Shot Through the Heart

by Matt Cain

  ‘Oh no, do I really have to?’ she moaned.

  ‘Quit bitching, girlfriend! And let’s kick some ass!’

  She took a deep breath and heaved herself up.

  *

  Ronnie had been right – this job really did suck.

  Leo had now been waiting on his own for an hour and there was still no sign of Mia. On the floor of the skip he shuffled around his bottom, desperately trying to dig himself into a more comfortable position. The stench of decaying fish was getting worse as the day grew hotter. This was fast turning into one of the worst door-steppings ever.

  Whenever he and Ronnie were on a stake-out, they liked to while away the waiting time compiling an ongoing list of their top ten favourite jobs ever. Without doubt, job number one was the time they’d been sent to St Tropez to chase David and Victoria Beckham around on the ultimate boys’ toy – a top-of-the-range private yacht which they’d taken turns in steering and onto which they’d proudly attached British and American flags. That was closely followed by the time they’d managed to infiltrate a party for a James Bond film by hiding inside a huge statue of a golden gun; they’d quickly taken the snaps they needed through the gun’s open barrel and then spent the rest of the evening being served vodka martinis by a seriously hot waitress dressed as Pussy Galore. And definitely making the top ten was the time they’d trailed Colin Farrell and his gaggle of playmates around Miami on a major bender, until halfway through the night (when they’d already shot five different sets of blinding pictures), they’d started downing shots themselves – only to wake up eight hours later in Sleeping Beauty’s castle in Disney World, with no idea how they’d got there.

  But despite all this, Leo wasn’t in the paparazzi game for the glamour. What he loved about the business was the heart-thumping moment when he nailed a pic he knew would be a huge seller and make the front pages around the world. And if nailing that shot involved a high-speed car chase (or a ‘follow’ as it was known in the business), then his adrenaline levels hit the roof. Pursuing a car on his bike reminded Leo of the computer games he used to play as a boy in Watford. Except now it was all happening for real and the buzz was incredible. Ronnie was right – Leo was a serious adrenaline junkie.

  He sometimes looked at the lengths he’d go to in search of a fix and, in moments of conscience, the way it led him to treat people, and wonder if his addiction was a problem – and one that needed treating like any other. But now wasn’t one of those times. And as usual he’d managed to switch off his feelings to concentrate on the job in hand – and securing his next fix.

  But Mia had been in the gym for such a long time that Leo was starting to worry that she might be doing her hair and make-up after her workout. At times like this he always remembered a photographer he knew in his early days on the job telling him that a good pap pic was one that showed someone looking amazing or amazingly bad. Mia Sinclair always looked amazing so if Leo wanted to earn some decent money, he needed to melt her looking amazingly bad. But the longer she took to emerge from The Ab Lab, the less likely it looked that he’d be hitting today’s jackpot. Which meant going without his much-needed fix of adrenaline.

  He really hoped Mia turned up and got his heart thumping soon.

  *

  Mia put down the hair-drier and felt a twinge in her arm muscles. She was aching all over but now that she’d finished her workout felt pleased with herself for seeing it through. She might hate exercise but no one could fault her for hard work and dedication.

  She turned on the hair straighteners to warm them up. She’d decided to dress down in a pink tracksuit and trainers but even so, was determined to look her best. Soon she’d be ready for the rest of the day – and not just ready but camera-ready.

  One of Mia’s worst fears was being caught out by the paps on an off-day and ending up in the pages of one of those tacky magazines that revelled in showing celebs looking rough. Unfortunately, to avoid this she had to spend at least an hour on her hair and make-up every day before she dared even to step outside. Sometimes all the preening exhausted her and made her feel like a slave to the fame game. There were times when she was desperate for a day off and her only option was to stay in the house all day. But there was no question that the effort was worth it. So far she’d never been papped looking a mess and she’d no intention of starting now.

