“How long had you known him?” Stride asked.
“A couple of years. I met him at a party at the Oasis. You know, he was young, cute, threw money at everyone. What’s not to like? He had a limo with him that first night, and we went for a ride, and I guess that’s how it all got started.”
“You had sex with him?” Stride asked.
Karyn leaned forward. Her breasts grazed the tabletop. Through her smile, he saw a glint of her cherry-red tongue. “I made a bet with him at the party that I could make him come using nothing but my right nipple.”
Don’t ask, don’t ask, don’t ask, Stride told himself.
“Who won the bet?” he asked.
Shit
Karyn’s eyes danced. He could see gold flecks in a sea of blue. “We had a bottle of Krug at Spago that night. MJ’s treat.”
Stride cleared his throat and tried to stay on track. “Was this a serious relationship?”
“What, like marriage? No way. I didn’t want to sign an eighty-page prenup.”
“Did MJ see other women?”
“I’m sure he did.”
“Like who?” Stride asked.
“I didn’t really keep track, Detective. The only one I. knew about was Tierney Dargon.”
Stride wrote down the name. “What can you tell me about her?”
“Tierney likes to pretend she’s part of our crowd, but she was just a cocktail waitress who got lucky and married some rich old comedian.”
“Comedian? You mean Moose Dargon?” Stride asked.
“That’s the one.”
Stride had heard of Moose Dargon, a comedian from the Rat Pack days who had a reputation as a bad boy in his prime. He had seen him on television a few times and remembered almost nothing from his act except that the man had an amazing set of eyebrows, which rippled on his face like giant caterpillars. He hadn’t even realized that Moose was still alive.
“What does Tierney look like?” he asked, thinking of the brunette in the video they had seen in MJ’s condominium.
“Brown hair, sort of kinky. Thin. Pretty.”
That description fit the girl in the video, as well as half the women in Las Vegas, Stride thought.
“Moose must be in his eighties,” Stride said. “How old is Tierney?”
“Maybe twenty-five.” Karyn laughed. “I’m sure it was a love match, Detective.”
“Was Tierney around last night?”
“I didn’t see her, but MJ said Tierney was always hanging on him. He was looking to get rid of her. I mean, she’s got a tight little body, but she’s still just a waitress.”
“Did Moose Dargon know that MJ was having an affair with his wife?”
“You’d have to ask Moose,” Karyn said.
“If MJ was seeing other women, what were you getting out of the relationship?” Stride asked.
“He was rich,” Karyn replied. “I like to live that way. Besides, whenever I was with him, the paparazzi usually hung out. I’m not at a point in my career when I can afford to find that annoying. I need them.”
“There were no photographers last night,” Stride said.
“I only got into town that afternoon. I guess they hadn’t smelled us out yet.”
“Who else knew the two of you were going to be together that night?”
Karyn thought about it. “My assistant. She’s in L.A. And my parents in Boca Raton.”
“Who did you tell here in town?”
“Well, the people at the Oasis when I checked in. I also used a bodyguard while I was shopping in the afternoon; but I told him I wouldn’t need him for the evening. And I made reservations in our names at Olives.”
“Who do you think MJ would have told?”
“I really don’t know, Detective. I didn’t know much about the other parts of his life.”
“How about the videotape of you and MJ?” Stride asked. “The one that wound up on the Internet, How did that happen?”
“You mean, why did I make it?” Karyn asked, licking her glossy lips. “Or do you want me to autograph your copy?”
“I mean, how did it get stolen?”
Stride thought he saw a ghost of a smile on Karyn’s face.
“I have no idea,” Karyn said. “But I’m sure glad it did. I got more ink from taking it up the ass in that video than I would have got with an Academy Award.”
“How did MJ feel about the tape getting out?” he asked.
“He thought it was cool. No one knew who he was before that.”
“Let’s talk about the parties at the casinos. Any drugs there?”
Karyn’s eyes narrowed. “I’m starting to feel like I need a lawyer.”
From the doorway, Amanda broke into the conversation. “This is Vegas, Karyn. What happens here, stays here, remember? We’re not out to bust you for anything. We just need the real dope. So to speak.”
Karyn noticed Amanda for the first time and gave her a long, careful look. She nodded approvingly. “Okay. Sure. We’ve been known to take the occasional snort.”
“Who supplied?” Stride asked. “You or MJ?”
“I don’t want to know where it comes from, okay? If it’s there, then I’ll be a recreational user like anyone else, but I don’t buy, I don’t sell.”
“And MJ?”
“Supply was never a problem with MJ,” Karyn said. “I don’t know where he got it.”
“Any ideas?”
Karyn shrugged. “There are always hangers-on. People at the fringes. Maybe it’s a driver. Or a waiter. When you’ve got the kind of money MJ did, and you lead the kind of life he did, you don’t have to worry about it. Those people find you.”
“Did they find MJ last night?”
“Not that I saw.”
“What kind of life did MJ lead?” Amanda asked. She was doing her best to look cool and cynical, but Stride thought that Amanda was a little star-struck by Karyn’s presence.
“He was the life of the party,” Karyn replied, pinning Amanda with her blue eyes. “It’s fun being in the fast lane, you know. You should join us sometime, Detective.”
“I’ve got more than you can take,” Amanda replied, laughing.
“What, because you’re a tranny?” Karyn asked. She smiled as Amanda’s mouth dropped open in astonishment. “You can pass with a lot of people, Detective, but a real woman knows the difference. Not that I have a problem with it. A lot of people in our circle would find it a turn-on.”
Stride interrupted. “Here’s the problem I have with all this, Ms. Westermark. MJ may have been the life of the party, but someone followed him and put a bullet in his brain. So somebody had a beef with him.”
“I don’t know who,” Karyn said, reluctantly breaking her eye contact with Amanda and turning back to Stride. “MJ was the gravy train. He was the one paying all the bills. Who’s going to mess with that?”
“He never lost his temper?”
“MJ? No. He was a little kid. He wanted everyone to like him. The only time I ever heard him arguing with anyone was with his dad. They went at it all the time.”
“His dad is a movie producer in Canada, right?” Stride asked.
“Sure, like Tom Hanks is some actor,” Karyn replied dismissively. “Everyone in the business knows Walker Lane. Hell, I admit it, I first came on to MJ because I thought he would put in a good word for me with the old man. But I learned fast enough that MJ didn’t want anything to do with Walker, except take his money.”
“He tell you why?”
“No, but it was always something. They argued about money. They argued about his mom. They argued about MJ living in Vegas. I was at MJ’s condo a few weeks ago when Walker called. MJ went ballistic. Took the phone and threw it against the wall. I’d never seen him like that.”
“Do you know when he last talked with his dad?” Stride asked.
“Sure. Last night.”
“What were they talking about?”
Karyn shrugged. She played with a scrap of paper on the desk, rolling it into a ball and rubbing it between two long nails.
“I don’t know. But MJ was pissed. So was I. We took a break from the blackjack tables and went up to my suite to fool around. I was really in need of a good fuck, you know? But we barely got started when MJ’s cell phone rang. It was Walker. They yelled at each other for a few minutes, and MJ wasn’t in the mood anymore. So I left. I told him to grow up.”