On all sides of the set was the paraphernalia of a much bigger set, the location of the film-in-progress, Midsummer Night's Madness, starring Moxie Mooney and Gerry Littleford. Behind the set, down the beach the Gulf of Mexico was gray-blue in that light. His head was on his right shoulder.Īt the back of the talk-show set a heavy, brightly colored, split curtain moved slightly in the breeze. Only Steve Peterman wasn't sitting properly in his chair. To Buckley's right sat Moxie's agent, manager, and executive producer, Steve Peterman in three-piece, pearl-gray suit, black shoes, and cravat.

To his left, in a long, white bulky dressing gown sat Moxie Mooney-the gorgeous, perky, healthy, fresh-faced young film star called away from her make-up table to oblige an on location talk show. Even at a distance, amiability seemed stuck on his face like a decal. In the middle chair sat Dan Buckley wearing white trousers, loafers, and a light blue Palm Beach shirt. Across a few meters of beach, between the cameras, standing lights, reflectors, and sound booms, he could see the reality of what was on the screen, the set of The Dan Buckley Show, host and guests.

'For God's sake, what's wrong?' she said in a tight, low voice.Įven under the canopy on a sunless day, the screen of the television monitor was blanched by daylight from the beach.įrom where Fletch was standing, he could see the pale images flickering on the screen. She was speaking to herself, or to the air. She had not looked around from the television screen since Fletch entered the pavillion. 'What happened to Steve?' The woman in the canvas chair leaned forward.

Fletch's moxie