Flynn moved aside to let Livvy through. She looked back at him, but he couldn’t tell if her expression was one of gratitude or irritation.
He looked at an uncomfortable wooden chair, stained and lonesome in the cramped reception area, and sighed, then took a seat to wait for Hugh.
***
As the officer led her back through a padlocked steel door, Livvy tried to hold herself extremely upright, projecting a courage she did not feel.
Down the hallway, he gestured to a cell. “She’s in there.”
As soon as he walked away, Livvy dropped all pretense. “Judy!”
Her sister jolted up on the squalid cot she was lying on, and a look of intense relief washed over her when she made eye contact with Livvy. Judy ran to the bars separating them and stuck her hands through, grabbing for Livvy. “Livvy, thank God. They said I had one phone call, and I called the bungalow. They even let me try a few times, but you never picked up.”
“I know, I know, they told me. I’m so sorry.” How could she ever forgive herself for not going home last night, for choosingFlynn and herself over Judy. How many times would she fail her sister?
Livvy pressed a kiss to her sister’s hand, noticing that Judy’s nails had what looked like a layer of dried blood beneath them. She stepped back and took Judy in. She was still in her skimpy black showgirl costume from the night before. It was little more than a corset, a bustle full of feathers, and some fishnet tights. Livvy saw with horror that there was a rip in her sister’s tights, a stain on her bodice, and a scratch on her cheek. A strong smell of vomit emanated from Judy’s rat’s nest of hair.
Livvy tried not to gag. “What happened? I thought you were filming a scene as background dancers.”
Judy jutted out her chin, trying to look brave. But her lip quickly followed as she burst into tears. “I–I–I thought so tooo,” she sobbed, drawing out the last word.
Livvy pulled Judy toward her and tried to hug her through the prison bars. Judy sobbed and sobbed, until she hiccupped and abruptly stopped, seemingly cried out.
“Billy Wilkes said we were supposed to be dancers in a scene.”
Billy Wilkes—how Livvy hated that name. She’d known he was bad news from the day Judy had accepted the job at the Sphinx Club. She should’ve trusted her gut and made her sister turn down the offer. Even if Judy would’ve been mad at her. But they’d needed the money for rent, and that had clouded her judgment.
“But when we got to the studio, it was a big party. Celebrating their successful year at the box office, honoring the executives and salesmen. There were guys there that’d flown in from around the country. They said we were the night’s entertainment, and they gave us these outfits.” She gestured at her ensemble. “Told us to put them on. I thought well, what the heck? A gig is a gig. Ican dance for a party as well as I can dance for a camera. But when they said we were the entertainment, they didn’t just mean dancing. They meant we were there to entertain the men.”
Livvy’s stomach plunged. She knew what that meant. Every girl with a dream of Hollywood stardom did. The stories of studio bigwigs who liked to take their liberties had circulated backstage at the Hollywood Bowl. She was lucky that Harry’s biggest imposition was insisting she pretend to date Flynn. How lucky, she hadn’t realized.
“Did someone… Did they—” She couldn’t even say the words. If Judy had been violated, she would find the man responsible and murder him with her bare hands.
Judy shook her head. “But they tried.” She gulped, and Livvy could tell she was searching for the strength to finish her story. “We did our little performance, and then we were each assigned a table. Mr. Devlin seemed so nice at first.”
The name sent alarm bells ringing in Livvy’s head, but she couldn’t remember why it was familiar to her.
Judy kept going. “He asked me to sit next to him, and he kept refilling my champagne glass. After a while, I started to get a headache and feel sick. I said I needed to run to the ladies’ room, and he said he would help me. I said that wouldn’t be necessary, but he insisted. He took my arm.”
Judy held up her wrist, and Livvy gasped at the line of fingerprints visible in a ring of bruises. “What a brute.”
“He brought me to the ladies’ room, and I went in and was sick to my stomach. I’ve never had that much champagne before. I’m sorry, Livvy. I should have stopped after two glasses, but he kept pouring, and Billy told us our job was to be agreeable and make sure the men had a good time.”
Livvy squeezed her sister’s hand. “Don’t apologize, Judy. Nopart of this is your fault.”
“Anyway, I thought after I went to the bathroom, that was the end of it. I would tell Mr. Devlin I needed to go home because I wasn’t feeling well. But when I came out into the little waiting room area, he was sitting in there on the little pouf in the center of the room, and he had—” Judy swallowed.
“You don’t have to tell me the rest if you don’t want to.”
“No, I need to say it. He had unzipped his trousers, and he reached out for me and pulled my hand into his pants.” Livvy felt like she might vomit now too. “I protested and backed up, and he tried to cajole me. He stood and he pressed his body weight against me, pushing me up against the wall. I hoped and prayed that someone else would come in and use the restroom, and it would end. But nobody did, so I slipped out from under his arms and tried to leave. He caught me around the waist, called me a tease, and flung me onto the lounge.
“I screamed and tried to get away, but he wouldn’t stop. He started to climb on top of me, and I snapped. I slapped him, and with my other hand, I scratched at his face.” She held up her hand again, showing off the dried blood under her fingernails. “He scratched me back, bit my lip until it bled. Called me an alley cat who needed to be tamed. I scratched him again, digging my nails harder into his face, and that’s when he called for security and told them that I had attacked him unprovoked. That he had to fight me off because I was drunk and crazed.”
“But that’s a lie! Did you tell them he was lying?”
Judy’s shoulders collapsed, and she shook with sobs. Livvy couldn’t bear to have these bars between them. She needed to hold her sister, to make her understand that she would do anything to protect her. That she would never fail her again. To hell with Flynn. To hell with the picture. Judy was her top prioritynow. She should always have been.
“I couldn’t. I was in shock. They put me in handcuffs and threw me in the back of a police wagon and drove me away.”
