Revenge Can Be Murder

Chapter 1

"You know what Travis, I think it’s time we give Becca what she

deserves."

"Uh, what would that be, Jax?"

"A bullet right between the eyes. Or maybe something that makes her

suffer for what she did to me. No one, but no one takes a role from

me."

"How come I have the feeling you want me to do something?"

"Because I do want you to do something. I want you to kill Becca

Mullins for me. I’m the one who’s supposed to be starring with

Jules Bryant." Jax said as she banged her hand on the desk.

"Jackie, she’s your under study. Nobody cares about an under study

at all. Besides, when was the last time you got sick before a

performance?

"High school, but I still want her dead. I’m going to be the star

of Funny Girl. I can’t have her around. We haven’t seen each other

since high school, when we were discussing who screwed up whose

life."

"How do you want it done?" Travis asked as he took a swig from the

decanter of port at his side.

"Any way you want. No one will figure out it was me. She’ll be

thought to have committed suicide." Jackie said with a smile as

she propped her feet up on the desk.

***

It was a gorgeous Tuesday morning. The sun was shining and the sky was

as blue as ever with pearly white clouds hovering in the

clearer-than-water sky. One thing was not feeling too well in the Sloan

household. And that was Steve Sloan.

"Steve, are you okay?" his father, Dr. Mark Sloan, bellowed from

atop the stairs.

"I really don’t want to...." but before he could finish his

sentence, he started to feel sick to his stomach.

"I’ll take that as a no." said Mark as he trotted down the stairs

to Steve’s apartment. He found Steve in the bathroom with his head in

the toilet.

"I really don’t feel good." Steve groaned as he lifted his head

from the toilet bowl.

"I imagine so. Let me have a look at you."

"Are you sure you want to so that? I may get si..." Steve quickly

pulled his head back into the toilet bowl. Once Steve had finished, Mark

placed a fatherly hand on Steve’s forehead.

"Dear God, you’re burning up!" Mark exclaimed. "You’d better

get back into bed."

"I will, once I stop retching my guts... out, but I gotta get to

work. I have tons of work I gotta do and...."

"You aren’t going anywhere until you stop throwing up and your

fever breaks. I’ll just call you in sick."

"Just like the old days." Steve said as he hung his head on the

side of the toilet.

"That was the first time I haven’t thrown-up in about five

minutes." Steve triumphantly said as he gathered the empty trash can

from the bathroom and carried it into his room.

"You may just have the case of the 24-hour flu. When was the last

time you ate?"

"Last night at Jason’s bachelor party. I’m surprised I didn’t

wake up in his living room."

Mark had already climbed back up the stairs and then back down before

Steve came out of the bathroom. He had brought with him some pills and a

cup of tea. He watched his son climb back into bed and roll over on his

side so that his head hung over the side in case he had to throw-up into

the bucket.

"I gotta go, but I’ll be by later to check on you. Just remember to

drink lots of fluids and get some rest."20

But before Mark could finish, Steve was already sound asleep.

***

It was a long grueling day of singing and acting, and by three

o’clock, Becca was tired and bored. 91Being and understudy,’ she

thought, 91is really boring’. She didn’t even get a chance to read

her lines aloud. Fortunately, John Dalton, the director, saw she was

bored and decided she should have a chance. John favored Becca because

he knew she was a better Fanny Brice than Jackie could ever live up to

be, but he had enough of Jackie’s whining and gave the part to her.

"All right Jackie, nice job, but I want Becca to practice right now.

Take a breather."

Jackie glowered over in Becca’s direction as she tramped down the

stage. Becca jumped up from her seat and happily bounced up the stairs.

"Okay Bec, I want you to start where Fanny starts singing "Don’t

Rain on My Parade."

20

John loved hearing Becca sing. Her voice could touch the heart of

even the most belligerent man. He scolded himself every day for handing

the part over to Jackie. By five o’clock, John interrupted Becca in

midst of the last line in the play.

