by Kira Chase
“I used to love that, too. The good old days,” Johanna teased.
Frankie set a plate of French toast in front of her. “Now that really makes me feel old.”
“Not you, sweetie. You just get better and better with each passing year.”
“I'll take that as a compliment, I think.” She smiled as she seated herself across from Johanna and dug into her French toast breakfast. “You seem to be in a good mood this morning.”
“I am,” Johanna said. “I've given it a lot of thought. George didn't exactly accuse us of anything even though his tone insinuated otherwise. Anyway, I can't let that get in the way of our case. We need to move fast.”
“Fast? Has something changed that I don't know about?”
Johanna cut a piece of French toast. “I know that you're the one who usually operates on gut instinct and I'm the type who likes to plan out every detail, but now I get it, Frankie. My gut isn't allowing me to wait on this one. We're running out of time. Somehow, no matter what it takes, we need to see Kristin today and get her to admit that there's something going on between Thatcher and her. If we play it right, we can get her to tell us everything.”
Frankie set down her fork and sat beaming at her.
“What?” Johanna asked.
“This is the first time you've ever agreed to go just on gut instinct.”
“And?”
“Fill me in on everything your gut is telling you. You said we have to move fast.”
“I'm worried about something happening to Kendall. I know she has bodyguards, but I can't help worrying. How do we know they can be trusted?”
“I know. It would be nice if Kristin admitted everything to us, but I think it's going to be difficult to get her to spill anything. It'll be more like pulling teeth.”
“Maybe not. She's young and maybe we can get her to open up like we did some of the Bronson employees. We've got to try. We also need to pick up a couple of burner phones.”
“Okay. Just tell me the plan.”
Johanna grinned. “Just as soon as I finish this delicious breakfast.”
* * * *
“That was easier than I thought,” Frankie said. “Getting the burner phones was a great idea.” She grinned at Johanna. “I never knew you were such a great actress. After your speech, it's no wonder she agreed to meet with us. Now if we can get her to open up as willingly about her personal life.”
“First we'll build up the potential part she'll be auditioning for. We'll let her know that we both believe she'd be perfect for the part, but she'll need to come in to read for it.” Johanna squeezed Frankie's arm. “For her chance to star in a motion picture, I think she'd sell us her soul if we asked.”
Frankie's eyes brightened. “I just had an idea. We need to somehow work Kramer Insurance Company into the conversation. And the fact that she was with Thatcher Longman.” She tapped her chin for a few seconds. “We could mention that we couldn't help but notice the man with her and might be able to find a part for him in the movie if he's interested. Hopefully she'll say something to connect her to him.”
“I love it! This is going to work, Frankie. It has to.”
* * * *
“All set?” Frankie asked as they stepped off the elevator on the sixth floor of the Bronson Hotel.
“As ready as I'll ever be,” Johanna replied. “Do I look alright?”
Frankie eyed her appreciatively. “You're beautiful. You look so stylish.”
Johanna's eyes narrowed. “Don't I always?” she teased.
Frankie laughed. “Of course.”
“And you look very sexy and appealing yourself. Thank you for wearing a dress and heels.”
“It's for a good cause.” She smiled. “Now let's find Room 606.”
As they made their way down the hallway, Frankie was amazed at the décor. “I feel like I'm high royalty.”
Johanna squeezed her arm. “And you are. Just remember that our company is Macon Pictures, my name is Roxanne Simons, Roxy for short, and you are Alex Jones.”
“Gotcha, Roxy,” Frankie replied. “With all these names we've had lately, I'm bound to forget my real name.”
Johanna chuckled as they finally reached Kristin Robbins' room. She knocked softly on the door. The door immediately was opened.
The woman must have been anxiously awaiting their arrival, Frankie thought, since Johanna had barely brought her arm back down to her side.
Kristin smiled expectantly. “Please come in.”
