Previously: Three days before the body of a woman is discovered in the library of the Winters’ Family home in California, Amanda Winters blackmailed Vivienne Scarlet and told Vivienne that if she did not participate in a scheme to trick her husband Jason, that she would reveal to Vivienne’s mother that years earlier Vivienne had murdered her mother’s abusive husband and framed her mother for the crime. Seeing no other option, Scarlet agreed to help Amanda. Amanda, knowing that her husband Jason was very close to discovering that she was having an affair with Randy Dove, decided to turn the tables on Jason before he could see incriminating photos of Amanda and Randy together. Amanda made Jason breakfast in bed and drugged his glass of juice with sedatives. Then, once Jason was unconscious, Amanda and Vivienne moved Jason to the Winters’ guest house, where Vivienne had been secretly residing. Amanda then suggested to Jason’s mother Kendal that they go to the guest house to store some party favors. Once Kendal and Amanda were in the guest house, they discovered Jason in bed with Vivienne. Amanda feigned shock and fled. Kendal could not believe her son would be unfaithful to his wife and tried to console Amanda. Meanwhile, across town, in a soundstage utility closet at Prince “Blanket” Onceblack’s film studio, “Blanket’s” hostages were beginning to become claustrophobic, no one more so than Miss Maralyn Mauve. Maralyn’s constant banging and screaming for help was beginning to unnerve her fellow prisoners and her antics did not help the fact that one of the people, a janitor named Miguel, had been shot by “Blanket” and he was losing blood very quickly. Kevin Kale and Jeffery Tan realized that if they didn’t find a way out of the closet soon, Miguel would die. “Blanket”, in the meantime, was in his office trying to figure out what he was going to do with the people he was holding hostage when a cell phone began to ring. “Blanket” realized the phone was Kevin Kale’s and saw that the call was coming from a Detective Oleander. Pretending to be Kevin, “Blanket” took the call and the police detective told him that Vivienne Scarlet was last seen getting into the car of Reynard Winters and that Reynard worked at Los Angeles County Hospital. Meanwhile, Melissa Mustard continued her search for Ryder Turchese. Melissa had received a call from an unidentified woman who told Melissa that in order to find her kidnapped son, she would need to go to L.A. and find Ryder. Melissa was unaware however, that her uncle, Colonel Michael Mustard was the real culprit behind her son’s kidnapping and that Ryder had threatened him. Ryder told Mustard that he would find Melissa himself and tell her the truth unless Mustard paid him for his part in kidnapping the child.

“Bad News Travels Fast”

FRIDAY, 7:33 PM PST

In the library of the Winters’ home, a light breeze blows the silk curtains that hang on either side of a set of French doors. Nearby, the lifeless body of a woman lies in front of a stone fireplace. The flames of the fire have almost burnt completely out. From the next room, the sound of partygoers can be heard. But the people attending the celebration have no idea of the horror that has taken place behind the library’s door…

FLASHBACK: THREE DAYS AGO, 4:05 PM PST

Prince “Blanket” Onceblack is driving in his car. On the seat next to him is a sheet of paper. Scrawled on the paper are the words Reynard Winters: L.A. County Hospital. “Blanket” sees a sign stating that the hospital is straight ahead. Two car lengths behind him, L.A. Police Detective Oleander is in his unmarked car, also heading to the hospital. Oleander is on his phone talking to his partner. “I am almost at County Hospital.” Det. Oleander says. “Once I talk to Mr. Winters, we can give Kevin Kale a call and let him know where Vivienne Scarlet has been. Yeah, you’re right. I hope Mr. Winters feels like cooperating too. I will call you when I leave the hospital.” The detective hangs up the phone just as “Blanket” turns into the hospital parking lot. In his office in the hospital, Reynard Winters is trying to focus on paperwork when his phone rings.

“Reynard Winters.” He answers.

“Rey.” Kendal Winters says.

“Hello dear.” Reynard says, removing his bifocals. “I hope your day is going better than mine.”

“It’s not.” Kendal says. “That’s why I am calling.”

“Oh no, what’s wrong?” Reynard asks.

“I don’t really know how to tell you this, but Amanda and I walked in on Jason and another woman.” Kendal says.

“Jason and another woman doing what?” Reynard asks naively.

“They were in bed, Reynard. Naked.” Kendal says. “I think you better come home. Now.”

“I am on my way.” Reynard says. He hangs up the phone and springs to his feet. Grabbing his coat off of a coat rack, Reynard heads out the door. He passes Dr. Richard Dove in the hallway.

“Reynard?” Richard calls out to him. “Is everything ok?”

