Silence fell as Detective Franklin stood over Audra. Mrs. Margeson wrung her hands and looked from one to the other. Bryce stood and stepped barely inside the door.
“I’ll have someone dust for prints. Did either of you touch the door?” He directed the question at Mrs. Margeson and Bryce.
Both nodded.
“If I didn’t tonight, I know I have in the last week or so.” Mrs. Margeson rubbed her hands together faster.
“Then we’ll fingerprint you both. Don’t want to get your prints confused with whoever was at the door.” Detective Franklin pulled out a thin notebook from his inside jacket pocket. Audra had never seen him in anything but a jacket and rumpled pants. With the temperature spiking past the eighties each day, a heat that lingered into the evening, he couldn’t be comfortable.
The bass of a car pulling up outside reached through the open door. A minute later, two uniformed officers appeared in the doorway. Audra looked around the room and wondered where they’d fit. The apartment felt cramped with the extra people. She leaned against the davenport, taking up as little space as possible.
Detective Franklin pointed at one of the officers. “Go ahead and print the door. We’ve got a unit patrolling the neighborhood for someone on foot.”
“Yes, sir.” The officers rummaged through the bag of equipment they’d brought.
Detective Franklin returned his focus to Audra. “All right, Miss Schaeffer. Tell me what happened.” While his words were brief, concern tinged his eyes as he took notes. She told him the little that she could. “Okay. Anything you two have to add?”
Mrs. Margeson shook her head. “I heard screams. After everything that’s occurred, I hurried down the stairs and ran into Bryce. He sent me to call the police while he checked on Miss Schaeffer. By the time I talked to the police, whoever it was had disappeared.”
“That sounds right.” Bryce shrugged. “A man ran from the doorway when I got here. My brother chased after him, while I checked on the lady.”
“Leave that to us.” Detective Franklin told one of the officers to watch for the brother then flipped back through the pages he’d filled with scribbles. “Miss Schaeffer, did you see the man?”
“Only a gloved hand and the impression of a blob. He must be large.”
“You still want us to fingerprint?” One of the officers looked up from the doorknob.
“Yes.” The detective nodded his head. “We have to be thorough.”
“Sure.” The man shrugged. “But we can’t collect fingerprints from someone wearing gloves.”
The other officer strode over with an inkpad and paper. “I’ll take your prints now.”
Mrs. Margeson grimaced as he ran her fingers across the pad and then pressed them against the paper.
Detective Franklin nodded to her once she was wiping her hands on a towel. “Mrs. Margeson, you can leave.”
“All right. Don’t forget to come upstairs when you’re done, dear.”
Audra nodded. Something told her she’d already gotten all the sleep possible for tonight. Her dark dreams might turn to nightmares after this.
“So you’ll stay with her?” Detective Franklin asked.
“Tonight. Then I’ll be back here if you say it’s all right.” She’d shove a chair under the doorknob to thwart any intruder.
“What do you think this person was after?”
“I don’t know. But I can tell you it was a man. He had a distinctly male voice.”
“That’s something to go on.”
“Cuts out a whole fifty percent of the population.” Judging from the dark glare the officer received at that comment, he wasn’t gaining any points with Detective Franklin.
Detective Franklin glanced around the room then snatched the black book. “What’s this?”
“Rosemary’s calendar and address book. I found it yesterday, but looked through it tonight.”
He flipped the pages then tucked it in his pocket.
“What are you doing?” Audra sat up straight and reached for it. “It’s not yours.”
“It is until I confirm whether it contains anything that assists the investigation.”
“When will I get it back?”
“When I’m finished. Is there anything else you found that might be helpful?”
“Not yet.” She gestured toward the desk. “I only got through half of it.”
Bryce cleared his throat and held up inked fingers. “Can I leave now? It looks like you’re well protected, ma’am.”
Audra tried to smile, but it fell flat. “Thank you for your help.”
“Glad I was near.”
Detective Franklin collected Bryce’s contact information then allowed him to leave. The detective watched her in silence, then pulled out the book and perused the pages. “Quite the list of individuals. Reads like a who’s who of Hollywood up-and-comers. Even a few real stars. I thought your sister hadn’t landed a big role yet.”
“That’s right. She thought she was close, but her break hadn’t arrived.” Audra shrugged. “She seemed so excited a few weeks ago, and then a week ago that changed. But she wouldn’t tell me why.” Audra tugged the blanket around her shoulders and pulled it tight.
“She’s made notes next to some of the names. Any idea what they mean?”
“I didn’t notice them.”
He handed the book to her. “See here at the end in the address book section. The notations might indicate a way she tracked activities with the men.”
“I doubt it.” The way he said activities made Audra’s skin crawl. It didn’t sound like he meant something innocent. She studied the symbols. They looked like more of Rosie’s doodles, but nothing that meant anything. She closed the book and held it a moment.
“Make anything out?” Detective Franklin reached for the book.
“No, I’m sorry. Maybe if you let me look at it awhile...” Maybe she could compare the doodles with the page. Find a pattern that might make sense.
“No can do. If the marks are more than doodles, we’ll figure it out.”
Audra released the book when he tugged. “May I leave?”
“You’ll be at Mrs. Margeson’s?”
Audra nodded.