"Bec, that was better than yesterday’s. You did very well." John

turned to face the rest of the cast. 0B "I’ll see you all tomorrow

at nine-thirty sharp. Goodnight." he said as he grabbed his jacket

from one of the chairs in the audience. Becca walked next to the leading

male, Jules Byant. He was complementing her on how well she performed

as well as the other cast members did when she rehearsed. Jackie envied

Becca’s increasing popularity among the cast. Travis sat next to her

in the audience.

"I got some of this stuff from a guy off of the 91market’. It’s

Arsenic. Just a couple of drops in her drink will knock her out, for

good."

"Sounds like the Los Angeles version of Arsenic and Old Lace."20

"That’s what I was going for. I’ll catch up with you later.

I’ve got to go."

***

Mark was feeling tired as the time rolled around for his shift to

end, but he was happy it was over. Steve said he was feeling fine when

he called, but Mark was still a little wary from the morning’s events.

Just as Mark was leaving, his cellular phone went off.

"Dr. Sloan!" Mark said cheerfully.

"Hi Mark, It’s me Becca, can you come and get me at the theater?

I’ve been trying to get Steve to pick me up, but I was told he

wasn’t at the office."

"That’s because he called in sick today. Sure, I’ll come and get

you. I’m on my way home now. If you want, you can ride over to my

house for dinner. I’m sure you haven’t eaten yet."

"You read my mind. Thanks a lot Mark. You’re a life saver."

"Comes with the job." he chuckled. "Bye."

"Bye."

***

Becca sat on the steps of the theater. It was starting to get dark as

John came out of the theater hall.

"Hey, Bec!"

"Oh hi Mr. Dalton." she said blandly as though she were depressed.

"What’s wrong?"

"It’s Jackie."

"What about her?" he asked as he sat down next to her on the step.

"I feel like she’s up to something, you know? It’s like I have

this strange feeling she wants to kill me. I don’t know, maybe

I’m just stressed out."

"I’ve noticed Jackie hasn’t taken a like to you. Sometimes I

wonder, why?"

"Do you really want to know Mr. Dalton ?" said Becca as she looked

at him. John was beginning to show the signs of turning sixty years old.

It had been years since she last saw him. That was when she was in high

school chorus. He had been her chorus teacher and when she saw he was

the director of the local theater group, she thought she would come and

audition to be in the play.

"Oh come on, you’ve known me since you were thirteen. You can call

me John now. Now tell me, what happened between you two." he said

as he put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. He knew it had to be a

tender subject as she started to speak, for her words just dripped

sadness and hate.

"It all started right before I went to high school. I had a really

good friend, who saw me for who I was, not for how I looked.

Valentine was her name, we all just called her 91Valley’. We met

through our brothers’ friendship. At the time I weighed about 240

pounds. I was a very depressed child a lot of the time and I kinda

ate food to relieve the pain of depression. Well, after I while , I got

chummy with Jackie. At the time, Valley and I were really tight

friends. I spent most of my time there over at Valley’s house and

never at Jackie’s. So I think that’s probably where she started

to get envious of my relationship with Valley. Jackie found

Valley’s phone number and told her I said some things about her. Then

after that, Jackie started to get on Valley’s pal list and I was

scratched off. From that, I got depressed again and I lost all of that

weight. That’s why I look like the 115 pound beauty I’m now known

for being."

"Wow, sounds deep. You really weighed 240 pounds?"

"Actually, my heaviest was 289. I knew I had to lose it, and I lost

it all in six months. That was in my freshman and sophomore years at

high school."

" I remember your face looking thinner every month during those

years. I remember even the time you mouthed off at me. Boy, did

you tick me off." he said with a laugh. He watched as small tearlets

rolled down her cheeks.

"I remember that too. I’ve always regretted what I said to you. You

know, I learned the most from you than all my teachers combined."

she said just as Mark’s car rolled up to the curb. She watched as Mark

got out.

"Hi Bec! You ready?"

"Who’s that?" John asked with a bit of curiosity in his voice.

"Oh that’s my boyfriend’s dad. He’s a doctor at Community

General Hospital, and he’s a consultant to the LAPD since Steve’s

a cop."

"Steve’s your boyfriend, right?"

"Yes he is. Well, Mr. Dalt- I mean John, I had better be going. It

was nice to talk to you. Thanks for listening to me. I haven’t

spoken about that for years."

