June 24th, 1980

Paris, France.

"Did you pack a toothbrush?" Melanie asked her son, Daniel, as he went downstairs and she followed; he was going on his first trip with his friends and no supervision so Mel was terrified.

"Yes" he replied coldly

"Socks?"

"Yeah"

"Sunblock? Your camera?"

"I did!"

"Boxers?"

"Mum" he shouted "I have everything I need, stop worrying"

"Take care of yourself"

"I will" he argued and continued walking towards the door.

"Dan" Mel called "no hug for mama?"

He sighed and dropped his bags then walked over to her and hugged her. She wrapped her arms around him tightly and whispered "I'll miss you so much"

"Come one, it's just a week" he laughed

She continued hugging him.

"Mum? My friends are waiting outside"

"Ah, right. Just go" she laughed and gestured for him to leave. "Have fun" she shouted as he closed the door behind him.

Melanie went into the kitchen to prepare a cup of chamomile tea then walked to the balcony to drink it while smoking a cigarette.

Neil was sitting there reading the paper.

"Why so nervous?" he asked her

"You know I'm worried about Daniel being away"

"I know, but he's not a kid anymore, you need to give him some space" Neil said as he continued drinking his coffee and Melanie nodded in agreement.

"Funny isn't it?" Mel smiled a little "Just a few years back, he's the one who needed me and always begged me to stay"

"I know you miss the stage, but no more drama" he said in a joking tone " Let's look at the positive side," he smirked "we have the place for ourselves for a whole week or maybe we could even go on our own trip"

Melanie smiled "that sounds nice, let's go to a beach and enjoy the sun"

"Start packing and I'll just go finish some work stuff and I'll be back soon"

"Great"

Neil stood up, kissed Mel on the cheek and left to get his car and drove to the Plaza hotel. It looks fancy with beautiful, modern architecture. He parked the car and walked into the lobby.

"Bonjour Monsieur" the lobby man said

"Bonjour"

"Comment puis je t'aide?" he asked

"Je cherche Joseph Andrews, l'actor"

"Un minute s'il vous plait"

"D'accord"

"Suite 17, deuxième étage"

"Merci Beaucoup" Neil said as he left walking towards to the stairs

He walked across the hallway of the second floor till he reached Joe's suite and knocked on the door.

A young French woman in her 20s wearing a swimming suit opened the door.

"Is Joseph And..." Neil said but he was interrupted by Joe's voice calling from inside, so the woman walked him in then sat next to Joe and put her head on his shoulder.

"nous allons nager," Joe smirked at her and she laughed then turned to Neil "but you interrupted"

"Wow" Neil said in surprise as he sat down opposing them "She's half your age Joe"

"And I'm a big movie star" he said confidently "So red or white, or do you want a cocktail? Luna makes great martinis"

"Let's just cut to the chase"

Joe nodded and Neil glanced at Luna then back to Joe raising an eyebrow.

"Luna, nous avons besoin d'espace s'il vous plait"

"Oui" she said walking away then turned to Joe and blew him a kiss and left the room.

"What do you want from me Joe?" After all of these years!" he said in an exaggerated tone.

"I see you received my gift." he took a sip of his martini "How do you like it?"

"How do you have it?" Neil was both furious and terrified, he didn't like where this conversation was going. "Not again" he thought.

"I've had it since that night, but kept it for the right time" he shrugged his shoulders "It is the right time, I have loads of debts Neil, I need your help"

"I thought we already discussed this before" Neil said strictly "and I remember specifically writing a fat ass cheque"

"You did"

"So?"

"I kept silent, but this is something else, this is evidence and I was kind enough to send you half of it with the letter, but I still have the other half with his blood on it"

Neil was shaking his right leg at a very fast pace, his jaw muscles clenched and his pupils contracted. He interlocked his fingers then looked up into Joe's eyes.

"You want money, don't you? I'll pay you again, but that's it; you give me the other earring and I never wanna see you again"

"That's what I'm talking about" Joe said feeling accomplished.

