Chapter 4 – The Interview
Buster was adamant he wouldn't watch the interview. There were better things to do with his time than listen to Jimmy Crystal drag him across national television for sixty minutes.
So, it was almost baffling that he found himself parked on the couch in the den right before 8 PM. He wasn't the only one; Rosita, Johnny, Porsha, Miss Crawly and Meena had joined him. Nooshy and Alfonso also came over. Ash passed, saying that any of the juicy bits would likely be all over TV and the internet by morning. Gunter had disappeared with little explanation, but that wasn't that odd for him.
Nooshy ducked into the kitchen a few minutes earlier, and the cacophonic popping and familiar smell gave away what she was doing. When she came back into the den with a tub of popcorn in her arms, Johnny almost looked offended.
"I can't believe you're treating this like some kind of event!" he complained.
"I need good food to watch bad rubbish," Nooshy said before stuffing her face with a fistful of popcorn. She plopped down onto the couch and wedged the tub between them. Porsha slid onto the floor and scooched over so she could reach behind and raid the popcorn as needed. Eventually, Johnny relented and reached inside. He was startled when he made contact with the back of Nooshy's hand. What was less than a second lasted an eternity in Johnny's head. He was thankful the only thing lighting the room was the TV because he could feel the heat in his cheeks. Nooshy's lack of reaction made things even worse.
What a stupid cliché, he thought. A stupid cliché that didn't even go anywhere!
"Meena, you better get some before it's all gone," Porsha said.
"Ah, let her be," Nooshy said, nudging Porsha with her leg. "That girl's in her own world."
Sure enough, Meena and Alfonso carved out some sort of nest of pillows and blankets next to the couch, so wrapped in each other's presence that their trunks coiled together and everything else melted away. Johnny found solace in knowing things were working out for one member of their troupe, at least.
"All right, here we go," Buster said once the endless waves of commercials gave way to the primetime event.
Walter Kilborn appeared in a shadowed room wearing his trademark face, a rigidly expressionless look that occasionally ventured to skeptically shrewd. There was nothing in the room save for a metal table, the faint light from a window (or stage light creating an illusion) stretched across its dull surface. The camera was angled downward enough to show the capybara's compact body, wearing a slate gray suit, his hands folded against his stomach. They knew immediately why Crystal had chosen Kilborn for his interview. The capybara radiated legitimacy and professionalism, a staunch contrast to the atmosphere of liberal day drinking wafting from the Hot News set.
"On tonight's The Real Deal, we come to you with the explosive reveal of a story that's been looming over Redshore City for several months now," Kilborn said, his voice only slightly more animated than his face. "In the blink of an eye, Jimmy Crystal's identity changed from Billionaire of the Year to Redshore's most famous inmate, accused of the heinous act of attempted homicide. Mostly rumors and speculation have swirled around the incident as neither Crystal nor his alleged victim, Buster Moon, have said much of anything publicly about it. Reaching out to us quite recently with the promise of breaking his silence, Crystal was adamant about telling his side of the story, the side he calls the truth about what happened at Crystal Entertainment.
"Crystal currently resides in the Redshore City Jail as he awaits his upcoming trial, and he invited us into his lavish cell for this interview. Due to the upcoming trial, Crystal's lawyers have forbidden us from broaching the subject of the charges against him, but he has promised to speak on the details of his relationship to Buster Moon. This is what he had to say in an interview we've called A Crystal Conundrum."
The scene changed to Jimmy Crystal's cell, where Kilborn took a seat across from the jailed mogul.
"Hello Jimmy. How have you been doing?"
"As well as I can be considering the circumstances, Walter," Jimmy said.
There were two sharp breaths between Porsha and Buster at the sight of the wolf.
"He looks healthy, doesn't he?" Porsha said. "I heard people can get hurt in those places..."
Buster had very different feelings churning in the pit of his stomach. There was Jimmy Crystal in his jail uniform, occupying his TV in high definition. He hadn't seen such a clear, recent image of his would-be killer in months. His spiking anxiety wrestled with contradictory realization. Seeing Jimmy subdued like that reminded him that he was just a man... a very angry man with a penchant for violence, but not the omnipotent force that stalked his dreams.
