Free Secrets by Danielle Steel Page A

time, the air conditioning was turned off to eliminate the noise, and the sign flashed on to tell them they were on the air.
    The scene was even more devastating than Jane had feared, and as they shot her face in the fatal car crash that would end her career, her tears and sobs were genuine, as was her last ghastly scream. Jane fainted as they went off the air.
    The director had disappeared when the rest of the cast helped her to her dressing room. And there was no cast party for them. There were tearful good-byes, last hugs and final promises to stay in touch, as Jane drove the Mercedes wagon slowly off the lot for the last time, crying all the way home, and trying to concoct a suitably awful hospital story for her family to justify the way she looked when she got home. Lou's flowers were waiting for her there, and mercifully all the kids came home late from school. Jason was living at UC Santa Barbara, and the girls had hockey practice that day. Even Jack gave her a break. He called to say he had an unexpected meeting to attend and he wouldn't be home till nine.
    She lay on her bed and cried for hours, and never even answered the phone that night. There was no one she wanted to talk to. Her life on Our Secret Sorrows was a thing of the past, her career was over at last, just as Jack had wanted so long ago, and life looked bleak to her as it stretched ahead. Bleaker than it ever had before. And mercifully, she was asleep, still wearing her clothes, when Jack came home that night. And having had too much to drink, he passed out before he had a chance to begin the nightly sex ritual with his wife. He left her alone, dressed, heartbroken, and exhausted by the rigors of the day. He had no idea what she'd been through, what she'd done for the last ten years, or even who she was.

Chapter 6

    Bill Warwick was tired by four o'clock in the afternoon, after waiting on table all day at Mike's. There was a lull, with the only customers sitting at the bar, or playing pool, and he was chatting with Adam when the phone rang on the bar.
    It's for you. Bill looked surprised as Adam handed him the phone, and suddenly wondered if it was Sandy. He couldn't remember whether or not he had told her he'd be working there. And he'd been worried about her all day. He wondered where she was, and how stoned she was. But it wasn't Sandy. It was Harry, his agent.
    Hi, kid.
    How'd you find me here?
    Your answering service gave me this number. Where are you? He'd forgotten he'd left the number with the service after all.
    I'm working, for a change. I'm waiting table at my favorite bar.
    Tell them you just quit.
    Any particular reason? A starring role in a movie perhaps? He was kidding as he sat down at the bar.
    Would you settle for Mel Wechsler's new series? There was a pause as he gloated silently at his end, and Bill stared into space, wondering if it was only leading up to another disappointment. He's casting for it now, and it's going to be a biggie. A real hot one. I heard about it last week, and heard he was looking for a guy about your age. We sent him your reel, and he wants to see you.
    Bill whistled and looked at Adam with a grin.
    Think I have a chance? He didn't dare hope, he had built so many castles in the air, and they had all fallen at his feet like so much sand. But maybe this time ' that was the beauty of the business. There was always hope, always another chance, always tomorrow.
    I think you have a good chance. He wants to see you at ten tomorrow morning, and I have a copy of the script. I want you to read it tonight. And, baby, you're going to love it. He would have loved a dog food commercial at that precise moment, but a Mel Wechsler series was too much to hope for. Can you come by the office and pick it up?
    I'm working till ten. Can I pick it up at the house?
    I'll drop it off at your place on my way home. And I want you to promise me you'll read it. I don't give a damn what Sandy pulls on you tonight, or if she OD's. Lock