"One more thing" Neil added You'll never speak to Mel about this or even better about anything else"

"Don't worry, we don't even talk anymore"

"Good"

Neil and Joe agreed on the amount, Neil wrote down the cheque then left the hotel with the piece, a turquoise diamond with dry blood stains on it from the earring Melanie wore on the opening night of "The Show Must Go On".

On his drive back home, Neil remembered the opening night, after his talk with Melanie, he went to bury that diamond, he thought he got rid of it for good, but apparently Joe saw him and kept it for all of this time.

"This is now over" He tried to make himself feel better and decided to throw the diamond in the sea when he goes to the beach with Melanie to get rid of it forever without her knowing what he's been hiding for almost 15 years.

Meanwhile, back home, after Melanie finished her tea, she went to pack. She finished packing her stuff and decided to pack for Neil as well so that they wouldn't waste any time and just leave as soon as he comes back.

"Sunblock, bathing suit, clothes, boxers, toothbrush,..." she kept ticking things off her list. "Oh sock!" she said " How could I forget them"

She walked to Neil's socks drawer and opened it. "A musician, actor and now producer, but no one would ever think he's got so many socks with holes in them" she laughed and kept searching for the best possible ones, but she came across an envelope with Neil's name on it and to kill her curiosity bug, she decided to open it.

Inside the envelope, there was a note

"Cher ami,

Long time, no talk.

We need to talk about this. I'll be at the Plaza. I'm sure you wouldn't want your Mely to know about out little secret, would you? Tomorrow at noon.

Joe Andrews"

Melanie read and was surprised "What secret Joe?" she wondered.

She looked into the envelope and found a pair of earrings which she instantly recognized as the turquoise ones from "The Show Must Go On" opening night. One of them didn't have its diamond. "Cheap props"

Melanie put the note and earring back in the envelope and hid it in the drawer as it used to be then sat on the bed confused.

"What is Neil hiding?" She buried her face in her hands.

She started having memories and flashbacks of that night that she's been burying for a very long time inside trying to forget them; tears started forming in her eyes as she remembered; she grabbed a frame with a picture of her, Neil and their son Daniel from the bed side table.

She felt ashamed of what she did. "I don't deserve to be your mum, I'm a horrible person"

Memories were still rushing into her mind even though she was fighting them. She then remembered something. Later that night, she went to her room to remove her makeup, but she noticed that her earring that she left earlier on the dresser is missing. She didn't take it as a big deal then, but now she was puzzled.

She couldn't stop herself from crying, guilt that she's been layering underneath for years is now coming out. She was breathing fast and her hands started shaking.

"The other murder weapon" She remembered "Detective William said there might be another one"

Melanie and Neil decided to leave everything behind after the interrogations when they decided to move to Paris and they never looked back, but Melanie was sure that Rachel was considered as the official murderer in this case, however Mel was aware the science has evolved a lot and more cases were getting solved even some old ones that they couldn't solve back then.

"Maybe there are some new evidence that links me to the murder" Melanie was petrified, but more worried about Daniel finding out.

A few blocks away from their home, was a vintage shop owned by an old English man. He sold vintage books, newspapers, comics, references,...etc

Melanie always took her son there to buy comic books as a kid, she decided to go there and try to find any articles about Daniel Franco's case.

She walked into the shop and started looking around.

"You look confused" the old man said

"Maybe a little"

"How may I help you?" he asked kindly "I know everything in this place and where to find it"

"I want any articles about" she cleared her throat "Daniel Franco's case or The Show Must Go On play"

"I've known you for the last 10 years, but I've never told you this; maybe I didn't want to bring painful memories, but anyways, my wife and I attended that show" he gave her a small smile

"Really?"

"Yeah and it was great, I know it was a one night show, so we considered ourselves very lucky. The characters were really interesting"

"It feels like a whole lifetime ago" Melanie smiled back "So do you have any articles?"

"I have some in the broadway section, let me show you" he walked her into the broadway section which had boxes and boxes of newspapers.

