Episode 20 – Murder,
Discovery and Farewells
– Leslie overheard Divine reveal her plan to bring down the Samson’s. She
decided that she would have to murder Divine.
– Kayla continued to stick to her ultimatum. Nate was annoyed, but Paris
later discovered who was behind his threats.
– Sebastian and Mercedes told everyone at the strip club their news.
Later Elektra broke down, telling Mercedes that she’d known about Honey’s plot.
– Judi chose Alex, but when she went to finish for good with Russell, he
kissed her and they started to make love. Outside Camille had just put her key
in the door.
Friday, 7th February 2003, The
Samson Mansion, thirty minutes later
Camille Elliot’s car slowly pulled up outside the house. As she prepared to
step out of the car, she caught a short glance of herself in the rearview
mirror and noticed that there were tears in her eyes. Camille quickly opened
her bag and removed a tissue from the packet she always kept in her bag. She
then wiped away the tears, and quickly reapplied her mascara.
She took a deep breath, still
unsure if this really was the right thing to do. She needed to tell someone
what she’d seen her husband doing with Judi,
but was Judi’s sister really the best person to reveal everything to. Camille
decided it would be best to lie to her friend about the identity of Russell’s
lover.
As her feet touched down on the
gravel, Camille shook her head to remove all the stray strands of hair from her
face. Camille noticed that her hands were now starting to shake.
Passing the perfectly trimmed
plants and bushes, each done by a professional gardener and without a single
leaf out of place, Camille didn’t take a second glance. She made her way up the
marble steps, pressed the doorbell and waited for a response.
Inside Leslie Samson looked up from the magazine which she had
been deeply interested in. She left it down on the glass coffee table and
walked towards the front door. Leslie was surprised the see her friend standing
there before her, in a frightful state.
“Camille, what is it?” Leslie
asked, worriedly.
Camille tried to speak, but her
mind flashed back to the sight which had greeted her arrival back at the Elliot
apartment just a few minutes ago – Russell and Judi making love in their home.
They had been deeply engrossed in the sex that neither had noticed her standing
at the door.
Leslie held out her arms,
realising that it must be Russell. What did he do to get her in this state?
She wondered.
”It’s Russ, isn’t it?” she asked. Camille didn’t move her head from Leslie’s
shoulder. She felt as though she’d let herself crying, all she wanted was to
tell Leslie, not have a breakdown in the process. “What did he do to you?”
This time Camille pulled away.
“H-he was…” Camille couldn’t bring herself to utter the words ‘making love with
another woman’. Leslie realised what it was, however.
”He was making love to another woman, wasn’t he?” she asked. Camille slowly
nodded her head.
“Who?” Leslie questioned again.
Camille looked down at the floor.
“Judi, it wasn’t my sister was
it?”
Camille didn’t respond.
“Was it Judi?” Leslie asked,
with an urgency in her voice.
“No” Camille replied at last.
“Someone else from the hospital, a nurse” she lied.
Ten minutes later Camille and
Leslie were sitting opposite each other in the kitchen. Leslie had comforted
her friend and they were now discussing what Camille should do.
“Look, there is something I
need to tell you” Leslie said. Camille looked up from her tea.
“Victor
did the same thing to me. I found out that he’d been having an affair as well”
“And what did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything at first,
but it got to me and I confronted him” she answered.
“And now?”
“Now we’re fine”
“So what do you think I should
do?” Camille asked.
“That’s up to you. You need to
think about it”
***
Westside High School, Later
“Nate”
shouted Paris Robertson as she tried to catch up with
her friend. She hadn’t seen him since lunchtime and had been looking for him
since school had finished five minutes ago.
“Hi” he said, in a depressed and downbeat tone.
“I know who it is” Paris blurted out, clearly
short of breath. Nate’s eyebrows rose.
“You do? Who?” he asked.
”Gayle.
I got a text which was supposed to be for you, but she sent it to me and it was
from her”
“But… Gayle?”
“I know, I was the same way too. But it makes
sense, she’s never liked you has she?”
“Well, no but that doesn’t mean that she’d send
those threats to me does it?”
Paris didn’t reply as she spotted Gayle walk
towards her locker. Nate turned around to see what she was looking at.
“Nate, don’t” Paris said, knowing what he was
about to do. Nate ignored his friends advice and walked in the direction of
Gayle’s locker.
”Maybe I’m wrong” Paris said. Nate still didn’t respond. Paris continued to
follow him down the almost empty corridor. She sighed, realising that no matter
what she said it wasn’t going to work.