Frankie's eyes made a quick sweep of the room. The main room looked like a lavishly decorated living room. She noted two doors, to the right near the entrance, which she assumed were closets, and before the main room, which Frankie realized was a bathroom. Two doors to the left off the main room Frankie assumed led to bedrooms. She glanced around hoping to see some signs that a baby resided with Kristin, but the immaculate room showed no signs that Kristin had a child. Frankie wondered if the baby was in one of the bedrooms or if Kristin had hired a sitter for the afternoon.
“Can I get either of you anything?” Kristin asked as she led them to a beautiful seating area near the large floor to ceiling window which ran the entire length of the back wall.
“No, thank you,” Johanna replied as she seated herself on the sofa.
“Nothing for me, either. But thank you.” Frankie took a seat on the opposite end from Johanna. She watched as Kristin seated herself on one of two matching easy chairs. She was dressed in a casual dress, which surprised Frankie. She'd thought Kristin would have dressed to the hilt for the meeting. Kristin's long blonde hair was tied back and she wore sandals on her feet. Her delicate looking hands had perfectly manicured nails. Up close, she was shorter than Frankie had realized. She was a beautiful young woman. That was a fact that couldn't be denied. Her voice was soft. Frankie had assumed Kristin Robbins would be loud, obnoxious and full of herself, but she was the complete opposite. Frankie almost felt sorry for the hoax they were playing on the aspiring actress.
Kristin looked down at her attire. “I wasn't sure how to dress, since you said this was informal,” she said hesitantly. “Would you like me to change? It'll only take a minute.”
Johanna smiled warmly. “No, you're fine and yes, this is an informal meeting.” She set her purse on the floor near her feet. “We have a business meeting later this afternoon or we would have also dressed more casually.”
“I was surprised that you wanted to meet here instead of at your office.”
“We would normally do that, but once we saw your commercials we wanted to get in touch with you immediately,” Johanna replied.
Frankie grabbed a file and one of the recording pens from her bag. She clicked the pen on.
“This is my co-producer, Alex Jones,” Johanna began and paused while Frankie and Kristin exchanged greetings. “As I said, we saw the local commercials you made and were very impressed with how you come across on camera.”
Frankie noted the slight blush on Kristin's cheek as the woman folded her hands in her lap. “As Roxy told you on the phone, Macon Pictures is going to produce our first motion picture. We believe it'll be a blockbuster. We've been searching for months for the perfect actress to play the lead. This movie has the potential to make you a star.”
“Thank you. That would be a dream come true. All my life I've dreamed of an acting career.” She bit her bottom lip. “Can I ask a question?”
“Of course,” Johanna replied.
“Why aren't you seeking an established actress instead of an unknown?”
“We're a small independent company. Even though we have backing from some major investors for the picture, we are looking for some fresh new talent. Every established actress was once an unknown. If this movie does as well as we think it will, you could become an overnight sensation. At the very least it will give you a decent paycheck and a credit to add to your portfolio,” Johanna said.
“We do need you to be available for a screen test if you're on board. If not, the
n we'll thank you for your time and continue our search for our perfect lead,” Frankie added.
“I'm definitely on board,” Kristin quickly said. “When is the screen test?”
“In the next week. We'll let you know as soon as we talk to the film crew. We know they're going to be as impressed with you as we are.”
“That's if I actually do get the part,” Kristin said hopefully.
“You'll do fine.” Johanna gave her a brief synopsis of the movie. “As you can see this picture is close to my heart.” She blinked rapidly.
Frankie sat listening. The actress was at it again. She admired the way Johanna pulled a story out of thin air, especially since that was one angle they'd forgotten about in their quest to meet with Kristin. Johanna had managed to tell a story that modeled Kristin's life from the little they gleaned from her website. She wondered if Kristin would find it uncanny.
“Were you ever able to find your birth mother?” Kristin asked quietly.
“Unfortunately, by the time I'd found her and she agreed to see me, she lay dying in a hospital.” Johanna's lips trembled. “She passed away literally only moments before I arrived.”
