The smile vanished."Not everyone understands what art requires.I don't force anyone to do anything.My models come to me because they want to create something meaningful, something that lasts beyond the next advertising cycle.If that process is uncomfortable sometimes, that's the price of making work that matters."
Kari thought about the complaints Detective Carter had mentioned.Four women who'd alleged aggressive behavior, inappropriate comments, a hostile environment.Four women who'd all withdrawn their statements using nearly identical language.
"I heard there were some issues a few years ago," she said."Complaints from models who worked with you."
Montgomery's jaw tightened."Those complaints were withdrawn.The women admitted they'd misunderstood my process."
"All four of them.Using almost the same words."Kari let that hang in the air for a moment."That's quite a coincidence."
"I can't control what people say or how they say it."Montgomery's voice had gone cold."What I can tell you is that I've been working in this industry for twenty years.I've shot campaigns for every major fashion house in the world.If I were the monster those women initially claimed, do you think I'd still be working?Do you think agencies would still be sending me their best talent?"
"That depends on how good you are at protecting yourself.And how much money you make for the people who send you that talent."
Montgomery stood abruptly and walked to one of the windows, his back to Kari.For a long moment, he didn't speak.When he finally turned around, something in his expression had changed.The arrogance was still there, but underneath it, Kari glimpsed something that might have been regret, maybe even sadness.
"I didn't hurt Amanda Escalante.I didn't hurt any of the women I've worked with.Yes, my methods are intense.Yes, I push people to their limits.But I don't cross lines.I don't touch anyone without consent.And I certainly don't..."He stopped, swallowing hard."Amanda was talented.She had a future in this industry.And now she's dead, and everyone's going to say it was the pressure, the drugs, the eating disorders.All the usual explanations that let everyone off the hook."
"You don't think it was an overdose?"
Montgomery laughed bitterly."Amanda didn't use drugs.She was religious about her health.Yoga every morning, clean eating, eight hours of sleep.She told me once that her body was her instrument and she wasn't going to damage it with chemicals."He shook his head."Whatever killed her, it wasn't recreational drug use."
Kari filed that away.Another voice questioning the official narrative of Amanda's death.First the paramedic who thought the scene was staged, now a photographer who insisted she didn't use drugs.
"What about Tayen Stern?"she asked."When did you last see her?"
"Last week.I shot her for a series I'm working on.Indigenous beauty, challenging Western standards of attractiveness.Tayen has an incredible face, the kind of bone structure that the camera loves."He paused."She seemed distracted that day.Kept checking her phone between setups.I asked if everything was okay, and she said she was fine, but I could tell something was bothering her."
"Did she say what?"
"No.And I didn't push.That's not how I work.I create space for models to bring their emotions to the shoot, but I don't pry into their personal lives."Montgomery walked back toward the seating area but didn't sit down."If Tayen's missing, you should talk to the agency.Elite Vision.They're the ones who book her jobs, manage her schedule, know where she's supposed to be."
"I've already spoken with them.They weren't particularly helpful."
"That doesn't surprise me.Jessica Vance runs a tight ship over there.She doesn't like outsiders asking questions about her girls."He said it with a hint of something, maybe respect or resentment.Kari couldn't tell which."But if you really want to know what happens to models in this city, the agency isn't where you'll find answers.It's the recruiters.The talent scouts.The people who find these girls and bring them to L.A.in the first place."
"Who recruited Tayen?"
"I don't know.That's not information they share with photographers."Montgomery's eyes met hers directly."But I do know that most of Elite Vision's models come from the same place.A company called Image Management.They specialize in finding girls from small towns, reservations, immigrant communities.Girls who are desperate for a better life and don't know enough about the industry to protect themselves."
It was the same thing Diana Shepherd had implied when Kari had visited Elite Vision.That the agency specifically targeted vulnerable young women.Hearing it confirmed by someone else, someone with no apparent connection to the agency, made it feel more significant.
"Thank you for your time," Kari said, standing."If you think of anything else, anything that might help me find Tayen, please call me."She handed him one of the business cards she'd had made before leaving Arizona, with her cell phone number handwritten on the back.
Montgomery took the card and studied it for a moment."Navajo Nation Police.You're a long way from home, Detective."
"Tayen's family asked for my help.That's reason enough to be here."
"Family."Montgomery's face softened."Tayen told me she didn't have any family.That she was alone in the world."
"She was wrong about that.She has an aunt who's been looking for her for two years.An aunt who's terrified that something's happened to her."
Montgomery was quiet for a moment.Then he nodded slowly."Find her, Detective.Whatever's going on here, whatever happened to Amanda, Tayen doesn't deserve to be another casualty of this industry."
Kari left the studio with more questions than answers.Montgomery was unsettling, certainly.His intensity, his willingness to push young women to emotional extremes, his dismissal of the complaints against him as misunderstandings.Everything about him suggested someone who operated in the gray areas of acceptable behavior.
But he'd also seemed genuinely affected by Amanda's death.And his insistence that she didn't use drugs matched the paramedic's concerns about the staged scene.If Montgomery had killed Amanda, would he be undermining the official explanation for her death?
Unless that was part of the game.Unless appearing to question the narrative was itself a form of misdirection.
