The Case of the Stolen Film by Gareth P. Jones Read Free Book Online Page A

pain did you go through to achieve such captivating charm?’ said a man, entering the hallway. He had thick curly black hair and was wearing an expensive pair of sunglasses.
    â€˜Good morning, Mr Lampton,’ said Miss Gilfeather. ‘Is it too bright for you in here?’
    The man smiled and removed his sunglasses to reveal dark brown eyes. ‘Hi, Vivian,’ he replied in a cool American accent. ‘And, please, it’s Chase to my friends.’
    â€˜Until we become friends I will stick with Mr Lampton, Mr Lampton. I’ll make some coffee,’ replied Miss Gilfeather, walking to the kitchen.
    â€˜Hi, Chase,’ beamed Petal, suddenly developing an American twang in her voice.
    â€˜And how is my talented leading lady?’
    â€˜I’m fine, thanks, Chase. Where’s Dante?’
    â€˜He’s on the phone to his agent. He’ll be in in a minute. I see you’ve got guests this morning,’ said Chase, nodding at Holly and Archie. ‘I hope you two aren’t distracting our star here.’
    â€˜Oh, just ignore them,’ said Petal. ‘They aren’t anybody.’
    â€˜That’s right, we’re nobody,’ said Holly.
    â€˜I used to be somebody, but now I’m not anybody,’ said Archie.
    Chase smiled and said to Petal, ‘Did you manage to get a chance to look through the rewrite for the final scene?’
    â€˜Yes, I’ve made a few notes. I was thinking what if … wait for it … what if I were to fly at the end of the film?’
    â€˜Fly?’ said Chase.
    â€˜Yes, what do you think? Mum thinks it would be a great way to end the film.’
    Chase paused as if visualising the idea, then nodded. ‘Yeah, I can see that working. You could fly right over all the teachers and pupils in the concert. Real feel-good moment. Great idea.’
    â€˜It ends with a concert?’ said Holly.
    â€˜That’s right,’ said Chase, ‘Petal’s big moment when she sang her first solo at the school concert this year. It’s not in the book but we thought it would make a good ending for the movie. We’re filming it today. Why don’t you come down and sit in the audience? It would be good to get some genuine Brit accents.’
    â€˜I think you’ll find mine to be a genuine British accent, Papa,’ said a boy who entered behind Chase, with the same thick black hair, sunglasses, leather jacket and designer jeans as the director.
    â€˜Hi, Dante,’ said Petal.
    â€˜Good morning, Petal,’ said Dante in an English accent that caused Holly and Archie to fall about laughing. ‘What’s so funny?’ he asked, reverting to his normal American voice.
    â€˜Nothing,’ said Archie, controlling himself. ‘I thought it was a splendid accent, old bean.’
    â€˜Hey, thanks,’ said Dante. ‘I’m Dante Lampton. I play Callum Thackley, the disturbed but musically brilliant son of the Prime Minister.’
    â€˜He’s not that musically brilliant,’ said Petal.
    â€˜Callum’s in the film?’ said Holly, astonished.
    â€˜It’s only a supporting role,’ said Petal.
    â€˜I wanted to use the character of Callum to show how people deal with things differently,’ said Chase Lampton.
    â€˜Callum’s not a character. He’s a real person,’ said Holly.
    â€˜What interests me is how the same kind of media attention that Petal thrives on is what drove poor Callum mad,’ said Chase.
    â€˜That’s not fair …’ said Holly, but she could hardly explain how the monsters that haunted Callum were not figments of his imagination but very real dragons.
    â€˜Oh yes, I forgot Holly had a crush on Callum,’ said Petal.
    â€˜I did not,’ said Holly. ‘We just played in the band together.’
    â€˜So you were at the concert too?’ said Chase. ‘Tell me what you can remember about it. We’re recreating