Death of a Blue Movie Star

Shelly had a superb memory. She was like a chameleon, slipping into parts like someone possessed by the character's spirit. She had a talent for dialects and accents. "She could be a barmaid from northeast of London, then change herself into a schoolteacher from Cotswold. The way Meryl Streep can."

Tucker spoke these words of admiration with troubled eyes.

"When did you find out about her film career?"

His voice was bitter again. "A month ago. She never said a word about it. I was stunned." He laughed with derision. "And the irony is that when it came to her legitimate auditions she wouldn't take just any job. She didn't do commercials or musical comedy. She didn't do dinner theater. She wouldn't go to Hollywood. She did only serious plays. I said to her, 'Shelly, why are you being so pigheaded? You could work full-time as an actress if you wanted to.' She said, no, she wasn't going toprostitute herself… And all the while, she was doing those… films." He closed his eyes and moved his large head from side to side to shake off the unpleasantness. "I found out a month ago. Someone was returning a tape at the video store I go to. I glanced at it. There she was on the cover. And, what's more, it was under the name Shelly Lowe! She didn't even use a stage name! When I found out I can't tell you how betrayed I felt. That's the only way I can describe it. Betrayal. When she came in for the next lesson we had a terrible fight. 1 told her to get out, I never wanted to see her again."

He spun around to face out the window again. "Every generation has its candidates for genius. Shelly could have been one of those. All of my other students-" He waved his hand around the room, as if they were sitting behind Rune. "They're talented and I like to think that I helped them improve. But they're nothing compared with Shelly. When she acted youbelieved her."

Just what Tommy Savorne had said, Rune recalled.

"It wasn't Shelly Lowe on stage, it was the character. Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, the Greek classics, lonesco, Ibsen… Why, she came this close to the lead in Michael Schmidt's new play." He held his fingers a millimeter apart.

Rune frowned. "The big producer? The guy gets written up in the newspapers?"

He nodded. "She went to his EPI-"

"What's that?"

"Equity Principal Interview. It's like an audition. She met with Schmidt himself twice."

"And she didn't get the part?"

"No, I guess not. That was just before our fight. I didn't keep up with her." Tucker ran the stem of his pipe along his front lower teeth. He was not speaking to Rune as he said, "My own acting career never went very far. My talent was for coaching and teaching. I thought that with Shelly I'd leave behind someone who was truly brilliant. I could makethat contribution to theater…"

He stared at a photo on the opposite wall. Rune wondered which one.

"Betrayal," he whispered bitterly. Then he turned his gaze to Rune. She felt naked under his deep eyes, shaded by the brush of his eyebrows. "You seem very young. Do you make those films too? The ones she did?"

"No," Rune said. She was going to make up something, the sort of job a girl her age should be doing, but with those strange currents shooting out from his eyes-a green version of Shelly's blue laser beams-she just repeated the denial in a whisper.

Tucker studied her for a long moment. "You have no business being an actress. Pardon my bluntness but you should look for another line of work."

"I just-"

But he was waving his hand. "I wouldn't do you a favor by being kind. Now if you'll excuse me." He pulled a script toward him.

*****

It wasn't much of a list.

Rune sat at her desk-Cathy's old battered gray government-issue. She'd pushed it right next to the cracked front panel of L amp;R's air conditioner, which was churning out about a tenth of the BTUs it once had. She closed the Manhattan phone book.

There were only two A. Llewellyns listed and neither of them was an Andy. That left only the remaining twenty million citizens to survey in the other boroughs, Westchester, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Shelly's most recent boyfriend would have to go unquestioned for the time being.

Larry walked into the office and glanced at Rune. "Whatcha doing, luv?"

"Looking up things."

"Things?"

"Important things."

"Well, if you could postpone your search for a bitI've got something important for you."

"Letters to type?"

"Yeah, well, I wasn't going to mention it but those last ones? They were 'ardly the best typing job I've ever seen."

"I told you I wasn't a typist."

"You spelled the man's name three different ways in the same bleedin' letter."

"Was that the Indian guy? He had a weird name. I-"

"But his first name was James and that's the one you misspelled."

"I'll try to do better… You have my distributor for me yet?"

"Not yet, luv, but what I do 'ave is the people for this advertising job, right? In the next room. Did the estimate go out yet?"

"I typed it."

"But did it go out yet?"

Rune said patiently, "It's going to go out."

"So it 'asn't gone out yet?"