Title: "Real Reality"
Author: Walt
Feedback: Of course!!
Disclaimers: This is strictly a story suggestion. The main "L & O" characters are owned by Dick Wolf, and are only borrowed for this story suggestion. This story is ripped from the September 30, 2004, real-life firing of Jennifer Crisfulli from her real job one day after she had been "fired" on "The Apprentice" for remarks made on that show
The story opens on a seasonable, early October Tuesday night on the top floor of an office building on 7th Avenue that goes from 31st to 32nd street, directly across from Penn Station and Madison Square Garden. Cleaning personnel were doing their normal work after almost everyone had left for the night. The floor and several below it were home to Joseph Friedman Realtors, a top firm in New York know for it's multi-million dollar dealings of homes and co-ops owned by some of the wealthiest people in the city. Two female maids (Jeanne Santos and Horatia Maldanado) who are both Hispanic are in the just-cleaned out office of Susanne Arceaneux, who was the firm's big "up-and-comer" before being fired that Saturday for comments she had made during the time she was a contestant on a Reality Show "Madison's Protege."
Jeanne said to Horatia, "Can you believe the comments made on that show against the Jews got Ms. Arceneaux fired?", with Horatia replying, "Those comments were unbeliveable. She never was like that in front of us."
Jeanne then said, "That had to be the editing. I hear about how those shows are edited to make someone look like something they arent."
Horatio then replied: "That's what Ms. Arceaneaux said. She said it was done in a way to make it look like she was a racist. She never showed anything like that", with Jeanne then saying "Wait!" as both suddenly hear the sound of loud footprints running, with both peeking out into the hall and from the back seeing what looked like a head of long, dark brownish hair running to catch the elevator. The women then resume their work until they then hear another suspicious noise, prompting them to walk outside.
"Oh My God!! Mr. Friedman!!", Jeanne yelled upon seeing him walk out of his office badly bleeding from his stomach, collapsing to the floor while Horatia called 911 from a phone close to them.
"She shot me!!", said Mr. Friedman to Jeanne before he died right after saying that., with Jeanne kneeling next to him, not caring her uniform was becoming soaked in blood as she did try to do what she could to keep him alive, putting towels around Mr. Friedman to try and stop the bleeding..
Joe and Ed arrive on the scene a short while after, with Jeanne explaining the blood on her uniform before explaining what happened to the Detectives, "Horatia and I were cleaning as we normally were, and just like he always would on Monday nights, he was watching the football game. After checking with him to see if he needed anything, we went to clean up the office over there", where Ed walked over to as he noticed something on the nameplate, while Jeanne continued to explain to Joe what happened: "While we were in the office, we suddenly heard what were very loud footsteps, and we saw someone with long hair, running through the halls to catch the elevator", with Jeanne then having to stop on the verge of tears.
Horatia then said: "Everything seemed fine so we went back to work, but then we hear something else, and head out again, with Mr. Friedman coming out to our horror and collapsing. He did say to us something about a 'btch' shooting him."
"Sure looks like someone did", then said Joe as Ed then signaled Joe to come over to where he was, with uniformed officers then talking to Jeanne and Horatia.
"Susanne Arceneaux", then said Ed as he gently hit the door with one of his knuckles..
"Who's she?" asked Joe, with Ed replying: "You obviously forgot. She's the one who was on that show that looks for someone to run one of Richard Madison's companies that airs Sunday nights."
"Now I remember, the one who's as big as Donald Trump", then said Joe.
Ed replied by saying, "Yeah, him. He has two teams go around and do various kinds of tasks. Susanne was in the one a week ago Sunday where she was the team leader with them running one of the big restaurant chain outlets for a night, and her team lost. She later blamed the loss on two older women, saying how these 'Jewish' women hated everything about the place and they caused the team to lose, with one of the other candidates who without her seeing Susanne gives the middle finger to and the other woman comments about how she could not understand what she was talking about because she's Jewish herself . All of what Susanne said was caught on camera."
Jeanne overheard Joe and Ed and walked over to say to the Detectives, "Horaitia and I were talking about that show where Ms. Arceneaux made those remarks. They didn't seem like her at all. She was never anything like that. Mr. Friedman in fact really liked her. We were shocked to find out she was cleaning out her office when we saw her earlier."
