Wag the Dog Read Online Free PDF Page B

something ready to shoot.’
    â€œThere are people,” she says, looking me in the eye, “who can actually say ‘You’ll never work in this town again,’ and your life is over. David Hartman is one of them. So I shut up and I left.”
    â€œSounds sensible. So why are you starting up again? With me.”
    â€œJoe, please, let me finish. And Joe, if you agree that Imay be right about this, I have to be more than just a client to you.”
    â€œWhat do I have to be, Maggie?”
    She looks at me. When she’s in heels, she’s actually taller than me. But now, in bare feet, on the wet sand, her eyes are level, even a couple of millimeters below mine. I break eye contact first.
    â€œBetter finish the story,” I say.
    â€œWell, I let it alone. Then, three days ago, my maid, Anita . . . you remember her?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œShe said, ‘You remember Mr. Beagle, when he get sick and you don’t believe it?’ I said ‘I believed it,’ but a little sarcastic, because we both knew that I didn’t. ‘Well, my cousin,’ she said, ‘she work for Mr. Beagle. I am going to see her tomorrow. I will find out for you.’ ”
    â€œYeah? Then what happened?”
    â€œShe got deported,” Maggie says.
    â€œWhen?”
    â€œThe next morning.”
    â€œYou’re lucky they didn’t come after you, employing an illegal.”
    â€œShe’s not,” Maggie says.
    â€œShe’s not?” I say, not understanding. Though of course I should. It’s a real straightforward statement.
    â€œShe’s not. She has a green card. A social-security number. All of it.”
    â€œWhat do you want?” I ask her.
    â€œI want to know what’s going on,” she says.
    â€œThat is foolish,” I tell her. “You got sent a message. If you forget about whatever it is, they’ll take care of you. If you mess around, they’ll break you.”
    â€œTell me something, Joe. You’re a guy. A man’s man. For real. Not some actor playing a tough guy. What would you do?”
    â€œI don’t know, Maggie. The truth is, I don’t play in the same league you do.”
    â€œIf someone owed you seven hundred fifty thousand dollars, would you let them walk away with it?”
    â€œI guess I wouldn’t. But that’s what you got lawyers for.”
    â€œHey, this is Hollywood. It’s not supposed to be nice,” she says. “But I feel like I signed on to swim with piranhas and suddenly I find out that the great white shark may be cruising in the same waters I’m in. Joe, I have to know what I’m up against. Is it about what they say it’s about? Or is my career over? Do I have an enemy out there I don’t know about? Is something going on that I don’t know about? If I say the wrong thing by mistake, is my career over? Do they make me disappear like they did Anita?”
    â€œWhat do you want me to do?” I say.
    â€œI want you to find out what’s going on. I want you to protect me. I want you to take care of me, Joe.”
    â€œWhy me?”
    â€œCan they buy you, Joe?” she says, like she knows the answer, like she knows the part I’m supposed to play.
    â€œI don’t know,” I say. I smile. “No one ever gave it a serious try.”
    â€œIf they do try, come to me for a counteroffer first, promise me that.”
    â€œThat should be easy,” I say.
    â€œIt may not be. But I won’t let anyone top what I can give you,” she says.
    â€œWe’ll go back to the agency. I’ll have a contract drawn up.” There was going to be some serious spending here. I tried to calculate the commission in my head. But standing that close to Magdalena Lazlo screwed up my powers of computation.
    â€œI don’t want you to mention the investigation to anyone.”
    â€œHow can I do that?”
    â€œHave them assign you