Jarrod Black: Chasing Pack

Chapter 6

CroftJarrod had just arrived home from another all-day session at St George’s Park and was feeling exhausted. The lack of direct transport links to Burton-on-Trent had given him no option other than to drive and getting snarled up in some heavy traffic didn’t help the journey. It was now just after 9:30 p.m. The lights were off in the kids’ bedrooms. Marianne would still be up, but not for much longer. He pulled out his mobile phone. It had been buzzing in his pocket quite frequently the last twenty minutes, and he hadn’t checked it.

There were a number of missed calls from an unknown number, the same one four times from a London code. He was ready to dismiss it as yet another one of those junk calls asking him to sign up for a mobile plan or telling him that his home internet was suspended, but he saw that a voice message had been left on the final call. An Indian-sounding ‘James Thomas’ from the call centre in Bangalore wouldn’t have left a voicemail message. There were other missed calls and a few other voicemails. Jarrod had to listen to a couple before he got to the one from the unknown number.

“Hi, there, Jarrod,” said the voice, the use of his first name instantly making this a genuine call. “This is Stevie Mosseman of Barrowful Productions. We would like to chat with you about a new movie production that we have starting early next year. Please return my call on 0200 8000 4000 any time.”

The message had been received only a few minutes ago, so Jarrod had no hesitation in ringing the number. Strange number too; someone must have paid a lot of money to get a number like that.

“Thanks for calling back, Jarrod,” was the instant response after only one ring. “Stevie Mosseman.”

He accentuated the ‘e’ in his surname, letting Jarrod know that he was not all moss, just a little mossy.

“What can I do for you, Stevie?” asked Jarrod, still unsure of the context of the man he was talking to. He could be a salesman, an advertising man, he could even be looking for a reference for someone else.

“Your name has been thrown into the ring as the new Harlowe Croft in our next movie From the Gallows,” said Stevie. “We would like to meet you and have a chat face to face.”

“Okay,” Jarrod abruptly responded, agitated at the nonsense he was hearing. “Now is not a good time though. I’ve just arrived home after a big day. I’ll get back to you, hopefully tomorrow.”

“Oh, right, okay …” stuttered Stevie. “Well, goodnight.”

Jarrod hung up with a roll of his eyes and grumbled to himself, ‘What next?’, before leaping out of the car into the cold night air and jogging quietly over the gravel to the front door to let himself in.