All Dressed in White

7

Brett’s new secretary, Dana Licameli, waved them directly past her station into the inner sanctum. “He’ll want an explanation,” she warned in a conspiratorial whisper.

Laurie glanced at her watch. They were two minutes late. Oh boy, she thought.

He spun in his chair to face them when they entered. As usual, his expression was filled with disapproval. His wife once was heard to remark that he woke up every day with a scowl on his face.

“Sorry to be a little late, Brett. You’ll be pleased to know that I was talking to someone who may be great for the next special.”

“People are either late or prompt. Saying you’re a little late is like saying you’re a little pregnant.” Turning from her, he said, “You’re looking especially dapper today, Jerry.”

Laurie wanted to throw something at Brett, especially for what she recognized as a double-edged comment about Jerry. When Jerry first started working as an intern at the studios, he was a shy, awkward college student trying to hide his lanky frame with baggy clothes and slouching posture. Over the years, she had seen his confidence grow and his appearance change accordingly. Until very recently, he almost always wore turtlenecks and cardigan sweaters, even in warm weather. But since the first show of the Under Suspicion series had taken off, he was experimenting with different fashion choices. Today’s attire was a fitted plaid jacket, bow tie, and mustard-colored pants. Laurie thought he looked terrific.

Jerry straightened his jacket proudly and took a seat. If he construed Brett’s remark as sarcasm, he wasn’t showing it.

“I’m excited for our meeting,” Brett said. “My wife, she tells me I don’t give enough-what does she call it?-positive reinforcement to my colleagues. So, Laurie, Jerry, I want to make clear-I’m excited to hear your ideas for the next special.”

A couple of years ago, Brett had been anything but excited when Laurie came back to work. She had taken time off when Greg was murdered. Then her first shows were flops, but that may have been because she was still grieving and distracted, or perhaps it was just tough luck. Either way, stars fall quickly in the land of television production, and Laurie knew that her days were numbered when she proposed the idea for Under Suspicion. Now that the show was a hit, she realized that she had been toying with the concept even before Greg died.

“You know, Brett, we can’t guarantee that we’re going to solve every case.” So far, they were two for two. In both previous specials, the people involved in the cases had cooperated with the production and let their guards down when host Alex Buckley had questioned them. It wouldn’t always happen like that.

Brett tapped his fingers on his desk, a signal that others should be quiet while he was thinking. As Grace irreverently put it, “He thinks with his fingers.” A handsome man with sculptured features and a full head of iron-gray hair, at age sixty-one he was biting to the point of cruelty and equally brilliant in his success as a renowned producer.

“Well, as far as I’m concerned, what matters is that viewers think you might, and they want to be there when it happens. Tell me what you have for the next case.”

Laurie thought of the notes she had prepared in her kitchen the previous night while Timmy played video games after dinner. Three cases. She suspected that the murdered medical professor would be Brett’s top choice. Because of a bitter divorce, both his wife and father-in-law were natural suspects. He’d begun seeing a woman who herself was recently divorced, so the new girlfriend’s husband was also on the list. Plus there was an academic colleague who accused him of stealing research. Not to mention a disgruntled student who had flunked his anatomy class. It was a perfect case for their show.

Also on Laurie’s list was the case of a little boy who had been murdered in Oregon, whose stepmother was the leading suspect. It was a good case, but whenever Laurie started to think about the violence that had been inflicted against a nine-year-old boy, she thought of her own son, and would find herself looking at other possibilities.

The third case on the list was the killing of two sisters thirty years earlier. Laurie found the case fascinating, but suspected that Brett would think a thirty-year delay would make the case too cold to capture viewers’ attention.

Now all those notes remained on a legal pad in her briefcase.

“I know I told you I had a few ideas, but one of them clearly stands out.” For her sake, and for Sandra’s, she hoped Brett would agree.