Take Two

CHAPTER 73

Paul Day tapped out the number of Peter Sessions, Carolyn’s agent, and swung his feet up onto his desk. He had the man’s mobile which meant he didn’t have to go through his secretary. Peter answered on the third ring. ‘Paul, are you calling to offer Carolyn more money now that she has that lifetime achievement award?’

‘I’m actually calling to see if you know where she is. She hasn’t turned up for work today.’

‘Are you serious?’

‘I’m afraid so. And she’s not answering her mobile. When was the last time you saw her?’

‘Last week. Monday. We had dinner.’

‘And she was okay, she didn’t say anything?’

‘About what?’

‘About not turning up for work this week,’ said Day.

‘Good God, of course not,’ said Peter. ‘Carolyn is a true professional. She wouldn’t just walk away.’

‘Well she’s not here,’ said Day. ‘We’ve just done the read-through and we are supposed to be shooting tomorrow.’

‘Let me see what I can do,’ said Peter.

‘Like I said she’s not answering her phone and she’s not at home. What are you planning to do, Peter, wave a magic wand?’

Peter didn’t reply.

‘Is Carolyn happy, Peter?’

‘Of course. She loves the show. She loves you.’

‘What was she talking about the last time you two got together?’

‘Come on now, Paul, you wouldn’t expect me to breach client confidentiality, would you?’

‘That would be your call. But if she doesn’t turn up sharpish she won’t have a job and you won’t have your fifteen percent. She’s been worried about the show, right? About her role?’

‘You know actors, Paul. They’re the most insecure people in the world. They count lines, they fret over the number of close-ups. Half my time is spent massaging egos.’

‘She’d heard there was a writers’ conference and I got the feeling she thinks its part of a plot to get her off the show.’

‘And is it?’ said Peter.

‘Over my dead body,’ said Day. ‘Carolyn’s a crucial part of Rags To Riches, always has and always will be.’

‘I think Carolyn worries it might not be your decision. The network is being pro-active and they seem to be wanting to chase a younger audience.’

Day nodded as he listened to the agent. ‘Peter, is it possible she’s playing some sort of negotiating ploy with us? Withdrawing her services?’

‘Striking, is that what you mean? Carolyn’s not like that. She certainly didn’t tell me she was going to walk out. And she’d have to know there’s no upside to her doing that. She’s a professional, Paul. Grease paint in her blood and all that.’

‘I know she is,’ said Day. ‘Which takes us back to the original question. Where the hell is she?’

‘Let me ring around,’ said Peter. ‘I’ll call you back.’

Day ended the call. As he put the handset down, his office door opened. It was Laura. ‘Sally and Phillippa want a word,’ she said.

Day stood up. ‘They’re not armed, are they?’

‘I frisked them, they’re clean,’ whispered Laura. She stepped to the side and ushered in Sally and Phillippa.

‘I’m sorry about this, Paul,’ said Sally, sitting down on the sofa at the corner of the office. ‘We really need to sort out the Carolyn situation.’ Phillippa sat down next to the TV executive.

‘Absolutely,’ said Day, pulling up a chair and sitting down opposite her. ‘I’m just off the phone to her agent but he doesn’t know where she is.’

‘There are two issues here, Paul,’ said Sally. ‘The first is she’s missing and do we need to inform anybody. And the second is, what are we going to do show-wise?’

‘We’re prepped for shooting her tomorrow,’ said Phillippa. ‘If she doesn’t turn up…’ She shrugged. ‘It’s a nightmare.’

Day held up his hands. ‘Let’s not get into a panic,’ he said. ‘She’s only a few hours late. For all we know, she might turn up after lunch.’

‘Or she might not,’ said Sally. ‘And I don’t want to be paying for a full unit tomorrow if they’ve no one to shoot.’

‘We can shoot around her,’ said Day. ‘It’s not the first time we’ve moved things around if an actor is sick.’

‘But as far as we know she’s not sick,’ said Sally. ‘I mean, do we start contacting hospitals. Do we call the police?’

‘If she’d been in an accident or taken ill, someone would have told the press,’ said Day. ‘And the police don’t worry about missing persons until they’ve been gone for forty-eight hours.’ He leaned forward. ‘To be honest, it’s not the first time this has happened. And she’s always turned up before.’

‘Then I’ll leave it in your hands,’ said Sally. ‘But be careful, Paul. This could easily end up costing a hell of a lot of money and that will be down to you.’

‘I hear what you’re saying,’ said Day.

‘And what about tomorrow?’ asked Phillippa.

‘Can we put back her scenes?’ asked Day. He looked over at Laura who was standing by the door. ‘Can you get me a shooting script?’ he asked.

Laura opened the door and went to her desk.

‘Some of them, maybe,’ said Phillippa. ‘And we can do all the close-ups, but she’s in all the major scenes. We can’t keep doing that.’ She looked across at Sally. Sally flashed her a smile and nodded encouragingly. ‘We did have a thought, however,’ Phillippa said. ‘What about Jenny?’

‘Jenny?’ Laura returned with a copy of the script and handed it to Day. He took it from her but kept his eyes on Sally. ‘Jenny?’ he repeated.

‘She’s the spitting image,’ said Sally. ‘You heard her at the read-through. She can lose most of her accent when she tries. And we can get a speech coach in to smooth off the rough edges.’

‘She’s not an actress,’ said Day.

‘Phillippa thinks she can handle her,’ said Sally.

Phillippa nodded. ‘Her voice is okay and we can work on the hair and the wardrobe. I’ll cut down the number of close-ups and we can get the writers to trim back her dialogue. I think it’ll work, Paul.’

The producer nodded thoughtfully. ‘Would we have a union problem?’ he asked Sally.

‘Nothing our legal department couldn’t fix,’ she said. ‘I’m not saying this is the perfect solution but, as a temporary stop-gap, I think it’ll work.’

‘Word will get out, you know that.’

‘And if it does, we’ll go public. Be a nice story for the tabloids,’ said Sally. ‘Twin sister steps in to save the day.’

‘It’s a great story, if Carolyn turns up safe and sound,’ said Day. ‘But what if she doesn’t? What then?’

‘Let’s not go counting chickens,’ said Sally. ‘Let’s deal with this one day at a time. And the most important thing now is to get tomorrow’s scenes shot.’

The door burst open and Jenny stormed in. ‘Who the hell is that shit in the grey suit?’ she shouted at Day.

‘Suit? What suit?’

‘Martin something or other.’ Jenny glared at Sally. ‘Does that little shit work for you?’

Sally looked flustered. ‘Yes. Sure. Martin Waites.’

‘Well, Martin bloody Waites just put his hand on my arse and offered me a line of coke in exchange for a blow job.’

‘What?’ said Sally, stunned.

Day grinned but stopped when Sally looked over at him.

‘I told him what to do with his bloody cocaine, but I’m telling you now if he comes near me again he’s getting my foot in his balls. Where does he get off thinking he can talk to me like that.’

‘It won’t happen again, darling,’ said Day. He went over and hugged her. ‘I’ll take care of it.’

‘I’ll speak to him,’ said Sally.

‘You’d better do more than speak to him,’ said Day. ‘I want him off the show and away from this studio. That’s sexual harassment.’

‘If he does it again, I’ll be the one doing the harassing,’ said Jenny.

‘I’ll take care of it,’ promised Day. ‘I’m so sorry, Jenny.’

Jenny nodded. ‘Make sure you do. I’ll bet I’m not the only one he tries it on with, the sleazy scumbag.’