  Across the changing room a woman with a weirdly long face which looked like it had been trapped between the doors of an elevator was parading around with no clothes on. Mia tried not to stare and applied a dollop of her favourite anti-frizz pro-gloss serum to her hair. It was time for her to start on her make-up.

  As a child in Cleveland, Mia remembered watching a famous movie star being interviewed about her glamorous life on a TV chat show. For some reason the woman had insisted on banging on about how unglamorous her life was, how working in films was really hard work and how stars like her were just normal people really. Mia had felt utterly let down. I don’t really want to hear this, she remembered thinking. I want fantasy – I want magic! She’d vowed there and then that if she ever became a successful actress, she wouldn’t shatter the public’s illusions but would keep the flames of glamour burning at all times – whatever the cost.

  The woman with the long face was now sitting on a bench behind Mia, crouching over and plucking a grey hair out of her slug-shaped pubic strip. Mia tried not to gasp and reached for her mascara.

  Her stomach rumbled and she hoped nobody could hear it. It was nearly lunchtime and she was ravenous – the only thing that had passed her lips all day was one lousy glass of palm syrup with lemon and hot water. Waiting for her at home would be her usual meal of tasteless fish and bland vegetables. What I’d give right now for a cheeseburger and fries, she thought. And to not have to bother applying full make-up just for the journey home.

  The things she put herself through. She let out a long sigh and twisted open her lipstick.

  *

  Leo rummaged in his pocket to find his phone. He was going to text Shooting Stars to find out if Mia had somehow left the gym already through a back door or some kind of decoy system. He couldn’t bear the stench of fish one moment longer and was ready to resign himself to missing out on the action for the day.

  But just then the doors to The Ab Lab swung open and Leo spotted her. In an instant his sparkle returned and he looked through his viewfinder for a closer examination. He zoomed in, only to find that she was fully coiffed and made-up. His sparkle faded. Gutted, he thought. What a waste of a morning.

  Leo observed her looking around surreptitiously to see if there were any paps watching her. She wouldn’t be able to spot him as he was more than a hundred yards away with a lens so long it could pull focus on someone if they were on the moon. He knocked off a few shots anyway, even though he knew that none of them would sell, let alone make him any decent money.

  As Mia turned the corner and disappeared into the car park, Leo leapt from the skip and jogged around it to find his bike, which was parked out of view behind. He reached for his helmet and put it on, ready to follow her at a safe distance. The chances were that she’d be heading straight home. But he’d already missed the Malibu Beach job so was free for the rest of the afternoon. He might as well follow her. Just in case.

  *

  Mia shut the door of her car and checked her face in the mirror. She looked immaculate but wished she hadn’t bothered making the effort now. There wasn’t a single pap anywhere to be seen so she might as well have saved herself the trouble. Never mind, she thought. Better to be safe than sorry.

  Her stomach gave another rumble and she suddenly felt overwhelmed with hunger. She’d have to get home soon before she started to feel faint. She put the keys in the ignition and hit the accelerator.

  Mia was just four days into her new diet and already finding it really tough. The problem was that she had a naturally big appetite. When she’d first arrived in LA she’d lived with a dumpy costume designer called Shanice who had a ser
iously sweet tooth and had just broken up with her childhood sweetheart back in Michigan. After every meal Shanice would sit on the sofa pigging out on chocolate and cakes and Mia had found it really hard to resist joining in. Soon she was ten pounds heavier than she’d been in Cleveland, which was already hovering high above the ideal weight for a movie star. Shortly after that she’d been to her first ever audition and a movie producer had told her that she had no future in Hollywood unless she did something about her ‘fat ass’. She still had painful memories of the stinging humiliation all these years later.

  She put her foot down and cruised up La Cienega, coming to a stop at the junction with Sunset. She remembered that soon she’d be passing a drive-thru fast-food joint called Gobble and Go and was hit by a sudden craving for junk food. She turned on the radio to try and distract her. You’ll be home soon, she told herself. Hold on a little longer and the craving will pass. The last thing she wanted was to return to her days of overeating, which she’d had to work hard to beat in her first few years in LA.

