The Last Don - Mario Puzo [67]
With her astute, storyteller mind, Claudia felt there was something missing in Athena’s story, that she was deliberately leaving out some important elements.
“What happened to the baby?” Claudia asked.
Athena’s features arranged themselves into a movie-star mask. “I can’t tell you anything more about that right now, in fact what I did tell you about me having a baby is just between you and me. That’s the one part you mustn’t tell the Studio. I trust you with that.”
Claudia knew she couldn’t press Athena on this. “But why are you quitting the picture?” Claudia asked. “You’ll be protected. Then you can disappear.”
“No,” Athena said. “The Studio will only protect me while the picture’s shooting. And that won’t matter. I know Boz. Nothing will stop him. If I stay, I’ll never finish the picture anyway.”
At that moment they both noticed a man in bathing trunks walking up from the water to the house. The two security guards intercepted him. One of the guards blew a whistle and the two guards in the garden came running around. With the odds at four to one, the man in the bathing trunks seemed to retreat slightly.
Athena was standing up, obviously shaken. “It’s Boz,” she said to Claudia quietly. “He’s doing this just to scare me. It’s not his real move.” She went out onto the deck and looked down at the five men. Claudia followed her.
Boz Skannet looked up at them, his eyes squinting, his bronzed face painted by the sun. His body, in the bathing trunks, looked lethal.
He smiled and said, “Hey, Athena, how about inviting me in for a drink?”
Athena gave him a brilliant smile. “I would if I had poison. You’ve broken the court order—I could have you locked up.”
“Nah, you wouldn’t,” Boz said. “We’re too close, we have too many secrets together.” Though he smiled, he looked savage.
Claudia was reminded of the men who came to the Cleri-cuzio feasts in Quogue.
One of the guards said, “He swam around the fence from the public beach. He must have a car there. Or we can have him locked up.”
“No,” Athena said. “Take him to his car. And tell the Agency I want four more guards around my house.”
Boz still had his face tilted up, his body seemed to be a great statue rooted in the sand. “See you, Athena,” he said. And then the guards led him away.
“He is frightening,” Claudia said. “Maybe you’re right. We would have to shoot cannons to stop him.”
“I’ll call you before I flee,” Athena said, making it actressy. “We can have one last dinner together.”
Claudia was almost in tears. Boz had really frightened her, had reminded her of her father. “I’m going to fly to Vegas and see my brother Cross. He’s smart and knows a lot of people. I’m sure he can help. So don’t leave until I come back.”
“Why should he help?” Athena said. “And how? Is he in the Mafia?”
“Of course not,” Claudia said indignantly. “He’ll help because he loves me.” She said this with pride in her voice. “And I’m the only person he really loves except for my father.”
Athena looked at her with a frown. “Your brother sounds just a little shady. You’re very innocent for a woman working in the movies. And, by the way, how come you sleep with so many men? You’re not an actress and I don’t think you’re a tramp.”
“That’s no secret,” Claudia said. “Why do men screw so many women?” Then she hugged Athena. “I’m off to Vegas,” she said. “Don’t move till I get back.”
That night Athena sat on the deck and watched the ocean, black beneath the moonless sky. She went over her plans and thought fondly of Claudia. It was really funny that she could not see through her brother, but that’s what love did.
When Claudia met with Skippy Deere later that afternoon and told him Athena’s story, they both sat in silence for a while. Then Deere said, “She left some things out. I went to see Boz Skannet to buy him off. He refused. And he warned me that if we tried any funny stuff, he’d give the papers a story that would ruin us. How Athena dumped their kid.”
Claudia flew into a rage. “That’s not true,