Authors: Alice Severin
“Try me,” I laughed. I looked at my glass. Nearly empty.
AC put his arm around me and we walked back over to the bar. “Devised home movies.
And videos.” His voice went down a little lower. “Tristan is pissed off.”
We got to the bar and I ordered a beer. Time to slow down before I said anything I’d
regret. After we turned away, I leaned over to him. “Why? The videos everyone’s seen.
What are these home movies?”
AC smiled. “That’s what he’s finding out right now. I think—probably—James.” He looked
at the ceiling. “Hopefully they’re not too bad. I told him he shouldn’t make a fuss—looks
worse.”
I thought for a minute. My brain seemed to be working slower. “No. It’s not a good
idea. Especially with the possible documentary. Dave will have a fit. He’s going to
want this exclusive for himself. Can’t they just show the videos? Shit. Tristan. Where
is he?”
AC nodded towards the backstage. “Back there. I think he wants to see them first.”
“Ok. Let’s go tell them to just show MTV, or something that actually plays music.
Keep the crowd happy while we deal with this.” We walked over to the guy with the
laptop and the projector and gave him instructions on what to do. Then we started
heading backstage. I already had my phone out. Panic was making me remarkably clear-headed.
“I’m calling Dave. It’s—fuck, what time? Christ it’s 1 a.m. there.” I listened to
the ring. “Can’t be helped.”
The ringing stopped and Dave’s voice came through loud and clear. If he’d been asleep,
I couldn’t tell. “Lily? What’s the problem?”
There was no time for pleasantries. “Dave. Yeah. Look. We’re in Dallas, and some mug
down here from the record company has got ahold of what he’s calling ‘Devised home
movies.’ ”
“And?”
“And no one’s seen them, but they want to show them to the after-party. As in now.”
I gulped a sip of beer. “Tristan’s trying to find out what they are and where they
came from. AC thinks maybe James.”
“Yes, well that’s always the main source. No one’s seen them? Is AC there with you?
Can you put him on the line?”
“Sure.” I passed my phone over to him.
AC started to speak, but clearly Dave had interrupted him. He was listening, and suddenly
his face went white. “Oh, fuck. Those. Of course.” He listened a bit longer, then
walked a couple of steps away. “Does she?” He tried not to look at me, but I had the
impression they were talking about me. “Not sure, but that’s not the problem. Yeah,
I’ll go find Tristan. We’ll call you right back.”
AC waved my phone at me, and nodded his head towards the backstage, and started walking
to the side door at a rapid pace. I caught up with him and took my phone. “So it is
trouble.”
AC looked grim. “Yeah, a bit. Nothing that can’t be solved. Like blackmail.” He laughed,
but there was no humor in it. “Come on, we’ve got to find Tristan. Now.”
We pushed through the door, and went down the long hall that led to the backstage
area of this part of the hall. We could hear voices, getting louder as we approached.
We turned the corner, and there was Tristan, looking murderous, James, who was holding
a couple of DVDs in his hand, and a record company suit, who genuinely looked confused.
He was speaking.
“We thought it would be fun. No, I haven’t seen them, but I was told they were outtakes
from the videos and some backstage interviews. Nothing crazy there.” He turned to
Tristan. “But if you don’t want them shown, that’s fine.” He looked nervous.
A muscle in Tristan’s face was twitching. Otherwise, he was dangerously still. “Tell
me one thing. How many copies of this are there?”
The record company guy swallowed. “Well, I made a copy—as a backup. You never know.
It’s in my desk. At work.”
Tristan looked at him. “Go and get it and bring it back here.”
The man had a shocked expression. “It’s 1 in the morning.”
Tristan took a step forward. “If you can tell time, you might keep your job. Go get
it. Now. Thanks.” The man nodded, and backed out, before Tristan could say anything
else.
Then he turned towards James. AC caught his arm in mid-air with a surprising amount
of strength. “Don’t do it mate. Look at the scum. That’s what he wants.”
I started dialing Trevor. This needed the big guns.
Tristan pulled away from AC, who grabbed him again. The look in Tristan’s eyes was
deadly. “You fucking prick. How many of these do you have?”
“Enough. Enough to insure my safe passage out of your employment and on to someone
else. What, you didn’t think I knew you were about to fire me? Send me off blacklisted?
You’re too caught up in yourself and your…,” he spat out the next words, “dear friend.”
