Free Tudor Reunion Tour by Jamie Salisbury

I wanted Red on
board with me. He’s the only one I can trust right now.”
    “And Zara? She and the baby are
somewhere safe?”
    “Yes, and don’t ask me where because I don’t
know and don’t want to know.”
    “Okay. I’ve got calls out and stuff. If
I hear anything back, learn anything, I’ll be in touch. I hate to tell you, you’re
sort of vulnerable out here.”
    “Yeah, don’t remind me. Should I do
anything, Joe? Should I quit before something happens, or simply let things
unfold?”
    “Do you think you can hang on for a
while?”
    “Oh, yeah, no problem. That’s part of
the reason I decided to do this blasted tour. Zara was against it, let me tell
you. But something’s fishy and needs to be exposed. If not, something’s going
to happen.”
    I ran my hand through my hair, and as I
did, it dawned on me. “Do you think this whole thing could be part of a revenge
thing? You know with Don being the uncle of the man Zara shot and all,” I
added.
    “It would certainly stand to reason. But
why Don, why not Johnny’s parents?”
    “ Pfft , his
parents? His mom is who knows where, if she’s even still alive. Heroin user,
you know. And his dad died of mysterious circumstances about five years ago if
my memory serves me right. Tudor Rose was out on the road when it happened. I
remember because we had to pinch hit after Johnny left for the funeral and
stuff.”
    “I’ll look into both of them.”
    “Do, because Johnny was never the same
after his dad died.”
    “That must be when he and Don hooked up,”
Joe replied, standing up and removing his cell phone from his jeans pocket. “Is
it going to be okay if I hang out with you?”
    “Of course you can. We got a promo gig
to do in a while, but outside of that I’m free until show time. Why?”
    “No reason. I’m going to call a contact
of mine here in Portland. I’ll just hang with you and keep my eyes and ears
open.”
    I didn’t know where Joe was going with
this, but figured I’d sit back and see if he could bring anything more to
light.
    As soon as the Portland show was over,
Julia had the entire band whisked out of the building. No after show
interviews, nothing. That meant I had no further contact with Joe Franco except
via my iPhone, which Red kept for me on his person while I was on stage. I
purposely brought no laptop or iPad along with me. My phone was my only contact
with the outside world. My world…Zara.
    I knew we were headed towards the after
party. Julia wasn’t one to miss free publicity. I was soon shown how wrong I
was to try and read her mind. I was in the middle of texting Joe Franco,
letting him know the situation.
    “Amadeus? Who are you texting?”
    “No one,” I lied. “I’m playing a game so
I don’t have to listen to your grating voice, Julia. Is that okay with you?”
    “Well, I think you occupy yourself far
too much with outside distractions. In fact, I’ve decided to implement a rule.
You boys can have your phones or iPads only on down days. The rest of the time
I keep them. I need for you all to be focused one hundred percent.”
    “Ah, come on, Julia,” Angus chimed in. “You
can’t do that and you know it, and besides that, we haven’t had any down days.
You insist on working us to death! Try taking my laptop or phone, and I’ll walk
so fast it’ll make your head spin.”
    “He’s right, Julia,” Damien added. “You
can’t do that.”
    “Just shut up, Damien! If it wasn’t for
me, none of you would be here.”
    “That’s right, Julia,” I said. “We
wouldn’t because none of us would have been foolish enough to sign that piece
of shit contract of yours. The only reason Angus and I signed was for Damien.
Now back off or we walk.”
    “You wouldn’t dare,” she challenged.
    “Try me.”
    It took her a couple of minutes before
she got a hold of herself and started again. We’d rattled her. No doubt about
it.
    “There’s a change of plans. Damien, and
only Damien, is going to the