Publicity!: Six Scandalous Adventures of Hollywood's Crisis Manager Laurel Quinn

by Edwin Betancourt

  Elijah

  [The sound of a baby crying woke up Laurel Quinn from her deep slumber. She sat up on the bed and looked over to her left side to see her husband David Jimberson sleeping soundly. She had hoped he would get up and check on the baby, but he was a hard sleeper. Not even an Earthquake, Typhoon or Tidal Wave would wake him up.

  She rolled her eyes and kicked off the quilt rising up from the bed and made her way out of her bedroom leading down into a small hallway, she made a quick right turn walking into the baby’s room and she smiled as she saw the ten month old baby standing up in his crib.

  The sweet baby boy stopped crying as he saw his mother enter the room and he pouted raising his arms up to her.

  “Aww is my Angel hungry?” She asked smiling and walking over to him. She picked him up and winced in disgust. “You smell like your father.”

  Elijah Zachary Quinn giggled as Laurel carried him over to the changing table located a few feet away from the crib.

  Unknown to Laurel, as her husband slept soundly, her bedroom window was quietly being unlocked from the outside by someone that wasn’t invited.]

  December 16th, 2017:

  “Laurel?” the sound of Tony Vincetti’s voice caused the Crisis Manager to snap out of her daydream. She got up from the sofa she was seated on and walked over to the hallway where she saw Tony descending down the stairs holding a corpse wrapped in plastic over his right shoulder. On his hands he wore black leather gloves and on his head was a clear colored shower cap, which kept any falling hair follicles at bay.

  “Is everything cleaned up?” Laurel asked not batting an eye.

  The handsome Brit nodded as he got off of the last step. “His DNA is gone, as well as hers. The Oscar is bleached. Her bedroom is the cleanest room in this house.”

  “Perfect. Where are you dumping him?” She asked watching as Tony began to walk towards the kitchen. He paused and turned around to face her.

  “Layung Beach. There is a long drop on the edge of the cliffs where idiots jump off in hopes of nose diving into the water. Out of ninety only about ten percent make it actually in the water. The rest end up hitting their heads or worst on the rocks below.”

  Laurel nodded her head agreeing that Tony’s decision was a smart one. When the body of Twenty Two year old Micah Henderson is found in the ocean from the Coast Guards, they’d just assume he jumped off the cliff. It was an amazing idea!

  “Alright but be careful.”

  Tony gave her a smirk and wink, “Aren’t I always?”. He turned on his heels and continued walking into the kitchen of Meryl Hopkin’s five bedroom Brownstone heading towards the backdoor where he secretly parked his black Mini Cooper, so the neighbors wouldn’t see anything. Although it was ‘4:13am’ on a Saturday they still couldn’t take any chances.

  Laurel made her way down the palace like hallway into another living room decorated with old Victorian style paintings. A fireplace was lit as it filled the room with an aroma of burning fabric that made Laurel a little light headed, in the far right corner was a glass case filled with Five Oscars, three Tonys and five Emmy Awards; along with three fashion dolls modeled after Meryl Hopkin’s iconic 1920’s dresses from the film ‘A Love Noir Of The Border’.

  Seated on the black leather sofa was the fifty eight year old actress sipping a glass of Whiskey. Her eyes were on the cackling red and orange flames. She no longer had on the pink silk robe she visited Laurel with, as that was the first thing the Crisis Manager threw into the flames as soon as they arrived home. Her long silver and grey hair was in a fishtail braid that slung over her right shoulder.

  Laurel had many philosophies in life that helped her get through difficult situations. Especially in her line of work being able to find something to believe in was important. But one philosophy that always helped her was ‘Rip the band aid right off and never wait for the next ball to drop’. It was important for her to be twenty five steps ahead of the game, because once you fall down, Hollywood would waste no time and they will step right over you and move onto the next big thing. A sad but true fact.

  She walked into the room as quietly as she could but her heels weren’t helping the cause. “What the hell happened upstairs?”

  The actress took her last sip of Whiskey and turned away from the flames to look at Laurel. “Have you ever been married, Dahling?”

  Laurel didn’t say anything, she instead responded with a simple nod.

  “How long were you married for?”

  Laurel wasn’t a fan of revisiting the past. She believed the past is behind us all and no matter where we go in life we are always faced with it trying to get our attention, but once we turn around to face our past; that’s when we lose all aspects of the present and lose visibility of the future.

  “Six years.” She muttered hoping it was the last of that topic.

  Meryl gave her a simple nod and asked, “Why did it end?”

  The question caused Laurel to sit on the armrest of another black sofa located just a few feet away from the one Meryl was seated on. “We aren’t here to talk about my personal life. I’m here helping you get away with murder and to clean up your mess! I’d like to get back on track and have you tell me what happened in that bedroom that made you kill him.”

  The thought of how Meryl met her now deceased husband Micah made her smile to herself. She rose up from the sofa and walked over to a small bar located on the other side of the room. The actress had on a Kimono that reminded Laurel of the knock offs they sell down by Fuller Road in Downtown San New. She watched her carefully as the woman poured herself another glass of Whiskey.

