Murder on the Movie Set

by Sandi Scott

  “We are twins. I’m not the little sister.”

  “Two minutes. You were following right behind me. Close, but no cigar.”

  “Yeah, and because you gathered so much information in those two minutes out of the womb that makes you so much wiser than me?” Aleta rolled her eyes.”

  “Anyway, when Dustin Stetson arrives, I’m going to ask to talk to him and you can just sit in the corner.”

  “Who are you hoping to talk with?” The male voice interrupted the sisters making them both look across the pastry table, only to look into the crystal blue eyes of Dustin Stetson.

  Georgie swallowed hard and looked out of the corners of her eyes at her sister. Aleta stood still, frozen in place, her mouth hanging open while staring at the ruggedly handsome older man standing in front of them.

  Dustin Stetson had been in the movies since Georgie and Aleta were teenagers. He starred in movies where he stood up against the bad guys with smart one-liners, backed up by a double-barreled shotgun or heavy-duty pistol. He cleaned up neighborhoods, or brought justice to the Wild West. A rugged masculinity that made his eyes squint and his teeth grind in the presence of evil was made even more appealing by the way he swept his heroines off their feet with one strong arm around their waist and two strong lips against theirs.

  “Mr. Stetson—” Georgie elbowed her sister. “My name is Georgie Kaye, and this is my sister, Aleta. We are huge fans of your work.”

  “That’s very kind of you ladies.” He reached out his hand to shake. Georgie was sure Aleta was going to faint when she watched her sister’s delicate hand become engulfed in Dustin’s strong grip. “Did I hear you right that you were hoping to talk to me?”

  He looked right at Aleta when he asked the question. Georgie wasn’t sure if there were sparks there, but she knew her sister was in heaven.

  “Yes, Mr. Stetson,” Aleta finally muttered, her voice cracking as her mouth dried up.

  “Well, I’ve got a few things I need to do before my shoots later today. Can you ladies give me about fifteen minutes and then meet me at my trailer?”

  “Sure,” Georgie piped up.

  “At your trailer?” Aleta hesitated.

  “Yes. It’s silver with blue pin-striping. My name is on the door.” He winked at Georgie who thought he was very funny.

  Aleta swallowed nervously.

  "We'll be there," Georgie assured the handsome star and gently elbowed her sister.

  “Yes, we’ll be there. Thank you so much, Mr. Stetson.”

  “You can call me Dustin.” He winked at Aleta making her breath hitch in her throat.

  They watched Dustin walk away toward another person with a clipboard and a headset, but Georgie didn’t speak until she knew he was well out of earshot.

  “Am I the best big sister or what?”

  Aleta rolled her eyes.

  Chapter 9

  "Welcome, ladies," Dustin answered the knock on his trailer door with a smile. He had on a pair of jeans with a flannel robe over the top and tissue paper sticking out from his collar. "Please excuse the mess. My first assistant is picking up my car from the mechanic so I'm relying on my second assistant, Tess, and she's a bit overwhelmed at the moment.”

  "My goodness," Aleta whispered. "Mr. Stetson, your trailer is lovely. I think it's bigger than my first home."

  “Yes, it is a little overwhelming,” he clicked his tongue. “They pay to have designers decorate these things. Quite frankly, I would have preferred something a good bit smaller with maybe a couple of fishing poles or something.” He pointed to an espresso machine on the kitchenette counter. “Can either of you tell me what that is or how it works?”

  Georgie and Aleta laughed and Aleta took the lead explaining the fine art of espresso making.

  “Well, Aleta. I don’t think it’s ever been used. Maybe you could take a few minutes to show me how it’s done. If you wouldn’t mind, that is.”

  Before Aleta could answer the door to the trailer burst open and a young woman came stumbling in.

  “I’m sorry, Cassandra but I don’t know anything about it.” She stammered as an angry and frustrated Cassandra Paine, Assistant to the Assistant Producer Beverly Hope, came stomping in behind her.

