The dining car rocked as the performers decompressed after the show. Audra sat at a table across from Robert, trying not to be disappointed their planned tour of D.C. had evaporated with Mark’s shouted orders to return to the train as soon as the war bond sale ended. He’d been so abrupt she wondered if he’d feared losing stars on the D.C. streets.
Robert had looked like he wanted to sit next to her when he followed her onto the dining car, but Elizabeth McAllister slid in beside her before he could. Audra tried to cover her disappointment, especially since she was a fool to think anything could develop with Robert.
Watching him today, her first impression had been reinforced. His star would rise again. When it did, he wouldn’t look to a nobody from the Midwest for companionship. Even if he might, the studio would line up the perfect starlet.
She’d do well to guard her heart. No matter how encouraging he looked, nothing was destined to develop between them.
Between that and the earlier attack, she couldn’t shake a glum mood. She resisted a tremor at the thought someone had tried to harm her earlier. While she’d wanted to get to know some of the people Rosemary had known, she’d never really expected to find Rosie’s killer. But after the attack, it appeared the killer was here, maybe even in this very car. Right now.
Nobody else shared the fearful direction of her thoughts. Instead, the performers talked over each other in their excitement. They quickly filled plates and cups from the refreshments Mark had the porters prepare. Even Dalia sat in a back corner enjoying the general excitement while keeping a close watch on Lana. Fortunately, the star had continued to improve, just as Dalia had predicted. Other than an underlying paleness, she carried herself with her customary elegance.
“Did you see the people lined up to buy war bonds?” Constance bounced on her seat.
“What a beauteous sight. Yes, sir!” Winston rubbed his hands together. “I think we’ll be the talk of this town for a while.”
“Maybe we should stay another day, Mark. Imagine all the bonds we could sell since people will talk about the show.” Frank did a quick tap dance move. “We only thought people packed the theatre tonight.”
Mark shook his head. “You must not have seen the show I did.” He leaned against the bar and rapped the top with his knuckles. “We’ve got a trainload of work to do before we’re ready for Norfolk. I’ve got half a mind to cancel tomorrow’s appearances. The radio shows can wait. But rehearsals can’t.”
“What a wet towel.” Winston brushed the air in front of him. “You’re sucking the fun from this trip. Making us working stiffs.”
“Besides, I signed on for those appearances, and I’m probably not the only one.” Lana puckered her mouth in a pretty pout. Audra shook her head. She could try for a hundred years and never pull off that look without appearing petty and put out. “Last time I checked I wasn’t getting paid for these weeks on the road except in publicity.”
“She’s right, Mark.” Royce snuggled closer to the pale star. Lana pushed away, but he ignored her, almost pinning her to his side. She shot him a pointed look but stopped resisting.
Was everything all right there?
Maybe Audra should check. That is, if the star would let her.
Mark shook his head. “This is about more than you and your publicity, Lana.” His gaze included every performer in the car. “We’ve got to give our best...”
“The ‘it’s your duty’ line is getting worn, Mark.” Quincy plunked a few keys on the piano, the discordant notes making Audra cringe. “We’re all performers, stars on the rise...”
“Or fall.” Danny Lester jumped in. “It’s no secret some of us have to make this work or we might as well stay in Atlanta or some other city. Hollywood won’t have much to offer us if we can’t entice the studios to believe the public loves us.”
“The audience seemed to eat out of your hand tonight, Danny.” Constance put her hand on his leg and grinned at him.
“That’s just ’cause they knew the sooner we got off, the sooner you and the other gals would get back on stage.” He shrugged. “It’s the same everywhere. Charlie and I aren’t pretty faces like Quincy and Royce. If we can’t make people remember our slapstick, we’re done.”
Charlie nodded, his red curls bobbing. “It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there. Five people standing in line to take our spots.”
“Some will fight for it, while others wait in the wings.” Danny crossed his arms.
Quincy played a couple of chords. “You two might as well hop off now. Even Robert is more entertaining than you.”
Robert glowered at Quincy. Charlie had always seemed so unmoved by everything, but now he looked rattled by the criticism.
Audra reached across the table, placing her hand on his. “Don’t let him get to you.”
“Aren’t you sweet.” Audra moved her hand at Lana’s acerbic comment. Guess she felt like herself again. “I don’t know, Royce. Wasn’t Miss Schaeffer’s sister more attentive to you gents?”
Audra bristled at the mention of Rosemary. She started to stand, wanting to ask Lana what she meant. The abrasive, snide tone had every instinct in Audra on alert.
Robert restrained her with a slight shake of his head. “She’s not worth it.” Still there was a worried pinch around his eyes.
“In fact I’m pretty sure I saw her around town with most of you. That Artie knows how to keep a girl busy while she waits for a contract. No idleness on his watch.” Lana’s smile was tight and mean.
Audra flashed back to Rosemary’s black book where Robert’s name had been prominently displayed along with several other men on the train. She shook off his hand, uncertain what to think about him or any of the other men. Her head hurt as she considered the images that everybody seemed to paint about Rosemary. She couldn’t believe them. She knew Rosemary, the sweet kid before she boarded the train for Hollywood. Certainly a locale alone couldn’t change a person as radically as the picture they all tried to fill in for her.
“Lana, you are so full of hot air.” Royce leaned against the cushion. “You know it didn’t mean anything. To any of us.”
His words didn’t make Audra feel better about the implications. Lana stood with a languid stretch. She tightened her hold on the ever-present stole then brushed a hand along Mark’s arm. “Hollywood can be a tough place unless you know people’s secrets.”
Mark stared at her then stepped to the side. “Sit down, Lana.”
