Page 36 of Romance Is Dead
At first pretending not to see him, Teddy and I chose seats down the bar.
We placed our orders with the bartender — a beer for Teddy and a Jack and ginger for me — and slowly nursed our drinks as we discreetly kept an eye on Scott.
His face long and tired, he kept his eyes down as he sipped a draft beer.
“He won’t look at me,” I whispered, keeping my voice just low enough for Teddy to hear. “What else am I supposed to do?”
“Here, let me take care of it.”
“No!”
He stared at me pointedly, and I let out a pained sigh. I’d forgotten — I was supposed to be “trusting him” or whatever.
“Fine,” I conceded. “Just don’t screw it up.”
Teddy shifted in his chair. “Hey, Scott!” he boomed, his voice unnaturally loud.
I winced, but Scott didn’t seem fazed. He looked up, slightly surprised, and raised his glass to us.
“An eventful day today, huh?” Teddy tried. Remembering the way Audrey attacked Chloe, I thought that was putting it mildly.
Scott raised a bushy eyebrow. “You two still doing your little investigation?”
“Um.” I hadn’t expected Scott to peg us quite so quickly. “Kind of.”
“Never been on a set with so many problems.” Scott shifted in his seat. “All these kids and their dramas.”
“What do you mean?” I tried to sound casual as I sipped my own drink.
“Oh, no.” Scott twisted his empty glass by its base. “I’m not getting into all that.”
My heart sank. I tried to catch Teddy’s eye, disappointed. But he didn’t return my look. Instead, his eyes were sparkling as he stared at Scott’s empty glass.
“Hey, Scott,” he called out. “Let me buy you a drink?”
Scott rubbed at a chip in the bar top, considering. “I shouldn’t.”
“Just one?”
Finally, he relented. “What are you buying?”
Teddy grinned. “You like Long Island iced teas?”
An hour later, the three of us were congregated at the end of the bar and far drunker than we should have been, especially considering we had to be up in less than five hours.
Scott was on his third iced tea while Teddy and I had been careful to stick to just one.
Still, the potent concoction combined with my first drink had me way tipsier than I would have liked.
“. . . don’t appreciate how much work goes into making props.” Scott dabbed a napkin at his temple, which had sprung a sweat. “Take that game of pool we filmed yesterday. Did you notice how quiet the balls were? The real ones make too much noise and make the sound guys grumpy.”
“I did! How did you do it?”
I muffled a grin. I could almost guarantee Teddy had not, in fact, noticed how quiet the balls were.
“The secret was using racquetballs — they’re soft and don’t clack around. Then we just had to paint ’em and apply a layer of gloss, and you can’t notice the difference until you pick them up.”
“That’s amazing! I never would have thought of that.”
I listened to them talk, amused and more than happy to let Teddy take the lead. He’d known just the right way to get Scott to open up, and had even coaxed an honest-to-God giggle out of him when he’d complimented his skills at mixing fake blood.
“. . . just going to be a shame if it’s all for nothing.” Scott’s face clouded. “Everyone’s too busy keeping secrets instead of making sure the production doesn’t get shut down.”
My ears perked up. “Who’s keeping secrets?”
“Everyone! Natasha’s lying about the studio reps.” He gestured to Teddy and me. “You two are sneaking around. Trevor knew something about Audrey, some big secret, but I don’t know what.”
Teddy and I locked eyes.
“What’s going on with the studio?” I pressed.
“Hell if I know. But I don’t think the visit is going well, despite what Natasha is saying.” He took a long draw of his drink. “I think they’re considering pulling the plug.”
Alarm flared through my body. They couldn’t cancel it — I wouldn’t get paid. And I hadn’t decided where I’d be living once I moved off Mara’s couch, let alone what my backup plan for employment would be. I couldn’t be broke on top of that.
“Why would they want to cancel the film?” Teddy asked.
“I don’t know, but I hope for Natasha’s sake they make a decision soon. The stress is bound to kill her. I thought she was having a stroke that first night, even before you two found Trevor.”
“You saw her that night? I thought you were driving around looking for a new lamp?”
“Exactly. I didn’t get back here until after midnight. She was at the bar, raving about how bad the day went. A member of the crew said she was here all night.”
The implication hit my body like a shock wave. If Natasha had spent the whole evening at the bar, that meant she’d been nowhere near the crime scene. We could cross her off our list. She wasn’t the killer.
“You said Trevor knew something about Audrey?” Teddy pressed, draining his glass.
“You two need to mind your own business.” But even though Scott side-eyed us, I could tell he was secretly pleased. “I don’t know what the big secret was. I just heard her on the phone, something about Trevor being onto her.”
Another secretive phone call.
“Did she say anything else?” Teddy hiccupped. “On the phone.”
“No.” Scott drained his glass and stretched his arms over his head. “And I need to go to bed. I’m too old for this.”
“One more?” Teddy teased.
“Hell no. If I feel like shit tomorrow, I’m coming after both of you.” He got up and placed a tip on the bar top, wavering slightly.
“He’s definitely going to feel awful when he wakes up,” I said as he disappeared into the lobby. “Did he really need the third one?”
Teddy shrugged as he reached for the bill. “I’ll make sure to bring ibuprofen for him.”
“And maybe some Gatorade.”
Teddy signed the bill and pushed it back toward the bartender. “At least we learned something. Worth it.”
Yes, we had. Just not enough. I was willing to bet that Trevor had also figured out that Audrey wasn’t being truthful about her identity.
Who was she? And was she willing to kill, to keep it a secret?