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It was her first big break Sure, she’d scored so, but nothing that put her in the lights She got a waitressing job at Burgundy’s, the current "in" café in Beverly Hills, fully aware that every important producer dropped in for lunch at one time or another She was careful about who she went out with, who she slept with She was sure theher It didn’t matter, everyone was happy, especially Gloria, especially now She was about to be Detective Belle DeWitt, a badass cop in Balti else? She’d have to ask

Would Detective Belle DeWitt be her breakout role? They’d even asked her if she liked her character’s name when she’d done her second audition, and that had enius with a cainal Gloria Swanson when she’d roared through Hollywood back in the day He asked if she was related, since she looked so hed at his own joke

She drank ne frory, her stoain of Deborah and wondered if she should make an appearance at her funeral Itstick-in-the-ed to, who’d hated that Deborah was an actress If he had such a burr up his butt about it, why had he wanted to o She owed Deborah that

She was pretty buzzed when she started her nightly ritual She closed all the draperies, checked every , dead-bolted the door, and set the burglar alarm, installed thanks to her parents

When she was finally in bed, the AC set on high and her new 22 beside her on the bedside table, she settled in and picked up the latest copy of Vanity Fair and tried to concentrate, but all she could see was a future photo of herself, proudly holding up her Balti hot, of course

It was a quarter to one in thewhen she finally closed her eyes

WAKE UP, GLORIA

Her eyes flew open and she was fully alert Her heart was pounding, the covers tangled around her legs That voice, it was loud and clear It was Deborah’s voice shouting at her to wake up, but Gloria knew that wasn’t possible She shook her head A drea about Deborah and she’d dreamed about her, that one, and she was scared She looked at her bedside clock 1:59

She grabbed her 22 off the bedside table, felt the cold steel against her fingers, her pal for all she orth She heard so tricks on her because she was scared She hadn’t heard anything, it wasn’t possible But she clutched the gun to her chest, not un; he can’t kill you Don’t make a sound, just breathe, listen, focus

And then she heard it, the sound of the ly sliding up in her second bedroom, nearly noiseless, but she knew the sound Why hadn’t her state-of-the-art alarone off?

She hadn’t actually believed the serial killer would come, even after Detective Loo actresses were there in LA? And how could she have gotten on that madun No as he going to slash her throat, no as she going to be his seventh victim

Gloria slipped out of bed, molded her pillows into her shape and covered them with lots of blankets, and that made sense since the roo She backed away and slipped down to her knees behind her ancient red velvet chair, a present her grandiven her for luck in LaLa Land She concentrated on stilling her breathing, slowing the wild pounding of her heart She was used to doing that each time she performed, but this was real and it wasn’t the saotten her cell and ran on bare feet to the bedside table, pulled her cell out of its charger, fell to her knees and crawled back behind the big chair She fued to press 911 She heard the operator’s calency and she whispered, "The Starlet Slasher is inhi her address would show up on the operator’s screen

Would the cops get there before he walked into her bedroo so loud she wondered if he’d hear it as he came closer She heard a board creak He was in the hallway, outside the bathroo? Would he sun as well as a knife Would the lu?

He was outside her bedroo, slow and easy, as he pushed on the partly opened door She felt the air change as the door swung inward, though she hardly saw it because it was very dark She kneas looking into her bedroom, toward her bed He stepped into the rooht, aimed directly at her bed, at the luain He didn’t want to take the chance of waking her up

Gloria kept sing bile she was so scared She could barely see hih the s in the drapes He was tall and thin, but that was all she could see He earing a cap pulled do and soles? To hide his face? That wasn’t in any of the news reports And then she realized it was to keep fro blinded by blood Her blood

He walked very quietly toward the bed If she’d been asleep, she’d never have heard him When he stood beside the bed, he bent forward, reached out his left hand toward the pillohere her head would be, and he raised his knife, ready to slice it across her throat

Sirens shrieked in the distance Her breath whooshed out She juht at hier slowly, steadily, though she was nearly blind noith fear and shaking forh her She fired until the revolver was e, and the small 22 clicked and clicked

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"I’m Detective Arturo Loomis, Santa Monica Police Department I called you today to warn you about the killer and to suggest you e