Death of a Blue Movie Star

"I saw a couple of your films. You looked like you were really turned on, really into it. And you were just faking?"

Nicole shrugged. "I'm a woman; I've had lots of practice faking."

"You must think about something other than shoes."

"Well, there's technical stuff to worry about. Am I at the right angle, am I looking at the camera, did I shave my underarms, am I repeating the same words all the time?"

"Who writes the dialogue?"

Nicole glanced nervously at the camera. She cleared her throat. "We make up most of it. Only the thing is, you'd think it'd be easy. You just look at the camera and talk. But it isn't like that. You kind of freeze up. You know what to say, the words and all, but the how to soy it part, that's what's so hard for me."

Rune said, "You sounded okay to me. And I've seen a couple of your films."

"Yeah?" Nicole turned her face, glowing with purple and beige makeup, toward Rune. "Which ones?"

"Bottoms Up. AndSex Wars. Oh, and Lusty Cousins."

"That was an old one, Lusty Cousins. Kind of a classic. I got mentioned in Hustler. I have to say I was kinda happy with the way it worked out. I rehearsed that one for a week. Shelly made us."

Rune glanced outside into the empty corridor.

"Did Shelly ever write plays?"

"Plays? Yeah. That was another one of her hobbies. She'd send them out and they'd come back with a rejection letter."

"Did she ever have anything produced?"

"Naw, I don't think so. But one she wrote a few months ago was supposed to be real good. Some theater was interested in it."

The Haymarket Theater, Chicago, Rune bet, recalling the note on the copy of the play in Tucker's office.

"DeliveredFlowers?"

"Yeah. 1 think so. That might have been it."

"You know what it was about?"

"Naw."

Rune said, "I interviewed Danny Traub. I was talking to him about Shelly."

"Uh-huh."

"And he said that he really loved her. That they were this like team."

"Danny said that?"

"Yep."

"He's lying," Nicole said.

"That's sort of what I thought too."

"He didn't give a shit for Shelly. Or for anybody" else except himself. Did he, like, tell you about the times he propositioned her-which was every other day?"

"No. Why don'tyou!"

Nicole looked at the camera. "Maybe if you could shut that off."

Rune clicked the switch.

"He was always…"

"Harassing her?"

Nicole shrugged as if there was a fine line between coming on to some woman and harassing her. "It wasn't like he was stalking her. But he was pretty hung up. She thought he was a little toad. She hated him. He'd come parading onto the set and start putting everybody down. Wisecracking and insulting everyone. You know how he does that? Talkingabout you, not to you, even when you're right in front of him. And since he pays them- and, man, he pays good-they all put up with it."

"But not Shelly."

"Oh, no way. Not Shelly. Hell, she laughed at him. A couple weeks ago Danny was ordering the director around on the set and Shelly called him a pissant. I don't know what that is exactly-you ever hear of it? Anyway she called him that, then walked off the set. Boy, was he mad. All these veins and stuff stood out on his face. I thought he was going to have a heart attack."

"I saw the fight you guys just had."

"Me and Danny? You saw that? That's not even a fight hardly." She took a brush and started working on her hair. It was hard work-there was a lot of spray. "Johnny's a sweetheart. He's just not doing too well right now. He's an alcoholic and he does way too much coke. He oughtaretire. He was really a star in the seventies. He's kind of big, you know."

Rune said, "I saw."

"But Danny's right. He's no good anymore. Lame Duck's the only place he can work. Nobody else'll hire him. I guess even Danny's lost patience. I mean, that's pretty much one thing you need with a guy-they've got to get it up." Nicole shrugged. "Sort of in the job description, you know?"

Rune paused. Water dripped somewhere. Outside, a motorcycle driver ran through his gears in a tenor roar. She leaned forward and whispered, "Do you think he could have killed Shelly?"

"Danny?" Nicole laughed, started to shake her head.

Then she stopped. The smile faded and she rummaged around in her purse. "You want some blow?" The blue vial appeared. "Johnny always has good stuff."

Rune shook her head.

Nicole inhaled a line, sniffed. After a moment, she said, "Why would he do that?"

Rune was studying the Sheetrock, the uneven angles, the bent nails, the ragged sawing job. After a moment she asked, "You know what's kind of odd?"

"What?"

"That, when I said that-about Danny killing Shelly- you didn't seem really shocked."

Nicole considered that for a moment. "I don't like Danny. He's obnoxious and all he thinks about is women and coke and his cars. But, I'm like, all I think about is clothes and coke. So I can't really, you know, cast stones." Her eyes darted. She was debating.

"Go on," Rune said, keeping her voice low. "I have this feeling there's something you want to tell me."