“I’ll try to get out of here early. I love you.”
As soon as Avery hang up, someone was knocking on his trailer door. “Avery? It’s Bob!” the studio gofer said. “There’s a call on your other line. It’s Homeguard Security, something about the house….”
“Um, thanks, Bob,” Avery replied. He grabbed the receiver and pressed the blinking second-line button. “Yes, hello?”
“Hello, Avery Cooper? It’s Homeguard calling. We don’t mean to alarm you, sir. But we’re a bit concerned by something we saw today and thought you might help clear it up for us.”
“Yes?” Avery said.
“Well, we’ve been watching you on this video, licking your wife’s snatch, and we’re wondering how it tasted.”
The line went dead.
With dinnertime just ahead, the Recipe Hotine was buzzing with helpful hints on Monday, October 27 at 4:43 P.M.:
ARLENE: My husband used to say that one of the worst things you can do to ground beef is make it into meat loaf, but then I got this recipe from my friend, Rachel….Mix 1 1b. lean ground beef with ? cup of Pepperidge Farm Seasoned Stuffing (not cubed), 3 eggs, ? cup of barbecue sauce, ? pouch of Lipton’s Onion Soup Mix (get plenty of the brown onion salt in there!), a dash of garlic salt, pepper, and just enough milk for consistency. Mold into Meat Loaf Casserole dish. If not on a diet, cover with a couple of slices of raw bacon. Slip into the oven at 350 degrees for one hour. It’s delicious!
PAT: What do you usually serve with that? Baked Potato?
DOLORES: I have a garlic mashed potato that would complement it beautifully!
RICK: Request private chat with Pat, regarding pie recipe.
The following private mailbox interchange occurred at 4:46 P.M. on that same Monday afternoon:
AMERICKAN: Re: your inquiry, video has earned approx. $375,000 from various parties…SAAMO officers have broker handling it so we don’t get R hands dirty…Understand stills will run in various adult mags, and B reproduced for Internet…5000 copies of video being distributed…Copies can B easily duplicated to insure wider distribution… SAAMO high-ups congratulate U for profitable & productive mission…that said, are U aware of problems we’ve had with D.S.?
PATRIOT: She’s mouthed off 2 press about R last job…would like to muzzle her. We should have done job on her 2 yrs. ago after lesbo vs. hunters movie.
AMERICKAN: Exactly…New orders to humiliate & terminate D.S. as soon as possible…Details follow… SAAMO Lieut, signing off.
Dayle had telephoned the Imperial Hotel several times, trying to get a hold of Brian, the waiter. It was against hotel policy to give out home phone numbers of their employees. Dayle kept leaving her number, along with the message: “Call Ms. Sutton as soon as possible.” Brian never called.
Meanwhile, in the wake of Leigh’s death, the tabloids churned out their sordid headlines. Several publishers announced forthcoming tell-all biographies, promising to expose the secret life of Leigh Simone. Her CD sales boomed, and Leigh Simone jokes made the rounds—with suicide or lesbianism a part of the punch line. The new issue of
Dayle wanted to prove
Dennis did get a hold of Linda Zane, long distance at her friend’s villa in Greece. But Tony’s widow couldn’t tell Dayle much. She’d spent little time with Tony in the final weeks of his life, and knew nothing about any threats.
Frustrated, Dayle kept trying to reach the ever-elusive Brian. He’d been dodging her for four days now.
She finally had the hotel operator put her through to the restaurant. Brian wasn’t working, but one of his buddies was. He gave her Brian’s phone number, and Dayle tried him at home. After two rings a young woman picked up. “Hi, this is Joy.”
“Hello, is Brian there, please?”
She heard the girl call out: “Hey, Bry? Telephone!”
Dayle heard her mutter something, then Brian got on the line. “Hello?”
“Brian, this is Dayle Sutton.”
Silence.
“Was that your girlfriend I was talking to just now?”
“No, that was my sister,” he whispered. “This is my family’s house. I wish you hadn’t called me here.”
“I’m sorry,” Dayle said. “But you gave me no choice. I’ve left you several messages at the hotel. Is your sister still there with you?”
“She’s in another part of the house now. But I can’t talk long.”
“Then I’ll get right to the point. I think Tony Katz was killed by the people who had been threatening him. Your story makes it seem less and less like a random gay-bashing. The police don’t know about the threats on Tony’s life. I think the same people who killed Tony and his friend also murdered Leigh Simone.”
“But she committed suicide.”
“I have every reason to doubt that. So here’s where you come in, Brian. You’re the only one who knows about the threats on Tony’s life. If you tell the police what you’ve told me, I’ll do everything I can to keep your name out of the newspapers.”
“But you can’t guarantee anything like that, can you?”
“No, I can’t,” Dayle said. “I understand how you must feel, but if you keep quiet about the threats on Tony’s life, the people who killed him could go on killing.”
“No, I’m sorry, I can’t help you,” he said, his voice shaky. “The cops won’t believe me unless I tell them about Tony and me. And I’m not doing that, no way.”
Dayle said nothing. Brian was right. Admitting his sexual fling with Tony Katz was an unavoidable part of the package. And she couldn’t guarantee anonymity for him. Dayle sighed. “Will you at least think about it, Brian?”
“I’m sorry, Miss Sutton,” he whispered. Then he hung up.
“I’m Mrs. Richard Marshall, but you can call me Elsie.”
“Hi, Elsie!” the studio audience replied in unison.
Elsie Marshall blew them a kiss. Today, she wore a purple suit, which showed off a lavender rinse in her hair. Elsie sat on the edge of the desk, the framed photo of Ricky beside her. “Well, isn’t it a shame what Leigh Simone did to herself?” she asked her subjects in the studio seats. They all murmured in agreement.
“I’ll admit, Leigh Simone was never one of Ricky’s and my favorites. But that doesn’t mean I’m not praying for her. It’s sad, it really is, to see how certain people throw their lives away. Now, the way I understand it, Leigh Simone was at this wild party full of gays and lesbians like herself…”
Elsie hesitated, then frowned. “
She shrugged. “I’m just a housewife, and I don’t know much about this crowd with their ‘lifestyles’ of indiscriminate sex and drugs. But I understand this party was connected to some benefit concert promoting special rights for homosexuals.” Elsie frowned. “What do you think of these people who want special treatment, because
