Soft focus by Jayne Ann Krentz Read Free Book Online Page B

off the silver screen. They had not even met until a few years ago. But the bond between them had been immediate and it had proved to be solid. Larry and Megan and their new infant daughter provided Jack with whatever semblance of a family life he possessed.
    Larry gave him a knowing look. "You've had, what? Three dates? And one of those was with Megan's cousin Sandra, so it doesn't count."
    "Why doesn't it count?" Jack frowned, trying to recall the details of the date he'd had with his sister-in-law's cousin. They were vague. He thought he could remember a pretty face and a cute, rounded little body. He was pretty sure he had bored her half to death. He knew for a fact that he'd been thoroughly bored that night. His mind had been on other things— namely, whether or not Elizabeth had had a date that evening.
    "It doesn't count," Larry said patiently, "because Megan told me later that all you talked about for two hours straight at dinner was the state of the Northwest's economy, after which inspiring conversation, you took her cousin home, left her at her door, and never called again."
    "I've been busy," Jack said again.
    "Bullshit. You're still carrying a torch for that woman who runs the Aurora Fund, and you know it."
    "Larry, modern men do not carry torches. Remember that. It's important. Torch-carrying belongs to another era. It comes from a time when people did stupid things and got away with it because they said that they had done them for love. That excuse doesn't fly anymore."
    "You know, one of these days you're going to have to stop lecturing me. I realize you think you have to make up for lost time, but it's not necessary. Really." Larry glanced at him. "So what did you want to talk to me about?"
    "Think you could play wizard again and go on the Net to get me some financial background on a man named Dawson Holland?"
    The familiar gleam of maniacal curiosity leaped in Larry's dark eyes. "Probably. Why are you interested in him?"
    "I'm not sure that I am. But it's a place to start. You know what they say about following the money. Holland put together the investment package that bankrolled a little independent film called Fast Company. I want whatever I can get relating to the movie, and that means that I want something on Holland."
    "I can tell you one thing without even going online," Larry said. "Whoever this Holland guy is, if he's the one who arranged the financing, he's probably the only one who didn't put any of his own money into the movie. And he'll be the only one who actually comes out ahead. The real investors, the ones who coughed up hard cash, will never see a dime. The only people who make money in films, large or small, are the guys who move other people's money around."
    "I've heard that for years." Jack thought about the shrine to filmmaking he had discovered in Tyler Page's little house. "But there never seems to be any shortage of people lining up to finance films."
    Larry shrugged. "They're all starstruck. They want to pretend that they're players. Go to the opening-night parties. Hang with the stars and the directors. See their names in the credits. Filmmaking is one of the most glamorous clubs in the world. Lots of people are willing to shell out lots of money to join it."
    "I know. Just get me what you can on Holland and the film. Use my cell phone number to reach me. I'll be out of town for a while."
    Larry's eyes lit with amused interest. "Don't tell me you're taking a vacation?"
    "Not exactly. Know anything about film noir?"
    "Those old black-and-white movies from the forties? Gangsters and sleazy private eyes and femme fatales? Live fast, die hard kind of stuff? Sure. I've watched a few of the classics on late-night TV. Some great lines in those old scripts."
    "You're way ahead of me, then. But I'm going to learn a whole lot during the next few days at a film noir festival."
    Larry studied him. "Are you going to take in this festival alone?"
    "No, as a matter of fact, a business associate