by Alison Bond
‘No, ma’am, it’s private.’
Was this the moment she was supposed to tell him that she was family? She had a feeling that he wouldn’t believe her even if she tried.
‘Thanks,’ she said, ‘you’ve been really helpful.’
Kelly put the phone down and stared at the receiver for a while. What just happened? She realized that this might not be easy.
9
Kelly was soon in the back of a taxi heading for the CMG building on Wilshire Boulevard. After her lack of success on the phone she thought that she’d stand a better chance of a quick result if she just turned up. She hadn’t come all this way to be put through to the press office, nor was this a pleasure trip; she was here on business, family business, so while other people might have taken a day or two to acclimatize, Kelly didn’t give herself that luxury. She wriggled into some clean clothes in the back seat and hoped that that taxi driver didn’t think she was too strange.
Now she was here, in the motherland, she couldn’t stop looking at everything around her and wondering how often Ruby had seen the same sights. Kelly found the views eerily familiar. The chaotic freeway gave way to serene luxury, the traffic suddenly becoming lighter and the vehicles more impressive. Sparkling sidewalks fringed elegant parks and gated communities. A woman was power-walking with a mobile phone in one hand and a dog lead in the other, her spaniel trotting after her in matching pink sweats. Kelly did a double take. She’d seen this in the movies but hadn’t known if it really happened. She knew they were approaching Beverly Hills even though she’d never been there.
The taxi dropped her off outside an imposing building of white marble and curved glass. The lobby was intimidating and the elevator spoke to her.
Once she got up to CMG (managing to stop herself saying thank you when the elevator told her to have a nice day), she wasn’t one hundred per cent sure that the receptionist on the front desk was the same one who had answered the phone but they shared the same icy characteristics and lack of understanding.
‘And what is it you want?’ Kelly was asked.
‘I’ve already said, I want to see Max Parker.’
And you are?’
‘Kelly Coltrane.’ She sighed, why was this such a struggle? ‘Look, is there a problem? I mean, he does work here, right? Mr Parker?’
‘He does. He’s the co-chairman of this company. But I’m afraid it’s quite impossible to see him without an appointment.’
‘I’ll only take five minutes.’
‘You still need an appointment.’ The Ice Queen receptionist’s smile grew still thinner.
‘Then can I make an appointment?’ Kelly felt as though she was talking to a foreigner who didn’t speak the language.
‘You’d need to speak to his office.’
There was a pause.
‘So can I?’ said Kelly. ‘Speak to his office?’
‘Certainly’
Another pause.
‘Now?’
‘Oh, not possible,’ said Ice Queen. You’ll have to call. Do you have our number?’
Kelly was bewildered at being right back where she’d started. She was beginning to feel as though she must be the dumb one in this exchange. Ice Queen’s tone had grown more condescending with every obtuse response. Was this karma for all the callers she hadn’t taken seriously at work?
‘I do, but when I called earlier…’ She stopped abruptly. Ice Queen had blanked her. She’d turned the full force of her attention to the smartly dressed blonde in sunglasses who had just walked into the lobby, finishing her conversation with Kelly without so much as a nod.
Huge toothy grins for the newcomer, not a thin smile in sight. ‘Hi, how are you? He’ll be right out.’
The blonde nodded coldly and took a seat in the plush waiting area. Kelly glanced in her direction but kept her attention focused on her goal. She loaded her voice with indignation and pretended to be more confident than she really was. ‘Excuse me, but we weren’t done.’
‘I think we were,’ said the receptionist, clearly tiring of this nuisance.
‘I want to see Max Parker, right now. He’ll know who I am.’ Please let him know who I am.
The receptionist took a long look at Kelly’s determined face and figured that this girl could be somebody else’s problem from now on. Turning her back on Kelly, she called down to Max’s office. ‘There’s this girl,’ she said to one of his assistants, ‘and she’s insisting on seeing Max. Says she knows him.’
Kelly waited, half-hearing the whispered conversation. She glanced over at the blonde again, her face inscrutable behind her black shades. Gucci, noted Kelly, unless the massive gold Gs stood for garish.
