“And that’s it,” he said. He loaded a blank disc into the computer and copied the clip. “Now we play that back to make sure it transferred.” He ejected the disc, fed it into a DVD player, and played it back. “Beautiful.”
He ejected the disc, wiped any fingerprints off it, and slipped it into a white paper sleeve.
“Now we delete this entire project from Final Cut Pro without saving it, and it’s as if it’s never been here.”
Mason deleted the project. He picked up the disc. “And we are left with this marvelous preview of coming attractions.” He slipped the disc sleeve into a padded manila envelope. Then from a plastic shopping bag on his desk, he removed a brand-new cell phone, wiped it clean, and put it in, too. “Now, there’s a pretty package.” Mason extended it to Gerard. “Would you be so good as to see that the young lady gets it?”
“Do you want to put her name on it?”
Mason smiled. “Oh, she’ll know who it’s for.”
16
Tessa Tweed was feeling good. The scene she’d just filmed with Brad had gone superbly. It was sensational, an emotionally charged tour de force that was the spine of the picture. The type of scene that makes or breaks a movie.
Brad, for once, had stepped up. He’d forgotten he was acting, and let her lead him along. The result was one of the finest scenes shot on a soundstage in a long, long time. The crew had actually applauded.
Tessa skipped up the steps of her trailer, giddy in the elation of the moment.
Just inside the door was a padded manila envelope. There was nothing written on it, so it might have been dropped there by a production assistant, but Tessa didn’t think so.
Tessa snatched up the envelope and found it heavier than she expected. She sat in a chair in her kitchen nook and dumped the contents of the envelope out on the tabletop.
It was a cell phone and a DVD.
Tessa picked up the cell phone.
It rang.
Tessa was so startled she dropped it. She reached out to grab it, but hesitated.
Whoever had sent the phone was watching.
She ducked down out of view and approached the window. She carefully flicked the curtain to the side and peeked out, but could see nothing suspicious, just the typical activity on the lot. Nobody who seemed out of place or who appeared to be watching her trailer, but with so many people milling around in a constant flurry of activity, it was hard to tell.
The phone rang again. She snatched it up and pressed the green icon accepting the call. “Hello?”
“Hello, Tessa.”
“Who is this?”
“You know who this is, and you know what I want.”
“No, I don’t.”
“I’m the man who sent you the phone.”
“Yes, but . . . ”
“But what? That’s all you need to know. I sent you the phone, and you’re going to do exactly what I say.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Don’t be hasty. Play the video,” Mason said, and hung up.
* * *
—
Tessa had a flat-screen TV mounted to her wall, connected to a Blu-ray player concealed in a cabinet.
She opened the tray on the player, put in the disc, and pressed Close.
The player roared to life, and an arrow filled the screen. Tessa picked up the remote and pressed Play.
It was worse than she’d thought. Tessa sank down in her chair and buried her head in her hands.
17
Tessa pulled Teddy into her trailer. One look at her face told him all he needed to know.
“Another letter?”
“Worse.”
“In what way?”
“A cell phone and a DVD.”
“How were they delivered?”
“A padded manila envelope left inside my trailer door.”
“Anything written on it?”
“No.”
“Any note inside?”
“No, but the cell phone rang as soon as I took it out.”
“Really?” Teddy said casually, but that concerned him. The man would have had to be watching the trailer to know when to call. A blackmailer was bad enough, but a stalker was something else. “What did he say?”
“He said, ‘I’m the man who sent you the phone and you’re going to do exactly what I say.’ I told him I wasn’t, and he told me to ‘play the video.’ So I did. It was awful. The photo was almost benign, just a hint of what they might have. But the video . . .”
“Did they send the whole tape?”
“Just a few seconds, but that was enough. It was so . . . revealing.” Tessa shivered. “I felt violated.”
“Well, there’s a silver lining. The man was a potential danger, but you didn’t know how much. Now he’s shot his bolt and revealed his leverage. He’s got nothing more.”
“Are you crazy? He can make it public.”
“He’s not going to do that. Where’s the cell phone?”
Tessa pointed to the kitchen table. “That’s it.”
Teddy slipped it into his pocket.
“What if he tries to call me again?”
“He won’t, at least not on that phone. He still hasn’t asked you for anything. At the moment he’s just getting off on scaring you, manipulating you, making you think you’re in his power. That’s all this is about. Dominance.”
Tessa shuddered again. She took a breath. “At least . . .”
“At least what?”
“It wasn’t Nigel.”
“What?”
“Now I’ve heard his voice. And it wasn’t Nigel.”
“Right,” Teddy said, but he didn’t buy it for a moment. Nigel might not be the voice on the phone, but he could still be behind this. In any case, he was the source of the video.
Despite what Tessa might think, Teddy planned to set his sights on Nigel.
18
Teddy called Mike Freeman at Strategic Services. Mike knew Teddy’s background and had once offered him a job. The offer was always open.
“Hi, Mike. It’s Billy Barnett.”
“Oh, is it now?”