Chapter 5

Furtive Glance was a band. It had four members plus a session keyboard player. Joshua was the singer, and played rhythm guitar; Peter Thompson played guitar; Amos Sudbury was the drummer and Zak Copthorne was bass guitarist and could play keyboards when necessary though not very well. They were thus a fairly conventional rock band. They played loud heavy music, and pranced about the stage half-dressed a good deal, though recently they had added a few more reflective pieces.

They had been a part time band like many others, playing in pubs and clubs round the Manchester area. Manchester is a large city and there were plenty of venues to play in. Most groups never make the big time, but some are lucky and are in the right place with the right material at the right time.

It happened to Furtive Glance. They made a breakthrough. It was a reflective piece written by Joshua, and it took the music world by storm. In fact the tune and its rhythm was one Joshua had heard Ged playing at the house-warming though Ged had played it even more quietly and to different words.

Joshua wrote the words for the song some months later and did not remember where the tune came from, thinking he had made it up himself. It often happens that way; a tune comes into the head and it is because it has been heard before, rather than being an original inspiration.

What he didn't realise was that Ged had written it and had already copyrighted it, and when Ged arrived at the venue for the rehearsal, he recognised it. He let it go, for the time being.

He was introduced to the band by Joshua, who, in spite of knowing Cassie was Zak's ex-girlfriend, had not made the connection between Cassie and Ged at the flat warming party. In any case, Zak had not said anything about seeing her at the earlier party.

Ged found the members of the band seemed to have different built-in attitudes to him. He seemed to get on with Peter immediately, but sensed acute hostility from Zak and to lesser extent from Amos.

"Don't see we need a keyboard player," Zak grumbled in Ged's presence. "I can do it."

"Don't be fucking stupid," retorted Peter. "Those four pieces need Bass Guitar and Keyboards. You can't do both at the same time."

"Well, leave the fucking keyboards out." Zak snarled.

"Don't be a wanker," Joshua intervened. "You know those pieces need the keyboard."

"We don't even know if he can play," said Amos, coming to Zak's aid. They had always been mates, had Zak and Amos.

"Oh, he can play," said Joshua. "Ged, get set up and we'll get started."

"He hasn't learned the pieces yet!" crowed Zak.

"Got the sheet music?" Ged asked, refusing to be intimidated. Amos shoved a pile of paper to him. "There. How long till you can play them? Two hours? We might as well go to the pub."

"I'll sight-read," Ged said, and the two mates fell about laughing, until of course he began to play. They ran through the playlist and Ged played along. Amos and Zak were not laughing when they finished.

"Where d'you learn to do that?" asked Amos.

"I practised!" said Ged grimly. "Four hours a day for four years. I'm a qualified musician. Now I'd like to do all the pieces all over again."

The others groaned, but Joshua smiled. He thought he knew what was going on, and he was right. He knew what the band played was not Ged's style at all, but this man was a professional musician, and he was going to surprise them, which he did. It was not extravagant but he began embellish his part to better accommodate his playing to theirs and as a result it sounded much better; better in fact than it ever had been.

"Wish we had you when we did the album," said Peter. Amos and Zak said nothing. Joshua smiled.

The gig went well. Very well. Ged drove home. Cassie was asleep.

The next morning at breakfast, Cassie spoke. "Good gig?"

"Yeah, once I'd played through the list it was fine. Funny bunch of misfits though. Josh was the only sane one there. Oh, Peter was ok, but the other two – weird!"

Cassie looked up, there was a look of surprise on her face.

"Not Furtive Glance?" she asked.

"Yes," he said, surprised. "You remember, Joshua came to our housewarming?"

Cassie now felt real fear, though she did not know why. She had finished with Zak, hadn't she? But she also knew the members of the band, and the stories that came back were not pleasant.

The band were self-obsessed and selfish to a degree. There were always rows, arguments, sometimes physical fights. They were in the business for money, fame and sex with girl groupies.

She remembered watching from the hallway of Zak's place while they laughed and made snide comments as they watched the explicit videos they took of having sex with girls who didn't realise they were being filmed. Not that the girls were unwilling. Most were already sluts. To be fair to Zak, she thought, he gave up the groupies when he was going with her – until the blonde, that is.

She became aware of Ged calling her name.

"Cassie, darling, what's the matter? You look frightened to death."

"Ged," she said earnestly, "Please don't get involved with that bunch of slime balls. I know them, and they are the lowest of the low. Some of the things they do are illegal – drugs, booze and underage girls."

"It's only two nights," he temporised. "I'm just helping Joshua out. I just play keyboards, that's all."

"I'm not happy," she asserted strongly. "I wish you'd cancel tonight."

"Come on Cassie," he cajoled, "I promised Josh tonight. I can't break it, they would really be in the shit. I promise I'll come straight home."

The rest of the day they were awkward with each other. He left after a perfunctory kiss from Cassie. Neither of them felt good after he went.

Cassie was wondering if Zak might say something to Ged; she suspected Zak knew Ged was her partner. Ged wondered why she reacted so violently. Was there something she was not telling him? It was the first minor fissure in their relationship.

The second gig went even better than the first, as Ged was able to develop his sensitivity to what the band were doing even further. The local press were there and there was plenty about the new keyboard man. Ged finished playing and packed away his stuff. Joshua's manager, agent and lawyer Leo Bernstein, came to him and offered him a thousand pounds for the two gigs.

"You saved our lives," he said. "Any chance you could swing the next fortnight? I can make it worth your while."

"Sorry, Leo," Ged replied. "You couldn't pay me enough to allow me to throw away a permanent and very well paid job."

"You know this band's going to last? They're selling all over the world now – downloads, CDs, DVDs, all their gigs are sold out. Give it some thought – It's possible you could be permanent member of the band. There's a European tour in the offing – it'd bring in a lot of cash for you. Think about it?"

"OK," said Ged. "I don't think my girlfriend will like it, but I will think about it. Just to be clear, you're offering the possibility of joining the band?"

"Subject to the band agreeing."

"There's two members who don't want me for a start."

"I'll talk to them. They'd be fools to pass up someone of your calibre."

"OK," Ged concluded. "You talk to the band; I'll talk to my girlfriend."

Once again Ged drove straight back from Oldham, and arrived home shortly after midnight. Cassie was still working. She looked up as he entered the room.

"How did it go?" she asked.

Ged was happy that she had seemingly got over her annoyance, "Very well," he replied. "Better than last night. The manager gave me a thousand for doing it."

"A thousand!" she cried, with a huge smile. "For two nights' work? You ought to do it full time!"

"It looks like I could," he said quietly, fearing the reaction. He was right.

"What?" All the exhilaration had gone from her voice.

"Their manager offered me a permanent position with the band, subject to the band members agreeing."

"You're not going to do it, surely?" Her face had clouded with worry and a touch of anger. "You know how I feel about that bunch."