‘Someone will be right up,’ said the receptionist, replacing the handset and feeling satisfied, the buck passed.
A few minutes later a stern brunette who looked about nineteen trotted up the corridor towards her.
‘Kelly? Hi, I’m Sheridan, Max’s assistant.’
Yeah, and? But there was nothing more. Wearily Kelly explained once more that she would like to see or speak to Max. The same old lines. Sheridan maintained eye contact and nodded, but Kelly knew what was coming and pre-empted the unhelpful response. ‘He doesn’t know who I am, does he?’ she said.
‘I’m sorry,’ said Sheridan, with practised sincerity. ‘He doesn’t. No.’
Kelly winced. She really had been forgotten then. Sean had been wrong, her name meant nothing. She was so cross that she forgot to be polite.
‘I’m Kelly Coltrane,’ she said. ‘My mother was Ruby Valentine. And I’d like to see Max Parker. Right now’
An oppressive silence descended over the lobby. Even the phones stopped ringing. A flicker of shock passed across Sheridan’s composed expression. Behind her, Ice Queen caught her breath.
Oooh, thought Kelly, a reaction.
Nobody noticed the Gucci blonde stand up and walk over until she spoke.
‘Who are you and what are you talking about?’ She had a nasal voice that didn’t quite match her composed veneer.
Kelly stood her ground. ‘I’m just explaining who I am.’
‘Are you mad? I’m Octavia Valentine-Jarvis.’
Octavia didn’t look anything like the only picture that Kelly had found of her on the Internet. Her dark hair was now blonde, her thick eyebrows were whispers of what they had once been, and her figure was considerably fuller up top. She had the dark eyes of her Italian father, but they were totally void of expression lines.
Kelly was floored. ‘I…’ Her tongue stumbled over simple words, any words. Come on, Kel. Anything, ‘Nice to meet you,’ she said.
Meanwhile, down the corridor in Max Parker’s office, Kelly was simply a minor irritation in a jam-packed schedule. Ruby’s mid-season suicide was hell on the shooting schedule. Max was shattered by Ruby’s death. She was his first client, his oldest friend. He still got through his call sheet and none of the clients had any cause to complain, but he was soulless with it. The jovial, indulgent agent spiel was no longer there, as if her death had broken him. Perhaps he’d lost it. Behind his back people discussed a temporary leave of absence.
Sheridan had yelled out Kelly’s name to Max when she got the call from reception, but Max had drawn a blank. Sheridan had cross-referenced the name on every database they had – nothing.
Now, five minutes later, Max Parker froze in the middle of a sentence.
‘What?’ said one of his other assistants, nervously hoping that Sheridan would get back soon if there was a problem. ‘What is it?’
Max stared dead ahead with glassy eyes like a fish. ‘Shit.’
‘What?’
‘Kelly Coltrane. It’s the other daughter.’
The assistant hadn’t a clue what Max was saying.
‘Shit!’ said Max again and slammed his fist forcefully down on the table, causing papers to scatter. Then he quickly picked up the phone and dialled the front desk. ‘Kendra, honey, it’s Max. Look, tell Sheridan to put Miss Coltrane in
the boardroom and I’ll be there right now. Whatever you do – this is important – make sure that she doesn’t meet Octavia.’
His face fell. ‘Shit.’
Octavia Valentine-Jarvis had never been especially bright. Nevertheless she was always confident of her opinions.
‘Don’t you see what’s happened here?’ she said to Sheridan. ‘This girl has obviously stolen Max’s schedule somehow and is trying to take my place.’
‘That makes absolutely no sense!’ said Kelly. ‘Why would I give my own name? How could I possibly pass as you?’
Octavia regarded this creased, angry-looking girl as she might a rogue pubic hair on a restaurant plate. ‘Quite.’
Kelly could tell when she was being insulted. She was intimidated by Octavia’s assumed superiority and deeply regretted not having spent some time under a hot shower before thrusting herself into Hollywood society. She was tired as well. Why had she rushed into this? It was her first mistake. Briefly, she imagined the poise she would have had if she was refreshed and fragrant, but then dismissed the notion, knowing that in truth she would still have been dazed by this strange, designer-clad creature. Her sister.