Kilborn's head swiveled as he took in Jimmy's current residence. "This is quite the lavish cell. Very fancy."
Jimmy gave a slight shrug. "What can I say? I appreciate nice things. Most people do."
"People are going to see this cell and think it's not very fair that someone accused of the crime you're being held for could be allowed so many privileges."
"Fair, that's a great word," Jimmy started, pointing at Kilborn. "You know what's not fair? The stigma attached to jail. This is where they keep people before the trial, and last I checked, everyone in this country is still innocent until proven guilty. So, let me ask you, is it fair to want to strip a man of his rights and dignity before he's ever been convicted of a crime?"
"I bet he read that from a script," Nooshy said through a mouthful of popcorn.
"Interesting perspective," Kilborn replied, his jaw tightening just a bit. Buster had the slightest inkling that Kilborn was annoyed by Jimmy's little tangent. Or maybe he was projecting his own feelings.
"You wanted to break your silence about Buster Moon today, but this isn't the first time you've spoke of him," the capybara continued. "The last interview you gave was with Linda Le Bon, where you described Moon as..." Kilborn slid his glasses up just a smidge as he read the paper in his hands, "a 'talentless little twerp' and a 'teeny tiny loser.' Sounds like you've changed your tune a bit. Why?"
Jimmy shifted in his seat, appearing genuinely uncomfortable. After a moment, he finally said, "The truth is, I was trying to save face. It ain't easy for a guy in my position to admit he's being taken advantage of. I've never thought of myself as a victim. I've never thought I could be victimized, but that's what happened. There's a lot of shame in that word for me; I avoid it at almost all costs. I know no one should be ashamed of being a victim, but the feeling is still there.
"What I should have said that day was the truth. What I should have told Linda was that Moon is a menace and a world-class liar."
"What did he lie to you about?" Kilborn asked.
"Out of This World. Calloway. Everything. Buster Moon is a fraud and a conman. You can't trust him. I did and... he ruined my life."
Buster winced watching the scene from the preview play out again. "I didn't ruin your life. You did that all on your own..."
"I feel like we're jumping ahead," Kilborn said. "Take us to the beginning. How did you meet Buster Moon?"
"I was holding auditions to hire fresh talent for my theater when he showed up with his friends," Jimmy said, a subtle fury in his voice. "I didn't know it at the time, but he broke into Crystal Entertainment and was crashing the auditions. Big surprise—they bombed. He changed gears and pitched this sci fi epic featuring Clay Calloway called Out of This World. Basically said he was best friends with the guy, had access to his music, and would get him into the show. I had a good feeling about it, so I hired the little guy and set his friends up in my hotel like royalty. Gave 'em three weeks to get it done."
"Three weeks isn't a lot of time to put together a show of that caliber."
"Three weeks for a show Moon told me he already had," Jimmy stressed with distaste. "I didn't know he was making it up from scratch."
"So, you've never heard of this Buster Moon character," Kilborn said, squinting a bit. "He has no history in Redshore. He's promising you this fantastic stage show with one of the greatest rock stars of all time attached to it. Some would say it was pretty naïve of you to entertain his pitch. That maybe you walked into that one."
There was a flash of clenched teeth as Jimmy fought back burgeoning aggravation. "First of all, saying anyone deserves to get conned is victim blaming," he said in a near-growl. "Look, Walter, you don't get to where I am... was, without taking chances. Big risks. The way it used to be in Redshore was that nobody got a show unless they were a superstar or part of a huge brand. Nobody started auditioning amateurs until I did. I changed the face of entertainment in this city. When someone tells you they have a Clay Calloway show, you either hire them or watch your competitors thrive off your mistake."
"It was pretty brazen of Moon to lie to you about that."
"Not to mention using a widower's name to get your foot in the door is despicable." Jimmy's icy blue eyes found the camera, a look that was longer than a glance, shorter than a glare, and punctured like a dagger. It said everything his mouth couldn't.
