Bailey St. James (Secrets in the Water)

**Bailey St. James** (Emily Skinner) is a hidden villainess from the 2020 film, *Secrets in the Water*.

## Introduction

Bailey St. James is the best friend of Mia Sheldon, whose mother, main protagonist Laura Sheldon, is an art teacher. In the film's early scenes, Mia receives an acceptance letter from an art school in Paris, with Bailey expressing both happiness for Mia and dismay regarding their original plans to spend their summer together in Hawaii now changing. Later on, Mia disappeared without a trace, and three days later, she was found shot to death on the beach, with Bailey and Laura expressing horror over the discovery.

Impatient with Sheriff Douglas' investigation, Bailey convinced Laura to help her search for answers regarding Mia's murder, with their own investigation beginning with heading to a local bowling alley after learning that Kaleo, who was revealed by Bailey as Mia's lover, worked there. Once there, the pair also spotted Gretchen, Mia's rival, and confronted her, as Bailey had accused her of vandalizing Mia's art project, as well as sending nude photos of Mia online. Gretchen expressed her sorrow over Mia's passing, but denied killing her, with Kaleo also voicing denial while admiting to a relationship with Mia.

Upon finding out about their investigation, as well as the fact that they broke into Kaleo's house and found a gun inside, Douglas confronted Laura and Bailey and ordered them to allow the police to look into Mia's murder, while informing Laura that Kaleo was considering filing charges against her. Later on, however, Douglas informed Laura that Kaleo was found dead of an apparent suicide, with a note serving as Kaleo's murder confession. As for Bailey, she was taken in by Laura after hearing Bailey's loud argument with her stepfather, and it was shortly afterwards that they were visited by Kai, Kaleo's uncle, who stated that Kaleo wasn't suicidal, leading to Bailey again suggesting that Gretchen killed Mia, only for their later confrontation to result in a denial by Gretchen.

## Reveal

    The film's climax saw Bailey voice her worries regarding money, as she was desperate to leave after finishing school, after which Laura offered to give Mia's college fund ($50,000) to Bailey. As Bailey walked off, Douglas phoned Laura and made a surprise revelation: the gun used in both deaths actually belonged to Bailey's stepfather, which led to Douglas voicing his suspicion towards Bailey in the murders. Laura disbelieved Douglas' statements, but after agreeing to stay on the line until his arrival at the house, Laura looked into Bailey's phone, and saw texts between Bailey and someone known as "Money Man," with Bailey repeatedly asking for her money. In addition, Laura saw video of Bailey pointing a gun at Mia, and it was at that moment that Bailey appeared and snapped at Laura for looking at her phone.

After being revealed as Mia's killer, Bailey responded to Laura's mentions of her friendship with Mia by claiming that she was Mia's "pet," voicing her jealousy of Mia and feeling inferior to her. Bailey revealed that she served as a lookout while Mia and Kaleo were together, and afterwards, Bailey turned heel by accepting an offer texted to her by "Money Man" (who was later revealed as Trent Hughes, Mia and Bailey's schoolmate and the former's ex-flame), which had Bailey being paid $1000 to for nude photos of Mia. The villainess informed Laura that she felt special after accepting the offer, but also revealed that other than money, Bailey was motivated by a desire to knock Mia down to a level below hers, while also revealing that she had no true idea who publicized the photos.

Bailey claimed innocence regarding the photos to Kaleo, and during her confession, the villainess admitted that while she needed Mia's acceptance, she also resented her friendship with Mia, and on the day in question, Bailey received an offer from Trent to kill Mia for a $1 million payout. She showed reluctance at first, but after seeing Mia with Kaleo, the evil Bailey accepted the offer and shot Mia to death at the beach, claiming that she would be forgotten by Mia if she hadn't killed her. The sinister villainess also killed Kaleo and staged the murder as a suicide, while planting the gun in an attempt to frame Kaleo, and afterwards, Bailey held Laura at knifepoint and accused her of using her like the others did, with Laura promising to give her the money in an attempt to talk her down.

However, after hearing Douglas' voice on Laura's phone, Bailey chased Laura with knife in hand, while accusing Laura of lying to her. Laura disarmed Bailey, who later laughed and stated that Laura's expression reminded her of Mia's before she killed her, while cruelly referring to the latter as being worth the $1 million she was paid to kill her, and even referring to Mia as a "spoiled bitch" who she would have killed for free. With her throat in Laura's hands, Bailey dared Laura to kill her, claiming that she had nothing to live for, only for Laura to release Bailey, who attempted to voice her innocence to police as she was being arrested for Mia's murder.