Cut to the Chase Read Online Free Page A

looked at Billy before she took another sip. Sometimes she wondered if he ate every day. He rarely touched his food when they were at business lunches. He couldn’t be more than one hundred and ten pounds, which had to be judiciously spread out over his five-foot-ten frame. His slender shoulders and arms connected to a skeletal torso that attached to his scrawny legs like a marionette held together by string. It didn’t help that he wore tight sports coats and skinny pants, but considering that he was constantly in a nervous fidget, he didn’t need to be concerned with gaining any weight. And just like her sometime lunch friends, Billy succumbed to the emaciated-is-essential expectations of Hollywood. That kind of treacherous propaganda skewed people’s self-perception and cruelly whispered, “You’re not perfect enough,” into the ears of anyone with damaged self-esteem.
    “Plus, TV shows come and go. A book stays around forever.”
    Narrowing her eyes at him, she said, “In the future when I tell you no, remember that I said yes to this one.”
     
    *
     
    Paige drove up to Chris Bergstrom’s driveway just as Chris’s police cruiser pulled in. The black-and-white was emblazoned with decals of a German shepherd and the letters K9 on the sides.
    “Perfect timing,” Chris said as she let a beautiful German shepherd out of the backseat of her car. His short fawn coat with its black, dusky overlay of fur and black police harness made him look distinguished and ready for business, but it was the distinctively acute pricked-up ears and dark eyes that truly revealed his keen expression and serious intelligence.
    “Hey, Abel!” Paige greeted the dog, who came over to sniff her.
    “Sit,” Chris said in Dutch, and the dog immediately sat.
    “Abel is bilingual. He’s smarter than me.”
    “And he behaves better.”
    “I picked up steaks.” Paige held up a grocery bag.
    As Chris grilled in the backyard, Paige brought out two bottles of beer and handed one to her as she sat at the patio table next to the grill. The yard was overgrown, like those of most of the well-established homes in the neighborhood. Tall, thick trees encompassed the fence line, providing shade for most of the day. A fairly good-size area of grass, lined with a brick walkway, allowed Abel to get some exercise, although he had to be careful of the flower bed that ran along the east side. The slats of the wood awning that covered the patio let in stripes of warm sunshine.
    “I just found out I have three months to finish this next book,” Paige said. “It’s about action movies.”
    “Isn’t that a bit tight?”
    “Yeah. But I had to salute smartly and agree,” she said, watching Abel chew on a rubber ball. “Only three movies are shooting right now that have the scenes I need.”
    “That won’t fill a book.”
    “No, but I have a plan.”
    Abel picked up the ball and walked over to her. Dropping it at her feet, he sat down, his eyes alert as he watched her every move, obviously hoping for a game of fetch. She picked the ball up, feigned a throw to the right, and then threw it to the left. With whip-cracking speed, Abel charged after it.
    “I can go much further in depth and dissect the action scenes from start to finish. I can document how they’re planned, rehearsed, and shot. And I can write about all the different camera angles. That way, I can get a book’s worth from only three films.”
    “That sounds interesting. I bet people will get a kick out of seeing how moviemakers put everything together.”
    Abel returned with the ball and lay down in front of Paige, chewing the ball and eyeing her. “There’s something else people might get a kick out of.”
    Chris took a sip of her beer. “What?”
    Abel dropped the ball and tapped it with his nose. It rolled toward Paige and she threw it again.
    “One of the actors is Avalon Randolph.”
    Chris fumbled with the BBQ fork, almost dropping it. “Wild woman Avalon Randolph? Shit,