Who Killed Jenny Schecter? Ch. 16

"And you are going to dig into the records to find out who SPC1 Investment group is."

"Nah, don't have to. It's bad-ass Mexicans, all right. I'm sure you know that in Hollywood people who invest in movies are called 'angels.' Well, it appears Chase and Shane have an angel backing their company. According to the records, SPC1 put up the start-up money for Shane's Sugar Shacks. A silent partner, as you might call it. So silent, in fact, that I bet Shane doesn't even know about it. For one thing, at first I couldn't figure out why there was this one corporate level between Sugar Shacks and Chase's holding company. What purpose did this intermediate level serve? And then I figured out why. I'm willing to bet my Glock and my shield right now that whenever Shane signed whatever paperwork she had to sign to partner up with Chase that she either never read the fine print, that Chase gave her some bullshit fairy tale about investors and corporate subsidiary structures, blah blah blah, and Shane never picked up on it. I'm willing to bet Shane has no idea that Sweet Things Enterprises and the bad-ass Mexicans even exist."

"Could be," Carmen said. "I've heard Shane was pretty messed up about Jenny's death. And then when they started the project she threw herself into the work. Paperwork and details like that were never her strong suit anyway."

"You know her better than I do," Lauren said. "I have a theory about all this."

"Oh my goodness," Carmen said.

"Here's my theory. Shane told me Chase called her up one day with this idea for the Sugar Shack, explained it to her, talked her into it. But I don't think it was Chase's idea at all. I think someone else suggested it to him. Somebody who knew Shane was likely to crash and burn, or already had. Somebody who knew Shane needed help. Somebody who knew the Sugar Shack thing was right down Shane's alley, something she'd be good at. And as Chase himself said to her, it would help Shane pull her head out of her own ass."

"Intriguing," Carmen said. "Those bad-ass Mexicans can be tricky."

"And then this mystery person sold the deal to Chase. I think here's what the mystery person said. 'Tell you what, Chase. I know this sounds like a high-risk plan, but I believe in this idea so strongly that here's thirty thousand dollars of my own money to invest in it. You can use it for the start-up money, whatever seed money you may need, so there's no risk to you up front. And all I want is to be a secret, silent partner with ten percent of the Sugar Shacks. Just promise me don't ever tell Shane.' That's what I think the S, P, C, One investor said. And then Chase says, well, let's put in an intermediate layer and call it Sweet Things Enterprises. That's how we'll hide the start-up money for Shane's Sugar Shacks, one layer up. So I think Shane gets true, honest and legal financial paperwork and tax stuff, income, whatever, from Shane's Sugar Shack, and it shows a clear sixty-forty split. But Shane never sees any paperwork from Sweet Things, because it's none of her business, any more than Chase-La Jolla is any of her business. So Shane never sees that the bad-ass Mexicans gets ten percent but only out of Chase's share, not Shane's. It's my guess Sweet Things Enterprises exists for only one purpose. To hide that bad-ass Mexican investment partner, whoever he, she, it, or they is or are."

"Hesheitthey. I like that. It sounds like one of those new gender-neutral pronouns politically correct people try to come up with."

There was silence for a minute. "So anyway, that's my theory, pronoun notwithstanding." Lauren said. "Care to comment on it?"

"No, I don't think so," Carmen said.

"I figured as much.'"

"It all sounds wildly speculative and unbelievable," Carmen said and got out her cell phone. "I better get started on those phone calls."