“I was able to extract the other passengers from the vehicle, and they seemed to be uninjured. During that process, I instructed Wolf Tams to call 911 for David, as I assessed he was in no further immediate danger of attack. I then approached the SUV and found the front passenger door and one of the back doors open. In the driver’s seat, I found one of Zander Lewis’s security people who’d been with him at the party,” Fritz said.
I frowned because it sounded like Fritz was testifying. I wondered if he and Flo had worked together to get their stories straight. Fritz had a background in this type of stuff. I guessed he had just reverted to what he’d done in the past.
Fritz continued, “I was able to talk to the driver, and he admitted that Zander had ordered him to ram our car. His primary target was Halle James, who had upset him by thwarting the passes he’d been making at her. He thought it would be a bonus to catch Brook Davis, because Brook had disabled him during the confrontation at Zak Verwood’s house, and he wanted payback.”
More like Halle and Brook had given him a major beatdown.
“I’ve been in contact with the police since the accident,” Flo said.
“Lexi, you said you witnessed some things. How do you fit into all this?” I asked, trying to solve further the mystery of why she was here.
“I left the party shortly after you did, and saw the SUV hit your van, as well as Zander and his security running from the accident. Afterward, I talked to Halle, and she shared why she thought he did it. I also talked to my dad about Zander without mentioning David or Halle. Dad told me he knows of at least three prior cases of girls who have been with him against their will,” Lexi explained.
I felt myself get mad. I wondered what it would take for the good-old-boys club of Hollywood to come tumbling down. Lexi’s dad was one of the most powerful men in Hollywood. How many of these types of incidents did he know about and not do anything? Was he directly involved in any of them?
“If he had done something about it, my son might not have been almost killed,” Mom said as her eyes bored into Lexi.
To Lexi’s credit, she didn’t even flinch.
“He’s well aware of that, and some news has already gotten to him about the incident, but it didn’t come from me. He knows I’ve started working for David, and when I asked, he gave me the girls’ names. I gave them to the police,” Lexi responded.
My mom didn’t look away, but she gave Lexi a slight nod.
“The police found cocaine in the back seat of the SUV. The driver told them that it was Zander’s,” Flo said.
“Have they caught him?” Dad asked.
“They found him and the other security person early this afternoon,” Fritz said.
“We need to get busy,” Frank said.
◊◊◊
Chapter 22 – Seize the Day Sunday October 9
We took a short break before the key players gathered back together. Kent scored big points in my book when he had food brought in. Brook made me a plate, and I caught my mom’s eye. Mom shook her head because I don’t think she thought of Brook as being so domestic, for lack of a better word. Brook had kept a close eye on me ever since I’d been hurt. It was a side of her I hadn’t seen before.
“Thank you,” I said.
“I hope you don’t expect this treatment all the time,” Brook teased.
“Good Lord, no, we’ll have people for that,” I shot back.
“While I’m sure we could, I hope not.”
“I agree,” I said, getting serious. “I’m just happy you weren’t hurt.”
“It scared me when they hauled you off in the ambulance. Don’t ever do that again.”
“If you knew how much this hurt, you’d know that that will never be something I’ll try again if I can help it.”
I considered asking her about her conversation with Lexi, but decided not to rock the boat. They seemed to be good with each other, and it might be better if I remained ignorant of the details right now.
Our conversation ended when the meeting started up again. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but Bev Mass started things off.
“You need to make a decision. You have a short time before the police knock on your door and lock down all your evidence. They’ll take the videos and want to keep them under wraps until the trial. They don’t want this tried in the court of public opinion, nor do they want the videos leaked to taint possible jurors. As an officer of the court, I would strongly recommend you let the police handle it.”
Bev paused to let that sink in.
