thirty-two

Mandy and I had gone inside the restaurant in search of a restroom, when we bumped into John. He was talking to two very pretty and very young women. One was blonde; the other was brunette. Other than that, there was little to set them apart. “Hello, John. Enjoying yourself ?” Mandy asked archly.

John turned bleary eyes in her direction and produced a lopsided smile. “Mandy!” he cried, either oblivious or indifferent to her annoyance. “How are you? I want you to meet my new friends.”

“Oh, gosh. How can I say this?” Mandy asked as if at a loss for words. Then, with a snap of her fingers she said, “Oh, right. I’d rather not.”

John ignored her. Waving his hand toward the girls, he said, “This is Jasmine and Stacy.” It wasn’t clear who was who. However, it wasn’t an omission that was likely to plague me. “Girls, you know Mandy,” John continued before gesturing toward me. “And this is Nicole Martini. You know, the one with the tapes everyone is talking about.”

The blonde gave me a sympathetic frown. “Did that happen to you, too? God. Don’t you hate it when guys film you and put it on the Internet?” she asked.

The brunette snickered and punched her friend in the arm. “You idiot!” she giggled. “Not those kind of tapes. He’s talking about those old movie tapes. You know, the ones of that famous movie.” She paused a moment mentally searching for the name, before going with, “Whatchamacallit.”

“Also known as A Winter’s Night,” I said.

The brunette nodded and smiled at me as if I’d said something clever. “That’s the one!”

“Oh!” said the blonde, her eyes going wide. Turning to John, she put her hand on his arm. “You were in that movie! But, wait.” Her brow creased in thought. “Didn’t somebody die on that set?” she asked.

John stiffened. “Yes,” he said, his voice going flat. “Melanie Summers.”

“I heard Barry Meagher was having an affair with her,” the brunette said, her voice barely a whisper.

The blonde giggled. “Big deal. Barry Meagher has an affair with everyone,” she said.

Next to me Mandy froze. “What did you just say?” she asked, her voice low and angry.

The blonde seemed surprised at the question. Opening her vapid brown eyes very big, she said, “Oh come on, everyone knows that Barry is a total man slut. I mean, don’t get me wrong. The man exudes sex appeal. He may be old, but he’s still got it. Hell, I wouldn’t say no to a private meeting with him, if you know what I mean.”

Mandy glared at the woman, mouth pinched, nose flared. Leveling John with a glacial stare, she hissed, “Get your little friends out of here, now. I doubt their future holds more promise than a short stint at Hooters and a lifetime on Z-Paks but Cecelia will destroy you and them if she gets wind of this crap. This is a party for Barry. You’d do well to remember that.”

The warning seemed to sober John. He nodded at Mandy and began to usher the protesting girls outside. Mandy watched them go, her expression still furious. Once they were out of sight, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “You okay?” I asked after a minute.

She nodded and took another deep breath before opening her eyes. Shooting me an apologetic smile, she said, “Sorry. I just get so sick of those rumors. I feel so sorry for Cecelia. People have been saying their marriage is a sham since day one. They never had any kids, you know, which only added fuel to the fire. Everyone thinks Barry married her because she was Frank’s sister and it would help his career.”

“Did he?”

“Oh, absolutely,” Mandy replied matter-of-factly. “But I still feel bad for Cecelia that everyone knows it.”

We returned to the rooftop to find Christina, Janice, and Sebastian chatting with Danielle about living with her mother in Italy. “Bellagio is gorgeous,” Danielle was saying. “In the mornings, Mom and I would sit on the patio and drink coffee and watch the mist float over Lake Como.”

“It sounds perfect,” said Christina.

“It was,” Danielle said. She paused and added, “Well, it almost was. Not being able to see my dad every day was hard. I really missed him. I think my mom did, too. I don’t think she ever got over him. After she died, I thought about staying in Bellagio, but it wouldn’t be the same. Too many memories, I guess. Besides, it was time for me to come home.”

“Your mom sounds like she was a very special lady,” I said. “I’ve heard nothing but nice things about her from everyone. Which, as you probably know, is a rarity in this town.”

Danielle looked at the floor and nodded. “Thank you. She was special.” She paused and added, “But I’ve got my dad, and he’s great, too.

