MISCHA SAT WAITING in the visitation room, watching the female prisoners interacting with their children and siblings and spouses. It was hard to watch. Hard to watch couples wanting desperately to embrace but being limited by the rule of contact minimale, nothing more than a brief kiss upon entry and departure. Hard to watch mothers being pried away from their kids at the end of a session. Hard to listen to the agonizing wails of small children too young to understand why Mommy couldn't come home with them.291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdqQByhUua7
These women had it rough. The vast majority of them were inside because of drugs or because of the man they were with. Most of them lacked a high school education. Many of them were illiterate. Most of them would get out of prison with little hope of making it and would end up addicted again, or they would commit another crime, or both.
Mischa's visitor was late, so her eyes dropped back down to the newspaper she was reading. They usually got the French papers a day late, and the American papers two or three days after publication. But it made no difference to the prisoners. The papers were their only constant source of news, so the information was current as far as they were concerned.
Mischa was reading a USA Today from three days ago, an article on an actor she once knew named Benito McLaughlin.
Benito had been pushing a film for several years, without any takers in Hollywood. Hitler would be a controversial movie, to say the least. A biopic of Adolph Hitler that explored in depth his childhood, friendships and his relationship with Eva Braun. A sympathetic portrait of a man whom history regarded with little to no sympathy.
Hollywood had flatly said no. McLaughlin had a concept, but he didn't have any money. Still, he didn't stop. Over the last eighteen months he'd managed to scrape together financing---private money----and finally made the movie. His first time behind the camera, also starring in the lead role. Written by, directed by, and starring Benito McLaughlin. It would be his Passion of the Christ, or it would be a colossal flop.
Last weekend, Hitler had opened in the United States with a box-office gross of seventy-two million dollars. It was the biggest opening of Benito McLaughlin's career and maybe signaled his rebirth at age forty-eight. The movie would be opening soon in Europe, where it was projected to set box-office records.
So their lives had taken slightly divergent paths since their final night together in Monte Carlo.
"Sorry I'm late." Stanley Pucci, the Paris correspondent for The New York Times, dropped his satchel on the table and pulled out a notepad. "Thanks for agreeing to the interview."
"I agreed to talk to you," said Mischa.
Pucci didn't seem to catch the distinction. He looked down at Mischa's newspaper. "Reading about your new boyfriend, I see." He didn't try to conceal his sarcasm. He'd made it pretty clear in the daily blog he wrote during the trial that, like most everyone else, he found it utterly implausible that a third-rate actress like Mischa Barton would have spent the night on a yacht with Benito.
"I'm innocent," she said to him. "And I intend to prove it at my appeal. I will find the real killer if it's the last thing I do."
He cocked his head. "Great. Now can we start the interview?"
"I didn't agree to an interview. I agreed to talk to you."
"You agreed...." Pucci drew black, replaying the words. "You're not going to let me ask you questions?"
"Now you're catching on, Stanley. Here's my quote for you: I'm innocent. I intend to prove it at my appeal. I won't rest until I find the real killer." Mischa stood up from the bench. "Have a safe trip back."291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxJApPXk4Dx
"Mischa, c'mon. There's nothing for me to print."291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8oR69fGELB
But he'd print it. These guys were staring for news on the so-called Broken Dolls. It would be a nice lead-in for a story on the upcoming appeal. It wasn't much, but it was more than any other reporter had from me.291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVFjkNf2CBL
And for Mischa's purposes, it was all she needed to do.291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0IUy74grU0
