Hearing him call her work bullshit is like a knife to the heart. But she tries not to take it personally. He’s mad, she understands. So she doesn’t say anything, just crosses her arms and looks down as he admonishes her. She glances up, seeing his eyes dart to the board and back to her. His face softens.
“I know this case has taken an unexpected turn and that it’s reminded you so much of your sister. But we’ve been over this—”
“We haven’t, though!” Naomi throws her hands in the air. “You have no idea everything I’ve found out since we last spoke.”
Joel runs a hand down his face before holding it out in question. “Please enlighten me then.”
“Both Faye and Jade—both young, beautiful aspiring musicians, neither of whom had drug problems—die of drug overdoses six months apart.”
“Yeah…” Joel says, noting this is something he already knows. She told him this after her meeting with Emily.
“And then, I not only learn they knew each other, but after comparing their autopsy reports, they both died with the same exact levels of fentanyl in their systems.” She rattles through the facts quickly so he can’t interrupt. “And I checked with a medical examiner who said that’s not normal and he would bet the product probably came from or was administered by the same source.”
Joel purses his lips as he considers this.
“And on top of that, we obviously know police sources have claimed Jade had bruising on her neck years ago, but then in my sister’s autopsy, I learn she had a head injury. A possible skull fracture, Joel!”
He runs a hand over his face. “Don’t you hear yourself? You’re literally contradicting your own argument. You told me yourself Jade’s bruises were missing from the autopsy. Which makes sense because her death was actually suspicious. But if Faye’s head injury was reported then they left it because there was clearly nothing to hide.”
Naomi deflates, now having heard this same argument from not one but three level-headed people. Glen, Leo, and now Joel. Was she really reaching so much? Trying to force the evidence to fit her narrative?
He sighs, crossing his arms. “And even if Faye’s death was suspicious, why are you writing libelous articles about Harlow Hayes after she’s been cleared? Shouldn’t you be onto the next lead?”
She wants to defend the article, stand her ground, but she’s not as sure as she was before. After learning more about Colton last night, she thinks it’s more complicated now. Which reminds her.
“Well, now that you mention it,” she says, ready to change the subject away from the article, “I do have a new lead. Some new information that could turn out to be something big.”
He eyes her skeptically.
“This girl at the club last night said she saw Colton, Harlow, and Jade together that night and she thinks Colton is actually the one who killed—”
“Woah, no, no, no, let me stop you right there…”
“But I even found some more stuff last night about a girl who went missing when he was filming in New Mexico in 2017!”
“Naomi!” Joel shouts, startling her. “No. We’re not the fucking New York Times. We’re C*Leb News. Me and you taking on the fucking Scott family? Are you crazy? Oh god, I have a headache.” He pinches the bridge of his nose again. “One second you’re sure it’s this, the next it’s that… No, we are absolutely not messing with the Scott family. Not after they just buried their precious golden boy. Don’t even think about it.”
She opens her mouth to argue but instead throws her hands in the air and paces the room. “Fine, should I just write something about Harlow’s latest makeup look? Fashion choices?”
“No, what you’re going to do is take a break. You’re not going to write anything until you’ve taken a step back and can look at things objectively again. If you want to talk to the police about reopening the investigation into your sister’s death, then by all means, let me know if you need any help. But if not, I’ll have Angie book you a flight back to LA—it’ll have to be in a few days when we can get rid of the Harlow army camped outside the office, but in the meantime, you cannot go rogue on this. And you absolutely cannot write one more piece about Harlow Hayes, and definitely fucking not a whiff of anything bad about Colton Scott, based on something one drunk girl said in a club.”
Naomi grunts in frustration. But she doesn’t have a leg to stand on. Doesn’t have any tangible, foolproof evidence. Yet.
*
After Joel finally leaves, Naomi gets back to work; she’s come too far to give up now. She opens the Notes app to double-check what the model said about Colton before writing it on a Post-it and sticking it to the wall.
“Vile/stay away” Potential 3some with C, H+J gone wrong? H got jealous or something else?
Naomi’s eyes dance across the photos of the beautiful people, three of whom are dead. She recalls Emily telling her about Jade’s promiscuity and sexual appetite. She reflects on her own sister’s bad taste in men. Two naive young women. One powerful man…
She originally presumed Harlow was jealous, but was she? Or was she somehow involved? Did she and Colton get off on something sadistic together?
Naomi ponders this, shaking her head in frustration. She needs to learn more about Colton. Speak to someone who knew him to see if the rumors are true. Her eyes land on the small picture of actress Meghan Rhodes, Colton’s ex-fiancée.
Why weren’t you at the funeral, Meghan? What do you know?
AVANT
