Jake chuckled. "I said something like that not too long ago," he said. "But it really was what it looked like."
"Should we... uh... let them finish their business?" Pauline asked softly. "I mean, I'm sure we could spare a few..."
"Fuck that," Matt said, stepping forward. He grabbed Garcia by the arm and pulled him to his feet. "Out. We got some serious shit to talk. You can finish him off later."
"Now wait just a minute!" Crow said.
"Out," Matt repeated, pushing the young kid toward the door. Garcia didn't need to be told twice. He fled like the building was on fire.
"How dare you come in here while I'm in a private meeting," Crow said.
"Why don't you pull up your pants, Crow?" Matt told him. "I don't think any of us really wanna look at your shit."
Crow frowned and then reached down and grabbed his pants. He stood and pulled them up, re-covering his equipment.
"You're not even Garcia's A&R guy, are you?" Matt asked. "What do you guys do? Pass him around like a joint?"
"What we do or do not do is not your concern," Crow said, still quite flustered from the interruption. "Now would you mind telling me why you all came busting in here without an appointment, or even a call to say you were coming?"
"Sure," Matt said. "Why don't you grab a seat?"
Crow pushed his chair over to his desk — upon which sat a mirror with a razor blade and a rolled up hundred dollar bill — and sat down. Jake, Matt, Pauline, and Nerdly all grabbed seats at the chairs in front of his desk.
"Now tell me what's going on," Crow said.
"Is Darren back on the heroin?" Matt asked.
Crow licked his lips a little. "Why... uh... would you ask that?"
"Because I strongly suspect that he is," Matt said.
"And what makes you think I would know anything about that?"
"Cut the bullshit, Crow," Matt said menacingly. "You got a fuckin' spy living with him. You know every goddamn thing he does. You know when he takes a fuckin' shit and how much it weighs. So give it up. Is he back on the fuckin' horse, or what?"
Crow sighed. "Yeah," he said. "He's back on it."
"Jesus fuckin' Christ," Matt said. "For how long?"
"He started doing it again back in December sometime," Crow said. "He..."
"December?" Matt nearly screamed. "Fucking December? He's been doing heroin for nine fucking months and you haven't told us about it?"
"He had it under control until just a few weeks ago," Crow said.
"Steve," Jake said, "we don't care if he had it under control or not. If you knew he was doing it you should have told us. We could have kept him from getting out of control."
"I'm assuming he's out of control now?" Nerdly asked.
"Yeah, he's out of control now," Crow said. "Look, guys, it really wasn't that big of a deal at first. He started scoring black tar heroin from some lowlife at the Flamingo."
"Black tar heroin?" Pauline asked. "What's that?"
"It's nasty shit that looks like a congealed black booger," Matt said. "It started popping up here a few years ago. They make it in Mexico by just mowing down a poppy field and mashing up the plants into a paste instead of processing them with chemicals and separating the good shit from the bad shit. It's got all kinds of impurities and dirt and grime and germs in it." He glared at Crow. "You didn't think that was a problem? That he was shooting that shit into his veins?"
"He wasn't shooting it into his veins," Crow said. "If he would've been doing that I would've intervened right away. All he was doing was smoking it at night before he went to bed."
"Smoking it?" Nerdly asked. "You can smoke heroin?"
"Black tar you can," Matt said. "It's basically like smoking opium in an opium bar, just not as clean."
"Right," Crow said. "And like I said, he had it under control for the longest time. He'd take a few hits at night and then go to sleep. The next morning he'd be fine. His musical productivity went up — you've all seen that — and he had a much better outlook on things. He stopped being so depressed."
"That's why he was so happy while we were working on the album," Jake said. "It wasn't our little speech on the airplane at all. He was just getting his fix again."
"That's why you didn't tell us," Matt accused. "You didn't want to fuck up productivity on the album."
"No," Crow denied, although he couldn't meet Matt's eyes as he did so. "That's not it at all. I just didn't see it as a problem. He was doing it once a day and not exhibiting any of the signs I associate with a problem. He didn't start shooting it, he didn't start using it before going to the jam sessions or the recording sessions. He was functioning just fine."
"Uh huh," Jake said. "And then what happened?"
"Well," Crow said, "once you were done recording and mixing the album, he suddenly found himself with a lot of time on his hands. He started smoking a lot more of it. Pretty soon he was keeping himself loaded up all day long. And then, about three weeks ago, Cedric started finding syringes in the garbage cans when he cleaned."
"And you still didn't think it was a problem?" Pauline asked. "When were you planning on telling us about this?"
"I was planning on an intervention soon," Crow said. "In fact, I meant to have done it by now. After all, we need to get him into rehab and dried out before the tour. But... well, he's been kind of sick the last few days so I've been putting if off until he gets better."
"Sick?" Jake asked. "What do you mean by that?"
"According to Cedric he's got a really bad case of the flu. It started three or four days ago and just keeps getting worse. He hasn't even been doing the heroin much any more. He's too sick to go out and get any."
Matt and Jake looked at each other. Pauline and Nerdly did the same.
"Has he seen a doctor for this?" Jake asked.
"No," Crow said. "According to Cedric it's just a nasty case of the flu. He'll shake it off in a few days and we'll get him into rehab. A month in there and he'll be clean enough to go on tour. That's probably the best for him if you think about it. He'll come out of rehab right into tour rehearsal. Once you guys head out, he won't have any access to heroin anymore. I'll make sure that Greg doesn't give him any."
Things suddenly became a lot clearer to Jake. "That was your plan all along, wasn't it?" he asked Crow. "Let him be a junkie until about a month before tour rehearsal starts and then stuff him in rehab. By the time he comes out there won't be enough time for him to lapse back."
"Well... it might've crossed my mind," Crow admitted.
"I oughtta twist your fuckin' head off and shit down your neck," Matt said, glaring. He stood up. "Come on," he told Jake, Pauline, and Nerdly. "Let's get over there."
"What are you going to do?" Crow asked.
"We're gonna see how bad off he is for one thing," Matt said. "Call up your little dick-smoking spy and tell him to let us in when we get there."
"Are you sure this is a good idea, Matt?" Crow asked. "I really think we should wait until he's better before we try an intervention."
"Just do what the fuck I said, Crow," Matt said. He walked out the door. Jake, Nerdly, and Pauline followed him.
Cedric let them in without argument. Darren's luxury condo was spotless clean, with everything in its place but there was an unpleasant smell in the air, just a hint of it, but it was enough to make Jake want to start breathing through his mouth. The odor reminded him of rotting garbage.
"Where's he at?" Matt asked when they entered the living room.
"He's been in bed since last night," Cedric said. "This flu is hitting him really hard. He's hardly eaten anything in the past two days."
"Uh huh," Jake said. "And when was the last time he shot up?"
"Not since early yesterday," Cedric replied. "Which is how I know he's really sick. Usually he spends all day loaded up."
They walked to Darren's bedroom and opened the door. As soon as they did the rotting garbage odor overwhelmed them, making Pauline and Nerdly gag.
"Oh my god," Pauline said. "What is that smell?"
"I don't know," Cedric said. "I've been smelling it for a few days now, ever since he got sick. It seems to be coming from him — from his skin. He takes a shower but the smell doesn't go away."