We Won’t Stop Until They Find Her #4
Christian grabbed the bottle and started to bring it to his mouth, then set it back on the desk.
“Chad and Sloan came back around here a few months ago. There were a lot of mea culpas. Talk about how we were young and stupid. I kept it casual. Hardly talked to them much at all. Then Ro and I imploded, and—listen, I’ve been angry, but not at her.
Just angry. I’d have kicked me to the curb for what I did, too.
But then Chad and Sloan are back here, talking shit about her.
I knew Chad hated her, but Sloan surprised me.
He had been friends with her, too. But I didn’t care.
It felt good to moan about all the ways she sucks with those guys.
I’d fallen off the wagon, messed up the best thing I ever had, and got eighty-sixed by the one person who’d put up with me longer than anybody else.
I was ready to numb with whatever was available, including pure meanness.
But then …” Christian took a drink from the bottle.
“Then what, Christian?” Bex’s voice was a sledgehammer.
“They started confiding in me. As if I’d think what they had to tell me was funny. Turns out, they were the ones responsible for Ramona’s reputation.”
“How?” Sam’s middle had dropped away, leaving her sick.
“The rumors. The ‘insider’ leaks. It was them all these years. They didn’t tell me outright like that. More in inference. Bits and pieces. Paying low-rent paparazzi sleaze, paying hackers. Doctoring pictures. Mirroring her phone. A tracker on her car.”
“That’s stalking,” Sam said.
“It’s fucking vile. I called her up to warn her. She’d told me not to call anymore, so I wasn’t surprised she didn’t answer. She didn’t call back, but I told her in my message to stay away from them. They weren’t her friends.”
Sam remembered Macie telling them about Ramona getting a message that had upset her. Ramona hadn’t wanted to talk about it. Was this the message she’d meant?
Christian wiped the corners of his mouth. “Then I find out that Chad and Sloan were working on a big movie. Franchise shit. And I figured out why they’d sought me out again after ignoring me for so long.”
“Not your personality,” Sam said.
“No, it’s always fucking money, isn’t it?
‘Chris, you’ve got the connections. Chris, maybe your production company could invest.’ I’m hearing this …
a week ago? Little longer. They weren’t around last week, I guess because they were filming this episode on Ramona’s show that no one told me about.
But I’d already decided I was done with those fucking leeches.
Then you guys show up. I didn’t think Ramona was in real danger, but I was definitely worried Chad and Sloan were getting up to more of their shit.
That’s why I did the Maldives thing on her Instagram.
They’d given me her login when they showed me how they fucked with her.
I figured if I made it look like Ramona was on a tropical vacation, it would mean they couldn’t make shit up about her this time.
Whatever they planned to say she was doing when she was a no-show at work, they wouldn’t be able to say it.
That’s what I meant when I said I was trying to help her. ”
“What about Star Spy?” Sam asked.
“What about it?”
“The same day you posted the Maldives pictures, there was also a blind item that Ramona was in L.A. signing autographs.”
“That I did not do.”
Sam’s vision narrowed to a point at the same time that Bex grabbed her elbow, and then all she could feel was the pressure of Bex’s fingers and the freefall of what it meant that Christian hadn’t planted the Star Spy story.
It must have been Chad or Sloan. They’d done it before, and other things like it, misrepresenting Ramona’s movements and actions to give the public a false impression that she was unreliable. To give the industry that impression. Even Sam had believed it.
But this time they hadn’t fed out a story that put Ramona out of town, bombed out of her mind and stargazing nude. They’d gone out of their way to make the world believe she was here, in downtown Los Angeles.
Because she wasn’t. Because she’d never come down from Mount Baldy. Their bodies told the story of a violent incident. The blood at the filming site. Her smashed phone.
They’d left her there, the same way they left Juliette on that dinghy surrounded by the fathomless Pacific Ocean. Left her there to die.
They’d had the means. They’d had the opportunity.
“Motive,” Sam said aloud. “We need motive. We need to understand why they hurt Ramona. No one expected it. Ramona didn’t.”
“If she had, she might have tried to get out of working with them,” Bex said, quickly catching on to Sam’s train of thought. “Her agent has the clout to step to StudioHonor if that was what Ramona wanted. But she didn’t, because Ramona didn’t ask her to.”
“No. She checked in on the insurance riders. That tells us she was uneasy about the location shoot, maybe, but not in fear for her life. Something changed at the last minute. We need to find out what it was, and the person who might know is Archie. He’s the one who was coming to the set, keeping close enough by Ramona that Piper thought he was her boyfriend.
He’s the one who was digging up the past with the Ice Crew documentary. ”
“He wouldn’t talk to us before,” Bex said.
“No, but things have changed. Archie didn’t know Ramona was left behind. He won’t know about the search yet. I have to think he’ll want to help once he understands how dire the situation is. We need to go back to Encino and tell him.”
“It’s after midnight.” Bex glanced at Christian. “We’re still trying to get Chad here. There’s Sloan to talk to first. We have a whole plan.”
Sam shook her head. “If we don’t pin down motive—if we don’t have some solid evidence of what really happened and who did what to who—then we’re not going to be able to drag anything out of those two but another bullshit story.
Chad will call down his lawyers to put up a wall we can’t push past. We need something solid enough to pry them apart and make them turn on each other. ”
Christian lifted his hand, drawing their attention. He was still leaning against the desk, listening to them, but his posture was no longer insouciant. His eyes were alert. “I have bad news, ladies.”
“What is it?” she asked.
