Page 86 of Fatal Fame
"Sorry, son. Go on."
For the next half hour, Ethan talked about artificial intelligence, programming languages, voice synthesis technology, and digital innovation with the passion that Noah had been searching for in his son's eyes for years. Noah simplylistened, asking occasional questions but mostly just absorbing the sound of Ethan's voice when it carried enthusiasm instead of anger.
As the sun touched the horizon and painted the sky in shades of orange and purple, Noah finally stood up, his joints protesting after sitting on the hard dock for so long.
"Well, don't stay out here too long. Your supper is going cold."
As he turned to leave, Noah's phone buzzed in his pocket. He glanced at the caller ID: McKenzie. Noah swiped to accept the call.
"Please tell me there hasn't been another murder."
"No. God, no." McKenzie's Scottish accent carried exhaustion mixed with excitement. "No, you know who I just got off the phone with?"
"The King of England?"
McKenzie chuckled. "No, I save those phone calls for the weekends. No, I just spoke with Pierce Landry's brother, Gary Landry. He'd phoned to ask about whether his brother's body was going to be transported back to California or if he would have to make arrangements. Anyway, I got talking with him about the team, and he had some interesting things to share."
"Yeah? Like what?"
"Like how Camila systematically pushed out other team members through manufactured conflicts. How she had a history of creating 'evidence' of colleagues' incompetence or disloyalty. How she convinced Pierce that Gary was bad-mouthing the show when she had fabricated the whole thing. How she had a pattern of isolating Pierce from people who might challenge her influence."
Noah leaned against the dock railing, his investigative instincts engaging despite his fatigue.
"But that's not all," McKenzie continued. "He told me about how she reacted when Pierce chose Sienna over her. Not just sadness, but calculated retaliation. She apparently made attempts to sabotage Pierce and Sienna's relationship through manufactured drama. And then, get this… he told me how she immediately tried to seduce Marcus after Pierce rejected her, setting up the whole triangle. She had a history of using romantic relationships as weapons for professional gain."
McKenzie paused to take a sip of something before continuing without missing a beat.
"But here's the kicker—I figured Sienna was the one with all the technical skills. Not so. Until Sienna came along, Camila handled it all. Apparently, she has a background in audio production and digital manipulation. She'd previously 'cleaned up' recordings in ways that subtly changed meaning. She'd been pushing Pierce to use new AI tools and voice technology to create avatars to run their social media presence."
Noah felt pieces of a puzzle beginning to click into place, connections forming between technical capability and murderous intent.
"Gary was kicked out, according to him, because she gradually took control of business decisions while appearing supportive. She's the one who books hotels, has access to everyone's personal information, schedules, and private communications, and positions herself as indispensable while making others seem unreliable. He said that his brother Pierce thought Camila was his most loyal supporter, but looking back, every major conflict or departure from the team somehow benefited her position. She was like a chess player moving pieces while everyone else thought they were just having workplace drama," McKenzie's said. "Now I'm sitting here thinking to myself, what if Camila was devastated when Pierce chose Sienna over her? What if she had watched Sienna then move on toMarcus while still seeing Pierce? Remaining alone would have only compounded that pain."
"Yeah, but she would have just told Pierce," Noah said.
"Maybe not. Maybe she blamed Pierce just as much."
"So you think she punished Pierce for rejecting her?"
"I think she planned to kill two birds with one stone. She takes out Pierce. She then destroys Marcus, her romantic rival's new love interest, then forces Sienna to experience the same loss and betrayal she felt."
Noah nodded, understanding the psychology. "If I can't have love and success, no one can." He glanced at Ethan, wondering if similar pain had driven his son's deceptive behavior. Pain could drive a person to do all manner of things—lie, fabricate stories, impersonate others.
He thought back to what his sister Maddie had said during the Marcus interview:"Even then, a good defense attorney like myself would argue multiple things such as voice cloning or mistaken identification."
"Hold the line, McKenzie." Noah walked back over to his son. "Ethan, Mia said you left a few messages for her, but they were in the voice of a woman. How did you do that?"
"AI. Voice cloning. Well, I didn't clone a voice. I used an app that lets you pick an AI voice. They're so real now it's hard to tell the difference between a human and a bot."
"But you can clone a voice?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"And if you wanted to make a call and appear as if you were a specific person, could that be done?"
"It could. I mean, it would be easier if you left a message on an answering service."
"But if you had to use someone's voice?"
