"The Eternal Night" drabbles by Christopher
Jake Randolph in "The Eternal Night" Pt. 91
The Eternal Night #91
She turned back to Mason and me and said, "Don't mind him. He's a little upset about Lily's forthcoming marriage. He thinks Mr. Sperry is a bit too old for our daughter."
I nodded, "Well, there is a considerable age difference between the two."
She smiled, "Love has no age limit, Mr. Randolph, was it?"
I nodded, "Yes, ma'am. Jacob Randolph. This is my photographer, Bobby Hilton."
She looked at Mason for longer than I cared for. I wasn't sure if she could tell the wig and moustache were fake or if she could tell that he was Brick Mason...
Jake Randolph in "The Eternal Night" Pt. 90
The Eternal Night #90
"And since our daughter is engaged to Mr. Sperry she's going to be a part of the feature?" Mrs. Wells asked.
I nodded, "That's right, ma'am. We just wanted to get a little bit of background about Lillian; what her likes and dislikes are, how she grew up, that sort of thing."
She smiled, "Well, we'll tell you anything you want to know. Won't we, dear?" she asked as she turned to her husband.
He shook his head and said, "I'm going skiing. I'm sure you're more than capable of handling this. Dear."
The way he added "dear" was unsettling...
Jake Randolph in "The Eternal Night" Pt. 89
The Eternal Night #89
Mr. Wells was still giving Mason and me the evil eye. I couldn't tell if he doubted who we said we were or if he just didn't want us asking about his daughter. Either way I knew Mrs. Wells was more than keen to bend our ears about whatever we would listen to.
"Now, what magazine did you boys say you were with?" she asked with a smile.
"Screen Time, ma'am," Mason said. I guess he figured it might look strange if he stayed silent the whole time.
"Yes," I added, "and we're doing an upcoming feature on William Sperry."
Jake Randolph in "The Eternal Night" Pt. 88
The Eternal Night #88
Mrs. Wells really saved my bacon. All that preparation and all those props and Mr. Wells didn't fall for it. I would've looked rather foolish in front of Brick Mason if she hadn't come along and overrode her husband. But, thankfully for me, wives have been overriding husbands since the Garden of Eden.
Mrs. Wells led us into the living room. It was Victorian style furniture, which looked out of place in a cottage like this. But I could tell Mrs. Wells was particularly proud of it so I said, "This is a beautiful room, ma'am."
She smiled, "Thank you!"
Jake Randolph in "The Eternal Night" Pt. 87
The Eternal Night #87
I could tell Mason was really paying attention to what was going on. I had to give him credit for the authenticity he was wanting to bring to his portrayal of Derek Slade.
"I'm sorry," Mr. Wells said, "but I have nothing to say about it."
He looked at my foot still wedged in the doorway and I knew he was about two seconds from slamming the door on it when a woman came up behind him.
"Nonsense, Henry! We'll be glad to talk to you. Come in, come in!"
She roughly pushed her husband aside and let us in...
Jake Randolph in "The Eternal Night" Pt. 86
The Eternal Night #86
I put my foot in the doorway to stop him from completely closing it.
"No, sir," I said quickly, "I'm a reporter for Screen Time. This is my photographer, Bobby Hilton. We understand your daughter's engaged to William Sperry of the soon-to-be resurrected Paragon Pictures and we wanted to ask a few questions."
He looked down at my foot, then back up at me, "I don't know anything about Mr. Sperry other than she's engaged to him."
"No, sir, we wanted to find out about your daughter."
"Why?"
"Because Mr. Sperry bringing back Paragon is a big deal."
Jake Randolph in "The Eternal Night" Pt. 85
The Eternal Night #85
We walked up the path to the front door. I knocked and waited. I heard footsteps on the other side. A man answered the door in a yellow robe and bare feet. He looked about 55 or 60. If this was Lily's old man then he was about the same age as her fiance.
"Yes? Can I help you?" he asked.
"Hello, sir. Are you Lillian Wells' father?" I asked jovially.
He suspiciously said, "Yes..."
"Hello, sir. My name is Jacob Randolph and I work for Screen Time magazine."
"We don't want a subscription," he said, quickly closing the door...
Jake Randolph in "The Eternal Night" Pt. 84
The Eternal Night #84
He put on the curly black wig and the bushy black moustache and turned to face me. He really did look like an Italian ice cream seller.
Mason grumbled the entire way down to the street, where we hailed a cab to Lily's parents' house.
It was a nice sized blue cottage type house, an arbor-style front porch, complete with a rose trellis running up the left side, and a white picket fence around the grassy, uncluttered front yard.
All in all, it looked like an idyllic place to grow up, if indeed Lily grew up in this house...
Jake Randolph in "The Eternal Night" Pt. 83
The Eternal Night #83
I was almost finished eating when Mason finally awoke. He didn't seem any more of a morning person than Roxie. He showered, coming out of the bathroom wearing a pair of blue slacks, white satin shirt with a shiny blue tie, and a pair of grey boat shoes. I wasn't sure if he looked like a photographer any more than I looked like a reporter, but you play the hand you're dealt, so we went with it.
Mason quickly ate and I reminded him he'd forgotten some of his wardrobe.
"Jake, Do I really have to wear this?"
I nodded...
Jake Randolph in "The Eternal Night" Pt. 82
The Eternal Night #82
I got very little sleep. Mason's nose sounded like a lumberjack competition was being held in his nostrils, so I was awake when the sun started piercing through the blinds on the hotel window.
