Taking Chances (13 page)

Half an hour later, having confirmed that Richard Conway was now signed, which should help the financing no end, and having assured them that the many possible legal problems they could run into, given the subject of the movie, were being investigated, Michael took the topped-up coffee Ellen passed him and was about to carry on when she leaned over to whisper in his ear.

‘I’d better go get Robbie now,’ she said. ‘Don’t forget to tell them about the cocktail party next Friday when they can get to meet Tom Chambers and Richard Conway.’

‘OK,’ Michael nodded. ‘Will you be back in time for lunch?’

‘I should be. Where will I find you?’

‘Probably at the Four Seasons. I’ll give Tom a call in an hour, see if he’s feeling human yet.’

It was almost three in the afternoon by the time Ellen finally abandoned her car to the valet at the Four Seasons hotel and ran inside the plush marble lobby to take the elevator to the fourteenth floor. She was over an hour and a half late, having got to Robbie’s school to find
out
he didn’t feel sick any more and wanted to go join his friends at T-ball practice. Of course the bus was long gone, so Ellen had to drive him over to Culver City herself, then go back to the school to pick up the briefcase she’d managed to leave there.

She was on her way back to the office when she’d got a call from the wedding organizer with a thousand questions that needed answers right away, so she’d detoured over to Crescent Heights to go calm him down. Just roll on when Matty got back from Denver where she was just finishing up filming a mini-series for Lifetime, with any luck she’d take over some of the wedding plans and provide Ellen with the odd five-minute respite from total madness.

By the time the elevator doors opened to let her out she had managed to tidy her hair and touch up her make-up, though why she was doing it for Tom Chambers, who had insisted on staying in a hotel rather than with them, she had no idea. Then she remembered that it was for Michael, who was already there. He would know if she hadn’t bothered to make an effort and she didn’t want to let him down when she knew how much it meant to him that she and Chambers got along. And she was certain they would, provided he didn’t ostracize her with his thoughtlessness again.

It seemed she was going to have to turn it all on for Michelle much sooner than she’d expected as well, for, as it happened, though Michelle would be delighted to come to the wedding, she had to make a trip to LA next week anyway to co-host some kind of fund-raiser for a children’s charity. She’d be staying for ten days and the only positive aspect Ellen could find to that was that maybe she could take over some of the ferrying around of her son. Except even thinking about that scared Ellen half to death, for she loved Robbie so much that despite the chaos he was causing in her life, she just couldn’t imagine it without him now. She was over-reacting of
course
. Michelle was only coming for a visit, not to take Robbie away, at least she hoped to God that wasn’t going to happen. Maybe if she could get pregnant herself … But it was ludicrous to think that a child of their own could ever replace Robbie, and besides, just where was she going to find the time to have a baby, when lately they barely had time even to make love?

She was about to knock on the hotel room door when her cellphone sprang into life. Fumbling in her bag, she found it, clicked it on and knocked the door.

‘Ellen Shelby,’ she said into the phone

‘Hi, Ellen, it’s Gretta Monk, I got your message.’

‘Oh Gretta!’ Ellen cried. ‘Thanks for calling me back. I was wondering, are you going to pick up Matthew from T-ball later? You are? Great! Could you pick up Robbie too and drop him by the house?’

‘Oh gee, Ellen, I’m sorry. My folks are flying in from Boston at five so we’re going right on to the airport to collect them, then we’re going to my sister’s in Rhodondo Beach for dinner. Any other time, honey.’

‘Sure, OK,’ Ellen responded, her heart sinking as Gretta rang off and Michael opened the door.

‘Hi sweetheart,’ he said. ‘Come on in. Are you OK?’

‘Oh yeah, yeah,’ she answered, forcing a smile. ‘Sorry I’m late. You got my messages?’

‘Sure. Do you want some coffee? You look like you could do with some.’

‘I could,’ she replied, looking around the large, beautifully furnished suite with its tall, sunlit windows, subtle grey and rose pink drapes and upholstery, and impressive assortment of technology.

‘Tom’s in the other room, on the phone,’ Michael told her, crossing to a table that was cluttered with the remains of the lunch she should have joined them for. ‘Sit yourself down. Was Robbie OK?’

