Breaking Her Rules

Chapter 41

Rodney Higgins, bass player of Two Soap Dolls, stares at Lucas and me, then glances back at Augie Porters.

I follow his gaze, and see Augie sitting on a black leather couch, holding a tumbler glass of amber liquid loosely in one hand.

Eric and Paul are playing ping pong. In the corner, at a desk, is an older guy with a dark blonde beard and a beanie that says "TSD". I don't recognise him. He doesn't even glance up when we enter.

But all four members of the band are staring at Lucas and me.

'Hi,' I say.

'Eric, call security,' Augie says.

'Wait,' I say quickly, stepping forward. 'Wait, hi. I'm Emily Maisonwood, I'm the daughter of Thomas Maisonwood, and this is Lucas Elmhirst, he's the son of Trevor Elmhirst.'

Behind him, the bearded guy stands up, scraping the chair back loudly on the floor. 'Want me to call security, Augie?' he says gruffly.

Augie ignores the guy, who I assume must be some kind of management. He stands up and places his glass on a side table. 'Your parents were in Dime's the Limit?' He directs the question to me.

'Yeah,' I say.

'Well what are you doing here?' Augie asks.

I glance over at Rodney, the bass player, who is now pulling on a shirt. He's in his thirties but he's still really fit looking. The shirt he pulls on is sweaty and must be the one he was wearing on stage.

'Uh,' I say, glancing at Lucas.

'We thought you might be able to help us,' Lucas says.

'How so?' Augie asks. 'I knew your parents, ages ago, but I haven't seen them for years. We used to support their band, when we were just in high school. They kick started our career.'

This is just the news I wanted to hear. Augie knew the band. Augie knew George. Maybe Augie knows something that my parents don't.

'How did you guys even get back here, anyway?' Rodney asks.

'Just walked in,' I say lamely.

'Sheridan is a fucking useless piece of work,' Eric comments, and Rodney grunts approvingly.

'Augie,' I say, feeling weird talking to the lead singer of one of my favourite bands. 'We wanted to ask you about George.'

Augie raises his eyebrows. 'He's dead.'

'We know,' Lucas says. 'We just wondered if maybe... were you friends with him?'

Augie glances back at Eric, Paul and Rodney. 'You guys relax, I'm gonna deal with these kids.'

'Oh, we just wanted to talk,' I say. 'Sorry if we intruded, we just didn't know how else to talk to you,' I say quickly, but Augie is already escorting us out the door.

The guard on the door gives Augie a smile and says, 'Great show.'

I expect Augie to tell the guard to take us out, but instead he leads us past him and up some stairs. I've never been up here before, but Augie leads us up towards a balcony where a lot of sound and light equipment is set up over the stage.

'We can talk pretty privately up here,' Augie says, sitting down and swinging his legs off the side of the balcony. He's wearing skinny jeans, but his legs are so skinny that they look crumpled and large on him. I notice he's wearing boat shoes without socks.

When Lucas and I look tentative he says, 'Come on. I'm only little, I don't bite.'

I smile at that and sit down across from him, and Lucas follows my lead.