Genuine Lies

Efficient and chic. Why would such a woman be content to subjugate her life to another? The background information Julia had collected on Nina was sparse. A fifteen-year veteran of Eve’s world, she was unmarried, childless. At dinner, she’d unobtrusively managed to keep the peace. Was she worried that the publication of Eve’s story would disrupt that peace irrevocably?
    Even as Julia thought about her, she spotted Nina coming briskly along the path, carrying a large cardboard box.
    Julia pushed the kitchen door open. “Special delivery?”
    With a breathless laugh, Nina swung the box through the door. “I told you I was the pack mule.” She grunted a bit when she dropped the box onto the kitchen table. “Eve asked me to put this stuff together for you. Photos, clippings, studio stills. She thought it might be helpful.”
    Instantly curious, Julia flipped open the top. “Oh, yes!” Delighted, she held up an old publicity shot of Eve—sultry, smoldering, wrapped around a spearingly handsome Michael Torrent. She began to root through the box.
    To Nina’s credit she winced only slightly as Julia destroyed all of her careful filing.
    “This is wonderful.” Julia lifted out an ordinary snapshot, a bit faded, a bit worn around the edges. Her woman’s heart gave a lurch of excitement. “Oh, Christ, it’s Gable.”
    “Yes, taken here, by the pool at one of Eve’s parties. That was right before he filmed
The Misfits.
Right before he died.”
    “Tell her it’ll not only help the book, but provide me with enormous entertainment. I feel like a kid in a chocolate factory.”
    “Then I’ll leave you to indulge.”
    “Wait.” Julia forced herself to turn away from the box of goodies before Nina opened the door. “Do you have a few minutes?”
    As a matter of habit, Nina checked her watch. “Of course. Do you want to go over some of the pictures with me?”
    “No, actually, I’d like an interview. I’ll make it short,” she added hastily when she saw an evasive expression flicker on Nina’s face. “I know how busy you are, and I hate to take any of your time during working hours.” Julia smiled, congratulating herself. It was an inspiration to turn the situation around so that she was the one being inconvenienced. “I’ll go get my recorder. Please, pour yourself a glass of wine.” She hurried out, knowing she’d given Nina no time to agree or refuse.
    When she came back, Nina had poured a glass, topped off Julia’s, and taken a seat. She smiled, a handsome woman used to juggling her time to suit someone else. “Eve asked me to cooperate, but to tell you the truth, Julia, I can’t think of a thing that would be of interest.”
    “Leave that to me.” Julia opened her notebook, switched on the recorder. She recognized a reluctant subject. It only meant she would have to dig with a gentler hand. Keeping the tone light, she asked, “Nina, you must realize how fascinated people would be just to hear Eve Benedict’s daily routine. What she has for breakfast, the kind of music she prefers, if she snacks in front of the television at night. But I can find out a lot of that for myself and don’t want to take up your time with trivialities.”
    Nina’s polite smile remained in place. “As I said, Eve asked me to cooperate.”
    “I appreciate it. What I’d like from you are your thoughts about her as a person. As someone who’s worked closely withher for fifteen years, you probably know her better than almost anyone.”
    “I’d like to think that we share a friendship as well as a working relationship.”
    “Is it difficult to live and work in the same house with someone who, by her own definition, is demanding?”
    “I’ve never found it difficult.” Nina cocked her head as she sipped her wine. “Challenging, certainly. Over the years Eve’s provided me with many challenges.”
    “What would you say is the most memorable?”
    “Oh, that’s easy.” Nina laughed. “About five years ago, while she was filming
Heat Wave
, she decided she wanted to throw a party. That doesn’t sound unusual. Eve loves a party. But she’d been so enchanted by the location work in Nassau that she insisted the party be set on an island—and she wanted it to come off in two weeks.” The memory had her dropping the polite smile for a genuine one. “Have you ever tried to rent an entire island in the Caribbean, Julia?”
    “I can’t say I have.”
    “It has its complications—particularly if you