“It was you, wasn’t it?” Nate asked, finally
reaching Gayle and her locker. Gayle turned to Nate and looked up at him.
“I don’t know what you are talking about Nate” Gayle
said, a smirk breaking out across her face.
“You were the one, sending me those texts and
those notes”
“I still don’t…”
“Nate, leave her alone. She’s not worth it”
Paris said, trying to pull him away with no success.
“Get some sort of kick from it, did you Gayle?”
Nate asked.
“I…”
”I’ve only got one question for you. Why?”
Gayle was silent for a moment, as were Nate and
Paris. At the end of the corridor Kayla
stood, puzzled as to what was happening.
“Because I hate you. You have everything that
you want, you and your stupid family” Gayle replied. She turned around and
started to walk away.
“Hey, leave my family out of this”
“Hard not to, when your dad caused my mother to
go bankrupt” Gayle spat, hatred in every word she spoke.
”What?”
”That a bit of a shock Nate, to learn what a son
of a bitch your father is. He lost me my home and my mother. And ours wasn’t
the only family. They all hate you Nate” Gayle snarled. She turned around and
walked away, leaving Nate shocked at what she’d just said.
***
Thursday, 13th February 2003,
Evening, The Samson Mansion
Victor Samson smiled to himself as
he spotted his wife sitting in a white robe at her large, gold rimmed dressing
table. She was drying her blonde hair with a towel, following a shower. He
walked closer to her, tired after his busy day at work. He wasn’t looking forward
to another charity fundraiser, something which he and Leslie
frequently attended.
Though he didn’t have a great like for them,
fundraisers were often a good place to meet new people and the newspapers
usually had a couple of photographers at each event which Leslie liked and
which was good PR.
Leslie caught sight of her husband moving nearer
in the mirror, but she didn’t move. Victor gently slid his hands around his
wife and began to slowly kiss her on the neck.
“Are you going to get a shower before the
fundraiser?” Leslie asked.
“Yes. See you in a minute” he said. She turned
around and they shared a quick kiss.
Victor turned and walked into the bathroom as
Leslie continued with her hair. A minute later Leslie heard Victor slide over
the shower door. She stood up and carefully walked over to the door of their
bedroom. She closed over the door.
Leslie then walked towards the bathroom door and
gently pushed it open. She spotted Victor standing in the shower, behind the
shower door. He hadn’t noticed her enter the room. Leslie spotted what she was
looking for and kneeled down. She removed Victor’s cellphone from his trousers
pocket and proceeded to send a message.
Meet me tomorrow, at the penthouse 3pm. It’s important, I’ve found
something you own. Might be late
Leslie looked up towards the shower. Victor was
singing to himself. She took a piece of paper, with a number scribbled on it,
from her robe pocket and entered into the phone before pressing send. Leslie
placed the phone back in her husband’s pocket, just as he was emerging from the
shower.
“I was just…” she began, but he interrupted her
as he walked closer.
”I know what you were doing” he said. He then kissed her passionately.
***
Friday, 14th February 2003,
Mirage Restaurant, 2.55pm
Camille Elliot sat
with her chin in her left palm. She was early for her and Leslie’s
lunch date. Camille was deep in thought about her and Russell’s
marriage. Camille hadn’t told him of what she had seen, but there was a strain
in relations between them, which Cleo
had noticed and asked about.
Camille didn’t know what to do. She had to try
and stop the affair before she lost Russell, but she had no idea what to do.
She could warn Judi to stay away from Russell, but there wasn’t any guarantee
that it would work.
What can I do? Camille asked herself. She
looked up and saw a heavily pregnant woman going past. Suddenly she had an
idea.
“Hi” Leslie said. She sat down opposite Camille.
”Hello” Camille said, removing her head from her chin.
“So how are things between you and Russell?”
Leslie asked. “Did you tell him what you saw?”
”No, but I have an idea which may just work” Camille said, intriguing Leslie.
“What is it?” she asked, her suspicions aroused.
“I’m not going to say, but lets just say that
Russell mightn’t have time for any affairs soon”
“Come on” Leslie said. Camille shook her head,
in defiance.
”You seem in a better mood than this time last
week” Leslie said, running her eyes through the menu.
“I am, I definitely am” Camille said, with a
smile.
***
Westside High School, Same Time
“Paris”
Nate
called out, finally catching up with her.
“Hi, sorry about lunch. I had to…” Paris answered
casually, continuing to walk towards her next class.
Nate interrupted. ”That doesn’t matter. I want
to give you something to say thanks for everything you did for me"
Paris stopped walking and turned to Nate,
smiling. “What? You didn’t have to”
Nate pulled out a red envelope and handed it to
Paris.