You know what you did.
That was for you.
I know you're watching.
Buster felt a piece of his soul leave his body when Kilborn gave a slow nod. Jimmy Crystal had essentially dragged his reputation onto TV and started clog dancing on it with little resistance or interruption. Not that he should have been surprised, this is exactly the way he thought the interview would go. Maybe he only had himself to blame for watching, but he had to know Jimmy's next angle of attack.
Meena peeled herself away from Alfonso long enough to say, "This is awful. He's making you sound like a monster."
"Yeah..." Buster replied weakly.
"How did you discover his deception?" Kilborn asked.
Jimmy leaned back in his seat, appearing amused. "Funny thing. The company's legal team—they look out for me, y'know—got in contact with Calloway's lawyer to hash out details about the show. His lawyer ratted Moon out right away, said he'd never heard of him or his show."
"How did that make you feel?" Kilborn asked, just a tinge of sympathy hanging to his voiced.
"How do you think?" Jimmy snapped. His eyes found someone or something off-camera and his demeanor changed, still tense but anger drained, replaced with apprehension. "I... I felt like a worthless fool. I gave Moon everything, and in return he made me look like a clown. He used me. He reminded me why I hate m— he, uh, he humiliated me."
"You confronted him about his deceit, yes? How did that go?"
"I called him into my office, gave him one more chance to come clean about Calloway. Do you know what he did? Lied to my face again. I gave him a piece of my mind. Then I gave him another chance to get it done."
Kilborn appeared mildly taken aback. "You didn't fire him? People have been known to call you ruthless—"
"I prefer pragmatic."
"Yes, but when most people discover they're being scammed, they cut the scammer off. They may even contact the authorities. You had definitive proof that Moon didn't know Calloway and lied about the entire thing, and you gave him another chance to fulfill said lie?"
"Two things you need to understand, Walter. First, I had a ton of people working on this for Moon, the entire Crystal Tower Theater production crew. A lot of money went into this. Sure, I could've fired him right there, but that would've been a total loss. Wasted props and marketing materials, contractors with no work to fulfill, an empty venue because we blocked out weeks for a show that's not going to happen anymore, things like that. Not to mention potential legal problems with Calloway for using his music and likeness without express consent. The only way everyone got out of that situation unscathed was if Moon delivered what he promised me."
"And what's the second thing?"
"You have to understand, Moon has a power that makes you want to believe what he says. It's what makes him the perfect conman. That's how I know he's done it before. He'll scam you in a heartbeat and won't think twice about his victim."
"He's really milking this victim thing," Johnny said.
"You did cut ties with Moon eventually as seen in the interview you gave Linda Le Bon," Kilborn said. "What changed?"
"He humiliated my Porsha," Jimmy said, his eyes wandering as if in another place entirely. Waves of Porsha's fur rippled upon hearing her father say her name for the first time in months, and she wasn't quite sure how to feel. "It's one thing to make me look bad, but he made my daughter cry. She was the best thing that happened to his show and he fired her!"
"Wait, how did your daughter get entangled in this?"
"I came to check on production, see how it was going. Porsha tagged along because she wanted to meet Calloway. Moon was still lying through his teeth at this point, if you were wondering. Anyways, Moon's people were doing a rehearsal. The actress couldn't do the wire stunt or whatever, completely bombs the rehearsal in front of everybody. All fifty-eight of her kids were there to see it. It was an embarrassing display, Walter."
"Tactful as ever, I see," Rosita said. They could hear the scowl in her voice.
"Porsha goes up there and does it flawlessly. It was beautiful. She really wanted to be part of the show, so I asked Moon to let her in."
"'Asked' isn't the word I would use," Buster murmured.
A hint of skepticism returned to Kilborn. "If she has that much talent she could be in any other show. That it had to be this one sounds like classic nepotism at work."
Jimmy's eyes had drifted but snapped onto Kilborn with such speed and ferocity that the capybara micro-flinched. "Everybody wants their kids to have it better than they did. I give my daughter the world because I grew up in a place that said I wasn't good enough to have it. Is she spoiled? Yeah, probably. But I'd rather my kid have too much than not enough."
