Page 127 of The Girl Who Knew Too Much

“If you pull that trigger, someone will hear the shot,” Irene said.

“I doubt it,” Claudia said. She stepped over Henry’s unmoving body. “This villa is quite secluded. Everyone knows that Oliver Ward likes his privacy. Even if someone did hear a shot, it would probably be dismissed as a backfire. No one expects to hear gunshots in a classy place like the Burning Cove Hotel. But I didn’t come here to kill you, Irene.”

“For some reason I don’t believe you. I’m afraid you’re a rather poor actress, Claudia.”

“You think you know everything, don’t you? I just want to talk to you. Turn around. Let’s go into the living room. We’re going to have a chat like two normal people.”

Irene did not move. “As far as I can tell, there’s not much normal about you, Claudia. Lucky for you, Henry Oakes came along, right? What would you have done with the guard at the front door?”

“He wouldn’t have been a problem. I would have handled him the same way I did Henry Oakes.”

Out of nowhere, Irene remembered the advice that Oliver had given to the carful of young people who came across them at the secluded beach.Never turn your backon the ocean.It will take you by surpriseevery time.

Claudia was like the wild surf at the foot of the cliffs, she thought, filled with treacherous currents. Her victims had all been struck from behind. Perhaps she had a problem with looking them in the eye. Or maybe she simply couldn’t come up with another way to commit murder. According to Oliver, most tricks were simple enough. The hard part was figuring out a new way to create the same illusion.

Cautiously, Irene retreated backward into the living room, never turning her back to Claudia.

“I said, turn around,” Claudia said.

“We both know I can’t do that,” Irene said, gentling her tone. “Not until you tell me what you came here to say. You want me to know your side of the story, don’t you?”

She halted next to Oliver’s big, thickly cushioned reading chair, vaguely surprised to realize that she was still clutching her handbag.

Claudia stopped at the edge of the living room, several feet away.

“You’ve got it all wrong,” she said. “I came here to explain things before anyone else gets hurt.”

“I see. How many people, exactly, have been hurt so far?”

Seething anger flashed in Claudia’s eyes, burning away all traces of nervy anxiety. She drew visible strength from the maelstrom.

“I didn’t have any choice,” she said.

Oliver had also mentioned the virtues of misdirection, Irene thought. She had to find a way to keep Claudia talking.

“I assume that not all the films you and your friends made in Seattle were destroyed in the fire at that little movie studio,” she said.

“Betty told us that they were all gone but she lied. She saved the two that Nick made,Island NightsandPirate’s Captive.”

“Who burned down the studio?”

“That was Betty. She was in love with Nick, you see. He was plain Archie Guthrie in those days. But after he told her that he was going to Hollywood with me, she was furious. She knew that if Archie made it big, those films would make excellent blackmail material.”

“She murdered the man who made those films and the other actor.”

“I honestly don’t know if she intended for that creepy director and Ralph to die in the fire. But they were both there that night, probably passed out. They were heroin addicts.”

“When did you learn that Betty had stolen the two pornographic films?” Irene asked.

“She made her demands right after the release of Nick’s first film,Sea of Shadows. She telephoned him anonymously and told him how much she wanted. Nick panicked. He planned to go straight to Ernie Ogden. But I knew that would be a disaster. Nick was clearly an up-and-coming actor but he wasn’t a real star, not yet. I was sure the studio would drop him rather than pay blackmail. So I told Nick that I would take care of everything.”

“He believed you?”

“Of course.” Claudia smiled. “He needs me and he knows it. I’m the one who slept with three different directors in order to get him his first screen test. I’m the one who came up with the name Nick Tremayne. I’m the one who read his lines with him. I’m the one who worked the lunch counter at Woolworth’s and picked up traveling businessmen in bars in order to pay the rent. I did it so that Nick could focus on his acting.”

“How did you land the job as his personal assistant?”

“It was obvious after the release ofSea of Shadowsthat women loved Nick Tremayne. The studio publicist wanted Nick to get single in a hurry. Better for his image, they said. They told him that he had to get divorced.”

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