Dream Town

Chapter 76

Archer had gone maybe ten paces out of the soundstage when someone called out to him. He looked over at an alleyway. There was Samantha Lourdes, dressed in eighteenth-century garb and shiny baubles, with hair as fake as the jewels piled high on her head, motioning to him.

He walked over to her. “Who are you supposed to be, Marie Antoinette?”

“Who told you?”

His jaw fell. “No, really?”

“Yes, really.”

He looked up. “How do you get through your dressing room door with that hair?”

“It’s all fake, comes off in one piece. Just like this town.”

“Funny meeting you here.”

“There’s no funny about it. Cecily told me you were coming by.”

“You know her?”

“She and I have been in talks. Cecily’s starting her own company.”

“Yeah, so I heard. I also heard your deal was coming to an end with MGM. And what are you doing over here at Warners, anyway?”

“They loaned me out. It’s complicated. But did you know that employment contracts in California can’t last longer than seven years?”

“No, because I never had a contract. I live hand-to-mouth with the occasional gunplay and sapping thrown in for no extra charge.”

“Anyway, my contract came up. MGM was keen to re-sign me but I told them it was a no-go.”

“Yeah, my friend told me the grapevine had you starting your own production company and charting your own path.”

“And one of my first projects will be with Cecily. Not the Jade script. I wouldn’t give Eleanor Lamb the satisfaction. But another story that might actually force me to act.”

“My money’s on you.”

“Wait a minute — what friend are you talking about?”

“Liberty Callahan. She’s an actress, too. Not at your level, not yet anyway. But she’s a big admirer of yours. She was here shooting some atomic secrets picture a while back.”

“Wait — tall, blond, sultry voice, moves like no one I’ve ever seen, and all the guys swoon over her?”

“That’s the lady. Although you could be talking about yourself.”

“She might be someone I need to know.”

Archer took out a card, wrote Callahan’s name and number on the back, and handed it to her. “She’s over off Melrose near the country club. You two remind me a lot of each other.”

“Thanks, Archer. Look, I read all the stuff in the papers about what happened. It was horrible. You were almost killed.”

“That was just the stuff in the papers. There’s a lot more that nobody needs to know.”

“You must’ve been very brave to do what you did.”

“I didn’t have time to be brave, Sam. I just had time to duck.”

“Will Darren ever be getting out of prison?”

“Darren is going to San Quentin for an appointment with the gas chamber. And good riddance.”

“I suppose so.”

He looked at her with a large dose of incredulity. “Don’t tell me you harbor any feelings for him? It makes every guy trying to do the right thing feel like a dope, including me.”

“I harbor nothing for Darren, Archer. In fact I’m deeply indebted to you for getting him out of my life. For good.”

“Now that’s what I like to hear.”

“You really were clever to figure all this out, you know.”

“Hell, I’m so clever I could’ve become a doctor. But I had no idea what I’d do with all that money, so I became a detective instead.”

Smiling, she edged closer. “I think the two of us need to get to know each other better.”

“Really?”

She started to give him the look that Archer knew would wrap him up in unbreakable knots.

“Don’t, Sam.”

She looked surprised. “What?”

“You’re a fabulous gal and your only flaw is falling for the wrong guy. You got the world by the throat, so you need to aim a lot higher than yours truly.”

She rubbed his arm. “Which is exactly why I like you. I have to work for it with you, Archer. It makes a girl think.”

“It makes a guy think, too, at least this one.”

She took a step back, her gaze searching his features. “Wait a minute. Are you in love with someone?” She paused. “With this Liberty, maybe?”

“Don’t hold it against me and please don’t hold it against her.”

“Does she know?”

“I maybe didn’t know until two seconds ago.”

Lourdes gave Archer a hug that he felt to his soul and soles. “Then I think you should go and tell her. A woman always wants to know.”

“She’s been through a lot with me. And I would do anything for her. So...”

“Sounds about as right as these things get.”

He twirled his hat. “No hard feelings, then?”

“Hell, Archer, you’ve single-handedly renewed my faith in men.” She kissed him on the cheek and he went on his way, still twirling his hat.

And smiling to a degree like maybe he never had before.