“Thanks for being honest with me,” I said. Kenzie looked like she was about to cry, but Chloe might not like it if I tried to hug her. “My job is to put together the pieces of the case, coupled with the information from Persephone and Chloe. I keep an open mind about everyone.”
Chloe wouldn’t implicate Kenzie. Danes were too loyal to turn on their person.
I really hoped Kenzie didn’t do it. “What time will you be headed to set tomorrow?”
“Probably around seven.”
Yikes. It was already close to eleven.
“Should I come with you, or will a car be ready for me here?” Even if there was a car, the chances of me being granted access to set without my Kenzie credentials seemed slim at best.
“I don’t know anything about a car. You should probably come with me.”
“Okay. Get some rest.”
Once she said good night, I kicked off my shoes and climbed carefully onto the bed, so as not to wake Persephone. That didn’t work.
“Sorry,” I groaned as I let my head fall on the pillow. “It’s been a day.”
She curled up next to me. “Those people weren’t that nice to you.”
“Kenzie was nice.”
“There’s something she doesn’t want to tell you.”
Interesting. Persephone had dropped some truth bombs on me, but her observations about other people were usually limited to their smells and if they had treats for her. Never about their behavior.
“How could you tell?”
“She didn’t want to be here. And Chloe was very protective. Worried that something would happen to her.”
I was too busy trying to get Chloe comfortable with Persephone’s presence, and I hadn’t had a chance to find out why she was freaked out by my cat. But that made sense.
“Poor Chloe.” I ran my hand over Persephone’s back and landed on the spot. Her purrs made me feel better. “Are you hungry? I can’t do better than canned food at this point, but I don’t want any cats to go to bed with empty tummies.”
“Sure.”
Man, she had to be hungry if she was saying okay to canned food. The rumbling of my own stomach wasn’t enough to drown out the guilt.
“We need to turn this trip around,” I said more to myself than to her. “Parking Lot Potluck is my favorite show, and I’m not letting anyone take that away from me.”
Now I had my mission. Find the culprit, save the show, and bring some much-needed joy back to the set.
I woke up with a sense of purpose. No amount of overworked, fearful, homesick crew members—or poison—would take away my favorite show.
A good, hot shower washed away enough of the jetlag that I could be early for my meetup with Kenzie.
“It’s still dark out,” Persephone protested when I lifted her off the pillow, and she punctuated it with a yawn for good measure.
“It stays dark later here. And work on the show starts early.”
“I thought the show was inside the TV,” she grumbled.
“If we’re successful, we can keep it inside the TV. Let’s go get breakfast.” My cat would never say no to breakfast. I placed her in the stroller, expecting her to be back asleep before we hit the elevator.
I headed to the sweet little diner in the lobby. I’d meant to sample their fried pickle selection before I realized offering to dog-sit would be much more labor-intensive than I’d expected.
I was starving. I ordered salmon eggs Benedict and an order of scrambled eggs for a very sleepy Spy Kitty in the City. I reclined the stroller seat and placed Persephone’s plate in there. Sidewalk bistro tables bordered the lobby, which would be the perfect spot to make sure I didn’t miss Kenzie.
Butterflies danced in my belly. Even if my first experience didn’t live up to my expectations, no one could take away my excitement about spending the day on the set of Parking Lot Potluck.
Maybe things would be different after a good night’s sleep.
Kenzie appeared with Chloe in tow and a friend who looked a lot like her—exhausted, in an oversized sweatshirt with the Parking Lot Potluck logo on it, and her hair stuffed under a baseball cap. I waved them over.
Chloe let rip with a low rumble of dissatisfaction in the direction of the stroller. Persephone’s head popped up.
“Persephone wants to be your friend,” I reminded Chloe. The big dog huffed and looked away, unconvinced. I considered it a baby step of progress.
“We’ve got to get to set,” Kenzie said. “This is Lindsay, Diana Diamond’s assistant.”
“Hey.” That was as cool as I could possibly manage when my inner fangirl wanted to ask all the questions about Diana. “Did you order breakfast yet?”
“Yeah, we always get egg sandwiches to go.”
I polished off the last of my home fries. “Have you ever tried those lemon things in the pastry case?”
They looked like donuts, but the top had been cut off them, and they’d been filled with lemon curd. Then the baker replaced the top like a little powdered hat.