“I can’t talk now, Richard. I will call you later.” Reynard says. He hurries to an elevator that is just about to close. “Hold the elevator please!” He shouts.

Meanwhile, just as he enters the hospital parking lot, “Blanket” Onceblack is startled by the ringing of his cell phone.

“Hello.” “Blanket” says.

“Mr. Onceblack, this is Dr. Honeywell from Sunnybrook Sanitarium in Blackport, New Hampshire.” A man says.

“Hello, doctor.” “Blanket” says, somewhat surprised to hear from him. “What can I do for you?”

“I am afraid I have some bad news. Your father passed away on Sunday evening. I am very sorry.” The doctor says. A stunned “Blanket” begins to sob and stops his car suddenly, not realizing he has stopped in an emergency vehicle lane. “If it helps, your father was not alone when he passed. Your Aunt Mary was here with him.” The doctor says. “She is flying back to Los Angeles with his body and should arrive this evening, at no cost to your family, of course.” “Blanket” drops the phone. “Mr. Onceblack?” Dr. Honeywell says. “Are you there?” At that very moment an emergency transport vehicle has pulled into the lane behind “Blanket’s” car, but the distraught “Blanket” doesn’t notice the driver honking at him. The driver gets out of the vehicle and hurries over to “Blanket’s” car, just as Detective Oleander gets out of his car and is walking up to the hospital entrance. Oleander walks past “Blanket’s” car in the emergency lane and sees the driver trying to get “Blanket” to respond. Detective Oleander goes over to the car.

“Is there a problem?” Detective Oleander asks the driver.

“Yeah, this guy is blocking the emergency lane and I got a patient I have to pick up.” The driver says. “Come on, Mister.” The driver says taping on the glass of “Blanket’s” car. “Blanket” continues to cry. “Look at him, he’s a mess.” The driver says to Oleander.

“Let me try.” Oleander says. The driver steps aside. Oleander steps up to the window and taps on it. “Sir.” Oleander says. “Please roll down the window.” “Blanket” opens his eyes and lifts his head from the steering wheel. “Good. Now roll down the window.” “Blanket” rolls down the window and wipes his eyes. “Sir, I know you are upset, but you are blocking an emergency vehicle from picking up a patient. We need you to move your vehicle immediately.” “Blanket” doesn’t immediately comprehend what the Detective is saying. At that moment, Reynard Winters quickly exits the hospital and passes them. “Sir, I am a Los Angeles County Police officer and if you don’t move your car immediately, I will have to issue you a parking violation.” Oleander says, pulling his jacket back revealing his badge to “Blanket”. “Blanket” sees the detective’s badge and immediately recognizes the name on it. Realizing that the detective is at the hospital to interview Reynard Winters, “Blanket” nods his head, starts up the engine of his car and quickly pulls his car around the side of the building.

“Thanks.” The driver says to the detective.

“No problem.” Detective Oleander says. He enters the hospital.

Across town at Richard and Randy Dove's apartment, Melissa Mustard is sitting at a computer. “Finding Ryder in this city is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.” She says to herself. “I am obviously not going to be able to do this alone.” She says. She opens her purse and begins searching for a pen. “Why can’t I ever find a pen when I need one?” Frustrated, Melissa throws open a desk drawer and looks for a pen. Melissa rummages through the drawer and takes out a large envelope. The envelope contains photographs of Amanda Winters and Randy Dove in a compromising position. Melissa finds a pen in the drawer and is about to put the envelope back when she sees a name written on the corner of the envelope. “Perry Winkle, Private Investigator.” Melissa reads the name from the envelope. “A P.I.” She says. She turns to the computer and does a Google search on Perry Winkle Private Investigator. Finding a website for Mr. Winkle’s agency, she picks up a phone and calls the number from the site.

“Perry Winkle.” Mr. Winkle answers.

“Mr. Winkle, my name is Melissa Mustard and I need your help finding a missing person.” Melissa tells him.

At Winterswind, Jason is upstairs banging on his and Amanda’s bedroom door. “Amanda, please let me in so we can talk.” Kendal Winters in on the steps watching her son’s desperate attempt to talk to his wife.

“You should probably give her some time, Jason.” Kendal says. Jason turns and slides down the wall, taking a seat on the floor. Kendal walks over to him and sits on the floor next to him. She doesn’t say anything.

“My head is so fuzzy.” Jason says. Kendal just looks at him disapprovingly. “What?” He asks her.

“How could you do this?” Kendal asks.

“I didn’t do anything, mom.” Jason says. He puts his head up against the wall.

“Jason, we saw you in bed with that woman.” Kendal says.

“And I am telling you I don’t know how I got there.” Jason says.

