Then she turned and walked quickly to the motor home. She knocked on the door and went inside.
Jesse meandered over to where Crow was standing.
“That went well,” he said.
Crow didn’t say anything.
“Kid freaked her out,” Jesse said.
“Nah. She was looking for an excuse.”
“An excuse?”
“To remind people that she’s the star.”
“She needed to do that?”
“You can lay odds that no one will forget what just went down, and they’ll pussyfoot around her for the rest of the shoot.”
“So why did she storm off?”
“For effect.”
“You mean she wasn’t upset?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“She does everything for effect.”
“Isn’t that a cynical opinion,” Jesse said.
“Cynicism is what floats my boat.”
“So you’re not thinking of quitting.”
Crow looked at him.
“What, and give up show business,” he said.
—
Ryan Rooney left the cabin in the late afternoon and drove to Paradise. It was easy to find the convoy of movie vehicles in such a small town.
Arriving at the end of the day, amid the hubbub of wrap time, would more easily allow him to accomplish what he intended to do. He parked and headed for the base camp.
Ryan watched as the various departments packed up their equipment and began loading it into their respective vehicles. Everybody was on the move, which gave him his opening.
Unrecognizable in a blond wig, dark glasses, and full beard, Ryan headed for the three-banger that housed the assistant directors’ cubicle.
A three-banger is a twenty-foot trailer that has been subdivided into three separate rooms. In addition to the ADs’ office, it also housed a holding section for the extras and an individual dressing room for a member of the supporting cast.
As he expected, no one was in the ADs’ section.
At wrap, each of the assistant directors is busy with the distribution of the call sheets and maps for the next day’s shoot, as well as providing information about where the various departments could watch the screening of the rushes, the raw footage of that day’s work.
Ryan slipped inside the trailer and quickly gathered copies of all the production schedules and contact sheets. The schedules detailed every day’s workload and its location. The contact sheets listed the local addresses of everyone connected with the movie.
He also grabbed a copy of the script.
No one noticed him. And then he was gone.
He stopped at a Star Time Grocery and bought himself a frozen pizza and a six-pack of Rolling Rock. He splurged and also bought a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia ice cream.
Then he returned to the cabin.
33
Portia Cassidy emerged from the Paradise Mall loaded with packages, heading for her car, where she was surprised to find Jesse Stone. He was leaning against the right-front fender of his cruiser, which was parked beside her BMW roadster. His face was turned to the sun.
Portia loaded her packages into the BMW without acknowledging him.
“I’m working on my tan,” Jesse said.
“Why? Surely there must be any number of adolescent miscreants you could be dogging,” Portia said.
“You know what I’m sorry about?”
“Should I care?”
“I’m sorry we got off to such a bad start.”
“Spare me.”
“No. I mean it. You see, I think we might have some common ground.”
Portia now stood beside the car, facing him.
“I’m going to regret asking, aren’t I,” she said.
Jesse looked at her.
“I think Courtney could use our help,” he said.
“Our help.”
“That’s funny. Your husband said the same thing. Is it so outlandish to think that I might want to help get to the bottom of what’s causing her to behave as she is.”
“Yes.”
“Yes what?”
“Yes, it’s outlandish.”
“Come on, Portia. You believe I’m an overzealous policeman, and I believe you’re a vindictive mother. Okay. So be it. But can’t we both step out of character for a moment and just talk to each other?”
Portia didn’t say anything.
“We’ve both got a problem here. Mine is dealing with an unrepentant lawbreaker with issues. Yours is trying to get to the bottom of your daughter’s behavior.”
“That’s how you perceive this?”
“Yes.”
“Look,” she said. “Even if I were to appreciate your point of view, which I don’t, by the way, I would still maintain that what’s happening with Courtney is none of your business. You don’t know her. You don’t know us. You don’t know anything. So for the sake of this conversation, allow me to advise you to, how shall I put it, stay the fuck out of it.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way.”
“Well, I do.”
“It doesn’t have to be like this.”
“Once again you’re wrong. Listen to me, Jesse. I’ll say this once and then we’re going to act like it never happened. We are the Cassidys. We don’t seek your opinion as to how we live our lives or conduct our family business. We buy and sell you. You don’t count. Do I make myself clear?”
Jesse sighed.
“Now, if you’ll please step away from my car,” she said.
Jesse did.
She got into it. She lowered her window.
“Thanks for your time,” she said. “I know how valuable it is.”
She gunned the engine, pulled out, and sped away.
34
Crow noticed the man the moment he and Marisol stepped outside of Daisy’s, where they had gone for a
