A second person cleared her throat and spoke in an even tone. “I think we should go to our rooms and talk about this in the morning.” It was Mina.
“No one is depending on you for a roof over their head or their next meal,” Lee argued. “I’ve got three kids in school, andthis was supposed to be my way to break into the industry. You know how hard it is to join the union. You have to wait for someone to die to get your name on the list.”
“I’m sure Presley will make sure you get paid,” Mina reasoned.
“That’s easy for you to say. You don’t need money like I do.” Lee raised his voice. “Anyway, I know what she’ll say:Ask the production company.” He said the last line in a singsong voice as if mimicking someone.
“Look, if they don’t pay you, I’ll loan you the money myself. I’ve been living with my grandmother and have some savings.” Mina’s tone was calm and gentle as she walked from one end of the hedge to the other.
“That’s not good enough.” He sounded desperate as he followed her. “The production company is bust, and I can’t wait for Presley to get her shit together. I need that money now.” He paused as if realizing something. “Did Brett pay you?” There was a tinge of bitterness in his tone. “What are you not telling me?”
“What? No, I—” And that’s when Mina began to scream.
I ran past the portico and onto the green lawn, stalking quickly toward the rose hedge maze. Suddenly, I spotted Mina’s shadowy figure, struggling away from Lee’s grasp. A cloud moved past the moon, and I could see him grabbing her arm, yanking her back with such force that her torso flung back sideways.
I turned to call for help and spotted an officer on the high stone steps at the back of the house. “Help! Over here,” I called, waving my arms to catch his attention.
The officer rushed over at the same time that I neared Lee, who now had Mina on the ground, his hands clenching her arms as he shook her, demanding answers she didn’t seem to have. My presence wasn’t stopping him.
Mina’s eyes were wide with fear, and she choked back a sob as the officer grabbed Lee and pulled him off her. She scrambled away from him.
“I’m okay,” Mina said with a tight mouth, as if she was trying to keep from crying. “Lee just lost his mind for a second.”
Mina said the words as if this had happened before, as if there might be a long history of threats.
“Sir,” the officer said, addressing Lee with a sharp edge to his tone. “I’ll be happy to escort you to your room. You’ll be staying there indefinitely, and I’m sure the sheriff will want to have a few words with you.”
“You’ve got to be kidding.” Lee looked from the officer to Mina and began to laugh. “I’m not the criminal here.”
“You assaulted this woman,” the officer said in an even voice as he motioned to Mina. “But, regardless, it’s time?—”
Lee cut him off, his arms flailing only a second before the officer pinned them behind his back. “Brett Brinkley is the criminal! He’s a thief, owes me nearly twenty grand in back pay and reimbursements.”
“Sir, I’m going to ask you only once to come quietly,” the officer said, clicking handcuffs on the man. “Otherwise, I’ll use force.”
Lee was fuming. “This is ridiculous.”
The officer pressed a button on the walkie-talkie attached to his shoulder and called for backup that he probably didn’t really need. Lee seemed angry, yes, but also incapable of inflicting much harm at this point. As soon as he was restrained, his fighting stance gave way.
“I’m going to lose everything,” he moaned, as he was hauled into the grand house. “And it’s all Brett’s fault.”
Mina and I were left in the dark garden, watching as the officer escorted Lee to his room. For the first time, I realized thatthe estate must be crawling with a police presence, and I wasn’t sure if it comforted or unnerved me.
I shook my head in disbelief. “What was that?”
In the moonlight I could see red finger marks appearing on Mina’s upper arm and she absentmindedly rubbed at them. “He’s under a lot of stress, but he usually doesn’t take it out on me. He has three kids, and his wife has been sick for a couple of years.”
I’d been right. They did have some kind of history, or at least enough of a relationship to share about their families. “Has he ever grabbed you like that before?”
Mina huffed out a long breath. “He’s upset. We both are.”
I tilted my head and studied her. “You seem to express your emotions very differently.”
“We haven’t been paid for this gig, and now that Brett’s… gone, we may never be. I’ll be fine, but he… who knows?” Mina lifted her head and looked directly at me for the first time. “I know you probably couldn’t tell, but Lee was—is—my mentor. Took me under his wing when he was a cameraman on an episode ofSVUand saw me cut from the scene. I’d been trying to make it in Hollywood, and I’d gotten parts here and there, but that day I was playing an actual named role. Until I wasn’t. They decided to rewrite my part and give it to a guy. I was standing off-stage crying, and Lee spotted me, distracted me by asking if I’d ever tried operating a Blackmagic URSA.”
At that, I must’ve made a face because Mina clarified, “It’s a camera. Lee let me hang out and watch him, got me clearance to shadow him. Over the next few months, he taught me the tools of the trade. I figured it was the next best thing to being on camera, and it was kind of nice, learning from someone who’d been in the business for a couple decades. We became friends.”
The interaction I’d just witnessed didn’t seem too friendly, and she must’ve read as much on my face.
