The Night Stalker

Twenty-Seven

West Hollywood is famous for its nightlife, celebrity culture and diverse atmosphere. Themed bars, chic restaurants, futuristic and exotic nightclubs, art galleries, designer boutiques, sports centers, and the most varied selection of live music venues will keep you entertained from sunset to sunset. Informally referred to as ‘WeHo’ by most Angelinos, the word is that if you can’t get your kicks in West Hollywood, then you’re probably already dead.

It was just past 6:00 p.m. when Hunter and Garcia got to the Daniel Rossdale Art Gallery in Wilshire Boulevard. The building was small, but stylish. Smoked glass together with concrete-and-metal frames were used to create a pyramid-style structure that could be considered a sculpture on its own.

Calvin Lange, the gallery’s curator and Laura Mitchell’s closest friend, had agreed to a meeting. Laura’s last exhibition had been at his gallery.

Hunter and Garcia were shown to Calvin Lange’s office by an attractive and elegantly dressed assistant.

Lange was sitting behind his desk, but stood up as both detectives entered the room. He was a wiry, sandy-haired, smiling man in his early-thirties.

‘Gentlemen,’ he said as he firmly shook their hands. ‘You said over the phone that this was about Laura Mitchell?’ He indicated the two leather chairs in front of his desk and waited for both detectives to have a seat. ‘Have there been any problems with any of her paintings purchased from this gallery?’ He paused and quickly studied both detectives’ expressions. Then he remembered Laura’s mother’s phone call to him two weeks ago. ‘Is she OK?’

Hunter filled him in.

Calvin Lange’s eyes flicked from Hunter to Garcia and then back to Hunter. His lips parted but no words came out. For an instant he looked like a little kid who’d just been told Santa Claus was a con. Still in shocked silence, he approached the minibar built into the tall wooden unit on the north wall, and with a trembling hand reached for a glass. ‘Can I offer you a drink?’ His voice quivered.

‘We’re fine,’ Hunter said, taking in all his movements.

Lange poured himself a large glass of Cognac and quickly took a mouthful. That seemed to bring some of the color back to his face.

‘I was told by Mrs. Mitchell that you were probably Laura’s closest friend outside the family,’ Hunter said.

‘Maybe. .’ Lange shook his head as if disoriented. ‘I’m not sure. Laura was a very private person, but we got on well. She was. . fantastic: funny, talented, intelligent, beautiful. .’

‘She exhibited in this gallery not so long ago, is that right?’ Garcia asked.

Lange told them that Laura’s exhibition had run from the 1st to the 28th February and it’d been a tremendous success — very well attended, and all of the twenty-three pieces she’d exhibited had been sold. Laura had only been present for about two hours on the opening and closing nights, and Lange said she hadn’t seemed at all upset, worried or anxious at either of them.

‘Was that the last time you saw her?’ Hunter asked.

‘Yes.’

‘And did you use to keep in contact regularly? Phone calls, texts, that sort of thing?’

Lange moved his head from side to side. ‘Not that regularly. We usually chatted on the phone two maybe three times a month. It really depended on how busy we both were. Sometimes we did lunch, dinner or drinks together, but again, nothing regular.’

‘Mrs. Mitchell also told me that her ex-fiancé was here on her closing night,’ Hunter said.

Lange’s eyes shot in Hunter’s direction.

‘Do you remember seeing him talking to Laura at all?’

Lange took another sip of his Cognac and Hunter noticed his hands had started shaking again.

‘Yes, I’d forgotten all about that. He’d had a little too much to drink. He really upset her that night,’ Lange recalled. ‘They were by the staircase at the back of the gallery, away from the main floor and the crowd. I was looking for her because I wanted to introduce her to an important buyer from Switzerland. When I finally found her, I went over and that’s when I noticed she looked unhappy. As I joined them, he walked away angrily.’

‘Did she tell you what happened?’

‘No, she didn’t want to talk about it. She went straight into the ladies’ room and came out again about ten minutes later, but before doing so, she asked me to get him out of here, before he made a scene with the guests.’

‘A scene?’ Hunter questioned. ‘Did she tell you why?’

Lange shook his head. ‘But I sensed it was because he was jealous.’

Garcia craned his neck. ‘Jealous of whom? Did Laura have a date with her that night?’

‘No, but I saw her talking to someone earlier that night. And I know they swapped phone numbers because she told me.’

‘Could you describe him?’ Garcia asked.

Lange bit his lower lip and looked at a distant nothing as if considering something. ‘I can do better than that. I think I might have a picture of him.’