"No problem. I had better get home or Mrs. Dalton will kill me!" he

said as he scooted off to his car.

Becca walked over to Mark’s car. Mark held the door for her and

helped her in. Quickly, he got into the driver’s seat and they sped

away.

***

Jackie sat alone in her apartment. The shades were drawn and the

lights were dimmed. She loved being alone in the solace of her

apartment. She had many boyfriends in her time, but she never really

loved them, she only want their money and their looks. Jackie laid back

on the leather couch and sipped her wine as she usually did after a hard

day’s work. There was a knock on her door and she rose slowly to go

answer it. She looked through the peep hole.

"Ah yes him." she opened the door.

"Oh, it’s you. I though I was going to see you tomorrow." she

said to the man.

"How could you do that to Becca?" he asked her

"Hey, who ditched who? I just did Valley a favor by getting rid her

that’s all."

"You lucked out to, Valley ditched you as well."

"You know I’m getting really tired of hearing about Becca."

"Well, you won’t have to hear about her anymore."

"She’d dead, right? Thank you God!"

"Nope. You are." the man said as he pulled out a silenced pistol

and quickly shot her right between the eyes. Jackie’s body didn’t

even make a sound as it tumbled to the hard wood floor.20

***

"Steve! We’re home!" Mark shouted as he opened the front door. He

took Becca’s jacket and his own and hung them in the closet.20

"Why don’t you go and have a seat in the living room. I’ll be

right back." he said to her as he walked down the stairs to Steve’s

apartment.

"Steve?"

"In the bathroom." Steve bellowed.

"Still feeling sick?"

"Nope. In fact, I felt pretty good around three o’clock." said

Steve as he came out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist and

another to dry his hair.20

"Well, I’ll go start dinner. You had better make it quick,

Becca’s waiting for you upstairs."

"I better hurry then. I can’t keep her waiting." Steve said as he

quickly threw the towel down after his father had already started to

climb back up the stairs.20

"He’ll be right up. Would you like anything to drink.?"

"No thanks. Would you like some help in the kitchen?" she asked

him.

"Sure."

While Mark cooked some steaks, Becca took care of the salad.20

"Who was that man you were talking to?" he asked her.

"Oh. That was John Dalton, the director. He was my chorus teacher

when I was in high school."

"You’ve known him that long?"

"Oh, absolutely. He was my favorite teacher. When I heard he was

directing this play, I thought I might as well say hello and also

audition."

"When I got there, you looked a little upset. What was wrong?" Mark

asked as he turned the steaks over to continue their cooking"

"It’s really hard to explain."

"What is?" Steve asked.20

"Ah, there you are. I missed you." Steve said as he bent down to

kiss her.

"I missed you too." she said.

Mark watched the two love birds exchange glances while they finished

the salad. He baked some potatoes and checked the steaks again.

"Now what were you two talking about while I was making myself look

pretty?" Steve joked. Becca laughed as she carried the salad bowl over

to the all ready set table.

"We were talking about the musical rehearsals today, that’s all.

Now, how are we feeling. I heard my baby cakes wasn’t feeling to

well." she said with a baby toned voice.

"Oh just a bout with the 24-hr flu. However, it only lasted about six

hours. I feel great enough to run!" he said as he tickled her

playfully.

"That’s nice." she giggled.

"Watch out, hot steaks comin’ through." said Mark as he quickly

set the plate of steaks and potatoes down on the table. All through

dinner, they talked and enjoyed each others’ company. Around

ten-thirty, Mark had taken Becca home to her penthouse. During their

ride, she had told him about everything she and John had talked about.

***

"Has anyone seen Jackie?" John asked the cast who were assembled on

stage ready to begin. Becca sat in the audience and watched. She was a

little confused on why Jackie hadn’t shown up. Jackie loved to make an

entrance. She thought that every one thinks she is the greatest, but

every one hated her for her attitude. With baffled head shakes, every

one said 91no’.

"Well, Bec, guess it’s your turn to start out first." John said

with a smile. "Take it from the top."

