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Will was polite, but incredulous. They’d gotten him out of bed, and he was moving slowly, clearly feeling the effects of being hit by a city bus. However, his brain was working as smoothly as ever.

“How did you not get the plate? You weren’t driving. You had one job.”

Mason frowned at him. “Yeah, staying alive. Have you ever driven with Julia? It was terrifying.” She paused. “The first letter was B.” Beat. “Pretty sure.”

Will shook his head. “Julia?”

Julia shrugged. “I was busy feeling alive for the first time in, like, eight days.” She looked around the office. “Whatever they were looking for, they either found it exactly where they thought it would be, or they didn’t look very hard. Nothing looks disturbed.”

“I’m disturbed,” said Mason. “You really need to install a security system.”

There was a pause. She looked at their faces. “What?”

“Uh, there is a security system. She just never turns it on.”

“Why not? You got attacked a few hours ago and we just had a break-in. A security system is only as good as its on button.”

Another pause.

Julia clicked her tongue. “Will’s being polite. I turn it off because when I’m drinking I set it off all the time and we got tired of dealing with the cops and fire brigade showing up only to find me wandering around my own house in my underwear or whatever.” Julia was pacing back and forth. “If I manage to stay sober for a while, I’ll turn it back on.”

“Wait,” said Mason, suddenly remembering the sound she’d heard during the car chase. She ran out and was back a few moments later, clutching a small film canister. “This was in the car. Any idea why?”

Julia stared at her, the color draining from her face. “Oh my God,” she whispered. “I remember…Tony brought that the night he died. I must have grabbed it when I was running away.”

“It was under the seat,” said Mason. “It was thrown about when we were driving, or I wouldn’t have known it was there.”

She went and pulled the curtain back. The sun was up now, the light thin but clear.

The door opened and Claudia appeared, drying her hands on a dish towel.

“Will told me about the excitement. Sorry I missed it. I made waffles. I got the guest room ready. Becky Sharp gets here today, and Ben is already in the other one.” She didn’t look sorry to have missed it; she looked as bored and as unruffled as she always did. She spotted the film canister. “What’s that?”

Julia was still staring. “Tony brought it. I remember that, but not much else. I don’t remember what it is.”

“Let’s watch it.” Mason was ready to go. “If we can. I mean, if we have whatever you need to watch old film.” She paused. “I can take it somewhere and get it digitized.”

“No need,” said Will. “It’s Super 8. We have a projector.” He coughed. “A dual, of course, 8 mm and Super 8.”

Julia’s color was returning, and the hesitation was gone from her voice. “Load it up, Will. Let’s see what we’ve got.”

It turned out they not only had a projector, but a large screen that whispered down from the ceiling, and blinds that darkened the windows completely. Will was clearly at home with the equipment and seemed entertained by the process of loading up the film. All that was missing was popcorn, and Mason was pretty sure she could have had that, too, had she wanted some.

The film appeared to be simply candid footage, shot on set. There was a lot of sound, but all overlapping voices, hard to distinguish.

“ The Codex ,” said Will, as soon as the film began. “There’s Jack Simon, standing next to you, Julia.”

Julia was leaning forward, the light from the projection playing across her features. A small smile appeared. “Oh my God, was I twelve? So young…” She caught her breath. “There’s Jonathan.” A man of average height, maybe even a little less, walked across the frame. Julia breathed deeply. “He was so handsome.”

Mason didn’t see it, personally. Jonathan Mann looked pretty average to her, but he was obviously charismatic, because the whole set moved around him like a fulcrum. Everyone in the frame was angled toward him as he walked over to Julia and the actor Will had identified as Jack Simon. They conversed, and apparently someone said something funny, because they suddenly all laughed. Mason looked curiously at Julia, who couldn’t have been much older then than she herself was now. Beautiful, full of life, and with an air of energy and movement she’d apparently left behind with the feathered haircut.

Whoever was filming pulled back, revealing the area behind the main film camera, two men standing behind it, chatting. A makeup artist darted up to Julia, puffing her face and fixing her hair. She looked at Jack Simon, and apparently decided he was fine as he was. Mason agreed with her: Jack Simon had been a fox, back in the day. She wondered what he looked like now.

Jonathan appeared again, talking briefly to the cameraman, then walking out of frame. The photographer followed him as he approached a small group of men, three of them, who were sitting and standing to one side.

The men shook his hand, and for a moment things seemed amicable. Then the man who was sitting stood up suddenly, turning to one of the men standing behind him. He raised his hand and abruptly the dynamic of the group changed.

