The week following the... incident had been a blur. She felt like she hadn't even closed her eyes in days and she couldn't. She and Lex were trying to figure out everything they could and with their seemingly unlimited resources it wasn't that had for her to start forming her own theories and with the pool of blood Lauren was found in it ruled out a couple of ideas she heard from the public: poisoning wouldn't have left a bloody trail that quick, gunshots would have been heard by someone in the apartment even with a silencer, she didn't kill herself because of the way her body was found. Which only left two real options: blunt force trauma, maybe from on the many instruments left in the spare room or maybe, maybe strangulation, or a mix of both. And these theories were easy to make when you were able to make... 'contribution' to the coroner's office and a little extra to make sure that everything stayed confidential, for lack of a better word. But even that didn't get her a look at the body, only a look at the still-unreleased report which found 'strange' markings around her neck (whatever that meant) but it didn't specify what they were: maybe they were just from her necklace, or some kinky sex she was into now, Pri didn't know. And finding a positive cause of death without seeing the body would make her job impossible. Plus, she needed a who. Who could have something to gain with Lauren being out of the picture and, of course, her suspicions stated with Soren. No matter how cliche it was to assume the ex did it. That was the outcome most of the time and even though it made her stomach turn, she couldn't rule him out.
And when she wasn't being kind of sketchy with her morals or questioning the innocence of old hookups, she was with Nate, trying to get her mind off of everything or Lex, trying to figure it all out. But, as much as she wanted to, going to Lex to sit down and talk about all of this or even just staying the night like she usually did when she was in one of her pits, wasn't an option. At least not right now. Lex was her best friend, they loved each other, and he knew everything about her, and that was the problem. When they weren't working on the case, they'd be trying to take their minds off of it which led to him asking if she wanted to stay the night. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't. For the past week, she's made excuses that she had a story to finish or she had to talk to Chris about the wedding that was looming over them just so she could get back to her room. Alone. He might have not believed her but, she didn't need him to. She just needed an excuse to be alone or around someone who wasn't her best friend. All because of one reason: He knew her too damn well, unlike Nate who'd she call to keep her company through the night, Lex knew the signs of her going on one of her 'trips', where she'd go weeks without any actual sleep and food because she got so engulfed in something that nothing else mattered. He knew the warning signs and she didn't need him worrying about her. What he needed to worry about was finding out what happened to Lauren and who did it. She'd come clean about everything later; her 'dependency' coming back, her overuse of them for five months, she'd tell him everything. Later.
It still hadn't fully sunk in what was happening today. She felt as if it was all a dream that she could wake up from. She was finishing up everything when her phone started to vibrate. "Khepri Mahajan." Khepri tapped the speaker button on her phone as she was focused on putting in a pair of earrings, only half paying attention to the phone. "Hi Ms. Mahajan, I know you said you didn't want to be bothered with phone calls today, but, um Richard Marlow has been trying to get ahold of you. Something about, getting your hat back into the ring." Ugh, Richard fucking Marlow. He was just another one of the self-serving, egotistical, utterly intolerable, and privileged straight male reporters in New York that she had to deal with. Sure, he never meant to come off like that but, he did but, she had to give him credit. He was trying his hardest to get Khepri off of the paper and back into the limelight even if it was just statewide station. At this rate, anything was better than sitting in the Times another day. "Put him through."
