’ll go take a shower,” Mollie said.
“Hey, it was only a joke,” Johnny said.
“Yeah, well, you didn’t have people telling you how ugly and short you were all day long,” Mollie said.
“Who said that? I don’t think you’re ugly. In fact, I think you look mighty pretty.”
“For a short person,” Mollie said, standing up.
“Come on in.” Hilary opened the door of her uptown apartment. “Sorry the place is such a mess. I’m never here enough to bother cleaning it.”
Mollie stepped over a pile of magazines on the floor.
“Sit anywhere you want,” Hilary said, shoving some clothes off the couch.
“This is Johnny Chelios,” Mollie said as she sat in a wicker chair. “He was trapped underground with me and Meredith.”
“Nice to meet you.” Hilary sat down on the couch and crossed her legs underneath her.
Johnny nodded and took a seat on the other end of the couch. “What’s up?”
“How is Meredith, by the way?” Hilary asked. “I just heard the whole story from my father.”
“She’s okay,” Mollie said. “She hasn’t been to school all week, though. I guess your dad’s afraid she’ll reveal something about the case.”
“Typical.” Hilary shook her head. “He treats us both like we’re still little kids. I practically had to sign over my life to get him to let her come out here for the shoot.”
“So it was your idea?” asked Johnny.
“Yeah. I thought it would be fun. But I didn’t end up seeing Meredith too much while she was here.”
“Why not?” asked Mollie.
Hilary shrugged. “I had plans with other people that I couldn’t really cancel.”
Not even for your little sister? Mollie wondered. Meredith and Hilary really weren’t close. “Does Meredith have friends here that she might have done stuff with?”
Hilary shook her head. “No, she’d never been to New York before.”
“Do you think it’s possible that she’s into drugs?” Johnny asked. Mollie was shocked by the bluntness of his question—but he couldn’t take it back now.
“No, I don’t. But you can never tell.” Hilary tapped the arm of the couch. “I know a lot of models who take diet pills and use speed and cocaine to stay thin. Some of them are really obvious, but others I never even suspected until I saw them doing it with my own eyes. Meredith doesn’t seem like the type, though. I know I’m not.”
Mollie felt her muscles start to relax. “Where do the models get their drugs?” she asked.
“I’m not a hundred percent sure, but I think it’s from someone who works at Whistler,” Hilary said.
“It wouldn’t be a short guy named Moeller, would it?” Johnny asked.
Hilary turned to him. “How do you know him?”
“We kind of had a staring contest with him in an elevator. So you think he’s the source?”
“Yeah. I overheard someone saying that Moeller could get her anything she wanted, within hours. Since it’s his job to make sure the models are happy and ready to work, it kind of makes sense that he’d supply them.” Hilary shuddered. “Personally, the guy gives me the creeps. Half the time, you don’t even know he’s there, and it turns out he’s been watching you for five minutes.”
“Yeah, I didn’t like him much either,” Mollie said. “Could he have planted the drugs on Meredith? I have no idea why, but—”
“Who knows why? But anything’s possible. The guy’s so weird, there’s no way we could figure out what was going on in his head,” Hilary interrupted. “You guys must be tight with Meredith, to come all the way out here to find out what happened.”
“Well … it’s kind of this survival thing we learned in the earthquake,” Mollie said. “We stick together.”
Hilary rubbed her eyes. “I can’t believe how serious this all is.”
“How long have you been working for the Whistler agency?” Mollie asked.
“About a year,” Hilary said. “Why?”
“Did you ever meet Aaron DeDario? He runs the San Francisco office.”
“No, I haven’t. I haven’t been back to San Francisco in a long time. In fact, when I go for the International Face Show, it’ll be the first time I’ve been there in a year and a half,” Hilary said. “Why do you ask?”
Mollie shrugged. “He’s a total sleaze. I thought you might be able to tell us something about him.”
“Gee, I can’t wait to meet him,” Hilary said. “Some of the people in this business are so foul!”
“Really?” Johnny asked. “You’re joking.”
“So you’ll both be at the party tomorrow night?” Hilary got up from the couch. “I hate to run you off, but I have to meet some friends soon.”
“Yeah, Bitsy will be there, with her date, Arthur,” Mollie said.
“Arthur?” Hilary looked at Johnny and laughed. “You don’t look like an Arthur.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Johnny stood up. “Hey, thanks for talking to us.”
“No problem. Call me if I can help any more. Mollie, what are you going to do if Kathy Carlisle shows up tomorrow?”
“She won’t; she’s in Nepal.” Mollie said. “Good night, Hilary, and thanks.”
Hilary walked them to the door. “Meredith and I aren’t close, but … I’m glad she has good friends. Night.”
When they were in the elevator, heading down, Mollie sighed. “What’s the deal with Meredith and Hilary?” she said. “They’re both nice, you’d think they’d be a little closer.”
“Maybe it’s sibling rivalry,” Johnny said. “Maybe Meredith got better treatment because she was the youngest. Or maybe Meredith felt like she always had to follow in Hilary’s footsteps and resented it.”
“You’ve been watching talk shows again, haven’t you?” Mollie asked, looking at Johnny out of the corner of her eye.
Johnny grinned. “I can’t help it if I’m sensitive.”
“Right. So tomorrow night we have to watch Moeller very carefully,” Mollie said. “You want that job?”
“I have to stand around and be photographed all night,” Mollie said. “I can’t do everything.”
“You can’t? Hey, wait a second, I thought you were Mollie Fox. Guess I was wrong. You must be Bitsy Carlisle.”