Cancelled Vows

by Lauren Carr

  Sophie pouted, as did the other three women in charge of makeup. They were disappointed that they would be left out.

  “Don’t worry,” Mac assured them. “You’re not going to miss anything. The last place Yvonne Harding was before she came out onto the stage to prepare for her segment was in makeup, right?”

  Their faces brightened. “Yes, she was,” Sophie said. “She was giving pointers to her guest.”

  “I was in makeup, too,” Ian Griffin said.

  “Yes, he was,” another one of the artists said. “He was annoying Yvonne with troll jokes.”

  Escorted by one of the detectives, an attractive young man, the four women scurried off to the makeup department, which was located on the opposite side of the control room.

  Ed Willingham was already in the control room with Gnarly sitting in front of him. “Where do you want me, Mac?”

  “You’re standing in for David,” Mac said before calling for Ryan Ritter, Jim Wiehl, and Preston Blakeley to join them in the control room. “It doesn’t matter where you stand. We’re talking about the events leading up to Yvonne Harding’s murder.”

  One of Van Patton’s detectives followed them into the control room and took a position next to the closed door.

  After pulling up a chair from the control panel, Ryan Ritter straddled its back and glanced at the room’s occupants. “Okay, Faraday, you got all of us here. Shoot.”

  “First of all, as a career homicide detective,” Mac began, “I’ve learned not to believe in coincidences. For that reason, I find it more than interesting that Yvonne Harding, the last journalist to interview Audra Walker here at ZNC, was killed on the same day that Audra’s body was uncovered in her office.”

  “You believe Audra Walker’s and Yvonne Harding’s murders are connected,” Jim Wiehl said.

  “I know they’re connected,” Mac said.

  “But how?” Ryan asked. “Audra Walker tackled deep, complex murder cases. Yvonne Harding was a television personality.” He chuckled. “Not to slam Yvonne in any way. She had a ton of talent, but professionally, she wasn’t in Walker’s league.”

  “Ryan’s right,” Preston said. “They didn’t travel in the same social circles. Their only connection was when Yvonne interviewed Audra.”

  “But Yvonne Harding was investigating Audra Walker’s disappearance,” Mac said before turning to Jim. “I saw for myself how upset Pam was when she discovered that Ali Hudson was making inquiries into Audra’s disappearance. She was so upset that she went to get you, Jim.”

  “Because the Walker disappearance was Pam’s story,” Jim said. “Journalists are very territorial. The Walker case was a big story, and Pam is our headline host. Therefore, it was hers. By investigating Audra’s disappearance behind Pam’s back, Yvonne was infringing on another journalist’s story. That’s a big no-no in this business, and frankly, I was surprised because Yvonne knew better.”

  “I’m sure she did.” Folding his arms across his chest, Mac asked, “How much headway had Pam been making in her investigation?”

  Jim shot a glare in Preston Blakeley’s direction. “Care to answer that, Blakeley?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the CEO said.

  Jim turned to Mac. “You want the truth?”

  “That’s why we’re here.”

  Jim tossed his head in the direction of his boss. “Blakeley and Senator Brennan are tight. After Audra Walker disappeared, as soon as the case started to chill, Blakeley made it known not just to Crime Watch but to every show and journalist under ZNC that the Walker disappearance needed to be put on the back burner.”

  “I didn’t say any such thing!” Blakeley yelled.

  “A fourth grader could read between the lines, Blakeley!”

  “If you aren’t protecting Senator Brennan, why is every other network in the building devoting twice the airtime we are to the story of Walker’s body being found in ZNC’s walls?” Ryan asked.

  “That’s not true,” Blakeley said.

  “My staff has the data to prove it,” Ryan said, smirking at Mac. “It’s a necessary evil in the news business nowadays. Every news network is owned by corporations, and corporations make political friends and enemies. At the end of the day, the only thing you can count on when it comes to news is that they toed their party’s line.”

  “In other words,” Mac said, “if you really want the truth about what’s happening, don’t trust the news media to give it to you.”

