She stopped reading the typed letter and looked at Jared with a state of confusion on her face. “Where did you find this again?”
The actor nervously cleared his dry throat. He lived twenty eight blocks away from the agency and once he found the letter, he couldn’t wait until business hours to make his way through the city; so he grabbed his running shoes and ran as fast as he could.
Tony noticed the actor’s difficulty with speaking and he walked over to the office’s stainless steel refrigerator where he took out a cold bottle of water. He closed the refrigerator door and walked back over to Jared.
“It was in my mailbox. It was just there, folded up in the mailbox.” He cleared his throat again feeling a tickling sensation. Tony handed him the bottle and he thanked him as he untwisted the cap and took a small sip.
Laurel could see how shaken up Jared was about the letter and she decided the best option was to dig further into him, like a fork in the Christmas ham.
She turned to Tony and handed him the letter, “I need you to dust this letter for fingerprints and run it through the system.”
Tony carefully took it in his hands and gave his boss a nod. “Sure thing Quinn, maybe we’ll find the mastermind behind it, yeah?”
Laurel chuckled, “Mastermind is an understatement trust me.” She turned toward Jared and gave him a warm smile. “Let’s talk in my office and discuss this further.”
She motioned for him to enter her office and he walked over bowing his head in defeat and remorse. Laurel followed him in closing the door behind her as Jared sat on the leather chair. She walked around the right side of the desk and sat on her throne sized chair.
“Based on the horrible written letter and your body language you know exactly what this person is referring to, don’t you?”
“I-I honestly have no idea what that letter meant and-“
“I’m going to stop you right there.-” Laurel interjected with a smirk. “I just had my first sip of coffee so you’re safe from me throwing my office phone at your head, but if you’re going to sit here and insult my intelligence by lying to me, I advise you take this case to that wannabe Publicist Lois Castillo down the block.”
Jared quickly shook his head motioning how bad the idea was. “N-no not at all. You come with great recommendations.”
“Then tell me what the hell is going on.”
Jared wanted more than anything to make this go away because the truth was tragic and he needed this entire thing to go away before it could get any worst, if that was even possible. He straightened his posture on the chair and folded his arms across his chest. “Five years ago…I adopted a Yorkie named Sheila and after I got the gig on the show I had to permanently move to San New. Since we film the show here and my building doesn’t allow dogs, my mother couldn’t take care of her because she’s allergic so-I…um…I had Sheila put down.”
Remembering the tragic decision caused Jared to break down in tears. Laurel had to admit she expected the truth to involve a human being. She wasn’t against animal rights at all but the way Jared entered her office she had assumed he murdered a fan or a prostitute.
She reached over a few folders and grabbed a box of tissues off of her desk and handed it to him. He took a few tissues out and blew his nose in them.
“This is definitely a tragic case Jared, it really is. I can assure you, your secret is safe with me. However, I do not believe this story will be leaked. There isn’t enough information in that letter to even say anything that could be seen as damaging to your career or image.”
Jared wiped his nose and looked at her in surprise, “S-seriously?”
She nodded placing the box of tissues back down on her desk. “No one knows why you put your dog down and-“
“But this person does!” Jared stated trying his best to calm himself down.
Laurel gave him a nod. “And if the story comes out, I’ll spin it saying that Sheila had an untreatable disease and you saw no other option than to put her down. Naturally you were devastated because you didn’t just put down your dog, you put down your family. Trust me, the Animal Rights people will love you.”
“A-And it won’t affect ‘Dying Tomorrow’?”
“Oh it will, but in a positive way. No one likes an animal supporter more than single women in their late forties. Which thankfully is the show’s key demographic.”
Jared enjoyed what he was hearing and he knew she was right. In his mind he still held that guilt and the letter caused him to worry even more as if his dreams were going to come crashing down.
Just last week the promotions for a new cat themed film ‘9 Litters’ was cancelled by the studio after a video leaked of the producer throwing one of many cats out of a window for a stunt performance. The video’s leak caused the film’s studio to yank the movie out of every theatre throughout the United States costing them billions of dollars.
Jared worried that if this got out to the public his career would suffer the same fate or worst.
“What do I do now?” Jared asked nervously.
Laurel gave him a shrug, “Wait it out. Anthony will still run the prints and we can identify who sent this to you. But other than that, there isn’t much I can do this early on.”
Jared shot up to his feet feeling a sense of freedom and relief. “Thank you so much Laurel! I owe you!” She watched as he walked over to the office door, opened it and practically skipped out of the office as if he had just heard amazing news.