“You might want to come up with something better than that if you expect Amanda to ever talk to you again. She is going to want an explanation, son.” Kendal says. She stands up and walks away.

“I wish I had one.” Jason says to himself. Kendal makes her way downstairs just as Reynard enters the front door.

“Reynard.” Kendal says, hurrying across the hall to him. They hug.

“Are you alright?” Reynard asks.

“I don’t honestly know.” Kendal says. “It’s been insane around here.”

“Where’s Jason?” Reynard asks, glancing upstairs.

“He’s trying to get Amanda to talk to him. But you know what, I don’t blame her for not wanting to see him.” Kendal says. They go into the living room. “She’s devastated.”

“What exactly happened?” Reynard asks.

“Well, earlier today, Amanda and I were going through the boxes of decorations for the christening party and we discovered we had a lot more than we thought. So I suggested we take them to the garage for storage, because there was just so much. But Amanda suggested we put them in the guest house, because there is more room there and no one ever uses it. Or so we thought.” Kendal explains.

“The guest house?” Reynard swallows hard.

“Yes, so we took some boxes out there and when we got there we noticed that it seemed very lived-in.” She says.

“Lived-in?” Reynard asks. “How so?”

“Well, there were some dishes in the sink, fresh flowers on one of the tables. And something really strange…all the mirrors were either covered or smashed.” Kendal tells him.

“Smashed mirrors?” Reynard says. He goes over to a mini-bar and is about to make himself a stiff drink.

“Don’t do that.” Kendal says.

“Don’t do what?” Reynard turns to her.

“You can’t start drinking. You have to go to the airport and pick up Glenn, Miranda and the kids. Their plane lands in an hour.” She reminds him.

“Oh right.” Reynard says. He replaces the lid on a crystal decanter. “So what does Jason say about this?”

“Well, he claims not to remember how he got to the guest house and in bed with that woman.” Kendal says. “I told him that he may want to reconsider telling Amanda the truth if he ever wants her to speak to him again.” Kendal takes a seat on the couch. “She is really beside herself. I know she has been hard to get along with, but even Amanda doesn’t deserve this.”

“Yeah.” Reynard says. He walks toward the living room door.

“Where are you going?” Kendal asks.

“To talk to Jason.” He says.

“Good, maybe you can talk some sense into him.” Kendal says. Reynard leaves the room and crosses the hall. But instead of going upstairs to talk to Jason, he sneaks out of the front door and hurries across the yard to the guest house. Glancing back to the main house to make sure that no one sees him, Reynard enters the guest house and closes the door behind him.

At L.A. County Hospital, Detective Oleander steps out of the elevator and goes to an information desk. “Reynard Winters’ office please.” He says to the receptionist.

“Mr. Winters’ office is just down the hall. Room 343.” The receptionist says.

“Thank you.” The detective says. He turns to go down the hall.

“But he’s not here.” Dr. Richard Dove calls out to the detective.

“Excuse me?” Detective Oleander asks, turning to Dr. Dove.

“You just missed him by about five minutes.” Dr. Dove says.

“Oh, have I?” Detective Oleander asks. “Did he happen to say when he would be back?”

“No he didn’t.” Richard says. “In fact, he didn’t take the time to say much of anything.” He turns from the detective and puts a file into an inbox on the information desk.

“He left in a hurry, huh?” Oleander asks.

“You’re a cop aren’t you?” Richard says.

“A detective.” Oleander says. “You don’t happen to know where Mr. Winters was off to in such a hurry, do you?”

“Like I said, he didn’t say much of anything.” Richard says. “But if I had to guess, I’d say he was heading home.”

“And why would you guess that?” Detective Oleander asks. But before Dr. Dove can answer, a page comes across the hospital P.A. system.

“Paging Dr. Dove. Dr. Richard Dove.” The page says.

“Sorry, duty calls.” Richard smiles. He turns away from the detective and picks up a phone on the desk.

“Thanks for your help.” Detective Oleander says. Turning, Oleander glimpses “Blanket” Onceblack at the end of a corridor. Sensing that something isn’t quite right with “Blanket”, Oleander goes down the corridor after him. “Blanket” sees him coming and takes off.