  “There you are!” Cassandra shouted at Georgie and Aleta. “I was told there were a couple of strange women on the set wandering around and asking questions. I don’t know what you two are doing, but I am giving you until the count of five to get off the lot before I call security and—”

  “Hold on a minute, Cassandra,” Dustin interrupted. “I invited these ladies here. They’re interviewing me for their blog.”

  Both Georgie and Aleta straightened their backs and smiled at Cassandra.

  “Blog? You didn’t tell me yesterday that you two had a blog.” Cassandra eyed them suspiciously.

  “Cassandra, I apologize for not telling you yesterday about our media connections,” Georgie interrupted, “but you see, my sister, having such weighty relations through marriage, doesn’t like to name drop.”

  "It's true," Dustin added.

  “Connections?” Cassandra huffed. “Like whom?”

  "My sister just said I don't like to name drop," Aleta rolled her eyes and looked at Dustin, who chuckled condescendingly, waving his hand in front of him like he was shooing a fly, "but I'll just say this—Christmas at Hyannis Port never gets dull."

  Aleta, Georgie, and Dustin all stared at Cassandra—as if a vague tidbit that pointed in the direction of the Kennedy Compound should be enough to silence any critic.

  "The studio has very strict policies on letting the press on the set. I have to get this cleared and, if they don't know who you are, or haven't heard of your blog, I'm going to—"

  “You’re going to what?” Dustin interjected. “Cassandra, I invited these ladies here to interview me.”

  "Dustin, I'm not trying to be difficult but it's my job that will be on the line if a premature news article gets out on some blog leaking information about what's happening on the set. It's bad enough we've got to keep a lid on...you know...yesterday." Cassandra looked at her cell phone.

  "All the more reason we need Aleta and Georgie here," Dustin stated. "They are doing a fluff piece on me and how excited I am to be working on this project. Things are running smoothly. It's going to be a great picture that brings in a lot of money and maybe a couple of Oscars. Come on, Cass. You know the industry loves the buzz as much as the real stories."

  Letting out a deep breath and blinking her eyes upward as if she were about to bungee-jump off a bridge, Cassandra listened to Dustin.

  “Fine. You can finish your interview.”

  “Great,” Georgie clapped. “Thank you so much for accommodating us, Cassandra. We promise the piece will be a love letter.”

  “Do you need anything else, Cassandra?” Dustin asked.

  “I don’t think so...”

  “Could you please close the door on your way out?” His eyes narrowed and his charming smile had disappeared completely.

  Cassandra nodded without another word and left the trailer.

  "I'm so sorry, Dustin." They had all forgotten about the young lady that had led Cassandra into the trailer, "She started arguing with me while I was walking here. I didn't know you had an appointment. It wasn't on your schedule and—"

  "It's all right, Tess," Dustin soothed. "Would you mind putting together some kind of snack for the ladies? I think we're going to have a nice chat."

  Tess jumped at the chance to redeem herself and marched off to the kitchenette, paying very little attention as she got to work putting together plates for Georgie and Aleta.

  “That was some really quick thinking,” Georgie looked over at Dustin with an approving eye. “Why did you do it?”

  “I’m enjoying your company.” He looked at Aleta who smiled nervously. “Besides, I figure two women who are old enough to know trespassing can be dangerous and costly, but choose to do it anyway, must have something very serious on th
eir minds. Care to share?”

  Georgie looked at Aleta with raised eyebrows. Aleta put her hands on her bright red cheeks and shook her head.

  “We were here the other day. My sister and I won a contest and received two passes to the set. Then everything went south when poor Mr. Jason Hobbs was found in his trailer.”

  “Poor Mr. Jason Hobbs?” Dustin’s laughter shook the whole trailer. “You obviously didn’t know him.”

  “You didn’t like him either?” Aleta asked.

  “I liked him fine. Truthfully, I had no problem with him. A man who has temper tantrums and bursts of anger and acts like a baby can be treated one of two ways: He can be treated like a baby and turn out spoiled, Or he can be treated like a man and he’ll reform his ways. I chose the latter.”

  “So, he was nice to you?” Aleta asked.

