by K C Ames
“I doubt she had anything on him. She always got this sense of bravado when she drank. You saw how she can get,” Robbie said.
Dana shrugged.
“So that was all show that night?”
“The date was and at first the fight was, but Rose drank way too much that night and she got way carried away. Russ was furious.”
“He mentioned to us after you left that he was getting tired of her antics,” Dana said, remembering back to that night. “Do you think Russ could have had something to do with her death?”
“I’ve thought about that, but I don’t know. Rich, powerful men like Russ can get their way by destroying your life without having to take it.”
“So what’s next for you two?” Dana asked.
“Arianna and I both want off the show now after what happened to Rose, but Russ made it clear that nothing changes. As soon as the police allow it, we’re back filming that flipping show. And we have no choice; he’ll ruin us if we don’t comply,” Robbie said. He sounded dejected, beaten down by Hollywood.
Dana thanked them both and wished them luck as she began to walk back towards town on the beach. She felt bad for them. They were so young, with all these glamorous Hollywood dreams in their head, when the business reality of Hollywood could be a hideous thing.
Like a starstruck starlet getting off the bus in LA from small-town America with dreams of making it in Hollywood, only to fall prey to wolves and sharks.
Dana was convinced that there was no way Robbie and Arianna had anything to do with Rose’s death. They were sweet, confused kids playing roles of brash, out-of-control castaways for the television show.
As Dana walked back to town, she had plenty of thoughts going through her head about TJ. Could she have been wrong about him all along? Maybe he became mad with Rose for not standing up to Russ Donnelly. Maybe he became so mad that she chose the show and her Hollywood dreams over him. But then again TJ insisted they were keeping the romance secret because he didn’t want to get blacklisted by Russ Donnelly. Heck, he even took back what he had told Dana and Benny that night on the beach. So he sure as heck didn’t seem to stand up to Russ Donnelly.
She had gotten about fifty feet away from where Robbie and Arianna were camping, still lost in her thoughts, when she saw a black car driving on the beach, heading her way. It closed in fast, and she could tell it was the Range Rover that Russ Donnelly was chauffeured around town in.
The Range Rover stopped right in front of Dana, making her take a step back, fearing it would run her over.
Russ Donnelly got out of the backseat. Henry Robertson, the assistant producer got out from the driver’s side.
Russ Donnelly walked towards Dana aggressively, making her nervous. She looked back, and she wasn’t too far from Robbie and Arianna if she needed to run for help. Henry Robertson walked a few steps behind Donnelly.
“This needs to stop, Ms. Kirkpatrick,” Donnelly said, walking up to her. He stopped right in front of her as if to block her path. Henry stood behind him, looking down at his feet.
“What are you talking about?”
“You can’t be harassing my employees.”
“Excuse me?”
“First you go talk to TJ in jail. Now I find out you were at the resort talking with Dakota, and now I catch you out here bugging Robbie and Arianna.”
“So what? You don’t own the resort. And down here on the beach is public property. I can walk to and talk to whomever I want. And at least I visited TJ. You just washed your hands of him, not even getting him a decent lawyer.”
His eyes got big and his nostrils flared. She could tell he wasn’t a man used to being talked to that way, especially by a woman commoner.
“These are my people. They work for me. They’ve signed contracts with me. I own them for the next two years. You can’t talk to them. Period. And I’ll let you know that Detective Picado is livid about your talking to his prisoner behind his back.”
“Behind his back? You’re both delusional. The police told me it was up to TJ if he wanted to talk to me, and he did, so they let me in. I did nothing wrong. And you don’t own any of these people. They might work for you, but that’s it. If Robbie wants to talk to me on the public beach, so be it.”
“I have iron-clad contracts with all of them. I dictate who they can talk to and who they can’t, and I’ll be making it crystal clear to everyone on the show that they can no longer talk to you, even to say hello. They will be fired and I will enforce the financial penalties of their signed agreements with me.”
