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“I had to,” Tyler went on. “His wife was crazy. I mean, she made Glenn Close look sane. She threatened my wife, my family. She was obsessed with me. So I went to John and told him what was going on. And he got her the help she needed.”
“And that was the end of it?”
“I thought so.” Tyler sighed. “John and I… he’s just a great guy. He forgave me, if you can believe that. We continued to remain friends. But things were never quite the same. He knew his wife was mentally ill but he did everything he could throughout his marriage to keep it from his children and I don’t blame him. She was in therapy for a while and then they put her on medication. For a long time it worked.”
Tyler paused and they panned to the audience again, all leaning forward, listening.
“Then she stopped taking her medication. And the obsession came back,” Tyler said. He had a flair for the dramatic, that was for sure. “She was relentless. She wouldn’t leave me alone. She pursued me endlessly. I didn’t know what to do. For years, things had been fine. Now our kids were older, they were friends. It was a delicate situation.”
“Did you have sex with her again, Tyler?”
“Once.” He lowered his head. “My wife was out at the store. All our kids were playing in the pool. John wasn’t there that day. I believe he had to work. She came into my room while I was changing into my suit…”
I gaped at the screen. It was the story Dale had told me—how he’d found out his mother was having an affair. He’d walked in on them that day.
This was all planned, I realized. Perfectly orchestrated. John had told Chrissy he was going to “call Tyler and fix it,” and here it was happening, live on national television. Dale wasn’t going to be seen as a young kid trying to ride his father’s coat tails into fame and fortune. After this, he would be seen as a victim. Tyler was taking the fall, but it would be Dale’s mother everyone would blame.
Just like Fatal Attraction. I shivered. Once Glenn Close started boiling bunnies, everyone had sympathy for poor Michael Douglas, who had done nothing except give into his basic, animal instincts after all. Poor man.
“She cornered me. I didn’t want to. But I was afraid of what she might do or say. So I… we did. We had sex.”
“Just that one time.”
“Yes.” Tyler agreed. “Unfortunately, Dale came into the room… during…”
“He discovered you and his mother having sex?”
“Yes.” Tyler cleared his throat. “I tried to talk to him later but he wouldn’t have anything to do with me.”
“I don’t blame him,” Sidney Clare snapped.
Tyler didn’t take the bait. He hung his head.
“I don’t either.”
The camera focused on Sidney Clare’s face.
“When we come back, find out what Tyler Vincent did to try and protect his family from an obsessed fan.”
Protect his family? They made him sound like a boy scout. And obsessed fan? She was a woman he was involved with for years! They’d been lovers before Dale was born. Tyler even admitted as much.
The screen showed commercials, just like the viewers at home saw. But I knew, down the hall, all of this was happening live. And Dale was walking right into the trap. I sprang from the sofa and rushed out the door. The hallways were numerous but there was a red arrow with “studio” painted on each wall, showing the direction.
I followed the arrows, coming out to a backstage area where crew was hurrying around, getting things done. I was familiar enough with a crew to know they probably wouldn’t even pay attention to me—until I walked out on the stage.
But Dale beat me to it.
He was on the other side, in the wings, just like me, but I didn’t see him until he stalked out onto the stage. Tyler didn’t see him coming. Dale could have stabbed him in the back and he wouldn’t have known it until the knife was between his shoulder blades. But Sidney Clare saw him coming. Her eyes widened as Dale approached.
“Uh… Tyler…” She had a mic on so everyone heard it. The audience gasped as Dale faced his father. Tyler stood the minute Dale came around that side of the sofa. They stood there talking, but Tyler had muffled his mic. I couldn’t hear anything. And neither could the audience.
“We’re live in twenty seconds.” The announcement over the PA startled me.
“Sit down!” Sidney Clare stood, trying to get Tyler to take his seat again, but he and Dale were still in a heated argument. “This is a live show! Sit down now!”
She was half their size but she got her way. Tyler finally relented. Dale stood for a moment, glanced at the camera, and then took a seat on the couch with Tyler—as far away as he could get.
“Welcome back.” Sidney Clare smiled, looking as poised as ever. “Today I have with me…”
