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12 DAYS TO MAKE A MOVIE...
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IT ISN’T BREAKING IN if you have a key, Jack told himself as he opened the back door to Aunt Millie’s house. His house. He was in the kitchen, which was exactly where he wanted to be. The heart of the home. For women anyway. Call him sexist, but when he was on the job he always planted listening devices in the kitchens of houses where women lived alone. If it was a guy, he put it in whatever room held the large screen TV.
The room looked homely and welcoming. The counters were scrubbed clean, the cupboards were well stocked and meticulously organised. On top of that he’d never seen so many baking pans and cookbooks. He smiled smugly. This was the place to plant his bug. With any luck he’d get her discussing how much hash she put in her recipes. He opened his small black backpack, took out what he needed and secured it to the underside of a shelf that, by the dust on it, no one ever touched. That should do the trick. He tested it to make sure he could receive the signal. Job done. Now he could poke around a little more.
The musty smell of furniture that had been neglected and worn, wafted towards him as he walked down the hall. He couldn’t remember the place smelling any other way. It had always been an old house, even when Millie had lived there. His trained eyes scanned the hallway and the two rooms off it for anything out of place. Apart from magazines littered about the surfaces and shoes discarded where they fell, it looked perfectly normal.
There was nothing unusual or obviously out of place. Until, that is, he reached the door to the basement. It was padlocked. A shiny new padlock. He pulled a set of basic picks from his bag and set to work on the lock. And then he heard it. A car. He peeked out of the window to see Davina climbing out of her sissy car. He knew the minute she spotted his abandoned SUV. She pursed those gorgeous lips of hers. Jack bolted for the kitchen door. Years of training kept him calm. It was too late to hide. Nope, he needed another plan. At the speed of light he was out the back door. He threw his bag under an old rattan chair, yanked his T-shirt off, grabbed a handful of dirt from a local plant pot and messed his hands, then as a last minute thought he tipped a bowl of water left for a pet over his head. He’d just finished running his fingers through his hair when Davina came round the corner.
Davina knew the minute she saw Jack that he was up to something. He looked far too innocent not to be guilty.
“Jack, darling,” she said with false cheer, “how delightful to see you again. So soon.”
She thought she saw him swallow a smile.
“So what brings you out here, to my home, where I’m supposed to be entitled to privacy?”
“Gardening.”
“On the veranda?”
That did make him smile. It happened quickly, but she definitely saw it.
“Came up here for some shade. You were right yesterday. This place needs some maintenance.”
“I also said it should happen when I leave.”
“Really? Missed that part. No time like the present, I always say.”
Yeah, right. She looked at the back door.
“Have you been snooping?” she said as she put her hand on her hip.
He puffed out his very bare, very muscled chest.
“Me?” he said with mock affront.
Davina was momentarily distracted by the whorls of black hair that made a perfect v shape in the middle of his chest. She shook her head.
“Yes, you,” she told him. “I thought we agreed yesterday that you wouldn’t stalk me anymore.”
“I don’t remember saying that, Davy.”
“It was implied. This is getting creepy. Don’t you have a life? Do you really need mine?”
His mouth twitched again.
“I just came here to tidy my garden. It isn’t all about you, Davy.”
“And will you please stop calling me that? It’s Davina. DA-VI-NA.”
The man was seriously infuriating. Not to mention distracting. What was he doing bare-chested in the middle of October anyway? It wasn’t normal.
“Fine,” she told him as she stomped up the steps to her door, “if you’re gardening, stay in the garden. Keep away from the house.”
She stopped level with him at the top of the steps.
“For goodness sake, put some clothes on.”
Jack looked down at himself.
“This is bothering you?”
“You’re bothering me.”
She put the key in the lock and it only turned over once. She could have sworn she’d double locked it. Her eyes narrowed.
“And another thing,” she told him. “I’m going to put an alarm on the doors, so don’t get any ideas about breaking the agreement.”
“Wouldn’t dare.” He crossed the veranda to stand in front of her. “But a comment like that makes me wonder again what you’re hiding.”
He smelled hot and spicy – it made her mouth water. She pursed her lips. He definitely didn’t smell of hard work and sweat. If he’d been gardening then she was Queen of England.
