Plastic by Frank Strausser

Author:Frank Strausser
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rare Bird Books
Published: 2019-07-01T19:26:41+00:00

17

Nick Valentine’s body falling through space.

Previn stared at the giant movie poster for Falling that took up the whole wall behind the reception desk at Tout & Wilde. A yellow burst pasted on one corner read, “Countdown: 9 days!”

The offices of Tout & Wilde were in a low-rise building jammed between the Whisky a Go Go, The Roxy, and The Viper Room. That Tout would ask him to come to his office seemed meaningful. Though as Previn stood there waiting for Tout, he wondered why he hadn’t asked Rox for a fuller explanation. It gnawed at him that he’d canceled several of his Wednesday consultations to meet with Johnny Tout as though he were some mucky-muck who mattered. He’d been to his house. He’d tended to his client. But who was he? He still had no idea.

Earlier, Previn had called one of his patients to whom he’d given back at least ten years. Ta-da! An entertainment lawyer, she must know of Johnny Tout, and she did. She described him as a former roadie who’d come over with the band INXS in the early nineties, soaring because he had a genuine ear for talent. She went on to describe three brutal, costly divorces, which had been his ruin. “Makes for one desperate, bitter man. He may be self-employed, but he works for them. The Exes. Let’s not kid ourselves.” She giggled girlishly. “Why didn’t I become a divorce lawyer?”

Of course, she had to ask why he wanted to know. Without hesitation, Previn described Tout as a prospective facelift. Normally he’d never break faith in revealing the identity of patients, prospective or not, but since this couldn’t be further from the truth, it seemed okay. He also got some amusement in planting the rumor with her that Tout was shopping around for facial work.

Previn was still staring at Valentine’s falling body when Tout came forward, grasping his hand like an old friend before leading him down a hall lined with Grammy Awards and at least twenty gold and platinum records. Previn stopped to stare at one.

Tout gestured toward the wall. “Tombstones, mate!”

“What?”

“There are stars. And there are shooting stars. They come and go. This is one big happy cemetery.”

Tout opened the door to the glass-enclosed conference room with four serious men seated around the table. A beauty shot of Fay’s face commanded the entire wall. Previn recognized it from the cover of Harpers Bazaar. “The Face of Spring!”

When Previn came face-to-face with that poster of Fay Wray, he felt sad like a captain looking at a giant photo of the ship he’d lost at sea. But that was the wrong view. He’d been there for Fay. He’d helped her through most of her crisis. There was something unseemly about his attending to her all this time. Brick had raised legitimate questions for which he really didn’t have good answers. He’d become too attached. And it wasn’t like he was helping her at this point. He was a surgeon. There’d come a time when his skills could be drawn upon again, but this wasn’t it.

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