Page 68 of Secrets in the Dark
“Once we catch him, we’ll see the show. It’s a deal,” Mason promised. His phone was ringing and he glanced at the caller ID and answered it quickly.
“Edmund, great job on the press conference. Hopefully, women will take heed and be extremely careful.”
“Thank you,” Edmund said over the phone. “Did you get anything?”
“We know he worked at the dig. He needs to take jobs now and then, apparently, to keep himself flush. What about you?”
“We found another job he worked. He was an extra on a movie—one of the makeup crew who worked with the extras remembered him. Different from any of the sketches we have, but your artist couldn’t possibly come up with all the changes he might make. I think you might want to join us and have a chat with the young woman yourself.”
“What’s the movie and where are they filming?” Mason asked. He glanced at Della.
“You’ll love this. It’s calledDarkness and the Vampire. Today, they’re working on background material. Right in Whitechapel. We’re on Whitechapel Road where they have a section blocked off for filming. Security is onsite so I’ll meet you at the tape.”
“Get me a side street,” Mason said. “And we’re on our way.”
“Our chameleon likes being an actor, too,” he said, ending the call and telling Della what Edmund had discovered.
“What is the quote?” Della queried. “‘All the world’s a stage, All the men and women merely players.’”
“William Shakespeare,” Mason said. “Let’s get this guy before he turns this show into an even greater tragedy!”
Edmund helped them dodge around the cameras and crew working on the street, bringing them back to a trailer where a young woman was waiting for them.
Stacey Kerry was an attractive young woman in her mid-twenties, green-eyed and sandy-haired, immediately polite and sincere as she spoke with them. She was seated in the trailer’s makeup chair, surrounded by the tools of her craft, as she spoke with them.
Della sat facing her on the small seat across from the chair while Mason and Edmund leaned against two of the side counters that held everything from color palettes to face putty and wigs and extensions.
Her accent was American, one that contained a hint of the Southern states. She explained that she was American as was one of the two producers on the film, a man she and the director and others had worked with before on such classics asGhosts Gone GhoulishandZing of the Zombies.
Della apologized for having missed the movies, which had caused Stacey to laugh. “Not for everyone, but you’d be amazed at the cult following!”
“We will have to catch one of them!” Mason said.
Edmund winced.
“I’m certain that this man worked with us just three days ago,” she said. “He didn’t appear as he does in any of your artist’s sketches, but—”
“No one else claimed to have seen him,” Edmund interjected lightly.
“And, I could be wrong,” she said, looking at Della. “But because of what I do—and I knew this was what I wanted to do since I was a kid—I know face shapes. Yes, he can change his face shape, but when you’re close, the real bone structure is there.”
“Stacey, if you think that you saw him, I’m certain that you did. I have a friend who works for a major makeup line at a department store, and even she can point out aspects of a face because, of course, she’s always trying to make a woman look her best and accent her best features while playing down those that are so...great. So. When were you filming and what part was he playing?” Della asked. “What name did he use?”
“He told me his name was Ken, Kenneth Rippon. And he wasn’t playing a part at all—he was an extra.”
Della glanced at Mason.Rippon.Miller must have enjoyed that alias.
“You do makeup for all extras?” Mason asked Stacey.
“No, not when they’re just background,” Stacey said. “But we do walk through the crowd to just make sure that everyone looks all right, as if they’re someone who would naturally be in the scene. This film takes place in the 1970s. Beards and long hair on men were common then and we were just looking to see if everyone fit in to the background—we were filming in the studio and the scene was designed to be a ’70s nightclub. This man was perfect for it. Long shaggy brown hair and a full shaggy beard. I noticed that he was wearing contacts—”
“You saw contacts?” Edmund asked. “You were that close.”
“I talked to him. He was nice, charming—fun,” Stacey said.
“You must have information on him,” Mason told her. “If he was hired—”
“That would be payroll.” She winced. “We had at least forty extras on set that day, and more than half of those were men. And, of course, we can find out about his check, but... I’m not in your line of work, but I imagine he gave a false name and address.” She shrugged. “I sincerely doubt they do background checks on extras—the extras just don’t want their checks to bounce!”
