April 6, 1935: 7:45 p. m.: Hollywood, California:
Debbie walked from booth to booth, making sure all her girls had had their fill of the fine cuisine the Hollywood landmark was famous for. The ladies were seated all throughout 'The Brown Derby' for this very special treat their boss was providing for them. It was Debbie's way of thanking them for all their hard work. They had only been in Hollywood for a few days, but the girls of the orchestra had worked long hours to perfect their music and make it appealing for the producers of the new musical they would be appearing in. This was a dream come true for Debbie and would provide the girls bragging rights for decades to come. Not just any old orchestra was asked to appear on camera for one of Hollywood's musical extravaganzas.
Once Debbie reached the table where her lead singer, 'Sunny', sat along with several of the other ladies, she had given the same grateful speech several times over. She was particularly pleased with her new singer. 'Sunny's' voice never failed to enchant her. It was always so clear and melodic. That said, she had noticed a slight difference in the young 'lady' lately. When she thought on it, she realized that there had been a subtle change in 'Sunny' ever since they first arrived at the LA depot. Debbie couldn't put her finger on why, but 'Sunny' seemed more reserved than she had been on the train, as if she was on guard for some reason. It was a curious thing, but Debbie didn't believe in being nosy about the private life of other folks. She had always respected those boundaries and only gave advice when specifically asked for it.
Whatever had gotten under 'Sunny's' skin, it hadn't interfered with her work. She was always faithful about showing up for rehearsals and done an excellent job every time. On the first day of rehearsals she had been slightly late and Cherry, her roommate, let it slip that 'she' had spent the night with a man 'she' had met on the train. Cherry was caught off-guard when Debbie asked why 'Sunny' didn't come with her, but she knew Debbie wouldn't be shocked or upset over the reason. Since 'Sunny' did show up less than ten minutes later, Debbie said nothing more about it. She only hoped that whoever the young man was that 'Sunny' was spending time with would be a decent guy and not break the sweet girl's heart.
At that moment, the reason for 'Sunny' being late was sitting in his hotel room anxiously waiting for the alter ego, Justin, to show up. He had thought about following Justin to the famous 'Brown Derby' and keeping a watchful eye on the young man, but he knew that the entire orchestra would be there and he would probably be quite safe. Justin had become quite adept at sneaking out of the ladies' hotel every night and meeting in Brian's hotel room, where they struggled to figure out a sure-fire plan to entrap their enemy, before they always ended up giving in to their desire for each other. They couldn't be certain, of course, but they felt oddly secure that the gunman hadn't figured out that Justin was leaving the ladies' hotel every night. Justin always sneaked back into his hotel and conspicuously left for rehearsals with the rest of the band every morning since that first day.
The one thing that had bothered Brian the most was not having a face to go with the crooked pinkie finger the gunman sported. This would have made his task in finding him far easier. Now he sat at the tiny desk in his hotel room and a slow grin spread across his face. He shuffled the papers in front of him around a little and found himself staring at the same photo he had been looking at for a couple of hours now. Again he thought of how glad he was in choosing not to follow Justin on this particular evening. Just two hours ago, he had answered his door when someone knocked and found a delivery boy standing there. The young kid handed over a thick manila envelope addressed to Brian at the hotel. Brian dropped a dollar bill in the kid's hand and closed the door quickly.
Brian noticed right away that the package was from his boss in New York. He had spoken to Carl just yesterday and the man had said nothing about sending him something. He did mention that they were still investigating Vanderbeke's history and planned on doing another search of the man's vast estate again, looking for more clues as to why he had been murdered. No one had been able to come up with any motive for the young man, Justin Taylor, to want Vanderbeke dead. After talking to Justin's classmates and friends, all of them had stated that Taylor felt gratitude to the older man for his patronage. Carl had developed a sense that there was much more to this murder than met the eye. That was the last Brian had heard, but now he had this package.
Brian tore open the large envelope and watched as several dozen papers and photos slid out onto the table. Brian spent the next two hours going over everything inside, first checking out the note that Carl sent with the items. In the note, he informed Brian that this last search of the Vanderbeke house had revealed a treasure trove of new information. One of the detectives had been searching through the book shelves lining the wall of the murder room. When he pulled out a book high up on the top shelf, he was almost knocked over by the shelf as it swung open to reveal a doorway to a hidden room. Once the excited officers entered the small, compact room that was set up like an office with file cabinets lining the wall, they found a vast new world concerning the known art collector and patron. They also found a couple of plausible motives for the man's murder.
