Chapter 1

LA…The city of angels. The place where dreams come true. (At least in the old 1930's Hollywood sense.) The place where every young hopeful actor or actress, musician, or director, flocked to in order to finally find their big break. A place where every waiter, every hostess, every valet, every cab driver... almost everyone you encountered, were struggling to find their place in show business. LA was filled with people who were obsessed with the industry and the best way to break into the circle.

And in the midst of it all were the celebrities themselves, the Gods and Goddesses of the entertainment world. Onlookers watched them in awe, anxiously awaiting their next scandalous move. They strive to emulate them in any way possible, whether it be trying to get into some exclusive night club or restaurant, or even something as simple as wearing their hair the same way and using the same beauty products. The truth was that America held their celebrities up on a pedestal. Sadly, there were some Americans who couldn’t tell you who the Vice President was, yet they could tell you exactly who Lindsay Lohan happened to be dating that particular week. It was no secret that Americans thrived on celebrity gossip.

And that’s exactly why I have a job today, twenty- eight year old, Heather Sandler thought to herself with a wry smile as she gazed out the window of her LA high rise office building. She really shouldn’t be wasting any time reflecting on exactly what made her magazine a hit with its readers. If she didn’t get to work on that layout for next weeks issue, she wouldn’t have to reflect on just what made celebrities so interesting to their ordinary counterparts. As it was, she was already pulling a late night just to ensure that she had a substantial amount of gossip to present to the rest of her staff tomorrow morning.

Dirt magazine meant everything to Heather. To her, it wasn’t just another sleazy supermarket tabloid. She considered her magazine to be a step above all of that. From a young age, Heather had been one of those anxious onlookers to the celebrity world. She’d dreamt about what it must feel like to have your picture snapped everywhere you went and to get to attend red carpet premieres and exclusive parties on a daily basis. From the time she was a teenager she’d been completely seduced by the glamour of fame. By the time Heather entered college, she knew that her ultimate dream would be to one day get to experience all that.

Unfortunately, Heather lacked that certain “it” factor that the Hollywood lifestyle required. She couldn’t act, couldn’t sing, and although she was told that she was very pretty, her looks were far from exotic or particularly striking. At 5’7 with rust colored hair, green eyes, and a nice enough figure, she was far from ugly, but girls like her were a dime a dozen on any college campus in the country. She’d gone on a few talent agency auditions, but soon grew frustrated and gave up, until she’ figured out another way to achieve her dream.

If there was one thing Heather was good at, it was writing. In high school she’d been editor of the school newspaper and she did have some interest in working for some sort of publication. She decided to switch her major over to journalism in the middle of her freshman year with plans to someday run her own magazine, a magazine that would showcase all the sides of fame; the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Starting her own magazine proved to be harder than she’d anticipated though. Straight out of college, with no money, and no experience, publishers would laugh in her face when she tried pitching her idea out to several companies. Heather soon quickly learned that the only way for her to achieve her dream would be to start out on the bottom of the totem pole and work her way up to a respectable position. So, she’d moved out to LA and taken a position as an assistant at Star magazine.

Throughout the next few years, Heather became quite the businesswoman. She learned how to network, making sure to get to know people in high places. She worked her way up at Star until she was beginning to do some editing for them. She kissed ass wherever she could and went as far as even sleeping with a few of the ‘right’ people. Finally a miracle came through for her. Her estranged father, who’d left her mother when she was just a baby, passed away in a car accident. Apparently he’d done quite well for himself after the divorce and Heather, being his only child had found herself inheriting quite a nice chunk of money. Enough to finally get her magazine off of the ground.

And so Dirt was born. Throughout all the networking she had done, Heather had managed to pull together a decently sized staff and their first issue had hit the stands earlier that year to an amazing success. Unlike their trashier competitors such as The National Enquirer or The Globe, Dirt set out to be an edgier more credible tabloid that focused solely on celebrities. With its full color pages and glossy covers, Heather considered Dirt somewhere between US Weekly and OK! when it came to reputation. A lot of their stories did come from gossip that had been going through celebrity circles and pictures that their paparazzi had snapped around the streets of LA, but their readers certainly didn’t seem to mind. Dirt had been one of the highest selling new magazines out on the market.

But in the last few weeks, a change had occurred. Their sales, which had remained steady, gradually began to decline. The stories had begun to seem stale and the pictures contrived. After an extremely promising debut, Dirt had begun to plummet. Thankfully enough, it hadn’t just been Dirt that suffered. Tabloids in general were losing their appeal. Maybe America was just sick of hearing about Paris Hilton. Or maybe it was because the stories were beginning to repeat themselves. Who’d be the next starlet to enter rehab? And was it really so juicy when lately it seemed as if once a week another celebrity announced that they were checking in?

That’s why this layout was so important to Heather. She wanted to put forward an issue that would get people talking. She wanted to be the magazine to have the first exclusive scoop on something. Problem was there wasn’t anything. She looked through her notes on possible articles. Paris getting out of jail? Blech, I think we’re all just sick of the whole spectacle. Update on Lindsay in rehab? Who cares? More rumors that Brad and Angelina are on the rocks? Nothing new there. She sighed. With this kind of material there was no way this issue was going to be anything close to spectacular. And if things didn’t shape up soon Dirt would be buried within its first year of publication.

Please God, she mentally pleaded. Give me a little something here. Can’t some new steamy, but scandalous sex tape between two well known celebrities surface? Or how about a fight breaks out somewhere tonight and I’m granted with the exclusive photos?

Heather banged her head against her desk in frustration. It was no use. There was simply nothing new out there. She could only hope that one of her other editors would have something significant to contribute. Otherwise they were toast.

