Swimming to Catalina

18

Stone was wakened by a finger running lightly down his cheek. He tried to sit up, but a hand on his chest pressed him back down. He blinked and looked at the face above him.

“Don’t get up; I like you in a horizontal position,” Betty said.

“Oh, hi; I guess I fell asleep.”

“Waiting anxiously for me to come home, huh?”

“What time is it?”

“A little after eight. I take it you’re not cooking for me this evening.”

“Why don’t I take you out? You book us a table somewhere you like.”

“Good idea; I’d like to change out of my working togs, too.”

Stone went into the bathroom, threw some cold water on his face, and combed his hair, then got into one of his new Ralph Lauren Purple Label suits and went downstairs.

Betty came down in a little white dress, very short, and slipped a hand into his. “We’ve got a table at Maple Drive,” she said. “That’s a restaurant, as well as a street. Let’s take your car; I hope you like jazz.”

“You bet.”

They had a table near the piano player, who was very good. “Dudley Moore and Tony Bill own this place,” she said, sipping her drink. “Dudley comes and plays sometimes.”

“Sorry I missed him; I like his piano. How was your day?”

“Long; they’re still shooting on Stage Twelve, redoing your scenes, so we can be sure Vance won’t turn up here. It’s a favorite of his.”

“I must have been pretty bad, huh?”

“Not in the least; I saw all your dailies, and you were very good indeed. I told you about the female reaction.”

“So why would they go to all the trouble to get me to do that, then hire somebody to do it over?”

“The word on the lot is, the actor they wanted was unavailable, then suddenly he was available.”

“Do you buy that?”

“It’s not the first time it’s happened.”

“Idon’t buy it.”

“Okay,” she said, downing the rest of her martini, “what’s your theory?”

“I think they were trying to keep me busy so I wouldn’t be looking for Arrington.”

“So they tie up a whole company and a soundstage filming you, just to keep you off the streets? That’s not how the movie business works, Stone; they don’t waste that kind of money.”

“Are you kidding? From what I read in the papers, they waste a lot more than that on a lot of films, and for less reason.”

“All right, I’ll grant you that; I’ve just never seen Lou Regenstein do it. I think hereally wanted the other actor. Can I have another martini?”

Stone signaled a waiter for another round; he brought the drinks, and they ordered dinner.

“Did Vance say anything about Arrington today?”

“He said she was still visiting her family in Virginia.”

“Funny, he told me she was staying with a friend in the Valley.”

“This is all so weird,” she said.

“Did you pick up on anything helpful today?”

“He talked with both Lou Regenstein and David Sturmack this morning.”

“Did you overhear any of it?”

“No.”

“Hear anything about Ippolito?”

“Nothing.”

“Don’t mention that name to Vance.”

“Okay. What did you find out today?”

“Well, I came within about a minute of seeing Arrington.”

“Come again?”

“I had lunch with a cop friend, and he put out a bulletin on her car for me.”

“Jesus, I hope Vance never finds out you went to the cops.”

“This was all very informal, just a favor. Turns out Arrington was at the same restaurant-Spago Beverly Hills.”

“And you didn’t see her?”

“Nope; I went to a bank across the street to cash a check, and when I came back, I got a call from my cop friend that she had just left the restaurant. I tried to catch up, but a motorcycle cop pulled me over for a bad turn.”

“So she’s not in Virginia with her family, and she’s not in the Valley, either?”

“Right. And she’s not in the storeroom at Grimaldi’s or at a table at Spago.”

Betty shook her head. “This is all too much for me, after a martini and a half.”

Dinner came, and they ate slowly, enjoying the very good food.

“Where are you from, originally?” Stone asked.

“A small town in Georgia called Delano,” she replied.

“What brought you out here?”

“Fame and fortune; I wanted to be an actress. I even was an actress, for a while.”

“Why didn’t you keep at it?”

“I wasn’t good enough, and I knew it. There were an awful lot of girls who were better than I who were out of work. If I’d kept it up I’d have ended up giving producers blow jobs for work, and I wanted to keep my private pleasures private.”

Stone smiled. “How did you meet Vance?”

“I had a little part in one of his pictures; it wasn’t much, but it kept me on the set for a month. Vance and I had our little fling, and I started helping him on the set-answering the phone, that sort of thing. He didn’t like his secretary, so he offered me her job.”

“Did you find it easy to give up acting?”

“Vance sat me down and talked to me like a Dutch uncle,” she said. “He told me that I didn’t have any sort of real career ahead of me, and when I thought about it, I realized he wasn’t being cruel, he was right. I took the job and never looked back.”

“You never married?”

“Nope. It doesn’t appeal, really. I mean, I couldn’t get married and keep the job with Vance; he’d drive any husband to the wildest kind of jealousy; I’d be dead in a month.”

Stone laughed. “I guess I’m a little jealous myself.”

“Oh, no, you’re not,” she said. “You’re just like me; you like your independence and take your sex where you find it. And you’d make a lousy husband.”

“I would not!” Stone said. “I’d be a very good husband.”

“Oh, come on, Stone; you’re still in love with Arrington, but you’re fucking me.” She smiled. “Not that I’m complaining.”

“What makes you think I’m still in love with Arrington?”

“A woman’s intuition.”

“Let’s just say that Arrington and I never had the kind of closure we should have had. I’d have felt better if we’d had a fight and she’d walked out. And there are other reasons I’m…” He stopped himself.

“Not to pry, but what other reasons?”

“Don’t pry.”

“Oh, all right. I’ll find out eventually anyway.”

“Probably.”

“Well,” she said, putting down her fork, “that was an excellent dinner. Now would you take me home and do lascivious things to me?”

“Love to.” Stone signaled for the check.

They pulled away from the restaurant, which was in a residential neighborhood, and as they did, Stone caught sight of another car pulling in behind them, halfway down the dark block. He thought nothing of it until after a couple of turns, when it was still there.

“I don’t think we should go directly to your house,” he said.

“Why not?”

“Not to get all dramatic, but I think we’re being followed. Don’t look back.”

“Who would be following us?”

“I don’t know, but I’d rather not have them follow us to your place.” They crossed Santa Monica Boulevard and drove up Beverly Drive. “Is there such a thing as a cab stand in this town?” he asked.

“The Beverly Hills Hotel is a few blocks ahead.”

“That’ll do. Why don’t you take the scarf you’re wearing and put it on your head, just to hide the red hair.”

She did as instructed.

They crossed Sunset Boulevard and turned into the driveway of the hotel. “Okay, here’s what we do; there’s only one car and they can’t follow us both. I’m going to drop you at the entrance to the hotel. You go inside, use the ladies’ room, then get a cab and go straight home. I think the car will stick with me; I’ll lose him and turn up at your place later.”

“Whatever you say,” she said as they pulled under the hotel’s portico. “I’m off.” She jumped out of the car and ran inside the lobby.

Stone drove straight through the hotel drive, and his tail picked him up again on Sunset. He caught a glimpse of the car under a street light; it was a Lincoln town car. He devoted himself to losing it.