Author's Chapter Notes:
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Dinner was served but still no sign of Gatsby. Lucille later confessed that she barely remembered what he looked like, she was too ‘inebriated’ to remember. More chairs were added to their table, and two more women sat down. Darla groaned, it seemed like every pretty woman was at their table and Leon loved speaking and getting to know them. She bet.
Soon the subject of Gatsby came up again.
“Somebody told me that they thought he killed a man once”one of the newer additions to the table said
“That’s what I heard too”the understudy said
“I don’t think its so much as that”Lucille argued, she was like the best defensive friend that Gatsby probably didn’t know he had. “He was a German spy during the war”she said, but didn’t sound so sure. How could she know? She spoke with him for at the most 5 minutes and didn’t remember half of it.
“Oh no”said one of the newer additions again,”it couldn’t be that because he was in the American army during the war”she said. They all nodded as their heads switched back to her. “When you do see him, which I haven’t yet…they say to look at him when he thinks no ones looking. He has that look in his eye. I bet he killed a man”she said and shivered. Lucille did too. They all looked around for a sign of Gatsby but nothing.
Darla sighed once again. Were these people stupid? If they were so convinced that Gatsby killed a man, why were they here indulging in his jazz music, alcohol and food?
“Speaking of killing a man”Leon said as he changed the subject to something lighter, since he sensed that Darla was getting upset,”There was a triple homicide in Chicago. It was in the papers this morning” All the heads that were paying attention to one of the newer additions, switched back to him.
“Really? Like Roxy Hart? Didn’t she kill a man in Chicago too? Her hair style is all the rage”Lucille said as she patted down her own blond bob,”Mines natural of course”she said and smiled at Darla. Darla glared at her, what was that supposed to mean?
“Yes. And she's an heiress too. So she comes home one night and finds her husband in bed with not one but two women. So Kitty, that’s her name, storms downstairs and gets her husbands shot gun and barges into the room. She's all ‘how could you do this to me?’ and he's saying, ‘Oh baby this is not how it looks’. She's like, ‘Not how it looks? You have two women in bed with you?!’ And this is the kicker, he says,’Well doll are you going to believe what you see or what I tell you!?’”he said as he narrated the story and the whole table laughed. “So she fires three shots, one for the hubby and two for the ‘floozies’- she called them. She's supposedly at Cooke County with Roxy, I bet they will be the best of friends”he said with a laugh.
However, Darla didn’t think it was funny,”That’s not funny at all. She walked in on the man that she loved, cheating on her. Now he's dead and two other women, she could get hanged for it”
“Oh don’t worry. Who gets hanged anymore?”Leon said nonchalantly as the table laughed
“I'm originally from Chicago”one of the women said,”There hasn’t been a hanging in a long time”she said agreeing with Leon. She then laughed out loud,”I love large parties don’t you? Theres so much intimacy”she said and giggled, her glass always seemed to be full everytime you looked at her,which meant she didn’t drink too much or did. It seemed that she did,”At small parties, there's no privacy”she said
Gabriel nodded and leaned into Salomi,”The drunk does make a point”he said as Salomi swatted him and gave him a ‘be nice’ look. The orchestra started to play a lively jazz song,”Let's dance Lomi”he said as he took her hand
Darla put her fork down quickly. She watched as Salomi and Gabriel hit the dance floor and the remaining ladies looking to the only man at the table, Leon.”Let's dance babe”she said as she pulled Leon up. Some of the women groaned.
“Sorry ladies, taken I'm afraid”he said to them as Darla pulled him onto the dance floor.
“Taken I'm afraid?”Darla repeated,”What's that mean?”she asked him
“I'm taken by you, the most beautiful girl in the room”he said,”Are you alright? You haven’t been yourself”
“I'm fine”she said sharply,”I probably just need more to drink and more of you”
“That can be arranged”Leon said as he dipped her
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
Salomi and Gabriel both took a break from heavy dancing and drinking to see if they could catch a glimpse of the infamous Gatsby. They didn’t find Gatsby but they witnessed enough events to write a screenplay about. They met a drunk man in the library who told them his mission was to read every book in the room until he found a fake one that looked like ‘durable cardboard’. The bar indoors was packed. A man was speaking very privately to a young film actress and his wife threw a glass of water in his face and shouted,”YOU PROMISED” and then left the room in a huff. They gave up and went back outside to the orchestra. A tenor sung in Italian, and a woman sung some jazz, even the hit ‘Trouble’. Various people did their own stunts and Gabriel joined in. The Follie understudy and Lucille even did a number together with them. They were having a great time without Gatsby.
