Puss 'N Cahoots

I will. He’s decent enough.”
    “He’s a good trainer and will get better.” The cut grass glistened with dew; the white crepe myrtles at the end of the lawn by the fence line bloomed. Soon enough the zinnias would reach full height, too. “Think he has any idea?”
    “He knows I did it for the publicity. He doesn’t know we’re together.”
    “What about Joan and Larry?”
    “They say nothing but they aren’t dumb. They may not know we’ve cooked this up, but I don’t think either one will be shocked when I return to you, citing we’ve mended our fences, et cetera, et cetera.” She smiled languidly. “It worked. God, I got fabulous publicity out of this. Scripts poured in within twenty-four hours. My agent FedExed a few, and he says the others are waiting for me.”
    “How’d he pick?”
    “By reputation. Doesn’t mean they’re good. Every now and then a rookie hits a home run. Hard, though. Hard to be a screenwriter. It’s never yours—the work, I mean.”
    “No, but the check is.”
    “That’s true.” She laughed. “And the writer gets paid first. I have to wait but not too long. And I do receive goodies no writer can dream of—you know, jewelry, signing bonuses, trailers with everything in them for my comfort between scenes. It’s a good life that way. The rest of it stinks.” Her voice dropped.
    “Make hay while the sun shines.”
    “Charly, I bet I hear that every other day.” She sipped more coffee. “I know it, but I also know there will be a day, sunny or not, when I can’t take it anymore. It’s not my passion, acting. I can do it. I’m good. I’m not great. I’m not Meryl Streep. But I’m good. Still, I don’t want to spend too much more time not doing what I love. I don’t want to be eighty and think that all I ever did in my life was look into a camera.”
    “Horses.”
    “They’re all I’ve really cared about since I came into the world.”
    “Me, too.” He frowned for an instant. “But at this level, it takes millions.”
    “You make that.”
    “The best year I ever had I made three million. I pretty much average about a million and a half, which you know. I’ve been honest with you.” And he had, except for his sideline. “This place eats that up, buying and breeding new stock. And don’t forget farm maintenance, either. It takes money to make money.”
    “It does. That’s why I live in a small but adorable house in the Valley.” She meant she lived on the other side of the low mountains dividing Los Angeles from the Valley, on the east side of Mulholland Drive. “I keep expenses low. I’m up off Ventura in the hills, which you know, but I watch every penny and I sock it in the bank or in stocks. When I walk I want my money to make money.”
    “Smart, but I’ve always said you were smart.” He hadn’t always said that, but he was learning now that he had to pay more attention to her mind, dazzling though her physical attributes were. “Of course, I never realized how creative you are until you came up with the idea for us to have a big scene.”
    “You’ve got a little talent there, Charly.” She laughed at him.
    “Studying you,” he flattered her.
    “One thing eats away at me.”
    “Which is?”
    “I wonder if Ward killed Jorge.”
    “What?” Charly sat up in his chair.
    “Well, Ward used Jorge to dye Queen Esther’s legs and neck. He told me when I asked how he got Queen Esther out from under everyone’s nose. He paid Jorge five hundred dollars cash, which was a lot for Jorge, and then I think he gave him a little more for odds and ends, whatever they were. Jorge—apart from you and me and, well, Benny, who says nothing—was the only one who knew.”
    “You didn’t tell me about Jorge.”
    “Charly, I haven’t seen you. There’s been no time.”
    “Could have called on the cell.”
    “Never. Do you have any idea how easy it is to pull a conversation out of the sky? I mean it. I never say anything on the cell I’m not willing for the whole damned world to hear, and you shouldn’t, either.”
    “Now, Renata, don’t do the conspiracy-theory thing.”
    “Charly, I know my business, and technology in the film business is very sophisticated and changes quickly. Didn’t used to, but there’s so much downtime on the set that I learned about cameras, editing equipment, iPods, downloading, and cell phones. I’ve soaked up everything I can about electronics and computers. Nothing that is electronic or in your