As he perused the copies of pertinent items the detectives had found in New York, Brian was surprised Carl hadn't gotten ahold of him instantly over the find. He decided it was because he thought that Brian was now on a wild goose chase, going after a young man who might possibly not be the real culprit in the murder. They could find no link to Justin where the gun was concerned, or any gun for that matter. Of course, they had no idea back home that Justin had been the target of someone else. If they had, Brian was sure that Carl would have provided all this information much quicker.
The paperwork revealed a lot about shady dealings over stolen artwork by Vanderbeke and a co-conspirator named Johan Jaeger. There were actually two sets of books that Vanderbeke had been keeping. One set clearly involved stolen artwork, the other forged artwork. The books also revealed much more. It seemed that money was going out to Jaeger for stolen pieces but not for the forgeries being made from those same pieces. The only money going out for the forgeries was to a list of names that turned out to be artists who were not well established yet. Justin Taylor's name was only mentioned once at the top of the page with a question mark after it and no sum of money mentioned. An artist who was questioned admitted that he had been hired to forge a well known piece of art.
The package also contained some photos of the few artists mentioned and the man, Johan Jaeger. Carl asked Brian to show the photos to young Taylor and see what he had to say about them if he ever caught up with the young man. He then gave Brian until the end of the week to return home with or without the young man, who still had to be considered a person of interest. This meant that Brian had six days at most to end this thing and protect Justin from further harm. Brian stared at the photos again, his eye moving on and then stopping at the photo of the distinguished-looking older man. He read some of the report gathered on the man. It was intriguing. Brian wondered if he was their mystery gunman. He apparently had a record and was built the same as Justin's foe. It was too bad his hands were not revealed in the photo. Brian committed the face to memory and continued to wait for Justin. He could hardly wait to pass on this newest information.
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While Brian stared into the photo of Johan Jaeger, the man himself was staring into the mirror looking at that same face. All he saw was his anger reflected back at him. His frustration had grown to monumental proportions in the last few days. It was supremely galling to have his target right in front of him and never get the chance to end this thing once and for all. Johan was a man more than willing to take risks, but he wasn't crazy. He knew that getting rid of Taylor had to look like an accident if he wanted to avoid the police asking why someone would want him dead, throwing suspicion for Vanderbeke's murder onto someone else. The attempt on the kid's life on the train had been a colossal mistake in judgement. He had let himself think like a common criminal. His original plans to push the kid off the train after breaking his neck, hopefully making it look like an accident, had gone out the window when he saw his chance just before reaching their final destination. That moronic move had cost him dearly, including bringing the cop into the picture.
It had become obvious that Taylor was avoiding being caught alone since then, although Johan could not figure out why the kid didn't just abandon his disguise and move on. It had also become obvious that Taylor had every intention of staying with the band. He wondered if the kid actually liked dressing as a woman or simply felt safe in his persona as a female singer. Even though it was puzzling, Johan saw no evidence that the kid was going to run, so he continued to keep an eye on him from the moment he left the hotel in the morning until he went back to the hotel at night. Johan had hired a PI to keep an eye on the hotel at night to see if the young man ever left. The man had been given Justin's photo as both 'Sunny' and himself, but the detective said he never saw him leave.
There had also been no sign of the police detective assigned the task of bringing Taylor back to New York City. His inside sources back home informed Johan that Kinney was still on the job, although that was all they knew, but Johan was fairly certain the man was enjoying the Hollywood scene more than doing his job. After all, he had had Taylor in his sights whether he knew who the blonde singer was or not. Since he hadn't arrested the young man, Johan figured that the cop had only thought he was protecting an innocent woman from being attacked when he stopped Johan from completing his job. This made things easier for Johan, since he wouldn't have to deal with both men, so he wasn't complaining. It also left Taylor more vulnerable. Any advantage Johan had made him happy. He forced a small smile on his face. He just had to calm down and be patient. Taylor would let down his guard sooner or later, and then he would be silenced. Taylor was bound to slip up soon. He couldn't possibly avoid being alone forever.
To be continued..........