Chapter 53: Entrust

After notifying Claude and Laverne about his thoughts on Sarah and ‘Casper the Friendly Ghost’, Adrian focused on the shootings for ‘The Shawshank Redemption’. Although the family film would attract large audiences as well, it was still best to further discuss it after the screening of ‘Terminator 2’ in July. Needless to say, he would still introduce an agent to Sarah, and he believed that Rosellen would make a wise choice. Besides, there was no need for him to lie to them anyway.

As Adrian kept adjusting the shooting progress for ‘The Shawshank Redemption’, Robbins finally returned to a good state like how he was during the outdoor scenes. It was worth noting that Freeman did a great job at being on form, and even when there were a few NG takes halfway through, he was able to readjust faster than Robbins did. It was no doubt that he was a veteran actor.

Three weeks later, it was finally the last shooting session for the film, which was the part when Andy escaped prison through the sewer. Adrian purposely left this at the end because he felt that it would be a perfect time.

“Don’t you think that it’s just perfect leaving this scene to be shot last?” This was what he said.

Since he was the director and the producer, nobody had an opinion on what he decided.

“Act 106, scene 97, ready,” the log keeper announced, then clapped the slate.

Andy crawled out of the tunnel that he excavated for 20 years, then arrived at a sewage pipe with a sealed plastic bag. The original film had a bug during this scene, by which Andy wore the prison warden’s leather shoes when he returned from the office, and he left his there. Hence, he should have either been wearing the prison warden’s, or he should have been barefooted. In any case, he should not be wearing a prisoner’s leather shoes. Nevertheless, Adrian decided not to change this since it was just a small bug, and he mentioned that Andy could have had another pair of shoes in his cell.

Once Andy was on the sewage pipe, he found an average-sized rock nearby, which he used to hit the pipe several times in sync with the lightning strikes. Eventually, the disgusting dark green liquid contained in the pipe burst out as the pipe broke. Once all of the liquid flowed out, Andy began crawling out through the sewer. The dirty and sickening liquid was mostly gone by then, but the foul smell that remained made him nauseous, so much so that he almost passed out a few times. Even so, he kept crawling without giving up, because hope and freedom were within reach!

“Very good!” Adrian, who was in the director’s seat, suddenly stood up and applauded. Upon seeing that, the others on set began clapping too.

“Honestly, those few scenes weren’t easy.” Robbins sighed a long breath of relief after he stopped crawling and sat on the “sewage pipe.”

“Not easy? You just needed to crawl, Tim, and…” Adrian joked as he approached Robbins, then stuck his index finger into the greenish-brown liquid. “Do you want to taste it? It should taste nice.”

The seemingly disgusting liquid in the “sewer” was actually made out of chocolate sauce, similar to when bits of potato chips were used for snow that Andy walked on in previous scenes.

Nonetheless, the crew still scorned at him. “This is too nasty! What was the director thinking!”

Yes, while the liquid was actually chocolate sauce, it was treated like feces and urine during the shoot. Thus, it was an uninviting joke even though it was a joke.

Adrian seemed unaware of that, so he scoffed. “You’re disgusted by that? Let me tell you something else. I used a number of metaphors in the film, for instance, the Holy Bible. Do you know what it means when Andy climbs his way through the sewer? I actually set up something here, and the long sewer is a metaphor for what gays do in the prison!”

Boos were instantly heard, and Robbins was shocked as well. “Are you… Serious?”

“Of course—not!” Adrian burst out laughing. “I’m not that lame.”

Regarding the metaphor of the sewage pipe symbolizing an anus, he actually read it from an English movie fansite in his past life—honestly, some movie fans were too bored that they found many things in the film that were not actually what the director intended to express—so he joked about it.

Subsequently, boos were heard again. Adrian then waved his hand. “Alright, that’s enough. Get ready to work, only the last scene is left, so let’s finish it fast!”

Once the scenes for Andy’s escape were done, the shootings for ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ came to an end. Normally, Adrian would work on the post-production after resting for a few days, because that was what he did for the first two films.

However, he wanted to extend his resting days this time. While the shooting did not exceed the allocated time as all scenes were completed within 7 weeks, it was a much more tiring process than the ones before because it was not easy to handle big scenes. Since it was still early June, he decided to take a few more days off.