"There was also a recent article that I read like a year ago, but I don't think I have it in here, maybe in on of the piles in the basement" he sighed sadly "it said that evidence from that night wasn't contained properly, so they couldn't further investigate it like other cases they looked into after years, you know science and technology are flying by us"

"Yeah, it was a very messy night" Melanie was relieved that the police wasn't on to her, but that didn't explain the letter.

She kept looking through the newspapers and in one of the articles, there was a close-up of her from the side and she noticed that her earrings was missing its diamond like the ones in the envelope.

"They were already missing before the show" she thought, flashbacks of that night kept coming back, she left the shop in a rush and started panicking. She was hyperventilating, crying as she reached her home and stopped to take a deep breath as she noticed Neil's car.

She remembered something that her mind has been repressing for the past 15 years, when she went into Daniel's room. In their fight together, he held her face between his hands as she stabbed him in his neck, he pulled her ear and the fake diamond fell off. Mel felt as if she was seeing the events right in front of her eyes.

She tried to calm herself down and walked into their house.

"What's wrong?" Neil asked worried

"How do you know about the earrings? And where does Joe come into play?" her voice was breaking

"I-I..." Neil was speechless

"My mind keeps thinking the worst, please tell me it's not what I'm thinking" tears were streaming down her face.

"I love you and I've always loved you"

"Just stop it!" she shouted "What are you hiding from me Neil?"

"I overheard you fighting that night and I saw you running out of his room, so I went in after he was on the ground, but still alive" he paused "He kept begging me for help, but I couldn't, because he hurt you Mel. I grabbed a steak knife from the buffet and stab him again in the neck where you stabbed him before. I cleaned it and hid it in plain sight, it was a stressful night for everyone and the detective didn't do his best job" he walked closer to her and held her hands "I killed him for you, because I love you"

"get the hell away from me" she said as she pulled away "15 years Neil, 15 damn years, you left me filled with guilt and indescribable pain, I hated myself for being a killer. 15 years sleeping next to you and you never thought for once to tell me and let me breath."

She fell to her knees "You wanted to always make me feel lower than you as if I owed you for choosing to be with me despite my truth, didn't you?" she tried to wipe tears from her eyes.

"I was afraid to lose you" he tried to approach her

"Well, you already lost me" she looked the other way "I will never forgive you"

"You stabbed him as well Mel, you were going to kill him anyway, so don't play all innocent and blame it on me"

"It's the worst part" she said looking into his eyes "we do deserve each other, but Daniel deserves better parents"

"We're good parents to him"

"We're damn killers Neil, we're the worst of people."

They were both silent for a moment "I'm leaving"

"Where to?"

"I don't know, I just can't look at you anymore"

Melanie left the house and for the next few days all she could do was write everything about Daniel and that night, she admitted everything except Neil's part and decided to take all the blame. After she finished writing, she went to the vintage shop and gave the man what she wrote and named it "The Show Went On".

"Publish it" She told him and went home just in time to see Daniel who was back from his trip.

"I missed you so much" she said as she hugged him tightly

"Mum, are you okay?"

"I am now" she smiled at him "I just want you to know that I love you and I'm not a bad person"

"Of course you're not, what are you talking about?" he was starting to worry about her

"Nothing. Go unpack"

Melanie also left an note for Neil "I can't live with the guilt anymore. Take care of Daniel, one bad parent is enough... I do know you really love me."

Melanie then went to the police station and told them everything, she was kept in jail, but she started suffering from hallucinations of Daniel, guilt was taking over and one day she found a metal piece in her jain cell and decided to end it; she believed she was going to die in jail anyway.

Mr Thompson, the owner of the vintage store, published Melanie's confession as a book and everybody was talking about it. Neil decided to keep quiet and be the good parent for Daniel as Mel wanted and kept the show going.

Thanks for reading, I hope u liked the story and I apologize again for the really long delay. If u like crime and mysteries please check out my other stories "Party for Murder" and "Case File" which I'm currently working on or if u want a change of genre there's is also my script "Marionette". Thanks :)