Tears sprang to Kristin's eyes. “How tragic. I'm sorry.”
Johanna drew a shuddering breath. “It wasn't meant to be. But I still have the parents who raised me and I wouldn't trade them for the world.”
“That's how I feel about my adoptive parents,” Kristin admitted.
“You're adopted?” Frankie asked, surprised.
“Yes.”
Frankly looked intently at her. Hopefully this was the opening they needed to find out exactly why she was in Charlestown since they already knew her adopted parents were from Philadelphia. “Are you originally from Charlestown?”
“No. I was born and raised in Philadelphia.”
Frankie lifted an eyebrow. “This is a beautiful hotel.”
She laughed softly. “I love it. I could never afford to live in a place like this. Maybe if I become a big star I could. My fiancée is taking care of my expenses while I'm in town. I'm actually here for two reasons,” she explained.
A baby's cry sounded from one of the bedrooms. Kristin looked toward the door. “Please excuse me for a minute.”
They nodded as Kristin hurried to the first door.
After she closed the door, Frankie turned to Johanna. “Some place.”
“I'll say.” She frowned. “I need to find a way to get her to tell us the baby's father's name.”
“She might not,” Frankie warned. “Tread lightly.”
“I'll give it my best shot.”
Frankie looked admiringly at her. “I love the synopsis of the movie. You almost had me in tears.”
“I had to go with something off the top of my head.”
“Well, I couldn't have done it any better. You went right to the emotions. She'll feel that bond with you. You're doing a fantastic job.”
The door slowly opened and Kristin appeared with a chubby baby in her arms. “This is my daughter, Chloe,” she beamed looking down at the child who was waving her chubby arms.
“What a beautiful baby,” Johanna said. “How old is she?”
“Thank you. She's three months old,” she replied. “Will I get enough notice for the screen test so that I can make arrangements for her care?”
“Yes,” Frankie said. “Kristin, as far as we're concerned the part is as good as yours. And we do have a lot of input into who will be in the movie. When filming begins you can bring the baby with you and arrange for her care.”
“Where will the filming take place?”
“Seattle. We hope it will take no more than three months, but of course, that's if everything goes according to schedule. We're still looking to fill minor character parts before we can even begin filming.” Frankie made a cooing sound as her eyes drifted to Chloe. “Are you going to be in Charlestown indefinitely?”
She cleared her throat. “It's hard to say. I hope my business here will be wrapped up in the next few weeks. I'm not sure if I'll stay or go back to Philly. Things are a little shaky right now between my adoptive parents and me. They're old fashioned and wished I was married before having a baby.”
“I'm sure they'll come around in time,” Johanna said. “How can they not, with such a beautiful granddaughter.”
“Oh, they do dote on Chloe. They're just upset that I haven't introduced them to her father or really said much about him to them. He thinks it's better to wait until he can meet them in person. But he has to take care of some personal details first.”
The more Kristin talked, the more intrigued Frankie became. But then of course, she reasoned, Thatcher Longman wouldn't want his relationship with Kristin made public or he'd lose everything. Kristin was forced to keep his secret. And Johanna and she had to dig it out of her somehow. They had to find a way to get Kristin to mention Thatcher's name.
“Do you have any questions for us?” Johanna asked.
“How did you find me? I mean I've had to bust my butt tracking down auditions. I never dreamed a producer would actually come to me. That only happens to big stars and all I have are a few local commercials to my credit.”
Johanna smiled warmly. “You just happened to be in the right place at the right time. It does still happen. We've been scouting locations in Charleston for a couple of other projects our parent company is involved in. We stopped into Kramer Insurance Company to pick up our insurance papers and the minute we set eyes on you we remembered seeing the commercials you'd done. You have the look we've been searching for, so you can imagine how pleasantly surprised we were. We knew then and there that we wanted you for our picture.”
