Chapter Twenty-Five
“You’re a Micheletti?” Elena, Cal, and Antonio burst out.
“Stanfield is my stage name. I couldn’t have a true acting career using my family name. Could you imagine what the press would do with that?” I rolled my eyes at the thought. “Sonny, Benny, and Tony are my older brothers, Vince is our cousin, and these three hulking men work for us.”
“But,” Elena sputtered. “Billy’s the one that is mainly associated with them.”
“Yes,” Billy explained. “To keep Elizabeth’s name out of everything, I am buffer between her and her brothers. However, she is completely in charge.”
“Plus,” I added, “I love it when people underestimate me and the power that I have.” My evil smile reappeared.
“That explains why you bicker with Sonny all the time and get away with it,” Antonio remarked.
“She gets away with a lot right now,” Benny spoke up. “But she or her boyfriend will get whacked if they keep talking about their sex life in front of us.”
Tony and Sonny nodded their heads in agreement. Billy laughed.
“We do that to see your reactions,” I turned back to say jokingly.
“Elizabeth.” Sonny, always the serious one, forcefully brought our attention back to the matter at hand. “What do you want to do here?”
I turned back and looked from Elena to Cal.
“Remember there was a time when you loved me,” Cal plead. “Elizabeth, please, I still love you. We could get back together and make it work this time. You don’t want to be with Billy, he’s just your errand boy.”
Billy shot forward, fist ready, but I stopped him.
“No hitting,” I told him. “There can’t be any bruising or broken bones. That’ll cause suspicion when their bodies are found.”
“Have you done this before?” Elena questioned me. “Oh my God, were you the one that had the last studio head killed?”
“Billy wanted him taken care of, so I casually told my brothers that the studio head was not complying with what Billy wanted.” I answered honestly. “What happened after that is completely out of my hands.”
“Oh my God,” Elena repeated, and leaned forward like she was going to throw up.
“I have to ask, if she’s the youngest in the family.” Antonio turned to Sonny. “Why do you take your orders from her?” I wasn’t sure if he was trying to start something or if he was really interested in the answer.
“When our parents left the country,” Tony actually spoke and explained, “our father put Elizabeth as the head of the family business. His reasons were that Sonny is too hot-headed, Benny was too busy chasing women at the time, and I’m more suited for security.”
Sonny and Benny started to protest what Tony said.
“Enough,” Billy yelled over their voices.
“Billy,” Tony continued, “is the only one that can keep the peace between us all.”
“Also, Billy and I have been close friends forever,” I added. “Therefore, our family entrusted him with our secrets. Billy takes that trust very seriously and helps us maintain peace.”
“Your parents?” Cal asked, sounding confused. “I assumed your parents were dead.”
“Why would you think that?” I demanded.
“Because you never talk about them,” Cal answered.
“They are very much alive, living in a non-extradition country. If you weren’t so narcissistic all the time and had asked me, I would have told you,” I explained.
“Elizabeth.” Sonny pushed again to get us back to the current situation. “What is your decision here?”
I thought about the options we had. I certainly couldn’t let them go now that they knew my secret nor could I let them get away with falsely accusing my family.
“They know too much,” I commanded.
“Make it look like a murder-suicide?” Sonny asked.
“Whatever you prefer. Older brother’s choice,” I answered, moving away, and stood next to Billy.
The three hired men moved forward, taking a shocked Elena and Cal by the arms and away from the middle of the room.
“Who do you want as the murderer?” one of the men asked.
“Cal,” Billy answered.
“Do you agree, Miss. Stanfield?” another of the men asked, confirming Billy’s decision.
“Yes,” I responded, sealing their fate.
“What about Antonio?” Tony asked. “What are we doing with him?”
Antonio’s eyes went wide and he turned completely white. Billy put his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him.
“We need him to finish the movie this coming week, and then all the editing and stuff,” Billy considered.
“Can anyone else do it? I’m not comfortable with him knowing as much as he does now,” I answered.
“Of course, someone else can do it, but it won’t have the same flow as the rest of the movie. Someone else may want more filming done to put their mark on it,” Billy explained.
