Page 50 of A Star is Scorned

The Hollywood precinct station was housed in a gray stone building with a terra-cotta roof, a facility that looked more like a bank or an insurance agency than a center of law and order.

Flynn had spent a few nights at this Wilcox Avenue station in his time, mostly drying out in the drunk tank after particularly louche evenings.

Harry had always bailed him out the next morning, taking the cost out of Flynn’s salary and scrubbing the incident from Flynn’s criminal record.

The studio had a half-dozen fixers on payroll, ready to clean up after their stars.

But there was no erasing it from the papers, considering Flynn’s caddish reputation.

Approaching the station, he was brought back to one particularly memorable evening at the Cocoanut Grove.

The club had decided it would be a brilliant idea to have live animals for the evening, perching parrots and cockatoos around all the booths and the bandstand.

He’d brought Rallo along as a joke, figuring that a real monkey would liven things up.

But at one point during the night, a parrot had pooped in Flynn’s drink, and Flynn, already three sheets to the wind, had tried to throttle it.

The parrot had flown up to the top of a papier-maché palm tree, and he’d sent Rallo climbing up after it.

By the time they’d gotten the monkey and the bird down, the parrot had lost several feathers.

How was Flynn to know the exotic bird trainer responsible for the creature was the guest of honor that night?

Flynn had been arrested for destruction of private property, while Rallo, the little devil, had gotten off scot-free.

He opened his mouth to tell Livvy the story to try to lighten the mood, but one look at her ashen face told him this wasn’t the time.

Her lips, so plump and inviting last night, were twisted into a wrinkled little line.

Her arms were crossed tightly over her chest as if she were holding herself together.

He pulled into the parking lot and put the car in park. “Let’s get your sister.”

Livvy nodded sternly, and Flynn didn’t push her. He came around to open her door and played it off when Livvy didn’t reach for his proffered arm, marching under the stone archway and through the glass side door alone.

He sighed and followed her, not knowing the right thing to do or say. He wanted to be there for her, to tell her that she didn’t have to shoulder this by herself. But she was shutting him out.

Livvy marched into the precinct and told the officer at the front desk in an icy tone, “I’m here to see my sister.”

The officer raised an eyebrow, stunned at Livvy’s haughty demeanor. Flynn hadn’t seen her like this since their first days together, donning the mask she wore to protect herself, to make people think she was above their reproach. But right now, all this was going to do was make things worse.

He interjected over her shoulder, “Her sister is Judy Blount. She was brought in last night on charges of assault. I’m waiting for my valet to bring me my checkbook, but then I will pay her bail.

” Flynn had called before they’d left the bungalow to see if Hugh could come to the station.

He’d had to promise Hugh another day off next month to make up for it.

The officer met Flynn’s gaze, and his eyes lit up. “Mr. Banks! Good to have you back here.”

Livvy gave him a shocked look, reassuring him that it had been best to skip the story about the parrot.

He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Erm, yes. Well, can’t say I feel the same.”

The officer chuckled and opened the heavy wooden door to the right of his desk. “Miss Blount can receive one visitor at a time.”

Flynn moved aside to let Livvy through. She looked back at him, but he couldn’t tell if her expression was one of gratitude or irritation.

He looked at an uncomfortable wooden chair, stained and lonesome in the cramped reception area, and sighed, then took a seat to wait for Hugh.

***

As the officer led her back through a padlocked steel door, Livvy tried to hold herself extremely upright, projecting a courage she did not feel.

Down the hallway, he gestured to a cell. “She’s in there.”

As soon as he walked away, Livvy dropped all pretense. “Judy!”

Her sister jolted up on the squalid cot she was lying on, and a look of intense relief washed over her when she made eye contact with Livvy.

Judy ran to the bars separating them and stuck her hands through, grabbing for Livvy.

“Livvy, thank God. They said I had one phone call, and I called the bungalow. They even let me try a few times, but you never picked up.”

“I know, I know, they told me. I’m so sorry.” How could she ever forgive herself for not going home last night, for choosing Flynn and herself over Judy. How many times would she fail her sister?

Livvy pressed a kiss to her sister’s hand, noticing that Judy’s nails had what looked like a layer of dried blood beneath them.

She stepped back and took Judy in. She was still in her skimpy black showgirl costume from the night before.

It was little more than a corset, a bustle full of feathers, and some fishnet tights.

Livvy saw with horror that there was a rip in her sister’s tights, a stain on her bodice, and a scratch on her cheek.

A strong smell of vomit emanated from Judy’s rat’s nest of hair.

Livvy tried not to gag. “What happened? I thought you were filming a scene as background dancers.”

Judy jutted out her chin, trying to look brave. But her lip quickly followed as she burst into tears. “I–I–I thought so tooo,” she sobbed, drawing out the last word.

Livvy pulled Judy toward her and tried to hug her through the prison bars. Judy sobbed and sobbed, until she hiccupped and abruptly stopped, seemingly cried out.

“Billy Wilkes said we were supposed to be dancers in a scene.”

