“And we’ve got two motives to boot,” said Sierra. “Proof that Alicia and Louis were sleeping together, and that she was blackmailing Ranielle about it.”
“We are so good at this!” said Carter. “I knew I took that photo for a reason!”
“What now?” asked Beck. “We go to the police, right?”
“No,” said Sierra. “We go to Ranielle.”
The ebullient mood of the room fizzled.
“You can’t be serious,” said Adi. “The last time we went charging off after a potential murderer, we found Louis’s body.”
“You think the cops are going to listen to a bunch of resentful teenagers? Orme? They’re sure they’ve solved a murder case. They’re not going to reopen it based on some dodgy handwriting. No. I can’t risk letting her get away with it. Not again.”
“What do you want to do?” Beck said, eyes wide.
Sierra’s expression was grimly determined. “We’re going to get a confession.”
46
Sierra
Sierra seethed the entire Uber ride to the studio while her teamconcocted outrageous plans for getting past the reception desk. Adi suggested they sweet-talk their way in. Carter was keen to create a diversion in order to draw out the security personnel. Beck was excited at the possibility of scaling a fire escape and sneaking in through the roof.
Sierra wasn’t concerned with how they got inside. She was confronting Ranielle, and she would take down anyone who tried to stop her.
But when they walked into the building, they found the reception desk empty and the lobby quiet. Strange, although Sierra wasn’t complaining about the easy access. She deserved something to go right for once.
As they made their way toward Ranielle’s office, Sierra heard construction sounds coming from Soundstage A. A sneaky check revealed crews dismantling the set, pulling apart Dr. Theery’s laboratory. Soon there’d be nothing but bare walls and concrete floors.
“Don’t they usually leave these for the postseason special?” Beck asked.
Sierra picked up her pace.
As they neared Ranielle’s office they heard—not drills and sledgehammers—but screaming.
“—can’t treat me like this! After everything I did for you and this show!”
“Oh no.” Adi groaned. “Tell me it isn’t—”
The office door swung open and two security guards emerged, dragging Adi’s mom between them. On camera, Symphony always looked immaculate and poised. Now her long hair was a flurry of tangles and her demure smile had been replaced with a snarl.
“Get your hands off me,” she snapped. “I’ll be talking to my lawyer about this. Don’t you know who I am? Don’t you—” Her gaze fell on Adi. She gasped. “Aditya! There you are. Tell these men who I am. Get them to release me at once.”
The security guards paused to look at Adi, but he stepped aside and held up both hands. “She’s all yours.”
Symphony shrieked. “Aditya! That is not funny. Aditya!”
Her screams faded as she was manhandled down the corridor.
“That explains why the security guards didn’t tackle us when we first came in,” Sierra muttered. Squaring her shoulders, she marched through Ranielle’s open office door.
The executive producer was standing over a plastic box on her desk, filling it with papers and folders. As they watched, she took an entire drawer and upended the contents into the bin before dropping the drawer to the floor behind her.
“What’s going on?” said Sierra.
Ranielle startled, then glowered when she saw them. “Great. More trespassers.” She grabbed a pen holder and dropped it into the bin. “Hitflix honestly couldn’t goone more daywithout firing ninety percent of the security team?”
“Hitflix is firing people?” asked Adi.
