Hellandback 10

Years had gone since her name was spoken. Only two people in his life even knew she had existed. Did he really see her in mirror? Dean became conspiratorial. The man in the black suit was manipulating him, he knew it was something like that. He made a phone call he knew he would regret. "Perfect timing Dean. You need to meet with the band now. I have to do some business for an hour or so, they're rehearsing," the voice on the other end, Lark McKissic said. Dean didn't know how to broach the subject so he just said it, "i think I saw Fiona, but I need to know if he messes with your head at all." Lark, had no time for deep discussion of the man in the black suit's mind games, but she needed to get Dean in the fold, "yeah. we are in the game now Dean. The head stuff is pure him. You have to block it out for now. When we get to New York, then you can deal with it. The Jennings Warehouse block is located at 521 Jennings Drive. Once you get hear, follow the cigarette smoke, bikinis, and guitar chords. Take over if you want. I have had it with you musicians today. See you in two hours before the show." Dean hung up with saying goodbye and left the townhouse. Lark pulled into the Seashell and saw the police cruiser lights and parked behind the dumpters so she could get to the room without being detected. Cocoa Beach Police had not secured the crime scene in the room, everything and everyone was outside where Greg had "jumped". She walked into the room, put on surgical gloves, and removed a piece of paper and an envelope containing cash from her bag. She put them on the floor next to the bed under the nightstand, curiously, next to the Bible. Lark closed her eyes and breathed in a deep breath, something she always did when she was doing something she knew was wrong. She looked around for anything pertinent and saw a green notebook. Inside the notebook were financial figures and information about Agent Tangelo's business dealings. At first, she put the notebook inside her bag, then she thought of something more convenient. She took out a pen of the same color as the writing in the notebook and began changing some of the figure and adjusting other numbers. She left the notebook next to the paper, the envelope and the Bible. Lark left the room and removed her gloves and put them in her jacket pocket. She took a different route to her car. No one saw what she had done.

Mallory walked into the Applebee's she had been in earlier that day. She saw Evelyn in being served a drink from BeeGee. The tiny laugh from Evelyn made Mallory smile. That was the appeal of BeeGee. She a small group of wickedly humored people happy for the most bizarre reason. "Please tell me you sat at this table by accident Ev?" asked Mallor, ficitiously. "After the day I've had, I needed some boob decor with an adult beverage," said Evelyn as she sipped her vodka collins. "I don't want to cry about Dean. Our situation is so whacked right now Mal, but I am concerned about him. Just be honest with me. Please don;t feel you're being disloyal, I just need to understand what kind of mess he's either in or about," Evelyn opined. Mallory answered, "Did you see the woman he was tattoing when you came by the shop earlier?" Ev shook her head yes and took another drink. BeeGee was back and asked Mallory for her order. Mallory ordered a beer and started talking more, "Her name is Lark McKissic. You may have heard of her. She's the Vice President or head bitchy manager of destroying people's crap of Gotham Media Evil Empire up in New York." Ev cautiously asked "She knows Dean from his band days, right." Mallory shook her head yes and kept going, "she was like a rock groupie, A&R scout, butt-kisser when Dean and his band were going on. My mom knew both of them well. My mom doesn't talk about those times. She was pregnant and then had me in the middle of all that time and combine that with her drug and man history, it's not something we talk about over bacon and eggs. Deal is something happened back then. Dean's back didn't make it, Lark did, and there was Days of our Lives type drama that no one dare discuss." Ev stopped Mal and bravely asked, "but today Dean and Lark decide to reminisce over tattoos and Agent Tangelo fandom?" Mallory didn't answer her. She took her beer from BeeGee and took a large gulp. Then said, "I think Dean's being brought back into Lark's music business world but I don;t know why. My mom agrees with me but even she's being coy and secretive about it all. My deal is we pay close attention to Dean tonight at the show. Bonnie's covering for me at the shop. My friend Geo is going with me, but I told him I was staying close to you and Dean, he's cool with that." The two women kept talking and never ordered food. They did order another round of drinks.