  “I wouldn’t say he was nice, but he didn’t dare think of cutting any of my lines,” he winked. “We had a mutual understanding that I was the seasoned actor; he was the producer. We needed each other, if we wanted a successful movie. The problem was that not everyone was willing, or able, to see things so simply. I don’t know if you ladies know this, but there are a lot of egos in Hollywood.”

  “We’ve heard that,” Georgie joked.

  “Take Ryn, for example. She’s been stomping in and out of Jason’s trailer every other day complaining and whining.”

  Georgie watched Dustin’s expression as he described his younger co-star. She had formed her own opinion of Ryn after meeting her for coffee and found the fact she had gone to Jason’s trailer on a couple of occasions very intriguing—especially since she never mentioned that during their chat at Earwax.

  “Instead of looking at this as paying her dues, she took it as a personal attack. Jason was a busybody. He thought he knew everything. He was investing a lot of money in the film and didn’t like the direction it was heading. Okay, so sue the guy.” Dustin shrugged. “Ryn is in for a rude awakening if she thinks this business cares about her feelings being hurt or her lines being cut. There are a hundred women out there who would be thrilled to have the opportunity to have their lines cut, but still get their name in the credits.”

  “This must be a very stressful environment,” Aleta dreamily offered.

  “It can be. But you learn to live with it. Sometimes even crave it.”

  “Do you think that’s what happened to Jason?” Georgie asked.

  “Poor Jason? Maybe. I’ll tell you what happened to Jason Hobbs. He saw what a mess this movie was turning out to be and he was rethinking his funding of Robbie’s next film. The thought of what that was going to cost him is what pushed his heart into overdrive.”

  “Wait, Jason was producing another film with Robbie?” Georgie gasped.

  “He was supposed to, but that bundle of cash was slipping further and further out of Robbie’s grasp with every argument they had—and they had a lot. Come to think of it, if it wasn’t Ryn in the trailer weeping like a girl stood up for prom, it was Robbie shouting at the top of his lungs.”

  Tess finally approached the group and set a large platter down on the coffee table that was in the middle of the room. On it was fresh fruit, macaroons and bottled water infused with lime and ginger.

  “Thank you, Tess. This looks lovely,” Dustin complimented the girl who smiled proudly, turned like a soldier in the army, and went back to the kitchenette where she proceeded to clean up. “Ladies, please, help yourselves.”

  Of course, both Georgie and Aleta reached for the macaroons.

  “There is always a battle going on between producers and directors.” Dustin leaned back in his chair with his fingers steepled together. “The industry will call it differing artistic visions. In reality, if you ever hear that term, it is a battle of egos and nothing more.”

  "Wow," Aleta said between mouthfuls. "This has been very enlightening. My sister and I can't thank you enough for taking the time to talk to us."

  “Yeah, we really appreciate you for not blowing our cover.” Georgie licked her fingers as her sister rolled her eyes and handed her a paper napkin.

  “It’s been my pleasure. Will you ladies be hanging around the set for a little while longer or is this the end of the line?”

  Georgie cleared her throat, took a drink of her infused water, and blinked innocently at Dustin.

  “We would absolutely love to come back one more day, but we certainly wouldn’t want to get anyone in trouble.” Dustin looked at her, then turned to study Aleta’s expression, jerking his head toward Georgie as he smirked.

  “Has she been this sly since you were kids?”

  Aleta nearly choked as she started to laugh.

  "Absolutely!" Aleta pointed at Georgie and shook her head. She proceeded to tell Dustin how Georgie once told a bodybuilder that Aleta was an expert on all things colon, and on more than one occasion, Georgie had convinced people that Aleta suffered a variety of weird diseases or conditions just to get them in the door somewhere. "It's gone on our whole life."

  Georgie grinned happily as she listened to the stories.

  “And look at her—” Dustin pointed as he laughed himself. “She couldn’t be prouder.” His laugh was deep and came from the middle of his gut.

  “If you ever spent any time with Aleta you’d soon come to realize she exaggerates,” Georgie teased.