“Well, Davy,” he said. “What are you hiding?”
She blinked as she looked up into his deep-set eyes.
“I told you. Bodies. Treasure.”
He leaned towards her.
“Body. Treasure,” he repeated. His voice was a low murmur full of meaning.
Suddenly Davina wasn’t so sure what they were talking about exactly. She swallowed hard.
“Look,” she said at last. “This situation is insane. You can’t hang around with me all the time. I have things to do. Things I need to concentrate on.”
He quirked an eyebrow.
“I bet you do. And as much as I enjoy distracting you, I have things to do too.”
It occurred to her that for two people intent on establishing exactly how busy they were, neither of them was in a hurry to leave and get on with things. Davina felt the same dip in sanity that she’d felt the first time she’d met Jack. Against her will, her fingers reached out to toy with the hair on his chest. His eyes darkened. Davina licked her lips.
“I have people coming over,” she said, but she sounded distracted even to her own ears. “You can come back later and watch me then. I promise if I do anything illegal in the meantime I’ll send you a text.”
Jack closed the gap between them. Davina backed against the door as her blood pumped faster through her veins.
“Thanks, I appreciate that,” he said.
He put a hand on the door, either side of her head. She could feel his breath on her skin.
“You have to go,” she told him.
Her breath hitched in her throat.
“No I don’t,” he mumbled.
He leaned towards her, moving in slow motion.
“This is an infringement of privacy.” Her voice was barely a whisper.
“I’d need to ask Andy about that, my expertise lies in other areas.”
Before Davina could ask what areas exactly, Jack lazily ran his tongue over her bottom lip. Davina tightened her grip on his chest as his lips teased her mouth open. The man was a kissing genius. At last he inched away from her, leaving her lips feeling swollen. Davina blinked her eyes open. There was a fog in her head; there was no denying that he had expertise.
“If you’re so convinced that I’m a criminal,” she whispered, “why do you keep kissing me?”
“It’s a mystery to me too, Davy,” he said with a sigh.
Davina understood perfectly.
“But you are enjoying this aren’t, you? Getting under my feet. Interfering in my life. Winding me up.”
A slow smile curved his lips, drawing her attention to the scar on his chin.
“Well, Davy, I have to be honest with you, you’re the most interesting thing to happen to me in a while.”
It was the wicked gleam in his eye that almost undid her. She was three words away from blowing her movie, and her life – she’d almost uttered: please come in. Instead she mustered what little self-control she had around the man and pushed him away.
“You have a strange effect on me,” she told him.
Jack put his hands on his hips which made his shoulder muscles bulge. Davina swallowed hard.
“Why don’t we go inside and discuss that?” he said.
She had to bite her lip to stop from saying yes.
“Bad idea. Very bad idea.”
Jack’s shoulders slumped as she sighed heavily.
“You’re probably right,” he said. When he looked into her eyes she felt ensnared. “There’s something about you, Davy,” he told her, with what seemed like genuine bewilderment. “Something I can’t put my finger on. I know you’re up to something. I’m sure of it, yet when I get this close to you other things pop into my mind. Other questions I want answered.”
Davina’s heart beat so ferociously she was sure it was trying to break out of her chest. Don’t ask. Just don’t ask.
“What other questions?” she said.
He gave her a bemused smile.
“Right now I’m seriously wondering what’s keeping your dress up.”
She looked down at her strapless dress, then looked up to find her cleavage had his full attention. The spell was broken. Men.
“Take your gardening gear and leave.”
Jack sauntered down the steps to the garden.
“I’ve decided that I like it here.”
“You need to spend some time in your own life, at your own house.”
“This is my house, princess.”
Davina made a little strangling noise, when what she really wanted to do was throw a full blown tantrum.
“You know,” he said over his shoulder, “you were a lot friendlier when we first met.”
Against her will her cheeks burned.
“And you were a lot more cooperative.”
“If you want that sort of cooperation again, just say the word. But this time I’ll be the one tying the scarves.”
With that he disappeared into the overgrown garden. With a frustrated grunt Davina let herself into the house, making sure she locked the door behind her. He was messing with her head. She peeked out the window and clenched her fist. She thumped the glass. When Jack looked around she shouted at him.
