Beverly Hills Dead

29

Rick gathered the cast of Bitter Creek in his office, gave them coffee and addressed them. “Something’s come up,” he said. “Something good.”

They all looked expectant.

“Bitter Creek has been chosen to open at Christmas at Radio City Music Hall.”

There were smiles and applause all around.

“But that leaves us with only a very short time to complete the interiors, cut it and insert the opticals and titles and score it. We had scheduled three weeks to shoot the interiors, but in light of this good news, we’re going to have to shoot them in ten days, and that means working right through the weekend. I’m going to need the help of every one of you to get that done, and I know you’ll do your best. The sets are complete and are being assembled and dressed, and we’re ready to shoot the ranch house interiors, starting today, so let’s get over there, get costumed and made up, and we’ll start before lunch.”

Everybody got up and shuffled out of Rick’s office, chattering excitedly.

Eddie Harris came in. “How’d it go with Sid last night?”

“He was happy to cooperate, Eddie.” He handed him the executed addendum to Sid’s contract. “And happy to have the cash, too.”

“What pseudonym does he want to use?”

“Jesus, I forgot to ask him. I’ll call him later today.”

“Good.”

“Eddie, I know you’re interested in keeping Vance Calder at the studio over the long term.”

“I certainly am.”

“Something came up last night: Sid and Alice are going to sell their house and split the proceeds. Vance, you know, is living in his bungalow, but he’s interested in buying a place. I think he might like Sid’s house, but he doesn’t have that kind of cash yet.”

“How much are we talking about?”

“Sid’s having it appraised, but he thinks it’s worth eighty or ninety thousand.”

“And we just gave Vance a ten-grand bonus, so he’s holding some cash. If he wants the place, tell him we’ll loan him ninety percent of the purchase price for, what, two years?”

“Give him three; we want him to owe us for a while, don’t we?”

“Sure. Three is good. We don’t need to do anything more for Susie right now, do we? I mean, we gave her the bonus and the new dressing room.”

“My guess is Susie’s star is tied to Vance’s right now. If she wants a new place to live, it will probably be with him.”

“Yeah, you’re right. You’re starting the interiors this morning, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. I’m going over there in a few minutes; the cast is getting ready now. They’re pumped up about the Music Hall announcement.”

“Great. I’ll look forward to the rushes.” Eddie took his leave.

Rick buzzed his secretary. “Please get hold of Tom Terry and ask him to come see me. Now, if it’s convenient.” Tom Terry had worked on the Beverly Hills police force with Rick, and when Rick was promoted to producer, he hired Tom to replace him as head of studio security.

Tom Terry came in and sat down. “Hi, Rick. I heard about the Music Hall thing; congratulations.”

“Thanks, Tommy. Listen, there’s something I want you to do for me.”

“Sure, anything.”

“Write this down. I want you to find out everything you can about a Harold Schmidt of Milwaukee, a.k.a. Hal.”

“Lot of Schmidts in Milwaukee, Rick.”

“Fewer Harolds, though. This one is probably a member of the CP and seems likely to be involved in left-wing activities in the city or state. That’s all I know about him.”

“Okay, I’ll get on it. Best thing is to make some calls and get a name on the Milwaukee force.”

“Go to Milwaukee, if you have to.”

“You want me to talk to Schmidt about anything?”

“Locate and research him first, then call me. I’ll decide then whether I want you to see him, or if I do it myself.”

“I’ll get right on it,” Tom said, then left.

Rick asked his secretary to forward any calls from Sid Brooks to Stage One, then he got into his little electric cart with his shooting script and drove over there.

Basil was finishing up lighting the ranch house set, and various members of the cast were standing around. He was headed for his canvas chair, next to the camera, when the script girl came to him.

“There’s a call for you, Rick,” she said. “Your secretary’s on the line.”

Rick walked over to where a phone stand stood against a wall and picked up the instrument. “Rick Barron.”

“Sidney Brooks is on the line,” his secretary said. “I’ll put him through.”

“Sid?”

“Yeah, Rick. I’m sorry to disturb you on the set.”

“Not at all. What’s up?”

“David Sturmack got an appraiser over to the house first thing this morning, and he says the house will sell for ninety grand. He’ll work up a detailed report later, but that’s going to be the number. If your friend wants to see it, have him call me.”

“Thanks, Sid. I’ll get back to you. Oh, by the way, what do you want to use for a pseudonym for your credit on Bitter Creek?”

“How about Mark Twain?”

“That would be rubbing their noses in it. Something more anonymous.”

“Oh, you pick something, Rick. Whatever you like.”

“Okay, Sid. Talk to you later.” Rick hung up, walked farther along the soundstage to Vance Calder’s stage dressing room and rapped on the door.

“Coming!” Vance called back.

Rick opened the door. “Not quite yet, Vance; it’ll be a few minutes. Got a moment?”

“Sure, Rick. Come on in.”

Rick took a chair. “Vance, you said something to me once about wanting to buy a house someday, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I did. Maybe in a year or two, when I get some money saved up.”

“You may have heard that Sid and Alice Brooks are getting a divorce.”

“Yes, I did.”

“They want to sell their house. It’s a very nice place on a good street in Beverly Hills, lots of privacy. Not too big but very comfortable. They renovated it and did it up very nicely.”

“Well, it sounds great, but I’m not in a position to buy something like that yet.”

“Tell you what, Vance. Give Sid a call at this number” — he wrote it down — “go take a look at it, and if you like it, the studio will loan you ninety percent of the purchase price for three years. That’ll give you time to pay off the loan, or you could get a mortgage, if you want to.”

“That’s a very nice offer, Rick. What does Sid want for the place?”

“It was appraised this morning for ninety thousand dollars, and, for what it’s worth, I think that’s a fair price.”

“All right. I’ll call Sid and take a look at it. Is it furnished?”

“Yes, but I don’t know what they want to do about that. Alice seems to have moved back to New York, so they might want to sell some or all of it. My guess is, you could be in the place in a week, if you and Sid agree.”

“But where would Sid go?”

“He owns an apartment house in Santa Monica, and he can move in there.”

“Okay. I’ll call him later today.”

Somebody came and knocked on the door. “Five minutes, Mr. Calder.”

“Be right there,” Vance said. “By the way, Rick, you said you would sell me the Ford convertible. How much?”

“Don’t buy it; it’s yours for as long as you like. When you get tired of it, give it back to Hiram.”

“Thank you, Rick.”

Rick left him and headed for his chair. “Call ‘places,’” he said to the assistant director.

“Places everyone!” the man yelled. “Places!”

Rick reminded himself to ask Eddie who David Sturmack was; he kept hearing that name.