“Call this Meryl, yeah?” he prompted.
“What about Benito?” she asked. “Obviously he got wind I didn’t show. He doesn’t get involved but it’s his show. He comes ’round, he’s a presence. Meryl probably freaked, since this is not me, and called him.”
That was when it hit Rush.
“He’s calling you, wondering where you are, he did not dump Turnbull at your house.”
“Whoa,” she breathed, her eyes getting big.
“Yeah,” he said.
“We need to tell Hank and Eddie that.”
“We will. After you call Meryl and stop her from freaking.”
“Right.”
He put enough space between them to hand her the phone.
She stayed close even as she used it.
And then he found something affecting about the fact she made the call on her speakerphone, holding the phone against his chest when it was ringing, which meant she was totally down with him hearing.
“Tallulah!” a voice cried in greeting. “Thank God! Are you okay?”
“Meryl, I’m so sorry. I got news of something yesterday and everything else just slipped my mind. I . . .” her eyes lifted to his, “it’s serious. I have to deal with it. I need to shut things down and I don’t know when I can start it up again. I’ll know more later today and call you. I’m so sorry.”
“Oh honey,” Meryl replied. “What’s going on? Do you need anything?”
She dug her cast and crew.
And obviously, they dug her too.
“No, not right now. I’ll let you know though,” she lied, took a deep breath, kept hold of his eyes and he knew it cost her when she asked, “If this is gonna take a while, do you think you can take over?”
Yeah.
It was porn.
But it was hers and she didn’t want to let go.
“What?” the assistant director’s voice was breathy over the phone.
“I’ve got notes. I can email them to you. You can . . . you can . . .” she pushed into Rush, “take my chair.”
The voice on the speakerphone was stunned. “Ohmigod.”
Rebel was looking sick now. “You’re on the ball, Meryl. I think you’ll do great.”
“This is, I mean, from you . . . that means a lot, Tally.”
Tally.
At the nickname, Rebel winced.
She liked these people.
So she did not like lying to them.
“But it also means whatever’s happening is rough. Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Meryl continued.
“Yeah. I mean, it’s probably going to take some time, but I’ll be all right.”
“Okay, I’ll . . . just let you go. You obviously have stuff to deal with. But just so you know, I called Mr. Valenzuela. You didn’t show, that’s not like you, I got worried you were in a car accident or something. I’ll call him and—”
“No!” Rebel cried hurriedly.
Rush gave her a warning squeeze.
She nodded to him and pulled it together.
“He called. I’ll, uh . . . call him. You deal with the set. I’ll handle that.”
“Right. Okay.”
“Thanks, Meryl. For everything. I’ll be in touch.”
“Okay, Tally. Hope it all works out okay.”
“It will. Later, Meryl.”
“’Bye.”
She disconnected and focused on Rush.
“I need to call Benito.”
He didn’t like it.
But he couldn’t disagree.
“Yeah,” he grunted.
“Do you think he at least knows that Harrietta’s dead?” she asked.
“I think he finds ways to know a lot of shit. But cops are not his biggest fans. Not sure anything has ever leaked from the DPD to him. And since it’s lookin’ like Chew did this, and no way Chew would drop a line to Valenzuela to share he offed his old lady, my guess is no.”
“So if it was Chew, how do you think he knew to dump Harrietta at my place?”
“Probably knew she was playin’ him, he followed her, she was meeting you, he decided to follow you.”
“But Hank taught me how to spot a tail. And I promise, Rush, I was looking.”
“I’m glad Hank looked after you,” Rush said carefully. “But this guy has been doin’ fucked-up vengeance shit for years. You’d probably have to be Jason Bourne to spot his tail.”
Or a Chaos brother.
“That isn’t good,” she muttered.
“No, but that also doesn’t mean he made you. Following her and you, all he’s got is you work for Valenzuela and you live where you live. You workin’ for Valenzuela is enough for him to know you two meeting up was fishy. But even if he did a trace on the property, got so far as lookin’ at names on mail in the mailbox, he might not link Rebel Stapleton to you. You could be crashing there, a roommate,” he grinned, “a lesbian lover. Whatever. But Chew is not gonna get close to a mailbox and get himself made. And if the guy has the brains to do a trace on a property, it’d surprise the fuck outta me.”
