With a sigh, he closed his cell phone. "Let's go."
We followed a winding stone path through a manicured lawn trimmed in dark green shrubs and bright red tulips. At the large front porch, we paused in front of the door.
"I hope someone's here," Brainert said as he rang the bell.
I heard movement in the house on the second ring. The lock clicked and to my surprise screenwriter and novelist Maggie Kline opened the door.
"Parker! What a surprise!" Laugh lines creased the edges of her eyes as she gave him a big smile. She adjusted her red-framed glasses and put a hand on the hip of her low-waisted khakis. "And you brought friends, I see. Is this a party? Did Wendell invite you over? Come on in."
We entered a high-roofed foyer with bright yellow walls and a slowly rotating ceiling fan. The space was dominated by a huge framed poster for the film Taxi Driver. The central image of Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle was framed by a yellow border, which matched the walls. Below it was a glass case, displaying a pistol rigged on some kind of sliding rail-a prop from one of the movie's scenes, I assumed.
"The man in the Mighty Mouse shirt is Seymour Tarnish," Brainert told Maggie. " Seymour is our local mailman, and a big fan of Pierce Armstrong's."
"Oh, I see. You came to pay him a visit. I'm so sorry, he's not here. Wendell just took Pierce over to the Movie Town Theater for his first talk of the weekend."
Brainert sighed. "I'm sorry we missed him, too. I called several times but-"
"Uh-oh, my bad. I've been ignoring the phone. This is kind of embarrassing, but…" Maggie made a pained face. "Wendell's ex-wife has been calling and calling. I didn't want to complicate matters by picking up the phone again and getting into a conversation with the woman about who I am and why I'm staying with Wendell. We had one brief, unhappy conversation, and frankly I don't care to go through a repeat performance. But let's not dwell on that. Come in! Come in!"
Maggie led us into the living room. Here the bone-white walls were lined with three-foot-tall posters, framed under protective glass. On one wall, Humphrey Bogart was facing off with Mary Astor in The Maltese Falcon; Fred MacMurray was passionately kissing Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity, the words You can't kiss away a murder! emblazoned across their clinched bodies; and Veronica Lake 's stunning image smoldered away in This Gun for Hire-her first film with Alan Ladd, who was destined to become her leading man in the classic noirs The Blue Dahlia and The Glass Key.
I walked the length of the room, taking in more legendary images: the ravishing, raven-haired Faith Domergue clutching a gun as sleepy-eyed Robert Mitchum grabbed for her in Where Danger Lives; Robert Montgomery's finger squeezing a trigger in The Lady in the Lake; trench-coated cop Dana Andrews appearing completely smitten with the bewitching Gene Tierney in Laura; and Bogart facing off with yet another woman, this time his legendary lady love, Lauren Bacall, in The Big Sleep.
"Wow," I said. "These old movie posters are absolutely amazing."
"They're actually called one-sheets," Maggie said. "One-sheets?"
"That's right." Maggie pointed to the faintest traces of creasing in the Double Indemnity poster. "Until the 1960s, one-sheet posters were printed on uncoated paper and folded into rectangles for shipping. That's why it's so hard to get them in good condition. Wendell's done a magnificent job preserving these."
A few of the framed one-sheets were surrounded by smaller posters, displaying entirely different scenes from the films. "And what are these called?" I asked, pointing to the smaller posters.
"Oh, those aren't posters. Those are lobby cards," Maggie informed me. "They're printed on heavy cardstock instead of paper, and they were usually sent by the studios in sets of eight. Theater owners placed them in the lobby-hence the name. They were very similar to window cards."
"Okay," I said, "you got me again. What exactly are window cards?"
Maggie gestured to a 14-by-22 inch card advertising the 1945 film Detour. "Window cards were printed on heavy cardstock, too. You can tell the difference between a window card and a lobby card by this blank strip at the top of the card. See?" She pointed to the top of the card. "The local theater would use that space to write its name. In this case, it was the Empire, in New York City."
Waddya know, my old haunt, said Jack, obviously amused. Of course, back then I charged a per diem for my haunting. 'Cause I wasn't dead yet.
"Oh, Jack… " I privately groaned. "That is so bad… "
"So, Maggie," Brainert spoke up, "you and Pierce are both staying here?"
Maggie nodded. "This house is large enough to put up five guests, let alone two, but I guess you know that."
Seymour 's bulging eyes had been bugged out in awe since he entered the living room. "Mind if I have a look around?" he asked.
"No problem! Enjoy," Maggie replied.
Seymour wandered off-I presumed in pursuit of any Fisherman Detective memorabilia-and Maggie continued to chatter away.
"Wendell's so proud of his movie mementos. He tells me his ex-wife would only allow them in certain rooms. Now that she's gone, he's put things all over the house. It's wonderful! Reminds me of when I was growing up. My father was in the movie business. It was so exciting. He saved every poster his studio ever put out. Unfortunately, it was all lost after he died.
Anyway, there aren't many folks in this area who really appreciate the scope of a collection like this. Things would be different on the West Coast-"
"Excuse me," Brainert finally interrupted, "but you meni tioned that Wendell took Pierce Armstrong to the Movie Town Theater?"
"That's right."
Brainert scratched his head. "I wasn't aware that a talk was scheduled for this afternoon."
"It wasn't. It's kind of a last-minute thing," Maggie explained. "Pierce agreed to a lengthy appearance on stage tomorrow, as well as an autograph session. But when he found out there was a screening of one of his short-subject films today, he expressed an interest in seeing it. So Wendell suggested an impromptu Q &A after the showing. I'm sure it will be quite a shock for the audience to see the Fisherman Detective in the flesh. But then Pierce is supposed to be one of the weekend's special 'surprise' guests." Maggie laughed. "Surprise!"
Maggie's face fell after that. She touched Brainert's arm. "Frankly, I think Wendell wanted to cheer the old man up. Pierce took the news of Dr. Lilly's death very hard."
I blinked. "Pierce Armstrong knew Dr. Lilly?"
Maggie nodded. "Dr. Lilly taped an extensive interview with him for her next book."
"Her next book," I repeated. "Not the one that was just published?"
"That's right," said Maggie.
I stepped closer. "Did Pierce Armstrong say what the unpublished book was going to be about?"
"Haven't a clue." Maggie removed her red-framed glasses and cleaned them with the edge of her T-shirt. "He claimed Dr. Lilly's project was top secret. Funny, huh?"
"More like puzzling." Brainert frowned. "Dr. Lilly's current book is about Hedda Geist's life and her career at Gotham Features. I wonder why she didn't interview Pierce Armstrong for that one?"
"That I can tell you," said Maggie, popping her glasses back on. Apparently, Dr. Lilly caught up with Pierce only a few months ago. He was living incognito in a Florida retirement community. That's how he got on board with your film festival-through Dr. Lilly. I have to admit, I was shocked to learn the man was still alive and kicking. There are very few actors of his generation still breathing."
"Did you say Pierce Armstrong was living incognito?" Brainert asked.