“Do you believe her, the cousin?”
“Yes.”
“But why would he?”
“I don’t know,” he said again.
“Everything secret.”
Now she did look away, dismayed, reminded of other secrets. She sat back, pretending to watch the movie, seemingly unaware that he didn’t move, his head turned, as if her face were still next to his. Then someone coughed and he went back to the screen, wondering whether anyone had noticed, whether it showed on your face, the way he used to think it did when the lights came up, kids necking in the balcony.
Think about something else. Why had Danny kept it secret? Even from his wife. Politics were public, argued about. Unless there’d been a turning away, a new life that made the past embarrassing, something to put behind you. Howard Stein had said he’d even faded away from the union , no longer interested. You get to want other things. Which still didn’t explain how he’d ended up in the alley at the Cherokee.
Saratoga Trunk was a hit with the party, ending to applause and pats on the back. Then everyone began to leave at once, pouring out of Lasner’s chateau as if it were a downtown theater, without red trolley cars and taxis, just harried teenage parkers. The Warners and the Minots were the first to go, Bunny hovering nearby, followed by a halting line of impatient guests.
“Did you meet the Honorable Ken?” Bunny said, waiting with them.
“I heard him. That was good enough. Who voted for him anyway?”
“The same people who go to the movies.” He looked up. “We don’t make the world. Right now, he’s what they like.”
“Jack liked him anyway. That was the point, wasn’t it?”
“Jack likes Jack. But it’s a start. Glad you enjoyed the evening,” he said to Liesl, another question mark, still working.
When she thanked him, a bland response, Ben noticed the quick flicker of relief in his eyes. Relieved about what? That she’d got on with Dick Marshall? Or that nothing more awkward had happened, placed at Rosemary’s table? Something Bunny hadn’t expected.
Another car left, the line moving forward. Bunny was looking at her again.
“Do you mind my asking? Are you a dancer?”
“A dancer?” Liesl said. “No. Why?”
“You move very well,” he said, still looking at her.
“Oh,” she said, not sure how to respond. A professional appraisal, not a pass.
“Maybe it’s the theater,” Ben said. “Same training.”
“You’re an actress?” Bunny said.
“Before, in Vienna. Not here.”
Bunny tilted his head, taking her in at a slightly different angle. “But not in pictures. Would you make a test?”
“A test?”
“To see how you look,” Bunny said simply. “People are different on film.”
“Oh, and with my voice.”
“Never mind about that. It’s just—it gave me an idea, the way you moved. If you’re interested.”
Liesl nodded, still too surprised to answer.
“I’ll send you some pages, then. Here we are,” he said, opening the door as the car pulled up.
Liesl stood there for a second, hesitant, then got in, taking direction. Bunny bent forward, eye level with the window.
“Maybe nothing,” he said. “Let’s just see. We’ll call you.”
In the car she was quiet, looking out the open window at the dark hedges and driveways, Beverly Hills asleep.
“This place,” she said, partly to herself. “Years. And then one night you walk into a party. So I should thank you for that.”
“He’s not doing it for me. You really interested?”
She shrugged. “It doesn’t mean anything. They test everybody. Favors.”
“Not Bunny.”
“Ha. Place your bets. So maybe it comes up.” She looked out again. “And maybe it doesn’t. So let’s see, what else am I going to do now?”
She pushed in the dashboard lighter, then rummaged in her purse for a cigarette.
“Do you think she’s pretty?”
“Who?”
“Who,” she said, waiting.
“I think she looks like you.”
She stopped the lighter in midair, then put the red coiled tip to the cigarette.
“You do?”
“Maybe they were all you.”
She went quiet again, smoking. “That’s nice,” she said softly. “To say that.” She turned from the window. “Then why have them.”
“I don’t know,” he said, keeping his eyes on the road. “Did you?”
“What, have others?” She turned up her lips slightly. “You mean since he did?” She shook her head. “Only before. You want to know how many?”