Scene 15: Getting information out of Trina

[paladinsuitsyou]

Previously...

She hung up on him.

Booth's grumpy enough after his interview with the Vickerses. Having some starlet hang up on him because she's peeved he interviewed her boyfriend - well, that's just the icing this cake needed.

So when he knocks on the door of Trina's apartment, he's not exactly gentle about it.

Comments

[dead_hooker_2]

The starlet in question is not exactly Little Miss Sunshine when she opens the door.

"Agent Booth.

"I'm afraid I'm fresh out of straws for you to grasp at," she says, and starts to close the door again.

[paladinsuitsyou]

"I don't need any straws," he says, looming. "Are you going to let me in or are we going to do this in the hall?"

Either way. Doesn't matter to him. He has, however, moved in far enough so as to make it hard, if not impossible, for her to close the door.

[dead_hooker_2]

"Just what kind of a girl do you think I am? We're not doing anything, anywhere, without my attorney present. Now get the hell out of my apartment."

[paladinsuitsyou]

Booth doesn't budge. "You told me to call you if I needed information. That implied that you wouldn't be hanging up on me. Or, you know, obstructing justice."

Both are really, really annoying.

[dead_hooker_2]

"I changed my mind. Right around the time you decided to haul Chad in for questioning.

"You really are pathetic. Pointless, petty, vidictive. And I've had enough of that for one lifetime."

[paladinsuitsyou]

"We didn't haul anyone in. We asked for his help, and he agreed. He was very helpful."

Unlike some people is unsaid, but clearly hanging out at the end of that sentence.

"You, I might haul. On obstruction of justice charges. Just for fun. If you'd just calm down and answer my questions, I'll leave you alone."

That last certainly sounds better than the hauling part, right?

[dead_hooker_2]

"Oh, Agent Booth, Seeley, this is calm. You attempt to haul me anywhere without a warrant, you're gonna find out what not calm looks like."

He won't like it. It's loud.

[paladinsuitsyou]

"Don't call me Seeley," he mutters through his teeth. Then, more clearly, "What do you know about Andrew and Cassie Vickers?"

Maybe the direct approach will throw her off, and he'll get an answer.

[dead_hooker_2]

"Nothing I feel especially inclined to tell you right now, Seeley. Why?"

[paladinsuitsyou]

"Because they're my best suspects for the murder of your stepmother. They worked on your stalled movie, they're working on this new one, they developed the stunt Lynn used to fake her own death - I just need more of a link. The physical evidence isn't there, and if I can't tie them together more than professionally, I'm just gonna keep bugging you."

Because that's so much fun.

Now he's ignoring the Seeleys. Nothing else can be done with Trina.

[dead_hooker_2]

He shouldn't have reacted to the first one, really.

"Lynn wasn't exactly the sort who usually hung out with the stunt guys," says Trina. "And I didn't exactly keep her social calendar.

"I'm not what you want."

[paladinsuitsyou]

"No one else is, either. Your brother - he's just a kid, he doesn't know anything about her life. I know you couldn't stand her - I don't blame you, after -"

He stops. Running headlong through the things he's learned in this investigation's not going to help anyone. Keep a cool head, Booth. One frustrating woman's no reason to stop being a professional.

"She was nothing, no one. No friends, no lovers, nothing except a ghost of a life she did her best to erase. It's my job to put the pieces together to figure out who and why and how, and she's left me nothing to do that with. You're the only one who was old enough to see things, to notice them, in anyway that's helpful. If you don't have what I need, that's fine, but can't you even think about what I'm asking before you dismiss my questions?"

OK, so it's not entirely professional. The frustration's still there, the exasperation, some of the desperation. But it's not headlong or out of control and that's something.

[dead_hooker_2]

Trina stares at him for a minute, then opens the door again.

"You better come in."

She leaves him to follow her back into the living room, where she pulls a binder off a shelf and sits down on the couch.

"What don't you blame me for?"

[paladinsuitsyou]

Booth shrugs. "She wasn't much of a person, was she?"

He's being vague, somewhat on purpose, but it's true in the literal sense as well: Lynn Echolls had very little personality outside of her image. Very little humanity.

He stands, watching her with the binder, wondering where this very confusing, exasperating interview is going now. Booth has a hard time letting go of the control of an interview, but with Trina Echolls, he has very little choice.

[dead_hooker_2]

"Oh, I wouldn't even give her that much credit," says Trina.

She opens the binder. Booth can look, if he likes, but he's unlikely to be able to read anything -- it's a series of letters and numbers and symbols that form a code Trina has used to record her notes since she was about twelve.

"Andrew and Cassie Vickers. Stunt people. A little behind the times, these days. Developed the signature stunt for 1999's Over the Edge. They were invited to my stepmother's Christmas parties in 1999, 2000, and 2001, as well as to the Fourth of July picnic Dad threw as a port-9/11 fundraiser in 2002. They attended all four parties, but didn't make the Christmas cut in 2002, or since. Cassie likes dry red wines, Andrew is a beer drinker, preferably American, and not light. They used to have a very annoying little puppy, but it died in June of 2000. Lynn sent flowers, I think. Probably the usual dead-pet daisies.

"Any of that helpful?"

[paladinsuitsyou]

"Depends. How likely was Lynn to invite people she worked with to her parties? Particularly ones who are low on the totem pole in the movie-making world?"

Not very, is what he hopes. That's the kind of tie he can use.

[dead_hooker_2]

Trina considers this. "Lynn invited a lot of people to those damn parties. But . . . well, 1999, not surprising. They had just made the movie, the stunt was a really big deal, the movie opened Christmas Day, a lot of that party was Over the Edge shit.

"The following two years, though . . . I wouldn't have expected it. I don't think she worked with them again."

[paladinsuitsyou]

Booth nods. "Thanks. That's really helpful."

He eyes the binder as if it might attack though. "Uh, why do you have incredibly detailed notes on two completely random people? I was expecting a 'yeah, they might have come to a party once, maybe, five years ago or so." You kept track of what kinds of drinks they like?"

[dead_hooker_2]

Trina laughs. "Because this is my job, Agent Booth. It's being able to go . . ." she pauses, thinking, and then continues in a very bright voice, "'Oh my God, it's Cassie Vickers, right? You know, I don't think I've seen you since last year's Christmas party and I was so sorry to hear about your dog. But we won't talk about that because it's Christmas. Let me get you a drink -- red wine, right? Dad brought home the best caberet from this little vinyard in Napa.'"

She shrugs, and then continues in her usual voice. "It's what I do, right?

"You really think they killed her?"

[paladinsuitsyou]

Booth blinks. "That's impressive."

He shrugs. "They're our best bet. We're digging through their financial records right now. If we can tie those to Lynn, with the physical evidence, the tape, and now this, we'll probably be able to make a decent case. If not, it's back to square one."

If they were done with the case, now is the time he'd point out that Trina wasn't really much of a suspect, ever, but they're not, and who knows what the next day would bring? Until there's a trial, Booth can't give that much information out to someone so closely involved.

Still. She's not much of a suspect, really.

[dead_hooker_2]

"Good luck with that," she says, and it's not sarcastic, for a change.

Trina would probably be very disappointed to hear that she wasn't a suspect while the case is still open.

[paladinsuitsyou]

"Thanks," he says, sincerely. "And thanks for your help. That's all I had, as far as questions go."

He stands. Clearly, the interview is over. "I'll keep you posted on the investigation."

She's family of the victim, after all. Even if she didn't really care for the victim.

[dead_hooker_2]

"Thank you," she says.

No, Trina doesn't care about Lynn in the slightest.

But she's the only family of someone who does.