Secondhand Life - Part 8

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Monterrey was relaxing. I started making a habit of running on the beach and into town. It wasn't too long before people stopped treating me like a sasquatch sighting and actually started waving and saying hello as I'd run by.

It was only a matter of time until the press descended upon the town like locusts. It was annoying enough having their cars following me and gumming up traffic. They'd also loiter at local businesses, buying nothing, just lurking for a chance encounter. Word got back to me that while everyone liked me, they'd be happier if I wouldn't come around anymore, so maybe the paparazzi horde would leave.

Maybe it was time to check out this boat of hers.

Boat was an understatement. Even 'Yacht' seemed too modest. It had more rooms than the house I grew up in, and was appointed as lavishly as the hotel suites I had on the tour. Captain Steve was right out of central casting. Retired navy and happy to be absurdly well paid to be on call for the rare occasions when Katherine took out the Dodge&Burn.

Dennis explained to me that the boat was actually owned by Hauteshot, Katherine's company. She had some sharp business partners and early in her modeling career, she became an LLC for tax purposes. So most everything was owned by her company, not by her personally. Of course since she WAS the company – and its sole product, it was essentially the same thing. Her silent partners ran the business and her job was simply being Katherine – and being well compensated for it.

I was so out of my depth. It seemed a bit fishy to me, but I guess that's how the wealthy get and stay wealthy.

Before I was declared 'seaworthy' I had yet another visit from Doctor Dale. More shots, which apparently included another round of sedatives and a touch up of his 'handiwork' and I was declared bikini-worthy, which for some unexplainable reason, gave me an anticipatory little thrill.

I learned from Dennis the only time Katherine wore a swimsuit was on a shoot. But she kept them all. I mentioned that some looked like they had been worn so hard they were coming apart. He just laughed and said that those were the ones she had been sewn into for a shoot. Once they were done, they had to sort of tear them apart to remove them. I found a few that were surprisingly flattering to Katherine's odd frame. They really flattered the legs and somehow gave the illusion of curves where there were none to speak of. Even the top seemed to pull and gather a pretty flat chest into a surprising illusion of modest but flattering cleavage. I began to understand the synergy of fashion and photography. They were both the science of shadow and light, and directed perspective.

Captain Steve and his crew of 6 seemed delighted to be tasked to take the Dodge&Burn out for an extended run down the coast. I learned the usual drill was just a schmooze cruise around the bay for business associates. I gathered quickly that they felt this to be a waste of a beautiful vessel and their skills, so they were in quite high spirits as we set off for a leisurely run down to San Diego and maybe a stop at Catalina on the return leg.

It was heavenly. I was adoring sunbathing, which initially seemed to startle the crew, since Katherine had a rep as a bit of a recluse. They quickly got over it, and kept me well supplied with cocoa butter and mojitos.

Mikey wasn't much for the sun and spent most of his time below decks with Dennis and the rest of the entourage, but everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves in their own way.

The morning of our second day out, Mikey came to me with his iPad. A conspiracy website was posting their 'exclusive' story that the difficult Katherine Keller had been forcibly abducted by evil studio execs and replaced by a substitute they referred to as her 'gleeful twin'.

I think I stopped breathing when I read the headline. But Mikey insisted that I read on.

All their 'evidence' was mostly paranoid claptrap. Their before and after pictures were both photos of me. Their 'secret source' claimed that Katherine was being held in solitary confinement in an insane asylum on a remote Canadian border town in northern Maine. So much was so laughably, provably, wrong that it was easy to dismiss. Still, it did get me wondering if amid all this conspiratorial nonsense, they had managed to accidentally publish something that was coincidentally true.

I began to wonder about the fate of the real Katherine Keller.

I brought the subject up to Dennis one evening when he brought me a sweater as I watched the sun set from the bow.

“I've been wondering the same thing myself.” he confided in a low voice. “Girl was a mess. Always disappearing for a week or two without notice... showing up naked and tripping at burning man or drying out for two weeks at a spa under a lame alias... but she's never been gone this long. And not even a phone call. That is not like her. When they brought you in, I thought 'good idea, girl can get some downtime while the double distracts the press' ...but you're not being a distraction... you're being her... the whole deal... even moving into her house... I thought whatever was going on, that you were in on it...” I shook my head, and he smiled. “I didn't know who to talk to about my suspicions... and it's been stressing me out. It's such a relief to talk about it... I never dreamed the one I could confide in would be you!”

I grinned and shook my head. “Well, I never dreamed I'd be sitting on a yacht in a bikini having this conversation. You remember the first night we met?”

He smiled, his eyes distant with memories ...and wonder. “So long ago...”

“Only a few months.”

He just shook his head and regarded me warmly. “Feels like forever ago... You've come a long way baby!” He chuckled.

“I think I have a lot longer to go.... First off, I'd like to find and chat with the REAL Katherine Keller.”

“How on earth are we going to do that? Anyone who knows where she actually is is probably in on it.”

I thought about it, and the notion that had obviously been simmering in the back of my mind came clearly into focus. Like a sniper's sight. Or a paparazzo's lens.

“I think I know a guy....”

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Comments

Interesting development.....

D. Eden's picture

But bringing the paparazzi in on it? I know she is talking about the one who managed to keep up with her, her friend who plans on attending UCLA (author's note: as an alum of USC I am NOT happy about the references to UCLA, lol), but can he be trusted to be discreet?

One has to wonder just how close to the truth the tabloid article might actually be.

I can't wait to see more of this story.

Dallas

D. Eden

Dum Vivimus, Vivamus

Too short

A needed chapter, but too too short.

Looking forward to the next section.

Enjoying every twist and turn
Carla

"May you live in Interesting Times" is a promise, not a threat!

Think of it as an appetizer... ;-)

I really wanted to set some stuff up

I agree, it's short. But there will be more very soon.

I wasn't sure where to break the narrative, but when I got to "I think I know a guy...", I couldn't resist breaking it there. Sorry. ....sorta... ;-)

K@

Teaser.

Podracer's picture

This seems an odd stopgap and setup chapter for something big. Hey, now that they're at sea, how good would it be to conduct an investigation via coastal locations? The camera-clickers would have a hard time to track them.

"Reach for the sun."

Monterey

Monterey (only one "R") to San Diego is about 400 miles, quite a long cruise by boat. I wonder how familiar Kat is with Monterey, since her descriptions don't much match the Monterey I know.

As a former student at UCLA (nearly 50 years ago), I, for one, have no problems with the photographer friend being a student there.

That's the $64000 question, where is the original Katherine?

Is it just this detox place is really that secure and remote or has something bad happened to her? Even something fatal?

And what all is in those shots the doctor has given our faux Katherine? And why does he tolerate, even like being Katherine so much?

Will that scarecrow of a nice young man ever return? And if, and I hope it is not the case, that Katherine is dead or permanently incapacitated will he be stuck as Katherine for the rest of his now her life?

Nice story. Even given the over the top world of Hollywood and mass celebrity these characters seem real.

Just enough detail to make our imaginations fill in the rest.

John in Wauwatosa

John in Wauwatosa

Are we past "Prisoner of Zenda"

TheCropredyKid's picture

...and moving into "Rupert of Hentzau"?

Considering Rudolf Rassendyll's fate, one hopes not.

 
 
 
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Monterey

erin's picture

I lived in Monterey for a year. They had three seasons there, sunny from December to February, windy from March to May, and foggy the rest of the year with occasional rain. The warmest day there was in January and the coldest was in April. There were sudden days of unexpected sun during the foggy time. Weird place.

= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.