Page 41 of Script Swap
“That wasn’t suspicious,” I said.
“She’s no good.”Jonni’s voice had a quality that I imagine she thought of as sultry, womanly, and provocative.My description would have been: someone scraping the side of a matchbox, but with more phlegm.Already in costume, Jonni was fixing her pantyhose and, in the process, flashing a lot of leg.She looked up, pretended to catch us watching her, and gave a pouty little smile like she’d done something naughty and gotten caught.
It was a lot.
“Have you seen Terrence?”I asked.
“He’s around here somewhere, I’m sure,” Jonni said.“Not that it matters; he lets that little tart make all the decisions.She’s a nitpicker.A million little criticisms about everything.And we all have to do what she says, even though she doesn’t have the guts to say it to my face.”
“Tinny?”Bobby asked.
“She’s been sneaking around for weeks,” Jonni said.“She thinks nobody notices her because she’s such a little mouse.Well, she’s got something to learn about this business.In this business, you know what happens to little mice?They get eaten.”
“What do you mean, she’s been sneaking around?”I asked.
“It’s not like you can miss her—all those necklaces and crystals and gewgaws, she makes so much noise when she moves it sounds like somebody put a jewelry box in a paint mixer.Ithoughtshe was boffing Kyson, but here she is, still sneaking around, so…” Jonni trailed off with a shrug.
“Thank you,” I said, “for the perfect segue.Wereyouboffing Kyson?”
Jonni’s eyes got huge, and for a moment, dread filled me: she was going to go for outrage or shock or disbelief.
Instead, she started to laugh.“My God.Who told you that?”
“No one told me,” I said.“I found your photo.”
Jonni’s face was blank with incomprehension.
For some reason, my face started to heat.“The, um, adult photo.”
“My God,” Jonni said again, lips curving.“The runt kept it.”
“Uh—”
That was my way of verbalizing the fact that this wasnothow I’d expected the conversation to go.To be fair, I hadn’t interacted with Jonni much before—a better verb would beexperiencedorsuffered.Aside from that conversation in Kyson’s dressing room, I’d only seen her when she’d been putting on a show.And I had the feeling that Jonni was pretty much always putting on a show.
Bobby came to my rescue.“Did you give him that photo?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he was cute.”Jonni’s smile deepened.“Because a woman has needs.”
(Picture the throwing-up emoji.)
“Were you and Kyson sexually involved?”Bobby asked.
“My, my,” Jonni said.“Such language.And to a lady.”
“Is that a yes?”
“I’m afraid I don’t discuss personal relationships of that nature.I have a reputation to maintain.”
“That’s not going to work with the sheriff,” Bobby said.“That photograph suggests a relationship.And in homicides, sexual partners are the most common culprits.”
“Also,” I said, “you found the body.In asuperweird way, actually.A lot of killers do that—put on a big show of finding the victim so that it looks like they couldn’t possibly have had anything to do with it.”
Jonni’s mouth tightened.“I never touched that boy.”
