Or maybe not. Odetta Olson led me onto the pier, out over the water, where no one might see us. We walked in silence, me slightly behind her, for a bit.
“I think I was a little harsh earlier,” she said, as we reached the middleof the pier.
I saw Dorian Fisher leaning over the railing, almost knocked unconscious. Odetta squatting down to take hold of both of his legs. The superhuman strength she’d demonstrated as she lifted him over the edge.
“You did good work in your scenes,” Odetta continued. “Your face,” she turned to me now. “It’s so expressive.”
I stared ahead at the blackened sea, numb, but somehow managed to keep walking. Odetta Olson wanted to talk about my acting?Now?
She exhaled deeply. “I don’t really think it was you who spread those rumors.”
“You don’t?” I said carefully.
Her words to Dorian Fisher came back to me:You did this! It was you all along. All these rumors…
She shook her head but didn’t look at me. “I’ve been under some stress.”
Our surroundings appeared in a new light. The quiet hum of the sea, the deserted pier. The driver left behind. Was she here to confess? Or to kill me too? The realization hit me with chilled precision. It was both.
“My friends are waiting for me,” I blurted out. “They’re going to wonder where I am.”
“Your friends? Were they with you on the yacht?”
Oh gosh, she was going to go after them, too.
“N-no.”
“Howdidyou get into that party?” Her voice sounded sharper now, interrogative.
“I—I wanted to see you,” I said without thinking. “I admire you. How you overcame every obstacle. But I will leave you alone forever, if you let me.”
“If Iletyou?”
She sounded confused, but it was probably just an act.
“I should never have come here. It was wrong. I don’t belong here. I know my place. I’m no one.”
She put a hand on my arm, stopping me. She faced me now, her expression full of resolve.
“Don’t youeversay that about yourself again.No onegets to make you feel that way.”
Fear twisted my insides. If my stomach wasn’t already empty, I might have been sick again.
“I don’t know anything. I swear, please!”
I looked down at my arm, but she wasn’t holding it anymore. I was free to go.
“I promise you’ll never see me again!” I screamed into the night.
And then, as much as my heels allowed, as fast as my shaky legs could stand it, I started to run.
Cannes Film FestivalDay Twelve
(The Final Day)
Constance
Pictures of Dorian’s last moments flashed in my head, clutched at my throat.
