Candor

Narrator: Of course, where else would I start if not the beginning. 

Detective: You called me here to report a crime. What crime?

Narrator: Why detective, I thought you asked for the beginning. Nothing ever begins with a crime.

Detective: Fine, start from the beginning.

Narrator: It was a dark and stormy night…

Detective: This isn’t story time, cut the theatrics.

Narrator: For your information, detective, this particular crime can only be understood if the mood and setting is set. It was a dark and stormy night. Somebody was soaking wet, mud stained, and covered in blood. I would have cleaned it off, but the color was a wonderful compliment to my eyes.

Detective: I thought this story didn’t begin with a crime.

Narrator: Don’t fret detective, it was my own. A little late night garden work to combat the insomnia when I cut my arm on a thorn. I planned on going inside to address the damage, then I got a call. Now here’s where a story truly begins, with a call.

Detective: That doesn’t make sense.

Narrator: Anyway...I answered the phone. On the other line was cousin Henry. He wanted to know if I would be busy next week. Naturally, I’m a busy person. As a writer every minute passed is a minute closer to a due date. But, despite my schedule, I said no. No, Henry, I am not busy. The family was having a little retreat and they decided to include me. How could I turn down such an exquisite offer?

Detective: Did the crime take place at this retreat? Is someone in your family in trouble? Maybe we should speed this along.

Narrator: No one in my family is in trouble or has been harmed. I was invited on this little retreat to heal over some rough patches. I don’t know if you keep up with the media, but the Candor family has been going through some tough, um, circumstances. 

Detective: Candor? You’re a Candor? I should have known, you all sound the same. 

Narrator: Unfortunately, I am. I distanced myself from the family name some years ago and have been living a more secluded life. That’s why you probably didn’t recognize me at first. 

Detective: Why did they invite you to the retreat? You may have the name, but you’re not a part of that family.

Narrator: I guess you could call me a buffer. The Big Three needed someone to play judge and jury, I was distant enough to play the role perfectly. Once I was all set to go, Henry picked me up and we drove to a quaint cottage in the northern woods. Isabelle and Jackson were already there. It had been so long since I last saw them and I lost so much weight that I practically looked like a different person to them. It’s quite interesting how someone who lives in your memory, can change without you ever knowing it.

Detective: I know exactly what you mean. My oldest one got out of the army recently and she looked like an entirely different person. 

Narrator: Exactly. If they weren’t all over the news, I wouldn’t recognize them either. 

Detective: So this was after the incident?

Narrator: Yes, which is why they needed this. Tensions were high and they needed a getaway. With the four of us closed off from the rest of the world we planned on bonding over shared trauma and family drama.

Detective: Trauma?

Narrator: The Candor family has a long list of issues, detective, especially now. That  first night was spent in uncomfortable silence. Isabelle was being passive aggressive to her brother, who ignored her, and Henry was outside on the phone for hours. The three of us sat in front of the fireplace, on our phones, and not offering any conversation to each other. When the fire eventually died down, the two of them went to their rooms. On my way to my own room, I had the sudden urge to listen in on a certain phone call. Henry sounded angry, he was practically yelling at the other person. Despite his volume, I could only make out his words if I walked outside and put my ear to his phone. From what I could hear, it was clear the other person on the call was an associate of some kind. You failed me. Something, something. It was your responsibility. I have...here. I left before I could hear more, but that was pretty much all I could make out.

Detective: Paula.

Narrator: Excuse me?

Detective: Paula Baxter. The voice on the other line was Paula Baxter.

Narrator: How do you know?

Detective: She's a part of their team. She handles the reporters and the gossip. If Henry wanted to blame someone for not keeping the situation under wraps, it would be her.

Narrator: I didn't realize how invested you were in the Candor family.

Detective: I have good reason to be. Also, who isn't. Everyone knows about your family.

Narrator: Fair point. So after his call, supposedly with Paula, he spent the rest of the week in a strained mood. We rarely spoke the whole time. The next morning, I had an interesting conversation with Isabelle. She told me that her brother was going to destroy the family legacy with his stupidity. In her own words, she called him an "unsympathetic money leech." 

Detective: Is the pot calling the kettle a leech? She is just as guilty as him. No offense.

Narrator: Of course not, I was never a true Candor and don't plan on it. What they did to Alexander Shaker was despicable.  

Detective: I guess now they can kiss that legacy goodbye. 

Narrator: You would assume, yet the big three still prospers. The public can't seem to live without them. I tried talking to Jackson about the whole situation. From his perspective, Alex deserved what happened to him. He shouldn't have come after me. But, detective, does anyone really deserve to die.

Detective: No.

Narrator: No, no one deserves to die. Isabelle may hate her  brother but she would do anything for him. Henry may be the heir to the family business, but that can't happen from jail. On the last night, we had a group bonding experience. We, more specifically they, laid out their grievances and concerns. They talked about themselves and forgave one another as best as they could. But, why was I truly there? I originally thought I would play neutral party. I was wrong, detective. Henry brought me there to convince me to take the fall. I was the planned scapegoat, the one who tried to cover the full story up.

Detective: Then why aren't you on the news. 

Narrator: I owe that family nothing. I told him I wouldn't do it. We left the cabin and I was back home yesterday morning.

Detective: Is that it? What was the crime? I already know your family's immoral business and what happened to Alexander.

Narrator: Your daughter. She didn't voluntarily leave the army, did she.

Detective: What are you talking about?

Narrator: She was discharged. Someone leaked information about her that got her kicked out. Just like Alexander, her life was ruined.

Detective: My daughter has nothing to do with your family or the murder of Alexander. What happened to him was a tragedy, but my daughter isn't a part of this.

Narrator: Are the circumstances not the same? Who is leaking all this information, detective? Isabelle's little birdies are everywhere, they target anyone who slightly inconveniences them, the Big Three. So, maybe one of her birds went rogue. A morally conflicted bird who wanted to leak the fight between Alex and Jackson, and the name of the fan who thought to take action. The reason Alex was left to bleed out on the steps of his home. Any information, when given to the right people, is deadly. The Big Three are too powerful, detective. Isabelle's media empire ruins lives, Jackson is the fool who benefits from ruined lives, and at the very top is Henry, the king of ruined lives, the one who sweeps it all under his rug. 

Detective: What is this? Why am I here?

Narrator: You are here, detective, because I need your help. The crime I want to report is a murder that was and will be committed by Jackson Candor, Isabelle Candor, and Henry Candor. If you do your job correctly.

Detective: What are you talking about? Alexander's case is closed, they found the guy who shot him.

Narrator: I'm not talking about Alex. This murder already happened and I need you to frame them. For Alex, for your daughter, and for anyone else they have hurt or planned on hurting. I got all the information from the trip, I know everything they did and who we should take down with them. I did the dirty work, now it’s your turn.

Detective: Why are you doing this to your own family? 

Narrator: They need to be taken down and the thing about the Candors, detective, is that they can't tell the difference between a distant cousin and a complete stranger with an agenda.