“Now why are you in a hurry?” Oleander asks as he begins to run after “Blanket”. “Blanket” comes to a door marked stairwell and quickly enters. Oleander has caught up to him and enters the stairwell, the door slamming behind him. “Blanket” begins to quickly go down the stairs, with Oleander a few steps behind. “Blanket” begins to skip stairs and ends up on the bottom floor of the hospital. Winded, he opens a door that leads to an alley behind the hospital. In the alley are several large bins of linens that have just been delivered to the hospital. Oleander has just gotten to the bottom of the stairs and now has his gun drawn. Opening the door to the alley, Oleander cautiously looks for “Blanket” who is nowhere to be found. Oleander slowly walks down the alley with his gun in front of him, walking past one of the bins of linens. Breathing heavily, Oleander realizes that “Blanket” must have gotten away. He puts his gun away and takes out his phone. “Hey, it’s me.” Oleander tells his partner on the phone. “Yeah, Winters wasn’t at the hospital when I got here. Yeah, but I got a little side-tracked. I am about to head over to Winters’ place now. Go ahead and call Kevin Kale and let him know that I am still working on it and we will be in touch once we find Vivienne Scarlet.” He hangs up the phone and begins to walk back down the alley past the laundry bins. At the police station, Oleander’s partner places a call to Kevin Kale’s cell phone. In the alley, the muffled sound of a cell phone ringing stops Oleander in his tracks.

Across town, a taxi cab pulls up to the gates of Onceblack Studios. The security guard station is closed and a sign says that it will reopen at 8 am the next morning. “It looks like they’re closed, Sister.” The driver says, looking back at Sister Mary Amethyst. “Is there somewhere else you’d like for me to take you?”

“I have a room booked at the Omni Hotel.” Sister Amethyst says.

“The Omni it is.” The cab driver says. He backs out onto the main street in front of the studio. While inside the soundstage utility closet, most of “Blanket’s” hostages are sleeping, Kevin Kale however, is awake. He looks over at the wounded janitor, who is shivering.

“He’s not going to make it, is he?” Ginger whispers to Kevin. Kevin doesn’t answer. “If we don’t figure a way out of here, none of us are going to make it. Don’t you think that Onceblack would have come back by now?”

“No. He is obsessed with finding Vivienne.” Kevin says.

“You don’t think that he will do anything to her if he finds her, do you?” Ginger asks.

“Ginger, if you would have asked me that a few days ago, I would have said no. But, now,” Kevin looks around at the people around him, “I don’t know.”

In the alley behind the hospital, a confused Oleander stands silently. “What the hell?” Oleander says. He turns to follow the sound of the ringing cell phone and realizes it is coming from one of the laundry bins. Coming up to the laundry bin with the ringing phone, Oleander leans down to get a better listen, when suddenly a gunshot rings out from the piles of linens. The bullet hits Detective Oleander in the chest. Oleander falls back onto the ground. The ringing cell phone stops and “Blanket” sits up in the bin of laundry, sweaty and shaking. Struggling to make his way out of the bin, “Blanket” sees Detective Oleander’s body on the ground. Then “Blanket” looks down at the gun in his hand.

“Oh god.” “Blanket” says. He runs off down the alley, leaving Detective Oleander bleeding on the pavement.

At the office of Private Investigator Perry Winkle, Melissa Mustard sits in a waiting room. A moment later, Mr. Winkle comes out and invites her into his office. “Sorry about your wait.” He says.

“That’s alright.” Melissa smiles. “I realize it was kind of short notice.”

“Please have a seat.” Mr. Winkle says. He takes a seat behind a desk and Melissa takes a seat across from him. “So what can I do for you Miss…Mustard is it?”

“Yes, Melissa Mustard.” She says.

“So how can I help you?” Mr. Winkle says.

“Well, my, um, boyfriend Ryder has been missing for a while, and I’ve done everything I can think of to try and find him.” She says.

“Everything, but contact the police.” Winkle says.

“Excuse me?” Melissa says.

“Well, usually when people go missing, their loved ones call the cops.” Winkle says.

“Yes, but…” Melissa pauses.

“You can’t call the cops. Can you?” He asks.

“No, I mean, I could, but…” Melissa stutters. “It’s…”

“It’s complicated.” Winkle smiles.

“Right.” Melissa says, lowering her head.

“Tell me, Miss Mustard, when was the last time you talked to your ex-boyfriend?” He asks.

“Ex?” Melissa asks. “I didn’t say he was my…”

“You didn’t have to.” Winkle says. “When was the last time you talked to him?”

“It’s been a few months.” Melissa says.

“And you think he ran off with another woman?” Winkle asks.

“Well, not exactly.” Melissa says.

“Before we go any further, I need to let you know about my fees.” Winkle says.

“Believe me, Mr. Winkle, if you find Ryder, it will be worth whatever fee you charge.” Melissa says.

“Alright. How’s two-hundred an hour.” Winkle says. Melissa nods. “Ok. So, let’s start at the beginning.”

Melissa takes a deep breath. “Ryder kidnapped my baby…our baby.” Melissa says.

“Kidnapped?” Winkle raises an eyebrow. “Make that three-hundred an hour.”

TO BE CONTINUED…