Page 54 of For Better or for Ransom

Luke almost grunted. Great, one of the people they’d been waiting to talk to for days had admitted to having serious memory problems. Talk about unreliable witnesses.

“Is it all right if I ask you about something we were told about Leonardo?” Divya was still walking on eggshells around Bobby and giving Luke the evil stare.

“Sure, anything you need if it helps you find Leonardo. I love the boy.”

Luke rolled his eyes. Americans and their penchant for sentimentality.

Divya just ignored him and continued the interview with Bobby. “Do you remember anything about a meeting he was supposed to have with Supreme Video a couple of years ago, but that he didn’t attend?”

“A couple of years ago, you said? Uh, to be young and bright again!” Bobby breathed laboriously. “Let me get Pete. If there was a meeting he’ll know. He has one of those digital watchamacallit thingies where he puts all my appointments and my clients’ appointments.”

“A calendar?” Divya asked, patiently.

“No, but like an app for the computer,” Bobby specified and Luke doubted the man knew how a computer or an app really worked. “Pete,” the manager called, in a measured tone, “would you help us with something?”

There was some shuffling on the line. Luke and Divya couldn’t hear exactly what was being said but it sounded as if Bobby was talking to Pete.

“Hi, this is Pete,” a younger male voice finally said. “I’m Bobby’s assistant. We’re both on speaker at his home office. He’s instructed me to answer any of your questions. What do you want to know?”

“We’re trying to verify a story about Leonardo possibly missing a meeting with some executives at Supreme Video…” Divya explained.

“Ah, the infamous Supreme-Video-will-never-work-with-Leonardo-Pascual tale,” Pete said. “I don’t know who told you what but that never happened that way.”

“So what happened?”

“You sure you want me to tell them everything, Pops?” Pete asked the manager.

“Whatever helps them find Leonardo,” Bobby said.

Pete sighed. “So a couple of years ago Supreme Video was working on a super-secret project with Theo Summers.”

Theo Summers, where had Luke heard that name again? Divya was ahead of him. She pointed to some scrawling on her notepad:

Theo Summers, showrunner Bibliophilia (show LP exited)

“Some executives at Supreme Video called Bobby,” Pete continued. “Told him Theo liked Leonardo for the role but that they needed to vet him at the streamer first. Would he mind setting up a meeting so that they could talk to Leonardo and see what he was made of?”

Luke glared at Divya. This was yet another account about some events that had happened a couple of years before and were now told by someone who wasn’t even there but supposedly remembered things because he had a digital calendar for all of Bobby’s clients’ appointments?

Divya ignored Luke.

“What else happened?”

“Bobby talked to Leonardo, told him he didn’t like how the whole thing was being set up. Leonardo agreed. At the time he’d just finished doing a play and wanted to take some time off before doing another play. In hindsight, Bobby realized that he could have managed things a little bit better. But please don’t blame him.”

“Of course.” Divya was being way more reasonable than either Bobby or Pete deserved, in Luke’s opinion.

“You have to understand that Bobby is a very experienced manager. And he doesn’t approve of executives messing around with his clients,” Pete was pushing for empathy—for Bobby. “In the end, there was some miscommunication. The executives thought Leonardo was going to meet them, while that promise had never been made. Leonardo called them afterward and apologized. There were no hard feelings. But of course there’s nothing Hollywood likes more than gossip…”

“So the story about Bobby giving Supreme Video the wrong mobile phone number for Leonardo while he was tanning on a beach⁠—”

“Did Jasper Fairbanks talk to you?” Pete interrupted her in a much harsher way than the polite and nice tone he’d been using until that moment.

Luke and Divya exchanged a look again. He shook his head. Let’s not tell Pete or Bobby anything, regardless of how innocent they sound.

“Why do you ask?” Divya avoided Pete’s direct question.

“I’m so sorry I came out a bit strong before,” Pete apologized. “Pops is staring at me with disappointment in his eyes. We take politeness extremely seriously at Lancaster and Associates.”