Chapter 2

SIX DAYS EARLIER

“WHAT differences do you see between these pictures?” Cooper asked.

Tilda glanced at them. “One is on the right side, and the other is on the left.”

“Very droll. There are ten differences. Find them.”

“I hate these things.”

“Did I ask?”

She sighed, and took a closer look. At first, the photos of the Merlotte’s Bar and Grill set from the TV show True Blood looked identical. Then she started spotting variations.

“There’s only three beers on that table in this one, but four in the other,” she said.

“That’s one.”

“That waitress is missing the Merlotte’s logo on her shirt.”

“Two.”

“The framed photo of the guy in the beard and the pretty redhead is lopsided.”

“Three.”

Tilda looked for a minute, but didn’t spot any more. “Do I have to find all ten?”

“Have you got something better to do?”

She looked down at her Jack Skellington watch. Her meeting with Jillian had been scheduled for ten minutes earlier, but the editor in chief was in a previous meeting that was clearly more important than being on time for Tilda. Of course, she knew Tilda would wait—no freelancer could afford to play diva. “Fine.” She looked again. “That guy’s hat is missing.”

“Good. Don’t stop now.”

But after several minutes, she couldn’t find anything else. “I give up, Cooper. I told you I hate these things.”

“You forgot to mention that you suck at them.”

“Why would I hate a puzzle that I’m good at? So what did I miss?”

“The nail polish on the short-order cook is a different color, the beer sign is turned off, one of the chairs is missing a leg, that menu disappeared, and the Dos Equis beer tap is missing an Equis.”

“That’s only nine.”

He grinned. “I made that waitress’s boobs bigger.”

“The inventors of Photoshop must be so proud to have enabled you to reach this pinnacle of achievement. Why are you doing this anyway?”

“For the next issue. We’ve scrapped the personality quizzes in favor of ‘Spot the Difference’ puzzles.”

Doesn’t People do one of these every issue?”

“Yes, and People sells more copies than we do, so some genius in corporate decided that if we had a puzzle like theirs, we’d sell just as many copies.”

“Brilliant strategy.”

“That’s corporate. It’s just as well—I was running out of inspiration for the psychology quizzes anyway. Doing these is fun.”

“If you say so.” Tilda realized Cooper was still staring at the mismatched pictures. “Are you planning to add another difference?”

“No, ten is plenty. Just admiring that short-order cook. Do you think the actor is really—”

“Nope, he just plays gay on the show. I interviewed the guy who plays the werewolf, and he gave me the straight dope. So to speak.”

“Damn.”

“What difference does it make? You’re married, remember?”

“Jean-Paul doesn’t mind my looking.”

“Well, you can still look, can’t you?” Tilda had to admit that Cooper and the actor from True Blood would have made an attractive couple. Both men were black and well built, though Cooper’s skin was lighter and his look was more handsome than sultry.

The two of them went on to discuss the charms of the other male characters on the show until the door to the conference room opened, and Nicole stepped out into the hall.

A phony smile was pasted on her face, and it took a moment for Tilda to guess what the painfully thin redhead’s smile foretold. At first, she thought it meant Nicole was about to stick it to somebody, but upon reflection, she decided it was her I’m-so-pissed-I-want-to-scream smile. It was a tough call, since the latter expression often led to the former.

“Tilda,” Nicole said, “I’m so glad you could finally make it. We’ve been waiting for you.”

Tilda didn’t bother to rise to the bait—anything that had Nicole pissed off was likely to be to her advantage. “Later, Cooper,” she said, and followed the other woman into the conference room.

A quartet of people was arranged around the long oval table, but the only one Tilda recognized at first was Jillian, the relentlessly stylish editor in chief of Entertain Me!, the magazine that provided a sizable percentage of the story assignments that kept Tilda in pizza and Dr Pepper. Beside her was a pair of cowboys, an uncommon sight in Boston. The men were in their late sixties and looked enough alike in the face to be brothers, despite very different builds. Both were wearing suits with Western trim, and string ties with chunks of turquoise in the middle. Two hats that Tilda could only assume were Stetsons were on the table in front of them.