“No,” Lindsay groaned. “But I drool over them every morning.”
“Let’s get them. My treat.” I was up at the counter before the ladies had a chance to protest. “Five of those delicious lemon-looking things, please. Can you pack them separately?”
“Five?” Kenzie quirked a brow.
I nodded. “Those security guards look like they could use a little sunshine.”
Armed with five bags full of citrusy, sugary heaven, I marched over to the man and woman in security uniforms. They narrowed their eyes at me.
If they were doing their job, they already knew there was a cat in my stroller.
“Hi, I’m Addie. I’m new to the case. My cat Persephone is in the stroller. If you have kids, you might have heard them talking about her. Spy Kitty in the City. I’m headed to set now, but I was hoping maybe we’d be able to chat later?” I handed out the treats to my stunned audience. “In the meantime, enjoy.”
The guards mumbled thanks, and Kenzie repeated that we had to hit the road.
“How are we going to do this? We won’t all fit into one car. Chloe takes up the entire backseat.” Kenzie frowned.
If she was trying to leave us behind, I wouldn’t take the hint.
“Does Lindsay have a car?” I asked.
“We try to ride together when possible—"
“It’s probably best that I take my car. Diana needs me to do everything for her right now,” Lindsay interjected.
“Can I ride with you? That way we won’t have to worry about any awkwardness with the animals.”
Kenzie opened her mouth to protest, but Lindsay smiled. “Sure.” She turned to her best friend. “Meet you in front of the production trailers?”
I did an inner happy dance. Persephone was right: Kenzie was definitely protecting something or someone. It might be Lindsay.
“My car is a mess.” Lindsay opened the trunk and pushed stuff aside to make room for Persephone’s stroller. The car wasn’t full of junk. It looked more like she was ready to go camping. Maybe she needed to keep all that stuff on hand for work.
Or in case she needed to suddenly quit and make a getaway.
I held Persephone tightly until we were safe in the car.
“I’m excited you’re here,” Lindsay said as she started driving, following closely behind Kenzie’s car. “I have everything crossed that it means things will be going back to normal soon.”
“How normal can things be?”
Her expression darkened. “They’ll never be the same. Diana’s been improving every day, but there’s no way she’ll set foot on set if we don’t find the person who poisoned her and Sig.”
“I’ll do my best.” It was the only promise I could keep. “How long have you and Kenzie been friends?”
I loosened my grip on Persephone. Lindsay was giving off a totally different vibe than her coworkers, and first impressions said it didn’t have anything to do with the sugary treat I’d gifted her as a peace offering.
Persephone knew exactly what to do. She moved to the center console to get a good sniff. This morning was looking way up over yesterday.
“Since I started working on the show about a year ago. She’s been a lifesaver. This is my first job in production, and wow, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.”
I reached into my goodie bag and broke off the top of the donut. It was all crispy, powdery goodness with just a hint of that heavenly lemon filling. Almost as good as this conversation with Lindsay.
“How did you get the job?”
She gave me a quick look, and her cheeks pinked. “Don’t judge me, but I want to be Diana when I grow up.”
Another fangirl! “It’s my goal to have dinner in one of her restaurants.”
“I tried to get a position in one of her kitchens, but competition is stiff. I just graduated from culinary school, and I didn’t have any practical kitchen experience. All my cooking was either done in school or at home, so they told me to come back after I had some restaurant experience under my belt.”
“Could you have gotten a job at another restaurant?”
“I wanted to learn from Diana.” She emphasized her name. “She’s got an innovative approach to the industry, and I didn’t want other people’s conventional ideas to get in the way.”
Counting myself as one of Diana Diamond’s biggest fans, I admired Lindsay’s singlemindedness and determination. But Addie the practical adult wondered if she was cutting herself off from a whole world of opportunities.
“How did you get this job without any production experience?”
“A friend in the industry told me about it and referred me to Val.”
“I would think the competition would be even stiffer than working in one of Diana’s restaurants.” In the restaurants, the cooks wouldn’t have the chance to work so closely with the maestra herself.
“The interview process was pretty brutal. But a lot of people weren’t interested in the job because of all the travel. It seems glamorous at first, but it can wear on you. And Diana has a reputation for being hard to work with.”