When Susie Campbell "disappeared" and her mother started a missing person's case, Sammy Lawrence knew he was in trouble. Of course, many employees at the studio were questioned, but only Sammy and Joey Drew truly knew what happened, and if either misspoke, they could be uncovering Joey's dark experiments to the world. While Joey didn't see what he created as a big deal or understand how it isn't actually for "the greater good", it left Sammy feeling regret and anger. He wouldn't enjoy lying about what happened, although he knew he would.
Sammy had known Susie for many years prior to the studio so of course he was first on the list for inquiring.
"Let's start simple. What is your relationship with Susie Campbell?"
Sammy was now sitting in the office of a police department. Various people from Joey Drew Studios, along with Susie's mother, were waiting outside of the room.
"I've known her for years, we met at a movie theater in the 20s and she invited me later on to join a theater troupe as the musician for their performances. We're friends." He didn't want to say very much, deciding to give the officer the basic idea without details that could lead to more unnecessary questions. Sammy and Susie had loved each other dearly but the officer didn't need to know.
"When did you last speak with Susie?"
Sammy knew their last conversation was an argument. He remembered it was in the studio archive room, a small circular library of files with a small table in the center. He sat there attempting to drink a hot bitter cup of coffee as coolly as he could, but his feelings were boiling. Susie had yelled at Sammy for being so careless, not considering her career and her feelings. She yelled at him for taking her dear Alice away. Sammy had managed to get her to stay in the music department as a background voice actress, but nothing would calm Susie's rage or make her any less distressed over the matter. She started their conversation by saying that Joey had something for her. A secret. Sammy knew what it was and knew that it wasn't good. The conversation spiraled after that. He snapped at her "Listen to me, I can't do anything about it, I tried more than you realize! Alice isn't coming back and I hope you know that Joey isn't gonna make it any better." He saw tears well up in her eyes, her face flushed from the emotions, and Sammy then felt remorseful. It didn't matter though, as what he said was the truth. After more arguing the actress decided it was enough and with a small "hmpf!" she ran out dramatically in a hurry, knocking over her chair and left Sammy uncomfortably seated with his bitter coffee, now cold, something he didn't want to drink anymore. He slowly got up, picked up the discarded chair, and left back to his office.
"It was maybe a day or two before she disappeared, we had a disagreement of sorts. It was just about how the music department was operating, though. Nothing major." The officer looked at him skeptically, so he clarified. "It was just over her current roles. We concluded a new deal and she was fine." He knew she was not in fact okay and that was certainly a lie, but there was nothing else he could say.
The officer noted what was stated and continued,
"Is there a possibility she ran away on her own?"
"I don't believe so. She enjoyed it here." He looked absently out the window of the dimly lit office, Sammy could never make eye contact for very long. The officer stared at him, observing. Sammy thought about how much Susie loved it here in New York City. She loved the people and the noise and the stardom. If Sammy wanted to leave and take Susie with him, he knew she'd refuse.
"Is there a chance someone took Susie, or led her away? Such as the woman who replaced her?"
"No.. I work with Allison Pendle every day and I don't think she would even know how to do that!" Sammy laughed roughly. "She's a good woman and didn't even know she could hurt Susie like this. It's foolish, really."
"Do you think anyone or anything at work had anything to do with it?"
The officer wrote down what Sammy said, then paused briefly before the next question. Sammy glanced at him but didn't look for too long.
"Would anything drive Susie to being suicidal?"
Sammy's eye twitched at the word. He didn't want to think about her like that. In a way he was offended that the officer would even be asked.
"Susie.. she always had a mild fascination with death, but it was nothing, really. Not like that." Sammy paused, lost in thought. He remembered a time Susie told him graveyards were welcoming to her. They had passed by one while strolling on the street one evening, on a rare day off. The comment had taken him by surprise and he called her crazy, to which she just smiled and sighed. He pushed the memory out of his mind and started subconsciously messing with his own hair, his fingers reaching to muss up strands that fell in front of his face. He was still looking out the window at a few people walking down the street outside. He continued, not entirely attentive to what he was saying. "When she was fired she seemed irritated at everything. That job meant the world to her and getting it ripped away like that destroyed her.. She couldn't take it. That doesn't mean anything, though." he tugged the strands of hair in his fingers so suddenly and harshly that the hair snapped. He looked down blankly and feeling nothing towards it, he dropped the strands to the floor. "I should've done something to help her." He added the last line quietly, in almost a whisper.
