Page 29 of For Better or for Ransom

“I’m afraid we can’t disclose that information. Leo?” Luke pronounced the name the same way Sandro had done.

Sandro Palau blushed slightly. “We all call him that.” The actor’s face turned softer, as if he was recalling a happier moment. But he soon went back to his initial worrisome features. “So you know what’s happened to him?”

“I’m afraid that’s why we’re here, we’re trying to figure out why he’s disappeared.”

It was fair to say Sandro Palau wasn’t what Luke had anticipated. Officer Mercè Roig’s assessment had been correct: the understudy appeared to be genuinely worried in a way that Luke didn’t think even a talented thespian would be able to fake.

“Okay, tell me what you need to know.” Sandro’s manners were unaffected and direct.

Divya and Luke looked at each other. It was rare to find someone as willing to collaborate in their line of work.

“When was the last time you saw Leo?” Divya took over from Luke.

Sandro thought for a few seconds. “Wednesday night.”

“The day before he disappeared?”

“Yes. I did the play. If I don’t have to cover for Leo, I have a small secondary role with a couple of lines. I play Oedipus’s devotee,” Sandro blushed slightly and Luke almost rolled his eyes at the younger actor’s clear passion for the profession. “After the play we all went to a nearby restaurant for dinner and drinks.”

“Who is all?”

“Leo, Pili Garcia, the rest of the cast, and most of the behind-the-scenes crew. We’re a small group and have grown quite close.” Sandro’s features brightened.

“Was that common? For the whole company to have dinner together?” Luke double-checked.

“Quite common, yes. We had a standing reservation at the restaurant.”

“Was Isabel Teixidor also there?” Divya asked. Both detectives were going over notes in their respective notebooks and scribbling new details.

Sandro suppressed a chuckle. “Isabel never joined. She keeps insisting on the health benefits of going to bed early. I keep thinking she chose the wrong profession…”

Divya’s eyebrows shot up. “Is she not a good theater director?”

Sandro made a dismissive gesture. “She’s excellent but a bit of a character. If you know what I mean?”

Not really.

“Can you elaborate on that?” Luke said. He wasn’t a big fan of the stage director who chose when to talk and understand English and when not to, and who’d accused him of planting the note in Leonardo’s dressing room. But still, he needed to know what Palau’s quandaries were with her.

Sandro narrowed his eyes, as if thinking. He was careful in his choice of words. “She’s just quite the extravagant type. Her methods don’t always get the greatest reception. But it’s nothing out of the ordinary. I guess you could say that most theater people are somewhat…bizarre.”

“What would be some of those methods that don’t get a good reception?” Divya asked. Luke was happy he wasn’t the only one to want to learn more about Isabel Teixidor.

“Ah, you know…” Sandro made the same dismissive gesture as before with his hand. “She insisted on everyone signing an NDA during rehearsals. People just assumed it was Leo’s fault, that he didn’t want people babbling about him to the press. But it was her. We’re not allowed to comment on her directorial style.” The actor shrugged as if to say: “And that’s all I can tell you, folks.”

Divya was probably thinking the same as he was: Brilliant, another bloody NDA.

“Let’s go back to Wednesday night,” Divya reconducted the interview. Luke loved that she was a pragmatist. “What happened?”

“We ate dinner but Leo left early, like around midnight, I think.” Early, Luke repressed a chuckle. Spaniards and their particular definitions of time. “He had a big interview the following day and wanted to look his best.”

“Why?” Luke blurted. When it came to Sol and the Irrefutably Sexy Leonardo Pascual, Luke had always been somewhat jealous of the actor—ever since he’d met and fallen for Sol while investigating her, and Leonardo had been part of that case. And Luke definitely didn’t like the idea of Leo wanting to impress Sol.

“It’s not that he’s vain or anything.” Sandro laughed nervously. “But in some of his latest media appearances he’s been described as unkempt, and even aged, if you can believe it!” Luke could. He personally never saw the allure. “We have a profession where getting older isn’t celebrated, and Leo just turned forty-five, even if he’s gorgeous. Sexier than ever. That night he had a FaceTime consultation with his stylist in LA and a date with a Korean face mask.”

Luke made a note to talk to his sister Martina. She was four years his senior and worked as a wardrobe coordinator in a reality TV show. She could help him up his style game. And he needed to give one of those Korean face masks a try once and for all. He’d been seeing them all over TikTok for months now. Maybe some glowy, smoother skin would help him secure the title.

“When did you realize Leo had disappeared?” Divya asked Sandro.