ML High School

Sophi gave Zoe a last hug. "I'm going to miss you."

"Only for a week than I'm back!" Zoe said and laughed softly.

"Okay students time to get on the buss." The coach said to the students.

This was something big for the town. It was the first time in years that Mystique Lake high school got invited to participate and compete in the prestigious swimming gala. Parents and family and friends showed up in large numbers to support the children of Mystique Lake even the guys from the local newspaper was there to take some pictures and quick interviews. Zoe was on everyone's lips and it was no secret that everyone expect her to bring back the gold. She was the star athlete amongst her group.

Principal Hector could not stop smiling from ear to ear as he look on proudly at his students all dressed in their green and gold sport tracksuits. This is what every principal strive to see. His eyes than rested on Zoe. That Salvatore girl will break records and cement ML high forever in the history books of this town. The principal thought to himself.

Parents and the rest of the school cheered as the teams and their captains and coaches got on the buss. The crowd started to sing the school's, school song hard and proudly as the athletes stepped on the buss. This was so touching to all who was present there.

Zoe was about to step in when a hand on her shoulder stopped her. She looked back. It was Cayllum standing there with a shy smile. The world slowly faded away around them as the two gazed in each others eyes. He bend down and kissed her softly on her lips. "Come back to me." He whispered before he quickly disappeared into the crowd.

Zoe blushed beet red under the loud cheers. Her eyes caught her mom's. Bonnie smiled and winked at her. "Love you." She mouthed the words to Zoe.

Students leaned out of the windows and waved at their parents, family and friends. This will go on until they get to the airport. Bonnie knew Zoe will not be one of the kids waving out of the windows. She's sitting right now in her seat staring through the window with her own thoughts. She walked back to her car where Stella was waiting for her.

"Your little girl is growing up. I saw that kiss." She said to Bonnie with a smile.

"I know perhaps to soon for my liking but hey that's the reality of life. Every bird will have to leave the nest one day." Bonnie said with a sad smile.

"Maybe I got something to cheer you up. I just got back from the hotel. Our girl Amy is not working there anymore. They fired her ass and right now she's drinking her sorrows away at Mike's bar and grill. You joining me for some fun girl on girl time with Amy?" Stella asked with a cheery manic smile.

"Amy? Are you talking about the receptionist at the hotel. The one who handled the fake booking?" Bonnie asked.

"Yup. Her name is Amy Lee Nilsson. She moved here last year. She's apparently from Canada." Stella said.

"Well let's go pay Amy a visit than." Bonnie said with a smirk.

Mike's Bar and Grill

Ten minutes later Bonnie and Stella walked through the doors of Mike's Bar and Grill looking for Amy. Bonnie saw her first sitting at the bar with a tall glass of beer in front of her. Amy looked miserable.

"Well, what a sorry sight for the eyes we should go cheer her up." Stella said with a manic smile.

Amy didn't look up as the two women flank her on both sides. She was in her own little world of sorrow and self pity.

"Hi Amy." Bonnie greeted the young woman.

When Amy heard her name she looked to her side. She blinked her eyes several times to make sure it was really the mayor's wife sitting next to her looking so cool and casual dressed in tight skinny black jeans. A grey T-shirt and black leather jacket round of with high heel black boots.

"Mrs Mayor." Amy said with a confused look on her face. "I didn't know you also come to this place."

"You can say I opened this bar back in the day Amy and please call me Bonnie." Bonnie said with a smile as she's taking of her black sunglasses.

"Oh the good ole days." Stella said on the other side of Amy. Amy's head turned to Stella. Her eyes went wide when Stella winked at her. This woman was dressed very differently from the mayor's wife Amy noticed. She looked elegant and sophisticated in her white loose fitted pants a white shirt and a chic white blazer. She too were wearing high heel boots but hers was white. She looked like someone who was dressed for a five star dinner in a fancy restaurant. "Excuse me and you are?" Amy asked Stella. Amy was now more confused than ever. The alcohol must be kicking in right now or I'm completely losing it. Amy thought to herself.

"You must think the demon in black and the angel in white just pulled up next to you to claim your soul." Stella said with a deadpan look on her face.

"Wha ..what?" Amy stuttered out in shock.

"Relax Amy. My friend and I are not here to claim your soul we just want to find out a few things from you." Bonnie said with a comforting smile. She waved Mike over as soon as he was done helping the two customers with their drinks.

"You know the mayors wife but you do not know me. I'm Stella Swanson. The real Stella Swanson." Stella said to Amy.

Fear settled in Amy's eyes.

"Hey Bon, hi Stella great to see you guys again. What can I get you ladies?" Mike asked with a cheery smile. Mike was an old school friend and friend of them. He inherited the bar from his dad who was also called Mike and turned it into a money making tourist attraction. Its one of the very few old businesses of Mystique Lake that are still open for business. The same good old Mike who safely took Alex home that night of his outburst.

