She Sins at Midnight (6 page)

Creigh knew that his friend was right and he also knew that sorting through his family’s memories wasn’t going to get any easier. So he made the decision to take a few weeks off work and go home to face the chore that awaited him.

Closing his eyes he remembered his beautiful mother smiling and laughing and chasing him around the yard when he was a little boy. She used to say, “If you can get to the willow tree before I catch you, you can stay up an extra hour tonight.” Creigh felt a tug at his heart when he realized that she never caught him in time and always pretended that he got one over on her.

His mind continued to wander when he remembered the gorgeous woman at the airport in Los Angeles. She looked soft and curvy like she just stepped out of a movie from the 1950’s. Beauties like that were one of the reasons he missed the Midwest. As a rule, Creigh loved women of all shapes and sizes. As a successful entertainment lawyer he dated frequently and never lacked for female companionship. But lately he seemed to be dating gals who worked out more than he did. And while there was certainly nothing wrong with being toned and in shape, he was a little thrown off balance when the last one offered to lift him over her head, all two-hundred-and-ten pounds of him.

Creigh didn’t know what kind of partner he would ultimately wind up with but for a moment he imagined that she was the god-given curvy goddess from the airport. Of course she was most likely already married with 2.5 kids, a dog named Skippy and a Volvo SUV. Prizes like her got snatched up pretty quickly. Plus, he amended, the woman that he would marry, would be willing to put down her trashy novel long enough to have a conversation with him. “
She Sins at Midnight
?” What kind of name was that for a book anyway?

Then Creigh remembered Quandi Quartermain. It was just his luck that she was on her way to Chicago for Playboy business and wound up sitting right next to him. Creigh had met Quandi (with a “Qu” instead of a “C” and an “I” instead of a “Y”) at a party thrown by Robert Felton, one of the founding partners of his law firm.

He had a short and unmemorable affair with the Playmate which ended the minute he realized that Quandi was only in the relationship for what she could get out of it. She viewed Creigh as the fatted calf who would keep her in all the Rodeo Drive shopping excursions she could handle. The last thing that Creigh needed was four solid hours stuck next to his ex at thirty-five thousand feet off the ground. Every time the plane hit a pocket of turbulence she nearly threw herself on top of him as though he could somehow save her.

J
illy picked up Trevor at pre-school. Jack and Titty were strapped into their car seats and “Wee Willy Songs” were blaring through the speakers. Jilly thought if she heard “The Wheels on the Bus” one more time, she was going to get out of the car and lay down in the street until a bus ran over her and put her out of her misery. She was so desperate to hear some real live adult music that Trevor’s CD of fifties rock-n-roll tunes, sung by second graders, would have done the trick. Unfortunately “Wee Willy Songs” was the only music they could play that Titty wouldn’t cry through. Every other CD drove her to screaming fits and she was only five months old.

Jilly realized that it was a good thing that Trevor was born first because if Titty or Jack had led the pack, they would have been only children. Those two had turned out to be poster kids for having your tubes tied. As much as she loved them and was thrilled to have a baby girl, getting pregnant with Titty had been the result of her mother taking the boys for the weekend, an expensive bottle of champagne and a husband who forgot to buy condoms.

Jilly was allergic to the pill, so birth control had always been up to Bill. Well, never again. She now purchased the goods herself, in bulk at Costco. She bought a box of three-hundred, right after Titty was born and so far they had managed to use a grand total of one. Jilly laughed thinking at that rate, they’d have the same box in ten years. Maybe even twenty! After all, there was no better birth control in the world than three kids, especially when one of them was certifiably brilliant.

Jilly bemoaned her fate as she turned down Golfview Drive and caught sight of an SUV stuck in the marsh. As she got closer, she realized there was a woman lying in the mud next to the car, crying. Oh dear, and she thought she had it bad. She pulled over to help. As she got out of her minivan, she told the boys to stay put and keep an eye on the baby.

As soon as Jilly hopped out of the van, the filthy woman scrambled to her feet and yelled, “Oh my god! Jilly, is it really you?”

Recognizing the voice, Jilly answered, “Lila?”