She met his gaze, chin tipped at a defiant angle. “After I get a drink.”
Silence filled the car as she sashayed to the bar. Audra propped her forehead on her hand. Robert’s strong fingers rubbed her elbow, his touch sending electricity racing up her arm, but she forced herself not to react.
“All right, folks. Enough sniping. We’re all working together on this.” Mark ran his hands through his hair. “I swear you are worse than toddlers. Mine, mine, mine.” He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. We’ve got work to do.”
He led them through the agenda. Audra held her clipboard in front of her and made a note or two, but couldn’t part the fog that had descended. Her hopes of finding her sister’s killer seemed foolish in light of her growing list of questions.
She should have waited in Hollywood or traveled home with Rosemary’s body while waiting for answers from Detective Franklin.
Maybe he’d learned something.
In the morning, she’d call him and then let her parents know she was okay.
The trial her boss had offered her would be run by someone else in two weeks. With it, her opportunity to move from assistant to attorney slipped away. All on the foolish hope she could do something the police couldn’t. If she’d hurried back to Indianapolis after identifying Rosemary, the opening might have still existed. But no, she had to believe she could do something the professionals couldn’t.
A tear slid down her cheek, and she startled. She swiped it, hoping no one had noticed.
Robert’s solemn gaze rested on her, almost as if he could read her mind.
Heat flashed up her neck at his scrutiny. She dropped her hands to her lap and tore her gaze from his. She couldn’t be undone by him.
Elizabeth leaned in to her. “You okay?”
“If you don’t mind…I need some fresh air.”
“I know what you mean.” She winked at Audra. “All this hot air in here.. .it takes it right out of a gal.”
Audra nodded and slid from the bench. She brushed by Robert, ignoring his outstretched hand. The door at the rear of the car opened, and she sucked in a lungful of fresh air. A light breeze played with her hair as the train eased down the tracks. They must still be in the city or suburbs since they weren’t moving like they would in the open country.
Audra turned her face toward the stars, fatigue warring with fear. How would she ever explain to her parents the awful things people like Lana insinuated about Rosemary? Her parents would never believe their precious daughter did those things. Maybe she didn’t need to tell them and could let them retain their image of Rosie.
What options had Rosemary had?
Hollywood was a bleak place. Harsh and exacting. Short on opportunities and long on expectations.
Just look at the people on the train.
Each of them had talent. From her estimation, a great deal of talent. Yet they were the second or third tier in Hollywood. This caravan wasn’t loaded with the talent and star power of the first caravan. If a tragedy befell this train, Hollywood would keep right on doing what it had done for twenty years: churn out motion pictures filled with stars.
And all the wannabes like Rosemary would keep right on dreaming in vain of someday joining those who routinely saw their names in lights.
“God, it’s not fair.” Audra balled her fists as her eyes searched the stars. “How could You let that happen to someone as innocent as Rosemary?” She drew in a jagged breath, pain pounding her chest. “I was supposed to protect her but didn’t.”
The door opened behind her, and she jabbed at her cheeks, wiping the tears from them.
“You okay, Audra?” Robert’s rich voice tore at her. She wanted to trust him, but he’d been in Rosemary’s book. Was he any different than the rest of the men inside the car?
“I’m fine.” She kept her face pointed toward the sky, praying he couldn’t see her well in the shadows.
“You sure?” Robert took a step closer until she could feel the heat of his body. “The professional woman I know wouldn’t leave a meeting in the middle. Not when she had a job to do. Not when Mark will wonder what’s going on.”
“Maybe I don’t care about that anymore.”
“Not buying it.” Robert wrapped his arms around her waist.
Audra stiffened, unsure what to do, how to respond.
“You care too much to just walk away.” He tugged her around until she had to face him. “Ignore Lana. She takes perverse pleasure in getting under people’s skin.”
Audra searched his face, wanting to believe him. “Why did you follow me?”
Confusion flashed, replaced in a moment by indifference. “I thought we were friends, and friends take care of each other.”
“Is that what you did with Rosemary?”
He dropped his arms from her, and a wave of cold washed over her. “Is that what you think?”
“I don’t know.” Her accusation echoed through her mind, leaving her heart hollow. “I don’t understand anything that’s happened.” She closed her eyes, bracing for whatever came next. Somehow she would accept whatever it was.
A finger traced the contour of her cheek. She allowed herself to lean into the stroke for a moment then stiffened against the rush of emotion.
“You still don’t get it, do you?” He cupped her cheeks, and she opened her eyes to be captured by his gaze—and the sensation she could see straight to his soul. And despite her doubts, she saw nothing hiding in the shadows. Instead, his clear eyes studied her. “I’ve done nothing, Audra. As much as possible in Hollywood, I’ve lived a life that honors Christ. You can search and hunt all you want. Aside from that disaster of a marriage to Lana, you won’t find anything I’m ashamed of. And if I learned anything from that experience, it’s that I need to submit every decision to Christ’s authority, not some studio’s and certainly not mine.” He stroked her cheeks and then took a step back and released her. “But nothing I say can convince you. You’ll have to decide whether you believe me. I promise I’m not the enemy.”
Did he protest too much? Her mind swam. She so wanted to believe him, but none of this could be real.
“Life isn’t a fairy tale.”
“What?” He leaned in as if to capture her whispered words.
“Nothing. I have to go.” She slipped past him and crossed to the next car. The no-man’s-land where only the women were supposed to go. It didn’t stop many of the other men, but as she entered the car, she knew Robert wouldn’t follow. Her heart sank at the certainty of that truth and how much she wanted him to come after her.