Death in Eden
Page 34
“It’s not wholesome enough anymore, is it?”
He lifted his head up and managed a smile. “Ironic, isn’t it?”
The food arrived and the conversation turned to less weighty matters. They lingered over coffee and dessert, staying together as they walked out to their cars. Before they parted, Don had a request. He wanted to see the interview videos that Stanley, Angela, and Janet had shot. Anxious to put the project behind him, the unemployed academic acceded willingly.
* * *
To Stanley’s surprise, Janet too wanted to see the recorded interviews. She came and visited them at their hotel the day before they returned to Illinois. As they sat in the shade next to the outdoor bar, he explained that he had already given them to Don.
“That’s fine,” she said, sipping a gin and tonic. “I need to talk to him anyway.” She had dressed conservatively in a lightweight wool suit. He knew his wife bore her no ill-will, but he was glad that nothing she wore recalled their tawdry last scene together.
“Have you guys not seen each other yet?” He knew a meeting would be uncomfortable, but he was surprised that they had not yet touched base. “I know he’d like to see you. He knows that without you, he’d still be in jail.”
“He left messages a couple of times, but I just haven’t felt ready.” She smiled at Angela and reached over to touch her arm. “I hope you realize how lucky you are to have someone who isn’t always chasing after lame ducks.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s taken me a while to see it, but I don’t think that Don can resist a damsel in distress. I think that’s why he got into the business in the first place, and it’s certainly why he fell for someone like Jade.” She shook her head and laughed softly. “My psychologist says that it would be a bad sign if he were interested in me.” She popped a piece of nicotine chewing gum in her mouth. “I’ll have to be content with being friends.”
“Are you really okay with that?” Angela asked.
“Yeah, I think so.”
* * *
Sometimes, after periods of tedious inactivity, changes arrive all in a rush. Stanley and Angela had been back in Illinois for almost four months, watching their savings dwindle to less than two thousand dollars when they received a call from a couple who made an offer on their house. A quick sale would not solve all of their money problems, but it would buy them some more time to continue job hunting. Much to their surprise, Stanley’s employment situation began to resolve itself several days later when he spoke with the head of the Sociology Department at Belle Meade College in Los Angeles. The small liberal arts college was less squeamish than the BFU about his recent research. In fact, they thought the publicity would spark student interest in his classes. They wanted to know whether he would be willing to teach for two semesters as a visiting professor, his status thereafter to be determined by the department at the end of the school year. Although the expectant parents doubted they could afford to raise a family in California on a modest assistant professor’s salary, the offer was more than welcome.
The following week, Don called from California and told them that he had arranged a big surprise. He offered to fly them down to Los Angeles and ignored their protests that he had no more money to spend on trips than they did. He refused to tell them what the surprise was, but advised them cryptically that Stanley should bring a tuxedo and Angela her most stylish dress. To their surprise, a chauffer met them at the airport in a limousine and checked them into the Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills.
The next evening, Don picked them up from the hotel in an even larger limo. The two men wore black formalwear while Angela managed to fit into a blousy black dress that tastefully deemphasized her round belly. As they settled into the soft leather seats in the back of the car, Stanley thanked his friend and then asked for an explanation.
“Janet and I had exactly the same thought about the interviews. We got together and watched them and knew that we were looking at a cultural document of real value.” The limo stayed parked in front of the hotel entrance while they talked. “You took a rare snapshot of a misunderstood industry. From most of the women, you elicited the sort of sincerity and genuineness that you almost never see. Others stick to the party line, but that’s a true piece of the story too. The cross section of people is amazing and right smack in the middle of all those stories is a murder mystery. You’ve even got an interview with Susan just after she killed Jade.”
He paused for a moment and looked out the window. Janet was waving at them from the hotel steps. She walked over in a strapless red dress and squeezed into the car next to Angela. As the chauffeur pulled out of the circular drive and onto the boulevard, Angela looked at Don and then raised an inquiring eyebrow at Janet, who shook her head discretely.
Don pretended not to notice and continued, “Anyway, Jan and I sat down with all the hours of recordings and edited them into a two hour package. I hired a friend of mine to do some voice-overs, but in the documentary it’s mostly you and Janet asking the questions and trying to unravel the mystery of how people find their way into the porn industry and how one of its brightest stars was extinguished.”
“You made a movie?” Stanley was flabbergasted.
“Well, it used to be my job after all,” he replied with a huge smile. “Besides, it was a labor of love and the least that I could do for someone who gave up his job, almost lost his wife, and damn near got killed trying to save me.” The former director became serious for a moment and pulled an envelope out of his pocket. “Look, this may be one of the lowest budget films ever made, but it’s gotten some interest on the indie circuit. A good bit of interest actually. Here’s what we were able to get up front.” He handed the envelope to Stanley. “It’s almost six digits.”
Angela gave a cry and reached across the back of the limo to give the former porn mogul an exuberant hug and peck on the cheek. “What can we do to thank you?”
He blushed. “Well, if it makes any more money, I think Janet deserves something for all she’s done.”
“Of course,” Stanley and Angela shouted simultaneously.
“And I wouldn’t object to a portion of any royalties going to cover my seminary expenses, but I don’t want anything more than that.” The young couple enthusiastically consented to the plan, and Don opened a bottle of champagne he found in the limo’s mini-fridge and added mischievously, “And someone will have to spring for the limo!”
They drove for about twenty minutes before stopping in front of a renovated 1930s theater on the edge of downtown Los Angeles. It took Stanley and Angela a moment to peer out the window and spot the narrow red carpet leading up a flight of stairs past the box office. There were several cameramen and half dozen reporters milling about. When they noticed the limo they walked toward the sidewalk. The young sociologist stared at his friend. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
“Don’t you want to see it?” the director asked his former fraternity brother. “I’ve shown it to the distributor, of course, but this is the official premiere.” Don and Janet got out of the car first and held the doors open for the dumbfounded pair of Midwesterners. The director stood between them, with Janet at Angela’s side, and they linked arms while they walked past the cameras. It was then that Stanley looked up and saw the theater marquee for the first time: Death in Eden. Don started to giggle. “My first choice was Bad News Bares, but the distributor made us play it straight.”
In the theater, Angela looked around and recognized many of the women they had interviewed, as well as an older couple, the detective in charge of Don’s case and the woman pathologist who had testified at Susan’s arraignment. As the credits started to roll, she smiled contentedly, put her hands on her belly and whispered to the tiny Hopkins growing inside of her, “Just go to sleep now. I’m not sure you need to hear any of this.”
Thank you for reading books on Archive.