Chapter Thirty-One
Across town, Keith was just beginning his meeting with Shepherd. He'd simply brought out his PI credentials and mentioned he'd been hired to look into the murder of a local celebrity. As soon as Dax had heard the victim was his sister's longtime friend, he'd agreed to the interview.
"No, man, I hadn't seen Carrie in years," Dax said, sitting on a very comfortable looking couch, elbows on his knees and leaning forward as he gave Keith his full attention.
"How about your sister? Any idea if she'd seen her?" Keith asked pleasantly, trying to size up the man before him. Just by the looks of him, it was easy to see how he and Logan could have easily come to blows.
"No, no clue," Dax answered with a shake of his head, his eyes going over Keith's shoulder. Keith turned to see what the other man was looking at but not before he caught sight of the soft look that entered his eyes and the crooked half-grin that spread across his face. "Hey, Babe. Come meet Keith Mars. He's looking into Carrie Bishop's d-e-a-t-h."
A petite blonde who looked shockingly similar to his daughter entered the room holding a baby on her hip. She rolled her eyes at the man's spelling of the word 'death'. "Dax," the woman said in a tone that clearly indicated she thought he was being ridiculous, "It's not like she knows what that word means." Then she turned to Keith with a warm smile and said, "Nice to meet you, Mr. Mars. I hope Dax is doing all he can to help you out."
"He is," Keith assured her with a slight smile before adding, "The pleasure is mine, Ms...I'm sorry, what was your name again?"
"Bell," the woman replied, "Kristen Bell. And this," she said, indicating the baby and using a rather cutesy voice as she spoke about her, "Is little Lincoln." Then in a normal tone she explained, "Just got done feeding her lunch."
Dax stood and took the baby from Kristen, whining and pouting playfully as he said, "Aw man! You get the best lunches, Kid!" Then his eyes narrowed on the blonde's chest, adding, "I'd play with those suckers all day if your mom would let me!"
Keith nearly choked but Kristen merely laughed and rolled her eyes, saying wryly, "That's why she's the baby and you're the big kid."
Grinning, Dax looked at the baby and bounced her gently, asking in a cooing baby voice, "Am I a big kid? Is that what I am? Mommy's so smart. Maybe we can play together later, huh?"
Clearly wanting to leave the topic of her breasts behind, Kristen focused on Keith and asked, "What were you thinking we might be able to help you with in regards to your investigation, Mr. Mars?"
"Well," Keith cleared his throat. He was still reeling from the resemblance Ms. Bell had to his daughter in looks if not in personality. Pushing that aside, he said in a kind and professional tone, "I was hoping to see if I could find any information from people who knew her to indicate what might have happened to cause her demise."
"Wait," Dax spoke up, his tone a little edgy, "I thought they knew what happened. Echolls was arrested, right? Do they need evidence or something or are you working for that jackass?"
Weighing carefully his options for how to respond, Keith decided on saying in the least threatening manner he could manage, "That depends on how you look at it. I'm not being paid for my investigation. I like to think that allows me to be objective."
Dax eyed him warily but Kristen put her hand on his arm and he mellowed when he looked at her. It reminded Keith of how Veronica handled Logan. Kristen brought him out of his reverie by asking, "Have you spoken with Carly yet?"
"No," Keith replied honestly, "I'm actually following a lead right now regarding those who have a connection to Carrie and are also both investors and contributors to Echolls' holdings."
"What?!" Dax exclaimed, standing immediately, causing Kristen to take the baby from him. "Are you trying to say that we've invested in something belonging to Echolls? No way. Not a chance." He was stalking back and forth across the room now.
Kristen looked concerned but waited for Keith to speak, ignoring the pacing of her other half. Keith watched Dax carefully and asked evenly, "Are either of you familiar with The 09ER or Casa de Caring?"
Dax frowned, stopped his pacing, and looked to Kristen. "Heard of them. From Carrie and Carly, I think. Those belong to Echolls?"
"Logan has controlling interest in The 09ER and Casa de Caring is his brainchild," Keith explained.
"Then no, we don't have anything 'invested' in them," Dax spat out with barely controlled hostility.
"Wait," Kristen said thoughtfully, "Casa de Caring. Home for 'misanthropic teens', right?" She bounced the baby on her hip, reaching without thought for a small stuffed sloth to entertain the infant with.
