The Hive by Gregg Olsen

Author:Gregg Olsen [Olsen, Gregg]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
ISBN: 9781542016469
Google: 3CmSygEACAAJ
Amazon: 1542016460
Barnesnoble: 1542016460
Goodreads: 52734671
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Published: 2021-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

It had been a while since Dina had any kind of a real offer, or hope, to jump-start her mothballed career. So much had changed. Indeed, the industry that had made her famous had transformed. She’d had her biggest success in the last days of Hollywood glamour, the time when the female star was called a leading lady. Now everyone was an actor. No longer even an actress, a moniker she’d considered a much better descriptor than the blanket, denuded, dull actor. Her agent’s office told her that there was serious interest in her return to acting, albeit with a hitch.

She met Santiago Phillips at Craven, a Santa Monica restaurant that had been her favorite before her move to the Pacific Northwest.

Dina was already seated at an outside table, enjoying the pleasures of a marine breeze from the Pacific.

Santiago, her agent’s daughter, had recently taken on some of her father’s clients, a move toward the day when she’d manage his very full and eclectic “stable of stars.” Barely in her twenties, she wore a Versace top that Dina knew had to be genuine, but something about the fabric seemed suspect.

“I love your blouse,” Dina said, getting up to embrace the young woman, feeling the fabric. Versace would never have approved of that fabric. “You’ve certainly grown up,” she went on. “The first time we met, you were barely able to walk.”

Santiago, her long black extensions swept back and her eyes shielded by sunglasses with oversized white frames, looked more the star than Dina, who’d agonized that morning about what to wear and finally decided on a Chanel shift that she was nearly certain she’d only been photographed in once.

“You’re ageless,” Santiago purred, pulling her shades down, then popping them back in place on the bridge of her new nose.

“Not everyone thinks so,” Dina said, waiting for Santiago to confirm the compliment. It never came.

The waiter took their drink orders, and again Santiago’s glasses came down so she could check him out. Nothing special, apparently, because she ignored his final pleasantries. “I’ve never been here before,” she said to Dina. “How’d you find this place?”

Her tone felt a little disdainful. Possibly bait.

Dina thought just then that Santiago took more after her mother, a climber from Des Moines who had acted three times in All My Children before snagging her first husband.

“How’s your mother?” she asked.

Santiago forced a quick smile. Maybe a smirk. “You know how she is. Always reaching for something new.”

Or someone new, Dina thought. She swallowed her gin and tonic and got down to business. “You have news.”

Just then, Santiago’s phone pinged.

“I do,” she said, giving Dina a little nod without looking up from her phone. “Just a minute.” She rose and started for a quiet spot to take her call, then stopped and turned to Dina. “If the waiter comes while I’m away, order a Caesar salad for me, please. With shrimp, only if it’s wild caught.”

“Of course,” Dina said, spotting a photographer on the street outside. She adjusted her body, affording him a good angle.

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