Poppy Harmon and the Pillow Talk Killer by Lee Hollis (famous ebook reader .txt) 📗

his Big Gulp and was now chewing on the ice. Poppy sat patiently in the passenger’s seat, her bones tired, dreading the two-hour drive back to Palm Springs they would have to endure after finally confronting Greta Van Damm.

Three hours later, when seven o’clock rolled around, and there was still no sign of Greta, Matt suggested they hang it up and head home. But Poppy insisted they give it a little more time, and her instinct paid off. At seven forty-five, the parking garage elevator doors opened, and they spotted Greta Van Damm, phone clamped to her ear, a large Marc Jacobs crossbody bag flung around her shoulder, march straight for her car in her assigned space. Poppy and Matt immediately jumped out of the rental, a Ford Fusion, and hurried over to intercept her. Greta heard the rapid clicking of heels, sensing them coming up behind her, and spun around, almost striking a defensive posture. She groaned and lowered her guard when she saw Poppy and Matt.

“You two just won’t give up, will you?” Greta sighed. “What can you possibly hope to gain by stalking me?”

“We had a very interesting conversation with Lulu Hopkins,” Poppy said sharply.

This got Greta’s attention. She appeared to steel herself for what was about to come next. “I’m sorry, who?” Greta asked lamely, her performance even more lackluster than the receptionist Julia’s.

“The extra who I saw you pay off with a big wad of cash,” Poppy said, taking a step closer. “Or are you going to deny that even happened?”

Greta’s nervous eyes flicked back and forth between Poppy and Matt. She was obviously agitated, then took a deep breath and exhaled. “Lulu should not be talking to anyone. She signed a legally binding NDA.”

“How many other women out there have signed similar NDAs for Hal Greenwood Productions?” Matt asked.

Poppy could feel her anger rising and she could no longer keep her thoughts bottled up inside of her. “The idea of these NDAs designed to cover up Hal Greenwood’s sexual misconduct is grotesque. But what I find even more insidious, more revolting, Greta, is your blatant complicity to protect a predator.”

Greta’s mouth dropped open in shock. “How dare you!”

“Am I mistaken?” Poppy spit out. “Are you saying you did not turn a blind eye to your boss’s abhorrent behavior, that you did not play a critical role in covering it all up for the sake of the company’s profit margin?”

“I-I don’t have to stand here and take this,” Greta sputtered as she fumbled in her bag for her car remote while hurrying toward her car.

Poppy and Matt did not chase after her, but stood in place, watching her run off, as Matt called out to her, “Did you do the same with Danika?”

Greta had just retrieved her remote and unlocked her Lexus when she stopped cold, stared at the ground a few moments, and then slowly turned back around to face Poppy and Matt. “Hal and I had nothing, repeat nothing, to do with that poor girl’s murder, and if you dare to suggest otherwise, we will sue you for defamation.”

“Okay, maybe you are innocent, but how can you be so sure about Hal? Were you with him on set at the time Danika was murdered?” Poppy asked.

Greta hesitated as she apparently went over the timetable in her mind, quickly realizing she could not vouch for her boss’s whereabouts, and managed to squeak out a resigned, “No.”

There was an icy silence.

Greta took a step toward them. “Look, I know Hal has his problems, and he’s many things, a jerk, a bully, a misogynist, but a killer? That’s ridiculous. I have to go.”

Greta was so rattled she dropped her car remote and had to bend over and pick it up off the ground, trembling even worse than the poor receptionist’s shaky hands back up on the twelfth floor. She glanced back at Poppy and Matt one more time, her eyes filled with fright, and then slid behind the wheel of her car and shut the door. The Lexus roared to life, the front and rear lights popping on, and Greta hastily backed out of the parking space to make a fast getaway. But her nerves obviously got the best of her, and she hit the gas a little too hard and banged right into the back of a BMW 750 parked directly across from her, smashing out both taillights.

Matt turned to Poppy and shook his head, grinning. “Looks like these car accidents are becoming an epidemic.”

Chapter 26

Lynn Jordan loved posting photos on Instagram. She was one of those people, the kind Poppy could not understand, quite frankly, who relished social media, always keeping her friends, family and followers up-to-date on all of her various activities. There was Lynn shopping for avocados at a local farmer’s market. Lynn with her yoga mat underneath her arm and a Starbucks coffee in hand on her way to a Bikram class. Lynn, doubled over laughing, as she tried discussing an embarrassing sex scene from this month’s selection at her book club meeting. And it was with great interest that Poppy studied this morning’s post. Lynn making breakfast for her loving husband, who was on his way to the gym. There was Lynn dishing out pancakes on a plate as her husband sat at the kitchen table behind her, a resigned expression on his face, as he glumly reached for his orange juice. It was obvious Detective Lamar Jordan did not appreciate his wife’s savvy when it came to social media, but as an aspiring clothes designer, it was in Lynn’s best interest to gain a public profile, so her husband more or less had to go along and accept it.

Poppy leaned back in her chair at the small kitchen table in her new house, amidst stacks of still-unpacked moving boxes, sipping her coffee, as she grinned knowingly at the tank top Detective Jordan was wearing with the logo for In-Shape gym. There was one location in Cathedral City, not