Harmonic Deception

Full Synopsis

After a decade in piano bars and one-night dives, Liz Hanlon signs a contract with recording giant Ardor Records. The company hosts a spectacular bash at an L.A. night spot to launch her first CD. For Liz, the night is magical until three teenage girls in outlandish disguises burst in with assault weapons.

The shooter marches to the center of the room, taking command by firing at video cameras and shouting orders. Liz, outraged that her big night is ruined, steps silently toward her cell phone. She begins to dial, but the shooter spots her, kicks her to the floor, and threatens to shoot her and others nearby if she moves again. The robbery continues in a hushed panic, but Liz’s thoughts zero in on the pistol she knows is hidden in the office. While the shooter’s gaze is diverted, Liz makes a run for it. The gun is in her grasp when the cold steel of the shooter’s gun barrel touches her temple. She manages one shot, but the shooter retaliates with a succession of gunfire that stops her, and silences the rebellious crowd. Within minutes, two hundred patrons have been stripped of their cell phones and valuables, Liz’s agent is dead, and two friends wounded. There seems no way out until Liz improvises a musical code and shouts it to her band mates. The code triggers a call to 9-1-1 forcing the girls into an unplanned getaway, but not before the shooter snaps belligerent remarks that convince Liz this crime is Personal.

Now certain she was the target, she fears the shooter will try again. But when she shares her belief with two LAPD detectives, she’s told there’s no evidence to support her theory. She seeks help from her brother, an attorney, and an eccentric private investigator named Enos, but they don’t believe her either. With the club closed, her career on hold, and the nagging certainty that she’s in danger, Liz is compelled to expose the shooter, and solve the crime.

She gets a break when two of the girls pull a second robbery. Liz views the surveillance tape and identifies the same shooter, then fast-talks Enos into revealing that her accomplice was caught, and is now a patient at county hospital. Liz bluffs her way into the custody wing where she spots a teenager resembling the third girl from the club invasion. She snaps photos of the girl, races to her car and follows her, sending the photos to the detectives as she drives.

As police search for the shooter, Liz tries to return to work but her personal life is a mess. The dynamics within the band are strained, rehearsals are ragged, and Liz returns home to find her drummer, Frankie, making love in the guestroom with Liz’s ex-fiancé. She throws them out. Hours later, she can’t shake her bad mood and accuses Enos of not making enough progress on the case. He counters by revealing two new names he thinks are connected to the club robbery. She’s never heard of them. She wonders how that can be progress, and hangs up.

After the next night’s performance, Liz goes to the hospital to visit one of her friends who was seriously wounded in the robbery. When she goes in search of a sandwich, she’s accosted in the deserted hospital cafeteria. Pushing on the turnstile, she discovers that a man in a wheelchair has purposely rammed his wheels into the bars, holding her hostage. He says he’s Zachary Rivera, the shooter’s brother.

Liz panics, recognizing the name Enos had given her. Rivera begs Liz to help entice his sister, Rita—the shooter--out of hiding, before the police find her and a gun battle breaks out. Wary, Liz grills him hard. But he convinces her he’s telling the truth when he explains that he and Rita were abandoned as kids, lived on the street, and bonded. As Rita grew up, Rivera watched her change from innocent child to the “monster” she’s become. Rita blames Liz for shooting, and crippling, her brother. Now she’s out to pay Liz back.

Until now, the police have clung to the belief that the gang’s only motivation was robbery. Liz convinces them that she was the target—and she’s come up with a ruse that will entice the shooter into a showdown, and let them take her into custody.

But hours before police arrive at the scheduled face-off, Rita takes Liz’s brother hostage. Liz tries to outfox her, stalling until help arrives. She and Rita break into a deadly brawl. Rita ends it by aiming at Liz’s brother and screaming, “One brother for another!” Liz charges, knocks the gun away and scoops it up, chasing her into the darkened stairwell. Down three flights, Liz corners her and aims. But Rita pulls a knife and lunges toward Liz. Liz fires.

It appears to be over, but it’s not. Liz uncovers an event from the past that relates to the robbery and it changes everything. Now Liz has to step up and confront an old friend . . .