Surface

Ready?

- -

Ten minutes till your twelve o'clock.

- Is he here yet? - Not yet.

Right. Good. Cancel it.

Taking the rest of the day off.

Hi. Uh, James Ellis.

I have a noon with Quinn Huntley.

I'm so sorry. Mr. Huntley's had a family emergency.

Could we reschedule for another day?

Of course. I hope, uh... hope everything's okay.

Uh, how's Monday for you?

Sure.

- If it isn't my favorite ghostwriter. - You told me to keep a low profile.

Laying low and banishing me to voicemail aren't the same thing.

What can I do for you?

I wanted to say I'm sorry for the other day.

I was too hard on you.

But you're not the only one with a boss, you know. I answer to people too.

What are you saying?

Are you willing to open the Phoebe story back up?

Well, we can't do that. Not under threat of litigation.

But your new story,

- maybe that can help settle the score. - Yeah, that's the idea.

Well, then we need to work together.

As it stands, your friendly research assistant

walks around knowing more than me.

Julia, my source just died, so I think a little secrecy is warranted.

And I'm worried you're heading into the same territory, all over again.

When you hired me, you said you wanted to rock the boat.

The Huntleys aren't a boat,

they're a warship with great success defending themselves in open water.

I'm not asking you to name your new source,

but I need to know what the story is before I'm back on the phone again

- defending you to Huntley lawyers. - Not exactly how I remember that going.

You let me in, I can protect you, protect your source.

Whoever they are.

Give me a day and I'll come back to you.

I'm just asking you to be reasonable.

I'd rather lose the story and keep everyone alive,

even if that's not your preferred order of things.

Twenty-four hours, okay?

- Hi. - Hello, darling.

- It's good to see you. - Good to see you.

Hi, Anne. Thanks for having me.

Tess, welcome back.

Appreciate you opening up the house for us.

I know it's a big deal.

Not at all.

Unfortunately, I do have a bit of bad news.

Oh, what's happened?

The power's out. It's been about an hour now.

They're working on it.

They've got the fires going, the fridge is still cold.

That's the best they can do, at the moment.

Sorry, that's not ideal.

It's fine, honestly.

We were going to go riding anyway.

Come on. It's so cold out here. Let's get you inside.

Can we open up the shutters in the rest of the house?

I don't see why not.

Are you okay waiting here?

- This'll only take us a moment. - Sure.

- Are you looking for something? - Sorry. Um, couldn't help it.

Such a beautiful place.

Yeah, I suppose you didn't come to the main house

when you were working at the stables.

No, not that I remember.

Well, look at you now.

All grown up, allowed to go anywhere you please.

So, is it just you here?

Or William too?

He lives in the smaller house out by the woods.

Where Henry and Olivia were when they first got married.

Times change.

That they do.

- Hey, you. - Hey, love.

Hey, are you at the office?

Uh, yeah, yeah. It's, uh... It's a... a really packed day.

It's, uh, back-to-back really.

Um, but I... I can talk.

Are you, uh... How's... How's dress shopping going?

Everywhere I go, they try and turn me into a princess.

- Did you call and say something? - Yeah. Yeah, I s...

...sent them photos of Cinderella.

I said... ..."I want it just like that, please."

- Another drink, sir? - No, leave it. Leave it.

- Hmm? - I'm sure that we're paying by the yard,

so they probably want you in the biggest dress imaginable.

But, um, you get what you want.

- It's your day. - Our life, right?

Right.

Um, do you wanna meet later for a drink?

Uh, yeah, no. I... I can't, darling. It really is... It's very busy here.

Um, I can't really get away.

Okay, yeah. Um, yeah. You go. Um, call me later.

- Of course. - I love you.

Love you too.

Uh, Quinn Huntley?

Uh, James Ellis.

We, uh... We had a meeting today. It was rescheduled.

Oh, uh, yeah.

Um... Um, yeah. Sorry about that.

- Uh, day got away from me. - No, I... I heard. Uh, family emergency.

- Hope... Hope everything's okay. - Yeah.

Um, yeah, it's... it's all sorted now. Yeah.

Well, look, I... I didn't mean to interrupt.

I was just having another meeting and I saw you sitting here, so,

I think we're back on for Monday, if I'm not on a plane home.

Uh, who... who were you here to meet?

Uh, Bankes Hill.

You know them?

Yes.

Tell me something, are they, um, always such uptight assholes, or...

- Always. - Yeah.

You know, I ordered a drink and they looked at me like I was drunk already.

Yes, that sounds about right.

I mean, cards on the table, I've had a few myself, so...

"He who hath no sin, cast the first stone."

- - Well, look, I-I don't mean to keep you.

Um, I'll see you Monday, I guess.

Yeah. You know, um,

if you've got a minute, and you wanna sit down, we can talk.

Uh, right... right now?

Ah, if you want to piss off the Bankes Hill lot,

then sitting with me will certainly do that.

- Why not? - Why not indeed.

Come along.

So, uh, what are we drinking?

The place has changed a lot since you were last here.

Anne's the only one that really uses it these days.

That's a shame.

Come on, I've got a surprise for you.

Eddie, look who's here to see you.

Little bit older, but still a love.

You ready?

You want to explore the woods?

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.

So, James, I've heard a thing or two about Ascendant,

but what are you doing over here in our neck of the woods?

Well, we're expanding our philanthropic efforts.

And I've noticed that you're on a similar mission.

- - Ah.

I saw your speech from the other night.

It was impressive.

I mean, using the foundation to move the family name in the right direction.

- It's nice optics. - Careful, Mr. Ellis.

Don't let your assumptions ruin our drinks.

I mean, you're succeeding though.

Rewiring people so they sympathize with old money

and inject you with fresh capital, now, that is no easy feat.

The foundation was my sister's idea.

Uh, your si... Uh, is that Eliza?

Yeah. Do you know her?

Oh, no. We have a... a friend in common.

Well, establishing the foundation was her way of absolving herself

from our family's history.

I mean, I've been in charge for the last year or so, but, uh,

I suppose she does get some of the credit.

She, uh... She ever involved in the investment side of things?

Why do you ask?

Our friend has a lot of capital, so...

- - ...always looking for new opportunities.

- Boss on your ass? - Ha ha.

- Dealer? - Not really my style.

No. You?

I go with the flow.

It's my fiancée.

She's at a dress fitting today for our wedding.

She keeps sending me photographs.

Congratulations.

- When's the big day? - End of the month.

- - How about you? You married?

No. No.

No, I'm, uh...

- I'm better operating alone. -

I have some trust issues, so...

- Excuse me, I have to take this. - Yeah, yeah.

- If you don't mind. - Of course.

What do you have?

I've been digging in, and between you and me,

what happened to that girl looks like foul play.

But law enforcement isn't asking further questions.

Uh, press?

Nothing outside local initial coverage of the incident.

Look, maybe she had other enemies.

She went to the press about you, who knows what else she was into.

Quinn, this had nothing to do with us, so why are you so worried?

- Thanks for following up. - Talk to you later.

Everything okay?

You look like you could use another.