The High Notes: A Novel(20)

“Glen would find me there for sure. I should probably lie low for a while, till he cools off, and I don’t want to cause trouble for you,” she said, smiling at him.

“You won’t. I’ll kick his ass if he or his scouts come near us, or you.” She looked at him gratefully. She loved singing with him, and wouldn’t mind hanging out with them for a while.

“Let’s see how it goes. You may get tired of me.”

He laughed. “Not likely. I’ve never had the chance to sing with anyone like you. You have an incredible voice, Iris, but you know that.” It wasn’t possible that she didn’t. He couldn’t imagine it.

“I don’t know how I sing. I just sing what comes out,” she said simply. “You have a pretty fantastic voice yourself,” she said to him, and meant it. “I’ve never done duets onstage before. I was just an opening act for years, when I was under contract with Billy Weston. He treated us like dirt and slave labor too, but at least he wasn’t abusive, like Hendrix. This guy is crazy, and rules by insults and terror.” She was happy that she’d left, especially now that she was hanging out with Boy and his band, and she had a chance to sing with them. “How come the scouts have never picked you up, especially in Nashville?” she asked him.

“Not talented enough, I guess.” He grinned at her. “Singers like me are a dime a dozen in Nashville. They’re singing in every bar and on every street corner. I’m nothing special there,” he said, and she shook her head.

“You’re very special,” she reassured him. “Your voice is pure gold. You just haven’t run into the right one,” nor had she, only scouts for sleazy managers, trying to trap young talent into signing bad contracts. She wondered if that would ever change. She still had Clay Maddox’s number on the piece of paper in her purse that Judd Wallace had given her, but she didn’t know if she’d ever use it. Maddox was too big and too important and she didn’t feel ready for the big time in Hollywood or New York. Maybe Hendrix was right and she never would be. She was just a girl from Texas, good enough for a church choir and not much else. Her years of tours hadn’t been confidence builders, but she was having a good time with Boy and his band. It was enough for now, and her first taste of freedom.

Boy dropped her off at her bed and breakfast, and she met up with them at the Elk later that night, before they went on. Annie looked pretty in a white lace blouse with her hair in pigtails again, and Boy’s long blond hair hung straight down his back. It was almost as long as Iris’s. It suited him. He had a lanky, sexy, cowboy look that went well with the songs he sang.

“Ready for our duets?” he asked her when she arrived. They were going to do two right after Annie’s first song, and Iris’s two songs with Boy, the ones she’d written, to close the show that night. She was nervous about it, and not sure how the audience would respond to them. She thought it would be hard to perform with people eating and talking, and not in a concert setup, but it was a good chance to try them out.

The audience loved their first two duets, and applauded enthusiastically after both songs, and they had settled down at the end of their meals by the time they sang Iris’s songs. Watching them onstage, it was easy to believe that they were deeply in love. There was a genuine, almost visible electricity between them, which brought the words and the music to life, and the audience was mesmerized when Iris hit the high notes and stunned them with her voice. There were tears in her eyes when they finished the last song. They carried with them all the heartache in Iris’s life and the love she’d never had. Several people stood up to applaud them and Boy hugged her before they left the stage and whispered to her.

“You were incredible!”

“You too,” she whispered back, and then they hopped off. Moe, the owner, came to tell them how great they were. His customers had loved her songs, and the whole performance that night. There was something special between the two of them, and one thing was sure, it was rare to see two talents like that together in a cowboy bar in Wyoming. Everyone in the restaurant that night agreed that they were two stars in the making and they were lucky to have been there. Boy was so happy he ate two helpings of meatloaf that night, and Iris was so excited that all she did was grin and never touched her dinner. Their performance had been perfect.





Chapter 6





Two weeks after Iris had left the tour with no explanation and no warning, she still hadn’t answered Glen’s calls or texts, and he was still livid. No one who worked for him had ever just disappeared like that, and he vowed that she wouldn’t get away with it. Catching her, forcing her to come back, and punishing her became his obsession. He was in Vegas. He sent someone to her address, and the landlady said that Iris had called and asked her to keep the box she’d left there and she’d pick it up when she came through Vegas again, but she had no plans to return. She said that it was nothing of value or importance, just sentimental to her. The landlady said she had no idea where Iris was, she hadn’t said when she’d called her.

The tour had made a last-minute stop that had been added, in Colorado, and Glen flew in to interrogate Pattie and her band to see if they knew where Iris was. No matter how much he berated and threatened them, they insisted they didn’t. He flew back to Las Vegas and contacted a private detective he had used before when trying to track down people who owed him money. His name was Scott Campbell, he had a small business, but was dogged and had been successful finding the subjects every time. Glen brought half a dozen pictures of Iris with him to his meeting with Scott, and the private eye wondered why he wanted to find her. She was a beautiful girl and Glen said he wanted to find her dead or alive. He wondered if she was an ex-girlfriend who had stolen money from him.