BECOMING THE FABULOUS MISS C

By Angel Sentier and Lady Parsley

Chapter Eight

Ginger slapped a copy of The Weekly World News on the table in front of Philip and his agent, Allen, with a thump. An enormous picture across the cover showed Philip and Miss C locked in a passionate embrace in the middle of a dance floor. The headline screamed, "Philip Carter Grayson and Mystery Woman!" Below that, a sub-heading read, "Who is she? Are they an item? Find out more inside!"

The redhead scowled, her delicate features completely transformed by what was clearly rage. "It's great publicity," she said. "But it's not my publicity."

He shrugged. "That's old news by now." In fact, why is she so upset by something that happened a couple of weeks ago? he thought.

"Well, it's got the whole country talking!" she said, seeming to become more irate at his lack of concern. "Who is she?"

Philip blinked. She sounds like a possessive girlfriend. Creepy... Again, he shrugged. "I don't know. I met her that night."

"I suppose you don't mind being man-handled by a complete stranger!"

He glanced again at the picture. It didn't look like he was being 'man-handled' at all... In fact, Philip looked like he was enjoying himself quite a bit. Looking back on the event, he really had... But when he glanced up at the fuming woman in front of him, he knew instantly he should say nothing of the kind.

Ginger took a deep breath, calming herself sufficiently to continue at a more moderate tone of voice. "All right... It's bad, but it's not irreparable. We can send out a press release for rumor control, pull it off as some kind of obsessed fan, they might wonder why we haven't sent out a release before now, but we can say it was a minor event that we didn't expect to be blown out of proportion--"

Philip looked at Allen nodding his head and bristled a bit. "Hey!" he said. Ginger looked absolutely stunned at his interruption and he took the opportunity to continue. "Until seven-thirty tonight, my personal life is none of your business!"

Her eyes widened, but not in surprise... More like fury. Probably at his... defiance? Okay, scary.

"As your publicist, it is every bit my business!" she said, her voice climbing again.

He watched in shock as Ginger flew into a tirade about image and the proper way to cultivate it and about all her hard work and how it was all going to waste. This was the woman who had talked to him at the after-party a few weeks ago? She had been catty, sure, but she hadn't been such a bitch. And she was the one Allen wanted him set up with? No, thanks!

"Ms. Carlyle, I think you should calm down," said Philip. "Maybe have something to drink?"

At his attempt at placation, she took another deep breath. "Well... All right. I'll have my secretary bring you some coffee." She pushed the button on the intercom attached to her desk... but no one answered. She pushed it two more times to no avail, becoming increasingly more agitated.

Philip could see where this was going. "Look, why don't I get it for you?" he offered. "How do you take it?"

She tossed her head. "Oh, I couldn't possibly drink the swill that's made here."

Even though you just offered it to us, thought Philip, dryly.

"I have to have a Starbucks grande, double espresso shot, soy latte, half-caf, no whip, light on the foam --"

"--With sugar free chocolate syrup only on top, not mixed in," he finished for her, eyes gone wide.

Her mouth had fallen open slightly in surprise. "Yes... How did you know that?"

"Lucky guess... Allen, can I talk to you for a minute, privately?" he asked, quickly.

"Uh..." He glanced at Ginger.

It apparently took all of her self-control to utter the word, "Fine."

The two men left the room. Finding the secretary's desk indeed empty, they stayed in the abandoned ante-room to talk.

"Allen, I am not going out with her tonight!" Philip said, quietly but with no less urgency. "I don't want anyone to think I am dating her! That woman is a word that starts with 'b' and rhymes with-- Oh, Hell, the word is bitch!"

"Which is precisely why you have to go out with her!"

"Huh?"

Allen adjusted his tie, nervously. "I have to deal with her, too, you know! Go out with her tonight and that'll be it. If you don't, I'll never hear the end of it!" He started visibly, as though just remembering something. "Is she listening?"

They both leaned over to peer through the partially closed door. Ginger had her back to them and was dialing her phone. After a few seconds, the theme from Titanic began playing from one of the drawers in the secretary's desk. The two men leaned back quickly as Ginger glanced at the door, hearing the sound. They leaned over again as they heard her slam the phone down. She dialed another number, tapping her long red acrylic claws on the desk as she waited, then slammed the phone down with even more force. She dialed once more and hung up almost immediately. Philip was sure the phone was going to break, Ginger had quite an arm on her... She took a deep breath and tried another dial, this time apparently reaching someone, or perhaps she was leaving a message, since she never once paused for breath.

