Chapter 14 -- They're All Sick!
Monday October 10
Before I left the hospital, they'd given me instructions on how to rehab my hip pointer. They called the first few days the 'acute phase.' I assumed that meant pain level because I agreed it was 'acute.' The suggested treatment was to rest, ice it down, take pain and anti-inflammatory meds, and to wrap it. They warned me not to try to do too much until the pain subsided some. My instinct was to stretch and exercise, but they'd warned that I had to let my injuries heal before I began to do that.
I could have ditched the wheelchair and used crutches if my arm and ribs didn't hurt. The good news was that the swelling around my elbow had gone down. That was frankly my biggest concern. They'd thoroughly examined my elbow and a sports medicine doctor, who was also an orthopedic specialist, had assured me that it was all soft-tissue injury and nothing structurally was amiss. Besides the scare of possibly not being able to throw a ball, it frustrated me not to have the use of my right arm. Simple things you take for granted, like tying your shoes, are a major hassle when you essentially lose the use of your dominant arm.
Something I discovered was that being in pain is exhausting. I'd managed to hobble around enough to take a shower and get dressed, but when I was done, I could have used a nap. I felt like I was a ninety-year-old, the way I had to move slowly and worry that I might tip over at any moment when pain would radiate from my hip if I moved wrong.
I ordered room service for breakfast and got the guy that delivered it to tie my shoes. When Fritz finally came to pick me up, I was ready to go.
"I expected I would have to help you get ready."
"Yesterday, you would have had to. I hate feeling helpless," I admitted.
Fritz helped me ease into the wheelchair and grabbed my bags. It was a little awkward because his wrist was broken, but we somehow managed to get downstairs. I was glad that they had express checkout so I didn't have to get in line to do that.
The plan for today was to go to IDC--Public Relations' offices and prep for our press conference. Frank pulled Fritz into a meeting for Fritz to have his own prep. Rita and Halle hadn't arrived yet.
I found Caryn in the conference room where she'd set up shop for the week. We got all the 'how are you feeling' stuff out of the way and then she wanted to talk about Lexi.
"I had Kendal reread your contract, and she confirmed there is a provision for you to hire what they term as 'staff' for the 'duration' of the movies. I've got a call into the studio to clarify what that means and what our budget is. I also need to determine whether that allows us to hire them or if the studio has to. I know that Kent said Craig was able to hire people directly, but I want to make sure of that."
"What does Kent plan to do with Lexi?" I asked.
"We need to hire some support staff to assist the managers and help with the day-to-day operations. Until I meet with her, I won't know where she'll fit in. Kent is hopeful she might make it easier to open some doors for our clients. I also want to find out her long-term plans. She's just out of high school, and I would guess that at some point she plans to go to college. I'd hate to assume anything. If she's only here for the short term, it will limit how much training we would invest in her."
I had no idea if Lexi even wanted to go to college. I'd assumed that this would be her first 'real' job. There was a soft knock on the door, and Caryn told the person to come in.
"Speak of the Devil. I bet your ears were burning," I said as Lexi came in.
"I'm here for my interview, Ms. Buckley. I can wait if you need to finish up with Mr. Dawson."
I suppressed the urge to laugh at Lexi being so formal. I had to remember this was a business situation and allow Caryn to handle it.
"I was just leaving. Good luck, and if I don't see you before I leave, it was good seeing you again," I said.
Lexi showed that she was nervous when she wiped her palms on her pants before she shook my hand. Caryn told her to get comfortable and then helped wheel me to where Frank was holding court.
---
On our way to the press conference, I had time to reflect on this budget/splurge dichotomy that had been used to torment me over the past year. During the prep meeting, Rita and I had disagreed on where to hold our meeting with the press. She wanted to do it at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, right in the heart of Beverly Hills' swanky area. I'd wanted something more economical. We were talking about the people that hounded us, not studio executives. Guess who won that argument. I should have just shut up because she'd been doing this kind of thing for years. Halle teased me and called me cheap, which irritated me and made me dig my heels in.
I knew I wasn't winning when Caryn joined us and agreed with Rita. Talk about killing my crusade. If anyone was cheap, it was Caryn.
That was how I found myself on the Rodeo Terrace that overlooked the legendary Rodeo Drive. We'd originally planned to hold the press conference in the early afternoon so that the information would be released in time for the evening news on the East Coast. Bev Mass had been correct when she warned us about our time window because the police had requested an interview for just after lunch. Luckily, Frank and his team worked their magic, and we were ready at 11:00 a.m.
I worried that we wouldn't be able to get the press there in time but underestimated the lure of a scandal. Frank led us out to a table with a lectern at the end. I was joined by Halle, Rita, Fritz, and Lexi, who'd volunteered to talk about what she'd seen. Frank stood at the lectern and got the press to quiet down.
"Halle James will read a prepared statement, and then we will show you videos of what happened. We will then have the other people you see up here make statements, and then we'll open it up to questions," Frank said and sat down.
Halle's statement outlined the different times Zander had crossed the line, on and off the set. Bev Mass's background as a district attorney had paid off when writing the statement. Words matter when describing what happened, especially the legal definitions. Bev assured us that with just the written statement, any rookie DA would be able to put together the case against Zander. Putting bad guys away was her passion, and once Bev knew we'd made the decision to go after him publicly, she wanted to make sure we didn't mess up the case once it went to trial.
Once she'd read her statement, Halle went off-script.
"I think about young girls today--I don't want my future daughter, or your daughter, or any person to be afraid that they will be punished if they speak out about being abused, especially if their abuser is in a position of power. I was lucky in that I have a powerful mother who supports me, and that support negated much of the leverage my attacker had over me.
"Even with that support, I was forced into a room, and I absolutely believe that if my friend hadn't been with me, I would have been raped. When he was thwarted, he thought he could do even more damage, and attempted to kill me and the people I was with. Unfortunately, my close friend David A. Dawson was injured when our car was rammed by Zander Lewis's bodyguard. The coward then fled the scene," Halle said as she became overcome with emotion.
If I could've gotten up without almost passing out from pain, I would have gone to her. I was glad to see her mother step up and give her a hug of comfort.
"Mark my words. Zander was just doing what he assumed from prior experience he could get away with. In the coming days, others will come forward and share their experiences of this predator," Halle concluded, then collapsed into her mom's arms.
I was impressed. I'd never seen this many people from the press sit that quietly before. Their usual M.O. would be to start shouting questions. Frank had one of his people begin showing the videos. He ran through them all before having the rest of us comment on them.
I hadn't seen the whole thing before.
