Carl Hiaasen by Star Island (2010)

Author:Star Island (2010)
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2011-04-03T02:56:40+00:00

17

Janet Bunterman summoned the twins to her suite for a meeting. Because it was almost 1:00 a.m., they assumed that Cherry Pye had snuck out of the hotel and done something outrageous, the usual Saturday-night crack-up.

When they got to the room, the Larks saw Maury Lykes pacing in front of the big window that overlooked the Atlantic. “Let’s have the bad news,” Lila said.

Janet Bunterman took out her cell phone and showed them the pictures of Ann DeLusia handcuffed to the john. “The paparazzo e-mailed me these beauties,” she said.

Lucy remarked that the hypodermic looked real. “That could be a problem.”

“Ya think?” Maury Lykes said acidly. “The way he’s got her posed, she’s a goddamn scag-shooting clone of Cherry. Especially with that god-awful tattoo.”

Lila clicked her teeth. “The tatt’s not a plus.”

Maury Lykes said it would be disastrous for sales of the new CD if the photographs got posted on the Internet. The Larks concurred.

“The handcuffs we can deal with. The handcuffs sort of work,” Lucy said. “But not the needle.”

“And forget about the tour,” said Maury Lykes. “Most of Cherry’s fans buy their tickets with daddy and mommy’s money, and I’m guessing daddy and mommy won’t want to piss away fifty-five bucks on a junkie pop tart. Any brilliant ideas?”

The Larks glanced at each other. This was a tough one.

“How much did you offer this character?” Lucy asked.

“Fifty,” Janet Bunterman said.

“Only fifty? Are you shitting me?” Maury Lykes was stupefied.

“We were prepared to go to seventy-five.”

“Wooo-hooo. Seventy-five grand!” The promoter threw up his hands. “Jesus Christ, this is your daughter’s career we’re talking about! The whole damn gravy train.”

“I told you our funds are limited,” Cherry’s mother said tightly. “Considering your stake in all this, Maury, you could have kicked in a couple hundred to help us out.”

He folded his arms. “Really. So it’s not enough that I pay for the album production, the concert tours, the lawyers, the rehabs. Just out of curiosity, all those millions that Cherry made, thanks to moi—where did it go?”

Janet Bunterman reddened. “How much we offered the man didn’t matter, Maury. He doesn’t want money. You know what he wants.”

“Which brings us to the point of this cozy gathering.” The promoter motioned for the Larks to sit down. He said, “Janet and Ned are proposing that we actually give this loser a private photo shoot with Cherry.”

“But why?” Lucy’s distress was sufficient to corrugate her Botoxed brow.

“So he’ll destroy the fake photos, that’s number one,” Cherry’s mother said. “Reason number two is Annie—we need to get her away from him, for obvious reasons.”

Maury Lykes asked how long until the henna ink faded away. Nobody seemed to know. He said, “I don’t want to see any more shots like these. The next bunch could be worse.”

“He promises to free Annie the minute Cherry shows up,” Janet Bunterman said.

Lila shook her head. “Too risky. The guy’s a nut job.”

“The situation would be totally controlled. No surprises,” Cherry’s mother said.

“What kind of pictures does he want—straight porn?” Lucy asked.

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