"PEER!" she hissed ominously through clenched teeth. "What the FUCK am I paying you for? Why don't I have a secretary when I'm supposed to have two? Where the HELL are you? If one of you isn't back in five minutes, I swear, you are BOTH out of a job!"

Allen looked back at Philip, pleadingly. "Just the one date, I promise."

He thought about refusing... But it occurred to him that this could be a useful bargaining chip. If he told Allen he was going out tomorrow night with some nobody, he'd get another lecture about image and probably be coerced into canceling. And that he did not want to do. "If I do this date tonight, I get to go on a date I really want on Friday."

He groaned. "Philip, you can't be seen with all these different women! It puts forth the wrong image!"

"Why not? Leonardo DiCaprio does it all the time! And people love him."

"Teenie-boppers love him," he corrected, sternly. "We're promoting you for a slightly older crowd. And look where Leonardo's image got him. The Beach and Celebrity, that's where."

"I think it might have been his attitude that did that. Moreover, I really don't care. Either I get my date tomorrow, or you don't get this date tonight, and that's my final answer!"

His agent bit his lips briefly, glanced toward the office where Ginger waited, then nodded. "Okay, deal."

"And you make sure there are plenty of people there tonight! I don't want to be alone with her!"

"I don't blame you..."


In the meantime, when Philip had shown himself into the meeting with Ginger and Allen, Chloe had nearly run into Danny downstairs in the car park. All thoughts of returning to work had fled her mind as she zoomed out of the parking lot and onto the road in Danny's car.

"Danny, are you sure Ginger's hired someone to kill Teri?" she asked as he drove dangerously fast. "Are you sure she just didn't say she wanted to kill Teri? Because she does that several times in every week..."

"I'm positive, Chloe. I pushed the wrong button on the intercom and accidentally overheard her half of the telephone conversation with the guy."

"Well, what did she say?"

"She said 'Kill Teri!'"

"I gathered that... What else?"

"'I don't care what you do with the body' and other things like 'Just charge it on the card I gave you.' I think that's pretty specific!"

"Oh, God..." Danny was really agitated. And while her own heart was racing so fast she was certain she'd have a heart attack soon, she had to get him to calm down a little or he was going to get them killed. "Danny, you have to slow down!"

"Slow down? Are you crazy?"

"No, I just don't want to die!"

"And I don't want Teri to die!" He took a deep breath, somehow finding the ability to loosen his grip on the steering wheel just slightly. "Luckily, since he's pretending to be an ex-client of Ginger's, I had to fax the specs over to Teri's office. I know exactly where he's meeting her. The freeway will be packed, but I know how to get there using side streets."

"Good, now tell me, why in hell would Ginger want Teri to be killed? I mean, I know they're not best buddies or anything, but still, this seems a little extreme!"

He winced. "I... had to tell her some bad news."

That did not sound good. "What bad news?"

"I found out today that Ginger's not in the front running for the promotion anymore. In fact, she's even below that guy in the office's east wing who's been over budget every quarter for the past two years."

"So, why isn't she having that guy killed, too?"

Danny looked uncomfortable. "There's more... The movie theater ran out of soda."

She blinked. "What?"

He made a frustrated gesture. "There were soda issues and Teri deliberately needled Ginger... It's kind of a long story."

"You can tell it to me later, but I still don't see why..." She glanced at Danny who was looking more uncomfortable than ever. "More?"

He nodded, but it looked like he especially didn't want to tell her this part. "I... accidentally called Ginger 'Teri.'"

"Danny! You didn't! When?"

"It's... kind of embarrassing..."

"DANNY! How could you call her that when you're doing that?"

"Well, it's not like I get much out of it when we do it, I'm just her toy. Yes, I know what you and Teri call me and don't worry, I know it's the truth," he said when he caught Chloe's startled look. "I was... imagining something more pleasant-- I really don't want to talk about--" He stopped as something suddenly occurred to him. "Oh, my God, call her! We're sitting here like idiots and you've got a ton of cell phones on you! Call her! Warn her! Now!"