‘Ladies! Octavia, darling, hello.’ Max Parker descended on the two women like a bird on to seed, flapping around them, pecking Octavia on both cheeks. The tension dissolved somewhat under his kisses. ‘And you must be Kelly.’
‘Max, what is this?’ said Octavia. She had come here today for a nice lunch with Max, her mother’s agent and close family friend, hoping to get a hint as to the size of inheritance she might expect, and the entire episode was turning farcical.
‘I was going to talk to you,’ said Max. ‘Today, at lunch. And Kelly, we’ve been trying to reach you.’
‘Where?’ said Kelly. ‘Where have you been trying to reach me?’
Max hesitated, caught out in the lie and thinking on his feet. ‘I’ll have to check with my office.’
‘Max!’ Octavia was all out of patience (she didn’t have much to begin with) and she shrieked his name. ‘Why is this person here?’
Max plucked at his eyebrows. ‘Octavia, this is Kelly Coltrane, your half-sister. Kelly, Octavia.’
Kelly appreciated that meeting the family you never knew you had took concentration but she couldn’t help looking around the restaurant to see if she could spot anyone famous. Adrenalin was taking the edge off her nerves and she wanted to try to enjoy the experience as much as she could. The huge restaurant contained plenty of people who acted as if they were famous, wearing dark glasses indoors and stopping to say hello at almost every table, but none that she actually recognized. For one heart stopping moment she thought she saw Mel Gibson but then the man turned his face to the left and she realized it wasn’t him.
As it was customary for Hollywood lunch companions to overlook one another in favour of who might be coming in through the door, Kelly’s behaviour made her look like an old hand. Octavia was threatened, though Kelly would never have believed that. But when you’ve spent your whole life being Ruby Valentine’s pretty young daughter it’s a bit of a shock when somebody younger and prettier suddenly appears on the scene. There was also the inheritance to consider.
Max sat across from Octavia and prayed that she wouldn’t be overly dramatic in public. He had purposely switched the lunch reservation to a less public venue: his table for two at the Four Seasons had gone to someone else and here they were sitting at Winston’s, where they didn’t do the Béarnaise sauce the way he liked. But he had a feeling he still wasn’t safe, and that if Octavia took it upon herself to make a big old fuss, then there would be photographers at this place no matter how far out it was. Those guys could sniff out trouble at twenty blocks.
‘Kelly,’ he said, ‘perhaps you’d like to tell Octavia your side of the story?’
‘I’d love to,’ she said. ‘Except I only just found out. Why don’t you tell me what you know?’
‘Yes, Max,’ said Octavia. ‘Why don’t you?’
So Max told them both about Ruby’s lost years. And how Kelly was a result of that time, and how Ruby had sworn him to secrecy.
‘She was going to give it all up,’ said Max. ‘Her career, Los Angeles, everything. Leave it behind and start again.’
‘But then she changed her mind,’ said Kelly ‘Only one thing got left behind, two if you counted Sean. Right?’
‘Oh, didn’t you know?’ said Octavia, cattily. ‘My mother was always very good at that. Inconsistency was her thing.’
‘I never knew her,’ said Kelly. ‘I thought maybe if I came out here, found people who’d be kind enough to tell me about her, I could come to terms with that.’ She sipped her water. Why did she feel like crying? It must be the jetlag.
‘And so here you are,’ said Octavia. There was a barb in her voice like the sharp sting of a golden ant. So brief that it hurts for just a second before you forget about it. Kelly looked up, but Max took the conversation in another direction.
‘You’ll come to the service on Wednesday?’
‘If I’m welcome,’ said Kelly.
‘Of course you are,’ said Octavia. ‘We’d adore having you there. In fact, do you have plans for dinner afterwards?’
‘I…’ Kelly didn’t. She felt bombarded. The vibe she felt from Octavia had been nothing like sisterly, and suddenly she was adored?
