Chapter 231
1046 Words
Cordelia Patton glanced up and across the conference room table at Melanie Sorenson. The model was clutching a bunch of tissues in one hand, and holding on to her boyfriend Zane Evans’ hand with the other. Melanie was babbling – again, some more – about her stalker, and Cordelia nodded sympathetically as she typed away on her laptop.
John Griffin and Selena Perez had asked her to take this meeting with them, ostensibly to take minutes, but in actuality, to observe the potential clients’ body language. Griff had a weird feeling about Melanie and Zane, but he’d told Cordelia that he couldn’t quite put his finger on what was bugging him. It was crystal clear to Cordelia what the matter was, though: Melanie was lying about having a stalker. And Zane was in on it.
Griff smiled at the ‘distraught’ woman warmly. “So, Ms. Sorenson, is that everything?”
“Yes.” Despite her holding tissues to her face unceasingly, the eyeliner around Melanie's baby blues was still perfect. So was her lipstick. “What do we do now?”
“Well, we’ll talk to Mr. Foreman about our next steps, and then he’ll make a final decision.”
Griff was being deliberately vague, Cordelia thought as she dutifully typed this nonsense like the good little receptionist that she was. No promises to assign Melanie a team; no hint of what that ‘final decision’ might be – though Cordelia strongly suspected that it would end with telling Melanie Sorenson to march her pert ass right on out the doors of Solid Security post-haste.
“Cordelia? Did you get all of that?” Selena asked.
“Yes.” Cordelia nodded crisply. “All on the record.”
“Thank you,” Griff said to her, and she knew that he was thanking her for more than typing up notes. She fought back the urge to smile at him.
Everyone stood up and shook hands, and Zane put his arm around Melanie, supporting her as she ‘stumbled’. Cordelia almost rolled her eyes, simply unable to believe that anyone would be taken in by this charade… but many people had been. Melanie was a skilled liar and Zane was a strong, silent, handsome wing man. Cordelia supposed that most people would be blown away by their combined awesome good looks and star power, and simply lose the plot about what they were actually saying. Which was all complete bullshit.
Griff ushered them out, shut the door. He turned and crossed his arms as he gazed at Cordelia, and got straight to the point. “So?”
“She’s lying,” Cordelia replied. “There’s no stalker.”
“You’re sure?” Griff said.
“Totally. She was doing all the right things with her face and body, but none of it was natural. Also? Her micro-expressions were way off... it’s like taking a picture of an apple and then trying to pass it off as the real thing. On the surface, it looks like an apple, but it has no substance and no way you can eat it. That’s what she was doing. Wearing a paper mask.”
“Is Actor Boy in on it?”
“Oh, yeah. He’s delighted by the whole thing, actually. He kept biting his cheek to stop himself from smiling.”
“Really?” Selena said.
“Yep. He thinks this is great.”
“Well, they are getting lots of attention in the media and online,” Griff said. “Sympathy and outrage and head pats.”
Cordelia shrugged. “And his upcoming movie is getting plenty of free publicity.”
There was a knock at the door now, and Griff called out, “Come in, Jack.”
It opened and Jackson Taylor stood there. He’d been observing the whole meeting through a two-way mirror, and he grinned at Cordelia.
“Good job,” he said to her. “You got it bang on.”
She blushed and looked down. “Thanks, Jack.”
“So you agree with Cordelia?” Selena said. “They’re faking the whole thing, in some kind of twisted publicity stunt?”
“Yep.”
“Well, screw them,” Griff said. “I know that Dallas is going to have zero patience for this fake stalker crap… not after what happened to Liv.”
“They’re riding on the coat tails of what happened to Liv,” Cordelia said.
Griff and Selena stared at her.
“What?” Selena said, aghast.
“Yeah. They mentioned Olivia’s stalker twice, and both times they showed jealousy.”
“They showed – what?” Griff demanded. “They think that being sliced up by a sick f**k is great?”
Cordelia shrugged, glad to be able to finally express her anger about this part of the whole thing. “They think the attentionthat Liv got is great. I also think that they’re here at this security and bodyguard firm, even though they’re both based in L.A., because of it. They think Dallas will be super-motivated to protect Melanie from her stalker.”
“Because of what happened to his fiancée,” Selena finished. “Urgh. Assholes.”
Jack was silent, thinking hard.
“Am I wrong, Jack?” Cordelia asked quietly. “I misread that?”
“No.” Jack shook his dark head. “I was thinking that you’re right. I’m just really surprised that you picked up on that so damn accurately. The flashes of jealousy that I saw were so fast, so fleeting, and anger and jealousy are so similar in terms of expression. I thought for sure you’d read the jealousy as anger.”
“No. I mean, the eyebrow cues when people show jealousy are the same as the anger cues, obviously, and the mouths are similar. I can see how it’d be easy to mix them up.”
“So how’d you read jealousy, then?” Jack asked.
“Melanie’s eyes were wrong,” Cordelia said. “They weren’t wide and glaring when she talked about Olivia’s stalker – they were narrowed, like she was focusing on a goal, or something she really, deeply desired.”
“You saw her hands?” Jack asked.
- Writer
