The Pact of Silence

Connie took the paper offered by Will and studied it.

"He's not married," she said, open mouthed, again. "He was divorced two years ago."

"You'll note that no children are listed."

"The children are hers?"

"Couldn't find any children for her, either."

"Then where did this happy family I was supposed to have wrecked come from?"

"I'm just guessing at this point but what I think happened was your guy didn't see things the

way you did and wanted out - maybe he had his next girlfriend lined up and was promising to leave

you for her."

"Humph!" said Connie. "Then why didn't he just dump me? Why do this?"

"Again I'm guessing but you're a big name who writes a mean break up song. I seem to

remember reading that the song about the boyfriend who dumped you made him take up relief work

in Africa."

"You mean, he was worried about blow back?"

"My guess is that he hired this woman to pose as his wife in what was meant to be a minor

deception where you'd be the only person to meet her. The moment you realised he had a wife and

children and that she was going to stand by him you would have stopped calling – heartbroken but

resigned to the fact that you got things wrong."

"Damn straight."

"But then the whole thing got completely out of hand. This woman might have got the idea

that she was an actual wife, instead of a hired sex worker, along with hired children. Or maybe she

threw herself into the role – it's Hollywood after all. Anyway, I'm pretty sure she wasn't meant to

attack you publicly."

Connie looked at the pages and then up at Will.

"What can I do with these?" she said.

"There's not enough there to do a proper job but you can hire a private detective to take a

hard look at your guy. Maybe follow him around for a time and do more online searches. Those

guys are always serial so there will be others like you, just not as high profile. Maybe the pretend

wife's co-workers can be persuaded to dish some dirt on her, and certainly establish she's not living

with him."

"This has to be the most complicated way to dump a girl," said Connie. "And all because I

was getting intense?"

"Only scenario I can think of that begins to fit the facts. As for getting intense – I'm the one

who gets too intense with girls and gets dumped."

"Does Meghan get intense?" asked Connie, sharply.

"I wouldn't know. She spent so much time telling me she wasn't interested in me

romantically when she hired me, I'm now too scared to even comment."

Connie laughed. "I dunno about intense, but she can be a hard arse. I hire a private detective

and then what?"

"I've listed someone on the last page, a wannabe actor whose day job is as a private

detective. Met him around. He seems pretty good. Once you get some dirt together don't release it

yourself, the media may suggest you're inventing stuff to get back at your guy. Have the detective

tie it all up in a neat bundle and hand it to a media outlet that still does some digging, without

saying who's behind the gift. Maybe that Sidewalk Stars program. If they don't want to use it, hand

it to another."

Connie thought about this for a moment, looking at the pages.

"Will, this is real sneaky."

"I prefer to think of it as a creative solution to a problem," said Will. "But sneaky works.

Either way, it's a peace offering."

"Gentlemen let's organise some coffee for our guest," Connie said, and smiled.

Later the singer rang Meghan, being put through from Meghan-HQ by Mia. It was the first

time the two former friends had spoken in years.

"Connie here," she said without preamble. "What bar did you meet Will in and were there

any more like him? I want one."

"I didn't see any others like Will," said Meghan amused. "We talked, he made sense, so I

hired him."

"He's also hot, did that have anything to do with it?"

"An extra benefit," said Meghan. "He looks fine in my pool and makes good coffee."

"Hmmm! hmmm!" said Connie. "All in one package. If you find any others like him, tell

them I have an opening."

"I can do that."

"Will says you warned him off hard over any romantic ideas."

"I called him to pick his brains, so I had to," said Meghan. "He's very nice but not my type,

and I'm taken."

"You've become real choosy about men," said Connie. "You're still seeing big time movie

star Robin?"

"Still going fine."

"Will would do for most girls, and he'd be much less trouble."

"Maybe, and someone nice will pick him up. For the moment he has a sad story about a girl

which he won't tell me."

"Are we going to do this hospital benefit thing?"

"It's like Will says, no one can argue with fund raising for a children's hospital," said

Meghan. "We get a few edges knocked off our profiles, without losing the bad girl tag and the

hospital gets money."

"I'm in, but I want to hold off for a time," said Connie. "I've set stuff in motion at Will's

suggestion which I'd like to finish before we do it."

"It'll take us that long to organise, but Will says we've got to go to the hospital first. See the

sick children."

"I don't do sick people so well if you remember," said Connie.

"I remember," said Meghan.

"I've said I'm going to do it, so get Will to set up a time."

Meghan was only at home for one day of Will's first week, being at promotional photo

shoots for two days and working on the shots for an action film in a warehouse for the other days.

This involved actions such as jumping off platforms in skin-tight outfits, while supported by a

cable, to land on mats. Then she would send stuntmen flying with pretend blows. Stunt doubles

were substituted for anything that required real physical expertise, computer imagery would later

add backgrounds such as buildings and bridges and the action occasionally sped up to the point that

Meghan had trouble recognising the sequence that she had acted.

