Chapter 2

The next few days found Darren wrapping up things. Arranging to rent out his place (he expected that housing prices have no place to go but up in the next few years, energy crisis or no energy crisis), packing up his personal belongings, finishing up current engagements--all the pre-move stuff one needs to do. Aside from the Porsche (which he will have shipped over), he was taking very little in the way of actual belongings with him; most of it was going into storage. Kilmeny had made that quite clear during a subsequent conversation.

"All of your expenses will be paid by us--that is, all reasonable expenses. Custom-ordering a suit from Savile Row, for example, would not qualify. You will be staying with us, so furniture is also unnecessary."

"So, is the family just your parents, you, and your baby sister?"

"Baby sister? Oh, I guess I never told you. My sister Alana is older than me."

Now that was a shock. If Alana was older, then why wasn't she making the arrangements? However, he had been surprised so many times in the past few days that it didn't faze him anymore. "And your parents... they aren't around much?"

"That's right. Your flight to Boston is on the twenty-third, and there'll be a driver waiting for you there." She rattled off a number. "You can reach me at this number on the East Coast; I'm flying out tomorrow, right after the signing."

"I'll see you tomorrow, then."

The contract signing the next day was more complicated than anything Darren had ever done before. But then, he thought wryly, I'd never had to swear an oath to abide by said contract before. Kilmeny had managed to net a circuit court judge to administer the oath, along with a few high-profile players in the entertainment industry acting as witnesses. Even if I were the type to skip out on my word, he reflected, I'd be signing my death warrant for any kind of work in the entertainment industry. Half those people would be sufficient to see him permanently blackballed in Hollywood. Guess that slip of a girl knew what she was doing, he concluded half-grudgingly, half-admiringly.

After he took the oath, the actual signing was rather anti-climatic. Kilmeny disappeared immediately afterwards with a copy of the contract, but not before handing him another envelope. "Background," she said, before a car whisked her off.

When he got home that night, he poured himself a glass of Alsacian Pinot Gris he'd been saving for a while. Might as well drink up his poor excuse of a wine cellar, he thought to himself; aside for a bottle he might stick in his carry-on luggage, most of it wasn't worth the price of shipping. He took a sip of the pale liquid, savoring the plethora of flavors bursting on his tongue, then opened the envelope.

The cover page was a short note to him. It went as follows:

"Darren, you're probably surprised at how thin this file is. Well, that's intentional. You'll have to pick up all the personal info from Alana herself, same way she'll be doing for you. This is just to level the playing field a bit--after all, you're a public figure, and she's not."

See you in a few days.

Kilmeny"

She wasn't kidding. There were all of three pages in the envelope, and that was including the cover page. Darren scanned the sheets quickly; it read more like a dossier than anything else:

Alana Morgan Carstairs
DOB: 05/03/84

Immediate family

Father: Steven Carstairs, chairman and CEO of Sylvan Enterprises. DOB: 07/12/48

Mother (divorced): Callista Reilly, appellate court judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit. DOB: 10/05/49

Sister: Kilmeny Rhiannon Carstairs. DOB: 09/24/86

Mr. Carstairs and Ms. Reilly divorced in 1988 (Ms. Reilly having retained her maiden name throughout the marriage), shortly before Ms. Reilly accepted an appointment to the U.S. Federal District Court bench in the District of Columbia. Mr. Carstairs retained custody of Alana and Kilmeny, with Ms. Reilly retaining full visitation rights.

Sylvan Enterprises is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, though most of its operational facilities are located overseas. Mr. Carstairs spends most of his time away from his Hartford home, leaving his daughters in the care of a succession of governesses.

Alana has just finished her junior year at Pinehurst Academy, and has been accepted to the Accelerated Program at the University of Connecticut. She will be taking a light college workload in addition to her senior classes. Her sister will be starting her sophomore year at Sacred Heart Academy in the fall.

Alana is on the varsity volleyball team, and has indicated that she would be interested in continuing to play in college. Her favorite school subjects are English and history, and she is currently reading 'Children of the Arbat' by Anatoly Rybakov for personal enjoyment. Her favorite musical artist is Shawn Colvin, though she confesses to be currently partial to Christina Aguilera and S Club 7.

Well, Darren thought, that was informative. One of his profiles that ran in Seventeen back in the day had more information than that. Kilmeny did tell me not to expect too much. as he reached over to put the papers and envelope back on the table, a photo fell out of the envelope. He picked it up off the carpeted floor, and examined it closely. It was of Kilmeny and another girl, walking on the beach. It was probably to assume that the other girl was Alana; the family resemblance between the two girls was more than passing. Still, with all the surprises the last few days...

From the picture, Alana appeared to be about the same height as her sister. For some reason, the image of Sarah Michelle Gellar and Michelle Trachtenberg popped up in his mind--that kind of contrast, he thought. He had met the two of them during a guest appearance on 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' during a sweeps story arc.

He re-examined the photo. Both had the slim coltish look, though Alana definitely had the muscle tone of an athlete. Kilmeny had her shoulder-length honey-colored hair back in a french braid, while Alana kept her strawberry blonde hair in a short pageboy cut. Kilmeny was wearing a light blue one-piece, while Alana had on a black bikini; as the old saying goes, they were attractively rounded in all the right places, though Kilmeny was slightly less developed. Though they weren't posing for the shot, they were obviously aware of the camera, as the angle was about thirty degrees off face-on--enough to get a sense of their profiles, while still giving the viewer a clear view of their faces.

Darren never claimed to be a psychologist, but he thought he knew the type of girl Alana would be likely to be. Slightly spoiled, though basically good at heart. Headstrong, and capricious at times. Well aware of the effect her body had on men and boys alike. He shook his head. There was nothing as beautiful as a beautiful girl who is unaware of her own beauty, he thought wistfully. But then, he scolded himself, this is all complete speculation, and she could turn out to be none of the things he had just postulated. Still, between the two girls, his gaze was drawn more to Kilmeny than her more curvaceous sister.

It was plenty of food for thought.

The night before he was scheduled to leave, Karl had thrown him a going-away party at his mansion in Bel Air. By then, most of the hubbub around the oath-taking in conjunction with his contract signing had died down. Part of the contract included a discretion clause regarding the contract itself, so Darren enlisted Karl's aid in fabricating the story of a new studio signing him to a multi-million dollar contract for a new block-buster, complete with notable director and writer ready to sign on. Two days later (amid denials by said director and writer of any such deal in the works), Darren called a press conference and informed the media that the oath-taking was simply a publicity stunt by the fledgling studio to boost name recognition. There was no high-profile movie in the works; he had simply signed a contract to direct a made-for-TV docu-drama set in New England. Now, former teen star signing a multi-million dollar contract for a potential blockbuster en route to a comeback--big news. Former teen star taking time off to try his hand at directing--about a line buried on page twenty-one of the trade papers. Karl's cut of his paycheck would be explained as consulting fees for the new studio. Of course, an enterprising journalist could dig up the non-existence of 'Forty-second Street Studios' and nail down enough irregularities in the story in a matter of weeks, but Darren was banking on his relative un-newsworthiness to keep this on the down-low. There were so many other targets basking in their fifteen minutes of fame that a second-string actor should be able to disappear off the showbiz radar with few if any questions asked.