I didn’t do it, man!” yelled Chip. “I don’t kill people! I don’t feel hostility towards anyone, I swear! Why are you looking at me like that? I’m innocent! For the love of God, stop torturing me with all these questions!”
Doyle coughed. “My question was, ‘Your name is Daniel ‘Chip’ Anderson, right?’ It’s a simple yes or no question.”
Amanda, sitting alongside Doyle in Chip’s small, tidy trailer, reached out and patted Chip’s knee. “Try to calm down,” she said. “We’re not accusing you of anything. We just want to get a clear picture of what you witnessed. That’s all.”
Amanda seemed to have a calming effect on Chip. He wiped the sweat off his forehead with his meaty arm. Sweat clung to his long, curly hair, causing it to clump in a not-so-attractive fashion.
“Okay,” he said. “I’m fine. I’m calm. No problems here.”
“Good,” said Doyle. “So, you’re Chip, is that correct?”
“Yes, I’m Chip,” he said.
Doyle scribbled in his notebook.
“What are you writing?” asked Chip.
“Just your name,” said Doyle.
“Oh,” said Chip. “Okay, then.”
“You seem nervous, Chip. Why is that?” asked Doyle.
“I’ve never seen a dead body before,” said Chip.
“Never?” asked Doyle. “Not even at a funeral?”
“No, never,” Chip said. “I’ve intentionally avoided it my entire life. It’s just something I never really cared to see.”
“But you’re a special effects guy, right?” asked Doyle. “So I imagine this wasn’t the first time you’ve had to make someone look like they were getting shot or stabbed or what have you.”
“No, I’ve done that many times. It’s really easy. Especially easy because it’s fake. Whenever I set up an effect where someone gets blown away, I’m okay with it because the actor is still breathing afterwards. You know, except for this time.”
Doyle crossed his legs. “Chip, maybe you can help us out. Officer Hutchins and myself just arrived here a while ago, and we’re not terribly clear yet as to what actually happened. Could you take us through, step by step, what took place this morning?”
Amanda added, “Please don’t leave anything out, no matter how small or tedious. The smallest detail can make a big difference.”
Chip nodded. “Yeah, sure. I can do that. Let’s see … I woke up this morning, about 7:30, I think. I took a leak. I made myself a bowl of cereal. The Count Chocula was almost gone, so I actually had to mix it with some Frankenberry. It was kind of weird flavor combination, but at least the shapes were consistent—“
Amanda interrupted him. “We can move past some of these details. How about you take us to when you got on set this morning. Who was already present when you arrived?”
“Let’s see here. The director, Maura. Eva, the sexy British actress. Tina, the make-up girl. She’s also pretty attractive, though I hear she’s nailing the producer. Oh, Mike Cameron, obviously—he held the gun. Then poor Davis …“
“Back up,” said Doyle. “You said Tina was nailing the producer. Is that Mr. Winthrop?”
“Yeah, she’s in his trailer like, all the time.”
Doyle and Amanda gave each other a look of mutual interest. Doyle jotted down more notes.
“Was Mr. Winthrop on set when the incident happened?” asked Doyle.
Chip looked deep in thought, then said, “No, I didn’t see him.”
“So on set we have Maura, Eva, Tina, Mike, Davis, and yourself. Is that right?”
“And some other assorted crew,” said Chip. “You could probably get a full list from Mr. Winthrop.”
“We’ll look into it,” said Doyle. “So a scene was being shot this morning, I take it? What happened?”
“Well, Maura Coen—you know, she’s the sister of the Coen Brothers, right? Kinda bitchy, to be honest. Anyhow, she had Mike and Davis run through a scene without any effects or anything. It was kind of a disaster. Davis’ fake beard fell off, and that seemed to send Maura over the edge. There was a bit of a screaming match, and then she stormed off the set. Everyone took five, calmed down a bit. Maura came back a little more chilled out, and had us do the scene with effects.”
“What were the effects, exactly?” asked Amanda.