“So he doesn’t know I’m Rebel. So maybe to fuck with me, or get under Benito’s skin, he wouldn’t be able to share with Benito that I’m Rebel.”
“Just another guess, but no. All he knows is you were in with Harrietta, Harrietta is in with Valenzuela, and he’d just assume you are too. No way he’d dump her and court gettin’ seen at Valenzula’s. You were the safer bet to make his statement.”
She seemed to relax into that and Rush liked the feel, he still hoped he hadn’t just fed her a line of bullshit.
“Now make your call,” he urged. “But you make it on speakerphone too, baby. I wanna hear how he reacts when talking to you. Same shit you said to Meryl.”
She bit her lip and nodded.
He gave her a squeeze. “You good to do this?”
“Harrietta deserves justice just like Diane does. So if we can focus Hank and Eddie, she might get it. And my crew deserves to keep getting a paycheck even though I’m backing out. So Benito needs to keep that going for as long as he’s in the game to do it. So . . . yeah. I’m good.”
He bent his neck to touch his lips to hers, and when he pulled back, said, “All right. Get it done so we can move on.”
Her nod was a lot less hesitant this time.
She bent to her phone and he got her eyes back when he heard it ringing.
Valenzuela’s deep, slimy voice came at them, gliding over, “Tallulah.”
Rush immediately went still.
He wanted to fuck her.
“Are you all right?” Valenzuela asked.
“Benito, I apologize,” Rebel said. “I had a personal situation happen that was extreme and I didn’t call in to production to explain I wouldn’t be in today. I’ve called Meryl. She’s up to speed. We’re halting production for the day, but we’ll be back, hopefully tomorrow.”
“Just as long as you’re okay.”
Fuck.
He totally wanted to fuck her.
“I’m all right and all will be fine, I just need to give it some of my attention.”
“Whatever you need.”
Rebel gave him a stretched-lipped, skeeved-out look.
It almost made him laugh.
But Benito Valenzuela wanted in his woman’s pants.
So he did not laugh.
“I’m on it now, Benito. I might need to take some time, but I’ll get Meryl sorted out and the schedule won’t feel it, outside today.”
“Is there anything you need?”
“No. I’m good. It’s personal. A family issue. I’d rather not explain. But it’ll get taken care of.”
“Family,” he muttered then, “All right, Tallulah. Take the time you need.”
“Thanks, Benito.”
“And if I can do anything, you’ve got my number.”
Rebel gave him another one of her skeeved-out looks even while saying, “Thanks, that means a lot.”
“Take care,” Valenzuela said.
“You too. Thanks for understanding.”
“Of course. Goodbye, Tallulah.”
“’Bye, Benito.”
She disconnected. “He totally doesn’t know about Harrietta.”
“I got the same take.”
“So, okay, well . . .” more of her eyes darting around before coming back to him, “that part’s done.”
He slid his other arm around her. “Yeah. And you did great, sweetheart.”
“I kinda got Tallulah Monroe down,” she muttered.
She was proud of her work.
She wasn’t proud of that.
“They’ll get it,” he told her.
She focused on him. “Sorry?”
“That you lied about who you are.”
She put both her hands on his chest, even the one that still held her phone, her gaze on him intense.
“Can’t say I’m in the know with who occupies the porn scene,” he went on. “But if it’s like anything else that rides the fringe, they’re tight. If they know someone killed Diane, one of their own, and you went all out to make them pay, they’ll get it.”
She studied him a beat before she asked, “How do you read my mind?”
“Baby, hate to tell you this, but if you’re goin’ for a poker face, you’re failing.”
“Fabulous,” she muttered to his throat.
He gave her a gentle shake and regained her attention. “Don’t know, didn’t see you in action, but my take on what I just heard was that you were you, you just used the name Tallulah. That’s probably why it worked. You didn’t play at anything. You gave them you and you’re awesome. They just know you by a different name.”
“Yeah, that’s how I played it only because I didn’t know better.”
“Well, it worked so it doesn’t matter you didn’t know better.”