Chapter 51

51

L uke had gone straight to Meshflixx after the chat with Philippa and a visit to Voyeur 's office that had confirmed The Privateers script had been sent to them anonymously.

Divya was dealing with some of the fallout at T&T after he'd coordinated the release of the statement disassociating Sol from the Meshflixx mess. Luke had also asked his colleague to ring Moon for him and get the creative liaison to arrange a chat with Bryana Daniels.

When he got to Meshflixx, he checked in at the reception and was told Bryana was expecting him. He found her waiting by the lift's doors on the building's top floor. She indicated he follow her and guided him to one of the company's diaphanous meeting rooms. They sat across from each other at a clear round table before Bryana uttered a single word.

"So you think you figured out who stole the script," she said.

"Yes," Luke admitted.

There was a silence then, but Luke hoped getting Bryana to talk wouldn't be hard. She'd agreed to see him already. She'd brought up the subject of the stolen script herself. And he could almost see her willingness to explain how it all had happened. She just needed a little more encouragement.

"You temporarily disabled the wi-fi on February 23 here, forcing your sister to take a physical copy of the script with her. Oliver Green took the script from your sister's locker and put it inside Sol Novo's bag. Later on, you pretended to be Sara and bumped into Sol at the Tube, where you took the script from her bag." He tried to be as straightforward as possible.

"And exactly why would I do such a thing, detective? Especially when I had access to the script the whole time and no need to enact a ruse like the one you're describing."

"I was hoping you'd actually tell me why," he answered with his best, most professional smile.

···

Luke saw Sol standing with perfect poise by one of the brick arches of their meeting point. She wore one of her mostly dark, elegant dresses and the same pair of espadrilles he'd seen her don in Barcelona. Her bob was tussled, her oversized sunglasses were on, and she looked regal. Best of all, there were no school children anywhere in sight.

"Hola." She smiled at him when Luke got closer.

"Ciao, bella," he said before they kissed, and, for several minutes, they were quite unaware of their surroundings. "Should I guide this time?" he finally asked.

She acceded even though he knew she liked leading. He grabbed her hand and steered in the direction opposite from the river, making his way to the Borough Market.

"Are you going to tell me what happened with Bryana? Did she take the script?"

"Yes," he said. "Care to know how Divya and I figured it out?"

"Other than the fact that Sara Daniels seemed to be in two places at the same time the day of the theft and she happens to have an identical twin?"

"Other than that, yes," he said.

"I'm getting impatient," she warned him.

"I have been so off with this investigation because you've distracted me so much," he started, stopping underneath the train tracks on Stoney Street by one of the market's entrances.

"I'm distracting you?"

"Deeply." He gazed at her, and she seemed to struggle with a response. It was oddly entertaining to watch her fighting to find the words, especially after praise had been directed her way. She almost didn't know how to take it.

"Let's go back to the case, and we can deal with the distraction issue in a less crowded place," she said, lowering her sunglasses momentarily and looking him directly in the eyes.

"Sure." He smiled, resuming the walk. "I dropped by Voyeur 's offices this morning after I left your place and talked to a couple of people there. They were quick to tell me that they hadn't paid for The Privateers script—even if it brought them lots of traffic. Whoever stole the script wasn't looking to make money with it."

"And that's peculiar?"

"That paired with your encounter at Charing Cross pointed toward Bryana. But it wasn't until we spoke to Philippa and she corroborated your story?—"

"Still don't know why my story needed to be corroborated."

"I never doubted you," he told her with his best smile.

He hoped she wouldn't make a big deal out of it, but he was also getting weirdly hooked to their frequent yelling contests. And the truth was that he had doubted her—briefly and against all his instincts.

"The day of the theft, Bryana called Josie, pretending to be Sara, and asked her for some specific workout routine that would be added to what Josie had already prepared for the day. It was what made the class run long and forced you to take the Tube. Sara went to class prompted by her sister, unaware of Bryana's petition to Josie. Oliver took the script from Sara's bag and put it in yours. And Bryana retrieved it at the Tube."