Laurel took her coffee cup off of her desk and took a sip turning around on her chair facing the television screens behind her. She was seconds away from turning them on when Tony knocked on her door lightly causing her to turn back around on the chair to face him.
“What was that about? The poor bloke was skipping out of here as if you just took his virginity.”
Laurel playfully winked at him still holding the Styrofoam coffee cup in her hands. “Nope just another satisfied client.” She took a small sip of the black sugarless coffee and swallowed it noticing Tony’s hands were empty. “Did you get any prints from the letter?”
He shook his head in frustration. “Nothing. I thought for sure there would be something but it’s clean. The only prints were Jared’s.”
“What about TSK511? What the hell does that mean?”
“I dunno. Maybe it’s code for something?”
“Send it to Jace. Maybe he can decipher it.” Tony gave his boss a nod and he spun on the heels of his shoes heading out of her office. She spun away returning to look at the television screens and shouted, “Let him know he can decipher it whenever he’s free. Also tell him I hope his father’s health improves.”
Something weighed heavy on her mind about Jared’s situation. Although the blackmailer wasn’t smart enough to give specifics on exactly what they had on the actor, they did give a specific date which gave her three days to find the genius behind the letter. But something else was on her mind. The explanation seemed too vague for this to cause Jared to worry, she couldn’t help but feel as if he was hiding something else. Question is, what exactly is he hiding…and just how deep of trouble is he truly in?
Meanwhile At Derlane Plaza On The 36th Floor:
Darlene Hart grabbed her purse off of her dresser and stopped to look at her reflection in the head to toe mirror. The infamous celebrity reporter already had her hair dyed a new tint of blonde and she was gearing up to attend a photo shoot. She opened her apartment door and walked out of it when her cellphone began to ring in her purse. She dug inside and took out her phone answering it quickly. “Hello?” she asked closing and locking the door behind her.
“No absolutely not!” She stated to the person on the other line of the phone. “I do not want to interview him!...I do not care if he’s Jesus Christ himself, you do not sit there and question my job as a journalist. He can go die for all I care!” Darlene walked down the hallway heading toward the elevator. Once she reached the panel she pressed the
down button and waited impatiently for the elevator to ascend as the other person begged for her to reconsider her decision from banning an interview with Presidential Elect Victor Reber.
“If the studio suits want those ratings tell them to have an idiotic reporter take on that interview. I want nothing to do with Reber and his pathetic administration.” The elevator finally made it to Darlene’s floor level and she waited for the doors to slide open, she hung up the phone and entered the empty elevator. She pressed the lobby button and sighed as the doors began to close.
Many of San New residents were familiar with the Derlane Plaza because it not only served as an apartment building to the wealthy residents, but many of the offices were also rehearsal studios where casting directors of major blockbuster films would take part in auditions.
The major block buster film currently seeking actors was a film titled ‘Mutant Academy Level One’, which is based on a very popular comic book of the same name. The studio, Pandashoot, invested $160 billion into the film and it didn’t take long for actors all across the world to sniff out the news and seek their place in the audition reel. One actor in particular was seventeen year old Mariah Lukers. Mariah was eagerly waiting in the lobby for the elevator to descend as her father stood by her side texting away on his cellphone.
“Did you bring your headshot?” He asked.
“Duh dad!” Mariah whined. “This isn’t the first time I’ve been to an audition! God dad you’re soo lame!”
Her father smirked and shook his head texting away to his mistress making plans to ditch Mariah at the audition and meet up in one of the rooms in the plaza. As long as he gave his daughter his black Amex card she wouldn’t care if he was kidnapped or killed.
The seventeen year old girl cleared her throat and started humming to herself as the elevator was only a few floors away.
“I cannot wait to audition for Sandra. She is such a powerful character. I could really see myself as her. She’s smart, daring, strong and independent.”
Her father paid her no mind as he continued to text away on his phone.
“Oh my God dad! Pay attention you are such a Biff!”
The elevator made it to the lobby floor and her father placed the phone down and smiled at his daughter. “Get excited Sunshine, you’re finally going to be a star.”
The doors opened and Mariah stepped a foot in the elevator and paused in shock as she saw the dead body of Darlene Hart lying face up in a pool of blood. Her Emerald eyes were staring lifelessly at the ceiling of the elevator, she had a huge gash on her throat which caused blood to continue spilling out.
On her stomach was a note which had the words:
“One Life Holds Bloody Hands When Death Becomes Her. TSK511.”
Darlene Hart was on her way to a photo shoot celebrating women journalists. An honor that she had worked her whole life to get. Unfortunately, she learned the hard way that not all dreams can truly survive.