“You’re working for him as an editor now, right?” I asked. “Are you enjoying it?”

She nodded, a genuine smile lighting up her face. “I am. I absolutely love it. I always wanted to work in this business. The fact that I get to do so with my dad just makes it all the more amazing.”

“Well, it seems like you have an eye for it. Even as a kid. You captured a lot of great things on your videos,” I said.

Danielle looked at me with a doubtful smile and said, “I have a feeling you are being very polite. But thank you. Honestly, I had forgotten all about those tapes. I’m dying to watch them. When do you think they’ll be ready?”

“I’m not sure, actually,” I answered. “As you may have heard, we’ve hit a few bumps.”

Her eyes widened with sympathy. “I did. I can’t believe someone broke into your house,” she said. “Do the police have any leads?”

I shook my head. “A few, but nothing solid yet,” I answered.

“What are we talking about?” asked Jules in a sing-songy voice as she and Frank joined our group. She was wearing a skintight rose-colored sheath and had draped herself around Frank like a spring accessory.

“The latest on our break-in,” I explained.

“Oh, that’s right. I heard your employee was attacked,” Jules said to Nigel, her eyes wide with concern. “Is that true?”

“It is,” he said.

Jules’s expression of concern quickly morphed into one of disgust. “How awful,” she said. “I hope she is okay.”

“That’s kind of you,” Nigel said.

Jules made a production of shaking her head as if she were lamenting the moral erosion of today’s society. She really was a terrible actress. After a moment, she made a small noise as if startled by a sudden thought. “Correct me if I’m wrong,” she said, “but didn’t I hear something about an Oscar statue being used in the attack?” Across from me, Christina watched Jules with narrowed eyes.

“I don’t know,” Nigel answered amiably, “Did you?”

Jules scrunched her face into an expression of serious concentration. After a minute, she looked up as if the answer had suddenly made itself clear. “Yes,” she said. “I did. I’m sure of it.” With a startled gasp, she then turned to Christina. “Didn’t I hear something recently about your Oscar going missing?”

Christina took a steadying breath. “I don’t know, Jules,” she said. “I’m not an audiologist.”

This time Jules’s expression of confusion was genuine. “What?” she asked.

“I’m not an audiologist,” Christina repeated as if she were talking to a deaf relative. She paused. “That’s a doctor who checks your hearing,” she explained slowly. “You seem concerned about yours, so maybe you should make an appointment.”

Jules’s mouth flattened into a thin glossy pink line. She squared her shoulders. Running her hand up to her hair, she then casually twirled a blonde lock of it around her right forefinger. “Maybe you’re right,” she said with a delicate shrug. “I have heard some strange things.”

“Not unusual when one is a psychopath,” agreed Sebastian to no one in particular.

“There are just so many vile rumors in Hollywood,” continued Jules, in a sorrowful voice. “Strange how many of them turn out to be true.”

“Like the one that claims you can’t act?” asked Sebastian.

Jules narrowed her eyes. “No,” she snapped. “Like the one that claims that Melanie Summers’s death wasn’t an accident at all.” She paused and then looked pointedly at Christina. “Funny how well her death worked out for you, Christina,” she said with an icy smile. “After all, it got you your big break, didn’t it?”

Christina’s face blanched. “Just what the hell do you mean by that?” she hissed through gritted teeth.

Jules opened her blue eyes very big and attempted to look surprised. She failed. “Why nothing at all, of course,” she said.

Before Christina could respond, Janice stepped next to Jules, a bright smile pasted on her face. Lightly placing her hand on Jules’s arm, she leaned her head in close. To anyone watching, it looked like nothing more than two friends sharing a quick chat. However, Janice’s words, while delivered in a pleasant tone, were anything but friendly. “Listen to me, you two-bit hussy,” Janice said, her mouth still stretched in a smile. “My daughter had nothing to do with Melanie’s overdose. Do you hear me? Nothing! But I swear to God, if I ever hear you say anything like that again, I’ll knock you on your backside so fast you’ll think you’re back at your first casting call!”

Jules took a step back and glared at Janice. Janice took another step forward, still smiling that unnerving blank smile. I really couldn’t blame Jules for taking another step back. Of course, it was this last step that landed her squarely in the pool.