I've Got You Under My Skin

42

Laurie, Jerry, and Grace arrived at the Powell estate a few minutes after the crew, which included a hairdresser, makeup artist, and wardrobe assistant this morning. Two new vans were on the set for their use-one to serve as a dressing room, the other for hair and makeup for those who would be on camera.

Laurie had worked well with all three crew members before. “The first scene we’re shooting will be of the four graduates and the housekeeper in the clothes they put on after the body was discovered. The makeup should be light, because they wouldn’t have had the time or inclination to put any on. We have a picture taken that morning by the police. Study it, then try to make them look the way they looked twenty years ago. Obviously they don’t have the long hair, but they’ve all aged very well.”

Meg Miller, the makeup artist, walked over to the window of the van to get a better look at the photograph. “I can tell you this, Laurie: they all look scared to death.”

“I agree,” Laurie said. “My job is to find out why. Of course you’d expect that they would look shocked and grief-stricken, but why do they all look so fearful? If Betsy was killed by an intruder, then what are they afraid of?”

The scene would be shot in the den, where the police had directed the girls to wait that morning. Incredibly, none of the furniture or draperies had been changed, so the room bore an eerie sameness to the way it had looked twenty years ago.

On the other hand, Laurie reasoned, my guess is that only Robert Powell has ever used that room in all these years. According to Jane Novak, the living room and dining room are where he does his entertaining when he has guests. From what she says, when he’s alone after dinner he either goes to the den and watches television or reads, or else he goes up to his suite.

With only him living here and the way Jane keeps this place up, it’s no wonder there was no need to change the interior decorating.

Or, she wondered, did Powell want to keep his home frozen in time, just as his wife had left it? She had heard of people like that.

She shivered as she walked quickly back to the den and entered by the patio door. The crew was setting up the cameras. There was no sign of Robert Powell. Jane had told them that he was in his office and would be there all morning.

From the beginning Powell had told her there was no need for him to equally compensate Jane. “I think I speak for her when I say we would both like a conclusion to this terrible business. Jane has always regretted the fact that after she locked all the doors for the night, the girls opened the one from the den, then when they came back in from smoking on the patio, they left it unlocked. If that had not happened, an intruder might not have been able to get in.”

Maybe Powell and Jane are right, Laurie thought. After checking the cameras and the lighting, she went back out onto the patio and saw Alex Buckley getting out of his car.

Today he was wearing a sport shirt and khakis in place of the dark blue suit, shirt, and tie he had been wearing yesterday. The top of his convertible was down, and the breeze had ruffled his dark brown hair. She watched as with what was probably an instinctive gesture he smoothed his hair back and walked toward her.

“You’re an early bird,” he said with an easy smile.

“Not really. You should be around when we start shooting a program at daybreak.”

“No thanks. I’ll wait until I can push a button and see it on TV.”

As he had in his office, he suddenly became businesslike. “Is the agenda still that we begin with me speaking to the graduates after you film them sitting in the den?”

“Yes. I’m doing this out of sequence because I have a strong hunch that they have all rehearsed what they’re going to say to you. By starting with them all together, it may put them off guard.

“And don’t be surprised at the way they’re dressed. They’re wearing replicas of the clothes they wore after Betsy’s body was found, and then they were told to change into street wear.”

Alex Buckley seldom allowed his face to register surprise, but this time he was so startled that he could not conceal it.

“You’re having them wear replicas of what they wore twenty years ago?”

“Yes, for two scenes. The one in the den where they were herded with Jane as soon as the police arrived. And then one wearing gowns that are identical to the ones they wore to the Gala.

“We’ll photograph the graduates against the background of films of them individually and together at the Gala. For example, when Robert Powell is toasting them, we’ll have a picture of the four of them looking at him.”

Alex Buckley’s reply was interrupted by the limousines with the graduates arriving almost simultaneously. It was Laurie’s turn to be astonished when Muriel Craig stepped out of the backseat of the second limo while her daughter, Nina, stepped out of the front passenger door. Muriel wasn’t supposed to come today, she thought. Powell either called her or she’s come on her own.

Either way, she’s bound to make Nina edgy and angry.

Which might be good when Nina is being questioned.