He spoke to Laverne and Claude separately through the phone to make arrangements, and handed the script outline of ‘Casper the Friendly Ghost’ to his company’s screenwriters, then took a flight to London. It was only natural for him to spend his extra days there, and he also wanted to make preparations for something else.

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An old-fashioned three-story apartment with the house number ‘117’ was located on Phillips Street in London. The mottled walls and the nostalgic style of the building were proof that it was a place with a long history, and first-time visitors often found it hard to relate it to the renowned Wilson Private Detective Agency.

Dean Wilson was one of the best private detectives in London. That being said, he could not be compared with Mr. Sherlock on 221 Baker Street, though he worked with Scotland Yard a few times. Private detectives were not actually as awesome as what was described in novels, because they normally just assisted in civil investigations, found people, or gathered pieces of evidence for affairs.

For all that, there was always someone who was the best in their own industry, including private investigators, and Dean was the most remarkable one in finding people. To date, he had received more than a hundred such cases, and his completion rate was above 70%, whereas the incomplete cases were mostly due to insufficient information provided by his clients.

That day, he was visited by a strange client at his agency. The client was strange because it was a man dressed in a loose windbreaker with a wide brim hat, and his age was unidentifiable. He wore a pair of black-framed glasses, and it was obvious that his little mustache was fake. Therefore, Samson’s heart skipped a beat when he saw the man.

It was evident that the man did not want to reveal his real appearance, which also meant that his motive of entrusting the agency with a task was very suspicious. Previously, there was a case where a client entrusted Dean to find someone whom the client later took revenge on, and it shocked him when Scotland Yard looked for him, thus he had been very careful about accepting tasks.

The man seemed to have noticed his concerns, so he smiled. “Don’t worry, Mr. Wilson, it was Mr. Brent who recommended you.”

Dean was startled for a while, then he smiled awkwardly. He recalled that the man was someone introduced by film producer Waddell Brent, a familiar client of his, so he believed that there would not be a problem.

“I’m really sorry,” he quickly mentioned. “Please sit, uhm…”

“You can call me Sanger.” The man nodded. “I apologize for dressing like this, but I have my concerns. Of course, I won’t cause you any trouble.”

“Uhm… Okay, Mr. Sanger, is there anything that I can help you with?” Dean asked.

“Yes, I’m looking for someone, a woman.” The man gestured, then Dean handed him a pen and a paper.

“Joanne Kathleen Rowling.” He wrote a name on the paper, then handed it back to Dean. “I can’t confirm if this is how it’s spelled, but this is how it’s pronounced. She’s a white woman around 26 years old, born on July 31st, 1965, roughly 5 feet tall, and has light brown hair with a hint of red.”

Subsequently, he added, “She was born in London, but she used to stay in Bristol, and she has a sister, Dianne Rowling, who stays in Edinburgh. I heard that she was married to a Portuguese reporter and she gave birth to a daughter. I hope that you can find out where she is.”

Dean quickly noted down everything that was mentioned, then asked, “Mr. Sanger, may I ask why you’re looking for Madam Joanne?”

“I’m sorry, this is a personal matter, but please trust me that I don’t mean ill, and I only want to know how she’s doing lately,” Sanger explained, and he sounded very sincere although he wore big black-framed glasses.

Dean pondered for a while and felt like he found his answer. He looked at the clues written on the paper, then looked up at Sanger again. “If you can, can you provide me with more detailed information? It’s quite a wide range.”

“More detailed information? For example?” The man asked him back.

“For example, where she studied, if she received any rewards in the past, her old address, and so on,” Dean replied.

“Let me think…” The man closed his eyes to think, then responded after a few minutes, “If I’m not mistaken, she probably graduated from the University of Exeter.”

“Do you know which faculty she was in?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Okay, it doesn’t matter, but it’ll be more tricky… Oh, if you’re not sure of her name’s spelling, are you sure of the initials?”

“Yes, they’re J, K, and R.”

“I think I can accept this assignment, but it might take longer,” Dean mentioned.

“It’s okay, I’ll provide you with all the funds you need, so just call me once you have news.” The man handed him a piece of paper. “If I remember anything, I’ll inform you too.”

“An American number.” Dean was rather surprised when he noticed the phone number.

“You can mail the phone bill to me.” The man grinned.