I got up and showered while Mason was still sawing logs. I put on a cream-colored pullover sweater, some black slacks, and some black Wingtip Oxfords. I wasn't sure how a reporter was supposed to dress, but at least I didn't look like a detective.
I called room service, ordering two plates of eggs, bacon and orange juice and waited for Snoring Beauty to arise...
Jake Randolph in "The Eternal Night" Pt. 81
The Eternal Night #81
He sat down on the edge of the other bed.
"You don't seem like the reckless type, Jake. You seem very thorough and very calculated."
"I am. Or was, in the early days at least. But by then I was getting tired and sloppy and taunting people, dangerous people that put those around me in harm's way. So I walked away from it."
Mason looked at me a moment and then asked, "Do you miss it?"
I thought about it and then said, "I'll let you know when this is over."
I got up and started getting ready for bed...
Jake Randolph in "The Eternal Night" Pt. 80
The Eternal Night #80
I sat down on the edge of the bed.
"It wasn't one thing. It was a culmination of everything that had happened since I got back from the war."
"Which war?" he asked. I tended to think of it as the only war.
"Second World War. Anyway, I was growing weary of being punched and shot at and nearly killed. Working all night and having to sleep half the day. Then, I had a client. A little girl who had hired me to find her father. My recklessness very nearly got her killed. So I walked away after that case."
Jake Randolph in "The Eternal Night" Pt. 79
The Eternal Night #79
I was beginning to develop a new respect for Brick Mason. He struck me as a kind of all-American golden boy that ran track and was on the swim team and probably came from a well-to-do background. Maybe he is a good actor, if he fooled me.
"Okay," Mason said, "I opened up to you. Now how about you tell me why you quit being a detective."
I still didn't wanna talk about it. But, he did tell me something about his past, something he probably didn't want people to know.
I guessed I owed him one...
Jake Randolph in "The Eternal Night" Pt. 78
The Eternal Night #78
Mason shook his head, "I'm going to have to rethink this researching of roles. Next time I'm just going to show up and recite the words that are in the script."
"That's how most of them do it," I said. "How did you research Riot At Reform School? Did you actually go to one?"
He nodded, "Yes, but that was long before I became an actor."
I looked shocked, "You mean you were actually in a reform school when you were young?"
He nodded again, "Several months during my teenage years. It didn't take me long to straighten up, though."
Jake Randolph in "The Eternal Night" Pt. 77
The Eternal Night #77
It took another few minutes to get Mason to agree to wear the wig and moustache. He tried them on and looked in the mirror.
"I look like an Italian ice cream seller, for God's sake!" he yelled.
I smiled, "Right. What you don't look like is the punk you played in Riot At Reform School. And that's exactly why you need to wear it. You should familiarize yourself with that camera, too. I bought several rolls of film in case you want to take some shots before we get there."
He picked up the camera and looked at it...
Jake Randolph in "The Eternal Night" Pt. 76
The Eternal Night #76
I nodded, "Oh, yes you are! Or we'll go back to L.A. right now."
"Do you really think they've seen Riot At Reform School?"
I shook my head, "Probably not. But we're not taking that chance. You're wearing the wig and pretending to be a photographer for Screen Time magazine. And I'll be the reporter trying to get a feature story about William Sperry and the soon-to-be resurrected Paragon Pictures studio."
"Did you have to do this kind of stuff a lot?"
I nodded, "You often had to pretend to be someone else. But not always with props."
Jake Randolph in "The Eternal Night" Pt. 75
The Eternal Night #75
There was a writing pad, like the kind reporters use when they're getting a story, a Graflex Pacemaker Crown Graphic camera, like the kind magazine photographers use, and a curly black wig and a bushy black moustache, like the kind someone uses when they don't want to be recognized.
"Please tell me the wig and moustache are for you," Mason said without much hope in his voice.
I shook my head, "I'm not the one they might have seen in Riot At Reform School or any of the other subpar films you've been in."
"I'm not wearing that stuff. Nope."
Jake Randolph in "The Eternal Night" Pt. 74
The Eternal Night #74
"Okay," I said as I tried to explain this to Mason, "if we show up at the Wells' door in the morning and say 'Hi, we're here to make sure there isn't anything in your daughter's past that will embarass her future husband,' how do you think they would react?"
Mason thought a moment and said, "I'm sure they'd slam the door in our faces."
"Bingo! Give the man a cigar! So, these items are gonna help us convince Lily's parents to tell us everything we want to know about their daughter."
He perused the items with a raised eyebrow...
Jake Randolph in "The Eternal Night" Pt. 73
The Eternal Night #73
After dinner I told Mason I would see him back at the hotel. I had a few items to pick up before the morning. And I needed to visit a few shops before they closed up for the night.
I had figured out what tactic I was going to use to talk to Lily's parents, but I needed a few props to pull it off successfully.
By the time I got back to the hotel I had visited a stationery store, a costume shop, and a camera store.
Mason didn't quite know what to make of all these strange items...
Jake Randolph in "The Eternal Night" Pt. 72
The Eternal Night #72
We got to the door of The Chuck Wagon, Aspen's premiere steakhouse, at least according to the hotel clerk.
We got a table, ordered and was eventually sitting there eating our steaks. Mine was the way I liked it, just south of burnt, while Mason's looked like it should still be mooing when he stuck his fork into it. It was practically swimming in a plate full of blood. I didn't see how anyone could eat a steak like that.
The conversation was question after question about being a detective. At least Mason was using his time with me wisely...
