Along Came A Prince (7 page)

Stacia flipped off
the remote. She let her thoughts wander to Rob’s story about Audra and Mark.
Mystery
,
he’d said, and Hal wouldn’t tell her anything. How did Helen Ashley Shores fit
into this scenario? And now even a secret, locked-up journal had entered center
stage.

Hollywood truly
was made up of the good, the bad and the ugly. But who would have thought the
gossip capital of the world was really a hushed-up Hollywood Confidential?

And how would all
this affect the filming of the new
London Affair
, her career…and her?

“Thank you so
much, Mrs. Shores, for seeing me on such short notice,” Stacia said as they
dined the next afternoon on her patio.

“How about calling
me Helen? Mrs. Shores is so impersonal, and it makes me feel as if I’m an old
lady.”

“The way you look,
you certainly have many years before anyone can call you old.”

“That’s sweet of
you to say, Stacia, especially when I had almost no sleep last night. The
reason is I debated most of the night about whether I should tell you what I
know about Audra and Mark’s deaths.”

Stacia noticed the
tears gathering in Helen’s eyes. “You don’t have to –”

“Telling it
is
reliving it, and it’s hard to go through everything again, but I think the
tragic undertone may make your performance stronger. The storyline of the movie
is heartbreaking, as you now know, but drama films back then usually were
tear-jerkers, as they used to call them years ago. It may help you stay in
character better realizing that fiction can sometimes spill over into reality.”

“It’s really not
necessary to...” Stacia let her voice trail off, as Helen didn’t seem to hear
her and continued talking as if she were on an unstoppable mission.

“I spoke with Hal
this morning after I decided to tell you my story. If what I’m considering to
do is really important to me, I like to talk things over with him first. You
see, there’s probably only ten people altogether who knew the truth. Studio
executives, the chief of police – people like that. Obviously, they’ve kept
still all these years and refused to disclose what they know, which is a hard
thing to find in Hollywood.”

Yes, it is,
Stacia agreed silently.

“I only hope the
money that can be made from tell-alls today doesn’t tempt one of them to come
forward. With the publicity
London Affair
will generate, I’m sure some
of the media will be digging around, although many who knew what happened are
dead now. This cuts down the odds somewhat. I, myself, believe Audra and Mark
should rest in peace.”

“Were there any
problems while you were shooting the picture?”

“None that I can
remember. This was my first movie role, and I was only nine, so I don’t know
exactly. The trouble began about a week before the movie was set to premiere.
The studio and Farrell Fontaine – he had power in those days – decided it would
be a good idea to do a little promo work at a local theater. Farrell picked up
Audra and me and drove us there. Audra and I did a little dialog on the stage
as Victoria and Lily. Mark Bennett, by the way, was up at Audra’s and his cabin
getting it ready for their honeymoon.

“When we were
finished, we went out the backstage door to avoid the crowds. Farrell
instructed us to wait there while he went to get the car parked in front. He,
of course, was in no danger of being recognized like Audra was. No one was
around. After Farrell disappeared from our view, suddenly a car came screeching
down the alley and skidded to a stop. Two men jumped out, ran up to Audra and
me, held their hands over our mouths and half-carried, half-dragged us to their
car.

“We both were
kicking. Once, I heard the man holding Audra yell out,
‘Ouch
,’ and he
swore at her. Audra let out one loud scream and was silent. He’d hit her and
knocked her unconscious. We were put into the backseat, and the men jumped in
next to us. The driver began to speed out of the alley with tires squealing,
and the accelerator had to be jammed to the floor. We were weaving back and
forth all the way down the alley. Just as we reached the street, I saw Farrell
standing there with a look of terror on his face. I guess he must have heard
Audra scream and came back to see what was wrong. He was standing there in the
car’s path, waving his arms frantically, trying to block it from exiting into
the street. The car was heading straight for Farrell, but at the last split-second,
he jumped out of the way.

“Audra was out
cold. We drove and drove for a long time before she regained consciousness. The
three men kept drinking beer, one after another, and tossing the empty bottles
out the window. We were way out of town by the time she awoke, high up on some
mountain road. I could see the lights of the city below us.”