Little did Heather know that one of the year’s biggest scandals was about to explode and it would be exactly the saving grace she needed for her flailing magazine to prosper…

---

“Mmm… You keep kissing me like that and I really will have to change my mind about spending the night,” Colleen Campbell teased with a seductive smile on her face as she reluctantly pulled away from her boyfriend Nick Carter’s lips.

The corners of Nick’s mouth curled upwards into his famous trademark smirk, which had a reputation of making many a woman melt. “Maybe that’s my evil plan… To keep kissing you until you can’t possibly say no. But seriously, I really don’t understand why you’re even bothering to go back to your place. It’s already almost two in the morning.”

“And I have to be up tomorrow morning at five for a photo shoot,” she reminded him.

“Exactly my point! By the time you get back to your place and into bed you’re only probably going to get two and a half hours sleep.”

“And if I stay here I know damn well that I’ll get no sleep because I know that someone will be keeping me up all night,” Colleen argued. “And trust me. They won’t be too happy tomorrow morning in make up when they have to use half a pound of concealer just to cover the circles under my eyes.”

Nick shot her a goofy looking grin. “But just think… They won’t have to use any of that crap that they use to make you ‘glow’ or whatever, because you’ll have that natural, ‘I’ve just been up all night having great sex’ glow already.”

Colleen just rolled her blue eyes at him and playfully smacked his arm. “Sorry, but I’m going to have to take a rain check on that entire night of great sex. Besides, the studio is closer to my place than it is to here.”

“Fine,” Nick pouted, moving in for one last kiss. “Want me to walk you out?”

“I think I can manage my way out to the driveway fine on my own,” she insisted. “I’ll give you a call tomorrow after I finish up, okay?”

“All right.” But Nick’s hands still did not leave her waist.

Colleen wriggled out of his grasp. “Come on Nick, let go. You’re acting as if you’re never going to see me again or something.”

With a sigh Nick released his grip on her. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Be careful driving home. It’s late and there could be a lot of nuts out on the road.”

“Yes, Dad,” she sarcastically replied before heading out the door towards her bright red Mercedes convertible sitting in Nick’s driveway. Before she started off the engine, she checked out her reflection in her rearview mirror, running a quick hand through her layered blonde hair. Even though it was nighttime she decided to leave the top down. The night was pretty warm and there was something very liberating about speeding down an empty dark road with the wind in her hair.

As the engine roared to life and Colleen peeled out of Nick’s driveway she thought about how disappointed Nick had been about her leaving, but he if anyone should understand. They were both deeply involved in the entertainment industry. Him being one fourth of the most popular boy bands to date, The Backstreet Boys, and her being a highly recognizable supermodel who had just signed a big contract with Victoria’s Secret that would more than likely make her as much of a household name as Heidi Klum or Gisele Bundchen. In fact, the shoot tomorrow was for the next Victoria’s Secret catalogue, Colleen’s first shoot of her contract, so she wanted to be well prepared. And something told her that if she did agree to spend the night at Nick’s, it would be a very big distraction. This was certain to be Colleen’s big break and she was so ready for it that she could practically taste it.

He’ll get over it, she told herself as she sped down the dark, curvy roads. If there was one thing that she was used to getting it was what she wanted. She’d learned at a very early age that her beauty was a gift, and throughout the years she’d mastered exactly how to manipulate it to her advantage. It was one of the main reasons that she had gotten this far in her career. Just like when she had first met Nick at an after party for some sort of premiere of something. She didn’t care enough to recall the exact details, but all she had known was as soon as she laid eyes on him she knew that she wanted him. Of course, there had been the slight problem that he had happened to be dating somebody at the time…

Minor detail, she reminded herself with a haughty grin. It hadn’t been long before she’d had Nick eating out of the palm of her hand. Since the moment they’d first been photographed together, the tabloids loved them. What could be more interesting than two beautiful people, one being a supermodel, the other a musician, getting together? It was like a fucking LA Cinderella story. Of course Nick had a history of dating notorious blondes…

Colleen was jarred out of her thoughts as she noticed a pair of bright headlights from behind her. She hoped it wasn’t a cop. She’d been going way over the speed limit and one more speeding ticket might just be the one to cause her license being taken away. What could she say? She loved living dangerously. Licking her lips nervously she checked her mirror more carefully and realized that it definitely wasn’t a cop car, but a large black SUV instead. Not an uncommon vehicle in this part of LA. Although usually at this time of night in this neighborhood, it wasn’t very usual for there to be any other cars on the road, but Colleen just shrugged it off.

Up ahead the road grew a little curvier. Nick lived in obviously a pretty ritzy neighborhood full of multi million dollar homes. His neighborhood was located up in the hills overlooking the beach, so parts of the drive could be considered a little bit scary. There were one or two particularly tight hair pin turns which of course Colleen always took at full speed. She was just approaching one of them up ahead when she felt a forceful bumping sensation and her car lurched forward. Panicking, Colleen just managed to get control of her vehicle before she realized what happened.

That son of a bitch in the SUV just hit me! What the fuck? She barely had time to recover when again she felt the other car crash into the back corner of her Mercedes. This was definitely not an accident now. Someone was trying to run her off the road!

Normally cool and collected, Colleen was now in a full scale panic. What do I do? she wondered. She couldn’t just pull over. There was no room, plus who knew what kind of psycho she was dealing with here. Maybe I should call Nick… Shaking like a leaf, she very unsteadily took one hand off of the wheel to reach for her cell phone. Her hand almost came into contact with it when she was hit again, this time from the side, with so much force that she almost went crashing into the guardrail. By some small miracle she was able to get both hands back on the wheel to swerve out of danger.

Another glance out of her side mirror told her that now the SUV had began to pull up beside her in the opposite lane as if the driver were trying to pass her. Somehow I don’t think he cares that this is a two lane street and he can’t pass here, she realized. Instinctively, her foot pressed harder down onto the gas, hoping to outrun him, but the minute she sped up so did her pursuer.

