Read Online The Remake by Stephen Humphrey Bogart - Free Book Online

decision,” she said.
    “For Christ’s sake, you sound like Rupert Murdoch making a hostile takeover bid.”
    “It doesn’t have to be hostile, R.J. But this is a career decision that’s about me.”
    “Isn’t it a little bit about me, too, Casey?”
    “Is it?” she asked, and they were both quiet for a minute. She seemed to be waiting for him to say something, but he was damned if he could think of what.
    “R.J.,” she said finally, “this was a very tough decision for me. You have to understand, I had to make it by myself, thinking about what was right for me. ” She reached a hand out again, touching him. “But I did think about you. I thought that if I was there, working on this picture, I could help make sure it was done right. Because it’s going to get done one way or another, you have to know that.”
    “I know that.”
    “That may be lying to myself,” she admitted. “So I just had to make myself think career. And this is absolutely the best move I can make right now. Of course it might be a different story if—” She stopped suddenly, almost as if somebody had slapped a hand over her mouth.
    “If what?” R.J. asked.
    “Nothing,” she said. And when he didn’t say anything either, Casey slumped off to one side and R.J. stared at the ceiling for a while.
    And they drifted off to uneasy sleep without making love.
    In the week that followed, Casey seemed to be too busy getting ready for the coast to have much time for R.J. They got together twice, but it wasn’t much more than a quick bite to eat and a few words on things that didn’t matter.
    And Thursday came, the day before Casey was supposed to leave, and R.J. had still had no chance to get things straight between them. And he hadn’t really gotten anything straight in himself, either. All he knew was that he didn’t want her to go, and he didn’t want this awful goddamned travesty of a movie to happen, and now not only were they both happening, they were happening together, three thousand miles away, all wrapped up in one awful package.
    So as R.J. sat in his office that Thursday morning he was feeling about as low and mean as a guy can feel. At least, that’s what he thought until he decided to do something about it. And then he very quickly felt worse.
    “Goddammit,” R.J. said aloud.
    Wanda stuck her head in. “I’ve been keeping track,” she said. “I make a little mark on my scratch pad every time you say goddammit.” She held up a piece of paper. “You’re up to forty-nine.”
    “Wanda, goddammit—”
    “Fifty,” she said. “Do you want to look at the mail?”
    “No,” he said.
    “Good. Because Reverend Lake has apparently made up with his wife and their lawyer wants to sue you.”
    “Sue me for what?”
    Wanda gave him her best mean little smile. “Invasion of privacy.”
    “Put me down for fifty-one,” R.J. told her. “Then just throw away the mail.”
    “You’re the boss,” she said.
    “It’s nice to think so.”
    Wanda swished out, leaving R.J. a lingering trace of perfume and a slightly better mood. Here he was, sitting here stewing instead of doing something. He was supposed to be a tough, active guy, and he was letting this damned L.A. Medusa and her dead lawyer ruin his life. “Like hell I will,” he said aloud and, as he reached for the telephone, he added, “Goddammit.”
    “Fifty-two,” said Wanda from the next room.
    He had just made up his mind to do a little digging around into Janine Wright’s background when the door swung open and Janine Wright’s daughter came in.
    For a long moment she just stood in the doorway, looking like she wasn’t sure if gravity would work here. Then she finally took a hesitant step in. “Um,” she said. “Mr., uh, Brooks?”
    “Sure,” R.J. said, glad to have a target for his bad mood. “And you must be, er, Miss, um, Wright.”
    The girl bit her lip but didn’t say anything. For a moment R.J. felt bad about ribbing her. Then he remembered who