25
By seven o'clock much of the heavier equipment was gone. The props truck had been removed, as had the wardrobe trailer, the condor, the scenery trucks, and one of the electrical trucks. There were no cameras in sight, no microphones, and the heavy cables that once snaked all over the field had disappeared.
The wardrobe tent remained, however, and the center partition had been removed to make a large eating area. A dozen round tables and their chairs now filled the area and spilled out into the yard beyond. With the scenery flats gone and most of the big reflectors and the lighting equipment missing, the field behind the house was beginning to look like it did before the movie production company arrived.
Jane let the cats out to explore and put Willard in his dog run, where he could now bark his brains out if he wanted without disturbing the filming. Jane rescued her lawn chairs before they could be accidentally packed up and hauled away. According to her contract with the production company, by Monday evening everything would be gone and she and theneighbors would have new fences installed.
When she brought Willard back in, the catering truck was just arriving, as were some of the party attendees. The street in front of her house was starting to fill up with the cars of the extras and local crew members who were entitled to attend the wrap party and wanted to be there early to enjoy every minute of it.
But her plan, if it were to work at all, couldn't be executed until everyone had arrived. She took a long, soothing bath, washed her hair and took special care with drying and curling it, and put on a slinky peacock blue dress she'd bought to attend the theater on her weekend in New York with Mel. It was a remarkably flattering dress, which she wouldn't have even bothered to try on if Shelley hadn't insisted. Even on the hanger, she'd found the plunging neckline downright alarming. She had great shoes to go with it, but they were high heels and she couldn't walk around the yard in them without nailing herself into the ground, so she settled for some taupe flats that were decent enough as long as nobody looked too closely.
Shelley was just coming out of her house as Jane exited her kitchen door. 'My God! You
“I hope so. I keep expecting the ghost of my great-grandmother to show up shouting, 'Cover your chest, girl!' '
“Mel's going to be here tonight, isn't he?' 'Yes. I spoke to him this afternoon.'
“You didn't tell him—'
“No, not all of it. Just that I had a couple things in mind that might help.”
They strolled over to the catering truck where a line had already formed to partake of the wrap party dinner. Shelley studied the menu scrawled on the chalkboard hung from the end of the truck. 'Oh, great! Tex-Mex. Jane, if you get near anything with sauce, I'll smack you. I couldn't stand for something to get spilled on that dress.'
“I'm too nervous to eat anyway,' Jane said. 'May I have a drink? Maybe I could ask for it in one of those cups with a lid.'
“Don't be fresh,' Shelley said with a smile, using her mother's favorite phrase.
Jane and Shelley got soft drinks, although there was beer available, the first time they'd seen any alcohol on the set. They drifted about, seemingly aimlessly for a while, exchanging pleasantries with various people. Actually they were taking roll, waiting for everyone they needed to arrive.
There were a surprising number of people they had difficulty recognizing. Instead of being in costume, as they had been all week, the extras were dressed in party clothes with makeup and their real hairstyles. Many of them looked vastly different as themselves. Most of the partygoers were dressed casually, but a few, like Jane and Shelley, had put on their best.
Mel's reaction to Jane was highly satisfactory. 'Wow!' he said, looking her up and down lecherously when he arrived. 'You look fantastic!”
In all the years of her marriage, her husband had never said anything to her in quite that tone of voice. Jane felt herself blushing and had to suppress a girlishgiggle that was forcing itself up her throat. 'Thanks,' she said, in a squeaky voice.
He stared at her a minute longer, then forced himself to say in a businesslike tone, 'Now, about your call this afternoon—?'
“We just want to see if we can 'break the barrier' of secrecy. If it works, it'll be up to you to follow through.'
“And if it doesn't, you'll have put yourselves in danger,' Mel said.
“No, because there will be too many witnesses,' Jane assured him. 'Just sit down and look as inconspicuous as you can while Shelley and I gather people up.'
“Where?' Mel asked, peering into the semidarkness of the tent.
“Over there.' Jane tilted her head at the far corner where Olive Longabach had been sitting alone until Maisie took pity on her and sat down a moment before. 'That table isn't going to fill up any time soon with Olive casting a pall of grief over it. Shelley, you join them and keep the table free, would you?”
When Shelley had gone, Mel leaned close to Jane and said, 'I don't suppose I can stop you from doing this, can I?”
Jane shook her head.
“If my superiors had any idea I was going along with this crazy scheme—'
“You're not 'going along' with anything, Mel. You may, with luck, find yourself a fortunate accidental witness to a confession. That's all. And you may not,' she added. 'Go sit down and we'll see.”
Jane found Butch and the props intern deep in conversation and butted into it. 'Butch, could I speak to the two of you in a few minutes?'
“Sheesh! Jane! You look bitchin',' he exclaimed.
“I guess that's good? Thanks. I really need to talk to you guys. It'll only take a minute. Go to the table in the corner where Maisie is sitting. I'll be there in a sec.”
Jane then extracted, with some difficulty, Angela Smith from a tete-a-tete with a handsome electrician and sent her to the table. It took her only a minute more to locate George Abington, who was standing in front of the catering truck, studying his options grimly. Grousing about the trendiness of the menu, he went compliantly.
Roberto Cavagnari was almost as easy.
“Could I have a few minutes of your time?' she asked him, putting her hand on his arm.
“Who
“The Spirit of Justice!' Jane responded theatrically.
As she hoped, this caught his interest. That, and (she suspected) her cleavage, seemed enough to get his attention for a moment. Which was all she needed.
She led him into the cavern of the tent, steering him through the tables to where the rest had gathered.
“How nice of you all to join us,' Maisie said, looking perplexed. 'I was just telling Olive—' her voice trailed off as she looked around the table.
Nobody was listening to her. They were all looking expectantly at Jane.
“I want to ask you all a few questions,' Jane said. She glanced around and didn't see Mel. He'd hidden himself a little too well for her liking. But she noticed one of the other police officers, out of uniform and, likewise, almost unrecognizable, at the adjoining table.
“Yeah?' Butch asked. 'What kinda questions?”
Jane leaned on the back of a chair to help steady herself. Her knees were shaking. What if she'd come this far and was utterly wrong and about to make a prize ass of herself? 'Maisie? You told me something interesting the first day of work here.”
Maisie looked startled. 'I did?'
“You said Lynette Harwell had been on sets that had bad luck. Remember? Tell me again what kind of bad luck you mentioned.'
“I–I don't know — uh, accidents, injuries of various kinds, illnesses—'
“—and thefts, you said.'
“Yes, I guess I did.'
“Important thefts?”
Maisie shrugged. 'I don't know.”
Roberto was deep in thought. He muttered to himself for a few minutes and said, 'Yes. I heard—'
