‘Yeah, right,’ the girl drawled, but Will could tell from her eyes that she was defeated. He could see her weighing up her options.
‘What will you give me if I delete it?’ she asked.
‘I don’t have to give you anything. But I’ll tell our press officer to be accommodating if you contact her. Her name’s Martina.’
‘You’ll give me an official interview? With Owen?’
‘Owen doesn’t do interviews – as you’d know if you were legit. With Phoenix, or maybe Rory.’
‘Phoenix,’ Janice said quickly. She had read ‘interviews’ with the notoriously taciturn Rory: the hapless reporters had struggled in vain to get more than a few monosyllabic grunts out of him.
‘I’m not promising anything. You’ll have to discuss the details with Martina. All I’m promising is that I’ll tell her not to hang up on you when you call.’
‘Okay,’ she said, reluctantly showing Will the screen of her phone and pressing the delete button.
‘Good girl.’ Will said and got up. ‘Be in touch.’
* * *
Will found Owen waiting for him outside the bar, head hanging.
‘Sorry, man, I got a bit carried away.’
‘It’s okay.’
‘I gave her an interview, you know,’ Owen admitted.
‘No, you didn’t.’
‘Actually, I gave her some pretty good stuff,’ he said. ‘I was showing her my feminine side – chicks love that.’
‘Right,’ Will said, ‘and then you planned to have lesbian sex with her, I suppose?’
‘Stop it, mate. You’re turning me on.’
They had reached Will’s car. ‘Christ, Owen, you look like shit,’ he said. ‘Come on, I’m taking you home.’
Unshaven, bug-eyed and reeking of alcohol, Owen looked like he hadn’t slept for a week.
Will bundled him into the passenger seat. ‘When was the last time you ate?’ he asked, as they pulled out into the traffic.
‘Uh, dunno,’ Owen said vaguely.
Will sighed. ‘What have you had today?’
‘Nothing.’
‘Let me rephrase that,’ Will said stonily. ‘What have youingestedtoday?’
‘Uh?’
‘Tell me everything that’s passed your lips, or whatever other orifice you’re shoving stuff into these days.’
‘Well, I had a few hits of E in the early hours. Then I did a few lines of coke this morning, sort of for breakfast. And Janice gave me some more.’
The hell she did,Will thought furiously. Owen could make enough trouble for himself without that bitch feeding him drugs to get him to mouth off. It was a good thing for her he hadn’t known about this when he was with her – he’d have wrung her neck instead of making a deal with her. He was sorely tempted to head back to the bar and do just that. He would cheerfully have her busted if it weren’t for the fact that she’d bring Owen down with her. Well, if she came looking for an interview he’d make sure it was with Rory – and he’d warn him beforehand to be wary of her. Rory was guarded at the best of times. It would be like trying to get blood from a stone.
‘What else?’ he asked Owen. ‘A few dozen bottles of Jack Daniel’s, I suppose?’
