Chapter 1: Reunion

Deputy Sheriff Clifford Henson, Cliff to his friends, entered the driveway to his parents' house. It was empty. His parents were still at work at the General Store his father owned and Cliff had no siblings. He mostly had the place to himself and living with his parents fit his fiscal needs at the moment.

At 24, he was a college graduate with a major in pre-law, and he planned on attending law school. He needed savings for that, and spending three years as a deputy sheriff in his hometown, Clearwater MT, and living rent-free in his parent's home, would allow him so save up his pay and get some law enforcement experience under his belt. Cliff's goal was to work for the state as a prosecutor.

On the table in the living room he found a letter addressed to him. Finally, six years after he came of age, he had succeeded conditioning his mother against reading his letters and it was indeed unopened. Ripping the envelope open he groaned when he saw the gaudily colored invitation.

Dear Class of 2002, he read.

Guess what, five years have passed since graduation, and it is time for our first reunion! The reunion committee has picked July 6 as the date, and of course the Clearwater High School gym as the venue.

We can promise you an exciting program with live music from our own Clearwater Revival Band, and hopefully from our most famous class mate, Kylie McAdam. Yes, that's right, Kylie McAdam will attend and lend her star appeal to our reunion!

Please send us a note that you plan to attend and don't forget your significant other. I guess we all know who will accompany Kylie!!!

Marjorie Edwards

President, Organizing Committee

Cliff felt the bitter bile rising in his throat.

Kylie was coming home to Clearwater to attend the reunion and probably bask in the admiring looks of her class mates. She would also bring along her half-assed TV actor boyfriend, Hugh (call me Huge) Dumont. The two were filling the tabloids because of his regular run-ins with traffic laws, her public drunk hissy fits, and the so far unsubstantiated rumors of drugging. The last major story had been when he had given her a shiner in a L.A. nightclub and spent the next three weeks issuing apologies in every day talk show that would give him a stage.

It still hurt Cliff. Kylie had been his girl. They began dating in their Sophomore year in high school and stayed a couple all through school and into their college freshman year. For his eighteenth birthday Kylie gave him her virginity, and for her eighteenth birthday he gave her his grandmother's diamond ring. To everybody who knew them it was a done deal that the two would marry once they finished college. Things had turned out different.

In February 2003 they had found flyers for the state contest of Superstar!, one of the emerging casting show formats which enjoyed stellar ratings. Aspiring musicians were to send demo CDs to the organizers. Feeling silly and for the heck of it, Kylie sent a selection of five cover songs from the time in their high school band, the Clearwater Revival Band, and just like that she was selected for the state casting show. It was held in the same city as the college they were attending and Kylie decided to go for it.

Kylie always had a fine voice and she could cover a variety of styles. She picked two ballads and two Rock numbers, and by the end of the show she had won the state tournament. So far it had been fun and Cliff had supported Kylie and helped her, even accompanied her on his acoustic guitar during the ballads.

Things changed then. For the national competition the participants had to go to L.A. and they would be sequestered for a month while every week ten contestants were culled. Kylie and Cliff did not figure that she would spend more than two weeks given that she was a rank amateur, and Kylie decided to give it a try. Cliff had to stay back home but in the first weeks she called him on a daily basis.

Suffice to say, Kylie went on and into the final competition. At that point she was a household name and the newspapers and the emerging blogosphere took note of her. Suddenly Cliff found himself a person of interest as Kylie's boyfriend and he even flew to L.A. for the semi finals to pose with Kylie. He would always remember that weekend for it was then that he noticed the change in Kylie. Along with a few other boyfriends of semifinalists he lodged in a cheap motel and he could not spend one moment alone with her. She was constantly in briefings, dress fittings and practice, and before the semifinals rolled along on Sunday evening, Cliff had to pack his stuff and was on a plane home.

Kylie had a hissy fit, something completely uncharacteristic for her, when she reached him on his cell phone already back in their apartment. She berated him for leaving her without saying a word not even allowing for the fact that she had been completely unavailable for him during the entire visit. Then she demanded that he should come to L.A. for the finals. Cliff had to refuse having important tests on Monday and Wednesday after the Sunday evening (West Coast Time) final. He would not even be able to make the return trip in time, let alone get in any study time. Her farewell that evening over the scratchy cell phone connection was frosty.

She did not call him all week. She did not mention him when she gave her stammered acceptance speech after winning ("Oh my God, I cannot believe it! This is too much!"). He tried to call her all night to congratulate but her cell phone was switched off and she did not answer her voice mail.

Monday's papers were filled with a smiling Kylie hugging the producers of the show, the other contestants, and the half-assed celebrities who formed the jury. She still did not call Cliff. Tuesday's headlines were of another quality. A photog had captured the moment when Kylie stepped out of the limousine of the show's producer. Her lipstick was smeared, her eyes looked glassy, and the evidence that she was sans panties was there for the world to see since her dress had ridden up. The pair of silk panties hanging from the producer's coat pocket was the piece de resistance. The scandal sheets went crazy.

Back home the impact was terrible. One day Kylie was the Queen of Clearwater, their girl who made it big on national TV; the next day more than half the town turned against her. Her parents, when they returned from L.A., could add nothing to what people knew; they had been kept away from her. They had tried to contact her but she did not answer her cell phone. For the next weeks the McAdams did not show their faces in town if they could help it. They wrote to Cliff to apologize for their daughter, and in a way it helped him to cope.

The damaging photos notwithstanding, Kylie had her two months of fame. Then her first album, hastily arranged, was thrown into the music store shelves, but it was a shoddy production and it was later rumored that its gold status was due to massive buying from her producers. She toured after the release but it was clear that her appeal was already waning. The fresh faced girl from Montana had turned into a moody party girl who ran with the rich and infamous socialites for a while.

