Page 28 of Beyond the Darkness (Basic Instincts #3)

“Come Now”

After talking to Luke, Hudson was even more conflicted than ever.

His life felt like it was falling apart.

First Julian, then the return of Robbie Wiseman, now Luke.

The first public performance was less than twenty-four hours away and he didn’t know how he was going to get through the rest of tonight, let alone tomorrow.

He called the only person he had left to turn to. Rav.

Rav suggested Hudson meet him the in bar of his hotel, but Hudson insisted they needed privacy for what he had to say and, after some reluctance, Rav gave the number of his suite and told him to come straight up.

Hudson wrung his hands and gritted his teeth as he waited for the elevator to rise.

People got on at every floor, going up. It seemed strange until he realised the hotel had a terrace bar and a restaurant on the top floor.

Another night and that would have been perfect. But not this one.

By the time he reached Rav’s suite, the ball of tension in his guts had only constricted. He rapped on the door. Rav’s smile was tight-lipped when he opened.

“What’s the big emergency?” he asked as Hudson strode past him into the room.

“I don’t think I can go on with this.” Getting the words out was a struggle. His breath was shallow and fast.

The lounge area was bigger than the whole of the apartment Hudson was renting, with a large seating area, bar and dining table. Sliding doors were open onto a balcony. Hudson could see all the way across the river. The roof of the Concert Hall was visible from here.

“What do you mean?” Rav asked, following him through. “The previews start tomorrow. We open on Monday.”

“I can’t do it.” He paced the floor, doing laps around the expansive coffee table. He punched his fist into his open palm. “It’s all gotten too much.”

“Hey.” Rav came towards him with open arms. Hudson changed track to avoid him. “What’s got into you?”

“I told you days ago this whole production is a mess, but you wouldn’t listen.

We had enough to cope with, with Julian’s murder, and a replacement actor, but you just kept piling it on.

Reporters, podcasters—you kept adding shit on top of shit.

Expecting us to work through that. To learn a fucking show and deliver a performance. ”

“Hudson, what is this? You’re not yourself tonight.”

“Don’t pretend you know me. You’ve ignored everything I’ve said from the start.”

“Have a seat. Come on, let’s talk this through.”

“I don’t want a seat,” he snapped. In that moment, he heard his own voice. He sounded crazed. A diva actor having a meltdown. He paused in front of the open doors and fought to get his breathing under control.

“Have…have you spoken to Andie about this?”

“I don’t know where she is. She’s not answering her phone.”

“Let me try her.”

“No,” Hudson said firmly. “I want to talk to you now. If you bring her in, the pair of you will gang up on me and nothing will change.”

“Okay.” Rav put his phone on the coffee table. “A drink, then?”

He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths, tuning out the chaos for a few moments. At last he said, “A whisky, just a small amount of water.”

“Sure,” Rav said, rushing to the bar, seemingly more confident now that he had something to do. He put two crystal tumblers on the granite counter and pulled a bottle from underneath.

After several deep breaths, Hudson turned from the window and joined him. He picked up his drink, swirled the glass, took a tasting sip, then downed the whole thing. He gave Rav the empty glass for a refill.

“Shit,” he said. “This time tomorrow, I’ll be on the stage. We’ll be coming to the end of Act Two.”

“And you’ll be great. You always are.”

“Don’t bullshit me now. You were there this afternoon. You saw how bad I was in that last run-through.”

“You were fine. There were a lot of other things going on. I’ve worked with Andie many times. She’s always like this in the days before an opening. You’ll see. By Monday night, everything will be a dream.”

“As opposed to the nightmare it’s been so far.”

Rav pushed him the second drink. He put his elbows on the counter, looking at him earnestly across the bar. “What’s got into you today? Have you received more of those strange letters?”

He shook his head. He was almost certain Robbie Wiseman had been behind the packages.

The letters had stopped straight after Robbie’s arrest. There had been so many other problems, he’d almost forgotten about him.

“You need to get rid of Amber and Corman. If I see them at the theatre tomorrow, you’ll have to prep Sal for the first performance because I won’t go on. ”

“We need the—”

“Publicity. Is that what you think? Because we don’t.

And certainly not the kind of publicity they intend to bring.

They are out to publicise themselves and nothing else.

They’re looking for scandal and dirt anywhere they can find it.

And if I buckle under the pressure of this show, who’s going to be right in the heart of it to capitalize on the disaster? ”

“I’ll have a word with them tomorrow. I’ll tell them to stay out of your way.”

“No. You will tell them to piss off and not come back. I mean it, Rav. There are too many distractions right now. The cops are still investigating the murder of one of your cast, in case you’d forgotten.”

Rav’s confident demeanour looked bruised.

He sighed and ran a hand over his thinning hair.

“All right. I’ll take care of it. You don’t have to worry about them anymore.

I’ll make sure that you, that everyone, gets the space they need to pull this show together. It’s too important to lose focus now.”

Hudson smiled gratefully. It had taken several weeks, but at last Rav was getting it.

It would also mean Luke was out of the room too.

For the next few days, that could only be a good thing.

Hudson didn’t know how he felt about Luke now, and what might happen between them.

They needed space as well. Maybe by this time next week, he’d be ready to start again, if Luke was willing to.

Fuck, he’d all but accused him of killing Julian.

Hudson hadn’t believed that for a moment.

He’d allowed Amber and Corman to wind him up and had reacted in the exact way they’d wanted him to.