"Khepri Mahajan, when I tell you what I did, you're gonna fuckin' marry me." Pri scoffed. "I swear! You are gonna leave your little British man and just jump into my arms. C'mon, asked me what I did." Okay, she'd bite. She took a deep breath and rolled her eyes as she secured her earrings. "Okay, Rick, I'll play along. What'd you do?" She leaned against her marble counter. "I just got you clearance and total control on this case for the station." She nearly dropped her glass in the sink before reaching for her phone and putting it to her ear. "Rick, I swear if you're messing with me---..." The man chuckled on the other end before cutting her off. "Relax, gorgeous. I'm not messing with you. I'm serious. The station looked over your stuff and they like what they see," Khepri had to stop herself from squealing like a teenage girl. "Sure it's a little more... local than you're used to but, you deserve better than so bullshit guest anchor slot on the Morning Show and it gets you outta that shitty New York Times cubical of yours and back where you belong. Because that face is too beautiful to be hidden behind some newspaper. So, what do you say?" Annoying comment about her looks aside, she felt like she could kiss him. "Are you fucking kidding?! Rick, you amazing little prick! When do I start? When am I on?" Rick chuckled again. "Attagirl, I knew you'd love me. So, we want our new hard hitter, that's you, darling, going up against our biggest competition in the morning. Y'know, scare em a bit and show them who the real big dogs are. You'll do mostly breaking news, on-site correspondence, your specialty, of course, but they really want you on this story from the East Side, some murder case, it happened like a week ago. A socialite type or something. Name's like Lana? Laurie?--..."
"Lauren Clark?" She heard the man snap his fingers. "That's it! See, you're already bounds ahead of me." Oh. That might be a tiny issue. This... This could be bad, messy, complicated, and another way she could end up pissing off all of her old friends which was not ideal. Not to mention, she might have been too close to the story to do it justice. But, no one knew she was there. Her name wasn't in any reports and if they were, they weren't now. Not after Khepri made sure of it i.e calling in one of the many favors the NYPD captain owed her. Either way, she didn't have a choice. Wha was she supposed to do? Say no? Stay in New York forever until her station back in Europe stopped being annoying and let her come back? They told her nine months minimum before they even thought about it. And do you know how long Khepri has been in New York? Six goddamn agonizing months. Those alone made her want to crawl in a hole and die. The thought of staying up for days on end just to sit in her small cubical of space at the Times or her bedroom writing bullshit articles for some newspaper. Which was an, honestly, archaic form of media that should have died out years ago.
And she couldn't take it anymore. This is exactly what she needed, her producers were in close contact with her physical and mental therapist and both said she was well enough to work. They just didn't think she was well enough to return to what she was used to, not yet. So, this was good. It would show them that she could handle it again. That she was in her right mind to get back to what she was meant to do. By this point in her thought process, her mind was made up and there was nothing anyone could say to change her mind: not Chris, not her friends, not even Lauren herself. She needed this. "But, listen, I gotta But, our lawyers will be in contact with the Times so, don't even worry about that. Just take this time to decompress, take some well deserved time off, because you start next week." Before she could hang up or respond, he kept talking. "Oh and welcome back, Khepri." He hung up before she could thank him. She set her phone down before running her hands through her hair. She started to laugh before taking a breath. "Finally." However, her excitement didn't last long as she continued getting ready everything slowly began to set in and this pit in her stomach that had felt for the past week returned. She set her hands against the edge of the counter in front of her as she tried to remember the breathing techniques Chris had told her about to help with any feelings of panic she might be feeling. They never worked but, she always tried just kind of hoping for that one time when it actually does. After what felt like ten minutes, when it was really only a minute, she gave up trying and wiped away the one tear she formed. She was fine. She had to be fine, she didn't have a choice. Everyone else was going to be a mess today. So, Khepri couldn't be.
She downed her wine before setting down the glass and heading out of her brownstone and into her waiting car. Her driver, Barry, had been her driver for years and knew better to than to ask questions as they drove off. At first, the radio was on but it didn't take long for the news station she was listening to turn the topic onto Lauren's murder and how her funeral was today. Which made Barry immediately turn off the radio as they drove in silence. Khepri was so far into thought to even notice the car moving, let alone already arriving. She went through her purse making sure she had everything; a small notebook filled with everything she had found in within the week, a small flask, and her uppers in order to stop her from crashing in front of everyone. It wasn't until the door open beside her, that she realized where she was. She stepped out and look up at the hotel in front of her along with look around at the groups of people surrounding them. Barry just looked at her with what could be described as sad eyes, a look she hated getting, and couldn't even say a word before Khepri stated: "I'm fine. I'll call when I'm ready." The older man just nodded before making his leave, leaving Khepri alone on the sidewalk, still not having the courage to actually walk in.