  “Micah was cast to play the role of ‘Ian Sanders’ a poor orphan child that was going to die. My character ‘Elena’ had only one scene with him but…Micah won me over. Not because he was young because I’m not a Pedophile. He was so mature and beyond his years when he spoke. He’s actually the only person I knew that could tell the difference between a painting by Manet and Monet.”

  Laurel shifted on the armrest and watched Meryl down the whiskey as if it was water. She swallowed it without making a sour face or even indicating that it was bitter.

  “-Anyway. He and I started speaking long after we finished filming. Every time he had an audition he would confide in me and ask me for advice...It wasn’t until he turned seventeen that he proposed to me. I vowed not to marry him until he was of legal age. And before you judge-“Meryl quickly turned around and pointed her right index finger at Laurel. “- He and I never got intimate until the wedding night when he was officially legal!”

  The Crisis Manager did have her suspicions on how the relationship worked considering their thirty year age gap but it wasn’t really of her business what they did in the bedroom. Well, aside from the murder of course.

  “Okay you got that off your chest. Now, tell me why he was lying in your bedroom with his head bashed in.”

  Meryl placed the empty glass down on the coffee table and she walked over toward the fire place where she stared at the hypnotic flames as if it was a Siren singing to her.

  “Micah came home the other day drunk...he had never consumed alcohol before. At least not that I knew of. He was angry that I refused to pay him the money he wanted and he vowed to tell his agent everything about us. He was belligerent...and I was frightened.”

  Laurel lowered her eyebrows listening to the words carefully. “Did he hit you?”

  Meryl shook her head, “He never laid a finger on me in such a manner! He was just so-so angry and I tried to calm him down. I did. But then…then he took my phone and threw it against the wall smashing it into pieces. Which was why I went over to your office instead of calling you.”

  “With that in mind, what happened next?”

  “Well, he grew angry that the phone being in pieces didn’t affect me emotionally so he started to talk about how he doesn’t love me anymore…because I’m old and disgusting…then
he said he hated me because...I would never be able to bear him a child.”

  The words cut Meryl deep as she started to reminisce about the incident and how much hate he had in his eyes that resulted in his venomous words used to hurt her. Laurel sensed the sadness in the woman’s voice and she lowered hers trying her hardest to sound sympathetic. “I know this is hard Meryl, but I need you to tell me what happened next.”

  The woman turned around facing Laurel. Her eyes were filled with tears of sadness and regret. “I got mad. Real mad…I grabbed my Oscar and hit him over the head knocking him to the floor….He cried and started swearing at me...So I hit him again and again and again and again! Until I knew he was dead.”

  The emotions Meryl had been keeping inside were starting to crack the emotional wall she had up and she finally broke down falling to her knees in sadness. “Oh my God! What have I done?! I killed my husband! The cops are going to find out and then I’m over. Done!”

  Laurel wanted to console the woman but she didn’t know how. Destroying scandals, fixing reputations and getting people to do what she wanted were her strong suits; being able to show emotions or consoling someone in an emotional state wasn’t. All she could do was clear her throat and speak.

  “Tony is going to dump Micah at Layung Beach and make it look like his death was accidental. I was able to call a few attorneys I know and they helped sever all legal ties you and him had that could be traced back to you. Meaning any ventures you had are expunged and gone. The marriage license as well. Since you and he were married on a cruise ship I was able to track the records down there and in City Hall. Everything is gone and nothing can be traced; and since I spoke to his closest family and friends no one even knew about his personal life other than the fact he was an actor.”

  The words didn’t do much to console Meryl at all. Sure she was happy this couldn’t be traced back to her, but at the same time she knew that she killed the only person she ever loved and now she had no one.

  “Look, Meryl I can-“

  “No!” The woman stated rising to her feet and drying her eyes. “I would like to be left alone. Is that alright?”

  Laurel didn’t need much convincing. She gave Meryl a sincere smile and nodded. “No problem. But don’t do anything stupid.” She grabbed her purse and walked out of the living room. She could’ve stayed over but this was a pro-bono situation and truthfully after what just happened less than eight hours ago with Cody Posey, she needed to go home and sleep it off.

  She walked over to the front door and opened it making her way down the stairs to her car, leaving Meryl crying on the living room floor in regret and sadness. But worst of all? Guilt.

  Thirty Minutes Later:

  Laurel’s drive home was a quiet ride where she spent a majority of it just thinking about the last twenty four hours. She had the car radio on and heard that Cody Posey was fired from the set of the super hero film and was admitted into sex rehab. All of this could’ve been avoided if he took her advice and just came out of the closet to be himself. Live a happy and wonderful life without lying or pretending, he did enough of that in the movies. Then the guilt train pulled away from Cody and arrived at Meryl’s situation.

  She couldn’t help but wonder if Micah would have been alive if she helped Meryl with the divorce he was extorting her with.

  Laurel needed sleep but more than anything she needed a shower to wash away the stress of the day and she was able to do just that. No phone calls, no emails and no interruptions.

