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.’ She looked down.‘She likes them young and pretty, and I was, and then I wasn’t.’‘In the end,’ Ada asked, ‘did she have a girlfriend?’Peggy put the red tool chest back together and closed it.‘Girlfriends, plural … I think the day I realized that was the day I should have run.Lenore wasn’t exclusive.If you ask me, that’s why she was shot.She treated the people who cared for her the most like dirt.She probably treated the wrong person like crap, and bang.’‘Not to pry, but how did you find out?’‘That I wasn’t her one and only? I came up the booty trail and found her with another bunny.’‘Translation, please?’‘Lenore’s private entrance and exit to LPP.She liked to come and go unobserved, and she liked her playmates to do the same.I told the cops all this.I’m probably still on their list of likely suspects.It’s clear that whoever killed Lenore knew all about the booty trail.In through the garage, then up her elevator, shoot her and then leave the same way.The elevator opens outside her dressing room, where not even her security can see who’s coming and going.’‘No attendant in the garage?’‘It’s tiny, just Lenore and the top executives.You get in and out with a pass card.’‘Cameras?’‘You’d think so, but no.Lenore wanted to keep any records of her flings private.’‘She wasn’t stupid,’ Ada said.‘What about when the affairs ended? They’d still have the pass card, or would she ask for it back?’Peggy snorted.‘She’d have the code changed, and they’d have a worthless piece of plastic.’There was a loud rap at the bathroom door.Melanie’s voice came from the other side.‘Ada, you ready?’‘Couple minutes,’ she shouted.She grabbed tissues and handed them to Peggy.‘You’re smudged,’ she said.‘Thanks.’Ada bit her bottom lip and watched as Peggy wiped away her eye liner.‘I can’t imagine what that must have been like, seeing her with other people.’‘Not a picnic but, like I said, I was pretty, young and stupid.’‘No,’ Ada said, ‘getting your heart broken isn’t stupid.It shows you’ve got a heart, and from what you say − and pretty much everyone else too − she didn’t.’ And then, figuring she’d not get the chance again, ‘Do you know who her current girlfriends were?’Peggy took a big breath.‘I don’t know that I’d even use the term girlfriend, especially over the last few years.Now that I’m finally getting some clarity, you don’t usually think about women in this way.’‘What way?’‘Predatory, like a man; she didn’t have girlfriends and, looking back, maybe I thought of her as my girlfriend, and that was a mistake.I was pretty and I was young and that was all she cared about.It’s like she wanted to have me and, once she did, she was on to the next … and when you’re Lenore, you get what you want.’Ada stared into the mirror, looking from her own flawless make-up and glamorous outfit to Peggy’s red-rimmed eyes.‘By predatory, you’re saying she’d use her position to get women to sleep with her.’‘Oh yeah.You want to get on a show? You want to get ahead? Well, you’ve got to give something to get something.That’s entertainment.’TWENTY-SIXBarry looked between the monitor and the talent, Ada and that Tolliver guy.They were in Lenore’s paneled library and this was the scene where each of the antique dealers made their pitch for the estate.With too little sleep and too much caffeine, Barry was desperate to get this pilot into the can.‘Just forty-eight hours,’ he muttered, still fuming over the latest bullshit phone call from LPP’s Chief Financial Officer, Patty Corcoran, neither confirming nor denying that Final Reckoning had the green light.Although he was able to get her to cough up the funds for two more days of shooting − today and their balls-to-the-walls plans for tomorrow.It left him drained and scared.She’d informed him that three-quarters of the producers at LPP had been let go.‘If you’re not producing revenue,’ she’d said, ‘LPP can’t carry you through the reorganization.It’s the new world order.’ He’d counted; she’d used the word ‘reorganize’ over eight times in a five minute conversation.Between the lines, it was pretty clear that Patty had her eye on the CEO spot.‘We’ll take it somewhere else,’ Melanie said, having overheard the entire conversation.‘It’s a fabulous concept.And thank God Rachel signed the paperwork before she did her vanishing act.Not to be morbid – well, maybe a bit – but can you imagine if she’s dead? Think of the ratings.No way they won’t run this.We’ll place an “in memory of” screen for three seconds at the start or at the end, and we’re good to go.’Barry nodded, and watched as Tolliver made his pitch.Rachel was supposed to be in this scene as well.They’d either drop her in from previous footage or find some other work around.‘We just have to get through today and tomorrow … and how’s that going?’‘Like planning a wedding in one day.It’s insane, but with enough cameras we’ll get what we need.We can use voice-overs and make stuff up, if we have to.’‘Run through it for me,’ he said, rubbing his temples.Somewhere, someone was wearing perfume.He felt the beginnings of a migraine and, rather than wait, retrieved a pill from his jacket and popped it under his tongue.‘We’ve got a couple dozen interns putting signs up all over western Connecticut.You’d love ’em − Lenore Says Come to My Estate Sale.They’re quite groovy and we’ve got ads in the evening and morning editions of the local papers, and The New York Times.Rachel went through all the stuff she wants to get rid of and, let me tell you, there was no love lost between her and her mother.’‘And it’s all legal? She signed everything she had to?’‘Yeah, and if she hadn’t?’He smirked.‘What do you think?’‘Right.The tents arrive later this morning and we’ll work through the night to get them set up.So we’ve got Tolliver and the other two wannabes to film, we’ve got to do the deliberation scene, pick one, get him or her to appraise the goods, tag it, set it out … I need a Valium … maybe some coke.I wonder if Carrie has any more of her son’s Adderall.’‘Just delegate but, you know, don’t trust anyone [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]