Porsha was left dumbfounded. "He... he never told me that before. It's almost impossible getting him to talk about anything that happened before he met mom."
"You cut ties with Moon over your daughter," Kilborn said. "But the show still happened that night. How exactly did that come about?"
Jimmy was suddenly up and out of his chair before he was confronted by the shadow of someone strategically placed outside of the camera's view. So there had been someone there all along, and Buster suspected that they were his handler. He was amused at the thought of Jimmy needing a handler, followed by a pang of sympathy. There was no envy for the person saddled with the job of trying to rein that guy in.
The audio cut out, and what followed was a voiceover from Kilborn, "Jimmy Crystal was particularly agitated by that line of questioning, but after a moment to cool down, he agreed to continue our interview."
Jimmy was seated again when the footage cut ahead, and he looked none too happy about it.
"I asked you before about the show that happened the night you fired Moon," Kilborn said. "Are you ready to talk about it?"
With a heavy sigh that filled the room, Jimmy began, "Crimes, Walter. That's what happened. I thought Moon left town like the disgrace that he is after I fired him. It turns out he was plotting against me. You want to know how that show happened? He snuck into my theater, vandalized my hotel so the staff couldn't do their jobs, and put on a show that was unsanctioned and illegal! I found out what he was doing and went down there to put a stop to it, but he attacked my security team and locked me under the stage so he could keep it going!"
Kilborn slowly removed his glasses, shock and disbelief registering on his face. "Those are stunning allegations!" It was the most emotion he'd shown during the entire interview.
"Every word of it is true. And that's the cliff notes version of events!"
"You're saying that during that show Moon and his people essentially waged war with you behind the scenes? Where were the police!?"
"Oh, they were called, but I was the one arrested! And while I was dealing with the fallout of Moon ruining my life, he took the show I paid for—the show no one would've ever seen if I hadn't given him a shot—to the Majestic Theater! I don't know about you, but that don't smell right to me."
"Are you implying that there was some sort of conspiracy at work here between Buster Moon and the owner of the Majestic Theater?"
Jimmy shrugged. "All I know is the Majestic Theater's always played second fiddle to the Crystal Tower Theater. Lester McCray wouldn't know talent if he sat on it! Which I know he has, more than once!"
Walter Kilborn's voiceover suddenly returned. "When we return, we do a deep dive into the events of the alleged war Jimmy says Buster Moon waged against him in his own theater that fateful night." Commercials took over the TV once again in the form of an annoying and aggressive insurance ad.
"No..." Buster said, a sudden flush of fire dancing through his veins. "Enough of this! I won't stand another second of it!"
"Honestly, I'm a bit surprised you decided to watch this at all," Johnny said.
"Not just this, all of it. Crystal's been launching attack after attack on us and all we've done is just sort of endure it. Well, I'm tired of being his punching bag! I'm going to fight back!"
Nooshy threw a fist in the air that almost sent the popcorn careening onto the floor. "That's the spirit, Moon-man! Show him what ya made of!"
Buster stood on the seat cushions and pointed at his elderly assistant. "Miss Crawly! Get me Walter Kilborn's contact number!"
"What exactly are you going to do?" Rosita asked.
"Oh, I'm going to tell my side of the story and fill in all the neat little blanks Crystal left behind. He may have given Kilborn the interview of the year, but I'm about to give the interview of the century!"
Porsha did everything she could to shove feelings of foreboding apprehension away so she couldn't think about them, then managed a weak smile at Buster. Seeing his renewed fighting spirit... if this was what the koala needed, he'd get her full support.
A/N
I want to thank everybody for sticking it out this far, because I do get hit with strong bouts of "why am I writing Sing fan fiction," along with a bit of "why am I writing fan fiction about this character." I know Jimmy Crystal can be a divisive character, and some people get very angry if you approach him as anything less than Satan. Combine that with exploring Buster's less charitable traits and I'm surprised I haven't been run off here yet.
(Cleo was Jimmy's "handler" during the interview. Poor woman.)