“He knows too much,” I gently argued as Benny and Sonny both nodded their heads in agreement. “He obviously can be broken down if someone pushes him hard enough for information.” I was really not comfortable with him knowing everything and still walking around, he was not to be trusted.
“I won’t tell anyone anything, I swear,” Antonio pleaded.
“I agree with Elizabeth, I don’t think it’s a good idea to keep him around. He has proven that he can be bent.” Sonny added.
“Not to mention trying to manipulate me and the things he said the other night that required a beating from you,” I reminded Billy. “Do you think we can really trust him?”
“That’s very true.” Billy looked thoughtful. “I’m good with whatever decision you make. We can always find another director.”
“There’s your answer,” I said to Tony.
Tony and Vince then walked Antonio across the room and handed him off to their look-a-likes.
“Thanks a lot, princess,” Antonio shot across the room in my direction.
“Don’t take it personally, Antonio.” I smirked, throwing his words back at him. “It’s just business.”
“Time to eat.” Sonny clapped his hands together. “Let’s get out of here and let these fine gentlemen do their job.”
One of the look-a-likes opened the office door for us to leave. The other look-a-likes began drugging the victims, by placing a handkerchief over each of their faces. By the time we had left the office, all three of them were passed out on the floor.
“We will be in touch,” the lead look-a-like said to Sonny as we left.
“We will be back in Vegas in about an hour and a half. Call me then,” Sonny instructed.
“Will do, Mr. Micheletti.” He then closed and locked the door behind us.
“I thought we were going to eat?” I asked as Billy, my three brothers, and cousin joined me in the elevator.
“We’ll eat when we are safely back in Vegas,” Sonny answered.
“Come on,” I began to argue. “You’re such an asshole. I thought we were going now. I’m starving.”
Sonny and I began to argue as the elevator descended.
“Enough.” Billy used his favorite word when stopping our bickering. “We will eat back in Vegas. We need an alibi,” Billy explained.
“But they are doing it now, what difference does it make?” I whined.
“No, they aren’t doing it now,” Sonny jumped in. “That’s why I told them to give us about an hour and a half. They won’t do anything until then.”
“Diabolical.” I was impressed. “I’ve never been a part of the action.”
“Technically, you still aren’t,” Tony clarified.
“Your whining is the reason why we never include you,” Benny added his two cents.
“Shut up, Benny,” I shot back, I was so hungry I couldn’t think of a smarter come back then that.
We left the building the way we had arrived, through the back entrance. We climbed into the waiting car that took us straight to the private airfield. Our plane was already waiting with the engines running.
“All set to go, Mr. Micheletti?” Frank, the pilot, asked Sonny as we all got on board.
“Yes, please, Frank, as soon as we can,” Sonny responded.
“When are you going to start calling around for a new director?” I asked Billy as I sat in the same chair I had arrived in.
“Once the news breaks that they’ve been found,” Billy answered with his eyes closed and his head resting on the back of the chair. “It would look a little suspicious beforehand.”
The plane began taxiing down the runway.
“Where are we eating when we land?” I asked.
“Somewhere with a lot of cameras,” Benny answered.
***
“We’re at the restaurant, having lunch,” Sonny announced into his phone. “Great, thank you very much.”
We were on the main strip of Las Vegas sitting at a table on an outdoor patio restaurant. All of us were wearing sunglasses to protect our eyes from the blazing early afternoon sun.
However, thankfully, that didn’t stop the twenty or so members of the paparazzi that were constantly snapping pictures of us from across the street. Which worked nicely into our plan of having alibi’s.
“Who was that?” I queried after Sonny hung up the phone.
“Seriously?” Benny said sarcastically. “You’re normally a lot more intelligent than this.”
Billy whispered in my ear that it was the guys in Los Angeles getting their cue to finish the job.
“I’m starving,” I snapped at Benny. “I haven’t been allowed to eat until now, so I’m not exactly firing on all cylinders. Plus, I have never been included in these things, therefore, I have no idea what the hell is going on.”
“Holy cow, you’re cranky when you’re hungry,” Tony commented. “Good luck with that,” he said to Billy.
“Yeah, thanks,” Billy laughed.
“Will they let us know when everything is complete?” I blatantly questioned.
“No,” Sonny answered without any further explanation.
