Brian Dale had been a godsend. Never had Amanda been happier, and she was ever so grateful for his help and support. He suggested that she revise the show to include at least one or two more players. A one-woman show could go over, but having another, what he called an "opposing viewpoint" or foil, would add that bit of punch. "Why not have a pop-rock type juxtaposed against your usual classical style?," he suggested. "That way the conflict between you and the past life visions might drive home the show's theme."
Amanda never thought of that way, and wholeheartedly accepted Brian's input. What a refreshing change! Kevin would never give in to such a thing, being content with Amanda stuck in the neverending routine of recitals and recordings, never give her a chance to stretch her talents.
While reworking her title (it was tentatively entitled Mesozoic Me) and adding more musical numbers, Amanda considered asking the noted pop diva Toi Brazzle. After all, Toi had a string of #1 hits on the Top 40, a couple of smash movies under her belt, and a horde of adoring fans. Toi, like Amanda, wanted something a bit more challenging, something to diversify her talents. Sure, she had a dynamite voice, drop-dead gorgeous looks, tremendous sex appeal, and great rapport with the audience.
Hmm...maybe Toi would jump at the chance...
Amanda decided, while sifting through stacks of Carson Grant's papers on dinosaurs and all things Cretaceous, to call Toi and ask her to lunch. She met Toi long ago, when she and Kevin attended a cocktail party given by Amanda's record company. Toi had that outrageous personality that Amanda found endearing, just the type who could sell a song, and that "opposing viewpoint" for her show. Also, Brian blessed this suggestion as he wanted someone of Toi's caliber, even suggested that, if the show is a go and the women get along well, the two get together for a "dueling divas" tour. Should guarantee sellout crowds and would be just the ticket for both ladies to stretch beyond their usual musical domains.
However, Amanda had to get to the bottom of those latest visions. The female maiasaurus protectively surrounded by other plant eaters while a reluctant female spinosaurus, egged on by her mate, prepared to attack. The predators had already slaughtered the babies, why come after the mother? Hadn't they satisfied their lust for blood and devastation? What else do they want? Amanda had an inkling the vision had something to do with Kevin who she hadn't seen since that evening of Brian Dale's dinner meeting.
Kevin...
After all this time, he hadn't even bothered to call. Perhaps, thought Amanda, it was all for the best. He led her on with lies and deception, kept her down when she wanted to branch out beyond the classical music world. He told her a blatant lie when so desperately wanted the title role in the Jane Eyre musical drama. Too many broken promises and trust; she couldn't bring herself to attempt some kind of reconciliation.
So what if he's long gone. Most likely Kevin has found another woman of whom to sponge off. He was like that, a man given to slacking and finding the easiest way out. According to Brian, Kevin spent his college days partying, cheating, lying, never actually applying himself. She had no idea her ex-fiancé was still very much in the picture and still carried a long festering grudge against Brian Dale. It was all so nonsensical, and Amanda was certain she made the right move by ending the engagement.
In the quiet elegance of Brian's Fifth Avenue penthouse, Amanda relished her freedom. Freedom to do her thing, to challenge herself, take chances, all those things she was denied. On this day, she first called Vi to set an appointment for a last minute consultation. Then she called Toi, asking her to lunch. What luck when Ms. Brazzle accepted, and the pop diva was more than flattered at Amanda's invitation to be Mesozoic Me's featured performer.
Now the wheels were in motion. Most of the music had been selected, the book written, the supporters and investors lined up, the theater booked. Rehearsals were set to begin in a few weeks, with the show slated to premiere the following March, just in time to qualify for the Tonys.
Less than four months to get it right, without the usual pre-Broadway trial runs, and Amanda just prayed and hoped the show would be a smash hit.
If only Kevin would stay away and not ruin everything.
******
On the thirty-third floor of Dale Industries, Inc., Alice Mowbray busily entered data into the accounting program then into an old-fashioned ledger. Always a stickler for details, Alice never trusted using solely the computer for storing the company's personal expense accounts. She insisted on using standard paper ledger books where each and every expenditure was entered by hand. That way, if the computers ever went down, she had an instant backup. So what if it was extra work. Let the accountants under her complain; Alice stood her ground and demanded no nonsense from her staff.
On this day, her task was to reconcile all senior executives' expense accounts. The books had to be balanced by end of week as a state regulator would be in next Monday morning for his monthly inspection. Naturally, Alice had no worries as her books were always up to date with no discrepancies, nothing that would be suspicious. But this morning, Alice had plenty to worry about.
Those senior executive accounts included that of the company's president and CEO: Brian Dale. As if called up by magic, Brian's account popped up on the screen. Alice began to enter figures.
How much she hated to do this, but that man, Kevin Williams, made her an offer. He promised to help pay her youngest daughter's mounting medical bills, and he told her he could contact her ex-husband, perhaps persuade the man to reconcile with Alice. Then there was the father-in-law, the instrument in the marriage's doom. Kevin promised to call Mr. Mowbray in hopes of getting the old man to relent and allow his son and daughter-in-law to get back together.
Then there was something else. Kevin certainly did his homework, as he dug up some pretty incriminating, not to mention embarrassing, information on Alice herself. Seems that she, as a struggling college student, needed to make some quick cash. A naturally beautiful young woman blessed with mounds of dark auburn hair and pronounced curves, Alice, at that time, never gave it a thought. She had no idea that momentary lapse of good judgment would come back to haunt her.
There was this photographer who came on campus...He worked for one of those "men's entertainment" magazines...The 'zine was doing a pictorial of "Girls of the Big Ten", and I saw the ad in the student union...I needed money badly, so I took a chance...The guy was very nice...made me feel very much at ease...He said I was a natural...Those photos not only made their way into the magazine, but got plastered in every girlie 'zine all over the country...
