The Perfect Location (15 page)

Sapphira and Jack looked at each other and then back to TG. ‘Absolutely,’ they answered in unison.

TG told them bare details, ensuring Calypso’s reputation was not scarred in any way. TG had no doubts in his mind she was telling the truth. As he spoke, he looked at the floor, remembering what she had said and choosing his words carefully. Sapphira and Jack listened in silence. When TG finished, he looked at them. ‘So, what do I do?’ he asked with his hands upturned.

Sapphira stood and poured more wine for herself and a glass for TG. She was sure he would need a drink after telling the story; hell, she knew she needed one. TG accepted the glass without acknowledging Sapphira, absorbed in his thoughts. ‘I just want to get him the fuck away from the set and her.’

‘Sure, I understand, he’s a little prick. I know of his reputation from a few Italian actor friends. Not the first time this sort of thing has happened but he’s a big star here and no one ever presses charges,’ Jack said.

‘Poor Calypso, what piece of work.’

Sapphira was enraged. Calypso was a sweet, unassuming girl, who had been taken advantage of in the worst of ways. Sapphira didn’t have to think too hard about what TG had alluded to. It was clear Raphael had attacked or, in the extreme, raped Calypso.

‘Jesus, how does a person live with themselves?’ asked Sapphira.

‘Quite well, I think, looking at Raphael. He can have any woman he wants, clearly; whether she wants him is not considered. He roams Europe and gets treated like royalty when he arrives home. He’s still mama’s boy, going home for pasta each Sunday when he’s in Rome,’ Jack said, his legs crossed elegantly.

‘So, what are my options?’ TG asked, sipping the wine but not tasting it.

Sapphira made as though to speak and then paused.

‘Out with it,’ Jack said, seeing her face. ‘What do you know?’

‘Okay, well, I will deny this if it gets out, but I heard from a friend that Raphael got very rough with a few of the call girls he liked to use. One of them was found unconscious with several of her back teeth pulled after she had been booked with him,’ said Sapphira matter-of-factly, but lighting another cigarette even though the last one was still burning in the ashtray in front of her.

‘For fuck’s sake!’ exclaimed TG. ‘What’s with the teeth thing?’

‘Apparently makes for a better blowjob,’ said Sapphira.

TG’s skin crawled, thinking of what could have happened to Calypso.

‘Why didn’t she press charges?’ he asked.

Jack looked at Sapphira. ‘Who is going to believe a Euro whore versus a Euro star?’

‘Exactly,’ said Sapphira. ‘Yeah, well, he had to leave town pretty quick, once her pimp found out. He’s a big Russian oligarch who runs girls on the side for fun. You know, strictly Class A girls, available for private parties and weekends, etcetera.’

‘Jesus, why didn’t I know this?’ TG questioned himself.

‘No one knows,’ said Sapphira.

‘How do you know?’ asked TG, almost violently.

‘I just do,’ she said, her voice low and certain.

It had been the Russian pimp who had got Sapphira her fix while she was in Cannes; it had cost her three times as much but it was worth it for the convenience and privacy. She was with him in his suite at the Hotel Du Cap when the girl was carried through the door and laid on the bed by two of the pimp’s burly Russian bodyguards. Unsure of what to do and knowing she needed to get her drugs, she had waited in the corner of the hotel suite, watching as the men spoke rapid fire Russian to each other but not actually tending to the girl who was beginning to wake.

It was Sapphira who spoke up. ‘She needs to see a doctor straightaway,’ she said as she went and sat on the edge of the bed. Holding the girl’s hand, she saw fear and recognition in her eyes and Sapphira smiled gently. ‘It will be okay, it will be okay,’ she whispered and the girl started to sob violently.

Sapphira waited until the doctor arrived, paid handsomely to shut his mouth and get her into a private hospital. Finally when the girl had been taken from the suite, Sapphira pocketed the drugs that the clearly shaken pimp had given her. ‘Listen, I know you are a businessman and I’m not judging what you do …’ she began.

The Russian looked at her, his eyes steely.

She continued, feeling braver with her stash in her pocket. ‘She is damaged now and I suggest you never send her to work again but she is your responsibility. Make sure she is okay, financially and mentally. Don’t let her go through this alone. Okay?’

The man sat on the hotel chair, rubbing his eyes tiredly. ‘I know, I know. I have daughters. It’s too much,’ he said in his heavy accent.

