“Was there anyone on the set ofA Girl and Not a Godwho was especially upset when you got fired?”
“I don’t remember,” she said. “I mean, I’ve blocked so much of that week out of my mind.”
“Understandable,” I said.
“Why do you ask?”
“Book Babe wrote that you have grounds for a lawsuit. As though she knows the truth of what happened.” I looked at her. “As though she was there.”
“Ah.” Natalie nodded slowly. “Come to think of it, there was someone,” she said. “A friend.”
“Who?”
“Kim Lash,” she said. “Head of wardrobe.”
“Really? Wardrobe?”
“We’d go out for drinks sometimes, trash Melanie Joan…”
“She didn’t like Melanie Joan, either?”
“Kim didn’t have anything against her personally,” she said. “But she liked me. We’d worked together previously, on a Hallmark movie. She said I wasn’t being treated fairly. She felt sorry for me.”
“That’s…strange.”
She laughed. “What? Someone liking me?”
“No,” I said. “It’s just that Melanie Joan told me that after she fired you, you stole a bunch of designer clothes and shoes from the wardrobe department.”
“First of all, it was just one dress and one pair of shoes.”
“Okay.”
“And I didn’t steal them. Kim gave them to me.”
“She did?”
“It wasn’t like the new actress was going to wear them. I’m a foot taller than her,” she said. “And Kim paid for the clothes herself.” She exhaled hard. “Melanie Joan said I stole them?”
“She wrote it in the book.”
Natalie raised an eyebrow at me. “That would be grounds for a lawsuit,” she said.
“Exactly.”
Natalie pulled out her phone. She found Kim Lash in her contacts and texted me the information. “You can tell her I gave you her number,” she said. “Kim and I still talk every once in a while.”
“Thanks, Natalie.” I stood up. “This is really helpful.” Rosie jumped off her lap, and I reattached her leash.
“Kim’s a big reader,” she said. “I hope she is Book Babe and you can put this thing to rest.”
“Me, too,” I said. “And Tony wasn’t lying about taking that story out of the prologue. I really do think we can convince Melanie Joan that it would be in everyone’s best interest.”
Natalie shrugged. “Whatever.” She looked downright serene.
I decided I should get back into meditation. It obviously had done wonders for Natalie’s outlook on life.
“Just out of curiosity,” she said as I started to leave. “What was the pseudonym she used for me?”
