BEFORE I LET GO: BOOK II: CHAPTER FOUR
ALEX
Holy heavens! Unholy fucking hell! We are currently sitting within the conference room within the main resort, going through the text messages, emails, and call logs from Justin, Blake, and Drew’s phones, while comparing them to what Brian, Ted, and Emmett actually received.
“Well if this all doesn’t prove just why Justin and the others are upset, I don’t know what else will!” Barry says as he pulls yet, another paper off of the printer. “Wait. Listen to this one from Justin…
‘Brian, I know that for whatever reason, you’ve chosen to follow Michael… AGAIN. But try to remember that while he’s a slacker and destined to be destitute, YOU ARE NOT! John Remson has been trying to reach both you AND Ted and is just about ready to find another agency to work with. WE promised him that we would be available for a consultation this week. Since I have no idea what’s been done so far, since I’ve been working on JTD- you do remember that I have my own business as well, don’t you?- and you didn’t leave the preliminary notes on the account the way you NORMALLY do, kindly give me a FUCKING call so that I- I mean, since you’re off playing around with your best friend and all- can begin this campaign from where you left off or from scratch. On a personal note, I’m tired, Brian. REALLY FUCKING TIRED! Your soon-to-be-ex fuckbuddy, Justin (that’s in case you don’t remember my name… AGAIN)’.
"Now when have any of you known meticulous, Brian Kinney, to willingly neglect a client? To shirk his responsibilities?”
“He doesn’t,” I answer unhesitatingly. “Any idea where the calls from Remson came through? He’s located in Dansville, Connecticut I believe.”
“203-856-4423 is Remson Pharm’s main number,” Bernie informs us. “And it looks like the calls began the same afternoon that Michael decided he just needed to get away. Would that he would have stayed away…” he mutters, and when we all look at him, he issues a hasty apology.
“That’s better. But is that from Ted’s list?”
“Yep, it is. Is the number listed the same on Brian’s?” he asks me.
“No… the area code is the same but the following numbers are different. My guess is that since they happened at 9:30 and 10:00 in the morning, then 7:20 and so on in the evening, that Brian wouldn’t have heard them or their messages at all. Besides, how many times have we been at Woody’s and Brian had to step away to take a business call? He certainly would have taken one from one of his premiere clients,” Duke says.
“That’s right! So, there is just one instance of actual proof that Brian’s ‘leech’ was controlling the situation with the cell phones. So what are we going to do about it?” Bernie poses the question. Followed by, “Look, I know that we are not supposed to have any bias when treating patients, but not one of us is innocent in wanting to knock the fuck out of Novotny a time, or in my case, six hundred times… and that has only been in the last few days! I can imagine how Justin, Blake, and Drew feel at this point. So we have to do something- that’s for certain- but we have to agree on when and how it’s done. That’s all I’m saying.”
“I agree that something needs to be done about these, and I’m opting that we divulge their contents sooner rather than later,” Duke says. “The longer we’re quiet about them, the more time Michael has to reason his ass out of hot water. Not only that, we already know that with some of the other ‘guests,’ he’s bound to enlist their help once he finds out that they are on the island. Now, whether they fall for his brand of shit or not is entirely up to them, although we all hope they won’t. But let’s face the facts here… Michael Novotny can be very persuasive and manipulative when he wants to be, and there is no doubt that he will want to be here. So I say that we give all of the others the facts, but do so within Emmett, Ben, Brian, and Ted’s sessions first, so that they each have time to absorb the implications of Michael’s perfidy in private and figure out why they each chose to be willfully blind. Yes, that also includes Ben, since he developed the same habit of intentional ignorance as Brian had, up until very recently, and to the same degree. I suppose it could be part conditioning from Debbie to ensure that her baby boy was always happy, while freeing up her own guilty conscience for no longer wanting to take care of her adult offspring all the time. But that still doesn’t explain why such strong, opinionated, and driven men would constantly bow down to the wishes of a termagant and her termite. To put it plainly, why allow themselves to be bullied when they all are rather vocal against bullying of any kind? That is the question which needs to be picked apart and answered first and foremost, before any other thing within their relationships as a whole can be addressed fully. I suspect that if they can’t come up with a plausible reason or a guarantee that it will never happen again, we all may just be wasting our time. As for the call and message logs, after we finish with that individual session, and the questions of their behaviors have been answered within themselves, then it can be addressed within the couples session. But it needs to be about ONLY that issue at that time. No doubt everyone will be tired and tempers are bound to spiral out of control while talking about what Michael did. So it’s best that we control the situation by not allowing them to mix any other issues into this particular argument.”
“Ah, so if they decide to stop talking, let it be because of their own issues and that they want to, not because of something he did to cause trouble,” Barry nods. “I think that’s the wisest course of action right now, Alex. And I must admit that I’m not particularly looking forward to any premature meetings with Michael, without Ben having all of the facts, such as they are. He has learned how to twist and dance around the truth far too well from Debbie, so that it’s often hard to tell the lies thrown haphazardly in the mix while listening to him. It’s a classic, tactical move in the WIS syndrome he and Deb have.”
“WIS? What the hell is WIS?” Bernie asks.
“An acronym for Whine Into Submission, and a very accurate one at that. That’s Michael’s manner of operations. Whine until the only option anyone has to drown out his voice is to either give him what he wants or actually drown him, in any body of water from a toilet bowl to the Golden Triangle... whatever that will shut him up. So since none of our guys have gone to jail for assault or attempted murder, that leaves the WIS as a viable option for Michael to continue his emotional tyranny.”
As Barry continues talking, I nod, and agree that this is the way to go. It’s the only way to get through to Brian, first and foremost. And quite possibly, it will be the way to get him to finally explain the puzzle that Brian Aiden Taylor-Kinney came to be.