By now her adrenaline was pumping so fast that she felt like her heart was about to leap out of her chest. Suddenly she found herself wishing that she had decided to stay back at Nick’s for the night. The hairs on her neck stood up as she felt the shadow from the other vehicle move closer as it pulled up head to head with hers. As much as she tried to tell herself not to look in the direction of her attacker, curiosity got the better of her and her eyes slowly shifted over to her left.

All she remembered seeing was the glint of something silver in the moonlight and what looked like a man’s hand. It was then that she started to scream, an ear piercing panicked scream that sounded like something out of some bad horror movie. Then there was a loud popping noise that sounded like a firecracker and then an overwhelming stinging pain on the left side of her neck. Momentarily forgetting that she was driving, her hands flew upwards and when she pulled them away she was shocked to find them sticky with warm, red, blood.

She saw the guardrail after it was already too late. She was traveling at such a high speed that there simply wasn’t enough time for her to her break or try to swerve. With a loud crashing sound, her convertible impacted with the railing, only her body kept moving. Thrown by the momentum of the crash, her body flew upwards over the hood of her car.

Of course she wasn’t wearing her seatbelt. That wouldn’t qualify as living dangerously.

The fall seemed to last forever. And when she finally hit the ground on top of a pile of hard rocks on the beach below, her last thoughts were I wish I had listened to Nick…

Chapter 2

It took a moment or two to register in Nick Carter’s mind the next morning as he was ripped out of a heavy sleep by the shrill ringing of his cell phone that someone was indeed in fact trying to call him, and that he wasn’t just dreaming about a constantly ringing phone like he had first thought. Groaning, he rolled over to look at his alarm clock and realized that it was only a little after eight. Who the fuck is trying to call me so early? he wondered. By now Colleen was at her photo shoot, so it couldn’t be her, and he really wasn’t sure who else would be brave enough to try to call him so early in the morning. Maybe if I just ignore it, whoever it is on the other end will just give up?

But the phone kept ringing. It would stop for a moment or two before starting another round of incessant torture. Losing his patience, Nick finally grabbed the phone from the nightstand and frowned once he noticed the unfamiliar number flash across the screen. If it’s a fan that somehow got this number, I may just have to go off on them, he decided before flipping it open. “Hello?” he groggily replied.

“Oh, Nick! Thank God you picked up!” an unfamiliar female voice at the other end sounded relieved.

“Uhm… Who is this?” he uncertainly asked.

The caller on the end sounded a bit embarrassed once she realized she’d forgotten to give her name. “It’s Jana… Colleen’s personal assistant.”

“Oh, hey Jana. What’s up?” His mind was already confused as to why Colleen’s assistant would be calling him? He doubted he’d ever even met the woman, never mind spoken to her before.

“I was just wondering. Is Colleen with you?”

A look of worry creased across Nick’s brow. “No… Last time I saw her was last night. She was supposed to stay here, but she insisted that she had to get back to her place because she had an early photo shoot or something. Why do you ask?”

There was brief silence on the other end of the line as if Jana were thinking carefully of how exactly to break the news. “Well… She’s sort of missing right now.”

“Missing?! What the fuck do you mean she’s ‘missing?’” Nick exploded.

He could hear Jana swallowing hard. “She never showed up this morning for the shoot. I’ve spent my entire morning trying to pacify the photographers for Victoria’s Secret that she will indeed be here and there’s probably some sort of logical excuse for her being late. Do you realize how bad this looks on her? This is a brand new contract she just signed and she blows off the very first shoot! You know that’s not like her, Nick. She’s never missed a shoot before! Even when she’s had a fever and had to be modeling bikinis in the middle of the beach in January, she’s been there. I’m worried about her.”

Nick sighed, trying his hardest to remain calm since it seemed as if Jana was already pretty frazzled. She was right. This wasn’t like Colleen at all. Colleen took her modeling career extremely seriously, so for her to miss a shoot, especially one as big as this one, something had to be wrong. “Did you try calling her?”

“Of course! I’ve tried both her cell and her home number thinking maybe she just overslept or something. She’s not picking up either one.”

“Did anyone try stopping by her house to see if she was there? Maybe she did oversleep and didn’t hear the phone? Or maybe she lost power or something?”

“Not yet… I figured that I’d give you a call first. I thought that maybe she spent the night with you and lost track of time.”

Nick was already up out of bed and throwing on whatever clothes happened to be nearest to him on the floor. “Okay, here’s what we’ll do. I’ll run over to her place and see what’s going on. You keep calling her and if you get in touch with her please call me and let me know that she’s okay. I’ll give you a call back if I find anything out. Sound good?”

“Uh huh. Thank you so much Nick. I really hope that she’s okay.”

“Yea me too.” Without even saying a proper goodbye, he hung up the phone, and slipped his feet into a pair of flip flops. He then rushed down the stairs to retrieve his keys, without even stopping to brush his teeth or comb his hair, which he imagined must be sticking up in a million different directions. He had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. This definitely was not like Colleen at all and as he jumped into his Escalade and tore out of the driveway, he silently prayed that she had just overslept and he’d go over to wake her up and they’d have a good laugh about it.

He replayed the last few minutes they had spent together, mentally in his head. The words echoed back at him almost eerily. Come on Nick, let go. You’re acting as if you’re never going to see me again or something. His hands clenched around the steering wheel so tightly that they were beginning to turn white. Then there had been his own creepy warning that had almost seemed to be a hint of some sorts. Be careful driving home. It’s late and there could be a lot of nuts out on the road.

No sooner had the thought flashed across his mind when up ahead on the road he saw a sight that made his heart leap up to his throat. “No…” he whispered to himself, already slamming on his brakes in the middle of the road. Not caring if there were other cars coming down the road, he flipped on his hazards and leapt out of his vehicle.

