Crushed Ice by Eric Pete

counts of possessing child porn. L.A. County sheriff deputies were seen removing documents from his residence, as well his computer hard drives, this morning. This is in addition to his stunning appearance and arrest before the nation as part of a network television child predator sting.
    â€œI don’t think I’ve seen such a staggering and swift fall from grace. Trent Massey, as many of you know, won his second Daytime Emmy last year for his longtime role as Randall Fischer on the popular soap opera Promises for Tomorrow . We’ve attempted to reach his wife, Janie Thomas, the equally popular actress, but have received a ‘no comment’ and a wish for the family to be left alone during these trying times. Mister Massey, through his manager, maintains his innocence, so we’ll just have to see how this all turns out. Back to you.”
    Even though he claimed to have shown up at the house of the supposed child by accident, the kiddie porn found on his computer sealed his fate. His claims of receiving an emergency call to go there wouldn’t bear fruit. The cell phone he’d answered, although identical in appearance, wasn’t his. No phone records to verify his story, as the deputies had thrown him face down on the lawn with cameras rolling. A chore switching it out, but successful, with the help from his unhappy wife, Janie.
    Amazing what fate delivers to the patient. It took a year of false information being fed to her about her husband to make the gold digger unhappy enough to want out. That was where I conveniently came in. Now she had enough publicity as the poor unsuspecting wife to last the rest of her career.
    This was probably my masterpiece.
    And I didn’t even get paid for it.
    I changed the channel to some HBO and went back to watching the video feed of Penny Antnee and Natalia’s rooms. Nothing in his, but he finally showed up alone at Natalia’s. She had too much of a good girl image, courtesy of handlers, to do anything in public, but behind closed doors . . .
    Penny sat on her bed, waiting patiently for Natalia to get dressed. She’d just exited the shower and was still wrapped in her towel. The camera view showed Natalia as she dropped the towel in front of Antnee, mixed drink in hand. I watched her nude body dance in front of him, imagining what music was going through her head. Should’ve had audio, but wasn’t planning on wiring two rooms. Don’t know if a sex tape was what Jason wanted, but that might be all I would get out of the church girl.
    My cell rang again. Jason calling back. I answered this time. Penny hadn’t made a move on her in the room. They were joking about something, by the way they were laughing.
    â€œAre you there?” Jason asked.
    â€œYes. Working on it,” I answered.
    â€œHow’s it going?”
    Rather than taking what was a pretty hot piece of ass and putting it to her on the bed, they exchanged high fives. Penny, alpha male to the Nth degree, demonstrated a different demeanor than what I’d observed over the past week. Soft. Unusual. “Nothing yet,” I answered Jason as Natalia fetched something to wear from the closet and showed it to Penny.
    â€œWe arrive in two days for the awards. I don’t want to leave empty handed. Get me something soon. Even if you have to improvise,” he urged before ending the call. That meant making something up as long as it was convincing.
    As Natalia dressed without a hint of action, I went right-brain in my approach.
    I found a number on my other cell phone that I’d almost deleted, until that day at Café Express back in Dallas.
    â€œHello?” she answered.
    I walked to my window and pulled back the curtain, revealing a million dazzling lights.
    â€œYou busy?” I asked calmly as I tapped my fingers on the cold glass.

Chapter 12
    â€œNot at the moment,” Sophia answered. “Didn’t think I’d hear from you,