Picture Perfect 90
“You want to see the bike? It’s around back.”Morrison’s cellphone rang. “You ahead I’ll be right with you. It’s Seal so I have to take it.”
Dan & Jennifer walked around the house with the camera crew in tow.
“Stop!” Morrison was shouting at them. “This interview is over.”
“But …” Brenda started.
“Seal has watched some of the Baxter Bits bullshit. He won’t let you exploit our loss for your benefit.”
“What!” Dan was stunned.
“You don’t care about these children. You are looking for fodder for this fucking new cable channel. They mean nothing more to you than commercial dollars-per-minute. Get off my property. Now. Stop filming before I … ” He lunged at Cameron & tried to wrestle his camera from him.
Dan looked to Stephanie. She shrugged.
“Ok folks let’s get out of here.” She said.
Back at the motel Dan showered thoroughly. He put the dusty clothing he’d been wearing into a plastic bag. He gave the crew instructions that all the clothes everyone who had gone into the dome needed to be laundered to clear out the residue. He used the drops Dr. Grey had prescribed. He hadn’t used them for the past week but when he saw how red his eyes where he knew they needed more than hot water to clear them.
Wearing a clean tee-shirt and underwear he covered his eyes to rest on top of his bed & fell asleep after two deep breaths. He dreamt Peter was on the bed beside him. He wanted Peter to touch his cock but Peter kept pulling his hands away while giving him teasing kisses.
“I know you want it but it’s not that easy to get.” Peter said.
Dan’s cock ached. The ache woke him.
“I get the message.” He said to his body. “But there isn’t anything we can do about it here.” Why not give Larry a shout? He was definitely interested when we were bouncing over the Moose Trail. Maybe that man from Flannery’s. Troy? His white shirt would come off easily enough.
Dan cupped his balls and squeezed them. If he hadn’t Skyped Peter so recently he would have done so then. Cam2Cam wasn’t all that satisfying, no one to cuddle when he was done, it was better than doing himself in a motel room. Maybe Cameron guy was having similar feelings. “Don’t screw the crew!” wasn’t that something Baxter had told him. Camera guy’s beard was hot. Not that it was beard, more like constant stubble. A bit longer than that. Did he use some special razor to keep it always at that length. Nah. There hadn’t been any sign that Cameron was even bi. He’d probably be uncut like Sanjay. But not as well hung. At least his jeans never betrayed with even an outline their contents. Unlike Larry who wasn’t shy about what he would have offered if Dan had been willing to take him up on that offer.
He rolled on to his stomach and reached for his cell to check when his next Toronto visit was scheduled. He knew it wasn’t the coming weekend. But unless there was something definite to shoot he wasn’t really needed here either. The review of the week’s work was set for Sunday. Saturday was set aside to look over what they had. Baxter and the production crew would view all the footage, make notes for him.
So he wouldn’t be needed Saturday. Thursday and Friday he was to interview the last family. He looked at flight times. It would be possible to fly out of Sydney late Friday and out of Toronto Sunday morning and get back just in time for the Sunday review. He rolled to his back while pushing his briefs off.
There was a knock at his door.
“Dan?” it was Baxter.
“One second.” He grabbed for his jeans and zipped them carefully not to catch his cock skin in its teeth.
“What can I do for you?” he stepped out onto the narrow walk way. Meeting with Baxter in private wasn’t wise. The night air brought him quickly to his senses.
“Brenda told be about the incident with Morrison.”
“Incident?”
“Could he sue us?”
“What for! Invasion of privacy?”
“I don’t know but he’s not happy. His attorney, actually it was Seal’s lawyer, was onto to Quintex demanding that we turn over all the footage we shot with a guarantee it wouldn’t be aired.”
“What! Morrison signed a release, didn’t he?”
“Seal claims we are infringing on his proprietary rights.” Baxter said. “The bothers going to make a movie out of Sister Gone.”
“It’s a work of fiction. The facts …. Maybe there’re afraid we’ll uncover something.” Dan said. “Family is always the prime suspect until hard evidence proves otherwise.”
“But none of the other families have been proven totally innocent either. It’s only the chain of children vanishing that gives any credence to their claims that their’s were abducted.”
“Whew, Curtis that’s a wild conspiracy theory. They would have to be in collusion in some way. There’s nothing in the files we have that show any connection between these families other than they were families who lost children.”
“That’s not what I was saying at all, but Dan I gotta remember that idea. It would make a great series. Morrison’s lawyer in breathing down our neck. Is there anything that incriminating in what he told us?”
“Not that I recollect.”
“The legal department is viewing them now. It’s his sons. They never responded to our initial requests for interviews.”
“What about the Morrison footage.”
“It’ll be there. Don’t worry about that. Legal will see to it. They may not like the way it’s been edited mind you. What you say to the camera and what gets on air can be two different things.” Baxter turned to leave.
“What’s this about ninety minute episodes?” Dan asked.
“There’ll be a couple in the mix.”
“Now you tell me. There’s nothing in my contract …”
“Check that contract careful, it says episodes but doesn’t state how long they are. If we package the show as 6 one hour segments you get paid for six. If we package it as 3 you get paid for three. There is even a clause for shooting beyond the three month time frame.” He put his arm around Dan’s shoulder. “The money for your time here is already in the bank. What’s the big deal.”
Dan slid out of Curtis’s grasp. His cologne was suffocating him. “I have an early call.” He opened his cabin door holding Curtis back with his free hand. “See you in the morning.”
“No. I’ll be heading back to Halifax. Follow up on the accident. Insurance stuff to deal with. Their doctors want to talk to mine about the seriousness of my injures. The fact that the car was totalled and passengers killed means nothing to them.”
“Passengers? I thought Glaucia was driving.”
“That’s what I meant. The driver & a passenger was killed.” Baxter gave Dan an air kiss. “I’ll be back by the end of the week. After the insurance inquisition I’m going to QTel in Toronto. After their launch there’s a push to get the first episode of the show on the air.”
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