Ellen Willis may be in her late fifties, but age seemed to only add to her stunning beauty. It was easy to see what had helped her fame in the show business and beyond. Her gorgeous cat-like eyes and full lips made for an attractive cover photo in many of the magazines framed throughout the house.
A personal assistant had led them to the vast living room on the second floor, overlooking the southside of Sausalito like a castle overlooking a nearby village of peasants.
A gray Berber rug stretched throughout the entire floor, accentuating the teak furniture and black leather couches, exuding an aura of wealth and perfection that made the room feel cold and sterile to the credulous onlooker.
Mike hoped that the accommodations weren't a mirror to their person of interest's mentality.
Several minutes later, as if to lavish the idea of making the two San Francisco Homicide detectives wait; Willis had appeared behind the doors of the custom elevator that had been added to the house after her accident.
Walking on crutches, her pantleg securely tied around the stump of her amputated right thigh, she approached them with a faint smile, then pointed her chin at the expensive pair of leather couches.
"You might as well sit down, gentlemen. It sounds like this is going to be a lengthy conversation."
Her raspy voice was accommodated by a condescending stare not lost on Mike as they waited for Willis to sit down across from them, before doing the same, then placing his fedora on the nearby end table.
"Harald tells me you guys want to know more about my…my accident. Serves me right to assume that two well-dressed men such as yourselves would just be asking for autographs."
At a lack of knowing which movies and TV-shows she had starred in, Mike cleared his throat, giving Steve the cue to let him do the talking for now, as he rested his hands in his lap.
"Miss Willis, we're currently investigating a murder case and your name came up during our research."
"Not from this crazy Seavers guy, I hope!", the actress shot back, her long blonde hair weaving as she shook her head fervently, "That guy is crazy. I am this close to putting a personal protection order in place because of him."
Sharing a brief glance with his partner, Mike pursed his lips, taking a fleeting moment to change the direction of the interview considering that Willis already knew where they are coming from.
"If you don't mind us asking, what was it that Winston Seavers bothered you about?", Steve tried, keeping his voice cautiously unreadable as he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
"My leg is what he bothered me about. He had some…some sick fascination about me missing part of my leg for some strange reason."
"Is that we he said?", Mike jumped back in, sensing something beneath the aggravation in Willis' voice, something that might bring them a lot closer to a case break, "That he ehm…that he had some sort of…fascination for your missing leg?"
"Well not like that…"
For the next few seconds, the actress fell quiet, her blue eyes drifting up to her massive panorama windows overlooking the town.
Not wanting to give her too much time to come up with a lie, Mike cleared his throat, then pointed his chin at her crutches.
"So if he wasn't fascinated by your leg, what did he bother you for?"
With an annoyed grunt, Willis glanced back over at the two San Francisco Homicide detectives and shook her head.
"He just… he kept asking me about what I was going to do to…you know, to fix it."
"Fix it?"
His intense questioning seemed to do the trick, when Willis drew in a deep breath, knowing that she had been cornered by the two men sitting in front of her.
"He ehm…I guess he wanted to know if I would want to wear a prosthetic leg or…or possibly have a new one surgically attached."
The last part of the sentence sent a shiver down Mike's spine and he glanced over at Steve, knowing the young Inspector shared the same foreboding worry.
Clasping his hands in his lap, the Lieutenant let the comment sit out in the open for a while, before clearing his throat.
"Miss Willis, I guess you'll have excuse my ignorance but I didn't know there was such a s thing as reattaching a limb once it's been…severed."
Exhaling slowly, she leaned forward as if to hug herself, her thin fingers grasping onto her left knee tightly, as she began to weave and shake her head.
"It's not…supposed to be possible…yet…Lieutenant Stone."
Mike opened his mouth, ready to pose the next question, when she continued.
"We're talking about a new type of procedure, a…a limb sparing procedure that allows the reattachment of limbs after severely traumatic injuries such as mine. It's still very much in the test phases but it sounds promising. A…possible return to normalcy for people like me."
"Excuse me but…but are you talking about reattaching your own limb or…another limb?"
The exasperation in Steve's voice travelled through the cathedral ceilings of the vast living room, threatening to crack his professional façade as the meaning of her words turned into a haunting image neither detective saw coming.
"My right leg was damaged beyond repair. There would be no point in attempting to re-attach it. No, gentlemen, this is far more sophisticated than some of the butcher work I had to endure when my leg was amputated. This…procedure allows for the limb of another person to be attached to my body. If all goes well, I'd be one of the first ones to undergo the surgery."
"Have you considered asking the people who are going to give you their extra leg what they think of this?"
The remark had escaped his lips before he could stop himself, but the ridiculousness of Willis' statement threw even Mike by surprise.
With a condescending grunt, she shook her head more fervently, a pink hue appearing beneath the thick makeup on her cheeks.
"This…this leg is obviously coming from a donor. No different than donating organs. Unfortunately, it's a very sophisticated process that takes a lot of time to perfect so I have been waiting patiently. But I have been assured that it will happen very soon and that I am at the top of the list."
Next to him, Steve was starting to have and harder and harder time handling the bizarre and morally compulsive situation, considering that there was a good chance that these…donors…were in fact not giving up their limbs voluntarily.
"Naturally, your…income and social status wouldn't have anything to do with you being on top of the list, would it?", the young Inspector said, trying to keep his voice even but Mike could hear it tremble beneath each word.
"Spare me the snide remarks, young man.", Willis shot back and nervously ran a hand over the stump of her right leg, "Unless you've been where I have been, you have no right to judge me. The last few years have been hell and I have seen my steep career in the show business plummet because of this…this disability. Because people think beauty means having two legs. Because seeing just one makes them uncomfortable. This surgery is my choice and my choice only."
"As long as it involves the transplantation of truly donated limbs, you might be right…", Mike added somberly, noticing the flicker of nervousness run through Willis when he said that, "But there's a chance that what you've been promised is coming at a high price. And I think Seavers thought the same thing and you know that. That's why you were trying to keep him at arm's length. But you see, now he's missing and there's a good chance that we found his leg floating in the waters over at Point Reyes Park. So considering this…surgery you speak of is so spectacularly innovative, I am sure you won't mind sharing with us the name of the surgeon and company who will be performing it, will you?"