Sandwiched against the guardrail at the side of the road was a red Mercedes convertible… Identical to the one that Colleen owned.

And as Nick approached the car, he realized that its occupant was missing. Feeling as if he was going to be sick, he immediately recognized Colleen’s oversized, brown and gold Louis Vuitton purse, but still a voice in his head refused to believe what was right in front of him. This is LA. Almost every woman owns a purse exactly like this. It doesn’t mean its Colleen’s.

A part of Nick knew what must have happened, but he was in too much of a denial to accept it. He needed proof that this was Colleen’s car and her purse before he could even begin to deal with the emotions that were bottled up inside of him. Without even thinking twice, he picked up the purse, contents spilling out of it onto the seat below. He picked up each item, examining it carefully. There were a few tubes of lip gloss and a compact mirror, a date book, and most incriminating her shiny, silver, cell phone which Nick recognized almost immediately. 20 Missed Calls, flashed in big letters once he flipped it open.

He dropped the phone as if it were on fire, not even caring to see where it landed. Then he looked up and over the guardrail at the ground below, mentally calculating its distance. The realization that somewhere below Colleen’s body (it was very strange to now think of her just a body) must be, hit him like a ton of bricks and next thing he knew, he found himself violently emptying the contents of his stomach on the side of the road.

When he was finally done heaving, he took in a shaky breath and picked up his phone from his pocket. He was trembling as he dialed those three digits.

“911. What’s your emergency?” a perky Southern accent spoke.

“Yes… I’d like to report an accident…”

---

When LAPD detective Derek James was given the assignment to investigate the scene of a car accident up in Hollywood hills, he at first thought nothing of it. He assumed that as with most accidents it would be an open and shut case, easily solved in one afternoon. He quickly learned that he couldn’t have been more wrong…

From what he had already been told, there seemed as if there was only one car involved, a 2007 Mercedes convertible that had crashed into the guardrail on a very windy road. The driver had probably been going at a high speed and lost control of the vehicle. A sad tragedy, but one that could’ve been prevented. Of course there was the problem that the body was missing from the vehicle. Bloodstains were found inside the car, which could have been a result of the collision. And the vehicle was a convertible with its top down. If the driver hadn’t been wearing its seatbelt, at the right speed, it definitely could’ve been ejected over the hood of the car and onto the beach below at the bottom of the hill. If that was the case, they were definitely looking at a fatality. There was no possible way that anyone could survive a fall like that.

So based upon the facts, Derek arrived at the accident scene confident that this was exactly what had happened. All him and his team needed to do was to locate the body and confirm that the injuries sustained to it were compatible with his theory. He saw no reason whatsoever to view this case as anything else, but routine.

That confidence didn’t last long at all. After a few minutes of talking to another officer who had been one of the first on the scene, made him realize that this was going to be a lot more interesting than he had originally anticipated.

“Do we have a description on the victim?” he asked.

The other officer nodded. “A white female, approximately 5’10, 115 pounds, blonde hair, blue eyes.”

Derek chuckled to himself as he took note of all this. “I think you just described about half the female population of LA right there. Do we have a name?”

“Yes, but…” the other officer hesitated a moment.

“But?”

The officer took a deep breath. “I don’t know if you’ve heard or not, but our victim is kind of a celebrity.”

“A celebrity?” Just great, he thought. They’d barely get to work by the time the media would find out and swamp the area, making their job only ten times more difficult. He sighed. “Who?”

“Colleen Campbell. You know, the supermodel?”

Derek mentally cursed right there. With Colleen’s notoriety the case would be questioned with all kinds of conspiracy theories created by reporters to spice things up. “Yea, I know who she is. She’s the one dating that Backstreet Boy, isn’t she?”

The officer looked surprised at his knowledge. “Yea… You sure know your supermodels.”

He just shrugged. “My girlfriend is obsessed with this kind of stuff.” That reminded him, he’d have to slip away later and give Heather a heads up about what was going on. If this was going to turn into a tabloid frenzy, the least he could do was give his girlfriend a head start. She had been complaining that she was running thin on material for the next issue of her magazine. This should certainly give her something to write about.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his cell phone ringing. “Hello, this is Detective James speaking,” he answered.

“Hey, Derek. It’s me Adam,” the familiar voice of his partner Adam Davis spoke up. The two of them had split up, and Adam had joined the search on the beach below for the missing body, while Derek had continued on up the hill to inspect the vehicle. “We found the body.”

“Nice work. Let’s call the medical examiner and start getting our report together-“

“Uhh… I think you better come down here and take a look at it,” Adam interrupted him.

Derek looked confused. “What do you mean? What’s there to look at? She was going too fast, lost control, slammed into the guardrail, and was ejected from her vehicle. She most likely died from the fall.”

Adam was quiet for a moment on the other end. “I think once you take a look at this, you’ll change your mind about your original theory. I think we have a murder case on our hands.”

---

Fifteen minutes later, Derek was down on the beach where police had already roped off as a crime scene. He’d barely made it two feet before Adam spotted him and waved him over.

“What is this all about?” he asked as he approached his partner. “I thought that he had an open and shut case here?”

“Yea, I thought so too,” Adam agreed as he led Derek over to what Derek presumed was Colleen’s body with a white sheet already hanging over it. “But after we found her body and gave it a closer examination it appears that she died from more than just a fall.”

Derek must’ve looked completely puzzled because Adam reached down to grab the corner of the sheet. “Here, I’ll show you.”

He grimaced a little as the sheet was peeled back to reveal the face of Colleen Campbell. No matter how long he had been working as a police officer and no matter how many dead bodies he’d seen, he never got past that first initial moment that his eyes took in the gruesome sight. Of course, maybe it was made worse in Colleen’s case because he’d known what she had looked like while she was alive. From the looks of it, the fall on her had been pretty traumatic, but even in death there was a certain beauty to her. No one could deny that she had not been beautiful.

