“Yeah, sure.” I understand. If I were her, the last thing I’d want to do is discuss this situation with my agent in front of me. She heads off into the other room, closing the door behind her. I wait until I hear the soft mumble of her voice then make my way back to the kitchen.
A few minutes later she returns, her brows knitted. “Okay, so, I spoke to her and…she’s not exactly sure who hired me. She’s never heard of the company before. The payments are coming through but she doesn’t have a name or anything like that. She’s going to call them now on the number they gave her and see if anyone picks up. She said she’d call me back straight after.”
She sits back down opposite me at the table.
“That’s great. Listen, thanks so much for doing this.”
“No problem,” she says.
One question keeps snagging in my mind, and as a silence descends I decide to broach it.
“Can I just ask? What kind of acting job did you think this was?” I try to keep the bewilderment from my voice but it’s hard given the situation we’ve both found ourselves in.
She gives me a defensive glance. “Well, they told me it was supposed to be immersive theater. Site-specific, you know, like you’re playing a character in a real setting and you interact with other actors in character but also with members of the public. I’ve done a bunch of it before. I did this interactive reconstruction of Marilyn Monroe’s final day up near her old house in Brentwood a couple of years ago. I just had to act out her last day, errands around LA, her meals, everything. The ‘audience’ bought tickets and followed me around to all the different locations. It was pretty dark. But people are really into true crime at the moment so, you know, you go where the work is.”
I nod. I do know. That’s why I’m here in LA, after all.
“That was a weird job. This, though…” She chuckles. “Until today, this has, comparatively, been easy. They gave me the keys to this place in the information pack. Basically, I’ve been sleeping here, and then when they need me, they text me a location and a scene synopsis. A couple of scenes were in the breakdown they sent me originally.” She points to the envelope between us on the table. “So I’ve just been showing up and playing whatever scene they tell me. To be honest everything was going fine. You seemed to be the only other character and audience member following the story, though.” She pauses and shakes her head. “I genuinely thought those cops were other actors. Goddamn it, that’s embarrassing.”
“And you didn’t question who was paying you until now?”
She looks back at me surprised. “Well, up until about twenty minutes ago I just assumed you were! You’re the only familiar face I’ve seen.” She hesitates. “I was starting to get a bit creeped out by you, to be honest. I assumed maybe it was some sort of role-play. Maybe you used to know an Emily, an old friend, relative, I don’t know, I was trying not to overthink it. I would have pulled out but the money’s been good.”
“How good?”
“Good. Well over SAG rates. And it’s a hell of a lot less soul destroying than waitressing through pilot season.”
“What did you do with Emily’s car?” I ask.
“They told me to return it to the rental place. They pre-paid for it so I just drove it over and handed the keys back.”
Another piece of evidence connected to Emily’s disappearance conveniently tied up.
The mobile phone in her hand bursts to life, piercing the fresh silence between us and setting us both on edge. Our eyes connect, both instantly wary of who might be calling.
She checks the screen. “My agent.” She sighs and lets out the tension of our equally held breaths before answering. She rises and heads out of the room to take the call in private.