“Huh,” said Will. “Trouble.”

It was clear. The body language became tense; Jonathan stepped forward and then, just as quickly, back again as the men turned to him and formed a tight circle. One of them placed a hand on his chest and pushed, just once, but it was enough. A threat. Jonathan put his hands up, dipped his head in compliance, and the photographer stepped closer. The men shook their heads, Jonathan was talking quickly, and just as suddenly as the exchange had started, it turned again, the three men relaxing, the one man returning to his seat. The photographer changed his focus, panning back to Julia, who was laughing and practicing a fight move with two other women, one of whom was slightly taller but with an identical hairstyle.

“Bella Horton,” murmured Julia, “my stunt double. This must have been early in filming, before the accident.” She grimaced. “We were friends. I still miss her. Filthiest sense of humor of anyone I’ve ever met, even in prison. She was a loss. And I believe that other woman is Helen Eckenridge. I forgot she started out as a Bella’s assistant. She couldn’t get out of it fast enough; writing was much more her speed.”

The three women practiced a moment longer, Helen and Bella demonstrating a throw that Julia subsequently nailed.

“Nice moves,” murmured Mason.

“Thanks,” said Julia. “Bella was a good teacher.”

The film ended abruptly, the projector came to a halt, and Will stepped over to it. “Want to see it again?”

Julia shook her head. “No. Digitize it, please. Why would Tony bother to bring that to me, and why now?”

“You don’t remember anything he said?” asked Mason. She wasn’t really expecting a positive answer—there were many days of her own life about which she remembered nothing—so when Julia shook her head, she wasn’t surprised.

“No, but he presumably had a reason, both for coming over and for bringing the film.” Julia turned to Will. “Recognize any of the men?”

“Nope.” Will was futzing about with the projector and a laptop, presumably preparing to digitize the film.

Julia thought for a moment, then turned to Claudia. “Is Casper still here?”

Claudia nodded.

“Is he awake?”

Claudia shrugged. “Doubtful, it’s not even nine a.m.”

“Go wake him up. If anyone’s going to recognize those men, it’s him.”

Casper yawned wide enough to fit one of his homemade Twinkies in sideways, and snapped his teeth shut with an audible click.

“Mikey Agosti is the one in the chair; the other two I have no idea.” He reached for the double espresso shot Claudia had placed on the side table, and drank it in two gulps. “I’ll need more coffee. What time is it? Why is it so bright?”

“It’s nine a.m. This is what it looks like in the mornings.”

“Hideous.” The journalist shuddered. “Remind me not to stay over again if this is the treatment I’ll receive.”

“You’ll go back to sleep and remember nothing of this,” said Julia. “And I needed your expertise.”

Casper rolled his eyes, but stopped complaining. “Ask Maggie,” he said. “She was close with Mikey Agosti: He was an investor in the club, and she’s still partnered with his son, Danny. She’s more likely to have known his associates than I am, and she’s always been good with names.” He paused. “Mind you, she can also keep a secret like nobody I’ve ever met, so you just have to hope she has no reason to keep quiet.”

Julia nodded. “We’ll go see her again soon.” She looked at Mason. “You can go back to Maggie’s and show her the video. You have to talk to Helen, too.”

Mason frowned. “I didn’t get any sleep last night. I fell in the street twice and got the wind knocked out of me. I need to eat, take a nap and make a meeting. Aren’t you going to report this to the cops?”

Julia shook her head. “You continue to delight me with your conversational gambits, Mason, try as you might to bore the shit out of me with personal details. And no, why involve the police? I don’t even know if the intruder took anything, and it’s not necessary to tell the police about the film; it might not be relevant at all.” She turned to Will. “Someone is up to something that killing Tony didn’t solve. I don’t think the attack last night was coincidence, and the break-in was intentional as hell. If I might quote a better detective than any of us, the plot thickens. It’s time to start asking around. Lower channels, you know what I mean.”

He nodded.

Mason frowned. “I don’t know what you mean.”

Julia waved her hand airily. “You will come to realize,” she said, “that I am a deeply charming and friendly person. Due to my career in Hollywood, my time in prison and my subsequent legal career, I have friends in high places, low places and all places in between. Often that means I hear about things regular channels might not reveal. It never hurts to ask.”

Mason deepened her frown. “That didn’t really clear it up.”

Claudia was still standing by the door. “Stop bickering and hurry up,” she said. “My waffles don’t deserve to be kept waiting, and nobody’s doing anything until they’ve eaten.”