She took a deep breath, fixing her hair, and made her way in. She didn't bother trying to socialize with anyone, she wasn't in the mood. Besides the only people she wanted to see: Lauren's parents and Lex were either busy talking to other guests and her close friend was nowhere to be seen yet. She slid into a chair, waiting for everything to start, only looking around the room to see where the other 'people of interest' were and setting her eyes on Soren who she saw leave for the second time. Her eyes watched him walk out before turning back to her hands in her lap just waiting for something to happen in order to fill the uneasy silence.
And when she wasn't being kind of sketchy with her morals or questioning the innocence of old hookups, she was with Nate, trying to get her mind off of everything or Lex, trying to figure it all out. But, as much as she wanted to, going to Lex to sit down and talk about all of this or even just staying the night like she usually did when she was in one of her pits, wasn't an option. At least not right now. Lex was her best friend, they loved each other, and he knew everything about her, and that was the problem. When they weren't working on the case, they'd be trying to take their minds off of it which led to him asking if she wanted to stay the night. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't. For the past week, she's made excuses that she had a story to finish or she had to talk to Chris about the wedding that was looming over them just so she could get back to her room. Alone. He might have not believed her but, she didn't need him to. She just needed an excuse to be alone or around someone who wasn't her best friend. All because of one reason: He knew her too damn well, unlike Nate who'd she call to keep her company through the night, Lex knew the signs of her going on one of her 'trips', where she'd go weeks without any actual sleep and food because she got so engulfed in something that nothing else mattered. He knew the warning signs and she didn't need him worrying about her. What he needed to worry about was finding out what happened to Lauren and who did it. She'd come clean about everything later; her 'dependency' coming back, her overuse of them for five months, she'd tell him everything. Later.
It still hadn't fully sunk in what was happening today. She felt as if it was all a dream that she could wake up from. She was finishing up everything when her phone started to vibrate. "Khepri Mahajan." Khepri tapped the speaker button on her phone as she was focused on putting in a pair of earrings, only half paying attention to the phone. "Hi Ms. Mahajan, I know you said you didn't want to be bothered with phone calls today, but, um Richard Marlow has been trying to get ahold of you. Something about, getting your hat back into the ring." Ugh, Richard fucking Marlow. He was just another one of the self-serving, egotistical, utterly intolerable, and privileged straight male reporters in New York that she had to deal with. Sure, he never meant to come off like that but, he did but, she had to give him credit. He was trying his hardest to get Khepri off of the paper and back into the limelight even if it was just statewide station. At this rate, anything was better than sitting in the Times another day. "Put him through."
"Khepri Mahajan, when I tell you what I did, you're gonna fuckin' marry me." Pri scoffed. "I swear! You are gonna leave your little British man and just jump into my arms. C'mon, asked me what I did." Okay, she'd bite. She took a deep breath and rolled her eyes as she secured her earrings. "Okay, Rick, I'll play along. What'd you do?" She leaned against her marble counter. "I just got you clearance and total control on this case for the station." She nearly dropped her glass in the sink before reaching for her phone and putting it to her ear. "Rick, I swear if you're messing with me---..." The man chuckled on the other end before cutting her off. "Relax, gorgeous. I'm not messing with you. I'm serious. The station looked over your stuff and they like what they see," Khepri had to stop herself from squealing like a teenage girl. "Sure it's a little more... local than you're used to but, you deserve better than so bullshit guest anchor slot on the Morning Show and it gets you outta that shitty New York Times cubical of yours and back where you belong. Because that face is too beautiful to be hidden behind some newspaper. So, what do you say?" Annoying comment about her looks aside, she felt like she could kiss him. "Are you fucking kidding?! Rick, you amazing little prick! When do I start? When am I on?" Rick chuckled again. "Attagirl, I knew you'd love me. So, we want our new hard hitter, that's you, darling, going up against our biggest competition in the morning. Y'know, scare em a bit and show them who the real big dogs are. You'll do mostly breaking news, on-site correspondence, your specialty, of course, but they really want you on this story from the East Side, some murder case, it happened like a week ago. A socialite type or something. Name's like Lana? Laurie?--..."
