eb93c43e214c621f9157c05b4b6a6878

“Of course. What do you think? We’ve got a strict schedule, and if we don’t deliver on time there will be fines and a lot of hollering from the network. A shoot is a fine-tuned machine with lots of moving parts. You don’t close it down without consequences. Heck, if we pulled the plug now we might never start up again.”

“I see,” said Odelia with a touch of coldness. “I visited your wife this morning.”

“Oh?” He hardly seemed interested. “Walk with me,” he said curtly, and headed for the door. We had no other option than to follow his lead. He slammed the door shut and hurried to the elevators. “I’ve been meaning to go but this inspector what’s-his-face keeps giving us the runaround.”

“I wanted to ask about your affair with Astra,” said Odelia, who had trouble keeping up with the tubby producer, who was fast in spite of his modest height.

“What affair? What are you talking about?”

“The affair you had with Astra,” Odelia insisted, taking out her own phone and showing him the pictures Agatha had sent of the producer and his former star.

We’d reached the elevator and at last the man was forced to remain in one place for a moment. He frowned at the picture. “That’s not me,” he immediately said. “Whoever sent that picture must have doctored it. I never went near the woman, and I definitely didn’t kiss her! Even the car is wrong! It’s a Toyota! I wouldn’t wanna be seen dead in a Toyota, much less kiss some broad.”

“But you did have an affair with her a couple of years ago.”

“Yeah, so what? I’d hardly call that an affair.”

“Then what would you call it?”

“A fling. Nothing serious.” He stabbed a stubby finger at the phone. “My wife showed me this same picture last night and I told her then what I’m telling you now. This got pap written all over it. This is what they do. Fishing for a story.”

“Agatha thought it was real. In fact it’s the reason she walked out on you.”

“Agatha walked out on me? I didn’t even know.”

“Well, she did, and that’s how she ended up in my room, because she was looking for a person named Adeola, hoping she could make arrangements to be flown back to America.”

“I’m sorry, but I’ve been so busy these last couple of days with the shoot, that I’ve hardly paid attention to my wife’s ramblings. It’s possible she mentioned something about an affair, but I told her she was barking up the wrong tree this time.” He spread his arms. “Do you really think I’d have an affair when I’m up to my eyeballs in a production this size? Who’s got the energy? Who’s got the time?!”

“According to Agatha that’s never stopped you before.”

For a moment I thought the producer was going to give Odelia a slap, for he stared at her with distinct menace in his eyes. I could see that Tucker hadn’t lied: the man had a serious temper. But then he pulled himself together and said, “Look, I know I haven’t always been a choir boy, and it’s true that I’ve fooled around some in the past, but Agatha and I always worked through our problems.”

“For your son’s sake.”

The elevator finally dinged and the door slid open.“Yeah, for Tucker’s sake. I’m a kid of divorced parents myself, and I saw what that can do to a person, so I promised myself a long time ago never to put my own kid through a divorce.” We stepped into the elevator and the producer stabbed the button with his thumb. “So no, I wasn’t having an affair, and if Agatha thinks I did, she’s mistaken.”

“So the fact that Astra was here at the hotel was just a coincidence?”

“I have no idea what she was doing here. I didn’t even know about it until we arrived and Amalia told me she met Astra in the lobby.”

“So you weren’t trying to offer her her old part back?”

“Absolutely not. She made it very clear when she walked out seven years ago that she didn’t want to have anything more to do with the show, no matter what.”

“But why? Why did she quit?”

“Bad blood,” said the producer curtly as he frowned darkly at the control panel as if had personally offended him.

“With you? Or the cast?”

“Cast,” he snapped.

“So Amalia, Penney and Natalie.”

“That’s right. For some reason they never got along, and over the years that only got worse, until finally there was a big blowout and she walked out.” He shrugged. “Too bad for the show, which got canceled. And too bad for me.”

“But you still managed to get the show restarted.”

“I’ve got Amalia to thank for that. She’s been trying to convince the network for years that this show could work just as well with just the three of them, and now we’re here to prove her right.” He intertwined his index finger and middle finger and directed his gaze heavenward. “Let’s hope to God it works!”

I could see now why even the murder of a former actress on the show or the arrest of his wife couldn’t slow this man down. He probably had a lot riding on the successful reintroduction of his most popular show, and it was now or never.