Jules Bryant walked up to Becca, "Aren’t we lucky today?"

"Luck doesn’t exactly describe it." she giggled.

***

"Look’s like no forced entry, no sexual activity, just a whole

lotta nothin’. " Jason Keaton said to Steve, who was standing next

to the body of Jackie DiAngelo.

"Boss, you thinkin’ somethin’?" Jason asked.

"Tell me who found the body again."

"Some guy named Travis Archer. Bill and Mike already took him down to

the station to get a statement."

"Good." Steve said as he watched Amanda bound up the steps.

"Hi Steve, what do you have?"

"Female, mid thirties, she had been shot right between the eyes."

"Wow, what a way to die, huh?"

"Take the body to Community General Hospital morgue." Steve

commanded.

Amanda’s assistants did as they were told and carried the body bag

out of the apartment and down to the coroner van.

"Steve are you feeling okay? You look a little pale."

"I just have a real bad migraine headache, that’s all."

"Why don’t you go home. I’ll drop the autopsy report by later."

"Home sounds good right now, but I have got mounds of paperwork that

have to get done. I’ll just take one some Advils."

"I guess I better find the next to kin." Steve mumbled as he rubbed

his temple.

***

"Steve, Jackie DiAngelo was murdered" Amanda said, holding up the

manilla case file.

"Just throw the file in that bin. I’ll check it later after I

finish filing these." he said as he pointed to the large tower of case

files that laid on his desk.

"I think Jesse has off today, why don’t you ask him to help you?"

"He’s probably still asleep. Why would he want to work on his day

off?"

"Steve, you’re obviously not feeling well. You need some help so

you can get that done, investigate this new murder and get some

rest."

"I think I can handle it. All I need is a vacation, and that comes

NEXT week. I’ll investigate this one later. Right now, I really

have to work on having these sorted out. Jason’s supposed to help me

file these things."

Jason quickly ran into the room.

"I got the reports you wanted on Jackie DiAngelo. She doesn’t have

any family left. She works in this little theater in downtown LA

right now."

"Jason, good work. Now you get to do the most critical part of being

a Homicide detective. Filing case files."

"Aww man!" said the young officer.

"Now I can go investigate. Thanks Amanda."

"Sure no problem."

***

"Don’t tell me not to live, just sit and putter. Life’s candy and

the su...Steve? What are you doing here?" Becca called from the stage.

"Bec, that’s not in the script."

"I’m sorry Mr. Dalton."

"All right everybody. Take five."

Becca bounded down the stairs and into Steve’s welcoming arms.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I work here, for now." she said. "What are you doing here?"

John wandered up to Steve.

"What can I do for you sir?"

Steve withdrew his badge from his jacket pocket.

"Lieutenant Steve Sloan, Homicide. I have some bad news about one of

your actors, Jackie DiAngelo."

"What happened?" Becca asked.

"She was murdered. Sometime last night."

"Oh my God." John said." Who could have done a thing like

that?" his tone sounded nonchalant, which brought questions running

through Steve’s mind. 20

"What a shame." Becca said.

20

John turned to fast the cast that stood on the stage.

"Guys, I have some very distressing news to tell you. Jackie DiAngelo

has been murdered. With this news, I’m canceling practice for

today and tomorrow."

Steve watched the reaction on the cast members faces. No more than

three actually started to cry. That was really strange. Steve turned to

Becca, who had her head nestled against his firm chest.

"You need a ride home?"

"Until my car gets out of the shop, I guess I do. Thanks."

"No problem."

"I’ll see you later, John."

"All right, hon. Take care."

"You too."

As they were driving, Steve noticed Becca was being extremely quiet.

"Were you and Jackie close, Bec?"

"Once, but that was a long time ago. It’s a very long story, I

don’t think it would interest you very much."

"You know I have all the time in the world when it comes to the

people I love. I have an idea, why don’t you spend the rest of

the day with me at the beach. Later on, we’ll go out to a romantic

dinner just the two of us."

"I don’t know. I guess I could, but could you swing by my

apartment? I have to feed my dog."

"Why don’t we take him with us? He could use a run on the beach."

