179
Friday, March 5th, 1987, 6:11 P.M.
The atmosphere inside the Musso and Frank Grill on Hollywood Blvd. was alive and buzzing. It was early in the evening on a Friday night and many of Hollywood’s famous and upcoming stars had already started to assemble in their perspective booths and around the bar. Some prominent business people and their significant others were also in attendance.
And one of these towering titans of industry was Charlotte’s quarry.
Through some copious research, Charlotte discovered that Barclay Goodrow, President and CEO of Goodrow Industries, liked to visit the restaurant on the first Friday of every month. He would go in there along with a couple of his business associates and make their way over to the bar. After a few of The Grill’s famous martinis, they would settle down at one of the tables and have dinner.
It was Jennifer’s mission to intercept him somewhere in between.
Jennifer and her gaggle of giggling girls would barely have been allowed in such an establishment if it hadn’t previously been set up by Charlotte with management. Or, at the very least, not without a prior reservation. Individually, and as a group, Charlotte and the girls were frequent visitors of the club, although, that was in the early days of their entertainment career. Lately, after the thrill had worn off to a certain degree, seeing one of The Go-Go’s in the building was becoming far and few between. Even Charlotte herself would only go in there once in a while to meet with prospective or established clients. Believe it or not, she was growing tired of being hit on by Warren Beatty.
Jennifer and her cohorts: Blair Stastney, Natalie Klapka, and Tootie Turcotte were all piled into one of the red, leather booths on the west side of the floor. With one eye on her friends and the other eye on Mr. Goodrow, Jennifer’s frazzled nerves were rapidly being repaired by the giant, lime flavored margaritas that were flowing endlessly amongst her and her bosomy buddies. Naturally, the entire tab was being funded by Charlotte, as Jennifer was instructed to have as much fun as humanly possible, all the while keeping an eye out for the right time to set the trap. Clearly, she was not instructed to get totally shit-faced and end up face down the next morning on her hotel bed. She was there to do a job.
“Can we order some appetizers?” asked Tootie.
“Yeah, let’s get a huge plate of nachos,” suggested Natalie.
“Oh, please,” began Blair. “This is not that kind of place. If you’re going to get some appetizers, get some calamari.. or some octopus, or something like that. Don’t embarrass me.”
“Ewww, I’m not eating no damn octopus,” said Natalie. “What if it still has ink in it?”
Jennifer was staring straight ahead at Mr. Goodrow. She could hear her friends yapping in the background as she was doing her best job possible of multi-tasking.
Why are women so good at that?
“Yeah, yeah, order whatever you want,” she said, as she continued to fix her gaze upon the unsuspecting fly.
Eventually, Tootie noticed that Jennifer was focusing intently on something or someone over near the bar.
“What are you lookin’ at, Jen?” she asked. “Do you see a celebrity?”
“Uhh, not exactly,” answered Jennifer, continuing to stare persistently.
“Well, what then? Do you see a cute guy?” Tootie asked again, anxiously.
Jennifer did not answer this time. Instead, she took one last sip off her salted goblet and set it down. She wiped her sweaty palms on her skirt, then scooted herself down towards the edge of the booth in order to stand up. She took her attention away from the upcoming task for a moment to address her consumptive friends.
“Are any of you guys gonna order dinner?” she asked.
“I just wanna drink,” Blair informed her. “Maybe I’ll have some appetizers.”
“Oh, come on, Blair,” said Natalie. “This is our night out on the town. Charlotte said we could have whatever we wanted for being the best members of the Fan Club. Order some lobster or something. Don’t let this opportunity go to waste. Who knows when we’ll ever get a chance to come back here.”
“Yeah, come on, Blair,” Tootie agreed.
Blair, who was from Bel Air, (believe it or not, that’s why her parents named her that) did not see the value in pigging-out just because the evening was being paid for. She was hardly short for cash. Ever.
She gave Natalie and Tootie a supercilious look.
“I am not going to order an expensive meal just because someone else is paying for it.. I have higher standards than that,” she said.
“I don’t. Where’s the waiter?” said Natalie.
“You know, it’s too bad Charlotte couldn’t come with us,” said Tootie, somewhat dejected. “That would be amazing.. She seems like such an awesome person.”
Obviously, Jennifer had nothing to say towards that comment. She took a deep inhale and looked the other way in order for the girls to not see the expression on her face. If only they knew why they were all here tonight, she thought. She gathered her bearings and spoke to the girls with what she thought everyone expected her to say.
“Are you kidding? She’s way too busy for that.. She doesn’t have time for things like this.”
Suddenly, Jennifer realized that she was dissing Charlotte pretty good. After all, Jennifer knew her personally, and she determined that Charlotte was indeed an awesome person.
Except for the fact that she’s a deceitful, manipulative, conniving and scheming person. Other than that, she’s perfectly normal.
But that’s a story for another day.
“But you’re the President of the Fan Club,” Tootie informed. “You’d think she could do that for you.. Didn’t you ask her if she could come?”
“Yes, Tootie, of course, I asked her if she could come.. We discussed it at great length,” said Jennifer, putting emphasis on the last part. She was hoping that saying her and Charlotte discussed things at great length would make it seem like the two of them were best buddies. She was hoping to make everyone jealous.
And it worked on Tootie.
“Wow.. to think the two of you discuss things at great lengths.. That would be like a dream come true,” she gushed.
Jennifer smirked and shrugged her shoulders like it was no big deal.
“Yeah, well.. It’s just another day at the office,” she boasted.
Blair, however, was not as convinced. She had always wondered if Jennifer’s relationship with the galloping Go-Go was as close as she tried to persuade. It would only be natural if Jennifer was embellishing the friendship just a wee bit. Not only that, but Blair had direct suspicions about this particular evening as well. Why would a big celebrity like Charlotte Caffey even do such a thing? It didn’t seem right in Blair’s mind. There had to be more to it than just being members of a psychotic fan club like The Order Of The Uterus.
Blair stroked her lips with her forefinger and asked Jennifer suspiciously—
“Where are you going?”
Jennifer looked down at Blair and felt the vibes that were happening between the two of them. She didn’t appreciate Blair’s tone.
“I have to go to the bathroom,” she answered.
Blair smiled and said nothing.
Copyright 2026
by Clark Wright