In the meantime, the star continued to find uses for her new hire. She got Will to come in a

little later so that he could make morning coffee for the other ladies as well as a toasted English

muffin for her plus coffee which she could drink in the chauffeured car on the way to the studio

while reading the day's script. The ladies would also drink their coffee while watching Will in the

pool. This they considered a major improvement in workplace amenities. Meghan's employees then

sat around the house's dining table with their laptops and mobiles to do the star's work.

Meg took to calling the writer during breaks in filming or photoshoots to discuss

investments, but occasionally to pass the time in a practice that in larger organisations might have

been called "hassling the new hire", albeit with the new hire doing some hassling of his own.

"You hardly have any tattoos?" she said one time.

"You called me to point that out?" said Will. "What's the matter you've run out of cat

videos to look at on your phone?"

"I'm not into cats and what's the point of paying someone if I can't pass the time hassling

them."

"I thought you hired me to do your work."

"That too – what the one word you have in gothic lettering on your shoulder?"

"Mater – it's Latin for mum."

Meghan laughed. "And what about that design underneath it?"

"It's a little fish with a fake shark fin strapped on. That's how I feel sometimes."

"Other guys have tatts of eagles and dragons and you have a lame emoji."

"And mum in Latin," said Will. "And I only got those because the guys in the swim team

were hassling me about having no tatts."

"You're such a nerd," said Meghan. "You also don't have a stubble like most guys."

"Always found them scratchy. Clean shaven is easier in any case."

"I'm supposed to be this style icon and I have a hopeless nerd on my staff."

"It's sad isn't it," said Will, cheerfully. "If important people come to the house you make me

go to that change room I shower in until they've gone, then insist I stay there while you watch cat

videos."

The conversations occasionally turned to more important matters. Will was astonished to

find that the star still handled routine payments herself and suggested that she could reduce her

work load by setting up an account with a comparatively small amount that Mia and Emma could

access to pay the likes of electricity for the house, and wages for worthy consultants such as

himself. They would then present her with an itemised list of payments at the end of the week.

"That way when Mia empties your account to run off with a handsome con man, you've

just lost what's in the account," said Will.

"Is Mia dating a handsome con man?" Meghan wanted to know.

"Not that I know of – it's still Jake the assistant director," said Will, putting the phone on

speaker, and explaining the conversation to Mia.

"We've only just had a second date," said Mia who had recently connected with the assistant

director she had originally met on one of Meg's film sets, "but the handsome conman sounds

interesting. When do I get to meet him?"

"I can adapt the fantasy to your wishes," said Will. "You can meet him whenever you like."

"If you going to take my money and leave, I don't want you to meet this fantasy conman,"

said Meghan.

"I could always meet him, have an affair with lots of sex," said Mia, hopefully. "Then dump

him when he talks about emptying bank accounts."

"I don't mind that fantasy," said Meg. She later set up the account.

As part of that change, Will set up a system for reporting total incomings and outgoings per

week and per month. With some effort, as he did not have access to the investment accounts and did

not want it, he was also able to set up a way of generating reports on Meghan's growing investment

portfolio. For the first time the star felt like she knew what was happening in her own financial

affairs.

The actress also discussed scripts with Will, wondering if the writer had any insights into

the vast numbers of scripts that seemed to find their way onto her desk.

"I'll go through them if you like but you know what they say in Hollywood – no one knows

anything," said Will. "The classic, stand out case of professionals being caught out big time is the

original Star Wars film back in the 1970s. The script was just corny space opera, with every SF

cliché and a couple from the romcom genre thrown in, yet it was such a huge hit that toy stores are

still full of Star Wars merchandising. Mind you, the franchise was really made by the sequels which

were a step or two above the corny original but still fun."

"I don't think I want to be the next Princess Lea," said Meghan. "See if anything in the

scripts stands out."

"I never got to tell you my theory about Darth Vader," said Will.

"I headed you off when you tried to tell me, in that club."

"I could tell you now."

"I still don't want to hear about Darth Vader," said Meg.

"The Jedis were really a sinister organisation."

"Tell someone who cares."

"I have things to say about Ewoks," said Will, hopefully.

"I don't care about Ewoks," said Meg, "and before you ask Wookiees are out too."

Will laughed; Meg giggled.

"Good answer," said the writer. "But if you want a fresh take on scripts there is an agent

who's supposed to be good who's going out on her own. She could be the more personal touch you

seem to want. I could set up a meeting."

"How do you know about agents, Will?" asked Meg.

"It's part of this sad story involving a girl I told you about."

In fact, Violet had tried and failed to sign up with the agent he had in mind.

"Is this agent the girl?"

"No not her," said Will. "The girl is gone."

"You never told us this sad story, Will," said Emma who had overheard the conversation.

"Yeah, we want to hear," said Mia.

"I had my heart cut out," said Will, "and now I hate all women."

"Not all women are bad," said Emma. "How did she cut your heart out?"

"If I don't share the story my hatred will be more focused."

"Aww you don't mean that – you're too nice a guy to hate anyone."

"Hate," said Will, doing his best to glare.

"It's like that is it?" said Mia, smiling, "well, suit yourself, Will."