Adding to all the confusion over the past week, Patch had been unable to reach Simone Matthews, his producer on Chadwick Prep, the television show that they had been hoping to pitch to a number of network and cable TV outlets. In the fall there had been some real traction on the project, and they were getting interest from foreign as well as domestic networks. It had been everything Patch ever wanted, from the first time he had picked up a video camera: to have his own show. And now it had been so close, so within his grasp, it was almost as if he had already reached his goal.
Almost.
Ever since Simone had started putting together the footage that Patch already had, she had said she needed something more. Something more exciting, something with what she called “a throughline.” She wanted real drama, and the only way Patch could deliver that was by giving her access to the inner workings of the Society. She had been the initial impetus that had sent him to Isis Island, in the hopes of getting some footage of the Society’s retreat. Unfortunately, he had never had the chance to capture a single frame. While he had gotten an insider’s view, all he had were his own memories. And now, after having been kidnapped and becoming a member, the Society had the original memory cards of his footage. In addition to messengering them to the Society’s town house the day after the retreat, he had signed an affidavit that he no longer had any duplicate copies in his possession.
What he didn’t tell them was that a week ago, he had contacted Eliot Walker, the older of the two Walker cousins who were on the lobster boat he had taken out to Isis Island. As a favor to Patch, Eliot had set up a safe-deposit box for him at the Coastal Bank of Maine. The key had arrived in the mail today. In the safe-deposit box were several memory sticks containing all the raw footage, plus the rough cuts that Patch had put together.
Patch knew he wouldn’t be able to use any of it now, but at least he had it as leverage if he ever needed it. He figured he hadn’t technically broken the affidavit, as the material wasn’t in his possession.
Now, this afternoon, as he headed to the loft that housed Simone’s production company, he hoped he might be able to revive the project, even without the Society footage-to make the show more about Chadwick and less about the Society. He had tried to get back in touch with Simone, but she wasn’t returning his calls.
When he showed up at the building in the West Thirties, though, his key card no longer worked. He waited for a few minutes and then was able to gain entry as some members of a production crew left for the day.
Patch went up to the third floor and looked for Eyes Wide Open Productions. There was no sign on the door anymore, and the office was unlocked. Patch walked in to discover that it was as if the company had disappeared. All the editing decks had been removed; the same went for the file cabinets, the bulletin boards, the posters on the walls. All that was left was what the space had come with: empty cubicles, phones with dead lines, and the detritus of moving.
Patch called Simone on her cell. Perhaps they had recently moved, and she had been preoccupied.
He felt the lightbulb on one of the office lamps. Confirming his suspicions, it was still warm.
Simone picked up after a few rings. “Patch,” she said. “You’re probably wondering what’s going on.”
“Um, yeah, that would be one of my questions.”
She sighed. “I had to move my editing suite uptown. I was given an opportunity-it was something I couldn’t turn down.”
“What kind of opportunity?”
“I’m not really supposed to talk about it. I guess it’s okay to mention it to you. I got a grant from this group that gives out awards to filmmakers, sort of like the Guggenheim or the MacArthur grants. The Bradford Trust Association?”
Patch groaned. Even though the Bradford Trust Association was the parent corporation for the Society, everyone thought it was a philanthropic group that was improving the world by writing checks.
“Anyway, they gave me a hundred thousand dollars to work on my documentary, a pet project I’ve been doing.”
“What are their terms?”
“I had to sign a confidentiality agreement about where I was getting the money. And, well…”
“And what?”
“I had to commit to working in film for the next two years. It’s really exciting-they think this new project of mine could make it to Sundance next year. They don’t want me distracted by my television projects.”
“Where does that leave us with Chadwick Prep?”
“I’m sorry, Patch. We’re going to have to drop the project. Our option runs out on it in June. After that, you’ll be free to pursue other venues. But to be honest, I just don’t know if I see it going anywhere. I mean, until you get some more footage of that secret group-”
“Simone! Don’t you see? That secret group is the Bradford Trust Association! They shut down the project by giving you that money.”
She laughed. “Um, right, Patch. And let me guess: they killed the Kennedys, too?”
“Simone, you’ve got to believe me. You really don’t want to get involved with these people. Is there any way you can get out of it?”
“The papers are already signed. I thought you would be happy for me. I’m sorry about your show, Patch. I really am. But it just wasn’t the right time for me. These things happen. It took me years before I got my first TV project on the air.”
“Simone, I have a limited amount of time in which I can do this! I’m graduating from high school next year. It’s not like I’m going to be able to go back to Chadwick and film stuff after I’m gone. If the option expires in six months, then I’ll have wasted my whole junior year.”
“I know, I’m sorry. Maybe we can work something out, let you out of your contract early. You might have to give back some of the option money.”
“How much of it?”
“I don’t know. I’d have to talk to my agents about it. Maybe half?”
Five thousand dollars. He had already spent most of the money on equipment and personal expenses. He had put twenty-five hundred into a CD at the bank, at Genie’s insistence, and he had about a thousand dollars left. The rest he had invested in a new AVID machine at home and a new computer monitor. And some new shoes and his new DJ equipment. Now he realized that it had been stupid of him to spend so freely. But he had thought Chadwick Prep was a done deal. He definitely didn’t have five grand to buy back the rights early. And he wasn’t about to ask Nick for the money. He was too proud for that.
“I’ll think about it,” he said, bluffing.
“So tell me one thing,” she said. “Whatever happened on that island? I’m dying to know.”
Patch paused. Should he tell her? What good would it do? She couldn’t produce his TV show. And he certainly didn’t want her knowing that now he was a member of the Society himself.
“Nothing,” he said. “The ferry schedule was off, and I never even made it.”