“Someone figured out she used to work for you, and now he’s blackmailing her.”
I’ve fudged the truth a bit. Made it sound like Troy is presently blackmailing Isabel, which I don’t believe is the case. But I had to think of something to justify my presence here.
“Sorry to hear that. But it’s not my problem.”
In a flash, my mind sorts through the various interviewing tactics I learned in school—ways to get an interview subject to open up—and quickly settles on confrontation. “Candidly, Francesca, I thought maybe you could be the one blackmailing Isabel. Her four-picture deal has been all over the news. She’s a big target now.” Francesca opens her mouth, clearly ready to curse me out, but I add quickly, “Although Isabel told me, quite vehemently, you’d never do that to her. I just wanted to come here and meet you and get a read on you myself.”
Francesca scoffs. “It’s well documented I went to prison for eighteen months longer than I needed to, simply because I wouldn’t give up a single name. Not of my girls, or my clients. And I never will.” She narrows her eyes. “What are you? A paralegal? Some sort of private investigator?”
I shake my head. “I’m just trying to help Isabel. All her dreams are coming true, and now someone is threatening her.”
Francesca shakes her head and exhales. “You know what really pisses me off? That anyone even has any leverage to blackmail her at all. There shouldn’t be any shame attached to what she did. Same with what I did. There was a demand for a particular service, and I filled it. Simple as that. My girls were adults who came to me. I never solicited or trafficked anyone. They were all models and actresses who wanted to earn extra cash in between jobs. And I always told them, they had absolute discretion regarding what they would, or wouldn’t do. That’s what I told the clients, too. ‘Treat my girls right, because if you don’t, they won’t do anything with you, no matter how much money you offer.’ And yet, just because money changed hands, these girls, some of whom went on to become highly successful and famous, like Isabel, have to deal with assholes threatening to ‘expose’ them for their pasts? Where is the justice in that?”
“It’s not fair at all.”
“Are the men who used my services looking over their shoulders, worried someone might expose them? No, they’re not. Because nobody cares about them. And yet, here I am, a felon, just because I ran a business in LA that’s perfectly legal in New Zealand. It infuriates me that I’m the felon here, when I can think of a client who should have been thrown in jail a long time ago for hurting several of my girls. But does the DA want to pursue him? Nope. That asshole terrorized my girls, without consequence, and yet I’m the one who had to go to prison and watch him collecting his Academy Awards on TV.”
Holy crap. Was that a reference to Howard Devlin? I have a hunch it was. So, I decide to act like I’m in the know, to suss out more information. “Howard,” I say matter-of-factly. Like there’s no doubt in the world that’s who we’re talking about. “Yeah, I know all about him. I’ve actually been warned to stay away from him, for my safety.”
Francesca’s eyebrows shoot up. “By Isabel?”
And there it is. Confirmation my hunch was right. Because she didn’t say, “Howard who?” Or, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Nope. She immediately linked the name Howard to the name Isabel. Which tells me everything I need to know. “No, Isabel’s never mentioned Howard’s grabby hands. An older woman warned me. Someone I trust implicitly, who’s very well connected in Hollywood. She told me he’s rumored to have assaulted several young actresses—and that she fully believes the rumors to be true.”
“She’s right to believe them. You’re an actress, then? A model?”
“No, I work for the older woman who warned me about Howard. My boss knows lots of celebrities.”
“A word of advice? Listen to your boss and steer clear of Howard. Certainly, never accept a drink from him, if you know what I mean.”
I inhale sharply, and she nods ominously.
“I didn’t know what he was up to for a long time, or I never would have let him near my girls. None of them told me anything, at first. Apparently, he was masterful at dangling