"The usual my dear and don't be stingy with the vodka." Stella said and winked at him.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Mike said and winked back at her.

"Just a glass of water for me Mike thanks." Bonnie said.

"Sure thing Bon."

"Look I'm sorry for the mess up I caused I lost my job I don't want to cause more trouble. I'm so sorry. I didn't know. I swear I didn't know. I already explained everything to my boss and the mayor." Amy said after Mike left. She covered her eyes with her hands and started to cry softly.

Bonnie and Stella gave each other a look over Amy's head. "Hey its okay we're not here to start trouble or snap at you. We just want to know a few things Amy." Bonnie said and squeezed the young woman's shoulder softly.

"I lost my job Mrs Mayor. I don't know how I'm going to afford my rent or what I'm going to live from. I worked in a hotel before but never one that is so big and grand like the Plaza. I don't know the usual people. I'm not familiar with the people like the other girls. My boss said I'm the dumbest employee he ever had." Amy said as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Relax and take a deep breath Amy all is not lost and your boss was wrong to say that to you. He should lose his job for saying that." Bonnie said and Stella agreed with that.

"Yeah look at the bright side you're still alive." Stella said and chuckled when she saw the shock look on Amy's face.

Mike put the two women's drinks in front of them and said "enjoy ladies."

"Just a sec Mike." Stella said quickly. "Our girl Amy needs a job as soon as possible. When can she start?" Stella asked Mike.

Mike looked at Amy for a few seconds and said. "Sober up you got the job. You can start tomorrow."

Stella clapped her hands together and sang. "Oh goody Amy's got a job! Amy's got a job! sing with me Amy!" Poor Amy just looked at Stella in stunt silence.

"Amy will you be able to recognise the woman who came to you and booked the room when we show you a few photos?" Bonnie asked.

Amy slowly turned her head to Bonnie and said. "I don't know, we book so many people at the hotel its going to be hard. You can check the hotel's camera footage. There are cameras all over the reception and dinning area." Amy said wide eye.

Bonnie shake her head no and said. "Too many questions will be asked and we don't have the clearance for that. We just want to find out who are behind this as quietly as possible."

"Look Amy do you want the job? If you want it you better give us what we want. Someone used a fake ID with my name and maiden surname on it and a fake picture. Do you have any idea how that makes me feel? Believe me you don't want to find out not even I want to find out." Stella said annoyed.

Amy slowly nodded her head yes and said. "How can I be of help."

"Now think back Amy can you remember around what time the woman came in and booked room 204?" Bonnie asked as she's leaning closer to Amy.

"I think it was half an hour later after we opened. Before her I booked a group of tourists and some business men from China and than there was the two young ladies from Australia. I had a nice chat with them." Amy said but Stella interrupted her and said. "Let us not wander off Amy stay on track. Now tell me was there anything striking that you can remember about this woman? Something that stood out for you."

Amy looked down at her hands and shake her head no.

"Maybe this can help you." Bonnie said. She took her phone out and opened the gallery app on it. She showed her pictures of Jade, Elena and Sam and said. "Now look very carefully Amy do you recognise any one of these women in the pictures?"

Amy bend down and narrowed her eyes as she studied the pictures closely. "The woman who I helped that day, she was wearing big glasses and a hat that hid most of her face. She spoke well and was dressed like a model. Maybe its her." Amy said and pointed at Sam's pic.

"Maybe as in definitely maybe that's her or maybe as in I don't know but go ahead and kill her anyway maybe." Stella said with a straight face.

Amy gasped out loud when she heard Stella say that. She swallowed nervously. "I'm not sure I'm sorry but it could be her. I'm so confused."

Bonnie put her phone back in her purse. She took out a card and handed it to Amy. Bonnie noticed how the young woman's hand trembled lightly when she took the card from Bonnie. "If you can think of anything more will you please let me know Amy and if there's anything I can help you with don't be afraid to ask."

"I will." Amy said softly.

"And one more thing does the rooms have cameras in them?" Stella asked.

Amy shook her head no.

"Okay Amy take care and keep this woman to woman talk between us okay." Stella said and patted Amy on the shoulder.

"I will." Amy said as fresh tears welled up in her eyes.

...

"So what do you think?" Stella asked Bonnie the minute they stepped out of Mike's bar.

"Amy looked scared. Frightened. She's hiding something." Bonnie said deep in thought.

"She did say the mayor questioned her. Damon must have really damaged her already fragile mind." Stella said.

"I wonder what she told him." Bonnie said. She put her glasses back on said to Stella. "We need to shadow Amy.