Jilly was so thrilled to see the person she viewed as her savior that she ran straight out into the muck and threw her arms around her best friend’s neck. When they connected, Lila’s legs slipped out from under her and both women went sprawling in the sludge. The friends started to laugh and cry, all the while hanging on to each other like life preservers.

C
reigh asked his driver, Frankie, to stop by the grocery store on his way home so he could load up on some staples that he’d need. After loading the trunk with enough food to supply a fraternity house for a week, he gave Frankie directions to his mother’s house. The scenery was ingrained in every fiber of his being, like picture postcards of his soul. Creigh knew that he would never feel like he belonged anywhere as much as in Bentley. He loved L.A. and his big old home in the elegant Hancock Park district, but it could never mean as much to him as this lovely town that held all the memories of his childhood.

Creigh had to steal himself against the emotions that rushed over him as Frankie turned down Golfview Drive, the road that led to his family home on Chesterfield Lane. Raw emotion tore through him like a steam train and he had to take a deep breath to keep the tears from streaming down his face. He decided to wait to cry like a baby until he got home and opened the first, of what he assumed, would be many beers that evening.

As the limo approached the marsh he looked out his window and saw a minivan pulled over to the side of the road. There were two singing boys and a baby in the back. There was also an SUV trapped in the mud and what appeared to be two swamp things laughing and crying and dancing around in circles. He was about to tell Frankie to pull over so they could offer assistance when his cell phone rang.

Looking at the caller I.D., Creigh saw that it was Robert Felton. Normally Creigh would have let the call go into his voice mail, but if Robert was calling, either there was a huge lawsuit in the works or California had finally plunged into the ocean. Robert would not have bothered him on his leave of absence for anything less.

“Hey Robert, what’s up?”

“Trouble in paradise, my friend. You remember Josh Furber from The Amalgamated Artists Agency?”

A picture of a short, balding man in his early fifties popped into Creigh’s head, “Yeah, what about him?”

“In a word, lawsuit. Josh is Melinda Forrester’s agent and Melinda has just decided to sue Amalgamated and Josh for sexual harassment, defamation of character and incompetence.”

Creigh laughed, “Incompetence? If that was against the law there wouldn’t be a movie industry. So who’s going to award her anything there?”

Robert agreed, “Here’s the deal. Melinda thinks that someone at Amalgamated started a rumor that she’s sleeping with a janitor named Jose´. ‘The Countrywide Inquisitor’ picked up the story and spread it all over this morning’s edition.”

“So what? No press is bad press. Isn’t that the party line?”

Robert sighed, “Except for the fact that Melinda may be about to receive a marriage proposal from Oscar Solomon.” He didn’t need to add that Oscar was the head of Solomon Films, the biggest distribution outfit in Hollywood, as well as his firm’s biggest client.

Creigh interrupted, “And Melinda thinks she needs to go public denying the charges so it doesn’t occur to Oscar that she’s as cheap as a two-dollar handbag?”

“Something like that.”

“But Robert, Oscar already knows her rep. The whole town knows who she’s been in bed with and from what I hear, it’s most of the movie industry.” After a beat he asked, “Why isn’t she suing ‘The Inquisitor?’”

“Oh they’re on her hit list too. She had a press conference this morning announcing it. God Creigh, you should have seen the outfit she was wearing. It was Dorothy from ‘The Wizard of Oz’ meets Marian, the librarian.”

Creigh stated, “But Robert, she doesn’t have a case. We might be able to get ‘The Inquisitor’ to print a retraction on page forty but what does she think she’s going to get from Amalgamated?”

“As far as I can tell? Revenge. Melinda said she would drop the lawsuit if Amalgamated fires Josh’s assistant and agrees to pay for the PR package to clean up this mess.”

“What does Josh’s assistant have to do with anything?’

Robert answered, “Who knows, maybe Melinda doesn’t like the color lipstick she wears. Being Melinda, she doesn’t need much more of a reason than that.”

“Then why doesn’t Josh just fire his assistant and be done with it?”

Robert responded, “From what I can gather, she’s a pretty smart cookie and Josh is worried that she’ll retaliate by filing and winning a wrongful termination suit of her own.”

Creigh could tell there was something more, “And?”

