the subject. She knew any further questions would only earn her a knowing smile, but no more information. Not that it mattered; she’d made a promise and she would keep it.
Whatever it was.
‘Well, I guess that’s all of it,’ Alice said, looking around at the scattering of crates and boxes. All afternoon she’d helped the executor, a dark-eyed, dark-haired man named Jake Harmon, sort through her great-grandmother’s belongings, first finding and then boxing up the things Lili had wanted to go to charities, and the things going to distant relatives. The house itself had been bequeathed to Alice.
‘OK,’ Jake said, his voice tinged with sadness. ‘I’ll tell the movers they can take it away tomorrow.’
Alice nodded and wandered back into the hallway, where a procession of glamorous photographs of Lili hung. Black and white stills of her at the height of her youth and beauty. Here she was in a line of dancing girls with finger waves and high-kicking legs. Here she was in the arms of some silent-movie hero. Here she was in her first talkie, as a black-veiled femme fatale, smiling sexily as she clasped a revolver in one gloved and bejewelled hand.
Remember me as I was.
Alice would make sure of it. But why had Lili been so cryptic about it? And how was Alice supposed to ‘make the most of’ the house if Lili was no longer in it? Now it was just a collection of empty rooms, each one haunted by memories.
‘You’re really going to miss her, aren’t you?’
Alice scrubbed away a tear as Jake appeared behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. All day they’d been in close contact, stumbling over each other and getting in each other’s way as they cleared the house – Alice’s house, she reminded herself – of the things Lili had left to others. It wasn’t much, but it had still been hard work. Jake’s presence had been a welcome distraction, though, and Alice had found herself inexplicably drawn to him. Of course it could simply be that he was exactly her type – lean and toned, dark and broodingly handsome, with vintage good looks. She could almost imagine Lili had hand-picked him for just that reason.
‘Lili was my best friend,’ Alice told him. ‘She was my hero.’
Jake gazed at the photos on the wall, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. ‘You look like her, you know.’
‘I wish!’
‘I’m serious.’ He took one down – a classic 20s glamour shot – and held it up to Alice’s face to compare the two. ‘See? I was right. Change the hair and make-up and you could be her.’
Alice snatched the photo away and looked into the eyes of a Lili her own age. Jake was right. The resemblance was striking. How had she never noticed it before? She felt intensely flattered.
‘So she was an actress?’
‘Yeah. A proper Old Hollywood star. Mostly silent films, but a few talkies later on in the 30s and 40s.’
‘Lili Wessex. Hmm. How come I’ve never heard of her?’
‘She never really got the break she deserved. She always claimed it’s because she wasn’t much of an actress, but I’ve seen loads of her films and she’s fantastic. Every bit as good as Louise Brooks or Greta Garbo or any of the big stars of the time.’
They were both silent for a while as they admired the photos. Alice stole a look at Jake when he didn’t know he was being watched. He really was attractive. She hadn’t had a boyfriend in two years and she supposed it was loneliness that made her venture a suggestion. ‘Would you like to watch one of her films? With me?’
Jake smiled as though he’d been wishing, but not daring to hope, that Alice would ask. ‘I’d love that,’ he said.
‘She left me the house, and that includes my favourite room.’
Jake looked intrigued and Alice was happy to be able to play the cryptic one for a change. She took him by the hand and led him to a door at the end of the corridor. His face was a picture as she unlocked and opened it to show him a tiny private cinema, complete with antique projector. A shelf of film canisters lined the back wall.
‘This is amazing,’ Jake said, looking genuinely excited. ‘Do you know, I’ve only ever seen one silent movie in my life.’
‘Which one?’
‘Phantom of the Opera, with Lon Chaney.’
‘Oh, Lili loved him! She got to work with him once. She said he was a real gentleman. But he never went out. Apparently he hated the whole Hollywood lifestyle and … what’s that?’
Jake turned to see what she was looking at and shrugged. ‘I have no idea. I’ve never been in here, remember?’
Sitting in front of the curtained screen was a large cardboard box. There was no writing on the outside, but an envelope was taped to the top. Alice’s name was written there, in Lili’s hand.
‘That’s funny,’ Alice said. She removed the envelope and fingered the flowery lettering.
Jake smiled. ‘Well, aren’t you going to open it?’
She tore the envelope open and withdrew a sheet of paper.
‘Dearest Alice,’ she read aloud, ‘this is the Real Me. This is my true legacy. Remember your promise.’
She raised her eyes from the note to stare at Jake in bewilderment. But only for a moment. Then she was tearing open the box.
‘What the hell …?’
It was filled with film cans.
‘“My true legacy”,’ Jake echoed. ‘Are they lost films?’
‘They must be. She made me promise to … we made a sort of pact and … I just can’t believe this.’
Alice picked up one of the canisters and read the faded label, scrawled in old-fashioned handwriting. ‘Good-Time Girl. I’ve never heard of it, but then I’m no expert on silent films.’
She put it aside and took out another. Then another. The canisters were smaller than the ones on the back wall. ‘Deleted scenes?’ she wondered aloud. ‘Or maybe they’re just shorts.’
Jake read out the titles. ‘A Choice Bit of Calico. Bootleg Betty. What the Chambermaid Saw.’
Alice shook her head in disbelief. ‘Why didn’t she ever show me these? She must have known I’d want to see them.’
‘Well, she obviously wants you to see them now. Let’s put one on.’
Alice picked up the topmost can and carefully removed the film reel. She threaded it through the projector and turned it on.
She and Jake made themselves comfortable in the plush cinema chairs as the grainy film stuttered into life on the screen. After some spots and pops and scratches, a jittery title card came up: ‘WHAT THE CHAMBERMAID SAW’.
An elegant couple strolled along a street with vintage cars moving silently in the background. An intertitle introduced
