Chapter 10 - George’s First Betrayal
George looked twenty years older when he confessed.
“It was after Daniel died.”
Emma stared at him.
“You cut the reel?”
“Eighty-two seconds.”
“You told us somebody else tampered with it.”
“I told you somebody cut it before the premiere.”
“You let us think it wasn’t you.”
“Yes.”
Ryan’s voice hardened.
“Why?”
George rubbed his hands together.
“Vanessa came to the booth after the funeral. Samuel Price came with her.”
Emma felt another piece fall into place.
“The family lawyer.”
George nodded.
“They said studio property had been taken. They said if I had any footage Daniel made using Crownlight equipment, keeping it could be theft.”
Ryan said, “That legal theory is questionable.”
“I didn’t know that.”
George’s voice cracked.
“My son had just been accepted to USC film school. I had no money for lawyers.”
Emma folded her arms.
“So you destroyed evidence.”
“No.”
“You cut out eighty-two seconds.”
“I hid it.”
Everyone stopped.
Emma stepped closer.
“Where?”
George looked at her.
“In the old Egyptian Theatre projection booth.”
Ryan stared.
“Why there?”
“Daniel and I restored prints there for years. Nobody knew our cabinet.”
Emma’s anger collided with relief.
“You still have it?”
“I haven’t checked in eight years.”
Detective Ortiz immediately stopped the conversation.
Nobody would go racing across Hollywood.
She obtained authority to secure the location.
The strip was potentially evidence in a reopened death investigation.
Emma spent three hours waiting.
She barely spoke to George.
Finally he said:
“You can hate me.”
“I don’t.”
“That’s worse.”
She looked at him.
“I trusted you.”
“I know.”
“You watched me accuse my mother of cutting the film.”
“She did destroy it tonight.”
“That isn’t the point.”
“No.”
George lowered his head.
“I was a coward.”
Emma wanted to tell him fear explained things.
Then she remembered Vanessa.
Fear explained her too.
Explanation could not become absolution.
Detective Ortiz returned after midnight.
Her face told them before she spoke.
“The compartment was empty.”
George stood.
“No.”
“We found adhesive residue consistent with an old film envelope.”
“It was there.”
“When did you last see it?”
“2018.”
“Who knew?”
George hesitated.
“Daniel. Me.”
“Anyone else?”
George looked at Emma.
“Samuel Price.”
Emma went cold.
“How?”
“After Daniel died, Price demanded I cut the section that made Vanessa look criminally exposed. I told him I destroyed it.”
“But?”
“He didn’t believe me.”
George described the hiding place under pressure.
He had hoped Price would leave him alone if he thought retrieval remained possible.
Emma turned away.
Samuel Price had handled her father’s estate.
Her mother’s trusts.
Her first apartment purchase.
Even Emma’s production company.
She had called him “Uncle Sam” until she was sixteen.
Ryan contacted Crownlight legal.
Price’s old visitor records showed something significant.
Three days before the premiere, Samuel Price had entered the Egyptian Theatre during a private restoration inspection.
Emma’s stomach dropped.
“Three days?”
Ryan nodded.
“Who arranged it?”
His eyes met hers.
Emma already knew.
She had.
A week earlier she had called Samuel asking about Daniel’s old projection habits.
She had casually mentioned George might know where “another piece” of Daniel’s archive existed.
She had trusted the family attorney.
Again, Emma had exposed the direction of the investigation.
She closed her eyes.
“This is my fault.”
George spoke.
“No.”
“I told him.”
“You didn’t know.”
“I keep not knowing.”
Detective Ortiz cut in.
“That’s what investigations are for. Stop trying to solve this by confronting or trusting people based on history.”
Emma said nothing.
Ortiz continued.
“Price is now a person of interest in possible evidence tampering.”
Samuel’s attorneys responded within an hour.
He denied taking anything.
Then Ryan’s security team discovered a deleted surveillance clip from the Egyptian Theatre.
The backup remained.
Samuel Price appeared leaving the projection booth carrying a flat archival envelope.
The missing eighty-two seconds had survived eight years.
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Three days before the premiere, Emma’s mistake had led Samuel directly to it.
And now nobody knew where he had taken it.
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