So that was why her ex's dad didn't cotton to her; it was obvious the old man had seen her picture in one of those magazines.
Right now, what her ex's dad thought of her was farthest from her mind. Kevin Williams, that rat, somehow got hold of those photos. He took the trouble of tracking down a copy of that fourteen-year old issue, then scanned the pics and saved them on his hard drive. He in turn showed those photos to Alice, and he threatened to post them on the Internet if she refused to go along with his insane scheme.
And what was that scheme? She was to enter false figures on Brian's expense account, make it look as if he was stealing from his own company. So she did just that: She sat at the terminal and entered several exorbitant expenditures, mostly for business luncheons, dinners, gifts to clients. However, there were no receipts to back up such expenses, thus when the inspector examines those books, he will detect several discrepencies. Of course, it will be on Alice to produce receipts that are in reality non-existent. Brian would be accused of embezzlement; Alice could lose her job.
Was it worth it? Alice thought long and hard about that. An honest person by nature, she wouldn't dream of falsifying documents just so the likes of Kevin Williams could get his revenge.
So she did something that would satisfy Kevin yet save her job and boss. She erased all the false figures from the computer file then took a new ledger book and entered those fake numbers. That book was then locked away in a place only known to Alice. If she timed it right, Kevin Williams just may find himself in a pretty pickle.
Just before wrapping up for lunch, Alice made a phone call.
******
A self-satisfied smirk crossed Kevin's face as he sauntered up the steps into Toi's apartment building. What a boon for him to corner Alice Mowbray, pressing the woman into doing his bidding. Within days, if Alice knows what's good for her, Brian Dale will be in dire straits. Kevin was perfectly aware the state inspected Dale Industries' accounts, and that those phony entries will spell the end of not only Brian but the entire company. Good! Just what he gets for ratting on me, thought Kevin. And just desserts for stealing Amanda.
Kevin mind raced at the prospect of Brian facing reporters, trying to explain his way out of an embezzlement charge. Mr. Dale could end up in prison, his company in ruins, thus losing Amanda in the process. No doubt Amanda would then come crawling back to Kevin begging for forgiveness. And Alice...
Once those sexy nude photos hit the Internet, Kevin would be able to write his ticket anywhere. The woman who made a hasty decision back in college would rue the day she ever set foot in Dale Industries. So what if her young daughter never gets that much needed treatment. So what if Alice never gets back together with her ex. Kevin had no intention of contacting the man. Heck, he didn't even know Bill Mowbray nor Alice's in-laws. For what it mattered, he had Alice right where he wanted, and that was drumming up false allegations of fraud and corruption on Brian Dale.
As soon as he strode up to Toi's door, before he even rang the bell, she was on her way out. Judging from her casual yet stylish jeans, white tee, and a snappy herringbond blazer, Kevin surmised Toi wasn't exactly attired for a day at the spa.
"Where are you off to in such a hurry?," he asked.
She tried to give him the brush-off and kept at bay with, "I just got off the phone with my publicist. She wants to meet me for lunch. Is that OK with you?"
Toi was growing quite exasperated with Kevin; she made up her mind to dump the guy this evening. So she had to fib a little bit, and she definitely wasn't going to tell Kevin her true destination.
But Kevin was cool about it, even requested to accompany her.
"After all," he said smarmily, "if I'm to be your new manager, I should at least be in whatever your publicist wants."
"No, Kevin," she replied, pushing the down button, "It's just routine business. Seems she's heard of a new venture coming up and wants to know if I'm interested."
His interest and curiosity piqued. "What kind of new venture?"
Honestly, thought Toi, tossing her flaming mane and rolling her eyes, this guy won't quit. She replied, "There's a movie coming up...The producer wants me to be in it. Foreign flick...Nothing major. So what the hell. Might be a lark for me."
Kevin frowned. What? Toi Brazzle, the pop wunderkind who made a couple of screwball comedy flicks, starring in a cerebral foreign film with subtitles? Say it ain't so!
In his usual sarcastic tone, he said to her as they got into the elevator, "Come on, Toi. Since when do you go for those movies? Sounds like you need a new publicist."
Toi shook her head. "It isn't on of those artsy French flicks, Kevin. She said it's an Italian comedy with music. They probably want me in a cameo, nothing more. Lay off!"
Once they reached the main floor, Kevin kept prying Toi for more information. Something was up, and he wanted to get the lowdown.
"Just like I said, Kevin," Toi said, totally disgusted with this third-degree questioning, "It's just an offer. I can turn it down if I don't want it."
She hailed a taxi and Kevin, in a gentlemanly yet insatiably curious mood, offered to ride with her to wherever her meeting was. Toi politely yet firmly refused, got into the cab, and closed the door. Just before the car pulled away, she said, "You know, Kevin, it's a wonder Amanda didn't dump you sooner. How she put up with your whining all this time is beyond me. We're through, Kevin. You hear? Don't call or come see me again!"
Toi didn't even look back as the cab sped off; she didn't want to witness Kevin Williams go off in one of his sulky tantrums. After she gave the driver her destination, she got on her cell phone. Something had to be done about Kevin or else everything would go up in flames.
"Hello, Ms. Maxwell? This is Toi Brazzle. Yeah, the one and only...Say, is Mr. Dale in? He is? Cool! Say, I have some info concerning one of his employees...Let's just say Mr. Dale could find himself up the creek if he isn't careful. Someone is trying to set him up, and I know why...Where am I now? On my way to meet Amanda Hardy for lunch...Yeah, it has to do with the show...You say Mr. Dale will be there, too? Great, because he really needs to know what's going down..."
TO BE CONTINUED...Go to Chapter 9
Copyright©2004 by P.R. Parker. All rights reserved.