Finding June (9 page)

“His assistant found him during the
performance. Sent him into the box to disappear—guy comes out
thirty seconds later ready for the freezer.”

“It was her,” Lukas said
matter-of-factly.

“Cutter,” Will answered in an exasperated
tone, like a father rebuking his son.

“What? Who else would know exactly when he’d
go into that box?”

“I don’t know,” Will answered with strained
patience. “That’s what we’re here to find out.”

“Fine, but I say we talk to her first,”
Cutter stated in the cocky tone I’d heard so many times on the show
before. That was usually the first giveaway that he was wrong.

No matter how innovative a crime show tried
to be, there always seemed to be a pattern. On
Forensic
Faculty
, for example, the detectives would question a series of
suspects in the first fifteen minutes. They would strongly suspect
someone who would ultimately be innocent, and then they’d find
another person to blame who would also prove innocent. About ten
minutes before the end of the show, they’d catch the real killer,
who would almost always be someone they questioned but assumed
wasn’t the killer because they had an alibi or gave the team
seemingly helpful information to send them in a different
direction. Sometimes it would be a person they only mention in
passing so the viewer would think they didn’t have a big role to
play in the story.

I listened to our action reader inform the
room that Cutter and Charles had walked over to where I sat
stone-faced backstage. This was it. Time to prove what I was made
of . . . And hopefully what I was made of wasn’t bad acting.

“Imogen Gentry?” Will asked me. I didn’t
actually have a line yet; I was just supposed to nod. I inclined my
head incrementally at Will across the room, unsure if I should
actually perform the action or just wait for him to continue with
his lines. “We have some questions for you regarding the death of
your co-star Edward King,” he went on, his brow furrowed.

“Of course,” I said, my voice cracking a bit
as I talked. This made me flush slightly, but it actually sounded
like I was a bit choked up, so my nerves were working in my favor.
Maybe they’d think I was a better actress than I really was.

“Where were you at the time of the victim’s
death?” Lukas asked, causing Will to look over at him in
exasperation. “Right,” Lukas said quickly, realizing why his
question had sparked such a reaction. “Sorry . . . habit,” he
amended.

“Imogen, do you know of any problems in Mr.
King’s personal life? Anyone who may have wanted to harm him?” Will
asked, his tone smooth and professional.

“No one that I can think of,” I said softly.
“Our profession is a dying art. There’s not much competition
amongst the practitioners, just a mutual respect for a shared
interest,” I confessed, allowing my voice to sound fragile and
helpless.

“I see,” Will began, “And you can’t think of
anyone who would benefit from his passing?”

I paused for a moment, letting them know I
was thinking about this query. “Honestly, I think I’d be the one to
benefit most from his death. I was his apprentice—his assistant.
With him gone, I would be the one to take over the show,” I said
hesitantly. Lukas looked over at Will with a bemused expression. I
was hoping that look was given to Charles from Cutter to tell him
that he had been right about me; not from Lukas to Will asking him
why they’d hired me for this part.

“Well then, you’ll excuse me if this next
question is a bit bold, Miss Gentry, but did you have anything to
do with the death of Mr. King?” Will asked, his voice candid.

“N-no,” I said quickly, “No, I was just as
shocked as anyone when he fell out of that box. Edward has always
been so kind to me. I couldn’t ever hurt him.”

“You couldn’t even hurt him to become the
star of the show?” Lukas asked coldly, causing Will to jump in.

“Cutter, that’s enough,” he said quietly,
before turning his attention back to me. “Miss Gentry, can you
remember anything out of the ordinary on the night of Edward’s last
show? Did he seem worried or paranoid at all?”

I paused again, still unsure if I was
supposed to be putting pauses into the scene or if I should simply
read the lines to get through the script. “I don’t think so,” I
said with a shake of my head. “And the only people who would have
had access to the box were the stage manager and the prop masters.
I mean, the theatre isn’t exactly Fort Knox, but Edward was always
very particular about keeping his magic tricks under lock and key,”
I told Will, glancing up at him and feeling quite shocked when I
saw that he was staring at me intently, his chin resting on his
hand as if he were actually trying to determine my innocence. It
was the same look I’d seen him give suspects on the shows millions
of times. He winked at me before looking back down at his script
for his next line, and I tried to hide an embarrassed smile.