“This is Tilda Harper, the writer I was telling you about,” Jillian said. “Tilda, Tucker and Hoyt Ambrose.” Hands were offered and shaken. Tucker was the big, beefy one, with thick gray hair and a wide grin for Nicole when she sat down across from him. Hoyt was shorter and more trim, and was close to losing the battle against baldness.

“And this is—” Jillian started to say as she gestured toward the other person in the room, an older lady in a rose-colored suit that set off her crown of white hair to perfection.

“Arabella Newman!” Tilda said, suddenly recognizing her.

The woman smiled. “Cynthia Barth, actually, but I don’t mind being remembered as Arabella.”

“Didn’t I tell you she was the perfect writer for this?” Jillian said to the room at large. “Tilda, have a seat”

She sat down next to Jillian, embarrassed to have called the actress by the name of the character she’d played on TV, but since the woman was obviously delighted, it was probably the best thing she could have done.

“As I was saying earlier, Tilda is our specialist in classic television,” Jillian said, “so of course she’s familiar with your show.”

“Cowtown was a favorite of mine,” Tilda said. “And if I remember correctly, that would make you two gentlemen the Cowboy Kings.”

“That’s right, ma’am,” Hoyt said with a shy grin. “Cowtown was one of our favorites, too.”

That was no surprise, since it had been the longest-lasting and most successful of their Westerns, having run eight seasons. The Ambrose brothers had produced half a dozen cowboy shows, and a fair number of B-movie Westerns as well. She wasn’t sure if they’d crowned themselves the Cowboy Kings or if it had come from some creative press agent, but the title had stuck both because of their work and because of what they were. Cowboys—real ones at least—were just as rare in Hollywood as they were in Boston. She mentally raised her age estimates for the brothers. Cowtown had been made in the mid-1950s, when Westerns ruled television, so the brothers had to be in their seventies.

Tucker said, “If you know Cowtown, you’re going to get a real kick out of what we’re cooking up now. My brother and I, and Miss Barth here, have gone into partnership to build a resort based on the show. We’ve got us a piece of land in the western part of the state.”

“In Massachusetts?” Tilda asked. She’d have thought an attraction like that would be more appropriate for a more temperate area, not a state with such uncertain weather. There was still snow on the ground from the last storm, with more predicted for later in the day.

“Most of it will be inside,” Miss Barth explained. “A hotel and spa, restaurants, shows, a nightclub, shops. We’re hoping to add a casino—”

“Now Miss Barth, it’s early days to be talking about that,” Hoyt put in hurriedly.

Tilda knew that the governor was pushing for more gambling in the state, though he hadn’t been particularly successful so far.

Tucker went on. “There’s going to be plenty of things for people to do during the summer, too: horseback trails, trick riding shows, maybe a Western-themed petting zoo—”

“Don’t forget your golf course,” Hoyt put in.

“And a golf course,” Tucker agreed. “My brother doesn’t think a golf course is right for Cowtown, but I keep telling him that the people in Cowtown didn’t have hot tubs and massage tables, either, but we’re putting those in.”

Hoyt just rolled his eyes.

“We’re still working out some of the details,” Miss Barth said diplomatically.

Tilda nodded, wondering if she should suggest a compromise position of a Western-themed miniature golf place instead.

Tucker said, “Now we know people don’t exactly associate Massachusetts with cowboys, but Hoyt’s been doing some market research, and we figure people around here like playing cowboy just as much as anybody.”

“Maybe more, since they don’t know what it’s like to actually have to muck out a stable!” Hoyt put in.

Tucker grinned. “Anyways, if we build something around here, we’re going to have both the Boston area and New York City to draw people from, plus the whole rest of New England. We’re expecting big things.”

“I don’t think you need to sell Tilda,” Jillian pointed out.

Hoyt smiled apologetically. “It’s hard to stop a salesman from selling, but I’ll try to rein myself in. In order to get people excited about the resort, we’ve been talking to Entertain Me! about doing some articles about the show and our fans. Jillian here tells us you’re just the person to write them.”

That explained Nicole’s irritation. She hated anybody other than herself getting a byline, and was particularly unhappy when the byline was Tilda’s.

“Don’t forget the roundup!” Tucker put in.

