that newspapers are looking for smart reporters.’
She couldn’t quite keep the venom out of the word smart, but still it was an enticing offer.
Alkmene held her breath. Perhaps it had always been Jake’s big dream to cross the Atlantic and make it in America. She would certainly love to see New York City herself some time.
Jake leaned over, his palms flat on the table. ‘I would take you up on your offer, if it were up to me to decide. But I took up this business on behalf of a friend and I can’t back out. Word of honour.’
‘Oh, what is a word given compared to money and fame and a new life?’ Evelyn Steinbeck batted her long lashes. ‘Your friend will certainly not follow you to America to seek revenge for breaking your word.’
‘That is an interesting term,’ Jake said, ‘for that was the only thing I did not mention yet which people absolutely gobble up in newspaper stories. Revenge.’
Evelyn paled. She uttered a most unladylike curse. ‘What do you want from me?’
The waiter came back in, two policemen in tow. He gestured at their table, looking mortified that the other guests were witnessing this.
Jake said to Evelyn, ‘Your call, lady.’
The policemen halted at their table. ‘These people are bothering you? You want to bring charges against them? We can take them down to the station for questioning and…’
‘It was all a misunderstanding,’ Evelyn Steinbeck said.
The oldest policeman blinked. ‘Excuse me, but the waiter ran onto the street to fetch us. He made it sound like murder was being committed here.’
‘Murder…’ Jake repeated in a soft, seductive tone.
Alkmene suppressed a smile.
Evelyn Steinbeck snapped at the policemen, ‘It was all a misunderstanding, I tell you. Now scoot.’ And to the waiter, ‘Will you never again embarrass me that way? Or I will complain to the director and you will never ever work in a fashionable hotel again.’The policeman still wanted to argue, but the mortified waiter grabbed his arm and begged him to leave. With a tomato-red head, he led the way out of the breakfast room, followed by curious glances from the other guests. Several coffee cups were suspended in mid-air as the holder speculated about the cause of this early morning commotion.
Jake focused on Evelyn Steinbeck. ‘You did the right thing. Now that we understand each other…’
Evelyn looked around her. She seemed to consider her options, quickly. Then she said, ‘Not here. Up in my room where we can talk more freely.’
Alkmene was about to rise, if only to get away from the uncomfortable stares of the other breakfasters, but Jake’s voice made her freeze.
‘No.’ Jake leaned over to Evelyn Steinbeck. ‘If we go up with you, you will accuse us of having broken in, having assaulted you. You will make up a whole story of what we did and there will be no witnesses to prove you wrong. No, my dear lady. We will sit right here in full view of fifty people and discuss the matter. No tricks.’
Alkmene had not even considered the potential risks of stepping out with the heiress. Jake’s experience became more valuable by the moment.
Evelyn laughed, deep in her throat. ‘You think you can call the shots?’
Jake shrugged. ‘Either you give me a very good reason why I should keep this story to myself, or you can read it in the afternoon paper. Your choice.’
Evelyn took a deep breath and then leaned back. ‘All right. But I have your word that you will not print any of what I am about to tell you?’
Jake lifted a shoulder and dropped it again. ‘I already know enough to go to print without you. I need not have come here.’
‘That is why I asked how much you wanted. Why come here, but to get money from me, more than an article can give you? I have access to funds. I can give you more than you ever dreamed of.’
Evelyn Steinbeck sounded like she was about to launch into a second round of negotiating.
Alkmene held her breath a moment. Anybody had his price, right, or so they said.
But Jake shook his head. ‘I am not after money. I want the truth for a friend.’
‘You are working for him?’ She held his gaze. ‘It is all his fault the old man is dead now. If he had not shown up at the theatre like he did, it would have worked out fine.’
‘But it has not,’ Jake said. ‘The old man is dead, and I want your side of the story. You were in the wrong place at the wrong time. You could be blamed for it all. If you want to save your own skin, you had better talk to me now.’
Evelyn Steinbeck took a deep shuddering breath. ‘Talking about being in the wrong place at the wrong time…’ She laughed softly. ‘That was the whole thing. They assured me there would be no risk to this job. No risk!’
She leaned back and twisted the narrow gold band on her finger. ‘I am really Evelyn Steinbeck and I really am an actress from New York City. The Broadway bit is overdone. I have never been in a big show. I used to perform in small theatres in those plays where you never know if they are going to earn out and you get paid, or they have to close after a few nights and you are left with little for your trouble.’
Alkmene was sure Evelyn was only saying this to gain sympathy and hoped Jake was not falling for it. His expression didn’t betray anything as he listened, his posture perfectly relaxed.
Evelyn Steinbeck continued, ‘I was performing in such a small production one night when a man approached me after the show. He said I was perfect for a part he wanted me to play. I thought at first it was on the stage, in another town maybe, but he explained it was something a bit different, with a matching price attached.’
She inhaled slowly, staring into the distance as if she saw the scene again, herself and the man on that fateful night. ‘I had to travel to England as soon as possible and pretend to be niece to some rich man. It seemed he was obsessed with finding family. If I just pretended to be the family he had wanted to find, he would be happy and I would inherit his fortune. I was a little doubtful about the legality of the thing, but the man assured me that it would be fine and nobody would be hurt by it. As the rich man had no family, his fortune would have gone to the crown and like he said, the crown was rich enough. That made a lot of sense to me.’
She reached into her purse and pulled out a pack of cigarettes.
As if on cue Jake produced a lighter and gave her fire. She smiled briefly at him.
Alkmene suppressed an impatient sigh.
Evelyn exhaled a long draught of smoke. She manipulated the cigarette in her hand. ‘The other actors weren’t happy that I quit the play like that, but I didn’t care. It was a condition that I had to leave at once, get on the first boat that left for England. Everything was prepared. I came here and I was produced to the old man. That was what he called it: produced. Like a rabbit from a magician’s hat, you know.’
She laughed softly. ‘The old man was surprised of course, but happy. He seemed especially impressed with a likeness he saw about me, someone I made him think of. He was sentimental, called me his dear and…’
She tipped off ashes, a little wild. ‘I guess I felt sorry for him sometimes, you know, duping him and all. Pretending to be his long-lost niece that he was so fond of. But life was fine here really. I was an heiress now, and people all wanted to know me. No more auditions for bit parts, no more plays closing on me before I had had a chance to shine. No, instead I went to parties every night, drank fine champagne, had men dying to dance with me. It was kind of funny how much a little change of environment can do for a girl.’
Alkmene wanted to know