Page 115 - Labelle Gramercy, On the Case

Soaked to the Bone

property. So she might already know who was connected with Fish’s
business. Again I felt an urgent need to contact—
“Nick Krotz. You make a lot of calls to him.”
Too late. “Yes,” I temporized, “and I talk to my mother in Des
Moines every other day.”
Now I could clearly see the policewoman’s face, and I searched it
for reactions to my utterly called-for bit of temper. Nothing. Not a
person to bet against in a poker game. With sinking heart I realized
that I was really on her turf, not mine, and that she had in the course
of her work probably questioned hundreds of distraught people long
before she got to me. I relaxed, finally, and laughed.
“Okay, he’s a flack at Troglo—a publicist, a P.R. guy. He and I are
like a line keeping Fish in tow to the studio. G.F. has had spectacular
successes and failures as a producer over the years; he is given a lot of
leeway, but they are always ready to reel him in when his projects
start to flounder. Nick and I keep the channel open but we monitor
and edit communications between the studio head and their erratic
genius. Much of what each says to and about the other is better left
on the cutting room floor.”
“Such as?”
“I don’t know if I should go into it, Lieutenant. Maybe it’s hearsay,
or whatever you call it in your business. Give me a break: I work for
Troglo Films. Everyone knows Fish is difficult, and egos are already
inflated by the real and imaginary rewards for having the magic touch
in movie-making. What most people would consider a dire threat is a
normal conversational gambit in those circles. Do I need to call a
lawyer? Has there been a crime committed? Is anything missing in the
house? Fish’s one and only Oscar?”
She backed off—a tactical retreat, I’m sure. Her next question
caught me off guard.
“Where are the bins?”
I looked at the muddy outlines of the barrel bottoms on the
concrete. “Ah, well—oh, of course, it’s Wednesday, right? It’s trash
collection day.”
“Is this gate always locked? Who takes the barrels to and from the
curb?”
So she didn’t already know absolutely everything! My chance to be
helpful in a non-controversial way. And I didn’t like the way things

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