“You work even when you party don’t you baby?”Salomi said as the crowd clapped for him and asked for an encore, he just shook his head and smiled apologetically
“Cant help it, it's in my blood”Gabriel said to her
“So you must be the infamous Gabriel Brewster?”a man asked him with a smile
Gabriel smiled, since when was he infamous? “Uh yes that’s me”
“I must say that you are very talented. You and your partner are doing a vaudeville show on the boardwalk next week correct?”he asked.
“Yes we are? We will see you there right?”
“Oh of course, wouldn’t miss it. I hear this is your first time on the island. If you have time in your schedule, I can show you around Long Island. I just bought myself a hydroplane. I've been meaning to try it out”
Gabriel and Salomi smiled at each other,”That sounds great but I will of course have to get back to you. Our schedule is quite busy”
“Well whatever suits you best”he said with a smile,”Having a gay time now?”he asked them
“Oh yes of course”Salomi said
Gabriel agreed,”Yes but this has been the weirdest experience, I have never been to a party that has been hosted by someone so famous. Yet half the people don’t know who he is or he isn’t around to be shown off. It’s a mystery I kind of like it”he said with a laugh,”I don’t think this Gatsby person is ever going to show up until he hosts my friends wedding reception here, you are welcome to come”he said to the man
The man smiled,”I'm Gatsby”
“What!?”Salomi and Gabriel asked.”Oh I beg your pardon”Salomi apologized
“No it's my fault entirely”Gatsby said with a smile,”I thought you knew, with me hosting Dorothy’s party and all. I'm afraid I've been a bad host” Then a man came up to him and said that he had an urgent wire from Chicago. “Excuse me for a moment. Enjoy yourselves, if you need anything just ask”he said and walked off as Darla and Leon came over.
“The orchestra is playing their last song. I guess the party’s over”Leon said
“That was Gatsby”Salomi said excitedly
“What?”Leon and Darla asked her,”Really?”
“Yes it was so funny. He was talking to us and we mentioned that we never saw Gatsby and he said,’I'm Gatsby’. It was classic”Gabriel said with a laugh,”He's looking forward to Dorothy’s wedding and he wants to take us on his hydroplane when we have time. I think that would be great”Gabriel said as he led Salomi out on the dance floor and Leon and Darla followed
“He has his own hydroplane? Who did he murder? The Czar of Russia?”Leon asked and Darla gasped.
“That isn’t funny. That’s terrible”she said to him as they swayed to the music. When the orchestra ended that song, the crowd went crazy and asked for one more, they reluctantly played another tune.
“Hey, let's switch partners”Leon said as he took Salomi’s hand and danced off with her and Gabriel smiled and took Darla’s. Darla watched as Leon and Salomi danced. She was laughing at all his jokes, they were dancing so close? Could it be? No it couldn’t be…right?
“Come back to earth Darla”Gabriel asked her with a laugh,”I thought you fell asleep with your eyes open”
“No just thinking”Darla said
“Thinking? That’s not the Darla I know”he said with a laugh and she glared at him,”Sorry, it was a joke, the Darla I know could take a joke”
“I know…my mind has been elsewhere”
“Well where has it been?”he asked her, looking concerned
Darla decided to tell Gabriel, it wouldn’t hurt. Salomi always talked about how understanding he was. “I think there's another woman, Gabriel”
“Oh no, no no no-“
“Yes there is”Darla interrupted him,”Just don’t tell him I said so. I just think about it. Do you know anything about it?”
“He isn’t Darla, that’s what I know. He cares about you”
“But he doesn’t love me”
“He will. I'm sure he will”
“That’s why I know. Gabriel? Can you do me a favor? Just watch him for me. I know Leon, he can be….just watch him and tell me anything out of the ordinary?”
“I can't spy on my partner Darla, we rehearse all day and spend the evenings with you two”he said to her,”He wouldn’t have the time”
“Please Gabriel. If you suspected Salomi of the same thing, I would do it for you. That’s what friends are for”she said to him as the song ended and Leon and Salomi walked over to them. Gabriel nodded but said nothing.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
The orchestra packed up but the many partiers just moved inside. Lucille was playing the piano while a very drunk woman sang about infidelity, she even cried and her makeup was smeared all over her face. Salomi recognized her as the woman who threw the glass at the man at the bar earlier. “What's wrong with her? Is she acting?”Darla asked
“She had a fight with a man at the bar, I think he's her husband”Salomi said.