"What was that, son?"
The officer had been following Sammy's words and motions intently, marking down anything he saw as peculiar. Sammy looked up with a confused expression on his face. Why did he have to say that here? If the officer kept him here for much longer then Sammy would probably snap, becoming either too enraged or too sorrowful over Susie. Something Joey would have not enjoyed to hear and probably yell at Sammy later due to the inconvenience.
"I was thinking out loud. It wasn't related." Sammy realized he had in fact said too much. He didn't like doing that but it happened sometimes. He didn't want to give the officer information but something held him from keeping Susie's memory silent. The officer eyed Sammy in a suspicious manner, noted the interaction down in his notes, then continued.
A few more questions go by and Sammy is let out of the room. He watched as the police officer waved at Allison to come into the room. Sammy and Allison eyed each other as she passed and she gave him a small pitiful smile. Sammy didn't return the gesture.
Sammy leaned against the wall and attempted to listen to what Allison was being asked. It felt unnecessary for Allison to be there if she only saw Susie once or twice at the studio, even if she knew Susie in her past. But if her husband, Thomas Connor, someone who's been at the studio for years, was there then so was she. Speaking of Thomas Connor, he was glaring Sammy down from across the room, so of course Sammy glared back. The apparent staring contest was interrupted by someone Sammy didn't care to notice before.
"Man, if my girl left me like this, I'd be outta here!"
Sammy's eye twitched again as he turned to glare at Wally, who had apparently been watching. Sammy was feeling incredibly irritated.
"I can tell you that I'm not why she-"
"-And because of it, Mr. Lawrence, you dragged me and Allison over here for no reason! I didn't even know Miss Campbell. Neither did Allison!" Thomas spoke over Sammy, clearly not wanting to deal with it today. Sammy could tell he had more to say, but it would have to wait until after Joey was out of the room and they weren't actively at the police department.
"Well I knew that. You better know that I didn't arrange this at all. Go home if you really want to, I don't care!" Sammy was seething and closed any gap between them, making sure no one could listen in. "You know you're a part of this too, Tom." he added in a hushed voice.
"You KNOW, Mr Lawrence, that I'm not-"
"Helloo! Boys!" The bickering would've continued but Allison had returned from the office. She paced quickly over to Thomas, then a moment later the police officer waved him in.
Allison watched Thomas leave, laughing with a sigh, then turned back to Sammy.
"Well. It honestly wasn't as bad as I expected! He asked me about my first day at the studio when I actually got to talk to Susie. It's still quite sad though.. I wish I could help more." Allison gave one of her pity smiles again. Sammy knew she cared, but he couldn't connect with her.
"It's.. okay. I'm sure we'll see Susie again someday.."
"Yes, of course we will."
Over in the opposite corner of the room, Joey was trying to comfort Susie's mom, assuring her that Joey Drew Studios had nothing to do with it and that Susie would show back up eventually, it was words he had been saying for the past week. He glared at Sammy and Thomas discreetly when they argued but Sammy paid no mind to it. He could tell Joey didn't want to be there in the slightest as he had many more "important" things to do, but he agreed to the employee interrogation only for Susie's mother- and to not cause any investigation of the studio itself, always with publicity in mind.
Sammy ignored them, knowing Joey's dishonest charms on the woman worked quite fine, she would believe it was all okay no matter what Joey said. She was rambling how she couldn't believe the issue spiraled out like this, how Susie should've talked to her before doing anything. Sammy decided not to focus on that and tried imagining what Susie would say if she were next to him. He thought of her rocking back on the balls of her feet, trying to pass the time while she waited for the questions she would never answer. He thought that Susie would find it funny, an exaggerated point of action, but would appreciate it and love the attention nonetheless. She would make a joke about how the officer acted, or about her coworkers, or make a comment about Joey that made Sammy uneasy. That woman was impatient, childish, and brash, but somehow left a sweetness in Sammy's heart that he'd never felt about anyone else. She was still as sweet and as silly as they came. But of course his imaginings could never happen. Susie was gone- or at least gone to the public eye. To anyone unsuspecting, she vanished, cutting contact completely after being fired, and was working somewhere else. To Sammy, she was a half-alive monster in the basement of Joey Drew Studios. "Is she dead?" People would wonder, Her body? Definitely. But her mind? Thriving. Somewhat. Somewhere else. She was locked away. Waiting for the arrival of the others. Sammy knew they'd see each other again, maybe sooner than he thought.