  Shortly after that early audition, Mia had moved out of the apartment she shared with Shanice and rented her own place. But her big appetite moved with her and every time she had a knock-back or received some kind of rejection in her career, she’d feel an urgent, uncontrollable need to trough as much unhealthy food as possible. In order to resist temptation she’d often have to throw any chocolate she had at home into the trash can and pour washing-up liquid over it so she couldn’t scoop it out later and eat it. Even then she’d occasionally been known to salvage what she could and rinse it under the tap before shovelling it into her mouth in a crazed frenzy. It was almost like an addiction and she could still remember how her heart would thump in her chest mid-binge, her head buzzing with a sweet rush of adrenaline.

  She glided down Sunset and spotted a block of outdoor cafés she’d eaten in several times over the last few years. She knew that none of them served what she was craving right now – a great big juicy burger with fries on the side. Her heart started pounding just at the thought of it and she felt dizzy and weak with longing. She told herself to snap out of it. She wasn’t even driving the car with blacked-out windows so there was no way she could risk pulling into a place like Gobble and Go. And anyway, it had been years since she’d eaten junk food and she had no intention of giving in to temptation now.

  The problem was that everyone who was anyone in LA was so healthy. Since starring in her first movie, Mia had been forced to crack down on her binge-eating by keeping nothing sweet or fattening in the house. That, unfortunately, was the only way that she could be sure of removing every trace of temptation from her life, as she obviously couldn’t risk being papped driving to the shops for sweets or junk food. Or could she . . . ? Just that morning she’d gone to all that effort with her hair and make-up and there hadn’t been any paps around anyway. If she sneaked into Gobble and Go now no one need ever find out. Her heart began pumping even faster and she felt close to hyperventilating.

  Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels, she told herself sternly. And you need to look amazing for filming in ten days’ time.

  One day off won’t do you any harm, said another voice inside her head. Nobody will notice through your nurse’s uniform anyway.

  She spotted the sign for Gobble and Go and inside her something clicked. From now on she knew there was no turning back.

  She switched off the radio, put on her wrap-around sunglasses and checked in her mirror. She definitely wasn’t being followed.

  As if powered by an alien force, she found herself turning into the entrance to the drive-thru restaurant. Her stomach gave a little flip as she drove under a welcome sign and followed the lane around. She was so high she could barely think straight, let alone speak. She was sure she could actually feel her heart thudding at the back of her throat.

  She took a deep breath and drove up to the serving hatch.

  Slouching behind the window was a surly black girl with large lips that didn’t quite fit together and a name badge saying ‘Tiara’. Mia was worried that she might be able to hear her heart beating it was so loud.

  Thankfully the assistant didn’t even look at her but spoke her lines like some kind of automaton. ‘Welcome to Gobble and Go. What can I do for you today?’

  ‘Oh hello.’ Mia tried imitating Billy’s Deep South accent just in case Tiara recognized her voice. ‘I’ll have a triple-decker cheeseburger with extra cheese please and three large portions of fries. With ketchup and mayo. Oh and some chicken dippers on the side.’

  Tiara didn’t bat an eyelid. ‘Any drink?’

  ‘Just a water please.’ No point wasting calories on a boring drink.

  ‘Anything else?’

  Oh what the hell! I might as well go the whole hog . . . ‘Erm, yeah, an apple pie please. Just to round it off nicely, you know. Actually, make that two – one’s never quite enough.’

  Tiara turned to look at her. ‘You sure is hungry, ma’am.’

  ‘Oh it’s not all for me,’ Mia spluttered, her accent straying into Texan. ‘I’m meeting a friend for lunch.’

  Tiara looked at her flash, clearly expensive car and raised an eyebrow. Mia didn’t know why she was so suspicious – stars like Britney Spears and Kirstie Alley came to places like this all the time.

  ‘That’ll be forty dollars and fifty cents,’ Tiara yawned.