  "Well, I hope you'll both be my guests on the set. In fact, I'll be heading over there in about ten minutes after I visit make-up one more time. Let's stick to the blog reporters angle, it suits you both." He stood and shook hands with the ladies, holding Aleta's a little longer. "I do hope that you'll help me figure out that espresso machine before we pull up stakes. I think I'd like that concoction."

  “I’m sure Tess can handle it,” Aleta blushed a dozen different shades of red.

  “Georgie, talk to your sister here and tell her to come back and visit me. It’s not very often that I get to talk with ladies who still know what it means to show a little class.”

  “I’ll see what I can do, Dustin, but once Aleta makes up her mind that’s usually the end of the discussion,” she winked, “but I won’t give up just yet.”

  Waving goodbye to Dustin, they left the trailer and promised to see him on the set later in the day.

  "Okay, so, for Christmas, I'd like a pair of UGGs, at least a ten-karat turquoise ring—in sterling silver, of course—and a new set of pots and pans with the copper bottoms," Georgie said looking off to the left of the trailer as they walked toward where Aleta's car was parked.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You owe me.” Georgie sniffed. “If it weren’t for me we wouldn’t have just spent the last twenty minutes with your Hollywood heartthrob and he wouldn’t have invited you back to his trailer to show him how to use the espresso machine.” Georgie made air quotes around espresso machine.

  “You are out of your mind.” Georgie noticed Aleta held her head a little higher as she walked. “I’m not going back there.”

  “What? Why not?”

  “I’m not that kind of girl.” Aleta straightened her blouse and squared her shoulders.

  “You could be just this once,” Georgie offered. Aleta snapped her head in her sister’s direction and grimaced as if she smelled something more offensive than what Georgie had just said.

  “Why would I do that? You know that guy can get any young woman he wants. What in the world would he ever want with a woman my age?”

  "Let's see—an intelligent conversation maybe? The feeling of being included in conversation because you are interesting, not because you are famous." Georgie shook her head. "Maybe he just wants to be with someone nice and down to earth who dresses boring but has a smile that makes you feel special."

  Aleta looked at her sister and locked arms with her.

  “He seems really nice, but I’m just not interested in hanging around a guy living out of a trailer,” she chuckled.

  "Those macaroons were fabulous," Georgie added.


  “My gosh! They melted in my mouth!”

  “Well, I’m going to go to the car and call Stan.”

  “What for?”

  “For starters to tell him that I’ve narrowed the suspect pool down to three and he should do something about it.”

  "I don't know why you don't just apply to the police department. For as much as you look into their business, you should at least be receiving a paycheck."

  “No, it’s for the love of the game.” Georgie pulled out her phone and hit the speed dial for Stan.

  “Well, I’m going to go and see what they are doing on the set. Since we’ve got Dustin’s blessing to loiter around for a little while longer, I’m going to do just that.” Aleta winked at Georgie.

  “I hope he doesn’t get too distracted with you there and forget his lines.” Georgie bumped Aleta with her hip.

  Climbing into Aleta’s Mercedes, Georgie held the phone to her ear and waited as it rang and rang. Finally, the line clicked open and she heard Stan’s voice, “Detective Toons, Homicide.”

  “Detective, I’d like to report a murder,” Georgie purred. “My ex-husband killed the goose that lays the golden eggs when he went in search of gold in the California mountains.”

  “Very funny, Georgie,” he whined. “I did kinda like that voice you were doing, though. What do you say you talk to me like that on the phone all the time?”

  “You are too much,” Georgie chuckled. “Hey, what are you doing?”

  “Nothing at the moment. You know us detectives. We’re never busy.”

  “Well, drop whatever it is and come to the movie set in Skokie.”

  “Georgie, what are you doing there?”

  “Do you mean before or after Aleta and I met with Dustin Stetson? We sat in his trailer for about half an hour. Can you believe that?”

  Stan didn’t reply immediately. Georgie was sure she could hear him rolling his eyes and rubbing his forehead before planting his chin in the cup of his hand and leaning on his desk.

  “You met with whom?”