“It was a shooting scene, so it involved a gun with what should have been blanks, some makeup, some fishing line, pretty easy stuff, really.”
“Except it didn’t go as planned,” said Amanda.
“Right,” said Chip. “I mean, I’ve done this effect many times before. People get shot a lot in movies, so I’ve perfected my technique. It took me a long time to register what had even happened, because it looked so damn real. I was impressed by how well I had done.”
“So the bullets weren’t blanks? Someone had replaced them with real bullets?” asked Amanda.
“That’s the only explanation I can come up with,” said Chip.
“Who actually loaded the gun?” asked Doyle.
“I did,” said Chip. “I didn’t realize they were real bullets. They looked just like the blanks to me. I mean, maybe if I looked closer or something, but I had no reason to think they weren’t blanks.”
“Who normally stores props and effects like the blanks? Who would have had access?” asked Doyle.
“Most of the props come from a prop company in the Twin Cities. They actually have a van parked out near the swing set on the east side of the park. But the blanks were part of the special effect supplies that I brought up myself. Usually whatever I use I just tack on as part of my fee.
It’s never been a problem.”
“Where did you keep the blanks?” asked Doyle.
“Right in there, over in those storage bins,” said Chip, pointing towards the corner of the trailer.
“Do you keep your trailer locked?” asked Amanda.
“No, I’ve never really needed to, although I think I may start.”
“Probably a good idea,” said Doyle. “Where are the rest of the blanks?”
“Oh, the local police already took those,” said Chip. “They said they wanted to analyze them, but I’m not sure what they’ll come up with.”
“They’ll be either real bullets or blanks, right?” said Amanda.
“Sure,” said Chip. “But I’m not sure these guys could tell the difference. They don’t seem very bright.”
“You couldn’t tell the difference,” said Doyle.
“I know that,” said Chip, his face reddening. “But it’s not like I’m a frickin’ bulletologist or something. I only have blanks, so I assume the ones I’m using are blanks. Someone had to have broken in here and replaced them with real ones.”
“Well, that really wouldn’t be a breakin, would it?” asked Doyle. “If you didn’t lock the door, they really just had to walk in and do it. Could you have made it any easier for the killer?”
“Fuck, man—don’t put this all on me! I’m sure whoever wanted Davis dead, they could have done it a ton of different ways. This movie is a suspense thriller, so there’s plenty of fake weapons that could have been replaced with real ones. Or if they really meant business, they could have just walked up and shot him. It’s not like my blanks are to blame for all of this. Someone used me and my supplies to kill a famous actor. That sucks, man.”
“It’s all right, calm down,” said Amanda. “We’re not blaming you for everything. We’re just trying to get at the heart of what happened here.”
“You’ve given us a lot of good information, Chip,” said Doyle. “Is there anything else you can think of—anything else at all—that could potentially help us?”
Chip sat still for a moment, looking down at his folded hands. Then he suddenly raised his head. “That British chick. Eva Wong.”
“What about her?” asked Doyle.
“When Davis was shot in the head, she ran over to the body and started directing everyone what to do. She didn’t seem the slightest bit disturbed that there was a dead man lying on the ground in front of her, blood pouring all over the place.”
Doyle felt a sudden rise of nausea just thinking about it.
“You thought that was unusual?” asked Amanda.
“Everyone else on the set was paralyzed. No one made a sound. She was the only one that seemed unaffected by what happened. It just sat with me the wrong way. She’s pretty hot, though—even if she ends up being a crazy murderer. The fact that she might’ve been in my trailer is kinda sexy. Scary, too—but also sexy.”
Doyle gave Amanda an uncomfortable look. He hadn’t realized until that moment that they’d have to consider William’s former wife a suspect in the murder. Doyle didn’t think William would be so thrilled by that. As much as William and Eva had been fighting, Doyle could see that William was still endlessly infatuated with her.
“We’ll let you know if we have further questions,” said Doyle.
“Sure thing,” said Chip. “I’ll be right here in this trailer. Just make sure to knock—I’m gonna lock up, I think.”
“Good idea,” said Doyle.