Darla nodded,”Uh huh, men…”she said as she turned and saw the understudy Follie in deep conversation with Leon. She glared at him and glanced at Gabriel, he only looked at her. She gave him a now-do-you-believe-me? look. He looked away.
Salomi didn’t see the exchanged looks between Darla and Gabriel as she was watching two men haul their drunk wives out of the room, who weren’t eager to leave.
“Whenever he sees I'm having a good time, he wants to go home!”said one
“Never heard of anything so selfish in my life”said two
“We are always the first ones to leave!”said one again
“So are we”two said in reply
“Well we are almost the last tonight”said one of the annoyed husbands,”The orchestra is packed and gone!”
“These people love them a Gatsby party”Salomi said with a laugh as she took Gabriel’s hand as Leon walked over to them and they walked to Gabriel’s car. On their way out, a car ran into a ditch and as they drove back to the hotel, the many lights from the scene could still be seen down the street.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
Leon didn’t cease in finding things for the girls to do. He always insisted they explore, instead of watching a boring old rehearsal. One day Darla had enough and she faked sick.
“Well what am I going to do?”Salomi asked her,”I don’t want to go alone”she said to her. They had decided to go to the beach again since it was a little warmer, if they couldn’t get in the water, they could get a great tan out of it.
“Well stay in your room. But get out of here or you’ll be sick too”Darla insisted. Salomi finally left and once Darla was sure that she had gone to the beach by herself, she set off to explore…or at least have someone else do it for her.
“He's ready for you Miss Kelly”the receptionist said to her. Darla smiled at her and stood up and walked into the office.
“Darla Kelly”she said as she extended her hand to the man,”I know how busy you must be Mr. Stone, I appreciate your seeing me”she said to him
Robert Stone smiled,”Don’t sweat it sweetheart, the pleasure is all mine. How can I be of service to you Mrs. Kelly”
“Miss”
“I'm sorry…Miss”he said to her as he sat down at his table. Darla looked at him, the maitre’ d said that Robert was the best detective in town and only took the best cases, so she had to make her case as good as any hot murder case, like that new triple homicide case for example.
“I'm in trouble Mr. Stone”Darla said, batting her eyes like Clara Bow in one of the films at the film festival.
“Everyone is”Robert Stone said matter of factly
“Infidelity is my problem”
“And whose fault is it? How is it your problem?”he asked her
“He's cheating on me, he's fooling around but I have no proof”she said,”I just need you to take a few pictures, a few that will show him in the act so I can confront him”
“Then hire a photographer Miss Kelly”Robert said with a sigh, already seeing that this was a waste of time.
“I can't, he's not….he's not just anybody….his name is Leon Errol”she said
“Leon Errol? The actor? You pettin’ Leon Errol?”
“It's not just that”
“So you want me to take pictures of Leon Errol hugging up on one of those Follies that he performs with because your jealous?”
“I'm not jealous. I know he is, I just don’t have any proof! And he's an actor, they can make up anything”
“Or he can be telling the truth-“
“You know his reputation? He left his last girlfriend for me”
“That’s your own fault sweetheart”he said as he stood up and went toward the door. He wasn’t buying her story! She was only some jealous girl to him. She had to think of something and fast, what would send him crawling back to her?
Then she smiled,”How about $100 now over and above whatever it finally comes to”she said as she pulled the bill out of her purse and held it up to him. He hesitated, good. He walked over and took it out of her hand and inspected it. “There will be a very considerable bonus if you get some good pictures that shows a hint of scandal…how considerable will surprise you”she said as she wrote a check and handed it to him. His eyebrows raised when he saw the figure.
“We’ll take this guy down Miss Kelly, don’t worry. He’ll be sorry he ever looked at another girl”he said to her with a smile. She smiled back. That was almost too easy. No trouble at all.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
“I don’t care about expensive things
Cashmere coats, diamond rings
Don’t mean a thing
All I care about is love
That’s what Im here for
I don’t care about silk cravats
Ruby studs, satin spats
Don’t mean a thing
All I care about is love
Give me two eyes of blue
Softly saying ‘I need you’
Let me see her standing there
And honest, mister Im a millionaire!” Leon sang as the ten chorus girls danced and sang around him in scantily clad costumes. He tapped one of them on the bottom playfully as he sang. He thought he saw a flash of light out of the corner of his eye but he didn’t think anything of it.
“All I care about is…
Is Love!”
*__________________________*
Chapter End Notes:
Lyrics Feautured: "All I Care About" by Richard Gere