‘Then you must come to our house, a small supper, intimate.’ Octavia laughed slightly. ‘Just family’
‘I… That would be lovely’
She couldn’t work out whether Octavia’s frequent smatterings of laughter were nerves, mockery or an affectation. She was a bit stiff, like a heavily lacquered haircut that would crunch if you handled it too roughly. But maybe she meant well.
Across the table Max relaxed visibly. Kelly hadn’t been aware that he was so tense until he exhaled enough to flutter the small display of rye grasses set in the middle of their table.
‘And then there’s the reading,’ continued Octavia. ‘The reading of the will. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to miss that, would you, dear?’
Kelly spluttered on her water, screwing up her nose against the sudden burning sensation. ‘I’m sorry?’
‘Don’t be, please. We all know that’s exactly why you’re here.’
‘Hey!’ Kelly started to protest but the words caught in her throat. What was she supposed to say? That the money had nothing to do with it? That she would turn down any money that was offered to her? That she’d give it to one of her favourite charities?
‘To think,’ said Octavia. ‘All this time and she never wanted you. Why do you think that was?’
‘I don’t have any idea.’
Octavia had been trading on her mother’s name for many years. It had opened doors to her. She couldn’t conceive of her life without that Hollywood heritage. Mother and daughter might not have been especially close but Octavia knew she was lucky to have her. For one thing, it would be impossible to get a decent lunch table without the Valentine name.
‘Are you angry?’ said Octavia.
‘A bit,’ admitted Kelly. ‘She left me, remember?’
‘Ah, but a few days ago she left us all,’ said Octavia, trying to inject a little grief into her voice but really thinking about exactly how much Ruby might have been worth, how rich she would be in a few more days and what share of her mother’s fortune, if any, would go to this long-lost little sister.
Octavia had spent the last few days mentally dividing Ruby’s estate into two, half for her and half for her twin brother Vincent. It pained her to have to revise these sums to include this scruffy young woman whose clothes were obviously off the discount rack and whose hair looked as if it hadn’t ever seen the inside of a salon. Kelly stood between Octavia and a chunk of inheritance that was rightfully hers. The fact that Vincent would likely get an equal share was galling enough, but now Kelly had crawled out from the swamp like a little bloodsucking leech.
Octavia and Ruby had had a fractious relationship
but Octavia had never badmouthed her to the press or disowned her, no matter what Ruby had put her and Vincent through as children. In the last few years Octavia had even, on occasion, felt close to her. It was more than Kelly could claim.
Octavia couldn’t keep the gracious smile on her face a moment longer; the strain was making her cheekbones ache. ‘I have to go,’ she said. ‘I have an appointment.’ She had no such appointment but they weren’t to know that. The rest of the afternoon would probably consist of a little light shopping followed by a long phone conversation with one of her girlfriends, bitching about this new sister. Mother had kept a big secret from them all, a secret which needed a manicure and a decent outfit. Octavia didn’t like feeling out of the loop. She needed to regain control of the situation. She’d have to instruct the chef to prepare something suitably intimidating for dinner on Wednesday and make sure that Sofia stayed in to be as annoying as possible.
She kissed the air on either side of Max’s face, then turned to Kelly, clasping her hand in both of hers. ‘I’ll see you at the funeral,’ she said. ‘Then afterwards? Max has the address. I’m so looking forward to it. Dinner, I mean.’ That laugh again. ‘Sofia isn’t that much younger than you are, I’m sure she’ll be terrific company for you.’
Octavia was banking on her mother being of sound mind when she died, which was plenty to bank on given the nature of death. Surely she wouldn’t have given this stray an equal share? Maybe just a token. But that didn’t preclude Kelly from challenging the will. When it came to money Octavia was surprisingly knowledgeable. Kelly was the enemy and Octavia knew to keep her enemies close. She walked out of the restaurant leaving behind a waft of Armani perfume.
Max signed for the bill. ‘I’m so sorry,’ he said. ‘You running into Octavia like that. It was clumsy, Ruby would have hated it.’
‘That’s okay,’ said Kelly.
‘No, it’s not. I mean, I’m not going to beat myself up about it but jeez, if Ruby were around she’d have heard the story by tonight and she’d be tearing a strip off me before morning.’