Page 20 of Love, Lines, and Alibis
I’m not exactly timid or amenable. I do whatever I want. But I try to avoid confrontation at all costs, especially with my mother. That’s why I didn’t add what really had me fuming that morning: the fact that she couldn’t care less if she’d leaked the name of an innocent man to the press. She was only concerned because I’d also been linked to that man and—by extension—her.
“Will you tell my lawyer I’ll be calling him in a bit?” I asked my mother, trying to sound conciliatory.
“I’m sure he’ll be thrilled.” I’m still not sure whether she meant it. Sarcasm has never been her preferred or strongest suit.
When she hung up, I refreshed the website of theVoiceagain. The article that had caused my mother to irately wake me up was still placed atop their frontpage. I gave it a second read, holding my almost finished cup of espresso.
Investigative Reporter David Ramos Linked to the Death of LA Misconducts Actor Dashing Henry
The LAPD is working under the assumption that the formerLA Gazettecontributor David Ramos could be behind the death of Dashing Henry. Ramos is said to be having a relationship with Mayor Aurora Valls’s oldest daughter, the unemployed screenwriter Elena Freire Valls.
By Gloria Kingsley
It reads like the script of a bad formulaic genre show. It could be an episode ofLA Misconductsbut it’s actually a true crime tale.
LA Misconductstroubled actor Dashing Henry was found dead at the parking area of a Downtown Los Angeles apartment building this Thursday, February 22nd, in a suspected hit-and-run. The case is being investigated as a murder.
Henry, 62, had recently been fired from the network procedural show after 15 seasons leading the cop drama. The actor had come under scrutiny six months before when a series of articles by thenLA Gazettereporter David Ramos were published. In the articles, Henry was said to have made unwanted sexual advances toward at least three members of theLA Misconductscast and crew.
Among the people who came forward making accusations against the actor wasLA Misconductsassociate producer Brenda Lee, then girlfriend ofLA Misconductsformer series regular Amelia Sanchez. Sanchez and Lee both leftLA Misconductsat the end of season thirteen and are now married.
Ramos’s articles were published more than a year after that, and once Lee no longer worked on the show. Henry maintained the accusations were false and had sued Ramos for libel. The trial was set to start next Monday. It’s not clear why theLA Misconductsteam had decided to rescind Henry’s employment in the show now, but a source close to the show’s production team is citing showrunner Fred Appleton’s appetite for change with the development of a sequel set in a different city.
Scandalous Hit-and-Run
According to sources not authorized to discuss the murder investigation, law enforcement is working under the assumption that Ramos could be the one who ran over and killed Henry with his car. The body of the actor was found at Ramos’s residence building at the Eastern Columbia Lofts on Broadway Street.
Ramos was fired from theLA Gazetteshortly after his contested articles against Henry were published and after the repeated denials from the actor and theLA Misconductsnetwork. He was an occasional contributor of this newspaper. The journalist was romantically linked to Mayor Aurora Valls’s oldest daughter, Elena Freire Valls, a few years ago but they were no longer a couple, at least not openly. According to a resident of the Eastern Columbia Lofts, Ramos and Freire Valls could be involved yet again as the two of them spent Wednesday night together at Freire Valls’s apartment. She’s also a resident at the Eastern Columbia.
“They pretend like they don’t know each other but they’ve beenseeingeach other for a while,” said the Eastern Columbia Lofts resident with knowledge of the case who wishes to remain anonymous. He says he shares a wall with Freire Valls’s apartment unit. “I could hear them humping like rabbits on Wednesday night. They’re so loud, it was impossible to sleep.”
Freire Valls, who coincidentally was a writer for two seasons ofLA Misconducts, has been mostly unemployed after leaving the show also at the end of season thirteen.
It’s still unclear whether Ramos would have acted alone or could have been aided by his jobless girlfriend while allegedly running over Henry.
“Fucking chatterbox George!” I grumbled when I finished reading. “And fucking Gloria Fucking Kingsley,” I added, referring to the reporter who’d written the article. “I never fucking liked you. Was it really necessary to include that I’m unemployedthree timesin the fucking article? I have an overall deal!”
I realized that something had to be intrinsically wrong with me when I was more upset about being called out for my lack of an occupation than the insinuation that I could be complicit in a murder.
Call it extreme careerism.
I was about to call David and tell him what I really thought about his former coworker Gloria Fucking Kingsley, when I saw the incoming call from Beatrice on my phone’s screen. Could my day get any worse?
I finished my coffee, breathed deeply three times, and did what all good in-between-projects writers do when their annoying agents call: answer the phone and pretend they actually like them. Fortunately, I didn’t have to say much.
“Honey,” Beatrice said when I picked up the call and even before I could mumble a simplehelloor even ahi. “You’re on the news!” she said enthusiastically. As a seasoned Hollywood acrobat, she was a firm believer of the wholeAll news is good newsmantra. “Fred is thrilled!”
“Is he?” I asked incredulously. It was one thing for my agent to pretend any headline was good publicity for me. It was another for my prospective boss to agree.
“Of course! He loved the idea of your name being linked to a murder investigation. He feels that will give your name even morecachet,” she reasoned. You don’t want to know how she pronounced the wordcachet. I just hoped I would never have to hear her say it out loud again.
But the whole thing with Beatrice and Fred loving my PR problems sounded so convolutedly Hollywood that even I thought I saw the logic in it.
“Fred has finally told me what happened with Henry and why they decided to fire him now as opposed to six months ago,” Beatrice said. The woman loved to gossip even more than talking shop.
“They finally realized he reallyisa sexual predator,” I said.
“They did! How did you know?” But Beatrice didn’t need or want my input. “Apparently, Dashing tried taking advantage of Archie Eisenberg’s niece. Archie’s been Fred’s producing partner in the show for a few seasons and his niece was interning onLA Misconductsthis year.”
