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They had just finished up trying to record the song, but something just seemed to be the problem.
This time it was George breaking a guitar string.
“I swear this song is cursed!” John exclaimed.
Ringo had previously broken a drumstick, it had flown over and hit… something that spoiled that try, they couldn’t figure out what, and then Paul had a coughing fit right near the end of one take which had delayed the session.
“I’m done!” George told them. He pulled off his guitar and stalked out of the room.
Paul shook his head. He looked like he might start coughing again. It had taken a half hour earlier to get under control.
“Are you okay?” Ringo asked. He came around and looked at Paul. Having been a sickly youth, he was perhaps more careful about his friends than John was.
John was at least aware he could be demanding, but he also had to agree this day was a disaster.
“Could I meet up with you four,” came over the speaker from the control room.
Ringo looked up where Brian Epstein stood.
He started up the stairs, John and Paul followed him. Ringo heard more steps behind them, a quick glance behind him, he saw George, who must have come back from wherever he had gone.
Brian waved them out of the control room. He looked serious and Ringo noticed that it made John not joke around like he normally might’ve.
“We’ve got a problem,” Brian started. He put down some things he had been holding.
“What?” asked John, ever the leader.
“Here, don’t open them before I tell you to,” Brian told the foursome.
He handed out what looked like homemade cards. With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, the four knew their staff were getting deluged with them.
The fronts of the four cards were the same, just the names were different. Each had a glitter heart surrounding their names.
When the four had them they looked to Brian.
“Okay, open them.”
There was the soft sound of heavy paper, then Ringo gasped. He heard his friends do it too.
“What’s this?” Paul asked.
“We don’t know, no return address, but the post mark is from the nearest post office,” Brian replied.
Ringo re-read what his card said. The message was a crude drawing with hands, the fingers were being cut off. “I will take your fingers with your rings to add to my collection.”
“What does yours say?” George asked. He held out his card. Ringo took it while turning over his to George.
The knife again, it was cutting off hands. “I will add your talented hands to my collection.”
Ringo held the card out to Paul who gave him John’s. He saw George exchanging with John.
There was a knife drawn, with a crude drawing of someone’s head cut open and a brain inside. “I will take your brain for my collection,” the message said.
There was one final exchange and Ringo saw Paul’s.
A knife, again, but this time the head looked like it had its face cut off. “I will take your pretty face for my collection,” was the message.
“Surely this is a joke,” Ringo said.
Brian shrugged. “I don’t know, but I called the police.”
“So, what are they going to do?” George asked.
“I called your wives or girlfriends to pack bags for all of you. We are going to put you up in a hotel for a few days until I can get someone into your places to make sure they are secured better,” Brian told them.
“But tomorrow is Valentine's Day,” Paul protested.
“Did you have big plans?” Brian asked. “I know we already agreed you won’t be in the studio tomorrow. If you want to go somewhere, we’ll have some guards on you.”
“What about Julian?” John asked.
“And Zak?” Ringo chimed in.
“We are taking all the staff out of the houses. The police are letting me put some guards in your homes. I’ve talked to the police to get your nannies to stay in the hotel and they’ll help take care of the kids,” Brian said. “I’ve got a limo downstairs to take you guys. There will be people watching to see if anyone seems to be following.”
The four young men frowned. There had been threats before, but nothing like these. Getting thrown out of their homes, even temporarily, over Valentine’s day was bad enough since it was unplanned, but these threats seemed personal, frighteningly so..
* * * * *
Despite being temporarily evicted from their homes was more than made up for by seeing where they were going. The Rosewood London was very nice, but having to go in the back way wasn’t. It was becoming a familiar way to do it. They were taken to a huge suite on an upper floor..
“There are six bed and baths,” Brian told them as the five of them came in. “Your wives and girlfriend,” Brian glanced at Paul, “have picked out one each. I checked with your nannies,” now he looked between John and Ringo, “and they are sharing a room. The police want me to stay here too, even though I didn’t get a threat.”
“We don’t want anything to happen to you either,” John told him. The other men nodded in agreement. Ringo noticed Brian had a small smile, it probably gave him a warm feeling that they cared.
* * * * *
Ringo stumbled out of bed, very early. There had been a phone call and Zak had started crying. Ringo went to find the nanny. He was very surprised to see Brian already up.
“What’s got you up early, Eppy?” he asked.
“I got a call this morning,” Brian answered.
“Eh?” Ringo asked, still a bit loopy from the lack of sleep. He had vaguely heard the phone because it had been what woke Zak up.
Brian started with the conversation. “I hired a guard for each of your places last night,” he reminded the musician.
Ringo stopped. He let that digest for a moment. He was still rather befuddled by sleep, so it took a moment to process.
He turned back the way he had come.
“Should I wake the others?” he asked.
Brian frowned for a moment then nodded. “Probably it would be best heard with all of you.”
Ringo turned and stumbled back the way he had come.
Brian knocked on the suite door the nannies were in, Ringo wouldn’t be happy if Zac wasn’t taken care of.
In about 15 minutes the rest were up. Like Ringo, they all just had robes over their night clothes.
Brian already arranged to have coffee and pastries brought up. The foursome swarmed the cart before he could get them settled down.
