Chapter 27 1957
Lying in her bed after a silver dollar tried to kill her, one of the strangest of all the things that have happened at the Marmont ensues.
Aria hears, as if it’s right outside, the stumble-drag of footsteps belonging to someone who’s been fed too many mint juleps spiked with the candies her aunt told her not to eat.
The invisible arm of the Marmont pushes Aria up and out of bed, holds her hand as she searches each floor.
On the second floor, she sees actor Karl Douglas propping up a starlet so newly arrived that Aria doesn’t even know her name. Karl says to the girl, “I’ll give you some audition tips that will land you any part you want.”
The not-yet-starlet hovers in front of Karl’s door.
The only person this not-yet-starlet knows, Aria would bet, is Karl Douglas, who she probably just met at a party, meaning her knowledge extends to his respectable tally of two marriages and his good-guy screen persona where he saves women like the one poised here, deciding.
But is there even a decision for her to make? She needs some tips. She wants a part.
Karl puts his hand on her back, nudges her forward and the thought leaps into Aria’s head: Can she make the Marmont world a little safer for those most at risk? If she could do that, maybe she’ll survive the next seven years.
“Excuse me!” Aria hurries over. “There’s a call for you downstairs.”
The starlet blinks.
“She’ll call back tomorrow,” Karl growls.
“It’s your agent,” Aria tells the woman, who blinks again, rousing a little from the stupor of whatever Karl filled her glass with.
Aria guides the starlet to the elevator.
“Come back when you’ve finished,” Karl calls.
The elevator doors close. The woman reclines against the wall.
Isaiah studies Aria, who asks him, “Do you have money for a cab?”
He pulls out a couple of bills. Aria passes them to the starlet.
“But the call…”
“There’s no call.”
The woman stumbles. Isaiah catches her.
“No call,” she repeats.
Then she walks out through the open doors of the elevator and onto the driveway, turning briefly to say to Aria, “Thank you.”
As the elevator ascends, Isaiah says to Aria, “Oh, honey. You let me know whenever you need some help.”
She will.
From now on, she’ll scoop up fallen starlets and push them in the direction of safety. She’ll save them in a way she hadn’t saved Calliope.