“Very well Miss Gentry. Thank you for your
time,” he said. And that was it. My first scene was over and I had
managed to do a pretty good job. I let myself relax down into my
seat and gave myself a mental pat on the back, which was followed
by an actual pat on the back from Benjamin, accompanied by a
thumbs-up from Ryan. I smiled at them, glad that they had approved
of my first scene, and beginning to feel much more confident in my
ability.

CHAPTER 8

After the whole script had been read through
and all of the notes had been taken by the department heads, Mr.
Hill dismissed us, stating that he’d see us on Monday morning to
begin shooting the episode.

Ryan and Benjamin turned to me in unison,
both sporting big cheesy grins.

“New Girl, you are awesome,” Benjamin said,
accepting a coffee from a cute, short girl who had just walked in
the room. With her long black hair, brown, slightly slanted eyes,
and grand height of 4-foot something in heels, I guessed she was at
least partly Asian. She didn’t look a day over sixteen, but I
assumed she had to be in her early twenties to be working on the
show.

“New Girl, Candice. Candice, New Girl,” Ryan
said by way of introduction.

“Nice to meet you,” I replied, smiling at her
sheepishly. I didn’t recognize her, so I was guessing she wasn’t an
actor on
Forensic Faculty
, but I couldn’t figure out any
other reason why she’d be here if she wasn’t somehow affiliated
with the show.

“Candice is the head of the makeup
department,” Benjamin explained, as if he had read my mind. “But we
like to keep her around because she’s funny,” he added thoughtfully
as he sipped his coffee.

“And to bring them their drinks, apparently,”
she said in a deep dry monotone that didn’t really fit her "cute"
look. I’d expected a high, pitchy voice to come from her small
frame.

“She’s a chipper one,” Ryan remarked very
seriously, throwing Candice a quick, playful smirk. She just rolled
her eyes at him and walked away, though I did see her smile as she
turned her back on the boys, giving me the impression that she
might not mind Ryan and Benjamin’s teasing as much as she let
on.

“So, how did your first table read feel?”
Benjamin asked me.

“It felt really good,” I answered with a
smile. “I wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought I’d be.”

“Yeah, you weren’t as bad as we thought you’d
be either,” Ryan agreed. I shot him a playful glare.

“I’m serious,” I went on. “Reading through
the script actually has me excited about Monday. An hour ago I
worried that I’d come to the studio on Monday, pass out from sheer
terror, and that would be the end of my
Forensic Faculty
adventure.”

“That could still happen,” Benjamin said,
looking at his coffee cup as if he was worried it was about to come
to life and attack him. “This tastes a little off.”

“Maybe Candice is trying to poison you,” Ryan
said in a hushed tone.

“I wouldn’t put it past her,” Benjamin agreed
in a comically loud voice so that Candice, who was standing a few
feet away talking to someone, could hear. “Sneaky little vanity
department.”

“We are
not
the vanities,” Candice
said in an annoyed voice, walking over to Benjamin and plucking the
cardboard coffee cup from his hands. “No coffee for you.”

Benjamin just watched her walk away with his
mouth hanging open in shock. “What was that about?” he asked
us.

“Department envy,” Ryan informed me. “Costume
and makeup are called the vanities. It never did sit well with
Candice. She says it’s a derogatory term and if it weren’t for her,
we’d all look as much like corpses as our victims on the show.”

“Well, then, I guess you’d better start being
nice to her,” I advised with a grin.

“June?” a heavenly voice said from behind me,
causing me to whip around in my seat. There stood Lukas Leighton in
all his glory. He was smiling down at me, and my heart rate
instantly picked up the pace. “I didn’t really get to introduce
myself properly a few days ago and I wanted to get the chance to
talk to you. Do you have a second?” he asked.

“Of course,” I answered, trying not to sound
too anxious.

“Yeah June, you should go and see what a
proper Lukas Leighton introduction is like,” Ryan said in a quiet,
sarcastic tone. I think Lukas heard him, because he shot him an
annoyed look. I ignored Ryan and got up to leave with Lukas, though
I made sure to bump Ryan with my purse as I left, making him roll
his eyes at me.

