Page 43 of Wild Sentinel

I nodded.

"Did he say anything specific about the crime?"

"No. He just said he was in West Beverly, and some shit went down. He wanted to give me his gun, but I didn't take it.” Seth frowned. "In hindsight, I probably should have. Then he wouldn't have killed himself.”

"He might have found another way,” I said. “Don't beat yourself up about it.”

"It’s my fault! Lucas was a friend.” He hung his head. “I don't have a lot of friends around here. It’s hard to make real friends in this town. Everybody wants something from you. And I don't have what they want. I'm not rich or famous. My uncle isn’t in the business. I don't know anybody. I just want to be an actor. Is that too much to ask?"

"Stick with it, I'm sure you'll make it.”

Seth scoffed. "Doubtful."

"Well, you’re not going to make it with that attitude," Jack said. "If you don't believe in yourself, who will?"

Seth frowned, but didn't disagree.

"You knew Lucas pretty well then," I said.

"Yeah. He moved into the complex about two years ago. I don't know, we just hit it off right away. We had a lot in common. But I think he struggled with depression. Obviously. Then, when the cops closed in, he just lost all hope.”

"If he was your friend, why did you call the police?”

Seth frowned. "I don't know. I shouldn't have done it. But I saw what happened to that lady, and the way Lucas was acting. It was obvious to me what happened.”

"Was Lucas an aspiring actor?“

"No.”

“What motive would he have for shooting Vivian?"

“I don’t know. He was broke. Just a few days prior, he was telling me he didn't think he had enough to make rent.”

"Nothing was stolen from Vivian."

Seth’s face tightened. "Lucas never struck me as a violent guy. I didn't even know he had a gun until that night.”

"Was he medicated?”

"Sometimes. But he didn't always take them. You could kind of tell because he’d get a little manic, then crash.” Seth paused and hung his head, ashamed. "I just thought maybe he’d gone off his rocker and had done something stupid. He had a lot of pent-up rage.”

"Where did he work?”

"He was sacking groceries at Rockford’s on Hollywood Boulevard.”

I shared a look with Jack. "He’d barely make enough sacking groceries to pay rent around here.”

"Tell me about it. I think that added to the stress.”

"Did he have any aspirations to be in the business?”

"You know, everybody's got a screenplay."

I gave Seth a card and told him to get in touch if he thought of anything that might be helpful.

He nodded and said he would.

Seth slipped back inside and closed the door. We took the steps down to the courtyard.