“When you first look at her, you think that she was killed from the trauma of the fall, right?” Adam’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “Her injuries are consistent with our original theory. There’s obviously damage to her skull as well as multiple broken bones and probably a great deal of internal injuries. But, look at this.” He brushed her hair away from her neck displaying what looked like a large gunshot wound. “She was shot before she died.”

Derek gasped. “Which means that someone probably shot her while she was driving, which caused her to lose control of the car and careen over the guardrail. Whoever who did this wanted it to look like an accident.”

“Precisely. Looks like this case just got a whole lot more interesting.”

“I’ll say…” he sighed as he realized how much of a circus this was going to become. “Call the medical examiner and order a full autopsy done as quickly as possible. Do we know who called it in?”

“The boyfriend. From my understanding he was the last one to see her alive last night.”

“Bring him down to the station to get his statement. I have to make a phone call. I’ll be right back,” he excused himself as he waked away from the scene. As soon as he was confident that he was far enough away not to be overheard he dialed a familiar number.

---

“So, does anybody have any other ideas for our cover story besides another feature on how the women of young Hollywood are getting too thin?” Heather asked, her eyes traveling around the table where her entire staff sat staring at her blank faced. “I’ll take that as a no. I guess Stars With Eating Disorders it is then!”

She tried to stifle a disgusted sigh as she ran her hands through her hair. She’d hoped that someone would have something halfway significant to contribute.

A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts. Glancing up she spotted her secretary, Nancy standing uncomfortably in the doorway. A mousy little thing, straight out of college, Heather got the impression that she intimidated the younger woman. “Yes, Nancy? Can I help you?”

Nancy paused to fix the glasses that were slipping down the bridge of her nose. “I’m sorry to interrupt… I know you’re in a meeting and all, but…”

“Spit it out Nancy. Is this important?”

Nancy just nodded. “Derek is on line one for you.”

Heather sighed. “Did you tell him I’m in a very important meeting now and that I’ll have to call him back later?”

Again she nodded. “But he insisted that it was really important and that he needed to speak with you immediately.”

Heather rolled her eyes as she addressed her staff. “I apologize, but I better go see what he wants. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” She quickly left the room and headed into her private office, making sure to close the door behind her before picking up the office phone. “Hello, Derek. Can I ask you what is so important that you just had to interrupt my staff meeting?”

“Whoa, calm down there! If you don’t start talking nicer to me I might just decide not to share with you the lead I have for you on a very developing story that is sure to sell you a few million copies of your magazine,” her boyfriend taunted.

Her eyes nearly lit up as soon as she heard the words developing story. Thank you, God; she praised her eyes shining upwards. There were advantages after all to dating an LAPD detective. “What is it?”

“How much do you love me?”

“Very much. Now what the fuck is going on?”

He lowered his voice. “I’m on the scene of an accident involving a very high profile celebrity, which has just been declared a murder scene.”

“Who is it? Tell me it’s Paris? Please tell me it’s Paris?”

Derek laughed on the other end. “It’s not Paris, but its pretty close. Ever hear of a little ole supermodel named Colleen Campbell?”

Heather gasped. “Colleen Campbell?! She’s only like the hottest new supermodel in LA, right now! She just signed a huge contract with Victoria’s Secret. Her name is everywhere right now! She’s dead? As horrible as it sounds this is exactly what we needed! And you say it was murder? Even better! How soon can you get me the details?”

“I just have to tie together a few loose ends here and there. Then we’re getting a statement from her boyfriend-“

“You mean Nick Carter… You’re getting a statement from him? Oh, my God… You don’t think he did it, do you?” Already Heather could see her sales figures skyrocketing.

“It’s too early to say, but he was the last person to see her alive and he was the one who called the police. It makes sense for us to start with him and go from there. It does not mean that he’s being charged with anything,” he stressed.

Yet… Heather mentally added. Everyone knew that when it came to Hollywood murders it was always the boyfriend. “So, do you think maybe we can do lunch after you’re done questioning him?”

“Definitely. I’ll give you a call later, babe. Oh, yea… Be careful with this info. I could get in huge amounts of trouble if it comes out that I leaked it to the press,” he warned.

Even though he couldn’t see her, Heather crossed her heart. “I promise I won’t give you away. Thank you so much baby! I love you.”

Heather then hung up the phone and stood up from her desk with a wide grin on her face. A Hollywood murder? Nothing sold more magazines than that! If there was one thing Americans obsessed about as much as celebrities, it was high profile murders, and when the two merged together it created an insatiable appetite for information.

Heather couldn’t have been more excited to go back into the boardroom and announce to her staff that they’d be pulling the eating disorder story. In its place there’d be a much hotter scandal.

And with Derek keeping her informed, Dirt would have all the exclusive details first before any of her other competitors realized what was even going on.

Chapter 3

Nick nervously bounced his knee against the edge of the long table that he was sitting at inside the interrogation room of the police station. He still couldn’t understand why they’d dragged him in here for questioning. He obviously wasn’t the culprit. He’d been the one who reported the goddamn accident in the first place! Why would he be considered a suspect? They’re wasting all this time on me while meanwhile Colleen’s murderer is roaming free! The thought filled him with an unbelievable amount of frustration. He hated being in situations in which he felt completely powerless.

The whole entire morning had flown by so quickly that Nick actually wondered if he had dreamt the whole nightmare. It had only taken minutes for the first batch of cops to arrive on the scene. After speaking with him for only a few moments, they had seemed to spring into action, and Nick was pushed off to the side like he was nothing but a nuisance to them. Unsure of whether he should stick around or if he should leave, he stood frozen, watching the drama unfold around him. He could recall hearing the officers whispering amongst themselves that they had located “a body,” and something about a “gun shot wound” but when Nick had begged them to let him see her, they had refused, warning him that “it wasn’t a very pretty sight” and that “he was better off remembering her how he’d last seen her.”

