Silver Scream : A Bed-and-breakfast Mystery

So many memories, she thought, ignoring the slight

drizzle. Her Grover grandparents had bought the house

in the twenties. Her father and Renie’s father had

grown up there along with four siblings. Gertrude and

Donald Grover had raised Judith within its sheltering

walls. After Don died, Judith and Mike had returned,

converting the house into a bed-and-breakfast. To Judith, it wasn’t just a building, it was a sanctuary. She

couldn’t possibly give it up. Not ever.

With a dragging step, Judith entered through the

front door, where her melancholia was swept away by

angry voices coming from the living room. One voice

soared above the rest.

“You don’t live in our world, Mr. Flynn,” proclaimed Angela La Belle. “You can’t possibly understand what it’s like to be in the picture business. If we

aren’t free to talk to people, to make contacts, to keep

up on every nuance of the business, our careers are in

jeopardy. Indeed, after last night’s fiasco, all”—she

paused, and Judith thought she glanced at Ellie Linn—

“or almost all of us are already in deep doodoo.”

It seemed to Judith the reference was not to Bruno’s

death, but to The Gasman’ s flop. She couldn’t help but

flinch at the lack of humanity.

Joe remained unruffled. “Don’t blame us. Talk to

your studio suits. You all have cell phones, don’t you?”

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Mary Daheim

He cupped one ear with his hand. “I could swear

they’ve been ringing like a satellite symphony.”

“It’s not the same,” Ben Carmody argued. “I

planned to take a dinner meeting tonight with the number two producer in Hollywood. Number one now,

with Bruno out of the picture. So to speak.” The actor

looked faintly sheepish, but continued, “After last

night, there may not be any producers who want to talk

to me.”

“You’re not kidding,” Angela chimed in. “Now

when my name comes up, they’ll say, ‘La Belle? She

was in that disaster, The Gasman. I wouldn’t touch her

with a ten-foot pole.’ It’ll be like I have a contagious

disease. There’s no rationality in this business. Only

success and its afterglow count.”

The others enumerated their complaints, all of

which swelled into a dirge of doom. Judith studied the

gathering. Winifred was seated on one of the sofas by

the fireplace with Chips Madigan at her side. Opposite

them were Angela and Dirk. Ben Carmody leaned

against the mantelpiece and, while not wearing his

usual sinister screen expression, definitely looked morose. Dade Costello retained his lone-wolf status in his

favorite place by the French doors. Ellie Linn also

stood outside the circle, perched on the bay window