A few minutes later Rachel came back with a guy wearing faded jeans and a black, short-sleeved polo shirt who looked like he should be playing pro beach volleyball. He smiled and I noticed a thin white scar on his cheek. “Nathan Waters,” he said holding out his hand. I shook it and introduced myself. Nathan then stepped back and folded his arms. “OK, whenever you two are ready.”
I read through the scene again with Rachel and when we were done Nathan clapped—my skin tingled.
“Very nice, Ashley. Very nice.”
“Thank you,” I said, running my hand through my hair.
Nathan rubbed his hands together. “Here’s what I want to do: We need to fill this part today. Would it be possible for you to come over to Gold Bar with me to meet Joel Cross and Leslie Karos so they can get a quick look at you?”
“Sure, I can do that,” I said.
If I could land the role I could be out of the crummy apartment by the end of the month.
“Awesome,” Nathan said. He looked at Rachel.
Rachel rolled her eyes. “I can’t make it, Nathan; I’ve got a six o’clock with the Murphy brothers.”
Nathan smirked, “Jesus, the Murphys.” He looked over at me. “OK, it’s just you and me kid. Ready?”
Man, this was happening fast. “Sure, let’s go,” I said.
Nathan tilted his head towards the hallway and I followed him out there.
Fifteen minutes later we were sitting in a crowded bar area at a black high-top table outlined in gold neon. Nathan’s phone beeped and he checked it.
“Looks like it’s just going to be us. Leslie and Joel got hung up with some pre-production stuff.”
The table shook and I picked up my water so it wouldn’t spill.
“Damn mini-quakes,” Nathan said, lifting his glass.
I looked around the restaurant but no other tables were shaking.
I shrugged and took a sip of water. The table stopped rattling and we spent the next two hours talking about the movie, why I wanted to be an actress, the scar on his cheek, which was from an accident he’d had on his boat, and just a bunch of random stuff.
“Well, I had a great time tonight,” Nathan said after the waiter brought the check. “And, to be honest, I’m going to bypass Leslie and Joel and offer you the part.”
I squeezed my fists, “Wow, that’s awesome! Thank you!”
Nathan signed the check and set the pen down. “Maybe we could get together and talk about things this weekend?”
I held my breath for a second but couldn’t resist. “Yeah, I would love that,” I said.
We left the restaurant and Nathan drove me home. He gave me a hug and I opened the BMW’s door and got out. It was just after nine when I walked into the dark apartment. I went into the bedroom, lay down on the bed, and fired up the Netflix. At midnight I started to drift off to sleep.
I heard the scraping sound and my eyes popped open.
The bed began to rattle and I slid off it.
My entire body trembled as I grabbed my iPhone off the nightstand. Flipping the flashlight on, I walked into the living room. The scraping was coming from inside the closet. If an animal was trapped in there I had to let it out—but it didn’t sound like an animal.
It sounded rhythmic ... almost beckoning.
I walked up to the closet and opened the door. A blast of icy cold shot out at me and my skin felt like it had frosted over.
The closet was empty.
Just a single shelf with a manila folder sitting on top of it.
I took the folder off the shelf and opened it up to see a black and white head shot of a girl with black hair and beautiful, almond-shaped eyes. At the bottom right corner it said, in gold print, Kara Walker. I took the photo out of the folder and there was a copy of typed letter underneath it.
Nathan,
I am tired of your empty promises and lies. If you do not put me in your next movie, I will go to the media about our affair. You can deal with the hell your wife brings after that.
Kara
I typed “Kara Walker” into my iPhone.
“Kara Walker Death” appeared at the top of the search.
I tapped the screen.
August 11th, 2015
The body of Kara Walker, a 22-year-old actress from Minnesota who had stared in two films for Sun Star Studio, was recovered from the Pacific yesterday by a deep sea fisherman whose line became entangled with the corpse.No foul play is suspected at this time.
Boating accident.
The gust of cold wrapped around me and the photo shook.
“Thanks,” I said quietly.
I set the folder on the floor.
Tomorrow I would call the police.
And then I was getting the hell out of Hollywood.
Itapped my nails against the window and gazed at the glittering Manhattan lights. Sam never shut up about the view the floor-to-ceiling windows gave us. Hell, he loved it so much it was amazing he never spent any time up here. But Sam worked hard at the firm—with the problem being that he played even harder outside of it.
And tonight was another night out with the boys.
Old friends died hard, and unfortunately the forty-something-year-old man-children that he still hung out with probably weren’t going anywhere soon.
But hey, I’d made the choice to marry a multi-millionaire investment broker thirteen years older than me, and now I was a thirty-four-year-old stepmom alone on a Saturday night in a three million dollar high-rise condo.
This was what alcohol was for I guessed.
I turned around and looked over the golden prison. For the third Saturday night this month, the onyx wet bar was going to be my date and the 70-inch plasma hanging from the brick wall between the windows was the entertainment. Of course, the pinball machines lined up against the
