The Movie-Town Murders

It was long after midnight when Jason finally clicked on the “Boogie Man” channel and watched, bleary-eyed, as the clip began to play.

“Lt. Matthew Spain” was seated alone in his office when reporter “Nathan Doyle” was shown in. The detective nodded to Doyle’s police escort, who backed out, shutting the door.

Jason paused the YouTube video, studying the two men frozen forever on the black-and-white screen. Both the picture and sound of this four-minute snippet of Snowball in Hell was remarkably good quality. The costume and set design weren’t bad either. And the two leads, Joe North playing Matthew Spain and David Aubrey playing Nathan Doyle were both startlingly handsome, though in very different ways.

Jason jotted down a couple of notes, then pressed Play.

“Sit down,” Spain said, and Doyle pulled out a chair and sat down on the other side of the tidy desk. Spain looked crisp and clean-shaven in a dark suit. He reached for a cup of coffee, and the camera focused briefly on the wedding band on his left hand.

A little cue, a little clue, for a particular audience. Jason made another quick note.

“Coffee?” Spain asked politely. “Smoke?”

“Thanks.”

Spain poured him a cup of coffee from a flask. Doyle swallowed a mouthful. The camera followed Doyle’s gaze to a photograph of a pretty, smiling, dark-haired woman on the bookshelf behind the desk. Next to the photograph was a long and probably pointed row of books on the law and police procedure.

Spain proffered a pack of cigarettes, Camels—did they do product placement in the 1950s?—Doyle took one, and Spain leaned forward to light it for him. Spain’s hands were large and well-shaped. His lashes made dark crescents against his cheekbones. As though feeling Doyle’s stare, Spain raised his eyes—and the two men locked gazes.

Probably one of the hottest romantic movie moments Jason had ever seen. Right there with Jennifer Tilly’s seductive Violet when she eased down her bra strap to share her ink with Gina Gershon’s Corky in Bound. Or André Holland’s Kevin and Trevante Rhodes’s Chiron gazing into each other’s eyes as they listened to the song “Hello Stranger,” in Moonlight.

Jason had to wonder if the two actors, North and Aubrey, had been having some secret off-screen affair or if they were just really, really good.

Chemistry wasn’t always sexual. Or even romantic.