Dean arrived at the warhouse block and picked up a backpack carrying the contract from his office safe and followed two young girls as they went into the warehouse to hear Agent Tangelo rip through their rock song Just Can't Hear. The chords were rough, even dirty but they sounded tight. The band finished the song and saw Dean. Silas put down his guitar amongst clapping from the dozen onlookers, 9 of which were teenage girls. "Dean, welcome to the ATFunhouse. What did you think?" Silas asked enthusiastically. "Um, well, it was rockin'. Drake, it's Drake, right? I really like the chord progrssion. The slide technique on the bridge is very different. Cool." Drake said thank you and feigned interest in Dean being there. Silas asked, "So, um, our favorite record company She-Devil said you were going to help us for a while?" Dean took the contract out of his backpack and threw it on the formica table in front of them. "There it is. Black and white reality. I've read every word of that thing maybe 100 times and I still don;t understand all of it. Yet, over twenty years ago I signed it. I was drunk when I signed it. Which is a good thing, had I been sober I might have thrown it in the garbage and I would have never sniffed the charts, MTV, or two blondes at one time at the bottom of the Hollywood sign." Silas chuckled, so did Kyle, the other two looked away, waiting for the hasbeen to shut up. Dean kept talking, "do what you want guys. I know you liked Greg and think I'm some loser from a two bit two hit hair band that Nirvana killed. Technically, Queensryche killed my band and others like it with Opertation Mind Crime and Silent Lucidity. Extreme didn't help things with More than Words. We won't even talk about Warrant. That's a joke, but I don;t really make jokes so it isn't funny. The point, guys, is the next 9 or so days of your life will be more important emotionally, artistically and financially than you'll ever think about the rest of your lives. You want some insight, I can try to give that to you. You want some recording and performing ideas, I doubt you need them from me, but I can try to impart. Whatever you four do, do it because you want to, not because some chick tells you're hot or how awesome you are or because Lark intimidates you. So, tell me what the word? Come after me. Give it to me." No one says anything. Dean says, "How about we send some of your admirers, if there are any over the age of 21, to get us a case of beer and a bottle of Jack Daniels. We might even be able to write a song or two before your show?"  Silas breaks the silence of the four, "Hell yeah." From there the rehearsal picked up in energy.

Empathetic brown eyes greeted her as she walked into the tiny apartment. "Hi mommy", the 2 year old girl lisped as she hugged. Kelly's own mother, also her babysitter, put out her hand, and coldy said "before you go to that other job, I'll need some money. You are out of food." Kelly pulled out a roll of money from her glittered chest and counted out 85 dollars."That's all I made waitressing today. I'll have 4 times that dancing tonight. Her mom glared judgementally. Kelly knew she was unseemly to her own mother, she pretended to not care. She turned on the shower and turned on her stereo. A cd playing her favorite band began to play, loudly. The happy brown eyes greeted her again as she started to undress. "Mommy, you listen to those same songs over and over. They're too loud for you." Kelly laughed,a little too much, as the stress of her day overwhlemed her. The only two things in her life that comforted her, the music of that loud band, Agent Tangelo, and her loving little girl, Olivia were in one place. "Baby, I need wash off all the dirty french fries and ketchup and chocolate brownie yuck so why don't you go play with Gramma for five whole minutes," she said to Olivia. "Mommy, Gramma went to the store and she she I need to play with you. You and Gramma need to talk to each other. Can I sit on the potty and sing like you do when you when you are in there getting the Applebees off you?" little Olivia responded. Kelly smiled, laughed again, and thought to herself how awesome all of that sounded. As she stepped into the warm water and started singing along to Agent Tangelo, she heard Olivia tiny voice mimic her every word. For a brief time, everything was okay.

Cocoa Beach police caution taped the room, the balcony and the area around Greg Cooke's body, now covered by a sheet and awaiting the coroner. A few bystanders were questioned. No one saw anything, they just heard the thud of the body hitting the ground. The hotel manager said Greg Cooke was always in a bad mood and never seemed relaxed. He said Greg Cooke always apologized for the other people in his party's behavior, paid for the minor damages with his credit card and his cell phone was always in the ear. One of the maid's said Greg Cooke was like an unhappy father to a bunch of kids and she wasn't surprised he might kill himself. Everyone saw this as more nuisance than tragedy. Lark McKissic arrived back on the scene and spoke with the police. She told them nothing of substance. Then the detective came out of the room and asked Lark about the money and the drugs. Lark did that sigh she always did before doing something she didn't like to do but had to do and said "I gave him that money this afternoon, about three hours ago. It was a payment, part of a deal to leave the band I now manage for Gotham Media. The drugs, I have no idea. I didn't know Greg Cooke personally, just professionally. " The detective said he'd call her later and to not leave town for a couple of days if possible. For now, Lark walked away and went back to the Jennings Warehouse. Getting Agent Tangelo to play their show tonight was priority one.