Lukas and I walked through the halls of the
production office toward the parking lot. I knew Gran wasn’t there
yet because I hadn’t called to tell her when the read through was
over. I figured I should probably do that, since it would look a
little weird to walk with him to his car and then turn around and
go right back into the building. Then again, I was with Lukas
Leighton—I wasn’t about to interrupt this moment to call Gran to
come pick me up. That would just make me look like a five-year-old.
I really needed a car.

“You did a good job in there,” he said
finally. I had to try pretty hard to keep myself from proclaiming
my love for him.

“Thanks. I was really nervous,” I replied,
looking up at his perfect face.

“Well, I couldn’t tell, if that makes you
feel any better,” he said with a dazzling smile. “I’m glad you’ll
be on the show for a while. It’s been getting kind of dull always
doing the same thing in each episode. We needed to spice things up
a little.” We left the production office and walked through the
bright parking lot where Lukas’s motorcycle sat waiting for
him.

“This might be a weird question, but is it
hard for you to watch the show? Since you’re in it, I mean. I know
I’ve always watched the show, but I feel like watching the episodes
I’m in will be so bizarre,” I said.

“I guess I’m used to it,” he replied with a
shrug. “I’ve been watching myself on the show since it started
years ago, so I’ve never seen it without seeing myself. I can
understand how it would be weird for you, though.” He looked down
at his bike then back up at me. “You want to go for a ride?” he
asked, his smile instantly convincing me that he was the most
beautiful person on the planet.

For a moment, I seriously considered going
for a ride with him, even though I knew Gran would kill me, Joseph
would be all weird about it, and I was in a sundress, which wasn’t
really conducive to riding a motorcycle. But I let my better
judgment take over, much to my own dismay.

“My ride is going to be here soon,” I said
with a regretful sigh. “I’m really, really sorry,” I added, hoping
he could see just how sorry I really was. I couldn’t believe I was
actually turning him down. An incredibly good-looking famous actor
had just asked me to go for a ride on a motorcycle with him. How
could I be dumb enough to turn him down?

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “I’ll see
you Monday?”

“Yeah, definitely,” I replied, suddenly at a
loss for words in the presence of this perfect man.

“Bye June,” he said with a nod before leaning
in and giving me a quick kiss on the cheek.

I stood in stunned silence as I watched him
drive away. I had no idea why he had kissed my cheek, but I did
know that I’d never wash that cheek again. I exhaled deeply,
wishing I was a little more like glamorous Joanne Hoozer at that
point and a little less like boring, responsible June Laurie.

*****

By the time Gran pulled into the parking lot
of the production office, I was mentally kicking myself for being
so responsible. I was a teenager after all, wasn’t I? Didn’t that
mean I was supposed to do irresponsible things like go for rides on
dangerous motorcycles with beautiful boys I’d just met? Okay, maybe
it was a bad excuse to do anything like that, but my less rational
mind was doing a really good job at convincing me that it would
have made perfect sense to take off with Lukas.

When I hopped into Gran’s old-fashioned red
car, I was met with a pile of shopping bags.

“Oh no,” I said with an accusatory look in
her direction. “What happened here?”

“Oh honestly, Bliss,” she said with a wave of
her hand, though I could see the guilty look in her eyes. “I’ve
lived on this planet for . . . well . . . the exact number of years
isn’t important. My point is, I think I have the right to do a
little shopping every now and then.”

“Yeah, but Gran, you don’t have to buy the
whole store,” I said with a laugh, looking at the array of brightly
colored bags. “I mean, can we really afford all of this?” I
motioned to the mountain of bags between us. Gran wasn’t really a
huge spender, but when she went on a spree, she made sure she did
it thoroughly.

“Some of it is for you,” she said
matter-of-factly, instantly piquing my interest. “So, how was the
table read?” she asked as I rifled through bags for anything that
could possibly be for me. I pulled out a headband with a few
peacock feathers on it hopefully. Gran looked at the headband
warily before nodding that it was for me. Obviously she hadn’t
bought it with that intention, but I was glad she had surrendered
it over to my possession.