A Monster and a Gentleman (10 page)

“Wow, I had no idea.”

“And it is not simply a practice among my people. It is part of us. Mates can find each other, know when the other is in danger.”

“So it’s like...some kind of magic.”

“I suppose you could say that.”

“And they can be mated to a human?”

“Can be? Yes. But it is not something we’ve had in recent memory. All things are possible, but not all things are done.”

“That makes sense. Wait, when a mons—one of your people is mated to a human, does that human develop powers? I mean, the ability to know where their mate is and all that.”

Maeve grinned briefly. “All things are possible. I’m sure you would know if the human women had developed that ability. It can be distracting at first.”

Why was she smiling? Oren frowned until he realized... “They don’t have it now, but they will?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to.”

“You must not tell anyone.”

“Okay...but why not?”

“Knowing the future strips away all the pleasures of discovery.”

They sat in silence for a moment before Oren shook himself. “So if Jo and Tokaki are mated, that eliminates her from the suspect pool?”

“No, but it makes her the least likely. The love between mates is very strong. Unless there was a way Tokaki would benefit from this, I doubt she would do it.”

“Then, at least for now, let’s eliminate her.”

“Tell me about the others.”

One by one, Oren took her through the remaining suspects, explaining what they did on the movie and what, if anything, Oren knew about them personally.

“Pete, the special effects supervisor, is having the time of his life. Because the monsters are real in this movie, most of the effects are back in the camera—meaning they’re being filmed by the camera, rather than being added digitally in post-production. Of the remaining people, I’d say he’s the most enthusiastic about the project and the guys.”

“We put him at the bottom of the list.”

“Well, don’t just take my word for it.”

“I trust you, and time is short, so we must make smart decisions.”

Oren wrestled with that. He agreed with her, and that’s what he’d been saying since the beginning, but if he was wrong they could waste a lot of time looking into the wrong people.

“Who is this?” Maeve picked up a sheet.

“That’s Darryl. Besides me, he had the best access to the footage because he’s the director of photography.”

“Then he goes to the top. Is there anyone else you know well?”

“I’ve gotten to know Javier. This is his first assistant director gig.” Oren liked the young man, who hadn’t yet figured out that ego was necessary to survive in this business. Javier seemed to doubt his right to be there, despite his solid credits and good eye. He was from a rough part of L.A. and had ended up in the business through a series of programs that were trying to track minority kids into predominantly white Hollywood.
 

After he’d told Maeve all this, she slowly placed Javier’s picture with Darryl’s, at the top of the list.

“What are you doing? Javier is a good kid.”

“But he is poor, and you said he seems nervous.”

“You can’t hold his background against him, and he just doesn’t know how good he is.”

“Or he wants the money he would get from revealing the truth and is nervous because he’s lying to all of you.”

Oren bit back another protest. He didn’t want it to be Javier. He really didn’t.
 

When they were done, they’d put Jo, Pete and special effects makeup artist Hugh in the low-priority pile. That left six people for them to investigate.

“When can I touch these people?” Maeve asked, flipping through the sheets.

“On set tomorrow. They should all be there with the exception of Catherine, the visual effects supervisor.”

“Why not tonight?”

“We’re not filming tonight, and besides, I have an idea for someone else we can talk to.”
 

Chapter Seven

Cali and Seling

It was just past two p.m., and the owners of Calypso Production were assembled in Cali’s trailer on set. Margo and Lena had both been awake since four a.m. as they worked with Vern and the transportation crew to get them set up at today’s location. They’d be here for the next few weeks, so they’d set up a more permanent camp than normal. Jo was still running around with the set decorators turning a clean, organized construction yard in to a deserted creepy battlefield for one of the climactic scenes. They’d filmed a few shots around dawn, and would film more at dusk.

“Good morning.” Cali slipped in, holding the cup of tea that craft services had made for her.

“There you are.” Lena flipped through her script pages. “We were worried about you.”

Jane was partially hidden by a blanket of script pages in all the colors of the rainbow. The final script had only been final for about two days. Jane’s writing credits were for cool, quirky indie pictures, and she hadn’t really understood how much time would be devoted to action scenes. They’d had to cut whole plot lines from the script to get it to work. That meant she was on set with the script supervisor most days.

“Okay, with those changes I think this whole scene will work.”

“Why don’t we just stop the movie after Endo is caught by the media?” Akta asked. She was curled up next to Jane in sweats.

“Why are you so anxious to cut the movie short? You’ve been saying stuff like this for a week.” Lena narrowed her eyes at Akta.

“I’m not.”

“Yes, you are.”

Cali opened her mouth, ready to cut in with a comment about how it was clear that Akta was in love with Henry and she wanted to get away from him, but she closed her mouth.

“Cali, did you just start to say something and then change your mind and not say it?” Margo looked at her suspiciously

Three pairs of eyes swiveled to her.

“Why are you all staring at me?”

“You always say what you’re thinking. You never hold back,” Lena answered.

“Well, maybe I should start.”

Four jaws hit the floor.

“Who are you and where is our friend Cali?” Akta asked.

“You know we all value the fact that you speak your mind, but I’m happy for you that you’re censoring a bit. It might make your relationships easier.” The usually diplomatic Jane didn’t know how deep her comment cut.

“Leave her alone.” Margo rose from her seat and came to Cali, who was still standing at the door, tea in hand. Margo took the cup from her and set it on the counter. “Cali, are you okay?”

