Whitney was sitting with Simone when the door opened. Fox stood there, with flowers.

“ Hi.”

“ You again. “

” Yes.”

“ I thought she might like some flowers.”

Whitney came to Fox and took them. “ This is nice.”

“ You been here long?”

“ Awhile.”

” Why don’t you go get something to eat. I won’t leave until you get back.”

Whitney sighed. “ It would be good to get out.”

” We’ll be fine.”

” Ok. I won’t be too long.” Whitney left, and Fox sat next to Simone.

” I’ve done some reading on your condition. You really should be out of this by now. I really would like to meet you formally. Have you been listening to the music I brought you? I hope so. It must be peaceful there, where you are. The stuff I found on the internet said you can hear me. So, let me tell you something about myself. I’m the second child too in my family. I’ve met your friend Kay Bennett. She sort of filled in the broad strokes. I know what it’s like to be ‘ the other one.’ My brother just wasn’t the Golden Boy, he was EVERYTHING. I was in his shadow. But, I’ve watched your parents. Even if they favored your sister, they totally love you. It’s in every fiber of their being. How they talk about you. How they’ve been there for you. I’m jealous. If I was sick, I’m not sure that either one of my parents would even care.”

Fox got up and walked to the window.

“ But, I had a crystal clear moment, and you helped me with it. It’s time that I got my life in order. I mean, I can spend the rest of my life blaming my parents, or I can get out and grab what I want. In a just world, I guess my family would just give to me what they wanted to give to my brother, before he was discovered to be a bastard. Give me anything? Not my family. No. I am going to have to earn their respect. I’ve given up on getting their love. But, if I’m going to run an empire, I have to find out how to do it, from top to bottom. I think I’m shocking my father and grandfather everyday that I show up EARLY for work. I’ve been sort of a slacker, but now is my time to be a man. And, that’s what I think you need to do, Simone. You need to come back. Be a woman. Grow into the beautiful woman I know you’re supposed to be. I know you must think you don’t have any love, in order to do what you did. But, it’s here. Here in such a depth that I can’t relate at all. And, I think that might be one of our first conversations. How is someone who has SO MANY people worried to death about her, think that she has the right to try and kill herself? Doesn’t make any sense to me.”

“ Well, when you put it like that, doesn’t make sense to me either.”

Fox spun around to see Simone’s eyes wide open, with a slight smile on her face.
 

Eve stared at Liz, who was now holding a 9mm gun pointed directly at Eve.

“ Liz, what the hell are you doing? What is that?”, Eve said, pointing to the gun.

“ What the fuck do you think it is? It’s a gun.”

” And, why would you need one?”

” Because, I’m sick of you. You lie lie LIE, and get away with it. I tell the truth, and nothing happens.”

Eve looked at Liz. “ Oh…so, what you mean is that your little fairy tale of you telling TC the truth didn’t exactly turn out like you thought it would, did it Liz? Did it?”

” Shut up.”

” No. I get it now. You had all these delusions. TC would fall to your feet, pledging his eternal devotion, right? And, when he didn’t do it, your answer is to pull out A GUN? I’m outta here.”

Liz jumped in front of Eve. “ I SAID you’re not going ANYWHERE!”

” What are you going to do, Liz? Shoot me? Why?”

” Because you ruined my life!”

” Newsflash, bitch. I didn’t ruin your life. YOU ruined your life. I was no older than Whitney is now, when you say I ‘ ruined ‘ your life. Like life has been easy for me. But, I crawled up from the bottom and WORKED on making a life for myself.”

” Built on LIES! You would have NEVER gotten a man like TC, if he had known THE TRUTH!”

” Maybe I wouldn’t have gotten TC, but, I would have gotten someone to share my life, Liz. And, you want to know why? Because, I was willing to do the work involved. You held onto this crutch. This crutch that makes you feel better. Instead of doing the HARD WORK it takes to be in a relationship. To work through it, you are nothing but an emotional cripple. A bitter cripple who has no one but herself to blame for winding up alone and with nothing.”

” Shut up.”

” Why, cause the truth hurts? I used to feel guilt, Liz. But, no more. I stopped when I realized that the sister I did love no longer exists. In her place is a bitter shrew harpy, whose middle-aged, alone and pathetic.”

“ NO! You are to blame. You don’t deserve to live. It’s YOUR FAULT!”

Before Eve could protest anymore, Liz pointed the gun and shot her.
 

Julian walked up the pathway to the Russell house and stopped dead in his tracks. A chill had come over him. He didn’t know what to do, but he knew he had to find Eve. He banged on the door and repeatedly rang the doorbell.

” EVE!! EVE!! ARE YOU IN THERE!!”

The door opened and Julian found himself face to face with Eve. Julian didn’t ask to come in, he just barged inside and began calling for Eve.

” Crane, she’s not here.”

” What happened? What did you say to her? Where did she go?”

” I haven’t had a chance to say ANYTHING to Eve, because she hasn’t come home.”

“ Don’t you know where she is?”

” No. I thought she would be at home, but I guess she’s at the hospital.”

” No, she’s not at the hospital. I was just there.”

” Well then, where the hell is she?”

” I don’t know. Are you sure you don’t know where she is?”

“ I’m sure, but…”

” But, what?”

” When I got home there was a message from Eve on my voicemail. She said that she would meet me where I said to go.”

” And?”

” I never left any message for Eve. “

Julian thought about it for a minute. “ Liz.”

” What?”

” Liz.”

” What about her?”

” She’s the one that told you about Eve and me. You don’t know this, but that bitch has been torturing Eve for months. Tormenting her about the day she told you the truth. She had this entire scenario in her mind all worked out.”

” Scenario?”

” Oh yes. See, when you found out about Eve, you were going to throw her out of your house, ban her from your daughters, and then, see that you had the perfect mate in front of you all along.”

” LIZ?”

” Yes. Now, from what I see, her delusion didn’t work out as planned, so…”

” You think she’d harm Eve?”

” HELL YES!”

TC started towards the door. “ You drive.”
 

Eve at first couldn’t believe it. The pain was dull at first, and it hit in full force. She looked down to where she was shot, and then to Liz, who had the evilest smile on her face. She turned to walk away from Eve, and in that moment, Eve decided to fight. Grabbing onto Liz’s legs as she fell, she put Liz off balance, thus making her hit her head on the sharp edge of the bar. Eve then tried crawling on the floor, using her feet to kick and disorient Liz. She remembered that her purse was at the end of the bar, so she pulled herself along the floor until she got to the end. Reaching up, she grabbed at the pursestrap, tugging at it until it dropped to the floor. She reached inside and pulled out her cellphone, calling 911.

“ Emergency, may I help you.”

” I’ve been shot..”

“ M’am, speak up.”

“ I’ve been shot….shot…shot..” Eve murmured into the phone, incoherent from the loss of blood.

As the Emergency Operator tried to get Eve to tell her where she was, Eve couldn’t have known that her actions in trying to get her purse, had led to the lighting of some alcohol. The Blue Note was on fire.