to Piper, saying, “You gotta understand, that guy is crazy.”
“Cheesecake. I mean fruitcake,” Piper said in an Italian-accented voice.
They got into the car, Whitman saying, “Try to keep it straight, okay?”
Winnick said, “I know; cheesecake is girly pictures and fruitcake is cuckoo. And keep my head down.”
The star said to his movie girlfriend, “I’m fruitcake to let you come with me. If anything happens to you, Gia-”
The girl laughed, said, “Stupido,” as Danny started the snazzy car. He gunned the engine. Piper yelped and flew back against the seat as the sports car shot toward Sisar Road.
It was traveling way too fast.
That was not in the script.
The crew and the bystanders stood and gaped as the car blasted through the open gate and kept going. The director yelled, “Cut,” but the car didn’t stop.
Instead, Danny took a hard left onto the two-laner, and the car became a vivid blue streak, getting smaller until it vanished from view and they couldn’t hear the engine anymore.
The director yelled, “What the fuck? What the fuck is going on here?”
Schuster, standing next to Del Rio, was punching numbers into his cell phone. Merv Koulos did the same.
“Danny. It’s Merv. Damn it,” said Koulos. “Danny, call me. This isn’t funny.”
“He’ll be right back,” Scotty said to himself. He turned to Del Rio. “He just likes the car and the girl. He’s going to turn back in a second. He’s just goofing around.”
“I hope you’re right,” said Del Rio.
Del Rio’s contentment was gone, replaced by a feeling like a cold wind blowing through his rib cage. He opened his cell phone, dialed Justine, and when she answered, he said, “We’re on the job for one hour and we lose the damned kid. Yeah, right, Danny. He took off at a hundred twenty in a three-hundred-thousand-dollar sports car. Brace yourself, Justine. He took the girl with him. Piper Winnick. No. Nope. If he said where he’s going, no one here got the memo.”
CHAPTER 66
It was late afternoon, nearly five.
Justine and Scotty had spent the day looking for Danny. They’d been to his house and Piper’s house in the Hills. They had contacted both sets of friends and families and were only now leaving the studio after talking to everyone who had an opinion on Danny’s disappearance-which was everyone period.
Half the people they talked to said they thought Danny was irresponsible, immature, just didn’t understand the consequences of his actions.
The other half guessed that Danny understood the consequences full well, that his disappearance was a publicity stunt mimicking the movie plot. Several people suggested that Danny’s agent, Alan Barstow, had put Danny up to it.
In any case, Justine knew that soon the police would be looking for a blue Ferrari and two young movie stars.
Justine told Scotty to strap in, then she drove off the Harlequin Pictures lot with tires squealing, heading toward Beverly Hills.
As she drove, Justine beat on the steering wheel with her palms in frustration, furiously trying to make sense of Danny’s insane and dangerous escapade. He couldn’t claim that he’d had one of his blackouts when he’d driven that car off the location with Piper Winnick riding shotgun.
What had she missed?
Was he a narcissistic child?
Or was he a psychopath?
Either way, he was self-destructive.
Danny Whitman, the kid with everything to lose, could go to prison for twenty-five to life.
And that was if he hadn’t hurt Piper.
Justine sped through a yellow light, saying to Scotty, “You heard me tell him ‘Play it straight. Don’t go anywhere with the opposite sex.’”
“You have to turn in two blocks, Justine. Maybe you want to get over into the left lane now-”
“He agreed to our terms. I keep asking myself, is he crazy? I mean, is he actually crazy?”
Scotty stomped on an imaginary brake on his side of the car as Justine took a hard left through a red light.
Justine said, “See, I liked him, Scotty. I liked him a lot. Tell me that address again.”
“Three forty-five North Maple. Should be about three blocks down. I take responsibility, Justine, but I don’t know what I could have done differently. We had to stay out of the shot, which went all the way out to the road.”
“You couldn’t have known. I mean it, Scotty.”
The building coming up on their right was blocky, about fifteen stories high. Justine turned the car down a ramp on the east side of the building and took the car deep into the dark underground garage.
A few minutes later, she and Scotty were giving their names to a woman behind the reception desk of the Barbara Crowley Talent Agency.
CHAPTER 67
Piper Winnick’s agent, Barbara Crowley, came out to the reception area within a minute of being buzzed. She was an attractive woman in her early forties, with short gold-and-silver hair. She was wearing an expensive black suit, gold bangles, and black nail polish.
Justine noted that Crowley had chewed off her lipstick and looked ragged for such a well-put-together woman.
“Have you heard from Danny?” the agent asked Justine.
Justine said, “No. Not yet.”
She introduced Christian Scott, then she and Scotty followed Crowley down a hallway lined with large framed photos of movie stars, the photos signed to Crowley with gratitude and love.
When Justine and Scotty were seated in front of Crowley’s desk, she closed her office door and said, “I’m worried for Piper. That’s not exactly right. I’m frantic.”
“You think Danny would hurt her?” Justine asked.
“Could he? Would he? Is he just a regular kid turned into a movie star or is he something far worse? Danny was hospitalized a while ago. Were you told about that?”
“No one told us,” Justine said.
“Well, let me do it. Danny checked himself into Blue Skies for a ‘tune-up,’ stayed out of sight for a couple of months.”
Justine knew about Blue Skies. Tommy Morgan had spent time there for his gambling addiction.
“Rehab, isn’t it?” Scotty asked. “Exclusive place for the addicted.”
“Not just addiction. Celebrities, others who can afford it, go there for R and R,” said Crowley. “I was told Danny’s problems were stress related, and when he checked out two months later, Merv Koulos assured me that Danny was absolutely fine. He had just needed some rest.
“So I met with Danny,” Crowley continued. “He seemed sober and sane or I never would have let Piper take the job. Then, when Katie Blackwell said she was molested, I told Piper I was going to cancel the contract, but she wanted to work with Danny, and I mean really. Her parents wanted her to make the film.”
Justine said, “Do you remember when Danny was at Blue Skies?”
