Private: #1 Suspect

CHAPTER 90

Justine woke up to a racket.

Rocky was going nuts and bananas, barking, his toenails clacking as he got traction on the hardwood floors in his scramble toward the front door.

Justine looked at the clock. It was just before seven.

What the hell was this? In between Rocky’s barks, she heard her doorbell ringing insistently.

She threw a robe on over her silk PJs and walked to the foyer, thinking it had to be Jack. Who else would dare? She peeked through the peephole, then opened the door to Danny’s manager, Larry Schuster.

His clothes were rumpled, his patchy beard was coming in-in sum, he looked like he’d slept in his car.

“I’m sorry about the time, Dr. Smith. I have to talk to you.”

“Call me Justine. Did something happen to Danny?”

“No, he’s still in the hospital. I was driving around all night. I finally came to a decision.”

“Here’s an idea, Larry. I’ll be at the office at nine. Why don’t you meet me there?”

“This will only take a few minutes. Please. It’s important. I can’t take a chance that someone sees me and thinks I told you what I know.”

“You’ll never eat lunch in this town again?”

Schuster smiled. “Exactly.”

Justine told Schuster to come in. She led him to the kitchen, asked him to make coffee and to take a seat at the counter. She went to her bedroom and reappeared a few minutes later, dressed for work.

Justine took a carton of milk out of the fridge, then poured coffee into mugs.

“Sugar?”

“Yes, please.”

Justine put the sugar bowl next to the milk. She fed her cat and her dog and told Schuster to start talking.

“There were other girls.”

“There were other girls what?”

“Besides Katie Blackwell, three other girls in the past year threatened to sue Danny for unwanted, um, sexual contact.”

“Shit,” Justine said. “You should have told me this before I took the case, Larry. This is a contract breaker, as if we didn’t already have enough reason to tell you and Danny good luck without us.”

“Please don’t do that,” Larry said.

“I was a shrink in a mental hospital, did you know that?”

“Yes. That place in Santa Monica. Crossroads.”

“That’s right. So I know a thing or two about mental disorders. But the way Danny keeps fooling me makes me think he’s delusional. He believes his own stories.”

“No, he’s telling the truth. He was loyal to Piper. He didn’t have sex with those girls.”

“Then who did? This crap about someone else running his life could possibly get Danny some kind of insanity deal, but I wouldn’t count on it. You should prepare yourself. Danny is looking at prison for a very long time.”

“He didn’t molest those girls and he didn’t murder Piper either.”

“Larry, unless you say, ‘I know he didn’t do it, because I killed her,’ I’m not going to believe you.”

Schuster said nothing. He just stared at her.

“Did you kill Piper, Larry?”

“No. No. I’m sorry. I was just thinking whether it’s all right for me to tell you what I think-”

“Tell me, damn it. Or get the hell out of here and don’t ever call me again.”

“Alan Barstow.”

“Do not make me drag this out of you.”

“Alan Barstow paid off those other girls. And he tried to pay off Katie Blackwell. Alan stands to make many, many millions on Danny and will do whatever it takes to keep him as a client.”

“Why would he kill Piper? What’s his motive?”

“Piper didn’t like Alan. She was trying to get Danny to change agencies. If Piper got between Alan and Danny, Alan would have been dangerous. He’s a very scary dude. You should seriously check him out, Justine. I think you should put him on a skewer and fire up the grill.”