“We need to hire a laundress, maybe two, and buy some washing machines,” she said. “Though I don’t know where we’re going to dry things in this weather.”
“Indoors, I should think.”
She laughed. “Well, yes.”
“Talk to Manny about it. By the way, we just heard that Alan James killed himself last night. Sid telegraphed the news to Alice.”
“Good God, why?”
Rick shrugged. “The phones are going in today; maybe we’ll know more later. But James was one of those who were subpoenaed, and the hearings are soon. That could have had something to do with it.”
“You should call Sid when you can and see how he is.”
“I’ll do that.”
They went downstairs for lunch, and Rick shared the news with those at the table. Only Leo Goldman seemed not to react.
“Rick, did you know James?” Vance asked.
“A little. We were at a dinner party with him once. Nice guy, I thought.”
“Does this have something to do with the hearings?” Vance asked.
“I wouldn’t be surprised. I hope we’ll know more later today, when we have telephones that work.”
Ellie Cooper spoke up. “Now you see why we’ve never had a phone,” she said. “We would have had to pay for the poles and the stringing of the wire for about five miles.”
“I never missed it much,” Mac said. “I’ve lived on ranches all my life and never in a house with a telephone.”
“It’s a great convenience, as long as you don’t give anybody your number,” Rick said and got a laugh.
When the day’s shooting was over, Rick arrived back at the ranch house to hear a phone ringing in the living room. He picked it up. “Hello?”
“Rick? It’s Eddie.”
“Hi, Eddie.”
“You’ve got a phone!”
“We have, for better or worse; you’re our first call.”
“Manny sent me a telegram. How’s it going?”
“It’s been raining like hell, but it’s going to look good on the screen.”
“If you say so.”
“You heard about Alan James, I guess.”
“Yeah, I did. It’s got to be because of the hearings; he was going to testify.”
“I should think so. Anything else back there I should know about?”
“I had a call from Mickey Cohen.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah. I told him to go fuck himself.”
“In those words?”
“I told him to go fuck himself politely. You sound tired.”
“Yeah, I am. I think I’ll have a nap before dinner.”
“Go ahead, kiddo. I’m glad you’re in touch now, and I’ll try not to bug you too much. Oh, by the way, the first footage came back from the lab today, and it’s gorgeous. Basil was a good choice.”
“Thanks, Eddie.” They had flown the first few days’ shooting back to L.A. Rick intended to do that once a week. The editor was working at the studio, so by the time they got home he would have assembled a rough cut.
Rick started up the stairs, then he remembered. He went back to the phone, called the operator and placed a call to Sid Brooks’s home.
“Hello.”
“Hi, Sid, it’s Rick.”
“You’ve got a phone!”
“Yes, we do. I heard about your telegram to Alice, and I’m sorry. You were friends, weren’t you, going back to New York?”
“That’s right, though I hadn’t seen as much of him since we both came out here. I had dinner with Al the night before, and he was morose, got very drunk. I took him home, and, apparently, he got up during the night and cut his throat.”
“God, that’s awful. Did this have something to do with the hearings?”
“Yes, it did. Can I tell you something in confidence?”
“Sure, Sid.”
“Al had decided to be a friendly witness before the committee; he was going to name names but ones that the committee already knew about.”
Rick wanted to ask if Sid was one of them, but he didn’t. “That’s terrible, and I have the feeling that Alan is only the first casualty.”
“My phone’s been ringing all day,” Sid said. “We’re getting together a memorial service at Temple Emanuel in Beverly Hills.”
“May the studio send flowers?”
“Some of us have spread the word to make donations to our defense committee instead, but I don’t expect Centurion to do that, Rick; it’s just for individuals.”
“Was Alan a member of Temple Emanuel?”
“Yes, though not a very observant one.”
“We’ll make a quiet donation to the synagogue in his memory, then.”
“That’s very thoughtful of you, Rick.”
“Sid, are you all right? That’s a serious question. I want to know.”
“I’m shaken up some, but I’m all right. Don’t worry, Rick; I’m not going to do anything stupid.”
“If Alice wants to go home now, I’ll get her on an airplane. We’re sending the exposed stock back once a week; there’s one going in the morning.”
“Thanks. I’ll let you know.”
Rick gave him the new phone number. “Call me, if there’s anything you need.”
“Thank you, Rick.”
They said good-bye and hung up. Rick trudged up the stairs, tired and a little depressed.
21
Vance Calder had just gotten out of a bath and was standing at the bathroom sink, naked, shaving. The bathroom door opened, and Vance turned to see Susan Stafford standing in the doorway.
“Hi, Susie,” he said.
Her eyes were not on his. “Sorry, Vance. Didn’t know you were in there.” She started to close the door.
“Come on in and run yourself a bath,” he said, then went back to shaving. She closed the door behind her and turned on the taps. He glanced in the mirror and saw her take off her robe. “You were great in that scene this afternoon,” he said.
“Thanks, Vance. So were you. Rick told me you’re English; I was astonished.”
Vance grinned. “I’ve been staying in character since I got here, working on the accent. I’ve hung around some with the cowboys and wranglers on the place, had supper at their bunkhouse a couple of times. That helped.”
“How old are you?” she asked.
He glanced in the mirror, but he couldn’t see her. He thought she must be sitting on the edge of the tub. “None of your fucking business,” he said, laughing. He splashed water on his face, pulled the plug and reached for a towel. Susie was tall and slender, with not very large breasts. He’d heard a rumor that she had a girlfriend back in L.A. and that she wasn’t interested in men. He didn’t believe it. When she spoke again, her voice was closer.
“What about the business of fucking?” she asked from somewhere around the nape of his neck.
He felt her press against his back, and her arms went around him, one hand on his belly. She reached down and let the hand brush across his crotch. He turned around, and she climbed him like a tree, until her knees were resting on the edge of the sink.
“Seeing as it’s you,” he said, “we’re open for business.”
She reached down and took him in her hand, then slid him inside her. “Yes, we are,” she said.
Vance took hold of her slim buttocks and helped her move. She was making sweet little noises that he loved, and they remained in that position until she came, but he held back.
“Your tub is going to run over,” he said.
“Then we’d better get into it,” she replied.
The two of them nearly made the tub overflow.
“Archimedes would be proud,” he said.
She laughed and snuggled into his shoulder, holding his balls in her hand. “I think I’m older than you,” she said.
“How old are you?”
“None of your fucking business.”
Vance had learned nearly everything he knew about sex from a leading lady with whom he had lived for three months on a tour of the English midlands with a play. He had seen her passport, so he had known that she was forty but never let her know he knew, since he had been sixteen at the time. “That’s okay with me,” he said. “I tend to think of people I like as being about my age, no matter how old they are.”