Read Online The Second Rule of Ten: A Tenzing Norbu Mystery (Dharma Detective: Tenzing Norbu Mystery) by Gay Hendricks - Free Book Online Page B

almost nothing, with stars who want respect in the form of little gold statues called Oscar, rack up nominations, sell lots of tickets, and use the profits to buy more little gems at foreign film festivals. The guy had a nose for the winners, too. Where other people smelled crap, he smelled gold. It was his zone of genius, you know? He should have stuck with it.”
    “Go on.”
    “Well, he must have gotten bored, or greedy, or something. He sold his library to Warner Brothers for a nice piece of change and spent the next decade putting the profits into all sorts of things he knew nothing about: five-star restaurants, high-end nightclubs, luxury apartments, stuff like that. Then the recession hit. Bottom line? He lost his shirt and virtually disappeared from the Hollywood scene. Hang on, I need to take a leak.”
    My coffee maker beeped. I leaned over the coffee pot and inhaled the rich, earthy scent of freshly brewed Sumatra. I poured the coffee and took my first sip. Delicious. May I live with ease, and may I always be able to afford good coffee.
    “Okay. Where was I?” Mike asked.
    “Marv went bust.”
    “Right. Big time. So fast-forward five years. He still had a little cash in the coffer. His name started popping up here and there. Perez Hilton. Nikki Finke, just a mention or two. He was hawking a new little indie movie he wanted to make, Loving Hagar . Word was the script was edgy. A hard sell, but brilliant. Romeo and Juliet, only instead of Montagues and Capulets, it was Jews and Palestinians, you know, granddaughter of holocaust survivor falls for West Bank refugee. This was surefire Oscar material if it ever got that far—and classic Marv Rudolph. The heat from the script alone led to Marv beating out everybody in town for the option on a bestselling thriller called Stung. Marv took another chance, and let the author adapt his own novel. Then he landed the biggest fish of all. With Keith Connor signed on as the lead, suddenly Marv was back, you know?”
    I thought about our interview with Arlene yesterday. “So what happened to the other one, to Loving Hagar ?” I asked.
    “I’m still trying to find out,” Mike said. “According to Nikki Finke, two years ago Marv was all gung-ho and full speed ahead, with guaranteed backing from that billionaire Rosen. Julius Rosen.”
    “Hang on.” I moved to my desk and shuffled through the printouts until I found myself looking at Rosen’s benign smile. “Okay. Go on.”
    “Marv’d already cast an unknown for the Hagar role, Tovah Field, make that Fields with an ‘s,’ and was in the process of looking for another unknown to play the dude. The plan was to surround two up-and-coming stars with a bunch of big names for the supporting roles. Then, suddenly, there was talk of rewrites happening. Never a good sign. Then more rewrites. Then, nothing. Marv was all Stung, all the time.”
    “How the hell did you learn all this in twenty-four hours, Mike?”
    “Oh, you know, start with IMDB Pro, cross reference some data, check the trades, this and that.” Whenever he got cagey, I got less curious. With Mike, some things are better left unknown.
    “Thanks. This is really helpful,” I said. “Listen, I hate to ask, but can you look into . . . “
    “. . . Julius Rosen. Already did, boss. I’m busy with gigs the next two nights, so lucky for you I’m trying to clear my plate. Rosen’s somewhat of a recluse these days, hard to find, but I dug up an old feature Architectural Digest did on his compound and put two and two together. Once I had an actual location, I was able to track down his digits. I’m texting his phone number and address to you now. Oh, and I’m e-mailing you photos of some of the other major players in Marv’s life for the past five years or so.” His voice took on the accent of a gangster. “See? I’m schmart! I can do things!” I heard Tricia giggling.
    “What?” I said. “What’s so funny?”
    “I’m doing Fredo. Godfather Two.