When next year's contest came along her producer had already cut her loose, citing a lack of potential and discipline. It was telling that this was followed by her best phase. Instead of playing to large crowds, she assembled a group of session musicians and began to play small club gigs. With nothing else but word of mouth to go for her she soon became a top live performer in L.A. and one of the bigger labels signed her on for a three year contract. This time she received more than a token cut from the record sales and in quick order, she recorded two albums which both went gold all by themselves. She wasn't a superstar by any stretch but she had become an artist of her own.

Then, two years ago, she met the proverbial bad boy, Hugh Dumont. He had played a rebellious detective in a cop show that never saw its second season. He then snatched a role as replacement character in a popular sitcom which was on its last leg and was canned a year later in mid season. This was followed by a string of guest starring roles in various crime shows, mostly playing female murder victims' sleazy boyfriends, a role he began to transcend into his private life.

He and Kylie met at a party, and as every gossip service dutifully reported, they hit the sack within an hour. A stormy relationship ensued with lots of headlines. Kylie had to post bail for him at least three times when he was arrested for assault and DUI. He loved to throw things at waiters and parking valets, and he ran over a paparazzo with his car. Kylie posted bail and kept her mouth shut.

Her singing suffered though and her third album for the new label stank to the high heavens. She was spotted drunk in public more than once and rumors were about that she snorted coke. And now she was coming home with her bad-ass boyfriend.

There was no way he would attend the stupid reunion Cliff decided. Let her have the stage, let her parade her boyfriend, Cliff was not going to watch the spectacle. The Sheriff was always short handed on weekends and it would be no problem to be put on duty. He made a mental note to talk to Sheriff Cramer.

Luke Patterson was unhappy.

"Man, Cliff, that sucks! For once we have a real gig again and then you pull out?"

"I pulled duty, Luke. It's a Saturday and nobody will swap."

"Oh, shit! It would have been so great, with you and ... Oh fuck! Jeez, Cliff, I didn't think. Yeah, I can imagine you don't want to share the stage with Kylie."

"Or a zip code," Cliff added. "Keep a lid on it, Luke, will you? I'm on duty, period."

"Yeah, well, it sucks. Why the hell does she think she has to come anyway? I don't think even her parents have seen her in four fucking years."

"Don't ask me, I don't want to know."

"Shit. Listen, Cliff, you take care. I'll spread the word that you are fighting crime. See ya!"

"Yeah, see ya, and have fun. Go rock 'em!"

Cliff watched his friend going back to his table at the diner. Luke and Cliff had drifted apart a little in the years after high school. Going to college does that to high school friends. Cliff did not go home much to reconnect during the remainder of his college years. Everything in Clearwater reminded him of Kylie and he felt that he was the laughing stock of the town. He just buried himself in the books and attended extra courses over the summers, managing to graduate a year ahead.

By then, the money had run out and he had to decide whether to attend a lousy law school immediately or to go to a decent school later and work in between. He picked the latter when Sheriff Cramer offered to hire him as a deputy. Cramer was his mother's cousin, and she wanted to help. The pay with overtime amounted to over forty thousand dollars, and Cliff had been able to save most of it by living with his parents. He was not socializing much and he certainly spent no money on girlfriends. At the end of his three year stint he would be sitting on a hundred grand, enough for a good law school if he could scare up a scholarship or two.

Kylie McAdam felt a growing unease. On the surface this had to do with Hugh's driving. He was going over ninety miles per hour in the rented Porsche which he had insisted they take.

'We're stars, baby, ' he had claimed. 'We can't just drive up in a piece-of-shit Chevy.'

The car was great, no doubt, but a BMW or an Audi, even a Lexus, would have been in keeping with their celebrity status and their financial situation. Kylie was painfully aware that sales of her albums were dropping and the negotiations for a tour were dragging along. Hugh had not had a role in more than seven months which added to their cash flow problems.

The winding road was adding to her discomfort. Having a Bloody Mary for breakfast had been a bad idea all along. She had also taken painkillers against her headache and she felt woozy.

"Can we stop for a sec, Baby?" she shouted over the noise of the engine.

Shrugging, Hugh pulled over. Kylie was out in a flash and then her stomach heaved and heaved until her breakfast was splattered over the ground in front of her feet. She felt weak and cold. Where was Hugh? Oh, God, no! Hugh was sniffing from his little silver spoon.

"Can't you stop that? You have to drive," she complained.

"Oh, fuck it! This baby drives almost by itself," he boasted. "Want some?"

"God, no! You know I don't snort."

They had another hour to drive, on their way from Missoula Airport to Clearwater, and Kylie was apprehensive. It was her first return to Clearwater since her win at Superstar!, and she was not a little worried about the reception she would get. The stupid girls of the committee would eat out of her hands, no problem, but there were a number of people who would not be friendly. Like her parents. The conversation on the telephone had been frosty. Her parents had been unforgiving and they refused to let her and Hugh sleep in their house. That had hurt, chiefly because she could relate to them. She had not called them in four years, only sent greetings cards for holidays.

Then there would be Clifford, Cliff. Once her soul mate, lover and husband-to-be, she had not heard from him either. Well, that wasn't true. She had heard from him alright. Twenty-four voice mails, asking her to call back which she had not heard before it was too late. Then the twenty-fifth message which arrived after the paparazzi photos showed her up as a cheating slut. Cliff's voice had sounded dead, devoid of feeling, devoid of life. She could still remember every word.