G'Day USA (2 page)

‘
Forget about Sweeney. You’re at least three tiers above him in this city. After this movie premieres you’re going to be unstoppable. Everyone knows what he did. His career, such as it was, is over. Not only is he not fit to scrape the dog shit off your shoes, he’s lower than the shit. Go and be happy. You deserve it.’

I nodded, chewed the inside of my mouth and walked out the door into the blinding Sunday afternoon Santa Monica sunlight.

I
was of two minds about this. I had achieved my dreams. Hell, I exceeded my dreams. I had never imagined a blockbuster was in my cards, and based on early reviews, this was a proper blockbuster. In two days I’d be doing its red carpet at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.

And I had a heap of things to do before then.

But it royally pissed me off that the man who killed my best mate was out of jail. It sounded like he was going to get away with it. I thumbed the Bluetooth button on my steering wheel. ‘Call Marty.’

He answered after a couple of rings. ‘Princess. What’s going on? You ready for Tuesday night?’

‘
You know I hate it when you call me princess. What do you know about Sweeney getting out?’

I thought the call dropped. There were about five seconds of silence before he answered. ‘So you heard?’

‘
Just. What’s this about them cutting him loose because I was the one who brought in the evidence needed to convict him? That’s bullshit.’

‘
I know. You know.
He
even knows. Asshole defense attorney. What are you going to do? Ignore him. He doesn’t exist.’

I pulled on to Rose Avenue from Lincoln. ‘He exists. He will always be a piece of crap. I’ll always be looking over my shoulder for him. Do you know if he’s in his place in the Valley?’

‘
I know you, Ellie. Stay away from him.’

I took a breath, then exhaled, puffing my cheeks. ‘Look, I’d love nothing more than to show up on his doorstep and tell him what I really think of him. Run him out of town, even.’

‘
I have to strongly advise you, as your manager, to stay well away from him.’

‘
Yeah, your job is to give advice, and mine is to consider it. I don’t always follow it. You, of all people, should know.’

‘
Ellie, come on.’

‘
Hey, I’m just saying.’ I paused. ‘I just finished Pollak’s show. It went great, I think. Thanks for asking. Kinda closed the loop, since it was the fact Joel was booked for the same show which convinced me he didn’t actually kill himself.’ I shook my head. ‘And after the work I did to get Sweeney
in
jail, now he’s not.’

‘
Where are you now?’

‘
Almost home.’

‘
So stay home, get some friends over, grab a bottle of wine and celebrate the last few days of relative solitude.’

‘
How do you mean?’

‘
When this movie comes out you are going to be on the receiving end of paparazzi from here to New York. A few of us here in LA know how good you are. After Tuesday the entire country will.’

‘
Oh, Jesus, I hope not. You really think so?’

‘
What, the paparazzi? Definitely. You are going to be hot property. Stay above the Sweeney shit. You did what you had to do and everyone knows what he did. Consider him dead to you. Because he is.’

‘
I wish.’

‘
Never wish that on anybody. Listen, I’ve got Tom coming in. I need to let you go. Stay out of trouble, enjoy the life you now have and I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Be good.’

He disconnected and I turned into the parking garage below my small apartment.

Small, but it overlooked Venice Beach and I was finally back by the ocean.

I loved it here. The nut cases on the beach really did make me feel normal. And some of them were really nice people. I had a regular breakfast date with one of the jugglers. The guy kept a bowling ball, running chainsaw and a bag of flour in the air.

I had two spots in the garage. The spot in front of my regular spot was reserved for my ancient, trusty VW Beetle. It got me through a rough spot in my life. I was slowly restoring the body myself. Very slowly. I hadn’t the time to touch it in the last six months.

One day.

The view off the balcony, looking into the setting sun, was spectacular. It was a warm March day. It was going to be another hot summer, by the feel of it, and it started early. The traditional Venice Beach inhabitants were reluctant to leave the warm weather behind. Strings of roller skaters tooled up the boardwalk. The muscle heads were still ripping out reps. T-shirt and chalupa vendors were packing up their stalls for the night as the sun touched the horizon.

A couple of surfers worked the small waves. The ocean calmed as the sun set. They’d be crazy to keep surfing after it got dark.
I
wasn’t even that crazy.

I gripped the railing and squeezed. The nervousness was probably just the upcoming premiere, but I couldn’t help but feel that Sweeney seeing this same sunlight, breathing this same air was what was putting me off. The bastard should be behind bars for the rest of his sorry life and now he was probably sitting back on his deck with a drink in his hand and a fat cigar in his pie-hole.

I tried to shake it off. He didn’t have the right to take my moment from me. I worked my little ass off to get here. And dammit, he wasn’t going to spoil it.

The two surfers finally called it a day. Maybe they weren’t as dumb as I thought they were. They were about my age, one a beach blond and the other dark hair. Lanky-thin and very fit.

I squinted. The dark haired guy looked like someone I knew, from long ago, in a land on the other side of the world.

Ghosts from my past.

Chapter Two

Kent Williams peeled his wetsuit off, letting it hang from his waist. He finger-combed back his black hair and squinted at the setting sun. ‘Shit waves, man.’

His surfing partner looked up at him as he took his bathing suit off under a towel. ‘Meh. It’s been better. Why this beach? Huntington’s better.’

‘
You remember
Beast of Bondi,
Charlie?’

‘
How could I forget? And so what?’

‘
Ellie.’ Kent point to the string of apartments on the other side of the beach, near the skate park. ‘She lives up there somewhere. Thought we might run into her.’

Charlie squinted back up the beach. ‘Really? She lives there? How do you know?’

‘
I was fucking around on the interwebs today and ran across a live podcast with her and that Kevin Pollak guy. She was talking about her movie coming out, how her life has improved over the past year or so and she mentioned she’d moved out of Sweeney’s guesthouse to this part of town.’