“So, what’s this all about?” John asked. He took an enormous bite from a sweet roll. Brian shut his eyes briefly, he had smelled pot last night and John obviously had the munchies.
“When the police agreed to let me put guards in your homes, they agreed the guards could be armed,” he started.
“Good thing my valuable rings are in a safe,” Ringo muttered.
“Yes, well… I’m sure getting you out of your houses was really the idea,” Brian said. “Each guard caught someone.”
“Were they arrested?” Paul asked.
“Yes, the guards turned them over to the police,” Brian told them.
“Then we can go home?” George asked.
“Yeah,” Ringo agreed.
"I think it will be safe enough. I do still want you to have the guards escort you," Brian said. "They will be watching the outside of your places tonight."
“But you said they got them,” John said. He had already polished off the sweet roll and had started another.
“I haven't heard yet if they were working alone,” Brian told him. “There might be others.”
John looked at his friends. Nobody looked very happy, but a threat was a threat.
“I’m going back to bed,” George muttered. He got his lanky frame out of the chair and headed back to his suite.
That seemed to remind the others who also got up to go back to bed.
Ringo stopped at the cart for another coffee and a Danish.
Brian noticed Ringo lingered until the others had left. Coffee and Danish in hand, Ringo came over.
“Tell me, did the… thieves get anything?”
“No, they were caught before…”
Ringo shook his head. “I mean, what were they stealing? I can replace the less expensive rings, but is that what they really wanted?”
“They did have rings, but they also found a pair of gloves from your place. The guard discovered the thief had rooted around in drawers, but the rings and gloves were the only things on them. I think the thief might’ve been looking for photos.”
“What… what about the others?” Ringo asked.
“The one at George’s also got gloves. I was told there were also a couple of shirts, but I don’t know which ones.
“The thief at John’s got a couple of hats and a hair brush. The guard at his place helped pack up so Cyn could deal with Julian. I’m not sure if the brush was really John’s.”
Ringo shrugged, he didn’t know if John was possessive of his brush or not, probably not.
“And… and Paul’s?” His card had been the most disturbing in Ringo’s opinion.
“The thief was stealing all the photos she could find.
“She?”
That was the most disturbing thing he had heard.
“Yes, all the thieves were young women.”
“I…” Ringo started. “I think I need something stronger than coffee…”
* * * * *
Ringo was putting things away after a quick run through on one song which was giving them a transition problem. It had already been decided earlier this week they were going to wrap up early because tomorrow was Valentine’s Day.
“Ringo,” Brian came through the speaker. “Can I talk to you for a moment?”
Ringo looked up at their manager. He nodded and waved a hand.
“Going to get scolded for something?” John teased.
“Yeah, because you can’t get that chord right,” Ringo shot back with a grin.
They all laughed. The other three were headed off to get their coats before venturing out in the cold for their rides.
Ringo trotted up the stairs.
Brian waited and then led him out of the room with the techs who were also finishing wrapping up the day’s work.
“What’s up?” Ringo asked Brian.
“You had asked about those girls who broke into your houses last year,” Brian started.
Ringo nodded. Sure, they had sent threats through the mail and then broken into all of their houses and tried to steal stuff, but they were young and stupid. Ringo remembered being young and stupid… Now he was just kind of stupid because he didn’t always feel so young anymore.
“It has turned out to be not just some kind of girlish prank,” Brian started.
“What?” Ringo asked, he looked startled by the statement.
“They said they hadn’t known about the threats in the mail. When the police showed them the cards, they said they had never seen them. The police took samples of their writings and none of their handwriting matched the cards. They are all friends, but they had seen an ad in the local paper and answered it. This woman, they said she didn’t look very old, but still an adult, had then told them they wanted the girls to do a prank. They had agreed and they would get paid some money depending on what they had gotten. Personal pictures or articles of clothing would be the best. They would also get to keep something. This ring…lady… promised that she would get everyone out of your houses. She did have them go early enough and watch to make sure it had happened.”
“How early?” Ringo asked.
“Apparently a few days,” Brian told him.
“What about this other lady?” Ringo asked. He kind of had a skin crawling moment at the idea of his home being watched by a stranger, even though he had known fans had done it, but only to hope to catch a glimpse of him.
“The four of them all told the police the address, but by the time the police got there, she was gone. It was hard to tell if she just thought they were too late and took off or if she had someone on the lookout for the police.
“The police had warned other managers of groups like the Rolling Stones and the Kinks in case it happens again. However, they are also combing the newspapers looking for other ads like the one these girls answered. They have also warned the area papers about these kinds of ads. The police never told me if there have been other ones. We can just hope this crazy plan was a one time thing.”
Ringo nodded
“And, what about the girls?” Ringo asked.
“They have gotten off pretty easy. Because they have been cooperative, they got off with time served and some pretty substantial fines. All of their parents have promised they will pay those fines off on their own and have to stay in school. The Crown has accepted this agreement.” Brian told him.
Ringo nodded. “Are you going to tell the others?” he asked.
“They haven’t asked, so I thought you’d be the one who would want to hear about them.”
Ringo shook his head. “I’m glad to hear they won’t be facing a harder sentence, even if what they did was so serious.” He paused, thinking about them. “I guess I won’t ever really understand some people.”
Brian nodded. “I think some people are never to be understood.”