Her body was found at around 4 AM by a homeless person who was looking for a place to sleep. He made a call to the police, soon after, the place was lit up by police car lights. She was taken to the morgue, they found her bag with her wallet and ID in it, that’s when they knew who she was, Amber Stewart, 27, single, actress.
Her face was unrecognizable. Her skull shattered from the impact. By sunlight, it was all over the news. Amber Stewart found dead, police suspected suicide. They found the taxi driver who drove her there and he gave a statement that she was alone.
Brad learned the news from the TV when he watched the morning news over coffee. His heart fell to his stomach. He had just seen her a few days earlier. She wasn’t in her best shape, but suicide? All of the things they said that day played back in his mind, tried to recall if she had given him some kind of clue.
He said things to her, had it hurt her in a way that it led her to kill herself? Had everything culminated to a point where she didn’t want to continue to live? Had his words drove her off to her final decision? He put his coffee mug on the coffee table, covered his face with both hands. “What have I done?” he said to himself.
Charlie didn’t show up at school that day. She called in sick to the office. She couldn’t function. She was terrified to face Maxine. She hadn’t slept. Jeremy stayed with her in her apartment and Tommy came over as soon as he got off work. They told him everything, and showed him the video. It was all in there, every detail, every word.
“It was an accident,” Tommy thought out loud. “She has the tape,” he added.
“But we have this tape,” Jeremy said.
They all looked at each other, this was way over their heads. Even if they have incriminating evidence against Maxine Roberts, she was too powerful to be taken down by three kids who knew nothing about the dark side of the neon city.
“I can call Malcolm,” Charlie came up with an idea.
**********
Malcolm rubbed the side of his face, he exhaled deeply after watching the video. He sat back on the dining chair of Charlie’s apartment and looked at the three kids. They were deprived of sleep, like zombies laid exhausted on the sofa.
“Have any of you seen what’s in the tape that’s in her possession now?” he asked.
They shook their heads.
“This was an accident, from what I see, but since she didn’t report it … this could shift to manslaughter, and the conversation in the video can back that up,” he crossed his hands behind his head, raised his brows, “I knew she was shady, didn’t think she’d go this far … and …” he pointed to the handycam, “This is evidence and you are witnesses.” He went silent, stared at the ceiling.
“Please don’t tell my mom about this,” Charlie pleaded.
“Oh sweetie, I wouldn’t even know where to start … you’re gonna have to tell her yourself at some point, ” Malcolm replied. “First of all, you were involved in a pornographic photo shoot … willingly,” his eyes sharp pointed at them. “And then you did drugs,” he looked at Tommy. “Got yourself into an orgy … unwillingly, which involved a person who was blackmailing you, who is now deceased in a suspicious suicide … and then you are now vulnerable to be further blackmailed by the movie mogul that has the power to terminate all your jobs and school if you don’t do what she says … am I getting it right?”
Jeremy pinched his nose, he was grateful he was not in their shoes. Tom and Charlie looked down, they had nothing to say for themselves.
“If we do this the right way … at the end of a very long process, you will probably lose everything you wanted, the job, the school, the opportunities, and you get to go back to your hometown and start over,” Malcolm said.
Charlie shook her head, “I can’t go back … not to Bluebridge … not to my dad …”
“So that leaves us with the ‘other’ way …” Malcolm stood up, took the handycam, “I’m taking this with me … this is the only chance you can get a better outcome out of this.”
They all looked at Malcolm helplessly.
“You are not to discuss this with anyone outside of this room … you will all go on with your days like this never happened, you were never there … I’m gonna need you to play along for the time being until I can figure out our next step.”
They all nodded.
“Avoid the meetings however you can, Charlie, don’t say anything to her nephew … we don’t know where he stands in this matter … Tommy, work as usual, don’t say anything to your manager … she could be in on this too, give me a week … if not sooner, and Jeremy … don’t say anything to anyone, can we do that?”
They nodded again.
“Okay … I’m gonna check with the police and check to see if they suspected any foul play on Amber’s death … see if they’re linking this to Maxine, which I highly doubt, … I’ll be in touch,” he gathered his stuff and ready to leave, “And Charlie …”
Charlie turned to him.
“Find the time to talk to your mother about this, we don’t want her to find out too late.”
“Okay,” she said reluctantly.
After Malcolm left, they sat on the sofa in silence. The TV was on, the news about Amber’s death had taken up all the air time. Her suicide was a nation wide shock.