  Ryan chuckled. “Those are my words.”

  “In case you’ve all forgotten, Senator Brennan was on his way to his party’s nomination for president before Audra Walker’s disappearance, at which point his poll rankings dropped like a rock. If anything, Walker’s disappearance killed his political career,” Blakeley said.

  “His rankings were dropping like a rock before Audra’s disappearance because of her book about his lecherous and possibly homicidal daddy,” Ryan said. “Sounds like motivation for him to kill her. It’s called ‘revenge.’”

  “Why would Brennan have killed Walker when he knew he’d be the number-one suspect?” Blakeley asked.

  “Brennan was too smart to kill Walker,” Mac said. “People like him have it done for them.”

  “Point is,” Blakeley said, “neither Brennan nor ZNC benefited from Walker’s disappearance or murder in any way.”

  “True,” Mac said.

  With a smug grin, the CEO folded his arms and plopped down into an empty chair.

  Mac turned to the director, who was sitting at the control panel with his assistant, each in the same chair he had occupied two nights before. “Can you play that video I requested?”

  After a nod of approval from Jim Wiehl, the director hit the “play” button, and the recording filled the monitor in the control room as well as the monitors out in the studio. It was the recording of the final minutes of Yvonne Harding’s interview with Audra Walker.

  At the end of Audra Walker’s last interview, which had been filmed two years earlier, Yvonne Harding asked, “What’s next for Audra Walker?”

  “Oh, I’m now gonna finish that one project that’s been doggin’ me for my whole career,” Audra said with a wide grin.

  “What project is that?” Yvonne asked.

  “The true story behind Romeo and Juliet.”

  Mac turned to Preston Blakeley. “The other night, when Pam Wiehl opened her segment with this clip, you became upset—”

  “I wasn’t upset,” Blakeley said.

  “You weren’t happy,” Mac said, correcting himself. “You asked Wiehl why he’d chosen this particular clip.”

  “Because it was boring,” the network executive said. “It was an hour-long interview. Audra Walker was an exciting and passionate journalist with decades of fascinating work under her belt. She had a million stories, some of which involved movie stars and infamous crime figures. This here”—he gestured at the recording—“was the dullest part of the whole interview. Not only that, but Walker disappeared hours later, and the damned book she was talking about was never written. No one knew what she was talking about—she didn’t name names. It isn’t like she went missing hours after announcing that she was going to reveal to the world the location of Jimmy Hoffa’s body. It was some stale crap about Romeo and Juliet.”

  “Exactly,” Mac turned to Jim. “Blakeley is right. Why did you choose this clip?”

  “It was the only stuff that our lawyers and board would allow us to use,” Jim replied. “The bulk of Audra Walker’s interview with Yvonne had to do with Jolene Fitzgerald’s death and her affair with Senator Brennan’s father. Everyone on the board was either tight with Brennan or afraid of repercussions from the Brennan political machine. This tape was all we had left.”

  “As a lawyer, I can see how that would happen,” Willingham said.

  T
hey all turned their attention back to the recording.

  “Romeo and Juliet?” Yvonne asked in the interview. “Is Audra Walker moving into romantic tragedies?”

  “Actually, it’s not so much a romantic tragedy as it is the perfect murder,” Audra said in a teasing tone. With a tilt of her head, she arched that eyebrow.

  “Freeze it there,” Mac said to the director, whose assistant hit a button on the panel to freeze the image of Audra Walker.

  “Not so much a romantic tragedy as it is the perfect murder,” Mac murmured at Audra Walker’s image. “That’s what her next project was going to be. She was returning to a project she’d been working on for years—one she’d never gained any traction on until she showed up here at ZNC. Then suddenly, all the wheels clicked in her mind.” Making a rolling motion with his index fingers on either side of his head, he said, “It all came together that night.”

  “Do you know that for a fact?” Preston Blakeley asked.

