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CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Oh my god,” Fiona exclaimed.
“What?” Lenny asked, apparently not totally processing the news. He looked confused by her words.
“She was found in her apartment by her roommate,” Jessie said. “We’re investigating what happened. So you can understand that learning about any potential issues she had on-set or with a co-worker is essential to finding out what happened.”
“This can’t be right. I just saw her,” Lenny said, still not grasping things completely.
“When was that?” Jessie asked.
Lenny looked over at his mother helplessly. Fiona pulled up a screen on her computer.
“Yesterday we wrapped for the day at five eighteen,” she said, studying the screen. “She would have gone to makeup after that. Getting back to an everyday look is an involved process. Unless a girl has a public event or is doing a set at a club afterward, she’ll usually want to peel everything off. Same with wardrobe—most of our girls like to leave here makeup free and in sweats so don’t they draw…unwanted attention.”
“Stalkers?” Jessie asked.
“More just overenthusiastic fans,” Fiona said. “But it can be a lot. None of them want to be hit on at the local Starbucks. I’m sure you get the same thing, dearie. For a lot of the girls, going without makeup is a kind of disguise because they look so different.”
“You say she would have gone to wardrobe too. Was she a cheerleader for this movie?”
Lenny seemed to snap out of it slightly at the question.
“Yeah. We were shooting Nympho Cheerleader Zombies 2. The original was one of our biggest hits.”
“She was found in her cheerleader uniform,” Jessie said, ignoring his box office commentary. “How unusual would it be for her to wear her costume home?”
“A little,” Fiona said. “But it’s not crazy. That’s a simple uniform to prep. If she kept it, she probably could have slept an extra half hour this morning. Normally the wardrobe girls have to find the outfit, check it out, and dress her. She could have just shown up in it and had wardrobe do a quick check. The head costumer doesn’t like that in general because of potential damage. But because it was Melissa, I bet she would have let it slide. It’s not like we’re doing Shakespeare in Love here.”
“Yeah,” Jessie said. “It seems like a lot of what goes on here wouldn’t pass muster in the normal film world.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Lenny demanded, looking offended. “We follow all the industry standards. We wipe down facilities after every scene. We haven’t had a health shutdown in over three years.”
“That’s very impressive,” Jessie said, trying not to gag. “But what about following employment rules?”
Lenny looked over at his mom like a kid who was worried he might get busted for stealing a cookie. Fiona sighed.
“We follow standard procedure,” she said. ‘Everyone needs to provide the same paperwork they would to work at a grocery store or at a shop in the mall.”
“It looks like your age verification procedures could use a little brushing up,” Jessie said.
“What do you mean?” Fiona asked as she punched the keyboard in front of her. “I’m looking at her file now. Everything is in order.”
“Melissa was seventeen,” Jessie told her. “And her real name isn’t Melissa Mackenzie. It’s Michaela Penn.”
“What the…?” Lenny started to say.
“That’s not possible,” Fiona said. “I’m looking at copies of her documents right here—license, social security card—they’re legit.”
“A basic background check would have told you that the Melissa Mackenzie with that social security number died as a baby eighteen years ago. It took me two minutes to confirm it.”
“But you’re a cop,” Fiona protested.
“You don’t have to be a cop to verify this information,” Jessie said, not correcting the woman’s misimpression about her profession. “It’s easy to confirm. I suspect that age verification just isn’t a priority for Filthy Films.”
“Listen,” Lenny insisted. “We follow the rules. Missy, Michaela, whoever she is, was trumpeted by Giles. He pushed for her. If there was anything sketchy about her background, he’s the one who should have known.”
“Who’s Giles?” Jessie asked.
