I waited till the bus was underway before ambushing Daphne.
“Fan mail collection at the venues has to stop.”
“Excuse me?”
“That’s not all. Anyone turning over fan mail at a hotel should have to leave a return address or it shouldn’t be accepted. That’s maybe asking a lot of hotel staff but it’s pretty basic stuff.”
“Where the hell do you get off making demands like this? You’re not going to tell me how to run my show.”
“Bring it back after I figure out whatever’s going on with these threats. But surely you have to see what a gigantic hole in security that is.”
“Our fans like the ability to vote on the MVP each show.”
“Let ‘em do it online, then. But unless you’re able—and willing—to hire a bunch of extra security whose only job is to stand and watch the mailboxes and be alert about it, ready to ID anyone who drops in a threat? You’ve got to shut it down.”
“Not sure you should be making ultimatums as it is,” she said.
“I was promised cooperation. None of the talent will talk to me. You won’t meet me halfway.”
“Major disruptions of business are not cooperation.”
“Not collecting fan mail for a few nights is hardly a major disruption.”
“What makes you think it’s only going to be a few nights?”
“The threats all have to do with Virginia, right? So I expect to be particularly on my toes the next few nights. Maybe not so much in Fairfax, but down in Front Royal, Richmond…that’s the likely spot for anything to happen.”
“So if nothing goes down by then, I can put the boxes back out?”
“I wouldn’t. But I’m less worried about angry great-grandsons of the Confederacy in Pennsylvania than I am in Virginia.”
Daphne took a deep breath and looked out her window for a moment. “Fine. We’ll put a halt on it. I’ll see what I can do with the hotels. But make no mistake,” she said, turning back to me. “The talent is going to know who is responsible for taking this away.”
“That’s fine,” I said. “Not really concerned with what people think of me.”
“I can tell.”
With that I decided a retreat was in order, and went back to my seat with Grant, and back to reading my fantasy epic.