343 - The Offer

While Evan worked through the Boston shoot, Cameron Diaz pushed open the door of a Century City coffee shop, wondering why she had been asked to come.

In blue jeans and a white jacket, her hair in a simple ponytail, she looked more like someone from the neighborhood than an actress. Oversized sunglasses concealed enough of her face that few people gave her a second look. A waiter led her to a secluded booth.

Her usual latte arrived. She stirred it absently, the spoon chiming against the cup, while she tried to guess what the person who had arranged this meeting wanted.

More than ten minutes passed before a short-haired woman in a business suit entered the booth. They studied each other briefly.

"Ms. Diaz. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Cameron removed her sunglasses. She was certain she had never seen the woman before, and she made no effort to hide her curiosity.

"You're the one who arranged this through my agent? Then let's get to it. I don't have much time."

"I have two film offers for you."

The woman accepted her coffee from the waiter, took a couple of small sips, and watched for a reaction.

Cameron reached for her purse. If this were a legitimate offer, the discussion should be going through her agent, not an unexplained meeting with a stranger. She took out twenty dollars and put it on the table.

The woman stood quickly. Her mysterious approach had made her sound exactly like a fraud.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Diaz. These are major productions. Both offers are for the female lead."

"Major productions?"

Cameron paused and looked at her again. There were only so many big films going into production each year, and actresses fought hard to get into them.

"You've got five minutes. I'm busy. Or you can take this to my agent."

Once she sat down, the woman stopped being coy.

"One project is in preparation now. You know Jim Carrey, of course. He's already signed. If you're interested, the female lead is yours. No audition. You could sign a contract whenever you're ready."

Cameron grew more attentive. A production that could afford Carrey wasn't likely to be small. By now, his name was as close to a box-office guarantee as the business offered.

Her usual casual manner disappeared. If the offer was genuine, she wanted to hear it.

"The other has a budget of more than ninety million dollars. Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith are set to star. They've both signed, and preproduction has begun."

The woman saw Cameron's interest and felt a surge of confidence. Whoever had advised her to lead with the projects had been right. An opportunity like this was difficult for an ambitious actress to dismiss.

"Who are you with?"

The offers were tempting. That didn't explain why they were being made to her. Plenty of better-established actresses would fight for either part.

"CAA. Here's my card."

The woman took a stack of cards from her bag and slid one across the table. She no longer seemed worried that Cameron would leave.

"Jenny..."

Cameron examined it. An agency affiliation was easy enough to check. There would be little point in faking something that a phone call could expose.

She turned the card between her fingers and met Jenny's eyes.

"Why me? What would I have to do?"

"You can choose either picture. I can guarantee the lead. We could even arrange the contract first."

Jenny leaned closer, her excitement showing as her voice dropped.

"All you have to do is..."

Twenty minutes later, Cameron walked out to the parking lot feeling deeply unsettled. She sat in her car for a while before she felt composed enough to leave.

The whole thing seemed incredible. By the time Jenny had finished, Cameron believed the offer. What she should do about it was another matter.

There were too many unknowns. Compared with the people behind Jenny, or the man they wanted to hurt, Cameron had very little power. One wrong move could leave her caught between enemies who would both blame her.

She clenched her jaw and started the car. All the way out of the lot, she kept weighing what she might gain against what she could lose.

"Katie, how long were you and director Evan Rosenberg together?"

"A year. Maybe a little longer? You know, I wasn't the only one. He was the quarterback, and there were always cheerleaders around him..."

On the television, a blonde woman spoke easily to the camera. It was a CBS talk show, with the reach of a major national network behind it.

In the living room of his Four Seasons suite, Evan watched with the others, a can of beer in his hand. His amused expression suggested a man watching football rather than an interview about himself.

"Your taste hasn't changed, boss."

Nina had a beer too. She seemed thoroughly entertained.

"A pretty blonde with a model's figure. Just looking at her, people will believe she used to be your girlfriend."

"Hey." He lifted one shoulder. "We were never a couple. We were friends. Someone went to a lot of trouble to dig her up after all this time."

As the host asked more questions, Katie began describing their sexual relationship. Some of the language was bleeped, though viewers could probably fill in most of what the network had cut.

"No, he never respected women. He was like an animal. The sex was abusive. It wasn't just me. Plenty of girls on the squad slept with him, and we were afraid of him..."

John Gray reached over and switched off the television. He had been sitting near it, growing steadily grimmer.

"Someone's using this. More than one person. I think CAA's involved, and Disney too. What do you think?"

CAA's apparent recruitment of Naomi's former agent, the discovery of Katie, and the platform the interview had received all fed his suspicions. He saw rival interests converging, though the connections did not establish who had arranged the broadcast or who was directing the campaign.

"Let them come forward."

Evan drank half his beer. He didn't appear to share John's anxiety.

"What next? A whole lineup of people saying I hurt them? I'm not an actor who has to sell himself to the public. A little controversy isn't automatically going to end my career."

John had flown to Boston early that morning. Warner knew how much depended on Evan and was taking the situation seriously. At the very least, the company didn't want the uproar disrupting the film.

"Get some rest, John."

Evan could see how tired his former production partner was.

"We haven't seen enough to know what they want. There's no point rushing. If they've started a campaign, they aren't going to stop after one interview."

John shook his head and left for his own room.

Nobody had expected news of Naomi's pregnancy to become an opening for something like this. By now, the studio regarded it as an attack on Warner as well as Evan.

Before John left Los Angeles, the executives had agreed on one likely motive. Warner had led the majors for two years, and not by a narrow margin. In their view, rivals resented the lost business. Hurting Evan could be a way to recover market share.

"Boss. Bella called from Los Angeles."

Only a few minutes after John left, Nina's phone had rung. She stayed on the line for more than ten minutes before hanging up.

"Someone approached her. They offered more than a million dollars and an editor-in-chief position if she'd agree to an interview and make allegations about you. They promised that if she came forward, other women would follow. Violence, abuse, using money to control women. That's the story they want."

"What?"

Even Evan hadn't expected anyone to spend that much. This was more elaborate than he had imagined.

Bella already earned well. Money alone wouldn't have been an easy temptation to put in her path. More than a million dollars and the top job at a newspaper were another proposition. An offer like that could put her ten years ahead in her career.