Author's Note:

This story has been a rollercoaster and I wanted to thank you all for being honest with me. I understand flashbacks are confusing and I promise I don't do them unless I believe they are necessary. Just think about the story as before and after the murder. Obviously, the flashbacks from months ago are before the murder and the flashbacks from just weeks ago is after the murder. Hope that helps and please comment so I know when I need to make the story clearer.

Mylittlespitfire, thank you so much for reminding me about the disclaimers! I posted that chapter really late so I forgot.

Whosepride, please tell me in the comments what you are confused about so I can try to make it clearer in future chapters.

Disclaimer: I did not create the characters of Burlesque or Pride and Prejudice.

Chapter Ten

LA, California

"Jenny! Two Cosmos and three shots in table five!" Tess yelled across the bar. "I have a couple of investors so be nice." Elizabeth nodded and quickly ordered the drinks. Table five was usually Naomi's section but she already had her hands full with Damon, one of the dancer's (Georgia) husband, and his friends. Elizabeth's marriage with Darcy helped her read people and distinguish between who has money and who doesn't (or at least not as much as they would like others to think).

By the time Naomi was finally able to take her break, her red curls were out of place and her hands red.

"Thank God Ali is coming out soon. My feet are killing me!" Elizabeth looked down at Naomi's six-inch Betty Johnson's. "I'm going to hang out in the back until Tess drags me out!"

"Want me to cover for you?" Elizabeth asked.

"I'm okay. The club already is chaotic since Laura called in sick."

The crowd started to thin out around one in morning. It was Naomi and Elizabeth's turn to clean out the club going home.

"Jenny, do you mind switching tables if Damon and his friends come again? I'm not sure I can handle another night with them. I'll even take two of your tables."

"That bad huh?" Naomi rolled her blue eyes.

"Worse! They don't even tip well."

"What do the do anyway?"

"A couple of big business men and a doctor or two."

"They were really young." Elizabeth observed.

"Yeah but it is Nikki that brings in the big bucks. What can you expect from Nikki. I swear Nikki reads Forbes magazine. I mean, where does she find these men?" Naomi said while flipping over the last chairs. "I'm going now, see you tomorrow Jenny!"

Next Night

On her next shift, Elizabeth heard ton of the dancing girls whispering. The club was a little more crowded than usual so Elizabeth had to squeeze her way up to the changing room.

"Jenny! Thank God you're here. We are in code red." Laura, one of the other waitresses, said.

"What's wrong?" Elizabeth followed Laura to the bar.

"What isn't going wrong?" Laura humorlessly chuckled. "Tonight is the club's premier for Tess' new show. Maggie called in sick and everyone is so busy gossiping about Nolan Knight that I had to cover three more tables. Hold this." Laura passed Elizabeth two trays of shots.

"Who?" Both girls walked to tables, distributing drinks.

"Some guy that Nikki wants to sink her talons into." Laura said as she finished the last order and pointed to a table in the corner of the club. "He's the one in the dark button down with black curly hair. " Elizabeth looked at the man named Nolan for a second before going on with her shift.

"Hey J!" Naomi called Elizabeth over to the bar.

"Yeah? Mind going with me to hand out these drinks?" Elizabeth accepted and grabbed one tray. She walked to the table with Naomi in front of her.

The dancers were about to go up and Elizabeth could still see Nikki sitting on Nolan Knight's lap. Elizabeth couldn't hear anything but from Nikki's flirty grin and sensual body language, Elizabeth would bet it wasn't PG.

What surprised her was how cold Nolan was. He laughed and talked enough but he seemed to be mocking Nikki's efforts more than anything.

"Nikki!" Elizabeth looked up to see Tess calling Nikki into the dressing room. "Stage in five!"

"Yeah, yeah." Nikki said under her breathe while rolling her eyes. "I'll see you boys soon." Of course, it wouldn't be Burlesque unless Nikki swayed her hips to give the men a private show. Elizabeth was just finishing giving out the drinks when Damon told Naomi and 'Jenny' to sit with them for a second.

"No Dame, Jenny and I have to work. So we can keep you guys well stocked." Naomi tried to dissuade Damon.

"Come on Naomi! Look," Damon pointed to his friends "the guys are doing all right. Aren't we boys?" Damon held up his drink and all his friends hollered. "We would be honored if a pair of fine ladies like you would join a couple of bachelors."

"Bachelor? Did Georgia forget to tell me something?" One of Damon's guy pals said while taking a shot.

"True, true. Old habits die hard, what can I say?" Damon shrugged and pulled his arm around Nolan. "Then why not keep my friend, Nolan, company since I'm a one gal kind of guy?" Elizabeth looked at Naomi who rolled her eyes in response. Elizabeth decided to sit next to Damon while Naomi practically had to battle her way to sit next to Nolan. Up close, Elizabeth saw that Nolan had light grey eyes that in her opinion were joyless and seemed cold. Beside Nolan's unwelcoming eyes, Elizabeth didn't see anything wrong with him and decided he wasn't anything important.