"Why?"

"Bryana wasn't happy with the notes from Meshflixx," Luke explained. "They wanted them to kill off the quartermaster to develop a second show with him, the prequel my boss told me about."

"Wasn't it simpler to talk to Meshflixx? She arranged this thing with the hopes of what?"

"With hopes of the fans getting ahold of the script resulting from Meshflixx's notes and demanding a change, voicing their disappointment because the character was killed off and making Meshflixx doubt the decision."

"Did Sara know anything about this?"

"No, the sisters had quarreled. Bryana was unhappy because she sees her sister as too soft, conceding to all the studio's demands. Bryana didn't want to kill off the quartermaster, and she didn't want to make a second show. It was her who said she couldn't work in two overlapping series in the article you sent me a few days ago. But Sara didn't mind working on several projects at the same time, apparently."

"And Bryana told you all this today?"

Luke shrugged. "She was eager to finally come clean since no one seemed to care about it. Meshflixx didn't report the theft to the police. They were rushing the private investigation, and she feared the writers' strike would force some of the changes she wanted not to happen. She thinks they'll be stuck with the actual leaked script, even if the fans have raged against it. That's why she decided to surface the CCTV video now, to try and get people angered about the script again."

Sol frowned. "So how did Bryana manage to pull this elaborate thing off? Was I always collateral damage?"

"Yes. Bryana and Oliver knew you'd be at Josie's that Thursday because you're always there on Thursdays. She knew you'd have to take the Tube because she made sure the class ran late, and she knew you always have dinner at half past seven and hate being late."

"Mare meva, am I this predictable?"

"You're reliable," he tried soothing her.

"Why the Tube though?"

"CCTV coverage is better on the streets leading from Josie's to Charing Cross than the usual route you take when you walk home."

"And I always take the same damn route home," she said. "But why me, other than my unwillingness to be late and how boring I am?"

"Perfect scapegoat, everyone automatically suspected the journalist. Plus, she didn't like the review you wrote of their first show."

"What? I loved that show!" she protested.

"Bryana said something about an untasteful headline," Luke explained.

"My editor wrote that fucking headline! I've been in purgatory all week and it's all been due to my poor taste in editors."

"Fortunately, you have excellent taste in private detectives."

"That I do." She turned to him. It seemed they were due for some Mediterranean public display of desire, after all. But, before she acted on it, something hit her. "I just realized that Josie's best, most challenging class to date was also the result of a nefarious request from Bryana Daniels."

"The fascination you and the rest of Josie's people have with the whole practice still baffles me," he said, laughing. "Philippa tried turning me toward the Pilates way this morning."

"I've heard. I was also told she had no luck."

"Let's say that now that I've finally figured out my way to seducing the sexiest Pilates practitioner I've met, there's no need for me to continue pretending I care for it." He was happy to see her blushing. "Now, will you yell at me if I tell you I'm sorry about the damage my former agency has done to your name?"

"Why would I be mad at you for apologizing?" she said, then her expression shifted. " Former agency?"

"I resigned this morning," he said. "I mean, they would have probably sacked me anyway…"

Sol's gaze softened. "I'm not going to yell at you for being jobless," she said.

"Sol, it has been a long time coming. I wasn't happy, and I was seriously questioning some if not most of the methods employed by the agency."

"You're trying to make me believe this wasn't because of me," she said.

"It wasn't because of you." Her answering stare was severe. "Okay, it wasn't only because of you. But do you seriously think I could stay at the place that tried to ruin your reputation?"

"At least tell me you have some savings or some plan B or something, and you won't be on the streets because of me." She sounded genuinely worried.

"Fortunately, I'll still be able to afford the rent," he said. As of that afternoon, he had an inkling of what the future would entail, and the prospects looked mildly optimistic. "So you're not angry with me?"

"Of course I'm not angry. I'll even buy you a drink, if you're up for it…"

"Why not. I've heard there's a good tapas bar not that far from here anyway." He directed them to Bermondsey Street.