Page 24 of Charmed by You

“We don’t need your life story, Burnet. Cut to the chase.”

“Yeah, okay. Right. Carolyn Pruitt,” he said, and in hisperipheral vision, Simon saw Frannie hug herself. “That was such a huge story,right? And no one ever really knew the whole story.”

He did a mental sweep of his research on Frannie, thenremembered that Carolyn Pruitt had been a minor recurring character on herfirst show, Bright Eyes. Carolyn’s father had been the show’sproducer, Anthony Pruitt, and they’d both died on one horrible night almosttwenty years ago.

“Go on,” Simon said, reaching out to take Frannie’s hand,relieved when she held it tight.

“Yeah, right. Um, so as I’m sure both of you know, Carolynand her father were killed in her bedroom one night when she was fifteen.”

“That bastard was abusing her,” Frannie said. Simon sawtears in her eyes. “You damn well better have something new to tell me, becausethis is not something I want to be revisiting.” She sniffed, then swiped a tearaway. “He used to hit on me, too, if that’s the kind of corroboration you’relooking for. I didn’t know until after the fact that he’d touched her likethat. I—I thought about some of our conversations and realized. But I neverknew at the time.”

Tears were falling freely now, and Simon squeezed her hand.“It wasn’t your fault,” he said.

She looked at him as if he’d just told the biggest lieimaginable. “I should have known.”

“What happened?” he asked gently.

“Apparently her mom—Leslie—walked in when Pruitt was tryingto—Leslie lost her shit and killed them both.” Her throat was clogged, thewords barely able to come out.

“That was the story,” Burnet said. “But there’s more to it.”

Her head snapped up, and her voice was hard and tight whenshe asked, “What are you talking about?”

“You know that her mom was convicted. That they found a gunon her, and everyone believed that she shot him, then herself. But she survived.”

Frannie’s hand tightened around Simon’s fingers. “Go on.”

“She pled guilty by reason of insanity and ended up in afacility. Recently, she was allowed to move to an assisted living community. Iinterviewed her there. She told me that there was someone else there thatnight. She said that she did walk in to Carolyn’s bedroom, and she saw Carolyntrying to fight off Pruitt. Pruitt shoved her back, and he slammed her headhard against the wall. She passed out.”

Frannie was squeezing Simon’s hand so hard he was surprisedthat the bones didn’t crunch. He wanted to ask her what was going on in herhead, but Burnet barreled on.

“According to Leslie, Pruitt freaked out. He started toshake Carolyn. Saying he hadn’t meant to hurt her. And then she came to. She’donly been knocked out.”

“What?” Frannie looked between Simon and the reporter, herface ghostly pale. “He revived her?”

“That’s what the mom said,” Burnet confirmed. “She was inthis weird little alcove that separated Carolyn’s room from the main hallway.The room had double doors that opened onto the pool, and I guess that’s howCarolyn wanted everyone to come and go. So she had furniture and stuff in theother entrance way. Mostly blocked. But it was still useable. And Leslie wasstanding there, mostly hidden in the shadows.”

“Carolyn was alive?” Frannie had spoken the words, but hervoice didn’t sound like hers. She sounded lost. Alone. And terribly, terriblysad.

“Yeah. And Leslie was about to run to her daughter, but thensomeone else came into the room.”

“What? Who?”

“I can’t say. That’s the part I need you to corroborate. Buthe started screaming that Carolyn was a slut. That she belonged to him. Thathe’d always known that she was pulling strings, trying to climb her way up theacting ladder by fucking her stepfather.”

“That’s stupid,” Frannie said. “Carolyn didn’t even want tobe an actress. She was only in the show because her stepfather wanted her tobe.”

“I’m just telling you what her mom told me.”

“So then what happened?”

“The guy came in, and he shot Pruitt in the back of the head.Then he went over to Carolyn, and he told her he loved her, and he told herthat she’d betrayed him, and he smacked her head against the wall once again.That time, he killed her.” The guy swallowed, took a deep breath. “Leslie musthave made a sound, because he found her. She tried to get away, but shetripped, and the guy caught her. He put the gun in her hand, then fired it towardPruitt. He wanted gunpowder on her fingers.”

“Oh, God,” Frannie said, and Simon realized that he’d pulledher close. No longer just holding her hand, but holding her.

“Then he made her turn the gun on herself and fire againinto her face. After that, he ran, probably assuming she’d die. She almost did.She lost an eye and some motor function. But she survived.”

“And she was convicted,” Frannie said, her voice thin. “Shedidn’t do it, but she was convicted.”