"So, I'm dead," Jenny Poole moaned. "I can't believe this is really happening."
The TV screen was a tiny window into another world, the world of technicolor brightness and sleek but kitschy styles that was the fictional 11th floor of Blankwood Towers. Through that window, they watched as the sultry Babette - Jenny's alter-ego on the daytime comedy-drama The Urbz - flinched, shuddered and began her slow, final collapse.
"You didn't know?" Genie Elderberry asked, slightly confused. "I mean, you filmed it..."
"Yeah, but it isn't... like.. real until they air it," Jenny insisted. "I can't believe I'm really dead. My life is over."
"Well, it was a really great death scene," Gabbie Moretti, Genie's roommate, offered.
"Really?" Jenny asked sadly as Babette's death continued to dramatically play out on the screen.
Jenny, declaring a deep need for moral support, had come over to Gabbie's dingy but comfortable Spice District apartment to watch the episode. Despite Gabbie's occasional insistence, Genie still thought of it as Gabbie's apartment, even though Genie shared the rent in exchange for the closet-like spare bedroom. It was certainly Gabbie's TV.
"It was a fantastic death," Gabbie smiled. "I wouldn't be surprised if you get nominated for a daytime television award for this episode."
"It would serve the show-runners right," Genie said, trying to sound encouraging. "I can't believe they killed your character off."
"Yeah, you were great," Gabbie said. "Who killed you? Wait, was it Sophie? I bet it was Sophie. She was jealous about Babette getting the Diamond Bright modeling contract."
"I don't know. I don't get the scripts anymore," Jenny moaned.
Genie blinked, torn between wanting to explain to Gabbie why it simply wasn't possible for Sophie to have poisoned her own sister over the Diamond Bright contact and wanting to point that that wasn't really the important thing at the moment.
"You know what this is?" Jenny added, the hint of heat in her voice throwing off Genie's train of thought. "This is... wha'd'ya call it? ... retribution! The Urbz is produced by Symphony Entertainment... and Symphony was all tied up with the Alto Family. They fired me because I helped you take down the Altos!"
"I'm... sorry," Genie offered weakly.
Crazy as it sounded, it was possible. Jenny, along with her boyfriend Orange Bailey-Moon, had worked with Genie to investigate the Alto crime family - the last major criminal family since the fall of the Landgraab Syndicate. With the surprising assistance of the abused girlfriend of one of the crime family's bosses, a young woman named Corrie, they'd uncovered a ledger detailing the Altos' illegal activities and turned that ledger over to the right people.
Now the crime family's leaders were either in jail or on the run.
Being an aspiring reporter, Genie had published the details of the ledger and the story of how they'd gotten hold of it. So, she really was sorry. The story that had been her big break might well have cost Jenny her job.
Still, Genie mused, killing off Jenny's character on a TV show seemed like pretty mild retribution for the Altos.
Genie's whole investigation had started after her friends and former university roommates, Mariah and Miranda, had been attacked by the Altos' hired killers in retribution for Mariah testifying against crime boss Nick Alto. Though they'd survived the attack, Mariah and Miranda had gone into hiding and still hadn't been seen or heard from.
The Crown Prosecutors Office had offered protection to Genie, Jenny, Orange and Corrie. For reasons of her own, Genie was fairly confident that the surviving factions of the Alto family weren't going to come after her. She wasn't entirely sure that her friends turning down the CPO's protection had been as good an idea.
All things considered, if killing off Babette was the extent of the Altos' revenge, Genie felt she could be OK with that. The other alternatives were a lot worse.
"So, where's Orange?" Genie asked, pulling herself back to the moment.
She was surprised Jenny's big, athletic, sweetheart of a boyfriend wasn't here, being his solid and comforting self. Orange Bailey-Moon was, among his other virtues, an amazingly supportive man. He'd done a lot of maturing since Genie had first known him at university.
"He's away on a stupid book tour," Jenny grumbled. "Teaching consent culture to cowboys out West or something."
"Yeah, that sounds like Orange," Gabbie grinned.
"It's not his fault," Jenny added. "He tried to get out of it, but his publisher insisted and I said he should go. I told him I'd be fine."
"You know, if you'd just told him the truth, I'm sure Orange would have..." Genie started, a little exasperated with Jenny. Before she could expand on the thought, her phone rang, interrupting her. "What now? Oh, hang on... I should take this. It's Kassidy."
Kassidy Elderberry was Genie's youngest sister, a bright-eyed, idealistic teenager passionately dedicated to whatever cause had caught her attention this week. With her two middle sisters, the twins Debra and Blair, off at university, Kassidy was the last of the Elderberry girls left at the family's sprawling estate.
Genie had abandoned that life in order to escape from her parents. Her father, the (less than) Honorable Representative Rohan Elderberry, was bad enough. His politics offended, his corruption grated, and his habit of sleeping with his interns (who these days were younger than Genie herself) frankly nauseated her. Her mother, Luna Elderberry, was a nightmare. A wealthy and powerful banker, Genie knew for a fact she helped the crime families launder money.
Unfortunately, the pages in the Altos' ledger that would have proven her parents' corruption had been expertly removed (probably by Luna herself) just before Genie had gotten hold of it.
"Hey Kassidy. Shouldn't you be in school?" Genie asked, answering her phone. "Kassidy?
She listened with growing concern as her little sister sobbed into the phone. "Genie, I... I can't... I don't... How can this happen? I don't understand, Genie. How can something like this... just... happen!?"
"What's wrong? Kassidy, what's happened?" Genie pressed.
"She... she's... Oh God." Kassidy's voice faded into gentle, quiet sobbing.
"OK, OK... just breathe, kiddo. I'm coming," Genie said. "Yeah, I am," she added over her sister's mumbled objections. "I'll be there as soon as I can. No, I'm getting on the next train. You just wait for me, OK."
"What's wrong?" Jenny asked as Genie quickly looked up the train timetables on her phone.
"I have to go," Genie said, leaping up from the couch.
"What's wrong?" Jenny repeated.
"I don't know," Genie answered. "Family emergency."
She just knew that her little sister needed her. Already, her mind was racing ahead, planning out what to pack and hoping she could make it to the station in time for the next train to Windenburg.