‘Just promise me she will be okay,’ she pleaded, thinking of the swollen side of the girl’s face where Raphael had ripped the teeth from her mouth. She didn’t even want to think what he had used on the poor woman to get the teeth out.

‘I will promise,’ he said seriously, and Sapphira knew the girl would be taken care of.

Sapphira never breathed a word of the scandal; it wasn’t her style. But she was not surprised when he heard Raphael had left Cannes for a Rome hospital, claiming he had been in a car accident that had left him with four broken ribs, a ruptured spleen and three back teeth missing.

Jack and TG pondered Sapphira’s story. Although it was almost fantastical, they knew it was true. Jack rubbed his head in thought. ‘You have two options in Italy: death or scandal. Take your pick, TG, which do you want?’

‘As much as I would like death, it seems a little extreme,’ said TG wryly.

‘I’m not so sure about that,’ said Sapphira.

‘Well then, scandal it is,’ said Jack. ‘We can’t create a scandal around sex, Italy is run on sex. Look at Berlusconi and his machinations as the head of the country. Our only option is drugs. Italy has a very hardline stand against drugs, part political, part religious. Don’t forget, it’s still quite a conservative country in some ways.’

TG looked at him. ‘I don’t think he’s a drug user. I think sex is his drug.’

Sapphira narrowed her eyes in thought. ‘I’ve an idea. I’m just putting it out there, if it’s too harsh then let me know.’

‘I don’t think anything is too harsh for him. He has done this to Calypso and from what Jack said, this isn’t the first time and won’t be the last. He is a predator and he needs to be stopped and taught a lesson,’ said TG adamantly.

‘Well, it’s not pleasant but I think it will do the least harm and I know just how to do it.’

Jack laughed, breaking the seriousness of the mood in the room. ‘My little dark angel, how easily you hatch these evil plans.’

Sapphira looked at him with cold eyes. ‘I’ve no qualms about doing this, for Calypso, for the film, for you, TG,’ she said looking at him. ‘Men like Raphael are bastards and I don’t feel any guilt whatsoever. To bring this to the attention of authorities in this country, where he is a “god”, as you said, Jack, would mean his protection and Calypso’s undoing. Her reputation would be ruined and this news would follow her for the rest of her career.’

Jack and TG looked at each other and then Jack spoke. ‘All right then, Lady Macbeth, what’s going on in that serpent’s mind of yours?’

‘I need to know when he is next leaving the country. TG, surely you can find that out with his shooting schedule?’

‘I do know what his movements are as I will have to postpone his shots with Calypso because of her state of mind. I will get back to you.’

Sapphira spoke carefully. ‘What I will do, only Jack will know about. I want to keep you out of the details, TG. The only thing I ask is you give me an alibi if I need it, okay?’

TG nodded. Sapphira possessed a control and lack of emotion that he found more than a little frightening; she was fearless and powerful in this state.

Jack nodded his agreement to her statement.

‘But what about Calypso’s scenes, who will be her co-star? Who can step in at the last minute? I’ve already had to recast a part. The studio is going to freak out when I tell them I had to recast again.’

Jack leaned back in his chair. ‘No, you will need them to tell you to recast and extend the shoot. But what I can do is ask around my friends in film here and find out who the next up-and-coming stars are and get them lined up for you. I will keep it on the quiet. Don’t worry, I’m owed a few favours.’

TG put down his glass and stood up. ‘I owe you so much, both of you. What can I offer you? How can I repay you?’

Sapphira shook her head. ‘No need, it all balances out. I’m happy to help, I love being here, more than you know, TG.’

She said this so earnestly that TG thought perhaps Jack was behind her sudden emotion. Perhaps they were together, he thought, looking at Sapphira in her sweat pants and no make-up. They certainly had a connection and an ease with each other. TG shook the thoughts from his head and returned to his problem at hand. ‘Okay, Sapphira, I will send you Raphael’s schedule tonight once I get back to the villa. Jack, I will email you the casting notes for the role. Okay?’

‘Okay then, let the games begin,’ said Jack.

It was the first day of shooting with Max and things weren’t going so well. Max and Rose were polite, professional. Rose had to admit he had an easy charm about him while they ran their lines but she said nothing to him other than work-related topics.