Billy Wilkes—how Livvy hated that name. She’d known he was bad news from the day Judy had accepted the job at the Sphinx Club.

She should’ve trusted her gut and made her sister turn down the offer.

Even if Judy would’ve been mad at her. But they’d needed the money for rent, and that had clouded her judgment.

“But when we got to the studio, it was a big party. Celebrating their successful year at the box office, honoring the executives and salesmen. There were guys there that’d flown in from around the country.

They said we were the night’s entertainment, and they gave us these outfits.

” She gestured at her ensemble. “Told us to put them on. I thought well, what the heck? A gig is a gig. I can dance for a party as well as I can dance for a camera. But when they said we were the entertainment, they didn’t just mean dancing.

They meant we were there to entertain the men. ”

Livvy’s stomach plunged. She knew what that meant.

Every girl with a dream of Hollywood stardom did.

The stories of studio bigwigs who liked to take their liberties had circulated backstage at the Hollywood Bowl.

She was lucky that Harry’s biggest imposition was insisting she pretend to date Flynn. How lucky, she hadn’t realized.

“Did someone… Did they—” She couldn’t even say the words. If Judy had been violated, she would find the man responsible and murder him with her bare hands.

Judy shook her head. “But they tried.” She gulped, and Livvy could tell she was searching for the strength to finish her story. “We did our little performance, and then we were each assigned a table. Mr. Devlin seemed so nice at first.”

The name sent alarm bells ringing in Livvy’s head, but she couldn’t remember why it was familiar to her.

Judy kept going. “He asked me to sit next to him, and he kept refilling my champagne glass. After a while, I started to get a headache and feel sick. I said I needed to run to the ladies’ room, and he said he would help me. I said that wouldn’t be necessary, but he insisted. He took my arm.”

Judy held up her wrist, and Livvy gasped at the line of fingerprints visible in a ring of bruises. “What a brute.”

“He brought me to the ladies’ room, and I went in and was sick to my stomach. I’ve never had that much champagne before. I’m sorry, Livvy. I should have stopped after two glasses, but he kept pouring, and Billy told us our job was to be agreeable and make sure the men had a good time.”

Livvy squeezed her sister’s hand. “Don’t apologize, Judy. No part of this is your fault.”

“Anyway, I thought after I went to the bathroom, that was the end of it. I would tell Mr. Devlin I needed to go home because I wasn’t feeling well.

But when I came out into the little waiting room area, he was sitting in there on the little pouf in the center of the room, and he had—” Judy swallowed.

“You don’t have to tell me the rest if you don’t want to.”

“No, I need to say it. He had unzipped his trousers, and he reached out for me and pulled my hand into his pants.” Livvy felt like she might vomit now too.

“I protested and backed up, and he tried to cajole me.

He stood and he pressed his body weight against me, pushing me up against the wall.

I hoped and prayed that someone else would come in and use the restroom, and it would end.

But nobody did, so I slipped out from under his arms and tried to leave.

He caught me around the waist, called me a tease, and flung me onto the lounge.

“I screamed and tried to get away, but he wouldn’t stop.

He started to climb on top of me, and I snapped.

I slapped him, and with my other hand, I scratched at his face.

” She held up her hand again, showing off the dried blood under her fingernails.

“He scratched me back, bit my lip until it bled. Called me an alley cat who needed to be tamed. I scratched him again, digging my nails harder into his face, and that’s when he called for security and told them that I had attacked him unprovoked.

That he had to fight me off because I was drunk and crazed. ”

“But that’s a lie! Did you tell them he was lying?”

Judy’s shoulders collapsed, and she shook with sobs.

Livvy couldn’t bear to have these bars between them.

She needed to hold her sister, to make her understand that she would do anything to protect her.

That she would never fail her again. To hell with Flynn.

To hell with the picture. Judy was her top priority now. She should always have been.

“I couldn’t. I was in shock. They put me in handcuffs and threw me in the back of a police wagon and drove me away.”

Livvy pressed another kiss to her sister’s forehead through the opening in the bars. “It’s okay, it’s okay. It would’ve been worse if you’d resisted the police. We will tell them the truth in court.”

Judy looked up at her, a stark look of fear on her face. “No, Livvy, no trial. I want to forget this ever happened.”

“But this man needs to pay for what he did to you—”

Judy shook her head sadly. “Do you think I was the only girl treated that way last night? They brought us there to be party favors. I fought back, and look where that got me.”

Livvy wanted to scream, to tear down the walls of this station brick by brick. To march across the city, find Mr. Devlin’s house, and burn it to the ground with him inside it. But most of all, she wanted Judy to be okay. To feel safe. To not have to think about this ever again.

So she simply nodded, and their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of the officer who had brought her back here. “Her bail is paid, she’s free to go.” He unlocked the door to Judy’s cell, and her sister practically collapsed into her arms as Livvy led her out.

Flynn was still waiting, and he gave Judy such a look of concern it almost broke Livvy. “I’ll drive you both home.”

She didn’t have the energy to argue and followed him out the door.