Next thing he knew two detectives had approached him and pretty much demanded that he come down to the station to answer a few questions. At first, Nick had resisted, insisting that it wasn’t necessary and that he really was too upset at the moment to be grilled about a crime that he definitely didn’t commit. The two men didn’t seem discouraged though. In the nicest terms possible, they kindly told him that by him refusing to cooperate with them, he could be letting his girlfriend’s killer get away, and if he continued they would have no choice but to place him under arrest. With two other prior arrests already under his belt, Nick felt that it was probably in his best interest to just go through the routine, although he did request that his lawyer be present throughout the interrogation process. Although the detectives insisted that this was unnecessary, since he wasn’t officially being charged with anything, Nick had held on stubbornly, so in the end they had relented. Past experiences with the law, had taught Nick that he should never say anything without the guidance of his lawyer, because otherwise his words would be sure to come around and bite him in the ass somehow. You never could be too careful when you were in the limelight.

Besides him, his lawyer, David Howard was seated impatiently waiting for an explanation of exactly what kind of trouble he’d gotten himself into this time. He’d arrived only a few moments prior and was just getting himself settled.

He decided to break the ice with a lame joke. “We just got to stop meeting like this, you know. Seems like I only see you when I get myself into some sort of mess.”

The older man did not look amused. “Well, I must say Mr. Carter; you definitely keep me on my toes. But this time I think you really outdid yourself.”

“But I didn’t do anything!” he insisted. “I swear! You know I have a past of making really stupid decisions, but I’d never intentionally hurt somebody, especially my girlfriend!”

“I know that Nick, and you know that. But the question is, will everyone else buy it?” David rubbed his forehead and sighed. “First I want to apologize for your loss. I never really got to know Colleen, but I heard that she was a very promising young woman, and it’s quite tragic that somebody felt the need to end her life so early. Now, I only have a few minutes alone with you before the detectives come in and start questioning, so I need you to tell me exactly what happened last night. I can’t help you unless you tell me everything.”

Nick bit his lip as he realized that this was the first of many times that someone would be lending their sympathy to him, and he found it very hard to accept, especially since he himself had barely had the time to comprehend the fact that Colleen had been killed and that he’d never see her face again. Now was not the time to grieve though. He’d have time for that later. Now he had to worry about saving his own ass.

Taking a deep breath, he spilled out the entire story to David, beginning with her hasty departure from his house in the early hours of that morning and ending at the point where he had called 911 from his cell phone after discovering her car on the side of the road. When he was finished, he sat back against his chair, anxiously staring at his lawyer for some sort of response.

After what felt like a lifetime, David finally began to speak. “So, basically she was on her way home from your house when she was killed. You got a phone call from her assistant a few hours later that she hadn’t showed up at her photo shoot and wasn’t answering her calls, so you set out to go over to her place to make sure that she was okay, and along the way you spotted her car. Then you called for help?”

Nick nodded. “Yea... That’s pretty much it.”

“Well, if that’s all that happened then they should have no reason to suspect you, Nick. You obviously were very concerned once you heard that she was missing, and you went right to bed after she left. Most likely the police only want to question you to gain more insight on the events before the shooting, and to try to find any possible leads. I seriously doubt that you’re under investigation. In fact, it probably looks even more suspicious on you now that you insisted that I be here. You do realize that its not standard practice for a lawyer to be present at a simple questioning?” he pointed out.

“I know that. It’s just that I know how the media is, especially when it comes to me.” He paused to fiddle with his fingers. “They’re going to try to twist this however they can in order to make me look bad. You know how much I’ve learned not to trust people. I just would feel more comfortable if you were here, making sure that I don’t get tripped up by their questions. Those guys really seemed as if they were looking to charge me, just so that they could get this over with.”

David just shook his head. “Nick, you have nothing to hide, right? So, then you should have nothing to worry about. Trust me, these guys are not out to get you. They want to find who did this to Colleen as much as you did, so they can find them and make sure that they pay. Yes, they may purposely try to confuse you, but just to make sure that your story is consistent. If you stick to what you told me you’ll be fine. And I’ll be here to jump in if you need me.”

Nick just nodded his head and swallowed hard. He didn’t have another moment to respond because just then the interrogation room’s door creaked open and in walked two men who appeared only a few years older than himself. His assumptions that they were police detectives were proven correct as they introduced themselves.

“Hello, Mr. Carter. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Detective James.” The taller of the two men extended his hand to Nick in a hand shake before gesturing to the other man beside him. “This here is my partner, Detective Davis. We’d like to ask you a few questions about the events of the past few hours.”

“Okay,” Nick agreed, gripping the edge of the table tightly. His eyes briefly met with that of his attorney who gave him a reassuring look.

Detective James got right to work as he sat down at the table and began to spread out some papers in front of him. “Why don’t you start off explaining to us when and where the last time you saw Miss Campbell was?”

Nick sucked in a deep breath before beginning. “It was around two am last night. She’d come over for a while and we were just hanging out at my house watching movies and stuff. She left around that time to return to her own place for the night.”

“It’s my understanding that you and Miss Campbell were romantically involved. Is that correct?”

“Yes, we are,” he admitted, but then immediately realized his blunder. He hadn’t even had the time to rationalize that she would no longer be spoken about in the present tense. “I mean were. We were involved.” His voice caught on the word were.

“So, you were okay with her leaving your house at that hour of night? Weren’t you a little apprehensive about her being on the road so late?”

What kind of question is that? Nick wondered. Of course I was worried! “I tried to convince her to just spend the night at my house, but she had an early photo shoot the next morning and insisted on getting back to her place.”