At that point, forensic investigators come to The Detectives to note in Mr. Friedman's office they found two bullets in the chair, which The Detectives clearly see when they walk into his office. After examining the evidence briefly, the detectives go back to Jeanne and Horatia and ask them if they heard anything like a gun. Both said they did not, with them then being escorted by a female uniformed officer to where they could change since both uniforms needed to be taken by the police due to blood being on them.
By that point, a woman with super-short dark hair wearing a beige leather bomber jacket and miniskirt with matching pumps ran over to where investigators were putting Joseph's body into a bag to be transported to the morgue.
"No!!", the woman shouted, covering her mouth afterwards as she was sobbing.
"Who are you?" Joe asked the woman.
"Arlene Friedman, his wife", she replied.
Joe would then console Arlene for her loss and then ask her if she knew anyone who wanted to hurt him, with Arlene replying in a raised voice: "That btch Susanne Arceneaux! He fired her for those remarks on that show, and she had to want revenge for that!", then crying again.
"What makes you so sure she'd want to kill him?", asked Joe once Arlene regained her composure.
Maria replied, "What do you think? She makes a fool of herself on national TV, embarasses this company and has the gall to expect to remain employed after everything my husband did for her? I wouldn't have even waited the week he did to fire her like he did!"
"What did he do exactly?", asked Joe.
"He was so proud of her while she was on the show, putting out all these full page ads while she was on, and this is the thanks he gets?", then said Arlene in a very angry tone before she heads with the body to the morgue.
"Wow! I can't remember in all my years someone hating someone that much", then said Joe to Ed once Arlene walks away with uniformed officers.
Ed then replied, "Know what you mean."
After going through some details with forensic officers, Joe and Ed return to the 2-7 where waiting for them are Joseph's first wife Nancy and grown son from his that marriage, Carl.
"I can't believe he's gone, but I didn't go there when I found out because I knew that tramp would be there", said Nancy to The Detectives.
"Are you talking about Susanne Arceneaux?", Ed would ask Nancy.
"Not her! I meant the woman he left me for, Arlene Abbatiello", replied Nancy.
"His second wife?", asked Ed, with Nancy replying in a bit of angry tone, "Who do you think?", before calming down and continuing, "I can't believe Joseph left me for that secretary of his that dresses like total trash now that she's a realtor! It would not surprise me if she used her sex appeal to sell apartments, especially to single men as some seem to like that 'butchy' hairstyle of hers. If it were Susanne Arceneaux he left me for, even that I would not have been surprised about, as she's much better looking than that piece of trash Arlene. What he saw in Arlene beats me."
"Obviously neither of you are close to Arlene?", asked Ed.
Carl then said, "Naturally. Arlene's 33, the same age as me. I would never have gone out with someone like her even if you paid me to. That woman always gave me the creeps the way she looked. I could not believe she became my stepmom."
Nancy followed Carl: "The worst part about that was, Joseph handed me the papers that said he wanted a divorce on our 30th wedding anniversary. That became final six months later, and not even 24 hours after the divorce went final he married Arlene in Vegas three and a half years ago."
"Ouch!", said Joe upon hearing the last remark before then saying to Nancy: "I've never been married, but I do know if a woman left me like that for another man, I'd be none too thrilled to say the least."
Nancy then replied: "Yeah. It hurt a lot when Joesph left me, though at least I have half the company as he did consider me a big factor in becoming as big as it did. Joseph and I worked together for a lot of years in building that company to where it is now."
"How so?", asked Joe, with Nancy replying, "I was one of his first hires when he started it with three old walk-up buildings he got in Boro Park in 1966 when the landlord who had them went belly-up."
"You mean Boro Park in Brooklyn?", asked Ed, with Nancy replying, "Yes. He got those buildings for next-to-nothing, and he and I and a few other hires went and fixed the buildings ourselves working day and night, being able as a result to charge the highest rents in the area since they were far superior to anything else where they were at that time, even with rent control as it was then. That was something we took a lot of pride in doing, never mind the money we were able to charge then. We then fell in love a couple of years later and married in '70 when I became pregnant with Carl."
