Untimely Death by Elizabeth J. Duncan Page A

you haven’t heard, Lauren has returned. I saw her arrive a few minutes ago.”
    Simon frowned. “Why wasn’t I told? Christ, no one tells me anything around here. I’d better have a chat with her and see if she’s going to be at rehearsal in the morning. Where is she now, do you know?”
    “I just saw her going into the star bungalow.”
    Simon groaned and pointed at the front row of audience seating. “Let’s sit down.” He led the way down the short set of stairs that led from the stage to the floor of the theater, and then he turned around and held up a gentlemanly hand to help Charlotte down the steps.
    “You know, Charlotte, sometimes I think you and I are the only grown-ups in the whole place. What the hell is Brian Prentice thinking?”
    “I know what you mean. And I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help but overhear the carpeting you gave him this morning about his drinking. When I knew him, he did drink too much, but in those days everyone just thought, ‘Oh, that’s an actor for you.’ I mean, there was Peter O’Toole and Richard Burton. People took very little notice of it, really, but for him to think he can have an affair with Lauren under his wife’s nose is just absurd. She’s bound to find out, if she doesn’t know already.”
    “Of course she knows. This can’t be the first time. He’s probably had so many of these little flings over the years, she must be well aware of the signs by now.”
    “Why would she settle for being treated like that, I wonder?” Charlotte said. “And from the likes of him,too. It’s not as if he’s fabulously wealthy. Or fabulously anything.”
    Simon laughed. “You could say the same thing about Lauren. What’s in it for her? But she’s probably flattered by the attentions of an older man. A few years from now, she’ll look back on this and shudder. She’s one of the most ambitious young actresses I’ve ever seen, but unfortunately for her, Brian’s in no position to advance her career. He has no star power, no influence. No one’s taken his phone calls for years. I hear that in London, people cross the street to avoid him. He still has lunch at the Ivy every now and then, and they always seat him at the back, out of the way. Sad, really.”
    “Oh, stop!” said Charlotte. “Keep that up and you’ll have me feeling sorry for him. Still, in this business, there’s a huge expectation for actors to keep up appearances. You know that. You have to appear to be successful and in demand if you want to get hired. You have to look young. It’s part of the illusion. And as for Brian, he’s behaving like such an idiot. The best thing he’s got going for himself is an aristocratic wife—gives him a cachet that no else has—and why he would risk losing that I don’t know. I’m sorry, but I just don’t get it.”
    Simon shook his head. “I don’t either. I wonder why she even came to New York with him. And this,” he made an airy gesture taking in their surroundings, “doesn’t really seem like the place for her. You’d think she’d bemore at home in a suite at the Pierre than in a, let’s face it, shabby bungalow in the grounds of a down-at-heel Catskills resort.”
    “I wondered about that, too. It makes no sense.”
    Simon took a sip from his water bottle.
    “Simon, there’s something else I’ve been wondering about this afternoon. About Lauren. Did you know she’d taken an overdose of Tylenol?”
    “No, I hadn’t heard that.”
    “Well,” continued Charlotte, “here’s what I’m wondering. What if she didn’t take it herself but was somehow given it? And the thing is, I’ve been reading about Tylenol poisoning on the Internet, and it damages the liver. So if your liver is already damaged, from heavy drinking, say, the results can be fatal. So what if the Tylenol wasn’t meant for her?”
    “But it was meant for . . .”
    “Brian,” they chorused.
    They were silent for a moment as the implication sunk in, and then Simon