“Did she tell anyone what Jerry did?” she asked his throat. Ted’s chin brushed against her forehead.

“Just me,” he said.

“Did she tell those other producers that she wouldn’t work with you anymore?”

“No, that’s not her style.”

“But why did they come to you? What did you tell them?”

“Nothing. I kept her secret. But it wouldn’t have stayed a secret if she came back for good. It’s not a small enough town for that. Those guys just wanted my blessing. I don’t know why, but they did. And I just...didn’t give it.”

People came to me. They had come to Holly, too, when Caitlyn Alvarez filed her lawsuits. Was it to appease Holly or get her to act? She was never quite sure if others understood what the powerful could do to change the course of events, or if they simply wanted to stay aligned with that power, on its good side. Of course, once Holly understood the stakes of what Caitlyn was trying to do, she had to act. Because, sure, the woman had a right to be angry—at Nick, of course, and maybe at Vic since it was his set, and if you ran the problem all the way back to the roots, yeah, Jerry, too. He had his hands on so many projects, those dirty, grabby hands. But to file suit against Silvertown and Stabler? Stabler was Holly’s name now. Her children’s name. To smear the Stabler name—right now? In the middle of #metoo? Over something that had nothing to do with Ted, who’d only signed on to the project as a favor to Vic, to save it from going under, to save jobs? Of course Holly pushed back. Iced Caitlyn out from Genders United. Dropped her from the Getty Gala. She told Ted to have Zanne take back the invitation, not Dawn or Erin or the lawyers. A short, abrupt phone call from Zanne would send the right message to Caitlyn, that she’d gone too far and now she was cut off.

But what, exactly, had Phoebe done—except try to make a movie? She’d tried to move on, and no one had let her. And now that reporter was circling, asking about Phoebe. How much had the reporter already put together? Did she know about the rape? She’d said Phoebe was sidelined—did she mean by Jerry or by Ted? No doubt Jerry had set his army against Phoebe like he did all the women he’d hurt. The rape plus the sidelining would be a PR nightmare. And now the reporter was interested in Caitlyn, too, after everyone had finally forgotten about her. The two women’s stories were completely different but if you tried to connect them, you’d have to pass through Ted and Holly to do it, those wackos looking for a chief of staff who was familiar with cross-examination techniques.