A Knife to Remember

waved wildly, a gesture encompassing the whole set—“all of this is a waste of money. I tell you, that one good performance she gave so many years ago was a fluke. This is going to be a bomb of a movie. What I don’t get is why anybody cast her in a supposedly good role. It couldn’t have been anyone who ever spent five minutes with her. No wonder the producers are hiding! They must be the stupidest people in the world.“
    “But Shelley, when I overheard her talking to Mike, she was talking about him, not herself.“
    “No, Jane. She was talking about him in order to seduce him into thinking she was wonderful.“
    “True, I guess.“
    “And even when she was talking about your husband, she was trying to make herself look like a tragic heroine, but still generous and capable of recognizing talent. Think back, Jane. Wasn’t that the case?”
    Jane shuddered. “I don’t want to think back on that conversation. Ever. Shelley, do you think maybe she’s really crazy enough to have killed Jake and, well—not remember it?“
    “Oh, I guess it’s barely possible,“ Shelley said with resignation. “She’s so far beyond my range of human experience, I couldn’t even guess. For all I know, she’s been knocking people off right and left and has justified it as Lady Bountiful sparing them the pain and indignity of growing old...”
    Her voice trailed away and her eyes grew very wide again.
    “Will you just look at that!“ Shelley exclaimed.
     

16
     
    “Good Lord!“ Jane exclaimed. “Isn’t that Jennifer Fortin? And we were just talking about her yesterday!”
    A crowd of people were surrounding the willowy blond actress who had just arrived in Jane’s backyard and was dispensing waves and smiles like royalty. “What’s she doing here?“ Jane asked.
    “Just throwing a little shit at the fan,“ Maisie said from behind them. She pulled a chair up and sat down with a wicked glint in her eye. “I heard she was in town, but I never thought she’d show up here. What superb timing. She must have a mole on the set.“
    “What are you talking about?“ Jane asked.
    “You must not be up on your movie gossip,“ Maisie said, shaking her head. “Jennifer was rumored to want this role badly. And Cavagnari wanted her too, by all accounts. But Harwell got it, which must have made Fortin crazy. Fortin’s gotten a little testy when interviewers have compared her performances to Harwell’s one great one. I wouldn’t think Harwell much likes it either, especially when the movie rags talk about how Fortin looks so much like a young Harwell. So here’s Fortin, on the very day Harwell has to do her best work or write her career off. Dear Lynette is going to go haywire when she learns who’s hanging around the set watching her today.”
    Jennifer Fortin was moving out of sight, surrounded by crew members and the People Weekly staff.
    “How long has she been in town?“ Jane asked.
    “A couple days, I think. Why?“ Maisie asked.
    “Did she have any connection with Jake Elder?“
    “Oh, I doubt—“ Maisie started, then stopped abruptly. “Now that you mention it, it was Jake who said she was in town. The first day we were here. He was talking to somebody about having had dinner with her the night before.”
    Shelley looked grieved. “I sure wish you hadn’t said that. All we need now is another suspect.”
     
    Mel Van Dyne looked like he’d been dragged through a hedge backward. It wasn’t so much the physical appearance of his clothes or hair as a frenzied look in his eye.
    “These people are nuts!“ he said with disgust. “That—that director, the one wearing the green `thing,’ just snatched somebody I was questioning right away from me. Literally grabbed the guy’s arm and took him off mid-sentence. We were playing tug-of-war with him!“
    “Want to go inside and neck?“ Jane asked. It accomplished what she hoped.
    He whooped with laughter. “I’d take you up on that any other time!“ he said. “God! You’re right.
    I’m letting them get to me too much. I’m losing it. I would like to go inside. I need to use your phone if I could.”
    Jane tactfully disappeared into the basement to check that the cats hadn’t found anything important to damage while Mel reported in to his office. Max and Meow were outraged at their confinement, but had done nothing worse than kick the kitty litter around the floor in a pretty wide circle.
    When she came back up a few minutes later, she found