Cali clenched her teeth until the need to cry passed. Last night had been bad—she’d cried for hours and now today she felt raw. “Of course I’m okay. What are we meeting about?”

“Well, now we’re meeting about you.” Margo shooed away Jane and Akta, who made space on the bench. Margo forced Cali to sit down, then knelt in front of her, blocking her escape. “Talk to us.”

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

“Is this about Seling?” Lena asked.

“No.”

“Yes.” Margo countered.

“What happened with Seling?” Akta asked.
 

“Cali slept with him, then blew him off the way she always does, but she likes him,
really
likes him and won’t let herself admit it, because that might mean getting close to him.”

“Thank you, Margo.” Cali snarled. “I’m fine. I just had a moment last night. It’s all your faults. Everything used to be fine.”

“You mean everything was fine when we were all single.”

“Yes.”

“Because us being single meant that you were fine being single and didn’t have to face your issues with men and relationships.”

“Yes. I mean, no.”

“You mean yes.” Margo looked over at the others. Cali followed her gaze and saw the pitying looks on their faces.

“Stop.” Cali jumped to her feet, stepping over Margo. “Just stop. I don’t need this.”

“What don’t you need?”

“I don’t need you all trying to tell me what to do.” Cali crossed her arms and stared out the window. She felt the first tear roll down her cheek and clenched her hands into fists.

“That’s rich,” Akta said, “since you love telling everyone else what to do.”

“Fine. I won’t do that ever again.”

“That’s not what I’m saying.”

“Then what are you saying?” Cali whirled to face them. There were tears in her eyes, and her breath came in hiccup-gasps.

“Oh, Cali, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. Say what you mean to say.”

Akta looked to the others, then down at her lap. There were sympathetic tears on Margo’s lashes and Jane’s lip was quivering.
 

Lena examined Cali with the cool detachment she could muster in a crisis. “What I’m saying,
we’re
saying, is that you’ve chosen to cut yourself off from relationships. You’re blunt, rude at times, and that’s part of your charm, but it’s also become your armor. You use it to keep everyone away, especially men.

“Over the years you’ve ignored and dismissed guys who really cared for you. I know you have your reasons, and that it has to do with your parents—”

Cali snarled and Lena held up a hand in apology.

“All I’m saying,” she continued, “is that I don’t think you want to be alone. You say that you don’t need anyone and that you don’t want a relationship, but you said that ten years ago, when we were in college. We’re all different people now. Is that still what you want, or don’t want?”

“I…can’t. I can’t be with someone.”

“Oh, honey,” Margo jumped to her feet and hugged Cali. “I know it’s scary, I know.”

“No, you don’t.” Cali pushed Margo away. “I don’t think you get it, any of you. I can’t do it, I can’t just let someone in to my life.”

“But you can.” Margo insisted.

“It’s not that simple.”

“It’s exactly that simple,” Jane added quietly.

“And what do I do when the relationship goes wrong?” Couldn’t they see how dangerous it was to make yourself vulnerable…and to have another person at your mercy?

“You come to us, we’ll pick you up, and then, after a while, you try again.” Lena words were matter of fact, as if there was nothing wrong with doing something guaranteed to hurt you.

“That’s stupid.”

“That’s dating,” Akta said.

“Margo, Lena, Akta, hold on.” Jane rose and shooed Margo away from Cali. “I want to ask you something.”

“Why not?” Cali put her hands on her hips. “Everyone else has.” Though she wanted out of this trailer, the argument had helped tamp down her tears and worry under a nice, thick layer of anger.
 

“What color are Seling’s eyes?”

“Brown, so dark they look black when he’s aroused.” Cali bit her lip as she remembered the way he’d looked at her when he was inside her.

“And what does his tattoo look like?”

“It’s stylized flames, just here.” She reached behind her to touch her own back. “It’s beautiful, like him.”

“How do you feel when he smiles at you?”

Cali caught her breath in a little hiccup.
 

“Okay, that’s okay,” Jane said. “If you were going out to a new restaurant, and none of us were available, who would you take?”

Cali looked at the floor.

“Would you take Seling?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s fun.” What a dumb question. Seling was funny, smart, hot. Of course she’d take him. “He laughs a lot. He thinks people are interesting and when he talks about them, I find them interesting too, instead of irritating.”

“And what about after dinner, what would you do with him then?”

“I’d take him home and we’d fuck until we couldn’t see straight.”

Jane smiled. Cali knew she’d been trapped, but wasn’t sure how.

“I don’t get it,” she admitted. “What was the point of all that? Seling’s cool, anyone would want to do that stuff with him.”

“Let’s poll the other single girl in the room. Akta?”

“Nope. He’s nice, but he’s got a weird sense of humor and doesn’t take anything seriously.”

Cali opened her mouth to defend him, but Jane held her hand up. “See? Cali, you see him differently because there’s something between you. What we just talked about—dinner, sex, laughter. Those are what make a relationship.”

“No, there’s more to relationships than that.” There were things like mangled self-worth, distrust, lies and guilt trips.
 

“Maybe.” Jane shrugged. “But right now all you need to do is acknowledge that you want to at least try dating Seling. That’s all.”

Cali stepped back and leaned against the counter.
 

She’d always figured that if she started a relationship she’d drown under the pressure and negativity that she was sure relationships involved. But maybe they were right. Maybe she could have those things she enjoyed, without it ripping her to pieces—or her ripping the other person to pieces.