Adam Linden was still sat in the dark of his room.
The night seemed stiller and fuller of mysteries. His mind was sorting through the information and he was molding an answer.
His mother had been murdered five years before and Adam had never recovered. Neither had his father and the man had drunk his life away.
Adam Linden had thought his mother had brutally been murdered by burglars in the area for any money that she may have been carrying.
Her body had been found in a dinky and dark alleyway. The police had stayed on the case for weeks but incurred no clues leading to who the murderers may have been.
His mother had always come back home safely. Until that one night when she had been the victim.
Adam frowned.
It was true. Her bag had been returned to him that night when they had found her body. It was fully intact. Adam had not seen a cent of money missing.
The whispers at his father's funeral had caused him to pick up the phone and call one of his mother's oldest friends.
The old friend was stern and withheld no information. She had shared her suspicions with him and the whole of Adam's world seemed to have shifted in its axis.
Della Bosket had divulged to Adam what she thought had really happened that night.
Adam bit his lip as he thought back to her hushed words.
The Entertainment business was no easy place to work in, Della had said. Only crooks and bandits kept the show running and women were more of a passing object there than a person.
High ranking officials took advantage of situations that benefitted them all the time.
There was a good chance, Della Bosket had said, that one of the wealthy men at the party had taken advantage of Maria Linden, Adam's mother, and left her to die. The police would always be paid to keep their mouths close and brush other incriminating evidence away and under a rug.
Adam's breathing was getting worse.
How could that be true?
How could he simply believe what a lady thought may have occurred so long ago?
There was no proof.
But then again, Adam's mind was leaning toward believing the theory.
He knew his mother did not work in a proper place. There were so many creepy people around her all the time.
Adam had heard his father complain loudly about it several times over dinner or in the mornings when Adam's mother arrived home late. Maria Linden had always waved away his concerns with a tired and gentle smile.
"Nothing will happen to me, dear," Adam could still hear her lilting voice, "the actresses are usually the ones who struggle with creepy advances."
His father's voice had sounded strained at that, "S- So? Who knows when they could turn their eyes to you? And what about the actresses? Don't they try to avoid these late night shoots too?"
"Of course, they do," Maria had said reassuringly, "But work is work. How can we possibly turn down the jobs over our own personal fears."
Adam got up from his seat and walked around the room.
What had really happened that night?
Had his mother left the party safely and been accosted on the way?
Or had someone at the party harassed her? Did they kill her there and pay the police away when the investigation had begun?
Adam needed to know the answers.
He needed to be sure of what was really happening at the very top in the Entertainment Industry.
Who was pulling the strings and what did they really do at those parties?
Adam Linden bit his lip as he slumped against a wall.
He was so tired. The whole day had exhausted him. But he knew that if he got into bed, he would not be able to sleep.
Adam closed his eyes and thought things through with quiet precision.
When he opened his eyes a good twenty minutes later, he knew what he had to do.
Adam Linden had to enter the world his mother had worked at. Adam had to see for himself what the conditions were like in there. He had to investigate every person there very carefully. Adam would, singlehandedly, find out what had happened that night.
And if Della Bosket was right in saying some one in the higher executive capacity had killed his mother, Adam Linden had to guarantee the perpetrator suffered a slow and excruciatingly painful death.
It was the least Adam Linden could do to ease the pain he felt from his mother's sudden and unfortunate death.
Indirectly, he would be helping his father as well.
Adam walked to his bed and flopped into it. Closing his eyes, he let himself fall into a quiet and peaceful sleep.