‘
She was living with Sweeney? What a dog.’

‘
Yeah.’ Kent slid his board into its case and strapped it to the roof rack. ‘I don’t think they got along well, what with him killing her room-mate and ending up in jail over it.’

‘
Where the fuck do you get this stuff, man?’ Charlie tossed his wetsuit into the back of the old Honda Accord and tied his board along side Kent’s. ‘I completely lost track of these guys. So Sweeney’s in jail? Not surprised, actually. Karma catches you eventually.’

‘
How do you mean?’

‘
You know I was AD for him on
Beast
. He treated me like shit.’

‘
He treated everyone like shit.’ Kent limped to the driver’s side of the car. ‘But yeah, he reserved the special shit for you.’

‘
Lucky me.’ Charlie hopped in the passenger’s side. ‘So how long is Sweeney in for?’

‘
Oh, he’s out.’

‘
You just said he went to jail.’

‘
He was sprung today. Some technicality with the evidence.’

‘
You’re losing me.’

‘
Ellie’s friend was killed and the cops thought it was a suicide. He was some comic. Not bad, I hear. Ellie didn’t think it could have been suicide and found enough evidence to get Sweeney locked up. Now it appears the evidence was questionable and his lawyers persuaded the judge to toss the case.’

‘
I should probably pay more attention to the news. So where’s Sweeney now?’

‘
Fucked if I know. Probably back at his place in the Valley.’

‘
So you know where he lives too. You’re a regular Google Maps.’

A smile slowly spread across Kent’s face. ‘Fuckin’ brilliant idea, mate. We should go visit him. Like a bit of a reunion.’

‘
He was an ass. Why in the hell would I want to go visit him?’

‘
See his place. Say hi. Rub his face in the fact he’s now got absolutely no career left.’

‘
Neither do I.’

‘
Well, you’ve done well for yourself with the cellular stuff.’

‘
I just work there. It’s not like it’s my company. I could have been a good director.’

‘
Well, there’s a vacancy. He’s not in the business anymore. Can you imagine anyone hiring him now?’

‘
They let him go.’

‘
Everyone knows it was a technicality. He did it. There’s audio tape floating around of him doing it.’

Charlie looked out the window at the passing hills as they drove up the Santa Monica Freeway. ‘Huh. Maybe I should get back in the saddle. Though, to be honest, I’m not really keen on seeing him again.’

‘
Oh, come on. We’ll pick up some pizza on the way. His cupboard is probably empty. And some beer. Come and gloat with me. It’ll be fun.’

B
art Sweeney climbed out of the taxi, pulling the small bag of possessions with him. He tossed a fifty on the front seat. ‘Keep the change.’

‘
The fare’s $72.50, Mac. You still owe me.’

‘
Get it from the state. I don’t have it.’

‘
I’m not leaving until you pay the remaining fare.’

Bart leaned down and looked in the window. ‘Look, you know where you just picked me up. I’ve been behind bars for the last fourteen months. I don’t have it. You can sit out there for the next year if you want, because it’ll probably be that long before I get work again.’

‘
Asshole.’ The cabbie slammed the car into drive and left with a scream of rubber.

‘
Likewise, my friend.’ Bart fished through the bag of belongings for the house keys. He walked in the front door to a stale, dusty smell of emptiness. Unlived in for over a year. ‘Son of a bitch.’ He strode across the room to the phone in the kitchen. Picked it up and held it to his head. ‘Dial tone. At least he got that right.’

He punched the numbers from memory; the only number he’d been calling the past few months.

‘
Saul speaking.’

‘
I thought I said I wanted this place cleaned. You assured me this place was going to be cleaned when I got back.’

‘
I didn’t expect the judge to rule until tomorrow. God’s honest truth. Cleaner was supposed to be there first thing in the morning. Tomorrow morning.’

Bart grunted. ‘Yeah, okay. Fine. Thanks for pulling this off. Didn’t think you could do it. Don’t cancel the cleaners for tomorrow. This place is a shit hole. Talk to you later.’

‘
Wait, don’t hang up.’

‘
What?’

‘
You looking for work?’

‘
Does the pope shit in the woods? Why?’

‘
I’m your guardian fucking angel.’

Bart sat down, the telephone cord stretching across the room. ‘What ya got?’

‘
An indie operation is looking for a director experienced with putting together low-budget pictures. They heard you were out and approached me.’

‘
They asked for me specifically?’

‘
You bet. Your rep precedes you, buddy.’

Bart rubbed his whiskered jaw. ‘I’m betting not much money, being an indie.’

‘
Hey, work is work. Get this done and the doors will open. Just keep your fucking nose clean.’

‘
Maybe I was being too subtle. How much money are we talking? I don’t work for free.’

‘
Hundred up front and take a piece of the backend.’

‘
Wow, that is small. How far along is this?’

‘
They’re ready to start shooting in about a week. They’ve got some old widow financiers, as far as I know the principals are in place and they were ready to start with a rookie director when they heard you were available.’

‘
What’s the story? No, stop. Never mind. I don’t want to know. Send me the information. Did you get the Internet hooked back up?’

‘
Yes. All the log in information is under the keyboard. I’ll email the details to you now. Give these guys a call.’

Bart looked around his barren house. ‘Look, Saul, friend to friend, since you know I’m going to be getting $100,000 shortly, can you spot me a couple of grand to tide me over? I’m flat.’

Saul chuckled on the other end of the phone line. ‘I’ll bring by two thou in the morning. You’ll owe me big time, buddy.’

‘
Tomorrow.’ Bart shrugged. ‘Okay. Tomorrow it is. I’ll live until then.’