Poppy Harmon and the Pillow Talk Killer by Lee Hollis (famous ebook reader .txt) 📗

amiably chatting with guest star Pam, playfully twirling her long blond hair around with his finger. Pam giggled and cooed, hanging on his every word, and then, when he thought no one was looking, Rod leaned in and planted a brief kiss on her lips. Pam nearly lost her balance she was so woozy from his touch.

Poppy could feel her cheeks reddening. She felt foolish and embarrassed and ashamed of herself for once again giving in to Rod Harper’s charms and then getting burned. She promised herself it would never, ever happen again. As she marched past Rod and Pam toward the soundstage, eyes fixed straight ahead, she could hear Rod calling after her. She kept going, ignoring him, until he managed to run and catch up to her.

“Poppy, wait . . .” he shouted as he grabbed her arm to slow her down. “What’s the big hurry?”

She silently centered herself, then spun around to face him. “I need to get to makeup and hair, Rod. What is it?”

He reared back a bit, surprised by her huffy tone. “I just wanted to apologize again for having to bail on you last night.”

“Again? What do you mean, apologize again? I never heard a word from you last night,” she snapped.

“I left a message on your answering machine. Didn’t you get it?”

“No, Rod, I didn’t,” Poppy sighed, so tired of hearing his lame excuses.

“That’s weird,” Rod said, genuinely perplexed. “I could have sworn I dialed the right number. It sounded like your voice on the recording.”

Poppy wheeled around to walk away from him, but he jogged ahead of her and positioned himself in front of her, stopping her in her tracks. “Coppola’s in town meeting with actors to star in his next film. He’s already got Kathleen Turner attached, it’s a great script, Peggy Sue Got Married. My agent says Nicolas Cage is in the running and will probably get it, but Coppola wanted to sit down with me personally. He only had an hour to meet me for a drink before flying to New York so I had to get right over to TriStar. I called you on my car phone on the way over to say I had to cancel.”

Poppy studied him, not sure if he was truly being honest or just delivering another one of his performances.

“Please, Poppy, I know I left a message. Maybe something’s wrong with your answering machine.”

There was nothing wrong with her answering machine.

She was fairly certain he had been so excited about the last-minute meeting, so eager to impress the legendary director, he had plum forgot to call her and cancel, and was now trying to cover for himself. Rod would always be Rod. And she knew she could never change him. So in order to keep the peace in their working relationship, she once more would give him the benefit of the doubt.

“How did it go?”

Rod shrugged. “I thought we hit it off, and he was very complimentary of my acting, but I may be a little too old for the part. The character, Charlie, is supposed to be a senior in high school.”

“Oh . . .” Poppy whispered.

“I know, it might be a stretch, but he promised to keep me in mind for any future projects down the road if this doesn’t work out, so it was definitely worth it to take the meeting.”

“That’s great news,” Poppy said, forcing a smile.

“Can we try again tonight?” Rod asked, hopefully.

Before she could answer, Pam interrupted them, slightly pouting for having been ditched by Rod so he could chase after Poppy. “Excuse me, Rod, my manager is having a little soiree tonight at his house in Beachwood, and I was wondering, depending on what time we wrap, if you’d like to come with me?”

Rod frowned. “Sorry, doll, Poppy and I were just talking about—”

Poppy quickly interjected, “Tonight is not good for me, Rod, so feel free to go to that cocktail party with Pam.”

Pam, whose whole body had stiffened in front of Poppy when she first approached, was quickly put at ease and smiled sweetly at her.

“Now, I really need to get my face and hair done. See you both on set,” Poppy said, finally managing to escape, determined to keep her guard up from here on out when it came to the skirt-chasing Rod Harper.

When Poppy entered the hair and makeup trailer, Dolly was glued to a portable television set next to the counter. There were a few stylists and assistants all gathered around, listening intently to a news report.

Poppy had made a move to sit down in one of the chairs in front of the giant mirror when she stopped cold at the sound of the TV news reporter’s voice. “Police say they are fairly certain this is not a copycat crime, but that the Pillow Talk Killer has struck again, for a third time in the past four months.”

Poppy gasped. “There’s been another murder?”

Dolly glanced back at Poppy. “She was found in her bed by her roommate this morning, a pillow over her face.”

Poppy joined the others over by the TV as the reporter continued. “The victim’s name is Linda Appleton, an up-and-coming actress who has appeared in small roles in several film and television productions including The Dukes of Hazzard.”

There was a photo of the aspiring actress on the TV screen.

Poppy suddenly felt dizzy.

It was her.

The tipsy woman she had seen at the bar last night.

The one her admirer had focused in on after she rejected him.

Poppy, a bit wobbly, grabbed onto Dolly’s arm for support.

“Everything okay, hon?” Dolly asked, concerned.

Poppy nodded slightly and then said hoarsely, “I’ll be back. I need to make a quick call.”

She stumbled to her dressing room and shut the door. She picked up the phone and called her agent, Diane Lipton, a tough-as-nails battle-ax who had been guiding her career for the past five years. She was also the first person Poppy called in a crisis. Diane’s assistant cheerfully asked Poppy to please hold as