Page 10 of Naughty Nelle

His daughter must be someone who works on the show. I laugh lightly. “Sure. No problem.” My eyes dart around the room for a pen. The burly detective comes to the rescue and hands me one.

“Thanks. What’s her name?”

“Jo. J-O. She’d really appreciate it if you wrote your signature line.”

Shit. I have no clue what it is. I nervously twirl the pen between my fingers.

“I have so many,” I say nonchalantly. Guess what? I am a good actor.

“You know…‘Get it. Got it? Good.’”

“To Jo…Get it. Got it? Good,” I say aloud with macho attitude, enunciating each word I inscribe on the cover.

“Wow. That’s just how you say it on TV,” says the awed detective while I sign my name with an xo. My bold signature comes easily to me as if I’ve been writing it my whole life. A bolt of optimism shoots through me. Maybe my memory is coming back.

“Thanks,” says the grateful detective as I hand him back the DVD set. “My wife is going to pee in her panties.”

I laugh again. This time loudly. I escort Detective Billings to the front door. Just before he leaves, he asks me one last question.

“I forgot to ask you. Do you have any enemies who would want to harm you?”

The question makes me uneasy. I search my muddled mind. “None that I can think of.”

“A disgruntled fan? An ex-girlfriend? A former assistant?”

I shake my head though from what I know about myself, I probably did piss off some ex-assistants. Enough to drive one of them to try and kill me?

The detective shoots me a crooked smile “Don’t forget—no pun intended—to call me if you remember anything.”

Fingering his card, I assure him I will.

I want to remember everything.

But right now, I want to find out everything there is about my alter ego, Kurt Kussler.

After taking a long, hot shower, I spend the rest of the afternoon googling Kurt Kussler and screening episodes of my TV series, starting with the first season. I found DVDs of them on my bookshelf. I’m totally engrossed. It’s an awesome show.

The rundown: Kurt Kussler is a top CIA agent who’s been hunting a notorious terrorist. The bad guy’s code name: The Locust. Kurt tracks him down and, in a showdown in Beirut, kills The Locust’s beloved brother, Ahmed. The Locust lusts for revenge. And at the end of Season 1, he kills Kurt’s beautiful pregnant wife Alisha by blowing up her car as she turns on the ignition. Kurt, who witnesses the murder, has a breakdown and leaves the CIA. But with the help of his assistant, Melanie, a fellow ex-CIA’er, he recovers and becomes a vigilante, hell-bent on eliminating his wife’s elusive assassin…who’s equally determined on eradicating him. The deadly cat and mouse game begins. And so do the stellar ratings.

The character I play is intense. Almost insane. On a mission to right the Mob-style execution of his wife, he takes out the baddest of badass bad guys with brutal force, no holds barred. Not to sound boastful, I’m a dammed good actor. Every word I deliver is memorable and I can really kick butt. The supporting cast is terrific too, especially Kellie Fox, the quirky redheaded actress with the retro cat-eye glasses, who plays the mercenary’s best friend and assistant, Melanie. Knowing enough about the show and my character, I dive right into the script Scott brought over. It’s a page-turner, and I find myself mouthing the words of my lines. I am Kurt Kussler.

Halfway into it, I hear a car pull into my driveway. I spring up from the couch and peek out the window. Who the hell is that? My front door unlocks.

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