  ‘Oh right, yeah, just a minute.’ She began fumbling in her purse but in the shade of the serving hatch couldn’t see anything behind her dark glasses. Reluctantly she took them off. As she clutched manically at dollar bills she gradually became conscious of a pair of eyes watching her. Oh no, she thought. Here we go. . .

  ‘Wait a second,’ Tiara said, her voice suddenly perking up, ‘aren’t you—?’

  ‘No! You must be mistaken!’

  Tiara took a good look at her, blinking. ‘But aren’t you—?’

  ‘Honestly, I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ By now she’d completely abandoned her Deep South accent and her voice had drifted into the higher pitches of the borderline psychotic. ‘Now let me find . . .’

  ‘But you look just like . . .’

  Mia thrust out a handful of notes, which she hoped would be enough. ‘There you go.’

  ‘Mia Sinclair! That’s who you are! Mia Sinclair!’

  Mia pulled a face and raised her arms in surrender – there was no point pretending any longer. ‘OK, the game’s up. You’re right, it’s me.’

  ‘But what are you doing in a rat-hole like this?’

  ‘Well you know, when a girl needs a burger she really needs a burger.’ She looked plaintively at Tiara, who smiled back brightly. Mia suddenly noticed that she was actually quite pretty.

  ‘Listen,’ Mia went on, ‘you won’t snitch on me, will you? I just desperately need a burger right now. Do you know what I’m saying? Girl to girl? Please could you keep it a secret?’

  ‘Hell, yeah! You enjoy it, girlfriend. Go knock yourself out!’

  ‘Thanks, Tiara, thanks. I really appreciate it.’

  Mia gave her a huge smile and hit the gas.

  ‘Pick up your food at the next window!’

  *

  As Mia’s car slid forwards, Leo watched with his mouth open from behind the building next door. He couldn’t believe what he was witnessing. Not only was Mia Sinclair letting down her guard like never before, she was getting seriously sloppy and hadn’t even noticed that she was being followed by a predatory pap.

  He whipped out his camera just as an assistant handed Mia bags and bags of food to take away. He quickly began snapping but Mia had her back to him and he couldn’t get a clear shot that would identify her. The action was over in seconds and he knew instinctively that he’d missed his chance. Not to worry, he thought, the big money’s on nailing Mia actually eating the food. And I haven’t missed out on that yet.

  Mia put the food on the passenger seat next to her and drove off and out of the restaurant.

  Leo
wasn’t letting that shot get away now. It was time to play his favourite game – a game at which he really was one of the best in the business, if not the best. He revved up his bike and roared off after her.

  Finally his adrenaline was pumping. What had started out as a boring day was now turning into a bonanza.

  *

  Inside her car, Mia felt like she was going insane with hunger. She was overpowered by the smell of the hot food and absolutely desperate to shovel it into her mouth as soon as was humanly possible. She couldn’t help swerving the car all over the road and was even starting to hallucinate. When she looked in her mirror she realized with horror that there was actually a trail of dribble down her chin.

  It was no use – there was no way she was going to make it home before eating the food. Besides, it would be stone cold by the time she got up into the hills. And she may not have eaten junk food for years but she could still remember that a cold burger was gross. She spotted a dirt track at the side of the road and indicated that she was about to turn into it.

  This time she forgot to check in her mirror to see if she was being followed.

  *

  Leo stopped his bike a few yards behind Mia’s car and practically threw it to the ground. Between him and the shot he so desperately wanted was a strip of wasteland overgrown with thick foliage. Blinded by a seriously hardcore head rush, he plunged into it without thinking and began wading through to assume his position on the frontline. By now he had tunnel vision and nothing was going to stop him nailing his shot.

  Whipped, grazed and stung by a mini jungle of wild plants, after a few minutes he spotted his prey. Raised in front of her was the biggest burger he’d ever seen. And she was about to cram it into her mouth.

  This was truly amazing – for the first time ever, right there waiting for him, was a shot of the real Mia Sinclair as she’d never been seen before.

  All he could think of was what Ronnie would say if he were here: ‘Ker-ching!”