‘I think so,’ she answered, grimacing at her reflection in a full-length mirror – it seemed her quick-fix job in the
elevator
wasn’t as effective as she’d thought. But then there was precious little she could do about the heat, which was the main cause of the creases in her limp-looking tangerine silk top and brown linen skirt. ‘God I look a mess,’ she groaned, trying to straighten herself out. ‘Anyway, how’s it going? Obviously he got out of Colombia OK. Have there been any repercussions?’

‘A few,’ Michael responded, discarding the coffee on the table and going to the phone to order fresh. ‘They’re trying to load him with three murders in Popayán, but they don’t stand much chance of getting away with that. Yeah, room service, could you bring some fresh coffee to room 1426?’ He turned to Ellen. ‘Have you eaten?’

‘No, and I’m starving,’ she answered. ‘Order me a chicken sandwich, or no, some bruschetta and goat’s cheese.’

Michael placed the order then rang off. ‘Ah, here he is,’ he said, as the bedroom door opened and Tom Chambers came into the sitting-room.

Ellen looked up and to her surprise felt the welcome fade on her lips as she met the intense grey eyes of a tall, casually dressed man with dark, silver-streaked hair, a strong, rugged face, and an extremely impressive physique. It had never even occurred to her that he might be attractive, and certainly not as attractive as this. Quickly, she reasserted her smile and got to her feet. ‘Tom,’ she said, holding out her hand as he came towards her. ‘It’s really good to meet you at last. I’ve certainly heard enough about you.’

Chambers laughed and Ellen’s eyes widened at the surprising transformation it made to his otherwise dark and austere features. ‘Well, I’ve got to tell you, it’s good to meet you too,’ he responded, shaking her hand. ‘And one thing’s for sure, you’re a hell of a lot prettier than him.’ He grimaced. ‘I guess I could be shot for making remarks like that in this town, so I take it back, and replant it as a mere thought.’

Ellen’s eyes were dancing, she was enjoying the flirtation and the fact that Michael was starting to scowl was making her enjoy it all the more. ‘It was a relief to find out you’d got here safely,’ she told him. ‘Michael tells me you’re being accused of murder,’ she added, startling herself with the casualness of her tone.

Chambers’s eyes were alive with humour. ‘Well, it won’t be
that
that causes me to lose any sleep tonight,’ he assured her, and she felt herself flush at the subtle implication that she just might.

‘I ordered more coffee,’ Michael said as someone knocked on the door and Ellen’s cellphone started to ring.

As she dealt with the call, and the three others she had to make as a result of it, Michael poured them all coffee and steered her to the table to sit down with her food. Then he and Chambers returned to the sofas and the coffee-table between them that was littered with Chambers’s maps, reference books, newspaper cuttings, photographs, notebooks, a laptop computer and portable printer.

‘It’s kind of hard to figure out how we’re going to end the script when I didn’t actually get near any of the killers,’ Chambers was saying as Ellen, licking her fingers, went to kneel on the floor next to Michael. ‘I mean, we can go either way, stick to how it is, me getting out before I got my head split in two, which, the way I see it, kind of dead-ends the drama, or fictionalize. Then we can go whichever way we want, and I could get the satisfaction of seeing the bastards shot down on film, even if it’s not going to happen in reality.’

‘I think we should go for both,’ Ellen said, putting down her napkin and helping herself to Michael’s coffee. ‘Gruesome as they are, the machete murders are too powerful to lose, and knowing it’s an end that you’re going to meet if you stay, it makes sense for you to get out of the country fast – the way you did. So in my
opinion
, that’s the way it should go – exactly as it happened. And from there we fictionalize. Script it in a way that could feasibly be true. My suggestion is that we explore what might happen should Galeano’s people come looking for you here.’

Michael and Chambers looked at her. ‘In LA?’ Michael said.

She nodded. ‘If we bring it into the States,’ she explained, ‘it could have a much greater impact on an American audience than if we kept it in Colombia. And I’m just praying to God that I’m not making some kind of prediction here,’ she added with a smile that in no way belied her seriousness.

Michael looked at Chambers. ‘Is that likely to happen?’ he asked.

Chambers shook his head. ‘Not unless Galeano’s nephews, the Zapata brothers, start making some serious progress in pulling the Tolima Cartel back together,’ he answered. ‘And that’s not looking likely.’

‘Do any of them know you’re planning to make a movie?’ Ellen asked.

Again Chambers shook his head. ‘No-one in the Tolima Cartel,’ he answered. ‘And that’s the only one that matters.’