"Yeah," Keith agreed, "That would be the one." Watching the blonde with the baby was unnerving. He'd never been able to imagine Veronica with a child before. It made him uncomfortable to think of it now. 'Grandpa,' he thought to himself. 'Nahhh...'
"Dax, I think we did contribute to that. Remember? Carly was talking about it ad nauseum last time she was here. We were impressed," Kristen reminded him, then smiled wryly at Keith before adding, "We didn't know that Echolls was involved in it. Just that it sounded like something that would have done Dax a lot of good once upon a time."
Snorting derisively, Dax added, "Echolls, too."
Kristen grinned and shook her head. Then she looked at Keith and explained with an amused twinkle in her blue eyes, "It seems I look like some girl that Echolls was hot for at some point. Apparently he never got over her cause one night he got drunk while Dax and I were at a club and mistook me for the girl. It was easy enough to peel him off me but not before Dax got a few swings in and Echolls professed his undying love for me."
Keith chuckled and shook his head as well before asking, "How long ago was that?"
"What was it? Three, maybe four years ago, Babe?" Kristen asked, shifting the baby and sitting on the couch diagonal from Keith finally.
"Yeah, sure. Something like that," Dax said, clearly still irritated.
"If you don't mind me saying so," Keith began with a slow grin, "I'm fairly certain that my daughter is the one that Logan mistook you for. I have to say, you do look surprisingly similar to her. In fact, if she weren't my daughter and I hadn't been there for her birth, I'd be convinced the two of you were twins."
"No shit?" Dax asked, coming to sit down beside Kristen, forgetting that he was trying to avoid using 'colorful language' in the presence of the baby.
"No shit," Keith confirmed with a nod. "So, considering I'm pretty sure that Veronica and Logan are back together at this point, I don't think you have anything more to worry about, Mr. Shepherd."
Kristen laughed and said, "See? You were so sure he was messing with you." She looked at Keith again and said seriously, "We haven't invested in that club, though. We specifically told our accountant that we didn't want to put anything into any risky investments like clubs or casinos or anything like that."
"How often do you check in with your investments and your accountant?" Keith asked.
The couple looked at each other questioningly and Kristen said, "Once a quarter at least. Maybe more."
"My information must be faulty, then," Keith said in an apologetic tone, "I'll have it double-checked when I get back to the office."
"We'll check in on our investments, too," Kristen assured, "Is there anything else we can help you with?"
"How well did the two of you know Carrie?" Keith asked.
"Not very," Dax answered. "I mean, Carly would bring her by sometimes but that's about it."
"Can you think of anyone who might have wanted to hurt her?" Keith asked.
"Besides Echolls?" Dax asked, a question that got him an elbow in the side from Kristen. "OOF! Ok, ok. To be fair, Echolls probably didn't hurt her intentionally and I doubt he killed her but seriously? Who else could it be?"
"That manager of hers is pretty sleazy," Kristen said with a shrug.
"Hey!" Dax protested, "Cobb is good people. He's my manager, too," he reminded.
"I know," Kristen grinned at him affectionately, "How do you think I know he's sleazy?"
Keith chuckled and nodded, "Alright. I'll check into him. Thanks." He pulled out his card and handed it over to Kristen, who swatted Dax's hand out of the way to take it. "Call if you think of anything that might be helpful."
The pair walked Keith to the door and said their farewells before parting ways. Once Keith was in his car, he pulled out his phone and shot Veronica a text: "More questions than answers. One down, one to go."
His meeting with Helen produced no data at all. Helen didn't know anything about Carrie since her mother passed away several years before. She hadn't even heard of her untimely demise. Ironically, in spite of being a celebrity herself, she didn't watch much television and rarely paid attention to the news. Helen hadn't even been aware that she'd made any investments or contributions and couldn't remember the name of anyone who might know something about it.
Keith was frustrated by the time he left her. He felt like he'd hit a number of dead ends with very few possibilities for finding a new direction to search. "I hope the kids have had better luck than I've had," he mumbled to himself. Then he trudged up the stairs to his apartment. Finally, he moved thoughtlessly through the apartment and crashed face first onto his bed. Hopefully the morning would bring some clarity.