Guilty

Prompt: Create a character who is falsely accused of a crime.

Michael Goldwyn looks out the massive floor to ceiling window of his Toluca Lake home and wonders how much longer he'll be able to enjoy this view.  His trial begins tomorrow and his lawyers are talking about how much they can get his sentence reduced rather than how they can win the case.  It's a slam-dunk for the prosecution, the media crows.

It's quite a fall for a Hollywood power player for whom nothing couldn't be fixed to his liking.  But it seems there's no fixing this.  Not this time.  He still can't quite believe it.  Producer Bill Nicholas is dead and all the evidence points at Michael.  Security cameras caught him leaving Nicholas's office not long before he was found bludgeoned to death with his own Oscar.  Michael's DNA is on the award/murder weapon.  Michael, a long-time rival of Bill Nicholas, had never been shy about his hatred of the producer.  Michael is known throughout the industry for his volcanic temper and tendency towards violent display. And Nicholas's recent efforts to get Michael pushed out of his own production company give Michael the motive too.

There's only one problem.  Michael Goldwyn is innocent.  And there is one person in the world who can vouch for him, who can testify that while he  may have been at Bill Nicholas's office the day of the murder he was not there at the time of his murder.  Erin Merrill knows that he's not the killer.

Michael had not mentioned Erin to anyone for a number of reasons--mainly because for so long he'd been certain he'd beat this with ease.  Combine his clout in this town with the fact of his innocence and it hadn't seemed necessary.  But yesterday, without consulting his lawyers, he'd reached out to Erin, to test the waters so to speak.  So far there's been no response.

But then, his phone rings. It's Erin.

"Hi Micheal," she says, her voice flat.

"Hi Erin.  Thanks so much for getting back to me.  Listen I'm really sorry about what happened--"

"I know," she interrupts.  She sounds upset.  This is not good. "I read the e-mail."

"I'm glad.  Listen--"

"No, you listen.  I will not be going public with what you did to me.  Let me make that very clear.  Not only do I not accept the apology in your e-mail, I deny it's even necessary.  As far as I'm concerned you have never been anything but the perfect gentleman in every encounter I've ever had with you. You did not come to my apartment on the afternoon of April 28.  You did not sexually assault me and suggest that my chances of staying on the film would depend on my 'cooperation'.  And you know why you didn't do any of these things?  Because, if you had, sure you might lose your job like Weinstein did, but you wouldn't go to prison.  Like you should.  Don't even think about trying to confess, leak it to TMZ or something, because I will vocally deny that you ever did anything to me and it will be obvious to everyone that you're simply making up a story, riding the wave of what's happening to a lot of other nasty men like yourself in effort to get out of more serious charges.  You and most of the people in this sick town think that what you did to me is the lesser of two evils.  Doing what practically every one does to young actresses trying to make it in the business versus murder.  No comparison, right?  Wrong. Bill Nicholas was a known sleazebag--worse than you if that's possible. Him dead and you in prison for life feels like justice to me."

And with that Erin Merrill hangs up, leaving Michael Goldwyn alone with his guilt.