Page 43 of Beyond the Darkness
“If you listened to our show and find out what we’re all about, you’ll change your mind.”Corman’s smile looked larger than his face.
“I can assure you, I absolutely won’t.Now, please, I have to go.I’ve got things to do.”
“You know my favourite movie isRed Hills Massacre,” Corman said.“Of all time.”
“Mine too,” Amber added with childlike glee.
Fuck my life.And that damned movie.Why is everyone I meet so obsessed with it?It was turning into a cult.
“I especially don’t like talking about that one.In fact, I hate it.”
Corman seemed astonished.“No way.That movie is a stone-cold classic.”
“The best horror film of the last twenty-five years,” Amber added.“Bar none.”
Hudson laughed.This pair were ridiculous.
“And it was the first time you worked with Singer Fry,” Corman said.
Hudson prickled further.“It was the only time I worked with him.”
“What aboutThe Leopard?You worked together on that too, right?”
Hudson’s annoyance took a darker turn.“The Leopard?Did you two send me that picture this morning?”
They exchanged glances.Their inane smiles lost some enthusiasm.
“Er, what picture?”Amber said.
“We haven’t sent you anything.”
Were they lying?Was this jolly fan routine all an act?“The mail I’ve been receiving each day.Are you behind it?”
Corman’s bottom lip fluttered like a grounded fish.
“Why would we send you mail?”Amber asked.“We knew we were going to be working with you anyway.We’ll be seeing you every day.”
“You mean, like, old-fashioned mail?Like, letters and stuff?”Corman laughed.“I don’t know when I last posted a letter.Not even a Christmas card.Who even does that?”
He couldn’t decide whether he believed their naïveté or not.It was some coincidence that they should arrive on the very day he received an image relating toThe Leopard.What would they have to gain by provoking him with stupid mail anyway?Trying to unsettle him in the hope he would confide in them?Come on their podcast?
But no, it couldn’t be them.Robbie Wiseman was behind the photographs.He had to be.He had form for that kind of behaviour and Hudson knew he was in Blyham.He’d seen him outside his building just the other night.He was on the wrong track suspecting Corman and Amber.
And yet, he didn’t trust them one bit.What kind of podcast did they put out anyway?It was time he found out before he had any further interaction with them.
“We loveThe Leopard,” Amber continued, as though his objection had not been raised.“But it would have been so cool if you’d actually got to star in it.Singer Fry directing and Hudson Rhodes in the lead.That’s the film I really want to see.”
“Absolutely,” Corman said.“Did you actually shoot any footage with Singer before leaving the project?”
“As you seem to be better informed than me, I think you know the answer to that question.And now, for the third time today—stay out of my way.”
He walked straight between them and away before they could block him again.His breath came fast and shallow.If there was one film experience that had been worse thanRed Hills, it wasThe Leopard.At least the horror film had been completed and released.WhileThe Leopardhad indeed come out and become a huge hit, it had not starred Hudson.
Why had it come back to haunt him today, after all these years?
His experience in Blyham was getting stranger day by day.
When he got back to the apartment, he would take a hot bath to relax and listen to an episode of Corman and Amber’s podcast to get a flavour of what they were really like.What was the tone and content of the show?The more he thought about them, the less he bought into their sweet, chummy routine.They had an agenda.To protect himself, he needed to figure out exactly what it was.