"Trevor would enjoy that." she smiled at him. He was glad to see

her smile.

She came out of her apartment with a black duffel bag and a rather

large lab at her side.

"Look Trev, it’s Steve." she said to the dog, who wagged his

tail.

"Come on big fella, get on into the back." Steve said as he pulled

the tailgate down.

"Watch out, he’s a very good jumper." she laugh as she put the

bag in the back of the truck. As soon as Trevor lept into the back,Steve

shut the tailgate and climbed back into the driver’s side.

***

"Mark, why does Steve look so pale?" Amanda asked.

"I don’t know. He had a fever and was throwing up Tuesday. Today,

he was just a little bit pale, but that’s about it. I don’t know.

It could be food poisoning. He’s susceptible to the flu and colds,

so it could be that too.What else did you find about Jackie’s

murder?"

"Pretty clear cut, I’d say. The shot right between the eyes is what

killed her, pure and simple."

"Steve find the next to kin, yet?"

"Doesn’t have any. They’re all dead. Not even a boyfriend to be

exact. I hate speaking ill of the deceased, but she was no real

looker. I really don’t know how she made it in Hollywood with

everything almost based on looks these days."

"You know, Becca told me she had one true friend and his name was

Travis Archer. Steve find him yet?"

"He’s the one to find the body."

The door to the doctor’s lounge flung open and there stood Jesse,

ready for his next shift.

"Hi all!" he said as he grabbed a mug and started to pour coffee

into it.

"I though you had the day off?" Amanda asked.

"Nope. I had ten hours off. I spent that in bed. What are you talking

about?"

"Steve’s latest case."

"Who bit the dust this time?" Jesse kidded. Amanda looked at him

with a grotesque face.

"A woman named jackie DiAngelo."

"Uh, I hate her." he said as he took a sip from the mug.

"You know her?"

"I remember her from when she was in the ER with a broken ankle. She

had the worst attitude a person could have. I can’t say too much

for the looks though, but it did nothing to help her personality."

Mark’s pager went off.

"Gotta go guys. Dinner at my place when you get off."

"Thanks, Mark!" the yelled after him.

***

Steve and Becca started to jog down the beach with Trevor at their

side.

"Now why don’t you tell me what happened between you and Jackie?"

Steve breathed heavily. Becca jogged in silence for a few minutes before

she spoke. "Well, Steve it all started when I was in eighth grade. At that time,

I was really heavy, as in 91fat’. I think you’ve seen the

pictures of me. You have to admit I was fat." she breathed. Steve

slowed down so that they were at the same pace.

"Well, I had one really good friend who saw me for who I was not how

I looked. I think I’ve told this story so many times that I’m

starting to say the same words." she laughed.

" Jackie and I were friend at one time in eighth grade, but Jackie

was very jealous about my relationship with Valley, that’s the

friend I was talking about. Well, one day, Jackie said something to

Valley that weren’t exactly true and then Jackie took my place

on Valley’s best bud list and I was dropped. I couldn’t believe

Jackie did that to me. So that’s when I dropped the weight and became

what you see before you." Becca started to speed up and Steve had

to struggle to keep up with her.

"Bec, slow down! You know you’re asthmatic. You’ll kill yourself

that way."

"Hasn’t happened yet. I haven’t had an asthma since I was

fourteen. Anyway, I feel great."

"Still doesn’t mean it won’t happen." he hollered after her.

She slowed down and soon, Steve and Trevor had caught up with her.

"How many more miles are we going?" he asked.

"Well, right here we’re approximately five miles away from your

house. If we jog back from here. It’ll double as ten miles. Wanna

head back?"

"Oh absolutely! I’m starting to get tired."

***

"When they reached home, Two officers were waiting for them at the

house."

"Jason, what are you and Mike doing here?"

"I just need to ask Becca a couple of questions."

"On what grounds?" Steve asked, sounding rather annoyed.

"We’re helping you investigate Jackie DiAngelo’s murder. Somebody

called in a said to question her because she may have a motive for

Jackie to be killed."

"Hey, I may have hated her for what she did to me, but I wouldn’t

kill her."

"That’s for us to find out, miss."