“I did.”
“So you know what happened that night.”
“Yes. And then Emily tried to blackmail them?” I clarify.
She nods again and it occurs to me that talking must be painful, damaged muscles aching under bruised skin.
“She played them the tape,” she says, her voice low. “She contacted a few other girls at the party. She had an actual witness, someone saw Ben’s assistant spike a drink. If she needed it Emily had a witness. But she said she’d drop the whole thing if they made it right.”
“And what would make it right?” I ask.
“A job. She didn’t want a trial. And she didn’t want the payoff she knew they’d offer her. And by God did they offer her a payoff. She wanted what she came to LA for in the first place. The price was too high but she figured she’d already paid it so she should get something in return. And they’d done it for other actresses.”
“What? Given them jobs after they’d…？” I blurt before I can temper my question. Marla nods. “Then what went wrong this time?”
She falls silent as menus arrive; she doesn’t speak again until the waitress is safely back behind the counter.
“The recording. The fact she had one. They wanted it. She wouldn’t give it to them until she was actually on set, in costume, deal done. She didn’t trust them. So she wanted to keep the evidence until they delivered.”
“But she could have kept copies. Not told them,” I argue.
Marla chuckles then winces. “They would have known. They wanted to send someone over, they wanted to wipe her hard drives, look through emails. That was part of the deal. They’d already taken so much from her, she wasn’t going to let them into her home, into her life as well.”
“So she said no?”
“Yeah.” Marla rips open a bright-pink Sweet’N Low, tipping it into her black coffee. “She told them she’d hand everything over once filming was complete. That way they’d have to reshoot the entire movie if they wanted to pull out of the deal, and there was no way they’d do that.” She pauses, her mug halfway to her mouth. “She was a good enough actress, by the way, good enough to handle a role like that. Genuinely good. They wouldn’t have had to reshoot for that reason.”
Was. Was good enough. The words hang in the air between us.
I don’t suppose she’ll have much of a career to come back to if she ever comes back. I’m sure they’ll make sure of that. I take a moment to steel myself before I ask, “What did they do when she refused to give them the recording?”
She looks out of the diner windows to the LA streets beyond our reflections. “They acted like that was fine,” she says simply. “They said she could keep it until she was sure.” Marla’s eyes glisten in the warm diner light. “And they offered her three possible roles. Great roles, lead roles. They got her hopes up, you know. But she was careful. She recorded that meeting too, their deal, everything they said. And when they told her they’d changed their minds, she told them exactly what she’d do with her two recordings.” Marla pauses, savoring the memory of Emily outsmarting the two men who thought they controlled everything.
“She had them by the balls,” I say, pushing her.
Marla frowns. “Who knows,” she answers. “It certainly focused them. They said the deal was back on, and they told her the role they’d give her. All she had to do was go in and sign her contract…and then she was gone.”
“She disappeared after signing?”
“She wasn’t replying to texts, calls, anything. At first I assumed the meeting had just gone badly, that they’d pulled out again and she was distraught, but it wasn’t that.” She breaks off. “I should have gone straight over to her apartment but I didn’t. I waited until the next morning. The cleaner let me in but Emily wasn’t there. I couldn’t get through to her so I logged into her laptop. I found her using her phone tracking app and I texted her to stay put, that I was coming.”