“Put some clothes on!”
His smug little smile made her want to pummel him.
Or throw herself at him. Instead she dropped the curtain and gently pounded her head against the wall. Maybe that way she could knock some sense into herself.
The house was suspiciously quiet for the rest of the afternoon. Jack wandered around and tried to look like he was gardening. He had no idea what he was doing. He’d lived in a concrete apartment block his whole adult life. His outdoor space consisted of a balcony big enough for a treadmill. He randomly pulled up plants hoping they were weeds and listened to Davina’s activity through the device in his ear. So far it had mainly consisted of banging doors and cursing him. He smiled against his will. That woman did funny things to his brain. When she was around logic left him and he found himself thinking with Mr Big. Mr Big didn’t care that she was growing drugs. Mr Big only wondered how she managed not to fall out of her dress. He looked down at Mr Big in disgust.
It was getting dark. So far there was no sign of the visitors she’d mentioned. Now and then the net curtains would twitch and he knew she was watching him. He wondered if she’d called and cancelled. Either way it didn’t matter, he couldn’t garden in the dark. So he pretended to pack up and made a big deal out of driving away. As soon as he was out of sight from the house, he parked behind a bush and waited. Wishing he’d brought a snack.
It wasn’t long before three cars passed. Jack wrote down the details. A few minutes later the two scooters from the night before arrived. He was beginning to regret putting the bug in the kitchen, because all he was getting was static. The passenger door suddenly swung open. Jack resisted the urge to put a hand over his racing heart.
“I thought I’d find you here,” Andy said as he climbed in.
“You are so lucky that UK police don’t carry guns. You can’t just sneak up on a guy like that.”
“One, you’re not police anymore. Two, I didn’t sneak, I walked. Three, you’re the one sneaking around.”
Andy smacked him in the chest with a paper bag.
“Food.”
Jack ripped it open.
“I take it back. Good to see you, Andy.”
“Yeah, right.”
Jack ate the burger in four mouthfuls, while Andy stared into the darkness and clenched his jaw. As much as he appreciated the food, he wasn’t so cheered about the fact that it likely came with a side order of ‘get your act together, Jack.’
“Look, Jack,” Andy started, before he’d even finished the fries.
Jack held up a hand to stop him.
“Wait, they’re talking.”
He put the monitor on speaker mode. Andy’s eyes were wide.
“You bugged her?”
“No, I bugged my own house. I don’t see any laws against that.”
Andy shook his head.
“You, my friend, are on thin ice.”
Jack shushed him and ignored the glare he got in return.
“This is quite a set-up you have here. You’re full of surprises, Davina. Makes a man wonder what else you’re capable of.” It was a male voice he didn’t recognise, a bit high-pitched and slightly whiny. Jack disliked him instantly.
“I’m trying to keep it professional. This project is important to me; I don’t want to waste a minute.” Davina sounded strained.
“I can see why you need me though, this place is full of amateurs.”
“Yes,” Davina said. “I know. I appreciate your help. We’ll get everything done a lot faster with you on board.”
“Two weeks, you said, then you have to clear out?”
Jack cast a glance at Andy. Now he had his full attention.
“No, I said two weeks until I have to clear all the equipment out. I can’t have it around when my landlord comes to inspect the place, so that has defined the schedule.”
Jack’s heart sped up. He knew it. She was up to something.
“I suppose I can manage two weeks,” said the whiny guy.
“Super,” Davina said. It sounded like she was making a huge effort to be upbeat.
“But, what do I get out of this?”
There was a pause. Jack clenched his jaw. He didn’t like this guy’s tone.
“We went over this, Derek. You will get a cut of all profits. That’s all I can offer. I don’t have any cash right now, but you will get a percentage. And of course it will help you to make more of a name for yourself. Open up doors.”
“Well, that’s only going to happen if this is a success. If this whole thing bombs, I won’t get anything and that doesn’t sit right with me.”
“Nothing is going to bomb. I’ve put a lot of hard work into this. It will be a success.”
“Whatever you say. But it seems to me that you need me more than I need you.”
He heard shuffling people moving around.
“I think we should spend some time together, over dinner, nutting out the details of my share of the action.”
