Electric Love - R. Meeks

{ 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚂𝚑𝚘𝚠 }

"Iғ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴡᴀs ᴇᴀsʏ, ɪғ ɴᴏᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴇᴠᴇʀ ʙʀᴏᴋᴇ, ɪғ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴡᴀs sɪᴍᴘʟᴇ, ʜᴏᴡ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴡᴇ ᴋɴᴏᴡ? Hᴏᴡ ᴛᴏ ғɪx ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴛᴇᴀʀs, ʜᴏᴡ ᴛᴏ ғᴀᴋᴇ ᴀ sʜᴏᴡ, ʜᴏᴡ ᴛᴏ ᴘᴀɪɴᴛ ᴀ sᴍɪʟᴇ, ʏᴇᴀʜ, ʜᴏᴡ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴡᴇ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ʜᴏᴡ ɢᴏᴏᴅ ᴡᴇ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ɪᴛ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜ?"
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As Belle arrived at the studio, she made it a point to quickly catch up to Gale. She knew (or at least hoped) that Gale, who Belle had learned was working with Detective Mark Kincaid, would vouch for Belle and help her stay in the middle of this thing.

Gale pulled through as Belle hoped she would and they stood making small talk, waiting on Kincaid to arrive.

Belle could hear people talking from around the corner ("Usually one survives," "Usually?") and took notice of Gale's sudden silence. As two men (presumably Kincaid and his partner) rounded the corner, Gale started walking behind them and talking quickly. Belle followed close suit.

"Detective Kincaid!" Gale started, "What do we know, same killer?"

"Hey, hey, Terminal Entertainment, this is a crime scene, okay?" One detective said.

"Wallace, Miss Weathers is working with me now," The other one (Detective Kincaid, Belle had learned) replied.

"Thank you, detective," Gale said matter-of-factly.

"Well, in that case, I'm gonna go dust for fingerprints with Jane Pauley," Wallace quipped.

"Uh, photos, Wallace, please," Kincaid paused, grabbing a stack of papers from Wallace, "Thank you," and with that, Wallace turned to further explore the crime scene.

"Hi, Mark Kincaid. You're Belle Macher, correct? I'm gonna assume you're valuable if Miss Weathers thinks it wise to include you, so, welcome to the team," Kincaid continued to Belle as he stuck out his hand for her to shake.

Not bothering to correct him on her last name, she took his hand and shook it, "Nice to meet you," she said politely.

"Wish it was under different circumstances," he said, "Anyway, new pictures, same person. Any thing turn up on your research yet?"

"Nothing that'll help with these," Gale muttered.

"What about an increased police presence around Jennifer?" Dewey said suddenly, causing Belle to jump slightly as he walked up beside her, "She's the next one to get killed in the script," Dewey added, taking note of Kincaid's apparent confusion.

"She has a bodyguard," Kincaid assured the man, "And besides, the producers told us that there were three different versions of the script, something about trying to keep the ending off the internet. You should know that, you're the technical advisor, right?"

Dewey simply scoffed.

"Three versions, I'm gonna assume three different characters die next?" Belle interjected.

"Correct you are, Miss Macher-" Kincaid started, but Dewey cut him off.

"Macher? Belle got married, it's Meeks, isn't it?"

"I wasn't gonna say anything, doesn't phase me much," Belle shrugged.

Kincaid looked at her slightly confused. He started to say something but, wanting the focus off of her, Belle began talking, "Three different scripts and no idea which one the killer read or if he'll even stick to the script order, how do we know who to keep safe?"