Page 44 of Fatal Fame
The most revealing part of Camila's interview came when she discussed team dynamics and the growing tensions between Pierce and Marcus over financial management and editorial direction.
"Marcus has been under pressure from the network to deliver content that justifies the budget they've invested in this season. Pierce kept pushing for more time, more resources, more freedom to follow leads regardless of cost. It was creating serious conflicts about the show's future."
Noah nodded.
By the time Marcus entered the conference room, Noah had accumulated enough information to understand the complex pressures and relationships that had been affecting the Cold Trail team in Pierce's final days. Marcus looked tired anddefensive, with the kind of nervous energy that suggested someone expecting difficult questions.
"Before we start," Marcus said, "I want to be clear that we had nothing to do with Pierce's disappearance. And whatever happened to him, I wasn't involved in."
"Tell us about your argument with Pierce," Noah said, consulting his notes. "Multiple witnesses heard raised voices outside the hotel yesterday evening."
Marcus clenched his teeth. "We had a disagreement. Sure. I will admit that. It wasn't like we haven’t argued before. This has been ongoing. We were having budget disagreements, creative differences about how to approach the investigation. Pierce wanted to keep spending money and taking risks, while I was trying to balance that against network expectations and basic safety concerns. That’s my job."
"What specifically did you argue about?"
"Pierce wanted to hire additional security because of the threats he'd been receiving. I mean, shit, Danny Walsh attacked him in the town meeting in front of everyone. If you should speak to anyone, it’s him.”
“And we will. Go on.”
“I told him the network wouldn't approve that kind of expense without better justification than anonymous phone calls. He accused me of caring more about money than his safety."
Noah leaned forward, studying Marcus' body language for signs of deception. "Where did you go after the argument?"
"I went for a walk to cool off. Stopped at a convenience store to buy cigarettes, then came back to the hotel through the side entrance."
"Can anyone verify that?"
"The store clerk, probably. And there might be security footage from the hotel, though I heard their camera's have been having problems."
The mention of malfunctioning hotel security cameras sent up red flags for Noah. In his experience, surveillance equipment had a tendency to fail at convenient times when criminal activity was involved. But how Marcus knew that was interesting.
“You always enter hotels through side doors?”
“I do when I approach it that way. The door is there for a reason. Are you trying to suggest I had something to do with his disappearance?”
"I’m not suggesting anything right now. But you should know that we have a dashcam SD card from the van. It was burned in the fire but our tech guy managed to retrieve some of it. There’s no video. But there’s garbled audio of your argument, and it cuts off abruptly. It sounded pretty heated."
Marcus' face went pale. "And I just told you we had an argument. I never lied about that. After, I went to the convenience store and then I stayed at the hotel."
"But you can't prove that, can you? You just said the cameras have been having problems, nobody saw you return to your room, and you were agitated enough to need cigarettes to calm down."
"That doesn't mean I followed Pierce or hurt him. We had creative differences, not the kind of conflict that leads to violence. I’ve been working with him for close to three years."
Noah spent another thirty minutes pressing Marcus on details of his timeline, his relationship with Pierce, and his knowledge of the investigation's direction. He wanted to see if he would crack. But it didn’t happen. Nothing Marcus said definitively placed him at the cabin, but his story had enough holes to maintain him as a person of interest.
As the interviews concluded, Noah reviewed his notes while McKenzie coordinated follow-up investigations based on what they'd learned. The Cold Trail team had provided useful information about Pierce's final day and his growing concerns about the risks he was taking, but they'd also revealed internal conflicts that could provide motive for violence.
"What's your assessment?" McKenzie asked as they prepared to leave the hotel.
"Marcus is hiding something, I'm just not sure it's connected to Pierce's disappearance. Could be financial impropriety, could be personal conflicts with Pierce, could be something else entirely."
"So he's our best suspect?"
"He's our most convenient suspect," Noah corrected. "Which might be exactly what someone wants us to think."
As they drove away from the hotel, Noah's phone rang with information that would shift the investigation in a new direction. A local resident had come forward with information about the night Pierce disappeared, information that would either confirm their suspicions about Marcus or point them toward an entirely different theory about what had happened in the darkness around the remote cabin.
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