“Leave Lily out of this.” Tristan moved closer. AC was leaning on him.
“Not Lily I’m talking about.” The look on Tristan’s face altered, and he threw a glance
in my direction. “You thought no one knew? You’re not as smart as you pretend.” He
handed over the DVDs. AC grabbed them before Tristan had a chance.
I was on my third message to Trevor. “Please Trevor, pick up. Tristan is going to
kill James. He’s blackmailing him. Shit.” I hung up, and redialed Dave. He picked
up right away. I looked over at James who was still talking.
“What’s on here isn’t a lot. But it’s enough. And coupled with the way you’ve acted,
should be enough to stop a promising solo career. Or slow it down. Get all those stories
back up in the press again.”
I held the phone to my ear. Dave had been talking. “Dave. What? Look. Tristan. James.
Is blackmailing Tristan. Something about the DVD. Stopping his career. What can I
do?”
It sounded like Dave was punching numbers into another phone. “Did you call Trevor?
Yes? Ok, I’m trying him again. We’re ready to run with something, I just need one
more answer from him. Hang on. Look. Get their attention. Then repeat exactly what
I tell you.”
“Ok,” I said. “Hang on.” I took a deep breath. And I let out a shriek that was probably
going to get the whole party in here. At last then there would be more people to keep
Tristan from going to jail for manslaughter. They all turned to look at me.
I marched up to James. “I’ve got a message for you, you fucking worthless piece of
shit.” I spoke into the phone. “Ok.” I had a feeling I shouldn’t say his name, though
it probably didn’t matter. “Go ahead.”
Dave spoke slowly. “Swiss IBAN number. Starting with CH 93. Contact Idute.” He paused.
“Hang on, I’ve got Trevor. Yes. Go ahead.” He repeated each part separately, and I
spoke the words as though it were a magical formula that would make James disappear.
With any luck it would.
James was scoffing at each one, though. “IBAN numbers, so what.” After the next part
he muttered, “The Swiss ones all begin with CH.” At the name “Idute” he froze. “You’re
bluffing.”
I heard Dave laughing. “I’m sure you thought of this, but ask him if he wants to take
that chance.”
I did.
“I will release these. You can’t prove anything.”
Dave had heard him. “Don’t tell him this, but it was a set-up. People Trevor knows.
They gave him some hacking information to see what he’d do with it. Then tested him
by having a fake contact offer him money.” He paused. “Tell him it wasn’t really the
FBI he passed it on to. He never left their network. And that they know where he is.”
That did get a reaction. A stream of swear words that was the most energetic statement
I’d heard from him the entire tour. Then he said, “I can still do this.”
Dave laughed again. “Tell him to go ahead. Ask him where he wants to be buried when
they find him. They don’t like traitors.”
After I’d repeated Dave’s question, James looked nervous. “If you’re bluffing, I have
enough copies of this to make a difference.”
Tristan said, slowly, “I don’t give a shit what anyone else wants with you. We will
follow you. Look behind you from now on, because it might be in 5 years, or 10. Who
knows. Now. Get the fuck out of my sight. Now.”
Dave was listening. “Take the DVDs and get Tristan out of there. AC too. Go stay in
a different hotel. Actually just get your bags and get the driver to take you to Austin.
Get a new hotel there. Don’t stay where you’re booked.” I was listening, but I stopped
when I heard James.
James had a vindictive glare as he spoke to Tristan. “And your sweet lady there. How
long will love last when she knows,” he jerked his head towards AC, “about your bit
on the side there? True love. She’ll like the sex tape scene.” He spat on the ground.
AC grabbed at Tristan again, who was looking between the three of us, faint panic
in his eyes. Dave was silent on the phone.
I stepped up to James, taking each step slowly, fists clenched. When I was close enough
to smell his breath, I started. “Did you watch it on repeat? You and the remote. Your
only friend. For the rest of your sad life.” Then I was shouting in his face. “But
guess what? I already knew. I already know. And I don’t care. How about that.” I stepped
back. The temptation to take a swing at him was too strong. “Fucking loser. Go die
somewhere.” I backed away from him, pointing at him to stay where he was.
AC looked like he was about to grab for me as well.
I tucked the phone under my ear, and linked arms with AC, who yanked at Tristan. The
three of us walked away. I didn’t turn around. I just wanted to get the hell out of
there. Dave was talking.