Dana was stunned at the audacity, but Russ Donnelly wasn’t finished.
“You see, I tell them what they can wear and what they can’t wear. I control what they eat. How they must behave. I even control whom they can date. So until the contract expires, I own them, missy.”
“You have some nerve and some ego on you,” Dana said. “Well, I didn’t sign your contract or that stupid NDA you wanted me to sign, meaning I can talk to whoever I please, so go jump in that water,” Dana said, pointing at the ocean.
Out of the blue, Henry Robertson, who had been standing behind Russ Donnelly quietly and meekly, erupted like a dormant volcano.
“Don’t you talk to him that way! He’s Russ Donnelly!” he shouted at the top of his lungs. It was such a sudden outburst and so loud that both Donnelly and Dana flinched. She looked back towards the tent and saw Robbie and Arianna getting up. No doubt they heard Henry shouting.
She turned back to look at Henry, whose face was red with anger. It surprised her, since she had even forgotten he had been standing there behind Donnelly. His whole body demeanor had changed. His eyes had grown wide and his nostrils flared even more than Russ Donnelly’s had as he made his way from standing behind Donnelly to stand in front of him, as if to protect him from Dana.
He continued seething. “You talk to Mr. Donnelly with respect.” He pointed his finger at Dana’s face. “He’s a very important and powerful man. Don’t you forget that.”
Donnelly seemed taken aback at Henry’s outburst and threatening body language. He stepped in front of Henry and put his hand on his chest, as if to push him to go back to stand behind him quietly as before.
“Okay, okay, we’ve all lost our tempers here. Let’s let cooler heads prevail,” Donnelly said, holding both his hands in the air. “I apologize for my behavior, Ms. Kirkpatrick, and that of my assistant. I have nothing more to say to you. My attorney will be in touch. Have a good day.”
Just like that, the whole tense exchange was over. Diffused by Donnelly himself. He and Henry got back into the Range Rover, which did a U-turn, and head back into town.
Dana stood there, stunned.
Twenty-Nine
It had been such a crazy week for Dana. Benny would head back to town on Friday night, and she couldn’t wait. She had told him everything that had gone down on the beach with Russ Donnelly and his raging assistant when they FaceTimed that evening.
“It’s just a bunch of hot air from a man who’s used to always getting his way,” Benny had told her. “And if a lawyer contacts you, just tell them they need to talk to your lawyer and give them my number. Do not say anything else but that to them.”
Dana agreed and thanked him.
She went to bed early that night, much to Wally’s delight, who was no longer buzzing from catnip and was ready to crash, so he had already claimed half the bed as his.
She climbed under the covers as the kitty purred. After a moment, Wally got up, stretched, and jumped onto her chest, going nose to nose with Dana as he purred loudly.
“I guess I can’t go to bed if I don’t give you some attention first,” Dana said, petting the top of his white head and scratching his chin and the back of his ears. She drifted to sleep petting Wally.
She woke up at six o’clock a.m. She looked around and Wally was MIA as he sometimes did. She yawned and got out of bed.
She would go on that run on the beach that she had been avoiding for days.
>
It had been her favorite running route until she had found Rose Budd’s body, and she hadn’t been back there since then.
Now things were falling into place. Benny had come through and found TJ a top-notch attorney who had agreed to represent him, so at the very least he would get decent legal representation.
As far as she was concerned, there wasn’t anything else she could do. She would let the lawyers handle it. She had given herself way too much credit as being some detective, and all she had done was get everyone and their brother mad at her.
It really wasn’t any of her business, she thought as she put on her running gear. She looked out the window and the sun was slowly making its way up into the sky.
Mother Nature had dumped enough rain during the night to make Moses nervous. She figured Mother Nature would spare them from another deluge until the afternoon.
Dana stretched for ten minutes. She had noticed the older she got, the more important it was to stretch before doing anything strenuous to her body.