  She came out of the steamy bathroom wearing a long white shirt and black sweatpants. Her hair wasn’t fully dry but it was dried to the point that she didn’t have water dripping down her face.

  Talking with Meryl brought up a very painful memory. A memory that Laurel had hoped she wouldn’t have to relive again because she buried it in the back of her mind. She leaned against the kitchen counter and took a sip of wine.

  The night of December 24th, 2015 changed her life in ways that she couldn’t imagine. That night she was awoken by her son Elijah crying. Usually her and her husband-an accountant- alternate days where Laurel would wake up and tend to Elijah on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays and David had Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Since Elijah was no longer being breastfed there wasn’t any reason to have Laurel wake up seven days a week in the middle of the night, unless of course the baby only wanted his mother.

  Laurel had just opened Publicity! and she needed the sleep especially since she was about to take on one of the biggest clients ever. David didn’t mind his wife being busy because he was debating on changing the direction of his life by retiring from accounting and being a stay at home dad. It was a decision that he was reluctant to bring up to Laurel at the time because he was raised to be old fashioned and have the women stay at home and tend to the house as the men worked, but Laurel didn’t support that idea one bit.

  While Elijah cried because of a dirty diaper, Laurel got up because David wasn’t budging. She changed his diaper and sung him a lullaby until he fell back to sleep. Once she heard the little angel snore, she gave him a soft peck on his forehead and placed him back in the crib. She walked out and slowly closed the door to his bedroom.

  Her next move was to go back to bed and sleep the rest of the hours off before her alarm clock could interrupt her slumber. She walked into the room and saw a man wearing a black ski mask enter through her window. She quickly tried to wake up David but it was too late, the masked man was already standing inside. He pointed a black handgun at her and she quickly bent down and grabbed one of her infamous stiletto shoes and flung it at the man. The force of her throwing arm caused the shoe to crack the man in his head and he dropped the gun.

  Laurel ran and tackled the man to the floor, she angrily punched him in the face a few times until she heard something crack under his mask. David heard the man’s scream and he woke up mortified at the scene. He jumped out of bed and pulled his wife off of the intruder and he tried to make sense of what was happening. Unfortunately in doing so, he dropped his guard and the intruder picked up the gun and fired twice toward Laurel’s direction. She quickly dove to the floor and David punched the man in the face, this caused the intruder to run out of the window and onto the fire escape causing David to chase after him, much to Laurel’s dismay. She ran out of her bedroom and picked up the landline with the intention to call the police but she froze as she spotted two bullet holes in the door of Elijah’s bedroom.

  “No, no, no. no.” Her heart felt as if it stopped beating. She opened the door a little to a scene no mother should ever have to witness. One of the bullets was stuck in the mirror leaving it cracked, but the other bullet…it ricocheted somehow and -

  Laurel fell to her knees and let out a painful scream indicating to her neighbors someone was shot.

  Laurel’s trip down memory lane was cut short when her cellphone started ringing and she placed the glass of wine down and saw ‘Tony’ on her caller ID. She quickly picked it up.

  “Yes?”

  “Hey Quinn. I dropped off the package.” Tony said on the other line as driving noises could be heard, indicating he was talking to her via speakerphone.

  “Great. Thank you so much! You did excellent work today.”

  There was a small pause from Tony’s side. He was probably basking in the praise he just received from his boss. Getting her to admit someone did an amazing job was like getting her to admit that she secretly enjoyed listening to classical music…which she didn’t.

  “Well thank you Quinn. Did Hell freeze over?” He asked jokingly causing her to smile and shake her head.

  “Oh shut up!”

  “Are you hungry? I know this amazing Pancake house down the block from you. I can pick something up for you if you’d like?”

  “That’s sweet of you Tony. But I think I’m going to head to bed. These past few hours drained me. I’ll see you in the office tomorrow-well at least in a few hours since it’s already a new day.”

&nb
sp; “That is true. Okay then in that case Ms. Quinn, goodnight.”

  “Goodnight Tony.” She hung up the phone and placed it on the counter tasking the last sip of her wine emptying the entire glass.

  Once she was done, she grabbed her cellphone and turned off the kitchen light making her way towards her bedroom finally able to get some much needed sleep.

  Most of the citizens in San New were sleeping. They were all dreaming of something amazing, or of something bad. Streets were empty except for parked cars, night workers at the hospital, party goers all seeking another party to attend and stray cats looking for food.

  But right across the building where Laurel called home, was a figure. A figure wearing a black hood looking up at the window on the twenty-fifth floor that had its light on a few seconds ago before it was turned off.

  The window belonged to Laurel’s bedroom. Nothing could be seen from the street but blinds and a single fake white rose that stood by the window. The mysterious person didn’t need to see through the blinds because they were excited to know that window was one of many in Laurel’s apartment, and their mission of finding her was finally completed. Now the question was, which apartment does she live in on the twenty-fifth floor?

  They were going to find out soon. It might not be today, tomorrow, the next day or in the upcoming weeks, but the fact remained; this mystery person was going to make sure Laurel Quinn doesn’t get to see her next birthday.

  [End]