Point of Impact

Michaels wished Toni were here, so she could see just how vapid and unattractive this woman was, despite her looks and attempt at what she thought passed for sophisticated animation.

Michaels glanced at Howard, who kept a straight face but offered no help. Jay seemed entranced by the rise and fall of MJ’s hooters under the barely-able-to-hold-them halter top.

“Is there anything you can think of that might have a connection to something called Thor’s Hammer?”

She turned and waved at somebody passing the tables. “Hey, Tom, baby! How are you!” She made a kissy face at Tom baby.

Michaels caught the hint of a grin on Howard’s face, but when he looked closer, the grin vanished.

“MJ?”

“What? Oh, no, I don’t remember anything about a sore hammer.”

“Where was the movie shot?” Jay asked. Apparently his breast-induced trance was not as deep as Michaels thought.

“Where?”

“Yes. The location.”

She glanced upward, as if expecting the answer to be written on the underside of the big umbrella sheltering their table. Then she looked at Jay and gave him her full-wattage smile: “Malibu,” she said. “On the beach.”

Michaels got the gist of Jay’s question and followed it up. “Anything unusual about the location?”

“Unusual? No, I don’t think so. It was kind of like a private beach, Todd knew some of the owners who had houses right next to it, so they roped it off for the shoot. A lot of tourists came by every day and asked for autographs between setups. I have a lot of fans.”

“I heard a critic say your performance in Scream, Baby, Scream was first-rate,” Howard put in. He smiled.

Michaels looked at Howard. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth.

“Really? I tried hard to get some subtext into that, but the script was, you know, just full of major problems. Writers just don’t understand what a proper vehicle should be like for actors. They are all hacks out here.”

Probably used too many big words, Michaels thought. Those two- and three-syllable ones must be killers.

That was unkind, Alex. This is Hollywood, remember, it’s all about what looks good. It’s not her fault how it works.

“Well, we thank you for your time, MJ,” he said. “You’ve been a great help to us.”

“Hey, no problem. I’m glad to cooperate with the government any way I can. If you get a chance to talk to the IRS, tell them to quit auditing me, okay?” She flashed the smile, inhaled deeply, and then turned to wave again. “Barry! How are you!”

Waiting for the parking lot attendant to fetch the rental car, Howard said, “Well, that was helpful in a major way, you know?”

Michaels said, “And when did you see Scream, Baby, Scream, John? Dial it up on your room cable last night?”

“Just my bit to keep the conversation moving,” he said. “Besides, I didn’t say I’d seen it, I said ‘a critic said.’ That would be our staff critic here. I was just taking Gridley’s word for it.”

“Well, I suppose we should go try Larry,” Michaels said. “And hope that he and his boyfriend have patched things up since Surf Daze.”

“Or Todd,” Howard said. “Maybe he’s gotten his Paxil refilled.”

“Maybe we don’t need to,” Jay said.

Michaels and Howard looked at him.

“The inscription in the capsule said the grandchildren would know where to find him. I think MJ might have told us.”

“The beach at Malibu,” Michaels and Howard said together.

“Big-time drug dealer could afford to live there.”

“It’s a long stretch of coastline,” Howard said. “Hundreds of homes.”

Jay said, “But movie shoots in cities have to have all kinds of permits. I can access the records for the surfer pic and find out exactly where the location was. That would narrow it down to a handful of houses. We could check ownership records on those, eliminate some of them.”

Michaels said, “That’s good thinking, Jay.”

“I didn’t think you were paying full attention to your work back there,” Howard said.

“Silicone doesn’t do it for me,” Jay said. “Besides, she’s much smarter in her movies, which ain’t saying much.”

“Okay, get on-line and find out what you can.”

“One other thing,” Jay said. “I got a blip during the interview.” He waved the flatscreen, looked at Howard. “Several witnesses, a couple of them nuns, attest that Brett Lee was in the nursing home yesterday when you were being shot at. It couldn’t have been him.”

“Damn,” Howard said. “Then who?”

“Maybe your dog crapped on somebody’s lawn,” Jay offered.

“I don’t think so,” Howard said. “We don’t have a dog.”

“Maybe you should get one. One with big teeth.”

The car hop arrived and pulled the rental car to a stop. Michaels took a five from his wallet and gave it to the man, who looked at it as if it were a piece of used toilet paper. Lord, what kind of tips was he used to getting?

Inside, Michaels said, “Find us a place to go, Jay.”

“I’m on the case, boss.”

34

Malibu, California

When Tad woke up, he noticed a couple things: First, he was on the deck, with the beach umbrella doing its best to keep him in the shade, but starting to lose that battle.

Second, there were some men with guns wandering around in the house.

Fortunately, he recognized one of the gunslingers, so he realized the bodyguards had showed up, and Bobby must have decided to hire them.

Shit happened when you went into hibernation. You got used to it.

He looked at his watch, and the date showed he’d been out for a couple of days. Not too bad.

His head felt as if somebody had opened it with a dull shovel and poured half the beach into it. He was way beyond grainy. All the rest of him just hurt. Bad.

He managed to get to his feet, using the umbrella for support, and headed toward the bathroom. Once, after sleeping for a couple of days, he had stood over the toilet peeing for more than a minute, on and on, must have pissed half a gallon. For some reason, his bladder never let go while he was out, and he counted that as a blessing.

The guy with the gun that Tad recognized nodded at him. “Hey, Tad.”

Tad nodded in return. The name came to him, slow, but there. “Adam. How’s it going?”

“Good. Bobby’s out. He’s supposed to be back in a while.”

“Cool.”

He shambled into the bathroom, cranked the shower up, then stripped. He waited a few seconds for the water to heat up, then stepped into the shower. He stank, and he could pee just as well in the shower.

He needed to get to his stash. He wasn’t gonna be able to function real well for a couple of days yet, no matter what, but certainly not straight.

He opened his mouth, let the needle spray rinse the taste of tar and mold out, spat three or four times, then swallowed a couple of mouthfuls of the hot water. He knew he was dehydrated, and if that got bad enough, his electrolytes could get wacky enough to stop his heart. He’d known guys on speed who hadn’t eaten or drunk