Jezebel's Ladder by Scott Rhine Page B

much. By dinner
time, I think Fortune is going to be begging us to come back, but if it bothers
you so much, tell me.”
    Benny stopped stirring. “I can’t.”
    Jez coaxed. “I’m from a trailer
park, and Oobie found me in a dumpster. I’m very hard to shock. How bad could
it be compared to Wannamaker?”
    Despite himself, Benny laughed. “Not
in public—come to my place after lunch and we’ll see.”
    Her eyebrows shot up, but she
stayed silent. Her role at lunch was to get him to talk, to feel comfortable
again. When his phone rang during the entrée, she snatched it out of his hand.
She spotted the New York area code and powered the device off. “It’s Dirt Bag;
he needs to suffer a little before we let him grovel.”
    Benny just shook his head. “I
should’ve had you for an agent.”
    “You’ve got me curious. After
lunch, you’re driving me to your place before you chicken out.” Then, they
passed the rest of the meal talking about everything but work. When the dessert
cart came, Jez passed, eager to hear the secret. Benny, who had enjoyed their
time so much he’d forgotten about the blackmail, left reluctantly to get his
Mercedes.
    While Benny waited for the valet, a
woman in a tennis outfit leaned close to Jez. “How did you land him?”
    Jez smiled, “I got him fired from
his job, and he had to let me take him out to apologize.”
    “Risky,” the impeccably manicured
bystander said. “But with a lot of potential.”
    Jez shrugged. “I’ll get him rehired
by dinner, but I wanted him all to myself for a few hours for curiosity’s sake.”
She knew this was none of the woman’s business but couldn’t stop herself. It
was probably the after-effects of the ethics page.
    The woman handed her a card. “Have
dinner with us at the club this weekend and tell us all about it.”
    After driving to a residential
area, Benny began, “You know I’m an alcoholic. Hollywood enables that
lifestyle, encourages it. I’ve done some things that can never be forgiven. At
first, I thought people covered for me because of my gift. Eventually, I figured
out all it takes is money. People’s lives are just grease for the machine.”
    Jez nodded. “You’ve stood as the
Project’s only conscience for years. I refuse to believe accusations against
you without hearing your side.”
    Benny pulled up to a gated driveway,
and pushed the remote to open it. “I’ll do one better. One of my victims will
tell you.”
    After they parked in the garage and
entered through the side door, Jez was overwhelmed by the huge, white kitchen. “Wow,
this place is bigger than my last three apartments put together.”
    A young, Asian man in an Oriental
housecoat approached and bowed.
    Jez bowed back and said to Benny, “You
have a houseboy?”
    “Tan is a good friend who stays
with me. He owes me nothing. He fixes tea because he drinks it as well and gets
up before I do.”
    Jez kept a neutral expression and
said, “Any friend of Mr. Hollis is a friend of mine.”
    “I had the same reaction to this
kitchen as you,” Tan confided. “It is like a palace here. Even after so many
years, this city is so strange. You actually seem normal.”
     “If you only knew,” Jez laughed.
    Benny pulled him aside and
whispered. “Actually, I would call her exceptional. Tell her everything about
that night.”
    Tan seemed uncomfortable. “Mister
Ben, you do enough. You should not worry. It is past.”
    “Tell her. I can’t,” Benny said,
emphasizing each word.
    Tan led her into a sitting area and
offered tea. “Please, do not share what I say with anyone else. People in this
town cannot be trusted. Mister Ben brought me here from Thailand. I had no family. He opened his home to me. I have a job at his hospital charity.”
    “Nothing negative there,” Jez said.
    Tan paused. “Mister Ben was filming
a movie in my country. It was monsoon season, so filming was delayed. Most of
the crew went on elephant tours or to the brothels in the