Jack scowled into the darkness. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but he knew one thing: Davy shouldn’t go anywhere with this guy.
“I don’t think we need to do that,” she said. Jack smiled thinly. “I think we’ve gone over everything.”
There was silence. Jack thought they’d left the room for a minute.
“You know,” the guy said. “You should be a little friendlier towards me. After all, without me your project is going nowhere.” There was a pause. “If I’m unhappy there is no knowing what I would do. One phone call, Davina, and your dream would be over. Why don’t you think about that,” the guy said, “while I go whip the amateurs into shape?”
A door closed. The talking ended. Even after everything he’d heard he had to fight the urge to run back to the house and rescue Davy. It was that magnetic field again. Pulling him in. Jack peeled his white knuckles from the steering wheel, took a deep steadying breath and looked at Andy.
“Still think I’m imagining all this?”
Andy looked grim.
“You recording this?”
“Yep.”
Andy flicked open his phone.
“Hey Sue, you know that background search I asked you to do, but said there wasn’t any hurry.” Pause. “Yeah, well it’s a rush job now.”
He flicked his phone shut. Jack tried not to look smug.
“Seems you were right, Jackie boy,” Andy said.
Jack knew there were unsaid words at the end of that sentence. He meant – you were right this time.
“I need to find out who that guy was,” he told Andy.
“Yeah, sounds like he’s connected to a bigger operation.”
Jack frowned. It took him a second to follow what Andy was saying.
“Maybe,” he said. “But I don’t like the way he was talking to Davina. Sounded like some sort of threat to me. She could be in danger.”
Andy stared at him for a minute before a slow grin lit up his face.
“Yeah, you’re right. She might need some protection.”
Jack nodded. He couldn’t see what was so funny.
“Exactly. I’ll keep an eye on her until we figure this out.”
“I bet you will,” Andy said with a shake of his head.
Davina sat down at the kitchen table with a thud. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. She knew getting Disgusting Derek involved was a mistake but she’d gone and done it anyway. All she could think of was her precious movie and getting it finished on time. Now her problems had ballooned. She felt dirty just thinking about him. Her dad had always warned her about cutting corners to get her dream, he said some things weren’t worth what you had to pay for them. She was beginning to understand what he meant.
“You okay?” It was one of her adult students, a girl called Melanie. She had seventeen piercings in her face. Davina knew, she’d counted them during class one night.
“Yeah.” She tried to smile reassuringly but couldn’t pull it off. So much for her acting ability. Melanie was clearly unconvinced.
“They’re waiting for you downstairs.”
“I’ll be there in a minute.”
Melanie hesitated before closing the door.
“You can do this,” Davina told herself when she was alone again. “You want this. It’s your big break. It’s only two weeks and then your life will change. You can do two weeks.”
The problem wasn’t the two weeks. The problem was the consequences of the two weeks. She had a horrible feeling that those would last a lot longer.
“There’s a problem,” Marianne said as she rushed into the room. “One of the boys has to go away this weekend.”
Davina pretended to pound her head on the table.
“Drama queen,” Marianne said with a grin.
“Seriously though, how am I supposed to keep to a schedule without him?” Davina’s brain was hurting. First blackmail. Now the crew were jumping ship.
Marianne made reassuring noises beside her. Together they headed out of the kitchen and down to the basement, where everyone else was rehearsing a scene.
“It’s too late to replace him,” she told Marianne. “I’m going to have to change everything. We’ll have to work during the day. Maybe we can get his part done before he goes away? Do you think he can skip school tomorrow?”
“He might for another plate of brownies.”
“I am sick to my back teeth making brownies. I wish I’d never started.”
Marianne pulled her into a hug.
“I know, honey. Just take a deep breath. It’ll be okay.”
“How am I going to shoot the outdoor scenes with the Terminator working in the garden all day? He made it crystal clear he’s going to stick to me like glue until the inspection deadline.”
“What we need is a plan. Something to get him out of our way for the day. There are plenty of capable people here now who can shoot the scenes. It frees you up a little,” Marianne said, with a twinkle in her eye. “You don’t know any way we could distract your landlord, do you?”
Davina’s shoulders slumped. She looked down at her strapless dress. Unfortunately she did, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to go there.