This is set before the movie
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
, when Jessica was yet to meet her future husband Roger and take his surname. It's a work of parody and should not be read by anyone under the age of 18.
Feedback is always appreciated!
Jessica could still hear the audience's applause. It rolled through the walls of her dressing room like the distant sound of the ocean. She'd done an hour-long set and two encores, but still they howled for more. A small smile found her lips. She was really on her way to the top. She could feel it.
She took a seat by her make-up table and looked into the mirror that sat atop it. The light-bulbs that surrounded the mirror bathed her in an angelic, golden glow. While the bright light complimented her already inherent beauty, it also showed up all the cracks in the plaster of her dressing room walls.
While it was certainly a lot better than some of the dives she'd played in the past, the Ink and Paint Club was by no means the best, and it was never going to offer her the stardom she'd been dreaming of ever since she'd first been sketched.
Her smile faded and she sighed. There had to be more to life than this...
There was a quick, forceful rap at the door.
"Yes?" Jessica answered.
The door cracked open, and the huge silhouette of the bouncer, Gordie the Gorilla, filled the hallway outside.
"Evenin', Miss Rose. Great show tonight." Gordie said. He tended to be too modest to step inside her dressing room all the way.
"Thank you, Gordie. That's awful sweet of you to say."
Gordie half-blushed and looked away. There was a rumble that came from his chest as he shifted his weight.
"There's a guy here to see you. A detective."
"A detective?" Jessica said, turning in her seat to face away from the mirror and look at Gordie properly. "What does he want?"
"Says he needs to ask you some questions. Should I let him through?"
"I suppose so," Jessica replied. "Thank you, Gordie."
"No problem, Miss Rose. And if you need anything, just holler, okay?"
The door closed with a bang; Gordie had never been good with subtlety.
A detective? Here? Jessica wondered what the problem could be. Though she felt a surge of anxiety, she did her best to stamp it down. She had to act cool.
There was another knock at the door, this one lighter than the first. That would be him. Jessica straightened her hair.
Showtime.
"Enter." She said with the cool indifference of royalty.
The door swung open and in walked six foot's worth of man.
She looked him up and down. When Gordie had said there was a detective waiting for her, she'd expected some shlub in a brown trenchcoat or, skin-crawlingly enough, one of the weasels that made up the Toon Patrol.
Instead she was met with a handsome, well-dressed human in a navy suit and black overcoat. When he removed his fedora it was to reveal thick brown hair, and his leather shoes were so well shined they looked like he'd bought them in Toon Town.
The only thing messy about him was the fact that he wasn't clean shaven, but even that worked in his favour as it gave him a roguish charm.
"Jessica Rose," she said, offering her hand. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Detective...?"
"Archer. Rick Archer," the man said, taking her hand and placing a gentle kiss on the back of her glove. "But you should probably know...I'm not a detective. I'm not even a cop."
"Excuse me?" Jessica said, withdrawing her hand.
"I'm a reporter. Investigative journalist, actually."
"And Gordie let you back here?"
"Flash a goon a badge he'll let you in just about anyplace. 9 times out of 10 he won't even ask to look at it properly."
"And he won't ask twice when I tell him to throw you out of here, either." Jessica replied, rising to stand.
"Now don't be sore about it," he said, putting a hand up to bid her to stop. "I'm not from some cheap tabloid looking to run a dirty expose on you."
"Oh no? Then why are you here, Mr Archer?" She asked, placing special emphasis on the 'mister' part to underline his lack of credentials.
"I just had a few questions that I knew only the great Jessica Rose could answer for me. But..." He said, pausing pointedly. "You weren't always Jessica 'Rose', were you? It was Jessica Krupnick when you were performing back at the Honey Cooler."
"How --- how did you know about that?" Jessica could feel her confident veneer cracking. She took a deep breath to calm herself and keep up the pretence.
"I'm a reporter, doll face, and I do my work. Now, about the Honey Cooler..."
Jessica sighed. She'd been waiting for this day. Sooner or later, someone was going to come asking.
"This is about Sal, isn't it?" She said.
"You got it in one. So...you knew something was fishy about him?" Archer replied.
"The cops rumbled that place so many times it was impossible not to know something was up, and too many 'business associates' went missing without any explanation."
"Which business associates?"
"I don't know if I should say." Jessica replied, turning away.
"Whatever you tell me will be in the strictest of confidence. I never reveal my sources."