Chapter 10

“You’d planned it. You wanted Jake out of the way.”

He nodded. “Now you’re learning. I also knew Jake would go for the insurance angle once I mentioned it. Jake was having financial problems but of course you wouldn’t have known that hanging out on your own little Hollywood has-been cloud.”

I shook my head.

“No, you wouldn’t have noticed. Jake’s client list was well beyond dwindling. You were his hottest client. Once. But that soon changed. He was barely making it here.”

I thought aloud, “Why didn’t he tell me? He never said a word.”

“Moving on and getting back to my script, I strung Jake along, said we’d split the money. Your life insurance and whatever else I ‘inherited’ from your demise. But the money was for us, Harry, a chance to start over, and I wasn’t sharing with anyone. To hell with your career. I wanted a new start. Away from this demented town and all the phoniness. Now we can go away together where no one knows us.”