  “Walker’s book tour was taking her all over the country,” Ryan said. “She had interviews with every network in this building. There’s no telling when, where, or from whom she got the break on her story. For all we know, she was inspired by someone at MSNBC.” He chuckled. “As a matter of fact, I’d bet on it. Have you seen some of their news anchors? Pretty suspicious, if you ask me.”

  “If so, why did she mention the project in this interview for ZNC?” Mac asked.

  Silence dropped over the men in the control room as they each regarded the others with suspicion.

  The cloud of suspicion broke apart when Mac clapped his hands together. “While you’re thinking about that, let’s discuss the chain of events on the night of Yvonne’s murder.”

  He turned around and looked out the window to where Pam Wiehl and Lieutenant Van Patton were engrossed in a conversation on the stage. “During her interview with Lieutenant Hopkins, Pam’s false eyelash came loose. She was able to finish the interview, and then she went off to makeup.” He turned to the director. “Tell everyone that the recording is through and that they should do exactly what they did the other night after Pam finished interviewing Hopkins.”

  Out in the studio, noise erupted. Everyone on the crew was talking at once. Equipment was moved and lights were adjusted for the next segment, which was Yvonne Harding’s interview with the psychologist about Internet trolls.

  “Security confirms that Hopkins signed out downstairs and left the building minutes after finishing his interview,” Mac told Lieutenant Van Patton and the suspects who had followed him out to the news desk on the set. “Yvonne came out of makeup and met up with David here at the set where they talked—”

  “Argued,” Ryan corrected him with a smile.

  “I was in a conference call up in my office,” Preston Blakeley said.

  “Yes, you were, Mr. Blakeley.” Mac ushered Ed Willingham to the steps leading up to the stage. “We did confirm that alibi.”

  Relief washed over the executive’s face.

  “I don’t need you anymore, Mr. Blakeley, but I think you might want to stick around.” Mac took the CEO by the arm and moved him over to stand in front of the lawyer. “You can play Yvonne.”

  Unsure of where this was leading, Preston Blakeley blubbered.

  Mac turned around and found Ryan Ritter standing in front of him. “What do you want me to do?” he asked.

  “You went to makeup to get ready for your show, didn’t you?” Mac asked.

  Ryan looked worried. “Yeah, but you want me to go to the makeup department and put on my makeup just like I did the other night? Do you want Pam to take off her eyelashes and Ian to put them on and dance with them, too? That’s all a little obsessive, don’t you think?”

  Mac looked over at Lieutenant Van Patton, who nodded his head.

  “If that’s what happened.” Taking Ryan Ritter by the arm, Mac led him around the control room and through the door into the makeup department. Lieutenant Van Patton followed behind them.

  “I don’t see how Ian’s dancing around with Pam’s eyelashes on his forehead is going to solve Yvonne’s murder,” Ryan said.

  “You’d be surprised by how these tiny details can help police catch killers.” Mac threw open the door to the makeup room and ushered Ryan inside, where Pam, Ian, guests from the shows from the night of the murder, and the four makeup artists were chatting away. The detective watching over them was in a makeup chair getting what appeared to be a haircut.

  “Okay!” Mac said in a loud voice. “Everyone listen up. We are reenacting Yvonne’s murder. I want everyone where they were and doing what they were doing in the minutes leading up to Yvonne’s murder. Now, where was everyone?”

  “I was over here doing my makeup.” Ryan went over to a chair away from everyone.

  “Do I really have to take off my eyelashes?” Pam asked Mac. “They’re such a pain to put on.”

  “Just pretend to take them off,” Mac said.

  Sophie picked up a container holding a pair of eyelashes. “We’ll role-play with these.”

  Ian snatched the eyelashes from her hand and opened the case. Raising his voice to an ultrasoprano register, he sang an operetta while he applied a heavy layer of makeup glue to a lash and pinned it to his eyebrow.

  While the makeup artists and guests giggled, Pam Wiehl and Ryan Ritter laughed loudly.

  Ian Griffin had just glued the other lash on and had begun strutting around when Sophie turned to Mac and said, “I don’t remember Ian playing with Pam’s eyelashes the other night.”