It wasn't until after Elizabeth had to go back to serving that she saw something noteworthy.

Nolan was steading Damon's tipsy body. Elizabeth smiled at Damon's non-existent efforts to right his improper behavior. Then again what behavior is expected in a club? Elizabeth was walking toward them to offer assistance when she saw Nikki walk out and made Nolan drop Damon. Damon, drunk as he was, didn't notice much and his head lulled to the side. Elizabeth could see Nolan say something aggressive toward Nikki but Nikki paid no mind. Elizabeth's eyes followed the pair as they went to Tess' office.

Elizabeth followed them but made sure to walk onto on the front sole of her heels so the heel itself wouldn't announce her movements.

"Damon is useless." Nikki's voice was easy enough to distinguish. It was all too similar to her whining exclamations when one of the other girls dared to touch her stuff. Elizabeth didn't hear Nolan's reply but it sounded like he was calmer than Nikki. "Where is my cut? She said it would be done when I helped you make connections."

"You still haven't fully delivered."

"You know you can just-!" Nikki's voice was soon cut off by a slamming noise. It sounded like someone's body hit one of the walls.

"I told you to never approach me alone. It's reckless. Especially now this deep into the plans." Nolan's voice was much more threatening now. "You will get what you deserve later." Elizabeth didn't stay after that, knowing that Nolan or Nikki could spot her if she didn't leave.

Orange County, California

"The conference will be in the ballroom and if you need anything else, please call the lobby downstairs." The bellboy said before closing the door. Mary sighed and walked around her suite. There was a bedroom with a master bathroom, a kitchen, and living room area. It didn't take long to unpack. She changed to a simple pair high-waist dark jeans, white button down and a dark navy blazer. She grabbed her bag and a pair of black loafers before she went to the lobby to find a taxi.

Mary watched people and buildings go by until she arrived at the Orange County Library. There were no problems going unnoticed by the Librarian. The library was empty but that was to be expected from the time and season. Mary walked until she reached the scientific and mathematic section. She found a table in the corner. She had a good view of the whole library without being spotted.

It didn't take long for the chair in front of her to be occupied.

"Hello Liam. Thank you so much for meeting me here." The man took off his sunglasses and baseball cap to reveal ashy blond, short tousled hair and green eyes.

"Hello Mary." It was only when 'Liam' gave Mary a hug that he whispered "She misses you. It's nice to see you, sister-in-law."

"Tell her I miss her and it's nice to see you too." Mary smiled at Darcy before she sat down. "A present." Mary picked up the bag she brought and put all it's contents on the table. Darcy looked as Mary handed him a tape recorder with a pair of headphones and about ten files. Mary also gave Darcy a prepaid phone that he could easily dispose of if need be. "Number untraceable and only I have the number. Put on the headphones and it will be all explained." Mary said before sitting up and left the library.

Darcy did as Mary said and pressed play.

"Liam," Richard's voice came through the headphones. "The files given to you is what Charles and I have dug up. The files are also numbered so that you can follow along with my findings. As planned, Mary will be the one to hand you information in designated drop offs within her stay in Orange County. She will be in charge of texting you the place and time."

"File one contains the money trail we found from the intruder's bank account. Of course, the account was off shore and the trail ultimately led to Connor's computer. There was a couple of account numbers we were able to find though that weren't suppose to be there." That caught Darcy's interest. "Like a true bad guy, Connor planned to take out more money than he was suppose to. This tells us that whoever was paying for all of this had enough to the point Connor's didn't think a few hundred missing would be missed. Where did this lead us? None other but our dear aunt and before you march out of the library in blind rage you should know she wasn't alone."
"I think Caroline is in on this whole thing." Richard sighed. "She is part of it but not deeply. I think Aunt Catherine told her to act a certain way in front of the cameras so that it would like you were having trouble in your marriage. It doesn't help that both have motives to want you behind bars or at least to suffer."

"File two mostly has Caroline's daily agenda. Charles was able to obtain it form Caroline's agent. It wasn't hard considering the assistant hates Caroline." That brought a bit of a smile to Darcy' face. "But all in seriousness, we were unfortunately right. Whoever is the mastermind of this, it wasn't Aunt Catherine. I think she is the being used by someone."

"Aunt Catherine is a snob but not completely a fool. So if someone is pulling the puppet strings on Aunt Catherine, this plan has many hidden doors. The money trail itself suggested complexity of it changing hands." Richard went on. "Elizabeth already knows where to start looking in one of the locations but we need to work on making it look like this plan is still ongoing. Charles told Jane that he is keeping her somewhere secluded for the media but he didn't tell her that to the rest of world, she is going to be dead. " Richard said the last words clearly so there was no mistake.