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CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Jessie forced herself to cough to hide the snort of laughter she feared might escape her mouth.
The man was a walking cliché. He appeared to be in his mid-fifties and though he may have cut a dashing figure at one time, now he looked like a guy clinging to past glory. His salt and pepper hairpiece was too lustrous to look real and the line where it met his more straw-like, real hair was distinct.
He was over-tanned, with deep, olive skin that covered every exposed inch, including, disturbingly, directly under his eyes. His teeth were unnaturally white and appeared to have been surgically altered to look more square. He was clearly an aficionado of Botox and had over-dimpled cheeks and a forehead suspiciously devoid of wrinkles. Finally, his oddly formal posture made Jessie wonder whether he might be wearing a girdle of some kind.
“I swear I’m not the father,” he said with booming, overly-familiar jocularity.
For a second, Jessie was so stunned, she didn’t know how to respond.
“Mr. Marchand,” she finally managed to say, “my name is Jessie Hunt…”
“Paternity lawyer or aspiring actress?” he asked in a richly honeyed, clearly practiced voice, a broad smile on his face. Apparently he was fine with her being either.
“LAPD, actually,” she replied, managing to regain some semblance of control over herself.
“Oh, that’s new,” he said, still unruffled. “You’ve piqued my interest. Care to come in? I can offer you some peppermint-cayenne tea and we can discuss whatever exciting development has brought you to my door.”
“Thank you,” Jessie said, stepping inside while eyeing him curiously. “I’ll pass on the tea. But I’ll happily get your answer as to why you’re pretending you don’t know the reason I’m here.”
Marchand couldn’t hide his surprise.
“Am I that transparent?” he asked, unashamedly.
“Yes,” Jessie said. “Also, there’s no way Lenny Lander didn’t call you the second I left his office.”
“Now that you mention it, Ms. Hunt,” he said as he led her into the living room, “I did get a call a little while ago from Leonard. He was most disconcerted by your visit. Truthfully, despite my brave front right now, I spent much of the last few hours shedding internal tears over the loss of dear Missy.”
“Internal tears?” Jessie repeated.
“Yes, darling. I’ve had some work done and I’ve largely lost the capacity for crying; a blessing and a curse.”
“I see. And you know that Missy wasn’t who she said she was?”
“Fiona told me that she was operating under a false name. I never called her Melissa anyway. I only ever address my actresses by their stage names. It’s a small thing, but I find that it helps them stay in character.”
As best she could, Jessie tried to separate Marchand’s ostentatious manner from the words he was saying. She found that it helped to focus on the man’s nose, which seemed to be the one feature that hadn’t had any work done on it.
“I noticed that you said Fiona told you about her fake name. But my understanding is that you have a history of helping some of these girls find those names. Isn’t that true?”
“I’m not sure what you mean, Ms. Hunt,” he said, though his expression suggested he knew exactly what she meant. His smile remained plastered on, but his eyes were less confident.
“Let’s not be coy, Mr. Marchand. You have a reputation for getting fake papers for women you want in your films.”
“Those are just vicious rumors,” he insisted far too dramatically. “I would never do anything untoward. I only want what’s best for my actresses. I saw a great future for Missy. I think she could have been one of the greats.”
“Why is that?” Jessie asked, a little afraid to hear the answer, taking the bait though she knew he was deflecting.
Marchand’s eyes gleamed with mischievous glee.
“Because she had that special ‘thing.’ Do you know what I mean?”
“I’m afraid I don’t.”
“She was magnetic on camera,” he told her in a hushed whisper. “She pulled the viewer in. No matter what character she played—student seducing the teacher, girl who gets it on with her tutor, cheerleader with the football player, naughty babysitter—she was always compelling.”
Jessie paused for a moment before replying to see if he noticed the similarity in those scenarios, but he seemed oblivious.