  “Yeah,” one of the other artists said. “He made a bunch of jokes, but he didn’t put them on and dance around like that. That didn’t happen at all.”

  “What are you doing, Ian?” the fourth woman asked. “He said to do what we did the other night.”

  While confusion crossed the artists’ and guests’ faces, Ryan Ritter’s eyes narrowed to a glare directed at Ian and Pam.

  Mac returned Ryan’s glare. “No, Ian didn’t dance with Pam’s eyelashes on the night of the murder.”

  “You set me up, bitch,” Ryan hissed at Pam.

  “Because I asked her to,” Mac said. “You stated that your alibi was that you were in here when Yvonne was murdered, but you weren’t.”

  “I was,” Ryan said. “I was sitting here in this chair putting on my makeup.”

  “You put it on earlier,” Mac said. “I noticed that you were already wearing mascara in the control room while we were watching Pam’s segment with Hopkins. You knew you wouldn’t have time to put it on before killing Yvonne, so you must have applied it in your office when no one was around.”

  “I was here in the makeup department,” Ryan said before gesturing to his colleagues and friends gathered in the room. “Tell him! You all saw me in this room, sitting in this chair, putting on my makeup for my show!”

  “I’m sure you came in here,” Mac said. “But as soon as everyone got busy with getting ready for the next segment, you quietly slipped out. If you had been here the whole time, you would have known that Ian didn’t put on Pam’s eyelashes.”

  “You would have said something in the elevator earlier when I told Jim about it,” Pam said.

  “When you were setting me up,” Ryan said with a sneer.

  “More like testing you,” Pam said.

  “If you had been here when Yvonne was shot, you would have known that Ian never put Pam’s eyelashes on, and you would have said something about it when she told her husband he had. But instead you joined in—even went so far as to join her in recounting the story to me minutes later. Since you didn’t know the event never happened, that proves you weren’t here.”

  Ian peeled both lashes off his forehead. “I saw you leave not long after I came in. I don’t know the exact time, but you weren’t here long—maybe a couple of minutes, tops.”

  “You were the
one who told us that Yvonne had been shot,” Pam said.

  “I remember that,” Sophie said to Mac. “He did come in from the studio—but I didn’t notice what time he left.”

  Lieutenant Van Patton turned to Ryan. “How would you have known Yvonne got shot out there”—he jerked his thumb over his shoulder—“if you were in here?” He pointed to the floor.

  “Easy!” Ryan ripped his cell phone from its holder on his belt. “I got a call and went out into the studio to take it because it was too noisy to hear in here. I went out there and heard everyone screaming about someone shooting Yvonne. That was when I came in here to tell everyone.”

  “How did you know Yvonne got shot?” Mac asked him.

  “Duh,” Ryan scoffed. “Because everyone out in the studio was screaming about it.” He got up from his seat and stepped up to Mac. “Fact is, Faraday, you’re reaching to make this case into something it’s not. Rubenstein shot Yvonne to avenge his wife’s murder. Everyone knows that. Trying to make me out to be the killer”—he laughed—“is completely ludicrous. You yourself said in the control room that Yvonne’s murder is connected to Audra Walker’s murder. Well tell Van Patton there to check his case file for Walker’s disappearance, because it’s all right there. I didn’t even know Audra Walker. I had only met her that day, here in the studio. Why would I have wanted to kill her? I didn’t have a motive, and I was with Yvonne Harding when Audra Walker disappeared.” He ticked off his defense on his fingers. “Airtight alibi and no motive. Too bad, Faraday. You’ve struck out this time.”

  “Too bad Yvonne Harding isn’t around to confirm that alibi,” Mac said.

  “She confirmed it in her official statement to the police when they wanted to know where she was when Audra Walker disappeared.”

  “She gave that statement because someone using her name had texted Audra Walker,” Mac said. “Of course, Yvonne could have lured Audra Walker back here using her own name with a burner phone that she then disposed of. So Hopkins and Sergeant Roberts asked her about her whereabouts. Luckily, she was cleared of suspicion when she used you for her alibi.”