Fame's Revenge

Chapter 4: Now

Liz

"Stealing?" I repeated. What on earth could this girl want to steal? I glanced around at the two officers standing on either side of her. "What was she trying to take?"

My house manager shrugged. "The usual stuff. Some jewelry, money, makeup. I also found one of your songs in her bag when I caught her."

One of the officers stepped closer. "I'll need you to verify the things that are missing, ma'am," he said.

I nodded, feeling somewhat removed from the situation. "Right, of course." I walked down the hallway to my bedroom and the music room. It took a long time, but eventually I gave a list of missing items to the officers. They took the list, the things she had that she'd taken, and her to the station and said that once everything was over and done that I'd get my stuff back. Honestly, I couldn't care less about what was taken with the exception of my song.

"We should hire someone else," my staff manager - Sherri? maybe? or Cathy? probably Cathy - said when she followed me into the kitchen. "Just for cleaning."

I opened my fridge and sighed. My cook had been by. All that was in there was a bunch of wraps and salads and hummus dip and other healthy foods I didn't have to cook or - in some cases - peel. I grabbed a green tea and the dip before reaching for the bag of chips in my cupboard that I insisted always be kept there. Tortilla ones, which weren't that great, but it was a compromise that my nutritionist and my personal trainer were willing to make and I allowed because they were the blue ones that had a little more flavor to them.

"Put an ad up, I suppose. I don't see why I need someone to do what I can easily do, though." I sat on a stool and opened the chips. "Cleaning isn't so hard."

Cathy frowned. "Maybe not light cleaning, but the maid cleans the whole house. You don't have a day to take off from life and scrub the kitchen and bathroom floors, or do laundry, or wash your curtains, or dust off the chandelier in the foyer."

My eyes widened as I stared at her. "She does all that?" I asked around a mouthful of hummus and chip, slightly incredulous.

Cathy wrinkled her nose slightly at my lack of manners. "She does, in fact. She does all of that and then some."

I shook my head and drank some tea to wash away the muck in my mouth. "Then you have my full permission to hire someone at your discretion. As long as you understand that I want you to do a full background check on them, make sure that nothing happens that could attract people to my house, and they're not my responsibility if something goes wrong."

"So just like last time, then," Cathy said with a smile.

I smiled back. I'd forgot that I did actually kind of like her. "Guess so." I stuffed another chip in my mouth. I turned the bag to her and she grabbed a chip and dipped it. Her nose scrunched up when she started to chew and I couldn't help but laugh at her. "I know," I said.

"Now I need to go get a slice of cake and wash the taste of healthy out my mouth," she said. She gagged and I couldn't help but laugh harder at her. It wasn't so bad, if I'm honest. I was starting to get a taste for it.

I did wish sometimes they'd let me have something good. But oh well.

Shay

There was nothing. Absolutely nothing. Shay wanted to hit her computer out of frustration. It wasn't going to plan at all. No way she could get to Liz, no way she could get those stupid voices to stop. They were driving her crazy today. They wouldn't stop. She was reduced to staying in her own room to avoid her parents and trying to muffle the voices with a pillow, but they were always there.