Helen stopped and
caught her breath. “‘She’s awake,’ I heard the man holding Audra captive say.
The driver stopped the car. Audra was crying hard, probably knowing what would
happen next. I was nine and petrified – I didn’t move at all. Suddenly the door
opened, and I was dragged from the car and shoved into the front seat. The
driver climbed into the backseat with Audra and the other man. The dome light
was on. The man holding me kept laughing. I closed my eyes, but I heard her...”
Helen couldn’t go on. Tears flowed down her face.

“It’s okay not to
finish,” Stacia whispered as shivers commenced to travel through her because of
Helen’s chilling story. She closed her eyes and could almost experience the
heinous treatment Audra had been forced to endure.

“You’d think after
all these years, I’d forget, but I haven’t,” she said, unable to keep her voice
even. “I still have nightmares. I can see it today and remember every little detail
as if everything happened ten minutes ago.”

“Please don’t go
on,” Stacia pleaded.

“I have to. If I start
to tell the story, I know I have to finish it. I can’t let those deranged
monsters win everything all over again. Going on is the only way I can keep
from choking to death over the horror of what happened.” She lowered her head
and buried her face in her hands.

“Can I get you
anything?” Stacia asked, wanting to do something – anything – to ease the
burden Helen had trapped in her heart. Swept away in the terror of the moment
and unable to think of anything else, she grabbed at the obvious. “Water,
coffee or something stronger?”

Helen shook her
head. “No, I just need to finish what I’ve started. The two men in the backseat…”
She wiped away the tears in both of her eyes and continued with her story. “I’m
sorry, I can’t even say that horrendous word.” She swiped at her eyes again
before going on. “The man holding me captive would turn around to look back and
whenever he did, he turned me with him. I tried to keep my eyes closed, so I
wouldn’t see what was going on, but Audra was screaming so loud, I kept opening
them. I saw the men punch her body and face until she was bleeding profusely. Finally,
the man holding me said, ‘It’s my turn.’ He let go of me and got out of the
car. When he tried to get into the backseat, the other men objected. Suddenly,
it hit me. I could escape. I jumped out of the car and ran into the woods and
hid. The men didn’t realize I was gone. I could hear them arguing.

“A short time
later I heard one of them say, ‘Well, I guess she just spoiled our fun. Too
bad, you didn’t get your chance, Jordan.’ Then they must have realized I was
gone because one of them said, ‘Where’s the kid?’ I heard a guttural voice answer,
‘Let’s find her. We can get some ransom for her, instead of the dead one.’ They
started arguing again. ‘Let her go,’ one man demanded. ‘She wasn’t supposed to
be the target of the kidnapping. You should have left her at the theater.’ ‘Yeah,
and have her identify us?’ the gravelly voice retorted. I was shaking so hard
by this time that I had to stick my finger between my teeth to keep them from
clattering together. I was afraid they’d hear me.” Helen began to sob.

“It’s okay now.
It’s all over. You made it through your story. They didn’t win.” Stacia moved
her patio chair next to the older woman and put her arm around her.

As if rejuvenated,
Helen sat up straight. “But, I’m not finished yet,” she said, her voice strong
once again. “There’s more.”

“Are you sure you
want to go on?” Stacia leaned back in the chair and put her hands in her lap.

“I must,” Helen
stated bravely as she continued her story. “After what seemed like forever, but
I know it was only seconds, one of the men said, ‘I’m not goin’ in there. We
don’t need her. We can try for a ransom without either one of them. Who’s to
know one of them is dead?’ One of the others agreed with him. ‘Right. Maybe the
mountain lions will get them both. Dump the body and let’s go.’    

“I heard the car
drive away. I didn’t know what to do, so I stayed quiet, hoping the men
wouldn’t come back, and the animals wouldn’t find me. I don’t know how much
longer it was, but I heard a car come down the road and stop. I crept closer to
the highway so I could see, and an elderly man and woman were standing by a
truck. They must have seen Audra’s body in their headlights and stopped. I ran
out of the woods and headed straight for the woman. She saw me and opened up
her arms for me to run into. She stroked my hair and kept trying to comfort me for
I was crying hysterically.

