Fool Me Twice Read Online Free PDF

was in New Zealand with a small feature when midway through the shoot, the line producer suffered a heart attack. My boss back in Hollywood suggested that I step into the job. After all, I was on the scene and was an integral part of the process. I knew where all the bodies were buried, so to speak. It made sense. Plus, it was a chance to elevate myself. So I held my nose and jumped.”
    “How did it go?”
    “I threw up several times each day, but I managed to finish the picture. I’ve been line producing ever since.”
    “I like a story with a happy ending.”
    “Let’s wait until this one’s in the can before we talk about happy endings. I still have Marisol Hinton in front of me.”
    “Meaning?”
    “I worked with her once before.”
    “And you didn’t like her?”
    “It wasn’t a question of liking her. Marisol is permanently tuned to the Marisol channel. All Marisol, all the time. Twenty-four-seven. No one else exists. Nothing else matters.”
    “So why are you working with her again?”
    “She requested me.”
    “So she must have liked you.”
    “She and her husband both liked me. She didn’t perceive me as a threat, so I passed muster.”
    “Her husband?”
    “A small-time actor named Ryan Rooney. You ever hear of him?”
    “Can’t say that I have.”
    “Ryan Rooney was in Tomorrow We Love with her. They had the kind of torrid affair that she usually reserved only for members of the crew. Why, I don’t know. He’s as self-involved as she is. It beats me why they got married in the first place. She’s highly competitive. I can’t imagine her being helpful to him. Or to anyone, for that matter. It’s been all downhill for him ever since.”
    “Is he in this movie?”
    “God, no. Rumor is she accepted the part so she could get away from him. I read somewhere he had taken to smacking her around.”
    “Hooray for Hollywood,” Jesse said.
    After dinner, they walked the boardwalk to Frankie’s rented waterfront apartment. The warmth of the day had given way to the chill of an early fall evening. She wrapped her coat more tightly around her. She clutched Jesse’s arm as they walked.
    The crisp smell of the sea rode in on the coattails of a steady, bracing wind. A galaxy of starlight lit up the cloudless sky. A lone figure walked hurriedly by them, his head lowered against the wind.
    “Paradise is a long way from Hollywood,” Frankie said.
    “It’s home for me now. I like where I live and how I live.”
    “Do you miss it?”
    “L.A.?”
    “Yes.”
    “Maybe the anonymity. It’s hard for me to be private here.”
    “And that bothers you?”
    “Sometimes.”
    “Because?”
    “By nature I’m a hermit. I think I’d be happiest living in a cave and spending the winters in hibernation.”
    “It’s hard for a police chief to be a hermit.”
    “Exactly,” he said.
    They had arrived at her building, a new five-story brick-and-glass modern overlooking the harbor. When they reached the main entrance, she turned to him.
    “I had a lovely time, Jesse,” she said.
    “Me, too.”
    “Do you think we can do this again?”
    “I do.”
    “Goody,” she said.

  10  
    H arry Kaplan, the process server, found Ryan Rooney in front of the trendy industry restaurant Craft, talking with a prospective agent, a toothy shark of a woman in her twenties, dressed entirely in black.
    Kaplan interrupted them.
    “Mr. Rooney,” he said.
    “Yes.”
    Kaplan pressed the summons into Rooney’s hand.
    “You’ve been served,” he said, before disappearing into the crowd on the sidewalk.
    Ryan shrugged.
    “It was nice to meet you, Ryan,” the woman said, and hurried away. Ryan watched her leave.
    Then he opened the document and began to read. Several lines caught his eye.
    “Marisol Hinton vs. Ryan Rooney . . .”
    “Reference is made to the prenuptial agreement between the parties. . . .”
    “The aforementioned will immediately vacate the premises of the residence located