“You’re gonna have to trust me.”
Bex wrinkled her nose. “Come again?”
Christian wrapped his robe around himself, and for one heartbeat, Sam could see how much distress he was in.
“It’s like you just said. What good are you two going to be here?
You’re not going to get anything off Sloan.
He’ll recognize you quicker than I did and clam right the fuck up.
So go do your Nancy Drew shit. Find out everything you can from Archie.
I’ll keep the party going, make sure the booze and drugs go light except for Sloan. And I’ll get Chad over here.”
“Why, so you and Chad and Sloan can all take off together?” Bex put her hands on her hips. “You could flee the country and hole up somewhere we don’t have an extradition treaty with, and Ramona will never have justice.”
“I get why you don’t believe me, but you’re going to have to.
” Christian reached into the pocket of his robe and extracted his phone, which he held out to Sam.
“Look through it if you want, but don’t judge.
There’s nothing on there that puts me anywhere in the solar system of hurting Ramona.
When Sloan showed up here tonight, I almost sent him home.
I’ve been avoiding him. But one of these kids said he was supposed to be here for someone, so I let it slide. ”
Sam took the phone. It was a solid weight in her hand.
She checked in one more time with her intuition.
Her intuition informed her it was leaning hard in Christian’s direction, as bizarre an ally as he made.
“I trust him,” she told Bex. “It’s on me if he fucks this one up, but I don’t think he will.”
Christian held up his fist for her to bump.
She obliged him, touching her knuckles to his.
“Solid, Farmer. Why are there so many under twenty-fives in my house tonight, by the way? I rolled with the reach-outs for a gathering, but I didn’t realize I’d have to plan on a snack time and lifeguards.
Is everyone out there really here for her? For Ramona?”
“Yeah,” Sam said. “They are.”
Christian nodded, slow. He seemed completely sober. Sam understood that he’d dropped a mask.
His mask made it easy to assume the worst of him. Now she was likely looking at who he really was—the Christian Stanstedt who Ramona had maintained a friendship with.
“Okay, then,” he said. “Consider me their prisoner of war. I’ve just got to ride this out and lure Chad into the trap.
” He pushed his hand through his poetic hair.
“You two go talk to Archie. Find out what happened so you can nail these guys. And when you see Ro.” He coughed, then swallowed, and Sam noticed his eyes had filled.
“When you see that girl alive and well, maybe you tell her I helped.”
“Maybe,” Bex said. “Or maybe you figure yourself out so she can trust you when you say it.”
“Better. Yes. I’m going to get back out there. Take my phone. Give it to one of your spies. If you need to get a message to me, use the same number. I’m wearing my watch.” He pulled up his robe sleeve to show them his smartwatch.
Sam looked at Bex. “Okay?”
“Yes,” Bex said. “I’m the one who makes the plans. You’re the one who reads people. If you vouch for him, I trust you.”
“Sweet.” Christian lurched his body off the desk. “After you.” He gestured toward the door.
They followed him into the party, and Sam felt dozens of eyes on them. Piper made her way over.
“You found our host!” Piper shot a look at Bex and Sam that meant Is everything okay?
“And his phone!” Bex dangled it in front of her.
“He’s decided to help. Too much to explain, but keep the party going.
Keep Sloan here. Get our people to look at his phone and find out whatever you can.
Christian thinks he can get Chad to come, and we hope that by then we can spring this trap. Of course, if Christian doesn’t help …”
Piper snatched the phone from Bex with a small, terrifying smile. “That’s where my special friend comes in.” She gestured with her head at her security detail.
“No worries, Piper. You’re in charge. You know I know your mom?
” Christian held eye contact with Piper.
“When she was still acting, we did this experimental piece together at the Guthrie. She was sick as a dog the whole time. Turns out, it was because she was pregnant with you. Never seen someone so happy she was going to be a mother.”
Piper’s eyes went wide. “You’re serious?”
“As a heart attack. I bet the two of you geek out together over all kinds of deep art shit. I can see you’re a lot like her.”
She shook her head. “Old people are incredibly confusing.”
Christian laughed. “I confuse myself, Piper. Let’s go sit somewhere that’s not assaulting my eardrums, and you can tell me the ten ideas you probably already have to get Chad over here.”
“Okay, then.” Piper looked at Sam. “If we pull it off, I’ll make sure my security guy keeps both Sloan and Chad here. I have total indemnity from his methods. My dad wrote the contract.” Piper took Christian by the elbow. “Ready, old man?”
Sam watched as he pulled on the mask of a rich Hollywood washout.
It really didn’t look right on him anymore.
She took Bex’s hand, and they made their way to Colin’s little car at the end of the drive, the music and light from the mansion dimming behind them.
The rain had let up a little, but there was still enough drizzle that Sam could feel the products in her wig softening when she touched it.
As soon as she was seated behind the wheel, Sam’s mind began unhelpfully flashing images of a rain-soaked Ramona limping through dense foliage. Curled up in fetal position in a pool of blood.
No. They would find her.
“Hey.” Bex smiled at her and stroked her cheekbone with her thumb.
Before Sam could fully accept the comfort Bex was offering, a sudden burst of light made her rear back and squint. A vehicle pulled to a stop in front of them, much too close to the bumper of Colin’s car.
“What the hell?” Bex said.
The headlights snapped off, and Sam watched Frankie jump out of Fergus’s truck.
She opened her car door. Frankie ran around the front of the truck to crouch down in the rain next to her.
“They found Ramona. She’s been shot.”