“What Dave? Sorry, yes, we’re going. Car should be outside? Brilliant.” I listened.
“Ask me tomorrow.” When I pressed the end call button, I realized I was shaking.
We said good night to the few people cleaning up at the bars. Like nothing had happened.
The rest of the people had already left. As we got outside, the record company guy
came running up to us with a bag. “10 DVDs. This is it. I swear.”
“Good,” Tristan muttered. “Because you’re the only one left who could have copies.
And if there’s a leak, we’ll know it’s you. Time to go home now. Party’s over.” He
hesitated, as if he were going to say something, and Tristan broke away from us, and
took a step forward.
“Tris,” whispered AC. But the guy had already turned and was walking quickly back
to his car.
Tristan looked at the DVDs in his hand. “I only have two,” he mimicked, horribly accurately.
“You lying sack of shit. Fuck you. Fuck all of you,” he yelled out into the night.
AC had him by the arm. “It’s ok mate. It’s ok. Come on, let’s go.” The sound of his
voice seemed to calm Tristan down, and we kept moving towards the car.
Tristan turned to AC. “Fuck, let’s score. You must know someone here.” He threw his
arm around me. “Everything’s going to shit anyway. So much for keeping it on an even
keel.”
AC was silent. Then he finally said, “Remember. Just not today. And—I don’t want this
great evening to finish up in jail. I don’t think they like us round these parts.”
His sudden twang in his accent made Tristan smile, but we both held on a little tighter.
We finally made it to the limo, and AC went in first, with Tristan in the middle,
and me at the end. I was looking around to see if anyone was watching, or following
us, but it seemed very quiet. Too quiet possibly, but I couldn’t see anything. I didn’t
want to get paranoid. But all of us were completely on edge, and very wired. I didn’t
see how we were going to get through the night, but then again, we really didn’t have
a choice.
Once we were settled in, and the car had picked up speed, AC started poking around.
“What, no minibar? Well, that isn’t going to fly. Lily. When we go up to get our stuff,
remind me to pull out some drinks from the room.”
Tristan was just lying there, his head back against the seat, eyes closed. He looked
completely drained. AC studied his face. “Tris. It’s going to be ok.”
Tristan nodded, but didn’t say anything.
AC carried on. “If you promise to be good, Lily and I will pack up. You can stay here.
Fair enough? But no running off to the kitchen to score.”
Tristan coughed. He sounded exhausted. “No, I better come up with you. Maybe I’ll
jump in the shower.” He sat up straighter. “I can’t believe how close I came to smashing
that fucker’s face in.”
AC gave a bark of a laugh. “Yeah, mate. Neither can we.” He looked over at me, an
uneasy smile on his face. I wasn’t convinced he was as in control as he appeared,
but his air of relative calm was soothing to me as well. “Yeah, Tris. It’s all going
to be fine. Of course—there is that one thing.”
His eyes were closed again. “Only one?”
AC pretended to look out the window. “It’s going to be hell to do the thank you videos
for the regional record company PR people.”
Tristan opened his eyes, and then burst out laughing. “Fuck. You are so right.”
* * *
At the hotel, it was all business. We all went up to quickly pack. I’d barely unpacked,
so it didn’t take long. Tristan jumped in the shower. AC did a sweep of the minibar,
and stuck the bottles in my purse.
“You carry those. I’ll go down and do some quick check-out thing. I want to get out
of here before the news goes very far,” AC said. “Wait for Tristan.”
I glanced at him from where I was arranging the bottles in my bag so they wouldn’t
make so much noise banging together. “Well, yeah, of course.”
“I think it’s all drained him. We’re going to need to keep an eye on him.” He came
over to me and put his hand on my shoulder. “He’s not as tough as he looks.”
“You’ve known him for a long time.”
“Yeah, true. But you were brilliant back there.”
I caught myself smiling. “I was pissed off back there.”
The sound of the shower stopped. AC squeezed my shoulder. “Lots of questions, yeah?
But not now. But…did you? Know?”
I picked up my suitcase. There wasn’t a short answer for this one. “Will you take
my bag down? Later. Ask me later. I won’t lie.”
AC gave me a quick hug. “See you down there. Hurry his highness up.”
“Not a problem,” I said.
AC stopped at the door. “No. It never is with you. I can’t understand how he found
you.”