"Lauren Clark?" She heard the man snap his fingers. "That's it! See, you're already bounds ahead of me." Oh. That might be a tiny issue. This... This could be bad, messy, complicated, and another way she could end up pissing off all of her old friends which was not ideal. Not to mention, she might have been too close to the story to do it justice. But, no one knew she was there. Her name wasn't in any reports and if they were, they weren't now. Not after Khepri made sure of it i.e calling in one of the many favors the NYPD captain owed her. Either way, she didn't have a choice. Wha was she supposed to do? Say no? Stay in New York forever until her station back in Europe stopped being annoying and let her come back? They told her nine months minimum before they even thought about it. And do you know how long Khepri has been in New York? Six goddamn agonizing months. Those alone made her want to crawl in a hole and die. The thought of staying up for days on end just to sit in her small cubical of space at the Times or her bedroom writing bullshit articles for some newspaper. Which was an, honestly, archaic form of media that should have died out years ago.
And she couldn't take it anymore. This is exactly what she needed, her producers were in close contact with her physical and mental therapist and both said she was well enough to work. They just didn't think she was well enough to return to what she was used to, not yet. So, this was good. It would show them that she could handle it again. That she was in her right mind to get back to what she was meant to do. By this point in her thought process, her mind was made up and there was nothing anyone could say to change her mind: not Chris, not her friends, not even Lauren herself. She needed this. "But, listen, I gotta But, our lawyers will be in contact with the Times so, don't even worry about that. Just take this time to decompress, take some well deserved time off, because you start next week." Before she could hang up or respond, he kept talking. "Oh and welcome back, Khepri." He hung up before she could thank him. She set her phone down before running her hands through her hair. She started to laugh before taking a breath. "Finally." However, her excitement didn't last long as she continued getting ready everything slowly began to set in and this pit in her stomach that had felt for the past week returned. She set her hands against the edge of the counter in front of her as she tried to remember the breathing techniques Chris had told her about to help with any feelings of panic she might be feeling. They never worked but, she always tried just kind of hoping for that one time when it actually does. After what felt like ten minutes, when it was really only a minute, she gave up trying and wiped away the one tear she formed. She was fine. She had to be fine, she didn't have a choice. Everyone else was going to be a mess today. So, Khepri couldn't be.
She downed her wine before setting down the glass and heading out of her brownstone and into her waiting car. Her driver, Barry, had been her driver for years and knew better to than to ask questions as they drove off. At first, the radio was on but it didn't take long for the news station she was listening to turn the topic onto Lauren's murder and how her funeral was today. Which made Barry immediately turn off the radio as they drove in silence. Khepri was so far into thought to even notice the car moving, let alone already arriving. She went through her purse making sure she had everything; a small notebook filled with everything she had found in within the week, a small flask, and her uppers in order to stop her from crashing in front of everyone. It wasn't until the door open beside her, that she realized where she was. She stepped out and look up at the hotel in front of her along with look around at the groups of people surrounding them. Barry just looked at her with what could be described as sad eyes, a look she hated getting, and couldn't even say a word before Khepri stated: "I'm fine. I'll call when I'm ready." The older man just nodded before making his leave, leaving Khepri alone on the sidewalk, still not having the courage to actually walk in.
She took a deep breath, fixing her hair, and made her way in. She didn't bother trying to socialize with anyone, she wasn't in the mood. Besides the only people she wanted to see: Lauren's parents and Lex were either busy talking to other guests and her close friend was nowhere to be seen yet. She slid into a chair, waiting for everything to start, only looking around the room to see where the other 'people of interest' were and setting her eyes on Soren who she saw leave for the second time. Her eyes watched him walk out before turning back to her hands in her lap just waiting for something to happen in order to fill the uneasy silence.