Tell-All

squinting at my notes, he asks what I’m writing.
    Tax returns, I tell him. I shrug and say that I’m answering Miss Kathie’s fan mail. Reviewing her contracts and investments. Nothing special. Nothing too important.
    And reading aloud from the new finale of Miss Kathie’s life story, Terry says, “ ‘ Katherine Kenton never knew it, but the Japanese Yakuza are deservedly world-renowned as ruthless, bloodthirsty assassins.…’ ”

ACT II, SCENE TEN
    “ ‘A Yakuza assassin,’ ” reads the voice of Terrence Terry , “ ‘can perform an execution in as little as three seconds.…’ ” We dissolve to a misty street scene. The fantasy stand-ins for Miss Kathie and Webster stroll, window-shopping along a deserted city sidewalk, gilded by a rind of magic-hour sunlight. Whether this is dawn or dusk, one can’t tell for certain. The lithesome pair linger at display windows, Miss Kathie perusing dazzling necklaces and bracelets proffered there, dense and heavily set with glittering clusters of diamonds and rubies, even as Webster never takes his eyes off her face, as bewitched by her beauty as she is by the resplendent wealth of lavish, sparkling stones.
    The voice-over continues reading, “ ‘A common assassination technique is to approach the target from behind.…’ ”
    Trailing a few steps in the wake of Miss Kathie, we seea figure dressed in all-black garments, his face concealed within a black ski mask. Black gloves cover his hands.
    “ ‘What actually occurred may always be one of film-land’s most enduring mysteries. No one could say who had paid for the gruesome attack,’ ” says Terry’s voice, “ ‘but it did exhibit all the earmarks of a professionally trained killer.…’ ”
    The happy couple saunter along, aware of only the glittering gems and their own happiness. They move in the slow-motion bubble of their own supreme bliss.
    “ ‘The weapon was an ordinary ice pick …’ ” reads Terry.
    We see the masked figure extricate a gleaming spike of needle-sharp steel from his jacket pocket.
    “ ‘The assailant has merely to step close to the victim’s back …’ ” reads Terry in voice-over.
    The masked figure sidles up immediately behind Miss Kathie. Shadowing her footsteps, he reaches toward her svelte neck with the cruelly sharpened ice pick.
    “ ‘Thereupon, the well-practiced assassin extends an arm over the victim’s shoulder and plunges the steely weapon’s point deep into the soft area above the clavicle,’ ” reads Terry. “ ‘A quick side-to-side jerk effectively severs the subclavian artery and phrenic nerve, causing fatal exsanguination and suffocation within an instant.…’ ”
    Yeah, yeah, yeah, on-screen all this happens. Blood and gore spray an adjacent shopwindow filled with sparkling, glistening diamonds and sapphires. The clots and gobbets of gore slide streaks of brilliant crimson down the polished glass even as the masked assailant flees, his running footfalls echoing down Fifth Avenue . At the death scene, Webster Carlton Westward III kneels in the spreading pool of Miss Kathie’s scarlet blood, cradling her movie-star face inhis massive, masculine hands. The light in her famous violet eyes fading, fading, fading.
    “ ‘With her final dying breath,’ ” reads Terrence Terry , “ ‘my beloved Katherine said, “Webb, please promise me …” She said, “Honor and remember me by sharing your incredibly talented penis with all the most beautiful but less fortunate women of this world.” ’ ”
    On-screen, the idealized Miss Kathie sags, limp, in the embrace of the soft-focus Webster. Tears stream down his face as his stand-in says, “I swear.” Shaking one bloody fist at the sky in frustrated rage, he shouts, “Oh, my dearest Katherine, I swear to perform your dying wish to my utmost.”
    From behind their thin scrim of red gore, the diamonds and sapphires watch, glinting coldly. Their multitude of polished, flashing facets reflect infinite versions of Miss Kathie’s demise and Webster’s unbearable heartbreak. The emeralds and rubies bear detached, timeless, eternal witness to the drama and folly of mere humankind. The Webster character looks down; seeing blood on his Rolex wristwatch, he hurriedly wipes the timepiece on Miss Kathie’s dress, then presses the dial to his ear to listen for a tick.
    Reading from the Love Slave manuscript, Terry says, “ ‘The end.’ ”

ACT II, SCENE ELEVEN
    Professional gossip Elsa Maxwell once