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He says, “Chris gave me that, you know. He knew I was a better actor than him. I think he also felt bad because he gave me that last line of coke right before the accident.”
A rising star and a ruined career. That sounds like a pretty good motive for murder.
“You must have held that against him.”
Gentry looks surprised.
“Chris? No. It was my own damn fault. After the mess, Chris helped me out when he could. You know. Money and other things.”
“What kind of things?”
“Calm down. I’m getting to it.”
He smokes for a couple of minutes, shuffling through memories, and many good ones I bet. Finally, he straightens his shoulders.
“Even when I couldn’t work anymore, I still loved coke. But I didn’t have any money. Chris introduced me to people who helped out.”
He holds up a Marlboro with yellow nicotine-stained fingers.
I say, “You started dealing?”
He nods.
“See, I still had my Hollywood connections back then. And in the right light, I wasn’t so bad looking. Better than you ever were.”
“Forget about me. Tell me about your connections.”
“Goddamn Chris stayed handsome ’til the day he died. Even when he was on the skids like me. Back then though, he was into the private party scene, if you know what I mean.”
“No. I don’t.” I’m pretty sure I do, but I want to hear him say it.
He shakes his head. Exasperated.
“Sex and dope parties, asshole. By then it was the seventies and everything went. Swapping. Three-ways. Chicks with chicks. Guys with guys. No one cared and no one judged.”
“And Chris was into it?”
“Eyeball deep. Chris liked pussy and cock, so he had a grand old time.”
“And Chris got you into the scene because you were dealing?”
Gentry stabs a finger at me.
“I told you. I was still good-looking. I could have gotten in myself. But, yeah, dealing helped. Chris introduced me to everybody. He was a good guy who didn’t forget his friends.”
“Are you sure no one got jealous?” I say. “Maybe someone got nervous about a good-looking guy like him.”
He disappears in a puff of smoke again.
“Not back in those days. And Chris had a short attention span. He never spent too much time with anyone except for this one special trick.”
“Who was that?”
Gentry shrugs.
“Who knows? It was Chris’s one big secret. Whoever it was, they had a real hold over him. After the drugs knocked him out of the business too, the trick took care of him. Helped out with rent and food money. But never too much. They kept him on a real short leash.”
I’m getting tired of this gossip column stuff. I knew half of this from his file and the rest from the internet. But I can’t tell if Gentry is dumb or just angling for more money. I take out another hundred but don’t give it to him.