She was all set by 6:20 a.m. She made her way outside and out her side door, which spilled out onto the footpath. She usually began her run with a walk to the beach, but she felt like she had a lot of energy pinned up, so she began running right out of the gate, making her way through the woods and down towards the beach. She was keeping up a good pace as she made it down to an empty Main Street. She ran down the street past the Ark Row shops. The town was quiet and desolate that early except for Leo Salas, who was making his way towards the cafe to get ready for the morning crowd seeking coffee and bagels. Dana waved to him. He smiled and waved back. She figured Mindy was around somewhere but didn’t see her.
She picked up the pace as she continued running past the Qué Vista Restaurant and then onto the beach, where she picked up the pace, running on the wet hard sand until she reached the rock formation. The end of the road. The point where she had to turn back. The spot where she had found Rose Budd’s body.
She stopped, breathing heavily. She stood there looking at the rocks, expecting to see the body still there. She trembled at the thought.
It was one of the main reasons she had chosen that route. She had avoided the spot like the plague. But it was time for her to confront her fears. She had found a dead body there. But she couldn’t let that keep her away from her regular life. She had to put the tragedy into the right focus to be respectful without letting it loom over her life with negativity.
So she looked at the spot for a little longer. She said a quick prayer for Rose Budd, praying that her killer would be brought to justice even if it really was TJ.
After another moment of silence, she turned to run back to town and saw a figure walking on the beach towards her. She couldn’t make out who it was, and usually it wouldn’t concern her, since there were always people on the beach going for an early-morning run or walk like she was doing, but there might be a killer out there on the loose. She hadn’t thought things through.
She started running again but the man waved at her, so she waved back, not knowing yet who he was, but it seemed he knew who she was.
They were both heading towards each other, and he finally approached her close enough for her to make out who he was. She stopped. It was Henry Robertson who had gotten so angry with her yesterday. He was walking towards her.
“Hi there,” he yelled out at her, as he was close enough to hear.
She felt awkward running into him after yesterday’s confrontation and wasn’t too keen on talking to him, but she bade him good morning.
Dana thought perhaps he wanted to apologize for losing his cool yesterday.
Then she noticed he was wearing a shower cap underneath a baseball cap and a tracksuit with gloves on.
“Beautiful morning,” he said nonchalantly.
He was now right in front of her.
Dana noticed his face turn dark. His eyes were black like charcoal. Have they always been that ominous? she thought.
“Well, I’m off to finish my run,” Dana said as she started up again.
And he just pounced.
“You’re not going anywhere, missy,” he said, seething as he grabbed her wrist then with his other hand he shoved her down to the ground while still holding on to her wrist. He was six feet tall and outweighed her by at least one hundred pounds.
Dana tumbled onto the ground hard. She yelped. “What are you doing,” she screamed, but he said nothing as he grabbed her by the hair and began to drag her on the sand towards the rocks.
“Let go of me,” Dana shouted as she struggled to get out of his hold. She was trying to reach her hands up towards him but was just punching air. She kicked hard but was kicking up sand. She was surprised how strong he was. He seemed so meek and soft-spoken before, so he didn’t really radiate the strength he possessed.
“Shut up,” he said as he kept dragging her towards the rocks and out of view from the main drag of the beach.
“What are you doing?” Dana cried.
“What do you think?” He sounded cruel.
“But why?”
“Because you keep sticking your nose into my father’s business.”
“What? I don’t even know who your father is. Please, let me go,” Dana pleaded.
“Russ Donnelly is my father, and I’m making sure troublemakers like you and Rose Budd don’t hurt him.”
“You?”
He laughed. “You catch on quick.”
“He’s... he’s your father?”
Henry nodded, his grip on her getting stronger.
“Don’t do your father’s evil bidding, Henry, walk away, you’re young.”
He laughed.
“He doesn’t know I’m going to kill you. He would be furious. Just like he was when he found out I killed Rose Budd. He got so mad at me because he had to clean up my mess by framing that idiot TJ.”