Lunch was then served and everyone was silent as we stuffed our faces. After we were finished eating, we continued to sit on the patio drinking coffee until late in the afternoon. Presumably to establish impenetrable alibis. Hours after we had sat down, my cell phone began to ring.
“It’s Al,” I announced to everyone at the table. “Here we go.”
“Where are you?” Al demanded after I had answered.
“At a restaurant, why? Where are you?” I teased, trying to be funny.
“What restaurant?” He ignored my question.
“La Cucina, why are you asking?”
“Tell me that is in Las Vegas, please.” Al sounded desperate.
“Yes, it is,” I answered.
“Where were you before that?” He continued his machine gun-like questioning.
“In bed with Billy. Did you want to hear about that? Because I’m dying to tell someone about it.”
Billy laughed while Benny glared at me.
“No, that’s quite all right. You or Billy haven’t been to Los Angeles recently, have you?”
“No, we haven’t left Vegas in weeks. Why?” I asked again.
“Cal apparently blew Elena and Antonio away before taking his own life this morning,” Al explained.
“Oh, my God,” I exclaimed. “What happened?” My acting skills were one of the best in the business. This reaction was easy to come by.
“Allegedly,” Al began to further explain to me, “Elena had sent orders yesterday to the security team at the studio to take the day off. One of the security guards had forgotten something at work so he went to the studio this afternoon and found the camera system off. When he turned the security system back on, he could see the bodies in Elena’s office and called the cops.”
“That’s horrible,” I empathized.
“I’m glad you were nowhere near there,” Al continued. “What statement do you want give because people are calling.”
“I’m going to leave that one in your capable hands,” I answered Al.
“We can go now,” I directed to the table after I had hung up the phone.
“I suggest you guys stay inside your room tonight,” Benny instructed.
“Stay away from the terrace off your room,” Sonny annunciated. “The media is going to be all over you about this because of your recent breakup and you never know who is watching.”
Within seconds of him saying that, the photographers across the street started yelling my name asking for a comment on the situation.
***
“Some tragic news coming out of Hollywood today,” the blonde news reporter on the television began to explain. Billy and I were sitting on the tan leather couch in my hotel suite with all the curtains closed, eating bowls of ice cream, and watching the news.
“Today,” the reporter continued. “One of People Magazine’s top fifty most beautiful people committed one of the worst crimes in Hollywood history. Cal Williams, from such films as Love and Money and Range Rover War Crimes, shot and killed studio head Elena Jarvis and famed movie director Antonio Suarez before taking his own life. From evidence found in Cal Williams’ Los Angeles home, it appears that he and Elena Jarvis had conspired to kill supermodel and former lover Brianna Thompson. Earlier this month, Thompson was in a vehicle crash that almost took her life. At the time, police ruled it an accident, but with this new evidence, they now believe that Williams and Jarvis planned and executed the crash. Police believe Antonio Suarez had a role in the attempted murder as well.”
Billy’s cell phone began to ring at the same time there was a knock at the door. He answered the phone while I opened the door to Sonny.
“I just wanted to check on you guys and see how you are holding up,” Sonny said as he stepped into the suite.
“We were watching the news. Looks like everyone is convinced of the story we wanted them to believe,” I answered relieved. I had no doubt that the execution would be pulled off professionally but I was satisfied with the outcome.
“Looks like we will be able to finish the movie this week after all,” Billy announced after putting down his cell.
“How’s that without a director?” I asked.
“I just got a call from Dean Cooper. He’s willing to finish the movie in Antonio’s place.”
“I don’t know him,” I answered. “Is he any good?”
“Yes,” Billy explained. “He directed the rat pack revival movie that was in the theatres last month.”
“That was a great movie,” Sonny added. “He did a great job showing what life must have been like for Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and crew.”
“I didn’t see it,” I complained. “So, he’s good then?”
“One of the best,” Billy confirmed.
“How did you get him so fast? The news about Antonio only broke this afternoon,” I asked.
“I have my ways.” Billy smiled slyly.
As the saying goes, what Billy wants, Billy gets.
“You realize another studio head is needed,” Sonny mentioned.
“Who do you have in mind?” Billy asked, turning to me.