”I hope you like it” Nate said nervously. He
looked around and noticed his teacher for the next class approaching. “I have
to go now”
“Okay, see you later” Paris said. She walked
into her classroom, where Cleo
was sat waiting.
“English last thing on a Friday really cheers me
up” she joked, noticing the red envelope. “That’s not what I think it is, is
it?”
”I don’t know yet” Paris responded, using her
finger to open the envelope. Inside was a card, which she took out.
“So who is it from?” Cleo asked.
“No one you’d know” Paris lied, holding the card
to her chest to stop Cleo from getting even the slightest chance of a peep.
Cleo wasn’t buying it. The school was big, but
it wasn’t that big. “Liar” Cleo said.
“You promise not to tell” Paris said. Cleo
nodded obediently, but Paris wasn’t completely satisfied. “I said promise”
“I promise. Now tell me” Cleo raised her voice a
little.
”It’s from Nate” Paris answered.
“Ah, that’s sweet. Did you give him one?”
“No”
Neither girl had noticed Kayla Anders,
standing with an obvious look of disgust on her face. “Sorry girls, can I get
past or is that too much to ask from the pair of
you?”
“Sure” Paris said, exchanging a glance with Cleo
once Kayla had passed.
***
Mercedes’ Apartment, Same Time
Mercedes Spencer
smiled as the removal man picked up the last box from her apartment. She looked
around for the last time at her bare and empty apartment. It seemed so
different without the furniture.
“Ready to go?” Sebastian del Caro asked from the doorway,
interrupting Mercedes’ thoughts.
“Yeah, just looking around for the last time”
Mercedes said. She turned and walked towards Sebastian. As they stepped into
the elevator she took hold of his hand.
Mercedes and smiled as she spotted a group of
her co-workers from the club all stood around the taxi.
“You didn’t tell me all these were coming” she
said to Sebastian.
“Must have slipped my mind” Sebastian joked,
smiling.
Mercedes looked around the group that had
assembled and realised that someone was missing – Divine.
”Where’s Divine?” she asked Sebastian. He hadn’t noticed that she hadn’t turned
up, though he had asked her.
”No idea” he replied. “But we better get going or we’ll be late for the flight”
“Okay” Mercedes said. A couple of minutes passed
as Mercedes and Sebastian said their goodbyes. The last person they reached was
Elektra.
“I’ve got some great news” Elektra said,
excitedly. Mercedes was puzzled as to what it could be.
“What is it?” she asked.
“I was talking to my brother last night, and he
agreed to help me start up dance lessons and maybe even a dance school” Elektra
answered, a broad grin on her face.
“That’s great” Mercedes replied, genuinely
delighted for her friend.
“Mercedes, we better go” Sebastian interrupted.
“You take care of her” Elektra said.
”Don’t worry, I will” Sebastian said, exchanging a hug with Elektra.
“You better” Elektra whispered into his ear as
Mercedes got into the taxi. Sebastian walked around to the other side and sat
in beside her, before closing the door and turning to Mercedes.
”You ready?” he asked.
“As ready as I’ll ever be” she said, turning to
look at her friends. She waved at them as the taxi started to move, but didn’t
turn back. As they turned a corner, Mercedes placed her hand in Sebastian’s.
She was slightly puzzled as to why Divine hadn’t shown up, but Mercedes soon
forgot about it as she and Sebastian shared an intimate kiss.
***
Mirage Restaurant, A little later
The woman smiled as she looked at herself in the
mirror, situated in the restaurant toilets. She took away the band which had
held her long red hair, and started to shake it out. The woman had just
murdered someone, and to her it had been the perfect murder. She had a solid
alibi and now it was time to turn her attentions to something, or someone else.
***
Victor’s Penthouse, Same Time
A loud bang was heard as one of the lamps fell
over onto the sofa in the living room. The burning lamp set the sofa on fire
too. Other parts of the room were also burning, and a dark smoke was spread
throughout.
Divine Cassidy
coughed slightly as she turned over. She slowly moved her head, unaware that
the room was on fire.
***
Mirage Restaurant, Same Time
The woman removed a packet of white powder from her
coat pocket and opened it. A smile spread out across her face as she turned on
the water and started to flush the substance down the sink. After it was all
gone, the woman stopped the water and left the packet on the sink. She then
reached up to a spot behind her ears and started to pull at something.
Suddenly her read hair was gone, replaced by
shorter blonde hair. Leslie Samson smiled to herself. She felt great, knowing
that Divine wouldn’t be causing any more trouble for the Samson family again.