“I think you’ll be safe there. Keep someone with you and don’t come back here until I clear it. I’ll have an officer escort you to her apartment.” The words had the same edge as all his others, but Audra sensed a shift. Maybe he really had a heart under all that gruffness. “Mike, please escort Miss Schaeffer to Mrs. Margeson’s apartment.”
“Yes, sir.” The officer moved to her side.
Audra collected her toothbrush and cosmetics from the bathroom and her bag from beside the couch.
“I’ll be in touch in the next day or two. Stay where I can find you.”
“Yes, Detective.” Audra followed the officer out of the apartment. The fresh air had a hint of something sweet. Orange blossoms? She took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly, trying to release the stress that had built since she arrived in this terrible town.
“Where to, ma’am?” The officer stood next to her, a solid mass of muscle that towered a good foot over her head. Maybe she should find someone like him to act as a bodyguard until she left town.
“I’m staying in an apartment on the first floor. Main entrance.”
“All right.” He led her to the sidewalk then paused, looking both ways as if looking for some kind of trouble. Then he hurried her around to the front door. “Which apartment?”
“Two-A.”
He pushed the button, and Mrs. Margeson granted access.
“Thank you.”
He followed her inside. “I’ll make sure it’s safe in here before I leave.” He stuck his head in each room, hand on his gun. Audra would have laughed if Rosie had been with her. Instead, his movements seemed serious and necessary, if a bit overdone. “All clear. You’re safe.”
Maybe he was right, but she’d thought she was safe several times since arriving. Tonight had shaken her.
“I’ll take care of her.” Mrs. Margeson settled an arm around Audra’s shoulders. “You’ll be fine here. I’ve already got the couch set up for you. It was that or sleeping on my twin. I didn’t think you’d mind since the couch was where you slept downstairs.”
Audra accepted the comfort of the landlady’s embrace, closing her eyes and imagining her mother held her. Her muscles turned to jelly as if weighted down by bags of sand, and she sagged against Mrs. Margeson.
“I need to stop talking and let you get some rest. The stress you have been under.” She tsked, a comforting sound. “I’ve got tea brewing. A nice cup of tea to help you relax after everything.”
“I don’t know that tea will help.”
The landlady’s chins jutted. “It can’t hurt anything.”
“Thank you.” Audra collapsed on the couch. A blanket and sheet were pulled across it with a pillow resting at one end. The cushions were wider than the davenport at Rosie’s. Maybe she’d sleep after all. Though, as she settled down, Audra thought she could sleep on a boulder if it allowed her to escape.
Mrs. Margeson walked back from the galley kitchen with two steaming china cups. “I’ve been thinking.”
“Oh?” Audra tried to smile her thanks when she accepted the cup.
“You should find a job with a studio.” She settled on the chair and stared over the top of her cup at Audra. “It could be a good way to get to know people who knew Rosemary.”
Audra considered the idea, liking the idea of doing something rather than passively waiting to someday learn what had happened. “I don’t know much about movies. That was always Rosemary’s area.”
“If you want answers, that’s where you start.”
“Why?”
Mrs. Margeson shrugged. “My nephew works for a studio and he’s told me some about how they work. I think it could give you quick insight.”
“But Rosie hadn’t broken in yet.”
“As far as you know. I guarantee she was at the studios. That’s where all the hopefuls spend their time. Her agent had her out and about. Screenings. Film tests. It didn’t matter if she had a part or not. Sometimes you have to be in the right place at the right time to be noticed.”
Audra tried to follow but got stuck on something Mrs. Margeson had said. "Do you know who her agent was?”
“I’m pretty sure it was Artie. You know, that Schmaltz guy.”
“His name rings a bell.” Audra sipped the weak brew. What she wouldn’t give for a heaping spoonful of sugar. Her brain must be fogged to have forgotten a name like that. “Do you think he’d see me?”
“Sure, but get to the studios.” Mrs. Margeson tucked a gray piece of hair behind her ear. “Well, it’s been another long day, filled with too much sorrow. I think we’d better get to bed. Are you done with that?” She grabbed Audra’s half-full cup. “I’ll see you in the morning. Make yourself at home and knock on my bedroom door if you need anything.”
After the kind woman disappeared into her bedroom, Audra quickly slipped into her nightgown and brushed her teeth. She settled on the couch and hugged the pillow to her chest. A deep emptiness settled over her. What had happened to her faith that God was good all the time?
She should pray, but words wouldn’t form. And the emptiness seemed to sink deeper into her soul. Today she’d had to do unimaginable things, and God seemed distant. Where did You go?
The words cycled over and over in her mind like a broken record. She’d always thought her faith was so strong, so solid. Unshakeable even. Yet in two short days, it felt like waves of grief and anger had crashed over it, revealing how very weak the foundation was.
Pulling her Bible from her bag, Audra flipped to the Psalms. She’d slowly been reading through them, and the book opened to Psalm 126 where her bookmark rested. She reread verses 5 and 6. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
Rejoicing? That seemed so impossibly far away. A mirage that she could not imagine.
Audra closed the Bible and tucked the pillow behind her head. She curled on her side and pulled the blanket over her shoulders. The promise felt hollow and empty. For right now, she’d have to rely on herself and hide her tears.