Nothing to Hide

THREE

THREE

When Roxie shook herself back to the moment, Drew Harvey was chatting it up with the rest of the final five. The guests from the couch were nowhere in sight and the audience were talking amongst themselves, gathering their things.

Her friends were standing up there, waving at her.

It was over. The show was over.

Jumping to action, Roxie hurried across the set to vault up the stairs in the direction of her friends. Jane and Toria were bouncing in the middle aisle by their seats, waiting, eager to grab her into a hug.

“You won!” Toria screeched. “You won! You won!”

“Where did they take you?” Jane asked.

The three of them parted, though their hands stayed linked.

“We did a survey thing on computers.”

Whatever her answers, they’d been honest, which was apparently enough to grant her the win.

Something touched Roxie’s shoulder. She turned to find a group from the audience peering at her.

“Congratulations,” one of them said. “You must be so excited.”

“I… yeah,” Roxie said, still trying to convince herself it was real.

“She’s the best,” Toria said, leaping forward to put an arm around her. “The best!”

“You’re so lucky,” another audience member said.

For the next while, Roxie fielded questions and listened to people gush about the prizes. She didn’t even know how long they’d been talking when the group parted to bring Headset Gal into view.

“Miss Kyst, would you come with me?”

The group lit up. Her hand was grabbed, and someone squeezed her arm; another someone touched her back. Apparently, her body had become public property.

“Oh, wow, this is it! You’re going to meet him!”

Headset Gal wasn’t as excited as the others around them. The employee’s day job involved meeting all sorts of rich and famous people. For Headset Gal, this would be just another day at the office.

“All of you need to register for your prizes,” Headset Gal said.

The woman went backwards down a stair with an air of expectation that anticipated Roxie would follow.

Instead, she lingered. “Can my friends come?”

The woman blinked and glanced at her friends. “No, this is only for you… They have to register for whatever they won too.”

Roxie hugged each of her roommates. “Go back to the hotel. I’ll grab a cab when I’m done here.”

“Will you?” Jane asked. “Maybe your prize starts right now.”

Despite their hope of an answer from Headset Gal, all they got was impatience. “I don’t know,” she said. “It’s my job to put you in the room. I don’t know what’ll happen in there. I am not the top of the totem pole.”

Toria hugged Roxie from behind to murmur in her ear, “Wow, she’s warm and fuzzy.”

“Okay,” Roxie said, twisting in her friend’s arms to kiss her cheek. “You have fun. I’ll give you a full report when I’m through.”

Following Headset Gal down the stairs, Roxie glanced back to wave one last time. Wherever they were going, she was on her own. That was fine. Roxie was confident with her independence. It just would’ve been easier to talk about whatever happened if someone experienced it with her.

Headset Gal led her the same way as before with the quintet. Roxie was expecting a similar setup wherever they were going until the moment Headset Gal stepped aside. Brought up short, she hadn’t expected such vibrant décor. Bold colors on the wall contrasted with the velvet couch and armchairs.

“Just wait in here,” Headset Gal said, reversing out of the room.

The abstract prints on the wall had more color than form. But, oh, the candles on a far shelf tempted her over. Scented candles were kind of Roxie’s thing, so she’d love to… They were fake. Huh. Being surprised was sort of stupid; it would be against health and safety regulations to leave n***d flames lying around in empty rooms.

Returning to the long table by the door, she squeezed the fruit in the bowl to check it was definitely real before helping herself to a grape. There was wine too, red, probably expensive. To drink or not to drink? Until she knew what was going on, it wouldn’t be smart to liquor up.

The door opened.

Assuming the entrant would be the famous sponsor of the prize, Roxie was wrong again. It was a woman, maybe about her age, blonde, perky, beautiful. Short, something they had in common. Carrying a leather binder… hmm, intriguing and, perhaps, ominous.

“Miss Kyst?”

“Mm hmm,” Roxie said around the second grape she’d just popped into her mouth.

“I’m Astrid, one of Mr. Lomond’s assistants,” she said, gesturing at the couch.

Roxie went in that direction. “One of them?”

“He has several.”

“Why does he need several?” Roxie asked, tucking her skirt under her thighs as she sat down.

The assistant sat beside her. “He’s a busy man… A man in demand.”

“Sure,” Roxie said, her nodding slow and deliberate… and maybe a little sarcastic, if a gesture could be called that. “In demand… Hmm… Wonder why a guy who’s so in demand needs a shadow.”

“Mr. Lomond puts his business before everything else,” Astrid said, unzipping the leather binder to produce a stack of papers. “We need a few signatures.”

“Signatures,” Roxie said, taking the documents. “This should be interesting.”

Sliding her feet from her shoes, she wriggled deeper into the corner of the couch, tucking her feet under her a*s.

“You’re reading?” Astrid asked after a few seconds.

“I’m reading,” Roxie said without taking her eyes from the words.

“There are ten pages.”

“Some small print too it looks like,” Roxie said, her smirk drifting up to Astrid for a few seconds. “I have to know what I’m signing.”

“It’s late.”

“I can take it away and bring it back another day,” Roxie said. “If you’d prefer. I wouldn’t want to inconvenience your boss by causing a delay.”

“Mr. Lomond’s no longer in the building.”

Deciphering the legalese would take some time. “So I’m just delaying you.”

“I don’t know how long we can stay here,” Astrid said and shot to her feet. “Wait here a moment.”

The woman rushed out without waiting for a response. It was fine. Reading was one of Roxie’s favorite things to do… it was her job to do it well.

In the initial pages, rules were listed. Stay with the group while in foreign countries. Respect customs. Don’t talk to the media, other than the documentary team. Blah, blah…

During Talk at Sunset, Lomond’s words were “nothing to hide.” According to what she read, they weren’t opening all doors as had been implied. Anything of a personal nature was not part of her remit. She got that. Everyone was entitled to their privacy.

When the door opened, Astrid appeared again. “We can do this back at the hotel.”

“The hotel?” Roxie asked. “What hotel?”

“The Grand Hotel where Mr. Lomond is staying.”

Roxie got up, observing Astrid’s uncertainty. “Are you sure I’m allowed in the same building as him before my signature is on these pages?”

“I got permission from Og… if you’re really asking.”

The poor girl didn’t have a good sarcasm-o-meter… which didn’t bode well for the level of humor in the Lomond camp. Maybe spending a few months on his tail wouldn’t be so much fun after all.

“My purse is at my seat…” Roxie said. “Unless my girls took it with them.”

Astrid hugged the binder to her chest. “Everything you need will be provided. In the documents, there’s a section dedicated to your necessities. Whatever you require, likes, dislikes, allergies, medical provisions, list everything and it will be taken care of. Over the next couple of days, we’ll deal with employment needs, talk to your employer, take care of your bills, anything that needs to be done. We’ll iron out all issues. The official tour doesn’t start until we reach Boston. If you require your own staff—”

“Geez, lady, you come from a whole different world.” Shuffling past the low coffee table, Roxie joined Astrid. “Let me check if my purse is still out there.”

“We’ll take care of it,” Astrid said. “Follow me, there’s a car waiting for us.”

So efficient. As she hurried along behind Astrid, Roxie was impressed by the blonde’s quick issue of instructions on the phone. The assistant requested whoever was on the other end of the line to track down Roxie’s purse. She paused just long enough to request the details of the hotel the trio of roommates shared.

A shiny black car was waiting outside; a driver stood by the open back door. A life of luxury was apparently what she’d signed up for. A different world, definitely a different world.