“I see.” James leaned back in his chair and stroked his chin. “How would her spending the night at her place get her to sleep any earlier for a photo shoot? Wouldn’t it be more convenient to stay with you?”

“That’s exactly what I tried to explain to her, but she claimed that the studio was closer to her house.” What was wrong with these people? Did they have to question every move he made?

James appeared satisfied enough to move on with the interrogation. “So, did you walk her outside to her car?”

“No, I did not. She refused to let me.” There was a silent pause which made Nick slightly paranoid as if he was being judged. “What? Do you think I’m a bad boyfriend because I didn’t walk her out? Colleen was a pretty independent woman. She didn’t like to depend on others to look out for her.”

The detective appeared stone faced. “We didn’t say anything to the fact Mr. Carter. I just asked because maybe there might have been someone outside in your driveway for all we know. Or another car parked across the street. We were just asking to see if you may have noticed anything unusual.”

“Oh,” Nick replied, his face already turning red. This whole entire interrogation process was making him just a bit jumpy.

“So, that was the last you saw of Miss Campbell, correct?” James continued on.

Nick nodded and the detective continued on. “So, what happened this morning? How did you wind up discovering Miss Campbell’s car on the side of the road? How did you know where to look?”

He gritted his teeth in frustration. “I didn’t know where to look. Her personal assistant called me this morning asking if I knew where she was because she never showed up to her photo shoot. Neither of us could get in touch with her, so I jumped into my car and started to head over to her house to see if she was there. Along the way I spotted her car smashed against the guardrail.”

“Then what did you do?”

“I jumped out my car and headed over. There was no sign of her, but I saw her purse and her belongings scattered about. I panicked for a moment, looked over the ledge, and realized that was where she must be…” He paused for a moment, the conversation beginning to become too rough for him.

“So you immediately assumed that she was ejected from the vehicle?”

“What else was I supposed to assume? There was no way she could’ve survived that!” he cried, losing his patience with the detectives and their ridiculous questions.

Detective Davis, who had remained quiet throughout the interrogation spoke up. “Is it possible for you to provide an alibi that you were in fact at home from the hours of roughly two through five am this morning?”

It was with that question that Nick finally reached his breaking point. All of his frustrations and emotions that he’d kept bottled in all day came pouring out. “You want me to give you a fucking alibi? I was at home! I live by myself! So, no I can’t give you a fucking alibi!” His hand slammed hard onto the table. “Why do I need one? Colleen was my girlfriend. I loved her. I didn’t fucking kill her!”

He felt David’s hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay Nick. Calm down. No one is accusing you of anything.”

Davis smirked. “For someone who’s innocent you certainly seem quite paranoid.”

Nick was just about to spring across the table when David’s hand shot out to restrain him. “Perhaps in the interest of my client’s mental and emotional state we should continue another day,” he suggested.

“I have no further questions as of right now,” James agreed. “What about you Adam?”

His partner glanced down at his notes in front of him. “I’ve done a little background search on you Mr. Carter. It appears that you’ve had your fair share of run ins with law in the past, haven’t you?”

“I don’t see what this has to do with Colleen,” Nick expertly dodged the question.

Davis ignored him. “I see you had an arrest in 2001 for disorderly conduct and resisting the orders of a police officer.”

“That was years ago! I was young and stupid and made a mistake,” he pointed out.

“Then there’s a DUI charge in early 2005,” Davis remarked.

“Which I served my sentence for –“

Davis cut him off his lips lifting up in his grin. “And then it’s to my understanding that there was an allegation that you sexually assaulted a young woman down in the Keys last year…”

This made David spring up from the table. “That piece of information is completely irrelevant! My client claimed that he was innocent and the allegations were dropped before an investigation could even be launched. He was never charged with any crime in association with this so called event. More than likely it was just some sick woman who tried to use my client’s fame to her advantage. I do not see any reason why my clients past record should have an impact on this investigation at all! None of this proves that he’s a potential murderer!”

“Calm down please Mr. Howard,” Detective James interrupted. “I think its best that we end this interrogation right now. If I have any further questions I’ll be in touch Mr. Carter. In the meantime, I’d advise you to speak with your publicist and release some sort of statement to the public. As of right now everyone’s a suspect.”


With that said the two detectives gathered up their papers and left the room. Nick looked down at his feet already feeling the beginning of tears starting to well up behind his eyes. How did he get into this mess? Who could have done something like this to Colleen and what was their reason? And how could people honestly think that he was responsible for her death? And this is only the beginning, he realized. Just wait until the media gets involved in this.

He again felt the presence of David’s reassuring arm on his shoulder. “Try not to let them upset you Nick. They’re just trying to see if you’ll crack under pressure. And face it, right now you’re their only lead. Once the forensic evidence comes back I’m sure that something will come up to shift any suspicion away from you. In the meantime, Detective James is right. You should probably arrange a meeting with your publicist as soon as possible to release some sort of statement. Once the public finds out about this, they’re going to be like animals. You do realize that this is going to be the focus of every tabloid headline, every entertainment news show, and every talk show program for at least the next few months, right?”

Nick’s face paled at the thought. He knew for certain that this would cause a bit of a media frenzy, but he hadn’t completely thought out all of the ramifications. His lawyer was right. All of the trouble he’d ever gotten into throughout his whole career; every scandal he’d been involved with, (and he had more than his fair share) would not even begin to amount to this. His life was about to take a very dramatic turn and all of America’s eyes would be on him with morbid curiosity. “I think I’m going to be sick,” he muttered.

The older man looked at him with sympathetic eyes, but was unsure of what more to say to comfort him. He cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Well, if you need anything or if you’re called in for further questioning just give me a call.”

Nick grimly nodded in response which David took as a sign to leave. His footsteps echoed across the small room until he reached the door which slammed behind him. There he left Nick with his head in his hands. Alone.