"I'm on it!" she said, already dialing one of the phones and starting to panic even more. What if Teri was dead somewhere already and she could have prevented it by thinking to call her? Teri, don't die! Please pick up the phone!

After a couple of rings, there was a loud crackle of static and Chloe dimly heard the phone pick up. "Hey, hon!" Teri's voice could barely be heard over the interference.

"Teri, thank God!" said Chloe, relieved. "Where are you?"

"...Hello, Chloe, are you still there?"

"Hello? HELLO?" Chloe began yelling into the phone. "Are you inside a building or something? Listen, if you are, get out of there!"

"What? Yeah, I'm in a building, elevator, actually, but I totally missed what you said after that." The static kept Teri's voice fading in and out. "I can't talk anyway, I'm meeting a client."

"No! NO, Teri, you have to get out of there! Get out of there! It's a set up!"

"What?"

"A set up! A set up! IT'S A TRAP!"

"A what?"

The static suddenly cleared and Chloe screamed with everything she had, "GINGER'S HIRED SOMEONE TO KILL YOU!"

The line went dead. Chloe looked at the screen of the silver phone in horror, it was out of power.

Danny looked at her, frantic. "Did she hear you?"

"God, I hope so... Are we almost there?"

"Yes, it's just up the street."

"Okay, park in the loading zone, keep the car running, I'll run in and try to find her and pray to God I don't get killed in the process..."

As Danny pulled up to the white curb, Chloe was about to open her door when Teri came running out of the building.

"GET IN!" both of them yelled. Teri wasted no time and they sped off.

Teri was very out of breath as she laid sideways in the backseat. Chloe craned her head around to look at her, searching for any signs of blood.

"I'm okay," said Teri, gasping for air. "But you're right... The guy had something that looked a little too suspiciously like a gun. And he saw me. Just as I got back on the elevator, he came out of an office and started running toward me. I don't know if he waited for the elevator to come back up or not, but the stairs were on the other side of the building, so either way, we have a little time to--"

"We haven't lost him," Danny cut in, suddenly, eyes on the rear-view mirror. "We're being tailed." He indicated the glove compartment. "Chloe, there's a pen and paper in there, get his license plate!"

She went to do just that, but frowned when she looked at the frame around the plate. It's no good, it's a rental car."

"Well, get it anyway, we can at least try and trace who rented it!"

Chloe doubted that even if he had rented it himself, he wouldn't have used his real name, but she took down the plate number anyway and stuffed the paper in her purse. As she did, she noticed that the black phone was blinking. Automatically, she flipped it open and saw she had a missed call from the office. "Oh, shit..."

"What?" both Danny and Teri asked.

"I forgot about Ginger."

"Huh?"

"Danny, where's your phone?" she asked, trepidation building.

He reached into his shirt pocket and pulled it out. She grabbed it and, as she suspected, his was turned off. She pressed the little red button and instantly, the device vibrated. One missed call, one message.

She didn't want to, but she checked it anyway. Ginger's voice came through the speaker and Chloe paled. "Danny... We're in trouble." She hung up the phone and stuck it in the drink holder. "If one of us doesn't get back to the office, we're both out of a job."

"Who cares?" he said, vehemently. "She can take her fucking job and she can shove it up her--"

"No, Danny!" said Chloe. "If we're fired, that means we can't look for evidence!"

He sobered at that. "Oh, yeah..."

She glanced behind them at the rental car, which was currently being held up by a semi which was trying to merge, then pointed at their approaching office building. "Look, just slow the car down so I don't break my neck and I'll jump out and go back."

"All right," he said. "I'll drive around and try to lose him. I'll call you, okay?"

"Okay." She looked back at Teri and reached over to squeeze her hand. "Be safe, all right?"

Her friend nodded. Chloe hurried out of the car and they drove off again, tires squealing. She ran into the building, having no idea whether or not their 'five minutes' was up. To Ginger, 'five minutes' usually meant 'this second.'

As she headed for the elevator, she ran directly into Philip, who was just stepping off. His smile was completely disarming as he steadied her by the shoulders. Oh, he looked so good... And relieved?

"We seem to be making a habit of this," he said. She forgot she was supposed to be moving when he hugged her tightly. "Your boss is a complete and utter raging tyrannical bitch," he murmured next to her ear. "And I can't wait for tomorrow."