“Hold on to your horses. I was getting to that,” Hoyt said. “You know, most of our regular cast members have passed away—”

“God rest their souls,” Miss Barth said with just the right amount of feeling.

“But when the show was running, we featured a whole lot of guest stars. We want to track down some of these folks for interviews, maybe scout the territory to see if they’d be willing to make personal appearances at the resort. What do you say? Are you interested?”

“I’m very interested,” Tilda said. Then she remembered the first rule of being a freelancer: Never sound too interested. “Of course, we’ll have to talk schedules. I’m working on some other projects.” Since the second rule was to never turn down an assignment, she added, “But I’m I sure I can wrangle them all.”

“Now you’re talking!” Tucker said.

While Jillian looked on approvingly, Tilda and the Ambrose brothers put together a list of actors she was to track down, along with a few ideas about where to start the search. With each name, Tilda got more and more excited. Not only did the length of the list guarantee her a nice paycheck, but each actor was a potential source for future stories. After an hour or so of discussion and the ritual exchange of e-mail addresses and phone numbers for both landlines and mobiles, the Ambrose brothers and Miss Barth moseyed out.

Jillian kept her pleased-editor expression on until they were gone, then switched back to her usual look of intense focus and demanded, “What other projects? The last thing we bought from you was that comic book movie piece the month before last.”

Nicole smiled at that, probably reveling in the memory of two entire months without having to send Tilda a check.

“I do have other clients,” Tilda reminded Jillian, though not as many as she wanted. Whether economists called it a downturn, a recession, or just tough times, it boiled down to magazines being less willing to use a stringer when they had staff members who were anxious enough about keeping their jobs that they didn’t dare turn down extra work. She suspected that Nicole had increased her efforts to make sure Tilda got as little work as possible from Entertain Me!, despite an agreement they’d made a few months earlier.

“Just make sure that this is your priority from now on,” Jillian said. “I’m going to tell you something that better not be repeated outside this room. The Ambrose brothers and Miss Barth may be the figureheads for the resort, but there are other investors, including major silent partners. I’m not going to name names, but you’d find one of them on a door in our corporate offices.”

“Oh? Oh.” Tilda had been so sold on the project that she hadn’t stopped to think that promoting a future resort was hardly the kind of story Entertain Me! was known for. “Consider it prioritized. What about payment?”

“Usual rates and usual expenses from us, plus the Ambrose brothers will pay a bonus for every candidate you provide for personal appearances.”

“Sounds good.” The word bonus was not one she often encountered in her line of work. “Of course, with this many people to find, I’m going to want to invoice you along the way, not just at the end of the assignment. Say a week at a time?”

Jillian considered it, and Tilda tried to look blasé. Finally the editor said, “Deal. Nicole will handle the paperwork.” She started out of the room.

Nicole must have thought Jillian was already gone because she snarled, “You may as well be on the payroll!”

Jillian turned back, looking thoughtful. “That’s a good point.”

“So we go back to end-of-project invoicing?” Nicole said eagerly.

But before Tilda could gather her thoughts for a counterargument, Jillian said, “Or maybe we should bring Tilda on full time. Nostalgia isn’t going away, not while the Baby Boomers are still trying to hang on to their lost youth. Maybe it’s time to make ‘where are they now?’ stories a regular feature.”

“Are you serious?” Tilda asked.

“Are you interested?”

Tilda had lost track of which freelancer’s rule she was supposed to apply, which left her with honesty. “I never thought about it.”

“Think about it. We’ll see how this project goes, and afterward we’ll talk.” Jillian strode out, no doubt already planning something else.

With the boss gone, Nicole didn’t even bother to hide her horror. “Oh. My. God.”

Tilda grinned at her. “Wouldn’t it be great? You and me seeing each other every day! Gossiping in the break room, shopping on our lunch hours, exchanging presents at the company Christmas party …”

“Fuck that!” Nicole snapped, and stomped out.

Tilda waited, knowing that Cooper would be along in a minute. It was, in fact, only forty-five seconds.

“What in the world did you say to Nicole?”

“It wasn’t me,” Tilda said. “Jillian said it.”

“Dirt, please?”

“She just offered me a job.”