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It was a long night and we didn’t have any more luck. Vern’s cell was turned off. Serena was still missing.
Finally around lunchtime the next day Vern answered his phone when Flynn called him. We were all home. Carter didn’t have filming, but I knew he wouldn’t have turned up if he had.
“What do you want? Don’t you think you’ve done enough?” He snarled his words out. We had the call on speaker phone so we could all hear.
“We don’t know why Serena isn’t here, but we know something has gone down. Leonie called us. Things aren’t adding up, Vern. We need to see her to discuss things, like why she left and isn’t speaking to us.”
“Well let me give you a clue. There’s the video of Carter kissing the dark-haired woman at a party.”
Carter’s mouth dropped open. “What?”
“Then there’s you meeting your ex in New York, Jayden kissing a woman outside a hotel, and Smith attending addiction meetings and kissing that friend she thought she had.”
“None of this is how it seems, Vern.”
“Well, I’ve seen it with my own eyes, so you’ll forgive me if I don’t believe you.”
“Look. We need your help. Can you meet us and bring this supposed evidence? There has to be an explanation.”
“Fine. But the only reason is because my daughter’s heart is breaking right now and I’ll do anything to help mend it. You piss me off and I’ll make sure I put a spell on you that makes blood thirst look like a walk in the park. You hear me?”
“Loud and clear. Where do you want to meet?”
“You choose. I’m near Surfrider Beach.”
“Let’s meet at Waves. There’s my room there, where I store my surf gear. It has chairs and WiFi. Delphine from Waves will supply us with drinks if I tip her nicely.” Carter suggested.
“Fine. I’ll see you there in an hour and this better be worth my time.”
“It will be.” Flynn confirmed before ending the call.
“What the fuck is happening?” I said.
“I don’t know but we’re about to find out.” Said Flynn.
Just over an hour later we were all in a room overlooking Surfrider Beach. Delphine had indeed sent wait staff round with refreshments.
Vern came in carrying a laptop bag and after stilted hellos, Carter helped him set it up.
“So the first thing she received was this…”
It was a recording of Carter at a party where he kissed a fellow actress. The words and actions were damning.
“Well?” Vern turned to him.
“It was at Catalina’s after filming. She insisted that we act out the next day’s scene because we had to kiss and she didn’t want it to be awkward. There were about a hundred people watching us. Whoever filmed that did a great job of making something innocent look guilty.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“You don’t have to.” Carter went into his pocket and took a business card out of his wallet. “Call the director. He has the footage of the scene we did the next day. It will be on next season’s show.”
Vern nodded. “Okay.” He went back into the laptop case and brought out some photographs which he handed to me. I flicked through them and then handed them around. “There’s a tape too. Of you in a meeting.”
“Inside a meeting?” I stood up, spinning around, clutching at my hair. “Those things are confidential. Fuck.”
Jayden stood and placed an arm on my shoulder. “It’s okay. We’ll sort this. Sit down and let’s get through all this and then we can make a plan.”
I nodded and sat back down. “I have addiction problems, Vern. Leonie noticed and went to a meeting with me. That kiss.” I pointed at the picture. “Was just me thanking a friend for being there for me. It was a peck on the cheek though the photo makes it look more. I admitted everythi
