plant ID help.

I need to know what this plant is. It's a shrub, obviously, and the new growth at the very tip top is as tall as I am. The width of the shrub is approximately my armspan at the widest part.

the leaves are speckled.

the blurry purple things are purple bracts. they don't appear to actually have flowers inside them, though. quite odd.

i can't figure out what it is and i need to know because it's sick. large sections of branch in the middle are turning black/brown and dying. my landlord has no clue what this shrub is and keeps forgetting to call his brother-in-law gardener to ask.

and so hellsop doesn't complain, here's what i look like right now.

EDIT: might it be Aucuba japonica 'Variegata' aka Spotted Laurel aka Gold dust plant?

It never sets berries, but those tiny bract-like purple flowers could signify that the plant is female. Without a male nearby, it wouldn't set berries.