"And in all fairness, he did love my mother, and both were good parents to me and Lorraine. She'd be here now except she's a senior at Stanford and is coming in on the red eye", then said Carl, referring to his younger sister when talking to the Detectives.
"OK, but do you still work there at all?", then asked Ed to Nancy, with Nancy replying, "Yes. Carl and I run the office in Mineola, right near the train station there. We do much of the selling of homes in Nassau and Suffolk Counties, which include many in the Hamptons that have sold for millions, even some in the eight figures. The houses Carl and I live in are both near where the old Roosevelt Raceway was in Westbury", referring to the harness racetrack there that closed in 1988 and was finally torn down in 2000.
"Boy do I remember spending many a night at Roosevelt on my trips to New York when I was younger. That was a good track, made a lot of money there playing the trotters", then said Joe.
"That was a great place. Joseph and I were so saddened when it closed, we spent many nights in the Cloud Casino there", then said Nancy, with Ed asking, "Anyway, can we get back to the case?", and Nancy replying "Sure."
Ed would then ask Nancy and Carl what they knew about Susanne Arceneaux, with Carl saying: "She was the 'rising star' of the company. She'd only been at it for two years and after she was eliminated from the show when it was taped in the spring, she was put into selling some of the top apartments in Manhattan, and was very successful. Mother and I were watching the show a week ago Sunday when she lead her team in a losing effort, and while we figured she was going to be the one let go on the show that night, we didn't expect some of the very rude and somewhat racist comments that were made on that episode and her giving that blonde attorney the middle finger without her seeing it."
"And that led her to being fired for real?", then asked Ed, with Carl replying, "It did, as my father was concerned having her there would make her a liability to the company. Many of our clients are Jewish as we are, and would probably have been offended if we kept her. Shame too, as she looked like she'd be a really good one, the kind I'd want to go out with if I weren't already married. You are aware that her attorney oddly enough is the very woman candidate she offended with her remarks on the show?"
"The one who was let go this past Sunday?", then asked Ed, with Carl replying, "Yes. Janine Grossman. She actually adjusted her own television interview schedule that all the candidates go through after they are seen being let go on the show in order to come to the main office and inform my father that they were looking at legal action for what they consider an unjust firing. I was there, and was shocked to see her representing Susanne."
With that, Joe and Ed are done with Nancy and Carl Friedman. Given the late hour, the Detectives call it a night, resuming early the next morning by going to see Janine Grossman at her office in Manhattan, where to their surprise they find her with Susanne Arceneaux, with both dressed in dark, knee-lengths skirt suits with white, open-collared blouses and pumps that matched the suits.
"Surprise, Surprise. We were expecting someone to look for us", said Janine to the Detectives upon seeing them.
"You obviously know what happened", Ed then said to Janine and Susanne, with Susanne replying, "Of course. That was so sad that happened, and the way it did. I know he fired me and why, and I'm sure you heard a mouthful from his wife Arlene over what happened", with Janine then putting up her hand, telling Susanne to stop, which she did.
"You had to I'm sure, Detectives", then said Janine, who then saw the facial reactions of the Detectives that said they did get a lot from Arlene without either of them saying so. After not talking for a minute, Janine then continued by saying: "From what Susanne told me, Arlene would walk in and at times give her and some of the other women there some very nasty looks."
"That was the case. I was only there for two years, so they were already married, but I could not see how Mr. Friedman would fall for her.", then said Susanne.
Joe then asked Janine why she was representing Susanne in spite of what happened on the show, with Janine replying: "On the show, we were all competing for the same job in the end. While yes, we did work as teams and got some nice rewards, the main goal was to stay on as long as we could. The task we lost where Susanne was fired was the second straight loss for us, and she was frustrated. What aired on the show was done in a way that made Susanne to be a much nastier person than I discovered later she really is."
Susanne then said to the detectives, "She's right about my having been frustrated. I did some things I should not have at the time, and when I saw her at where those who were eliminated were sent to after they were until the show ended taping for the season, the first thing I did was apologize for my behavior as I knew I was wrong. Luckily, Janine forgave me immediately and we got to know each other well enough to where she's now my attorney. As a matter of fact, we have to get out of here as we're supposed to this morning tape a segment for this coming Sunday's show explaining what happened a week ago Sunday", which Janine then confirmed was the case.
(continued in part two)