“Why?” Dana asked. She was now crying.
“I overheard Rose and TJ talking. She wanted off the show and so did TJ. They said they had enough behind-the-scenes dirt on the show that my dad would have no choice but to let them off their contract and pay them a bunch of money to keep quiet about it. Can you believe that? They wanted to blackmail my dad so they could run off and be together. After everything he had done for them. He was going to make Rose a star, and she wanted to throw that away to be with that disgusting slob, TJ,” Henry said incredulously.
“Don’t do this, Henry.” Dana pleaded for her life.
He looked around and felt he had enough cover from the rocks, so he let go of her and shoved her onto the sand, holding her down on the ground with his right knee and left forearm. She tried to wiggle loose, but he had her pinned down to the ground hard. She could barely wiggle her upper body, so all she could do was kick her feet wildly, to no avail. She began to scream, but she knew no one in town could hear her.
Henry must have known that too, because he smirked and then he picked up a rock that was lying on the sand. It was the size of a softball, hard and rugged. She cried and begged him not to do it as he held the rock up over his head. She could sense his hate boring into her and she could feel the cool splash back from the waves on her face, which remarkably calmed her down a bit.
“This is your fault, you should have minded your own business,” he said, seething as he began to bring the rock down towards her face. She closed her eyes and prayed, and suddenly she heard a horn blaring wildly in the distance.
She opened her eyes, and she could see through her tears that Henry was distracted, looking towards the sound of the blaring horn. He had brought the rock down and loosened his hold of her as his attention was on the sound of an approaching vehicle that continued to blow its horn. He wasn’t looking at her, so she caught him off guard and shoved him, and using her legs for leverage, she flipped him off of her and he toppled onto the sand. Dana jumped to her feet and took off running, jumping rocks like she was Lolo Jones clearing hurdles.
She ran towards the vehicle that continued honking and flic
king its lights on and off. It was a black Range Rover that stopped near the rocks. Dana ran to it and saw Russ Donnelly get out of the driver’s side. She stopped short and began to walk back away from him.
“Are you okay?” Donnelly asked, sounding frightened.
“No, thanks to your crazy son back there. He tried to kill me. He killed Rose.”
She had gone from petrified to plain scared to angry. She turned back towards the rocks to make sure Henry wasn’t coming after her, but he wasn’t. She then turned her attention back towards Donnelly and made her way to the other side of the Range Rover, using it as a buffer zone between her and Donnelly and his deranged son.
“He’s not well,” Donnelly said.
“No kidding. That’s the understatement of the decade.”
“Please, I’ll give you one million dollars. Cash. If we can keep this between us.”
“No way.” Dana was now in full anger mode.
“Two million dollars. I’ll make sure he gets the help he needs, so he doesn’t hurt anyone else. What happened with Rose, it was an accident. He didn’t mean to do it.”
“Oh, yes, I did,” Henry yelled as he made his way down from the rocks.
“Shut up, Henry,” Donnelly said.
“She was talking trash about my Dad, as usual. And she was doing it so nonchalantly, without a care in the world as she was painting her nails in a garish bright orange color. She didn’t know he was my dad, so she kept saying how she would ruin him if he didn’t let her off the show. I tried to keep quiet. I even closed my eyes to do my breathing exercise, but she wouldn’t shut up. When I opened my eyes, she was on the floor and I was holding a bloody fire extinguisher in my hands.”
“It was an accident. He needs help,” Donnelly said.
Dana couldn’t believe what she had just heard, her face ashen.
“Come on now, three million dollars. Don’t be foolish. You can’t walk away from three million dollars, cash.”
“Watch me,” Dana said as she took off running back towards town.
She looked back and she could see Russ Donnelly physically restraining his son from chasing after her. That sight gave her an adrenaline boost as she ran even faster than she could usually muster back into town.