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20 | NEIL MAVRICK

He hoped not. That might frighten her and make her change her plans, which he certainly didn’t want. She’d be scared enough later in the week. He’d have to move quickly and get her into the car before she knew what was happening. The timing would be crucial.

Should he follow her, now the audition was finished, and for the rest of the week? Just to be on the safe side? He didn’t really need to do anything more until Friday, but after all this planning . . . Better play safe but keep well out of sight.

* * *

Later that evening, Rachel hurried home to the two-bedroom apartment that she and her roommate Vanessa rented not far from the burger bar. She was climbing the stairs to their apartment when the shadows cast in the stairwell by the lights on each landing prompted her to recall the earlier incident. The excitement of being put on a shortlist had made her forget. Just as well, she reckoned, otherwise she would have been as nervous as hell again on the way back from work, forever looking over her shoulder. Even thinking about it now made her run up the remaining steps to her front door to quickly let herself in. The door led straight into the main room of the apartment, off which all other areas were accessed.

“That you, Rae?” Vanessa’s voice drifted in from the bathroom. “How did it go?”

“Hey, Ness. I’m on the shortlist.”

“Really?” Vanessa’s head popped around the side of the bathroom door. She’d obviously had a shower and washed her hair, which was now wrapped in a towel that was about to fall off, but she caught it in time and quickly secured it back in place. “That’s good,” she muttered, quietly.

Hmm, Rachel thought, she doesn’t sound all that enthusiastic. Perhaps she’s had a bad day. She shrugged her shoulders and crossed the floor to go into her bedroom, pausing at the entrance, where she turned back to add, “It’s early days yet. They want to see me again Friday evening. Mind if I skip our date?”

Vanessa pulled a face and then grinned. “Well, just this once.”

“You have any luck?” Rachel called, moving on into her room. Vanessa too was a wannabe actress. In fact they met on the Greyhound bus that brought them to Hollywood along with a number of others who, she guessed, bore similar aspirations.