Max didn’t try to persuade Rose that she should be more pleasant to him. His mind was occupied by trying not to seem like an amateur on set.
The Italian Dream
was the largest set he had been on and he was still amazed that he, of all the actors across the world, would be chosen for the job.

He thought that Rose had recommended him but according to TG, it was Kelly who put a good word in for him after seeing him in an English television series he had made for the BBC.

Max watched as TG spoke to Chris, the DOP, in a hushed but angry voice. Rose glanced up from her script at them. TG wasn’t his usual cheerful self, thought Rose but knew to keep quiet when things weren’t going right on set.

‘What’s going on?’ Max asked her.

‘No idea,’ she said and went back to her reading. There were hold-ups all the time on film sets; she was used to it but Max looked nervous. What if they thought he wasn’t up for the job, he wondered. They had only filmed one scene, he reasoned, they can’t tell after one scene.

TG walked over to the actors. ‘There’s a problem with some of the equipment and Chris and his guys are going to have someone come in and have a look at it. So we may not start again for a few hours but be on standby, okay?’

Max nodded and Rose stood up and smiled at TG, then walked towards her trailer, away from Max.

Max rolled his eyes just a little at her behaviour and then went to wait for the boys who were coming on set for lunch with him in the hands of their capable Italian nanny.

Rose didn’t come out of her trailer for lunch even though he hoped she would. Today the boys were behaving so well, polite, funny, cute. If only Rose could have seen him then, he thought, flushing with shame at the memory of how he spoke to Milo.

He looked around and saw Milo had left the table but the nanny was gone as well, so he assumed she had taken him to the bathroom.

Milo, however was with neither the nanny nor in the bathroom. He was fascinated by the little houses on wheels that his dad had called a trailer. He liked the idea of a house on wheels that could go anywhere. If he had one he would take his whole family to visit his mother, he thought. He looked at them in a row and thought the largest one would fit him, his dad and brothers easily enough.

Climbing the stairs one by one, his small hand reached out and opened the door. It was neat inside, with a sofa, a table and chairs. Taking in the room, his eyes opened wide. His drink bottle! How did that get there? Before he could ask, Rose walked in from behind a closed door.

‘Oh my goodness,’ she said, laughing. ‘Hello.’

‘You have my drink bottle,’ he said accusingly. ‘I left that for the thirsty lady.’

‘I know, she told me. She was so grateful, she said to say thank you,’ said Rose, and she handed it over to Milo.

Milo took it from her. His eyes filled with suspicion. ‘My dad cried after you left.’

‘That’s not good,’ said Rose, feeling a little bit guilty.

‘Dad never yells at me except when I run away,’ said Milo settling down on the sofa uninvited.

Rose sat next to him.

‘Is that often? Do you run away much?’ asked Rose.

‘Only to try and see my mummy, but Dad says I have to stay here ’cause he said he would die if he lost me as well,’ Milo said very seriously and Rose looked down at her lap.

There was a knock at the door and Max put his head around to see Rose and Milo sitting amiably together.

‘Schmilo, you have to stop running away,’ he said calmly.

Rose looked at him and saw he wasn’t angry, he looked tired and she felt bad again for being such a bitch to him that time.

‘I wasn’t running away, I came to get my drink bottle,’ said Milo, holding out the bottle as evidence.

Rose laughed at Max’s confusion. ‘A long story,’ she said, reluctant to bring up the day at the Galleria in the face of peace.

‘Well, don’t trouble Rose,’ said Max to Milo, ‘She’s very important, you know,’ he said with a slight edge to his voice and Rose laughed.

‘Okay, let’s call a truce. I think we’ve both got off on the wrong foot,’ she said, gesturing for Max to come inside the trailer.

Max came in and smiled. ‘I was a prick,’ he said. ‘I deserved your anger.’

Milo gasped at his father’s language but Max ignored him.

Rose nodded. ‘Yes, you were quite the prick but I was a bitch and it was none of my business. I need to apologize for trying to demean you about the film set stuff.’

Max laughed. ‘Okay, friends?’ he asked and Rose put out her hand and Max shook it firmly.

Max brought Jasper and Dominic to Rose so she could say hello and they spent half an hour talking and laughing together. Rose saw that Max was an attentive father, his sons adored him and that he was patient and kind. Milo spent the time on Rose’s lap which she loved and was sorry when their nanny came to take them back to their villa.