---

Across town, Heather was sitting in the booth of a small, rundown, diner tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for Derek to arrive. He’d asked to meet her here for a late lunch versus one of the more populated upscale restaurants in Beverly Hills so that they’d have more privacy and have less of a chance of anyone else overhearing their conversation. She glanced at her watch for what felt like the fiftieth time since she’d arrived. As usual he was late.

A few minutes later a disheveled looking Derek rushed in and quickly spotted her. Ambling over to her table, he paused to drop a light kiss on her mouth before sliding into the booth across from her. “Sorry I’m late,” he apologized. “The interrogation took a little longer than I anticipated.”

“That’s okay,” Heather told him. “But please back up and tell me the whole story because I’m dying to know the details. Colleen Campbell is dead and you suspect that she was murdered?”

“We don’t suspect. We know. She was found with a bullet wound in her neck. They don’t just don’t pop up accidentally.”

Heather gasped. “Okay, start from the beginning. Where did you find her? At her house?”

“No,” Derek answered as he superstitiously looked around him to make sure no one else was lingering about and then leaned forward, lowering his voice slightly. “We got a call from the boyfriend at around eight-thirty this morning. Supposedly Colleen had been on her way home from his house earlier that morning at around two. She was supposed to show up at a photo shoot at five, but never did. Her assistant called Nick frantic about her whereabouts, so he jumped into his car to head over to her house. Along the way he found her car smashed against a guardrail.”

“Ooh…” Heather made a face. “So he found her body?”

“Not exactly. Her body was nowhere to be found, but we assumed that she was driving at a high speed without a seatbelt and was ejected from the vehicle onto the beach below.”

Heather winced thinking about the drop. “So, how did you determine it was a murder? I assume that you eventually found the body?”

Derek nodded. “After searching the beach for a little while we came across it. Not a pretty sight. We were just about to label the case an accident when Adam discovered the bullet wound on her neck. After examining the scene of the accident more carefully we found a second set of tire tracks. Right now, we believe that someone tried to run her off the road and then shot her causing her to lose control of her vehicle and send her careening over the ledge, so that it appeared an accident. We’ll know more information once we get the test results back.”

“Wow… That’s some crazy shit.” Heather sat back against her seat looking stunned. “Do you have any leads yet?”

Derek shook his head. “Unfortunately we’re just as stupefied as you are. We just questioned Carter since he was the last one to see her alive, but he wasn’t very helpful. He kind of flew off the handle a bit, but then again what can you expect from a guy who just found out his girlfriend is not only dead, but was murdered too.”

“Do you think that he might have had something to do it?”

He shrugged. “At this point, I don’t know. He seemed sincere, but the guy is an entertainer. He makes his living by putting on a show. He did seem genuinely upset and everything, but at this point it’s hard to tell. We’ll call him back for more questioning once we’re able to get back more information and when he’s a little calmer.”

“So, you’re not ruling him out as suspect then?” Heather pressed.

“Right now, everyone’s a suspect. I can’t rule him out. Adam thinks he’s guilty, but we have no basis to charge him with anything.” Derek looked at her seriously. “Just do me one favor. Don’t print anything in your magazine labeling him as a suspect, okay? In my opinion I think he might be telling the truth, but it’s too soon yet to tell.”

“Absolutely.” Heather nodded her head. She knew that Derek was taking a big enough risk already in breaking confidentiality to her about the case in the first place. She didn’t want to compromise his job even further by publishing details that could be harmful to his investigation. “So outside of Nick, you don’t even have anyone else to question or suspect yet?”

“Well, our next step is to go door to door around the neighborhood where Colleen was killed and ask if any of the homeowners heard or noticed anything unusual. Unfortunately, at that time of night most residents were probably sleeping. Still, it’s worth a shot. If we can get at least get a make on the other vehicle there’s another lead to follow as well. But as far as any other people I’m at a loss. I thought maybe you could help me out with that,” he confessed. “You make a living out of writing about celebrity feuds. Do you know if Colleen had any known enemies in the entertainment circle?”

Heather just laughed. “She was a supermodel Derek! All those girls are bitchy to each other. She’d just signed that contract with Victoria’s Secret too. Many a girl would kill for that job.”

“Maybe one of them did,” he muttered under his breath. “So, you can’t think of anyone specific?”

“Not really,” she admitted. “I’m sure she had her fair share of enemies, but I can’t think of anyone that would take it that far. Maybe you should ask Nick though? He might have a better idea.”

“Hmm… Not a bad suggestion. Thanks,” he told her, pulling out a notepad to jot the idea down.

“If there’s anything I can do to help you with this case I’d be glad to,” Heather offered. “I mean I can come up with things from both Colleen and Nick’s pasts that might be helpful to you in some way. Or any other celebrity for that matter. It’s what I do best.”

Derek looked thoughtful. “That might be useful to us and it would save me the time of doing it myself. No offense, but googling celebrities is not my cup of tea.”

“Oh, I do more than google. Leave it to me and I can find you something juicy enough to actually pursue. I’m going to have to do a little research anyway on them for my next issue of my magazine, which is going to be amazing by the way thanks to you. What’s a little extra?”

“All right,” he finally agreed. “It would be great of you could just come up with a list for me of anyone who might have made some kind of comment about Colleen that could be considered threatening or that could indicate a strong dislike for her. Then we can start narrowing it down from there.”

“It might be a long list,” Heather warned.

“At least it’s something. That would be a huge help to me.”

“No problem,” she replied with a grin. Here she was getting to do something that she loved doing and she got to help out her boyfriend too? The prospect couldn’t be more exciting to Heather. She found herself just itching to get back to her home and onto her computer.

Little did Heather realize just how immersing this project would get for her. And how it would slowly begin to consume her life to the point of obsession. This was exactly the breath of fresh life that Dirt needed and she intended to tackle the project full force.