The casualty

It had been an eventful night for Suri, a first for her. Right after she’d finished, she rushed to Chyna’s flat, who was winding down from a rather intense last couple of days. She was absolutely happy to see her friend. As the two got comfortable, Suri said, “Light’s coming right over by the way.”

Light walked in soon after, settling down on Chyna’s couch and grabbed some tea, “Oh my God Chy, you should have been there today. Suri was an absolute badass on stage. Mistress and all!”

Chyna: Oh really?? I hate that I missed that

Suri: It was the most amazing feeling, I do have to admit!

Light: This was your first time, isn’t it?

Suri: Yes! I was so nervous. But something just came over me as I stepped on that stage.

Chyna: Girl, you have to tell me all about it!

Suri: For sure, but where were you?

Chyna: Oh we were working at another event and it was exhausting.

Light chuckled as she looked at her cup for a moment before looking back at the girls, “Seems everyone has been coming out of their shells lately at TGC.

Suri cleared her throat softly and smiled over at Chyna, “The power I felt, commanding that man, him obeying every world. I’ve felt this power before, but this was different.”

Chyna: Don’t you just love it!

Suri shivered a little, reliving the moment for a second, “Oh I want more!”

Light: One second, Elly is texting. I told her to join us.

Suri: Oh perfect, I’d love to hear her thoughts on how I went tonight.

Elly rushed into Chyna’s apartment, almost bumping into a sofa, practically gasping for breath "HAVE YOU GUYS HEARD?!"

Light fiddled with her phone, mumbling, “Weird Aiden hasn’t answered his texts. Usually he texts before I even speak…”

Chyna: Wait, heard what??

Suri tilted her head to the side and looked at Elly quizzically, “Heard what?!”

Light: Hey Elly! Wait, what's going on?

Elly grabbed a bottle of water from the kitchen table and gulped down half of it, still breathless, "The estate has been locked down, and I have no details! I went to the office and ran into Aiden who looked rather furious and just said 'No going out, we're locking stuff down'. Having said that, she sank into Chyna's sofa and just tried to breathe, looking at the girls, "What on earth do you think could have happened?!”

Light: Oh my god, we’ve never been under a lockdown before, never even had a drill. This sounds serious! I didn’t even know you could actually lock down this place!” Suri looked at Elly stunned, “What! That’s absurd. Why would we even… the security is so tight here.. no one dares to break in.”

Chyna: Mhmm… I don't like the sound of that. Do you have a clue what is going on?

Elly fidgeted nervously, her mind racing, "Light, call Aiden again please. We need some details. You think Harmony tried to run away again??" Light saw her phone buzzing with consecutive texts. “Ohh...oohhhh...oh no. A body has been found. Aiden is there."

Elly: “A whattttt?? WHOSE?? Did he say anything else?"

Chyna: A body? As in a dead body? At TGC? That can’t be!

Suri nearly choked on her tea, “Did I hear that right?”

Light texted Aiden back immediately asking for more. “I am asking… OMG it’s scary, I hope it’s not one of the girls!”

Chyna looked over at Light. She looked worried and afraid, “I hope it’s not someone we know”

Suri: It couldn’t be, could it?

Elly was in a daze. “No way! It’s not one of us. Aren't we all accounted for? Wait, that's Damon's text, even he said not to leave the estate. What on earth is going on? Shouldn't we call the police? An ambulance? Wait, another text, he says 'don't go near the club'. What on earth... we had a private show last night didn't we? Wait, Chyna, weren't YOU at that event?

Light sighed, looking nervously at her phone, the air thick with anticipation as the girls waited for every detail. "Oh it's a man. Aiden does not know him. but we must all stay put until the detectives meet with all of us apparently."Chyna looked at Elly, “I was there, but everything seemed normal, went deep into the night too.”

Suri stammered as words barely came out of her, “One of the patrons…?”

Elly: Wait, a man from last night. Wait.. Wait, is it?

With that she looked back at Chyna and quickly looked away. Chyna almost barked at Elly, “Why are you looking away, what do you know?” Elly shook her head adamantly, “Nothing at all!”

Light sighed again, “Aiden’s stopped texting.”

The street at the end of the lounge, the one that meandered towards the tunnel was suddenly teeming with police. A slightly youngish man, dressed casually was spotted talking to Aiden who had managed to get Damon there before the local police arrived.

“Evening, I’m Christian. Woah, that’s a lot of uniform here,” he said to Aiden and Damon.

“What do you want, Christian, or whoever you are? How did you even get in?” Damon was clearly annoyed. “I am… uhmm.. A private detective.”

“You’re what? Sir, I’d request you to get off the property. It’s private,” Aiden had zero patience that evening. His temper was a few seconds short of exploding. Ignoring the younger fellow, he walked up to the police, “Who called it in? Where was he found?”

One of the cops looked up at him and said, “I believe a resident spotted it during his morning run. The man was just lying there at the bottom of the cliff, all bloody and broken. Mr Skarsgard, I’d recommend you not get too close. Don’t want to tamper with any evidence.”

“Wtf..” he clenched his jaws as he tried to get some information out. Some of the new policemen were barely aware of how far they were really allowed to go. How on earth did this not come to him first?!

“Who the hell is this man?” he almost shouted.

“I believe I might be able to help,” said Christian, joining the group. “That’s Mr Williams.”

Damon pulled Aiden to one side, “Bro, listen. We’ve been tracking this man for a few months. Shady as hell. This was his last known location as well. Not sure how this detective or whatever he calls himself showed up though. But we need to make sure none of the girls talk or say anything at all to anyone before chatting with us first. Also, we may need to call Eleanor.”

Aiden was mighty frustrated. He called Christian over and said, “What’s your deal?”

Christian: Sir, his wife has been looking for him for a while now and finally hired me a few days ago to find him. I sniffed around a little, followed the money and ended up here. It wasn’t that hard, you know?”

Aiden’s hands rolled into fists as he tried to keep his calm. “Alright genius. We get it. Now get the hell out before I do something I’ll regret later.”

Christian slunk away into the background quietly but didn’t really leave. Aiden just ignored him and went back to talk to the cops, “Please do what you need to do and get this off my property. Also, I’ll be stopping by the station in the morning to chat with your commissioner.”