Her eyebrows knitted together. “I don't remember seeing either of you at Kramer's.”
“You were with a very nice looking gentleman,” Johanna went on. “In fact, Alex and I mentioned how we hoped we could catch the same chemistry between the main characters in our movie that the two of you so obviously have.”
Kristin smiled broadly. “Very few people know this, but he's my fiancé and Chloe's father.” Her face reddened. “Thatcher's good to me and our baby. We met a couple of years ago. He was married then. In fact, I met his wife once. She actually tried to help me to get my career started. I thought she was gentle and kind, but I never knew the hell she put Thatcher through. I don't know how he stood it.”
Frankie lifted a skeptical eyebrow.
“So, he's divorced?”
“Well, not quite, but he might as well be. He hasn't had a relationship with his wife in years. Shortly after they married, he realized too late that they had nothing in common. She never wanted kids and that just about killed him. He loves kids and he dotes on Chloe.” She sighed softly. “I have to keep everything secretive because he's trying to avoid a messy situation. It's hard to do sometimes.” She looked skeptically at them. “I haven't even told my closest friends anything about him.”
Johanna smiled sympathetically. “Divorces can be difficult. Maybe he's trying to shield you from being dragged into a messy court battle.”
“That's what he says. I have to constantly watch everything I say and whom I talk to around here and in Philadelphia. No one knows anything about us.” She looked sheepishly at them.
“I understand.” Frankie leaned forward. “But you two were in the open together at Kramer Insurance Company.”
She shook her head. “Everyone thinks he's just helping me out by getting me the job and giving me transportation. He treats me like his daughter in front of them. They don't suspect anything.” Her face reddened. “No one thinks any differently because he's so much older than I am. They think he's just acting fatherly.” She shrugged. “And they probably wouldn't say much anyway because he's a very wealthy and powerful man in Charleston.”
“I hope you know that you can trust us,” Johanna said. “After all, we're not from around here, so your secret is safe with us. All we care about is getting our picture made. Your personal life is your own busine
ss, but of course we'll be there if anything arises and you need a shoulder to lean on. We'll be spending so much time together that you'll almost think of us as your second family.”
“Thank you.” Her eyes grew bright. “It's not easy waiting for my fiancé and me to be able to move on with our lives. This movie is just what I need. We don't get to spend much time together. I only see him for a little while every day when he picks me up from work. He's trying to figure out how he can get away for a weekend. He did that a few times, but he's worried his wife might do something violent if she finds out about me and especially now with the baby. When she was in the mental hospital he came to Philadelphia and we got to spend a glorious weekend together. We want to go on a camping trip, somewhere far away from everyone. There's a shop near Kramer's I told him about where we can get some camping gear. I want to do some rugged camping, but he wants to find a secluded cabin because he wants to bring the baby.”
Frankie listened while Kristin went on and on. Once the dam was open, Kristin began spilling all kinds of details about her relationship with Thatcher. Frankie was surprised, but surmised that it was because the woman was lonely and since she thought she and Johanna had no connection to Charleston or anyone in it, Kristin felt comfortable sharing all that she'd been holding inside. She spent most of her time inside the hotel, and outside of her job, had little social contact with anyone.
Kristin smiled. “We're planning to be married soon. He said there are just a few loose ends to tie up. I can't wait!”
Frankie struggled to control her emotions. She wondered how much Kristin really knew about Thatcher Longman. Had he just used Kristin and was planning to dump her and the baby once he got everything he wanted? Or did he plan to marry her and raise his child with her? Still, where did Becca Manning fit into everything? Her name hadn't come up. Frankie racked her brain, but came up blank. She couldn't just come right out and bring up Becca's name.
“I'm sure it'll be a relief once you and your fiancé can bring your relationship into the open,” Johanna said. “Have you had any luck tracking down your birth mother? Sometimes it can seem like you keep hitting a brick wall, but there are some places that can help with the search.”