He wouldn’t blame Luke if he didn’t want to see him again. Not after that. But he couldn’t dwell on it now. He had less than twenty-four hours to get his head together and deliver the performance that a full house of people had paid to see.

“I have never been this close to burnout before a show has even opened,” he admitted. He took a sip of the second drink.

“You might not realise, but producing this car crash has not been easy either.”

They both laughed, finally releasing the tension.

“And to think we want to do it all over again in London,” Hudson said.

“We’ll get there. We’ve had a run of bad luck, but once we open and the great reviews come in, we’ll be rolling.”

Hudson wished he shared Rav’s confidence. Reviews were something he didn’t have the bandwidth to deal with. Getting through those first shows without another disaster befalling them was the priority.

His phone vibrated in his pocket with a message notification. He ignored it. “If you clear the theatre of all but essential people tomorrow, I think we can get one solid rehearsal under our belt before the punters come in.”

“It’ll happen. Don’t worry about it. Finish your drink, go to bed, get a good night’s sleep, and let me take care of tomorrow.”

Rav’s phone vibrated on the coffee table. It was never-ending. Almost ten o’clock and people were still trying to get in touch with them. Unlike Hudson, he didn’t ignore it, crossing the room to scoop up the phone.

Hudson took another sip of whisky and savoured the vanilla-tinged flavour. Rav was right. When he’d finished the drink, he’d book an Uber to take him home.

“What?” Rav said, staring at his phone screen.

Hudson groaned inwardly. What now?

“It’s from Luke,” Rav said. “I don’t understand.”

Hudson groaned. “It might be my fault,” he admitted. “We had an argument earlier tonight. I could have handled it better. It wasn’t my finest moment.”

“Need to see you about the play. Come now, or it won’t go on. Urgent,” Rav read. He squinted, as though not sure of what he was seeing.

“Huh?” Hudson pulled his phone from his hip pocket. The message he’d received was also from Luke. He tapped it open. “It’s identical.”

“What’s it supposed to mean?”

“I have no idea.” Hudson hit the call icon. It rang several times before Luke’s voicemail kicked in. “It’s me,” he said. “I got your message. What’s it about?”

He ended the call and glanced at Rav, whose brow was furrowed.

“Now what?” Rav’s voice was tinged with concern. “What does it mean? The show won’t go on.”

Hudson shrugged. The knot of worry in his stomach had returned, even tighter than before. “I have no idea. By come now, I assume he means the theatre?”

Rav shook his head. “It’s all shut up. There’s no show tonight. They locked the doors when I left.”

“His house, then?”

“It sounds serious. We should probably go.”

What was Luke playing at sending such a cryptic message? And why wasn’t he answering his phone afterwards? “All right, let’s go. I’ll get us a cab.”

“My car is downstairs. It will be quicker.” Rav grabbed his keys from a bowl on the counter and headed for the door.

The elevator ride to the basement garage was quicker than the journey up. Once they were in the car and out on the road, Hudson tried Luke’s number again. It went to voicemail once more. “Shit.”

“Do you know the address?” Rav asked.

“No, but I’ve been to the house a few times now. I think I can get us there. Head onto the north road out of the city then follow the signs for the coast.”

Rav’s hands were tight on the wheel. At the last minute he realised he was in the wrong lane, cutting across and earning an angry blare from the horn of the vehicle behind.

Hudson’s heart beat faster. The impression that something was seriously wrong grew stronger.

He called Luke again and got no response.

“What the fuck is he thinking of?” Rav asked angrily. “As if we haven’t got enough to worry about already.”

Once they were closer to the coast, Hudson’s directions became sketchy.

He’d only ever come out this way as a passenger in Luke’s car, and as such he’d paid little attention to the road numbers, roundabouts, or turnings.

They ended up in a small village he did not recognise and had to backtrack a mile before getting onto the correct route.

“I recognise this now,” he said, glad there was still a decent amount of light in the dusky sky. In complete darkness, he would have had no clue. “Keep going this way.”

After another three miles, the sea was on their right, and he recognised the small street of houses overlooking the beach.

“This is it.”

Rav slowed down until Hudson pinpointed the exact house and swung the car onto the drive. Luke’s car was already parked up and there were lights on in the front window.

“I guess he’s home,” Rav said, shutting off the engine. “This had better be worth the journey here.”

Hudson stepped out. He expected Luke to come rushing to meet them, but there was stillness from the house. The air was fresh with the salt of the sea, but there was an uneasy heaviness in the atmosphere that he could not account for. It gnawed at Hudson’s nerves.

Rav joined him and they stared at the house. It was familiar to Hudson, and yet something was off. Then he realised the front door was open.

“Where is he?” Rav asked, his voice lower.

Hudson’s stomach churned. The instinct to get back in the car and flee was strong. Something was very wrong here. His mind flashed on Julian’s murder, and he was seized with a sudden panic. Something had happened to Luke.

“We need to find him.”

He was already making for the door when a sudden movement to the right brought him to a stop.

He recognised the Baby Face mask in an instant.

Then a flash of steel glinted in the low light. An axe.

He screamed, “Rav, watch out.”

Rav had no time to react. With three powerful strides, the movie killer was upon him. The axe swung from a high angle and made a sickening impact with his head. Blood splattered wide.

However violent the movie had been, the reality of the attack was far worse than it had ever been in the film version.