"04 - Mortal Remains in Maggody Txt" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hess Joan)

BILLY JOE

Will you be there?


LORETTA

Yes...

DISSOLVE TO:


Ruby Bee was scared she was going to explode right then and there, splattering the walls and ceiling of Ruby Bee's Bar & Grill with blood and flesh and splinters of bones. Her eyes were as big and round as a matching set of harvest moons. Her body, felt as though it were expanding like a liver-spotted pink balloon, and pretty soon her skin would have to give.

It was a delightful sensation.

"Now, you just say that one more time," she commanded in a squeaky voice, her throat so tight she could barely swallow.

The woman, who'd introduced herself earlier as Carlotta Lowenstein, was accustomed to such an intently physical reaction, and on more than one occasion she'd wondered if she remembered the finer points of CPR. "Why don't you have a glass of water?" she said with a sympathetic smile.

"Why, do forgive me, Miss Lowenstein!" Ruby Bee gasped. "Here I am as dumbstruck as a turkey in a thunderstorm and I didn't even think to offer you a glass of iced tea or a beer! I am ashamed of myself. What can I fix you?"

"Tea would be fine."

Ruby Bee bustled around behind the counter until she managed to pour enough tea in a glass to make her feel a little more hospitable. As she put the glass down in front of her visitor, the barroom door opened and sunlight momentarily splashed on the rows of booths, the jukebox, and the tiny dance floor. "Yoo-hoo!" Estelle Oppers called as she marched across the room to the bar, her bony shoulders squared and her bright red hair styled in the way that always made Ruby Bee think about the Statue of Liberty. "Are we going to that flea market in Piccard or not? I thought you said you were going to pick me up at three, but it's a dam sight closer to--" She stopped as she noticed the young woman on a stool, the one on the end that she herself had a proprietary feeling about. "Excuse me, missy. I thought Ruby Bee was going to close on account of a flea market we were going to an hour ago."

"Hush, Estelle," Ruby Bee said without even looking at her. "This is Miss Carlotta Lowenstein, and she's a scout."

The final pronouncement was so melodramatic that Estelle waited for the fireworks to go off or the orchestra to start playing. When none of this happened, she wrinkled her nose and said, "As in Girl Scout?"

"I scout for locations," the woman explained. "I work for Glittertown Productions, Inc. We're a small, independent company from the Los Angeles area."

"Movies," Ruby Bee said reverently. "Miss Lowenstein works for a movie company."

"You do?" Estelle said, impressed in spite of herself. She took a harder look at the woman, who didn't look like one of those movie people, not with her neatly cropped dark hair and stocky body. Distorted by thicklensed glasses, her eyes looked a little bulgy but intelligent. Her suit was nice enough, although it was wrinkled and one of the cuffs was missing a button. She wasn't unattractive, but she wasn't at all glamorousand therefore was seriously suspect. "You're really from Hollywood?"

"Our office is in Burbank, but we've used some of the sound lots in Hollywood," Carlotta said. "Because we're small and work on a tight budget, we do a lot of work on location in some of the less expensive areas of the country. We finished up a film in Arizona at the beginning of the spring."

"What's it called?" asked Ruby Bee.

Carlotta took a long drink of tea while she considered her reply. The truth would not sit well. "It's not ready for release yet, and our executive producer likes to keep the titles to himself until the distribution's finalized. It's an injoke of sorts."

Ruby Bee and Estelle nodded, both secretly thrilled to be privy to a Hollywood in-joke, even if it was hard to figure out what was so dadburned funny about it.

"Well?" Carlotta said as she finished her tea. "What do you think about your town as the location for our next production? If we can arrange to use the sites I mentioned earlier, and if we have the cooperation of the citizens, I'm prepared to fly back to the Coast and grease the gears."

"What sites?" Estelle demanded.