“And she’s been his only assistant for seven years. Consequently, she has enough dirt on him to bury him under the rubble for the rest of his days. Josh Furber has a real problem keeping it in his pants and he got married long before pre-nups were in vogue.”

“So what do you want me to do about it, Robert?”

The elder partner took a fortifying breath, “Here’s the deal. Oscar wants you to broker the negotiations with Amalgamated.”

“Me?! Why me?”

“Because he’s good friends with Prissy Calder and Prissy came out of her lawsuit smelling like freshly baked bread. Oscar wants the same outcome for Melinda.”

Creigh nearly yelled, “Except that Prissy actually had a case!”

Robert agreed, “I know. But we need to make Melinda think that we’re taking her seriously while we make this ridiculous claim go away. All I need for you to do is meet with her, sound like you care and tell her that you will personally take care of it. After that, I’ll take over and she’ll never know the difference.”

“But Robert, I’m in Illinois and I am not going to fly back to L.A. just to appease the temper tantrum of some promiscuous brat.”

“I told Oscar that you were on personal leave and he informed me that Melinda would be on the Solomon Film’s private jet this afternoon. She’ll be landing at 8:45 tonight.”

“What?! Jesus Christ, Robert. What am I supposed to do with her here?”

“Creigh, I’m really sorry about this. If it was only Melinda I wouldn’t ask it of you, but if we lose Solomon Film’s business, we’ll lose millions a year and we can’t take that chance.”

Creigh exhaled slowly, “Fine. Let me ask you again. What do you expect me to do with her?”

“In a nutshell, win her over. Just be your irresistible, smooth self. Wine her, dine her and assure her that she’s in good hands, then send her home and I’ll take over from there.”

Creigh barely said good-bye to Robert before hanging up. By the time Frankie turned down Chesterfield Lane he had totally forgotten about helping the stranded women in the marsh. Creigh asked Frankie to go back to the airport at 8:30 where he would meet the Solomon jet and chauffer Melinda to her hotel. Then he called his secretary, Amy and asked her to make a reservation for Melinda at The Bentley House. It was the most well-appointed local inn in town. In an effort to keep the press away, he asked his assistant to make the reservation under the name Bertha Plunket, the most unattractive name he could think of. He had Amy leave word that he would pick up Melinda at 5:30 the following evening for an early dinner. That way he could have at least twenty-four hours spoiled starlet free.

With his plan in motion, Creigh popped open his first Miller High Life of the day and started to reacquaint himself with his childhood home.

L
ila couldn’t believe that Jilly, of all people, was her rescuer. At first she was afraid she was seeing a mirage, like a desperate traveler stuck in the middle of the Mohave Desert.

Yet her figment actually spoke. “Lila?” The Jilly vision sprinted toward her and wrapped her arms around her neck. Jilly held on so tight that Lila lost her balance again and the two friends tumbled back into the marsh together. Jilly didn’t seem to notice. She just kept telling her best friend how thrilled she was that she was home. Lila thought that this was the kind of welcome she could have used at her own house.

As they regained their footing a limo drove by. Lila pointed to it and grumbled, “Nice, you’d think that they’d offer to call the auto club or something.” She wondered what had happened to the lovely, friendly town of her youth. Her parents were acting like sex maniacs and her neighbors no longer stopped to lend a helping hand.

The friends hung on to each other for balance and eventually made their way out of the mud. When they reached the safety of the road, Lila explained to Jilly how she found herself in her current situation. Jilly laughed at the description of her friend’s parents and vowed to make Lila the best grilled cheese sandwich she’d ever eaten, to welcome her home properly.

Once they got to the minivan, Lila asked, “Are we supposed to climb in looking like this? We’ll wreck the interior.”

“No we won’t. The mother’s handbook says, ‘carry every form of canvas, towel and cover-up in your hatch.’ And I, my friend, follow the handbook to the letter.”

True to her word, Jilly unearthed a large canvas covering from her magic hatch and draped it across the front seats. Then she introduced her friend to Titty. Lila thought the baby was the spitting image of Jilly. Trevor remembered her from her last visit and awarded her a huge smile. Jack had no idea who she was so he just stared at her for a moment before winking. At least it looked like a wink. But who had ever heard of a three year old winking? Maybe he just had something in his eye.