She stared after him as he began heading for the front doors, her brow furrowed in confusion. "Hey, how did you...?"

He grinned. "There's only one person I know of who drinks a grande, double espresso shot, soy latte, half-caf, no whip, light on the foam, with sugar free chocolate syrup only on top, not mixed in. You better get up there, by the way," he said, as the doorman opened the door for him. "She is really pissed."

For the rest of the day, Chloe pretended to work while searching for evidence around the office. Ginger gave her a ton of work to do, none of which she got accomplished, but Chloe had heard the lecture about her incompetence so many times, it was just background noise. She found, however, that she was really understandably nervous around Ginger now, and although she knew her boss wasn't stupid enough to start having people killed right and left, she jumped each time she thought Ginger was on to her.

It was really difficult when Ginger asked what she was doing going through her paperwork to answer "Just trying to wade through this crap fiesta you call an organized desk," rather than the "Nothing" that almost came out. If she acted out of the usual, Chloe knew she was toast. Ginger was expecting Chloe to be harmlessly flip as long as she wasn't in front of clients. She couldn't start being yes, ma'am, no, ma'am all of a sudden. But there was nothing more difficult than to pretend everything was normal when she was worried to death over the life of her best friend.

It was at the end of the day and Ginger, Princess, and Staci had all gone home early when Danny trudged back into the office, alone.

"Where's Teri?" she asked immediately. At his panicked look, she added, "Don't worry, they're gone."

He breathed a slight sigh. "A little while after we left you, I figured it would be better if I left her someplace safe and drove around to throw him off."

"So, where did you leave her?"

"I drove into Woods University and dropped her off amidst the dorms. He was a few streets back, I know he didn't see her get out of the car, because he continued to tail me for several hours."

"What did you do to lose him?"

He actually half-smiled. "I drove down a speed trap at which point I slowed down, since I knew he wouldn't. When the cops got after him, I knew he would have at least a fifteen minute delay if he stopped, and a few hours delay if he tried to outrun them. And even if he did stop, I knew he'd consider it too risky to double back and tail me again."

Chloe smiled, hugging him tightly. "Danny, you're a genius!" He blushed. "All right, then did you go get her?"

He shook his head. "Way too dangerous. He'll be watching for that. Teri knew that, too. She said she'd call when she got to a safe place." He held up his cell phone. "I'll have this on constantly until she does. Did you get anything from this end?"

She shook her head, regretfully. "Not a thing."

"Shit!" he exclaimed, banging his fist on the desk. "That means we have to get Ginger to talk." He glanced at the open appointment calendar on the desk with all of the itinerary for the month. "We know she's going to be at the Canary Club tonight to be seen with that movie star," he said, slowly. "I'm supposed to go with her. You know, arm candy. I can probably get her to talk and say something, but it's better if there's more than one witness. Can you be there, incognito?"

For a moment, Chloe wondered how she could ever get into an exclusive club, much less be there incognito, before sudden inspiration hit.

"I need to make a phone call... But I'll be there."


"Hi, I'm here for Denise," said Chloe a short car ride later. "I know the salon's closed, but she should be expecting me..."

The man with short, frosted hair smiled at her. "Honey, you're looking at her."

She blinked. The smile, the eyes, sure enough... "Denise?"

"It's really simple, sugar. Dennis like this, Denise otherwise."

"Got it."

"Now, what's going on?" he asked. "You sounded so upset on the phone..." He glanced at his watch. "Actually, tell me while I work. I'm assuming you don't have much time."

"I'm sorry to ask this of you," she said, coming into the salon and heading for the chair she'd sat in before. "But you did such a good job before and--" She stopped as she stared at one of the walls which boasted a blown-up picture of her and Philip on the cover of The Weekly World News. "You had it framed?"

"Of course," he said, draping her in a cloth. "I always frame my best work. Now, tell me what's got you all up in arms."

She gave Dennis the nutshell version.

He paused, box of hot rollers in hand. "Where did you say you needed to be at?" he asked.

"The Canary Club."

An amused smile lit his face and he put the hot rollers away, instead bringing out lots and lots of bobby pins. "I know exactly what to do."

To be continued...