“And we know it wasn't Roberto because 'A' had no accent and they were talking about him."
“Uh-huh. And it was probably an important actor, rather than somebody with a bit part.""How do you figure that?" Shelley asked.
“Only because somebody in a minor part wouldn't be expected to have any influence on the director. Although, 'A' said he and Roberto couldn't stand each other."
“All this sounds to me like it must be George Abington."
“Yes, I'm afraid so."
“Why 'afraid so'?" Shelley asked.
“Because he's nice. He was the only one at the lunch who was polite to me. The only one who even acknowledged that I was there at all."
“How did he act toward Jake?”
Jane shrugged. "Nothing. No animosity, no friendliness. Nothing."
“He ignored Jake?"
“Not aggressively ignored. They just didn't happen to speak to each other. Well, nobody got to speak much because Roberto Cavagnari was holding forth."
“That seems strange. If somebody had tried to blackmail you and threatened to ruin your career, could you sit down with them an hour or so later and show no signs of anger?"
“Not unless I were a very good actor," Jane said.
Katie came into the kitchen. "Boys are so dumb," she said, as if it were a revolutionary discovery. "I'm going home, Mom. Thanks for a great dinner, Mrs. Nowack."
“Homework?" Jane asked.
Katie rolled her eyes. "Jeez, Mom. Like you have to remind me?"
“No phoning until it's done," Jane said.
From Shelley's side door she could see into her own kitchen. The police officer was still at the table, shuffling paperwork, so she felt it was all right to let Katie go home without escort. When Katie had gone, Jane went into the living room to question Todd about homework. When he admitted he had a few math problems to do, she sent him home as well.
When she rejoined Shelley, her friend was deep in thought. "Jane, suppose you turn this around." "How?"
“Well, suppose Jake was the one being blackmailed instead of doing the blackmailing?" "I don't follow you."
“Well, if somebody tried to blackmail Jake, and he thought about it and went back to the person later and said, 'I'm not doing what you want, and what's more, I'm going to 'fess up publicly to the porn movies and tell everybody what a slimeball you are—?' "
“Hmmmm. Seems a stretch to me," Jane said. "Maybe. But the blackmailer was talking about awards and how they don't give awards and honors to people who have been in skin flicks."
“But there are awards for technical things, not just acting," Shelley said. "And we don't know that Jake never acted. Or let us say 'performed' in naughty movies. I don't know that it requires any acting skill. He was certainly good-looking enough to be in front of a camera."
“So you're saying an intended blackmail victim might turn the tables and become the murder vic‑ tim? Would that apply to George Abington? I'm getting confused. What would anybody want Jake to do for them?"
“Any number of things, I'd guess. Jake was highly respected in the business, it seems. He might have influenced the director to change a scene and feature somebody else since the girl who was supposed to be in it had gotten sick. For all we know, somebody is furiously rewriting the script right now to feature George or practically anybody else."
“So it could have been somebody really minor, too. Another bit player who wanted a shot at stardom?"
“It's possible," Shelley said. "Here's another possibility. And you won't like it. What if Butch wanted something of Jake? Like a better credit at the end of the movie, or more control of the props decisions or something. He might try blackmailing Jake and Jake could have come back and said, `I'm not going along with this and, what's more, you're fired and I'm going to ruin your name in the business.' That would make him a threat worth killing, wouldn't it?”
Jane was shaking her head. "This is too baroque for me. I don't even know who 'A' and 'B' are anymore. And there's yet another possibility that we haven't considered."
“What's that?" Shelley asked brightly.
“That the blackmailing attempt I heard had nothing to do with the murder. With that many egotistical, ambitious people around, there are probably half a dozen nasty things going on at any given moment.”
Shelley was only momentarily discouraged. "Then we have a lot of snooping to do to find out what the other nasty things were, don't we? Set your alarm for six, Jane. We've got a busy day ahead of us."
12
“So are you going to marry Mel?" Katie asked as she stood at the window watching for her car pool the next morning.
“Marry?" Jane gasped, nearly choking on her orange juice. "I don't know. I guess Mike told you about my plans."
“Yeah, he said you didn't want to talk to me about it."
“It's not that I didn't want to. I just didn't know how."
“What do you think I am, some kind of… of prude?"
“There are worse things to be," Jane said, wondering how she could get control of this conversation. "So you don't mind if I go?"
“Mind? No. It seems kinda silly. I mean, you're almost forty years old, Mom. Isn't that pretty old for — you know? There's Jenny's mom. Gotta go!" she said, flying out the door.
Jane went to the living room and glanced out the window. Eight o'clock and the movie people were in full swing. She'd heard trucks arriving shortly before six, but contrary to Shelley's instructions, 97 hadn't gone out to snoop. Now that the kids were all off to school, she still wasn't in any hurry. She sat down and turned on the television, letting the morning news wash over her while she smoked a cigarette. She was down to six a day now and had pretty much given up trying to quit entirely. Still, six a day was better than the pack and a half she'd gotten up to in the weeks after Steve's death.
The conversation with Katie had shaken her. She never felt fully in control as a mother, but in this situation she'd been put in the position of supplicant, wanting, if not approval, at least permission from her children to lead an adult life. Her discomfort came mainly from the fact that she was on shaky ground logically. She still felt duty-bound to uphold a high moral tone for them to emulate, and this included sexual abstinence. For teenagers. But not necessarily for her. And that's where the logic fell apart. She'd put herself into the old "Do as I say, not as I do" position, which she found very uncomfortable. She knew what the difference was, but couldn't find a way to explain it to Katie.
Her daughter was poised on the brink, hormonally speaking, of being a woman. She still had a lot to learn about life and people and especially herself before she should consider becoming involved sexually with anyone. Whereas Jane herself was feeling menopause breathing down her neck.
She suddenly imagined she could hear her mother's voice speaking to her. "Chickie, you're doing it again. You're thinking too much about things you can't do anything about.”
Jane put out the cigarette, tidied up the kitchen, and finished dealing with the last of the kitchen trash in the guest bathroom. Then she fed the cats in the basement, where they would be locked in today with fresh kitty litter and a big bowl of water. She had enough to fret herself silly about without having to worry about their whereabouts, too. Mike had taken Willard out to his dog run early and the big yellow dog was already settled in by the dining room window to begin his daily watch for the mailman. Jane double-checked that the doors were all locked, put the key to the back door in her jeans pocket, and went outside.
Shelley was just approaching the house. "Jane, I was coming to look for you."
“I had to get the kids off and had a brief, shattering talk with Katie to recover from. What have you found out?"
“Nothing. I was waiting for you. We work best as a team. I did try to get Jake's maybe-girlfriend Angela to chat, but she seemed to consider me a nobody and a busybody."
“Well? Aren't you?”
Shelley laughed. "Probably. I've been talking to Maisie about her, about Angela I mean, and it seems she's a very ambitious young woman. I've got a plan to get her talking. You catch her attention any way you want and just go along with me. Here she comes again. ." Shelley added, lowering her voice to a whisper as she led Jane to the lawn chairs still set up by the snack table.