The Mayor's Office

Damon was on his way to his office when Kate stopped him. "Miss Roberts is waiting for you in your office Damon." She said to him with a apologetic smile.

Miss Roberts was a young wealthy widow who endorsed many businesses in Mystique Lake. She had the looks she had the money and way too much time on her hands to do absolutely nothing meaningful with her life other than being on every elite group in ML and looking for her next big catch.

Damon rolled his eyes and sigh dramatic. He pushed his door opened only to find Miss Roberts bend down over his desk in a seductive manner. He cleared his throat hard behind her.

"Oh Good morning Mayor Salvatore. I was just admiring this beautiful family photo you have on your desk." She said and smiled with full bright red lips.

"Good morning Miss Roberts what can I do for you?" Damon said and walked to this chair.

"No need to be so formal Damon you know you can call me by my name." She said with a flirtatious smile.

Damon took a seat behind his desk and straightened his tie. "I'm a very busy man Ellen so can you make this quick."

Ellen Roberts smiled seductively. She could think of a lot of things that she wants to do with Damon Salvatore. A quickie on his desk will be on top of the list. "Well I want to know personally from you if there's any news about this lost lion. I'm losing clients Damon people think my mountain lodge are not safe anymore. Someone said that he last saw the lion around the mountain lodge and it looked hungry and scary. Damon I fear for the lives of my clients and mine. I'm woman alone all night up there anything can happen to me. I will feel safe if you can come check up on me tonight just to make sure there is no hungry lion outside my house." Ellen Roberts said but her eyes told a different story and Damon saw that. Ellen Roberts was blatantly inviting him to her bed.

"How did you sleep Ellen? Did you sleep well?" Damon asked calmly.

"No Damon I mean how can anyone sleep knowing that you can end up in that lions belly." Ellen Roberts said.

"And how can any woman wake up with a thirst for another woman's man unless that woman is you of course" Damon said with a smirk.

Ellen blushed beet red in her face. "I'm just scared Damon that's all."

"I'm the mayor not your personal security guard. I will let sheriff Mitchell send some of his men up there to look around. I'm sure they will be more than enough to keep not so alone for the night Ellen." Damon said with a cold smirk.

Ellen fiddled nervously with her pearls around her neck. "Oh and one more thing Damon. The ladies are starting to talk about Bonnie not showing up for our meetings and fund raising events. She is the mayor's wife after all and as expected she is head of our elite group. We have a tea party scheduled for tomorrow I will leave the details with your secretary just make sure your wife gets it, thank you that will be all mayor." Ellen said with a hint of anger. She took her handbag and walked out hips swaying from left to right.

Damon leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

Kate came in said. "I'm sorry Damon I tried to tell Ellen you will be in later but she insisted on wait for you." She walked to him and handed him the files in her hand. "The files you asked for Damon."

Damon slowly opened his eyes and took the files from Kate. "Is this all of them?"

"All of them as you asked Damon. The reps from Silver Lake will be here at two o clock. Apparently the reps stopped the workers from working on the park in Silver Lake also the new computers for the primary school in Silver Lake have arrived. I let the delivery guys put them in Will's old empty office. I hope you don't mind it was the only open space we have." Kate said.

"Why did they stop the workers? Brixton said nothing to me I was with him just minutes ago." Damon said with furrowed brows.

"I think Brixton was in the dark on this. Its being led by Jade, Damon. She's got a problem with you not hiring people from Silver Lake to work on the park. You hired outside people to do the job. She said you know how the people from Silver Lake struggle with a high unemployment rate you should have at least considered them for the job."

"Wait? What? Jade is one of the reps for Silver Lake? When were they going to tell me this!" Damon said hard.

Kate shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know but what I do know is that they didn't follow the correct procedure. They can't just stop the construction on the park what about the little children and no complains ever came from the people of Silver Lake. They were all genuinely happy to see their park being upgraded."

"And all of this happened this morning?" Damon asked in anger.

"Yes, Damon." Kate said softly.

Damon leaned back in his chair deep in thought. "Jade is stirring trouble and soon she will have the support of the people in Silver Lake to do her bidding. What you must never forget Kate is that the people of Silver Lake are very loyal to each other and Jade is one of them. She grew up there. She knows half of the families living there. Get me Brixton on the line please." Damon said as he carefully opened his drawer. He placed the files in there and closed it again.

Kate nodded her head yes and said. "Will that be all Damon?"

"Can you re-schedule my meeting with the business men from China make it for one o' clock and book us a table at Flavio's and make sure the blueprints and presentation are ready at that time also can you call that restaurant on blue bell street and cancel my dinner booking for tonight? I was planning on taking Bonnie out tonight but looks like I'm going to work late." Damon said.

"I'm on it Damon." Kate said.

"Thank you Kate." Damon said and rubbed a hand over his face and sigh out loud.

...