“They loaded me
into their car and took me straight to a hospital in some little town. The
sheriff came, then my parents, then the FBI and the president of Starlit
Studios and several of their lawyers. We were all cramped together in my small
hospital room. But I felt safe for the first time since the men kidnapped us.

“As is well-known,
the studios had immense power back then. Not a word was leaked to the media.
There was nothing about what Audra went through. Probably because of her image,
they didn’t want anyone to know how she’d died. Everything was about image back
then, so the newspapers simply said she was killed in a car accident in the
mountains going around a curve. Because of my age, I wasn’t mentioned at all.”

“No wonder you
don’t want to tell your story. I almost wish I hadn’t heard it.” Stacia felt as
if she was being strangled from learning about the grotesque happenings. She
covered her neck with her hand, as if she was protecting it from harm.

“Mark came back
from their cabin the next day. I didn’t go to the funeral, but my parents did,
and I guess Mark looked close to death himself. He hung around Hollywood for about
two weeks until their scheduled wedding day. Then he disappeared. No one knew
where. Again, this was hushed up. Winter came and went. Then the caretaker
checked the cabin and found Mark’s body. Beside him was a journal. It described
his last days. He had brought no food or water with him to the cabin for he
didn’t want to live without Audra, and he said so in his journal. His last
entry was three weeks after he’d arrived there, and so they estimated when he
died. The journal was filled with love letters to Audra as well as the daily
entries of his condition, his thoughts on dying, and his strong desire not to
live without her.”

“Where is the
journal now?”

“No one knows. It
was rumored at the time to be in the vault at Starlit Studios, but the studios
didn’t confirm it, and why should they have? They had no one to answer to.” By
now, Helen had completely regained her composure.

“Years later, my
mother told me this part of the story. Because what I saw affected me so traumatically
and also because I was so young, the studio thought they owed it to me to tell
my parents about the three men involved. My mother kept it to herself until I
was grown, but felt I had a right to know the final ending.

“Since everything
was hushed up, the three men couldn’t be arrested without the media knowing.
The studio couldn’t keep a murder and kidnapping trial secret. However, Farrell
had remembered the car’s license plate when he was almost run over. He told the
studio head, and their mafia connections hired three hit men who located the
three guilty men. These hit men were hired to
make things right
for
Audra, Mark and me. They were instructed to do the worst they could imagine, so
the men would feel every ounce of pain and suffering the three of us had gone
through. The studio was very brief in describing the events that took place, in
fact, they didn’t describe them at all. But they did say the three men begged
to die after about three hours alone with the hit men. Their request was
answered twenty-four hours later.” Helen stood up, wrung her hands together and
walked over to the patio balcony. “Well, that’s it, end of story. Now you know
it all.”

“No one should
have had to go through what you did at your young age or any age, for that
matter. I’m so sorry.” Stacia reached for a tissue to dab at her moist eyes. “I
have one more question, if that’s okay. You mentioned Farrell and said he was
there when all this began. Is that why he started drinking?”

“Farrell blamed
himself for what happened because he left us alone. He couldn’t cope, so he
turned to alcohol.”

“Thank you for
sharing your story with me.”

Helen glanced at
her watch. “I really must go now, Stacia,” she said. “Anyway, I understand you
have a contract to sign in a little while.”

“One more thing. Can
you tell me what kind of person Audra was?”

“She was a
talented actress, as I’m sure you must realize. She was always patient, kind
and thoughtful to me. I’d say her personality was pretty much like yours. She
was a beautiful woman – again, you know this. But off screen, she was even more
beautiful. Probably because she wasn’t acting then, so you’d get the total
effect of her inner beauty also. You know, it’s rather eerie how much you
resemble her. I can see why Nathan and Arthur chose you to play her role. It’s
a perfect match.”

“So,
all I have to do is go in and try to copy this goddess. I don’t know if I can.”

“Of
course you can. You’re an actress, remember. We all do the impossible, and when
we do and give an extraordinary performance, the audience loves us even more.”
Helen smiled, stood up and walked to the door. “I enjoyed our lunch and
most
of our talk.”

Stacia
gave her a hug. “I’ll do my best to play Victoria as Audra did.”

Helen
squeezed Stacia’s hand. “Good luck, dear, or as they say in the theater,
break
a leg.
”