The War Against Miss Winter by Kathryn Miller Haines

Author:Kathryn Miller Haines [Haines, Kathryn Miller]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: actresses, Actresses - New York (State) - New York, World War; 1939-1945 - New York (State) - New York, Winter; Rosie (Fictitious Character), Mystery & Detective, Winter; Rosie (Fictitous Character), Historical Fiction, World War; 1939-1945, New York (N.Y.), Fiction, New York, Mystery Fiction, Women Sleuths, Historical, War & Military, New York (State), General
ISBN: 9780061139789
Google: Eq6-lwEACAAJ
Amazon: 0061139785
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2007-06-11T16:00:00+00:00

Jayne was sitting on her bed, propped up by pillows, and flipping through Life magazine too quickly to be reading it. Churchill lounged in her lap and batted at the glossy pages more, it seemed, for the pleasure of the noise than to irritate Jayne. Two kids in military uniforms grinned from the slick’s cover, both of their legs raised as they half-skipped, half-marched toward a war they couldn’t possibly understand.

“You been in here all day?” I asked. Churchill shot me a look that urged me to leave his mistress alone.

“I didn’t want to have to explain what happened to anyone. It’s been nice. I took a long nap.” In the daylight her bruises were shocking motoroil drips on white taffeta. While the deeper blacks had faded to grays and yellows, there wasn’t a spot on her face that hadn’t suffered damage.

“You hungry?” I asked. “I could get you something.”

She shook her head and turned yet another unread page. “Maybe later.”

I dumped my script and pocketbook on my bed. Jayne registered where I’d come from and opened her mouth to utter the unasked question. I stopped her with my hand. “Before you speak, let me forewarn you that you’ll receive an earful. Proceed with caution if you choose to proceed at all.”

She plowed forward as only one still groggy with sleep could do. “How was rehearsal?”

I sat on my bed and piled my hands in my lap like a schoolchild preparing for a recitation. “Not only did they change the play, Ruby Priest got the lead and I’m an understudy.”

Jayne shook off the remnants of her nap. “You’re a what?”

“You know: an understudy—all the work, none of the billing.”

She slammed the magazine on the bed. Churchill yowled and shot to the floor. “They can’t do that!”

“They can and they have.”

“But you were invited to the audition.”

“Not to hear Peter Sherwood tell it.” With Jayne outraged on my behalf, I no longer found it necessary to be angry. Instead, I plastered an amused smile on my face and pretended I was recounting someone else’s misfortune. “I haven’t told you the best part. The lousy Polish play has become red, white, and blue. You’ll never guess who I think the author is.”

Her brow wrinkled as she thought hard on the question. “Lawrence Bentley?”

I shook my head. “Oh no—even better. Raymond Fielding.”

Jayne’s mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out.

I fell backward onto my pillows. “Don’t worry: if it is by him, it’s not the play we’re looking for, just a rotten coincidence. It’s all hush hush, so don’t breathe a word about it.” I moaned and my moan threatened to become a scream. “My life is being ruined by Ruby Priest and Raymond Fielding.”

Jayne winced. “What are you going to do?”

“What can I do? It’s still a credit and a paycheck. If I drop out, there’s no guarantee I’ll find either of those before the week’s out. I’m stuck.”

Jayne twisted her fingers. Tony’s ring caught the light and echoed his promise across the walls.

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