18Murray
It was delicate, setting this trap for Lily. Playing a player was never easy – and I couldn’t let her realise I was doing it until my teeth were in her throat.
That meant everything I did had to not just be plausibly deniable, but likely. This woman understood me better than anyone on the planet. She wasn’t going to suspend her disbelief if I acted out of character. I needed to take my existing patterns – and weaponise them.
The next group date card reveal was early the next morning. These generally didn’t have a lot of overarching narrative implications, so I usually delegated them to Suzette and Carrie; but I dragged myself out of bed for this one, glancing in the mirror before I left my trailer to make sure the circles under my eyes were good and dark.
Five of the eight remaining Juliets were going on the Episode Six group date. Lily, having been on the single date, already knew she wasn’t one of them, and I could feel hergaze on me as I stood up the back of the shoot, arms folded, leaning against the wall.
I took a muesli bar out of my utility belt. I waited for a break, so the crinkle of the wrapper wouldn’t ruin a take, and ate it.
‘All right, that’s a wrap!’ Carrie announced. ‘Naya, Parisa, you’re first in hair and makeup.’
I pushed myself off the wall. ‘You two are in charge of date setup,’ I told Carrie and Suzette, making sure Lily was in earshot. ‘Give me a fifteen-minute warning before the shoot. I’ll be in the war room until then.’
‘Murray, we don’t need you supervising,’ Suzette said. ‘We’ve got this.’
‘I said,’ I bit out, ‘give me a fifteen-minute warning.’
Suzette rolled her eyes. Carrie shook her head. I made a mental note to buy them both very nice thank you/I’m sorry gifts once the season was over.
I shut myself in the war room. I put a chair under the door handle. I made myself two coffees, one with lukewarm water, one with hot. I put them down on the conference table, flicked on some of yesterday’s mounted cam footage, and waited.
I’d only just finished my first coffee when the door handle rattled. I allowed myself a smile before I locked my expression down.
‘What?’ I barked.
‘Let me in, Murray.’
I didn’t respond.
She started knocking.
I gave it a good ten seconds before I got up, kicked thechair out of the way, and reefed the door open. ‘I don’t have time for this, Lily.’
I’d braced my arm against the doorjamb, but she ducked under it, exactly the same way she’d ducked under it a million times before, and slammed a plate of toast down on the table. ‘You’re going to eat something if I have to force it down your throat.’
I folded my arms. ‘Is that all?’
‘Yes.’
Well, shit.
‘Although I was wondering if you’d like me to tell you when your crew start plotting an uprising against you, or if you’d like it to be a surprise,’ she said coolly. ‘Tony.’
Got her.
‘Don’t compare me to Tony.’
‘I’m sorry.’ She didn’t sound sorry at all. ‘You’re right. You’re a reverse Tony. He never worked. You won’t stop.’
‘You think I like micromanaging? I don’t. But I’m working with limited resources – and you saw what happens when I’m not across every single thing that happens on this set. I can’t risk another Heather situation.’
Conveniently, for once, my eye started twitching. I jammed the heel of my hand against it. ‘Can you please leave? I’ve got work to do.’
Lily paused. I had to resist holding my breath.
‘Let me help,’ she said.