‘These nephews are the ones who were involved in Rachel’s kidnap and murder?’ Michael said.

Ellen looked at Chambers to see how he responded to the mention of his dead girlfriend’s name, but there was no expression in his eyes as he answered Michael’s question.

‘The very same,’ he said. ‘So we bring the chase to LA,’ he went on, returning them to the script. ‘What then?’

‘We don’t need to decide on that right now,’ Ellen answered. ‘There’s going to be a lot of time for discussion, and what we really need is to get the opening straightened out. It’s got to start with a good, strong
background
on Rachel. I take it this is her?’ she said, picking up a glossy ten-by-eight photograph of a strikingly beautiful dark-haired woman. ‘She’s lovely.’

Chambers’s eyes remained on Ellen.

‘How old was she?’ Ellen asked.

‘When she was killed? Twenty-nine.’

‘And when you met her?’

‘Twenty-seven.’

Ellen nodded and looked at the photograph again.

‘Do you have copies of the journal she worked on in New Orleans?’ Michael asked.

‘Sure, they’re right here,’ Chambers answered, sorting through the scattered piles on the table. ‘And photographs of the office. I thought they’d help if you were going to build the set here in LA.’

‘They will,’ Michael answered, taking the journal and photographs and flicking quickly through them.

Chambers got up to go for more coffee.

‘Now’s not the time,’ Ellen said, ‘but at some point I’d like to sit down with you and have you tell me everything you can about Rachel. You know, what kind of personality she had; the things she liked, or didn’t like to do; stuff she felt passionate about; the people in her life who really mattered; the kind of clothes she wore; her views on politics, religion, human rights obviously; things that made her laugh or cry or get mad. You get the idea. Is that going to be OK for you?’

‘Sure,’ he answered.

As he poured the coffee and Michael picked up a call on his cellphone, Ellen looked at Rachel’s photograph again. Though she wouldn’t say so to Chambers, the image of Rachel’s face was affecting her deeply, for the energy and warmth that seemed to flow from her smile, the
joie de vivre
that lit up her exotic eyes and seemed to add such abandon to her laughter, made it almost impossible to believe that she was no longer alive. It was no wonder Chambers had loved her so much, Ellen
thought
, it would be hard for any man not to love a woman like this.

Ellen looked up at him and wondered if now was a good time to broach the subject of Matty. Though Matty wasn’t quite as striking as Rachel, she was certainly lovely, and so right for the part of Rachel that Ellen just knew, once he saw her, that Chambers would agree.

‘Have you given any thought to where you’re going to shoot the main stuff?’ Chambers asked, picking up his coffee.

‘We’ve discussed it briefly,’ Ellen answered. ‘Probably Mexico or Peru. Definitely not Colombia, anyway.’

Chambers laughed and turned to Michael as he finished his call. ‘Did you talk to Michelle recently?’ he asked.

‘Mmm, yesterday, as a matter of fact,’ Michael answered, swallowing a mouthful of coffee before passing the cup back to Ellen. ‘She’s coming over here next week, so you’ll see her.’

‘Hey, that’s great,’ Chambers declared. He gave a quick glance at Ellen to make sure it was, and seeing nothing to deter him, he said, ‘Is your brother coming with her?’

‘No. He’ll be here for the wedding though.’

‘Wedding?’ Chambers echoed. ‘Are you guys getting married?’

‘In a little over eight weeks,’ Ellen informed him. Then, looking up at Michael, she added, ‘If we can find enough time to organize it.’

Michael grinned and touched her face. ‘You don’t get out of it that easily,’ he warned her. ‘You’re going to come, aren’t you?’ he said to Chambers.

‘Sure, if I’m invited,’ he responded. ‘Wouldn’t miss it for the world. Will this be before or after we shoot?’

Ellen burst out laughing. ‘It’s going to be months before we can get this into production,’ she told him. ‘There’s a hell of a lot of prep to do and if these phones
would
stop ringing we could probably get on with it. Ellen Shelby,’ she said into her cellphone.

‘Hi, Ellen, it’s Gary Negroni’s mother,’ the voice at the other end told her.

‘Oh hi, thanks for calling me back,’ Ellen responded, wondering if the woman had forgotten her own name since becoming a mother. ‘I was wondering, is there any chance you could pick up Robbie when you go for Gary this evening?’