Along Came A Prince (21 page)

Feeling exhausted
after the morning’s takes, Stacia decided to meditate to relax. She went to her
special place at SwissDen...and promptly fell asleep.

She was being
carried over a threshold into a rustic cabin. She looked up into Mark Bennett’s
face. They were both laughing. He set her down on her feet, and they kissed.

“Now you’re
officially Mrs. Bennett,” he said. “How about some champagne to celebrate?”

“A sip, maybe. I
don’t want anything to dull my senses on our wedding night.” She walked over to
the fireplace, and Mark followed her with the champagne and two glasses. He set
them down on the end table and lit the wood in the fireplace. Soon, the fire
was blazing.

“I hope we did the
right thing,” Audra said. “Sneaking away like we did to Nevada, especially when
we’ll be married in a big church wedding in just a few weeks.”

He took her hands
in his and pressed them to his lips. “I’d marry you a hundred times, anywhere
or anytime you want, but I wanted our first wedding to be private between you
and me only.”

“Don’t forget our
great disguises.”

“And how you
couldn’t stop giggling when we put on those wigs and glasses, not even in front
of the Justice-of-the-Peace. I love you, Mrs. Bennett.” Mark locked his arms
around her.

“I especially
liked your mustache and beard. They tickled when you kissed me after he
pronounced us husband and wife.”

“Husband and wife.
I love the sound of those words connecting us together.”

Stacia heard
someone knocking at their cabin door. The rapping continued, and she woke up.
“Yes,” she called out, still not quite awake from her dream.

“You’re wanted
back on the set, Miss Saunders,” a female voice said.

♥♥

He smirked,
although he was only vaguely aware his jaws had clenched. His newest scheme
fueled his passion. He had become a stalker. Add that to his resume as a hit
man, and he knew he was an oddity, as only a small number of hit men had
crossed this line and possessed this double-edged sword.

His victims were
many during his reign as an assassin – too many to remember – yet, too few to
regret.

This special
project was his revenge for fate’s cruel twist, the payback of a lifetime and a
death. It required a special talent – one that proved he wasn’t too old to
learn new things. It heightened his desires, sexually and diabolically, and he
knew he’d soon claim his reward…

Stacia picked up
her phone on the second ring.

“I...need...to
come see you...right away.”

“What’s wrong,
Jamie?” Her assistant’s usually cheery voice sounded shaky and full of fear.

“I can’t explain
now. I have something to show you, that’s all. Is it possible your brother
could be there?”

“Ryan? Why would
you want to see him?”

“I’ll explain
everything to you when I get there.”

“You’re scaring
me, Jamie.”

“I don’t mean to.”

“Whatever’s wrong,
we’ll fix it, okay?”

 “I’ll be there in
an hour or sooner.”

“An hour’s fine.”

“And Stacia,
please try to have Ryan there.”

“I’ll call him
now,” Stacia assured Jamie. She took the phone from her ear momentarily and
speed-dialed him.

Ryan answered
immediately.

“Something’s wrong.
Jamie’s on her way over, and she asked that you be here. Can you?” Stacia said,
her voice as panicky as Jamie’s had been.

“What’s going on?”

“I don’t know. She
wouldn’t say. She just wants you here in an hour.”

“I’ll be there
sooner than that.”

And true to his
word, her brother arrived at her condo fifteen minutes later. Only a short time
passed, and her assistant was at the door. Jamie burst into the room, digging
inside her purse as she walked toward Stacia. She fished out an already-opened envelope.
“This was hand-delivered from your fan answering service right before I called
you,” she said. She turned and gave the envelope to Ryan.

He removed its
contents. “What the...” he began as he read the letter. He glanced over at
Stacia. “You don’t need to see this,” he said briskly and began to stuff the
paper back into its envelope.

Stacia tried to
read the changing kaleidoscope of different emotions her brother’s face
revealed. Grimness. Shock. Anger. Fear and worry. One thing was sure, she
did
need
to see whatever it was that was upsetting Jamie and him. Obviously, it
was a fan letter gone bad, but no matter how threatening it was, it would be
worse not to read it. She stretched her arm straight out toward him. “You’re
wrong, Ryan,” she said quietly. “Hand it over, please.”

She thought for a
moment he’d refuse her order. His lips were clamped together in one thin, long
line, and she noticed the throbbing pulse in his left jaw. His eyes had a cold,
dark stare in them. She’d seen Ryan angry many times in her life, but she
didn’t even recognize this stranger. She suddenly realized he was no longer her
brother, but the street-wise detective who had told her not long ago that he’d dealt
with too many corpses in his job and didn’t want to see his sister under those
circumstances. She saw him as others must have on countless occasions, as a dedicated
detective who had a dirty job to do.

Silently, he
placed the letter in her hand, his face turning ghostly pale as her fingers
closed around it.

Stacia scanned the
paper, her attention drawn at once to a glossy photo of herself, jaggedly torn
from a publicity shot that had been glued onto the white paper. A crudely-drawn
black arrow was pointing toward two precisely-cut pictures of hands, thumbs up,
in a strangle hold around her neck. Her once white teeth and smiling mouth were
now smeared with a red substance.
Was it real blood?
Without taking her
eyes off the paper, she gave into the weakness signals her body alarm was
giving out and sank into the nearby sofa for support.

The printed black
letters forming the threat did not take a back seat to the glaring red
splatters, but delivered their own vile message as they stared at her boldly.

Audra, you
bitch, you should have stayed dead, and I’m going to make sure you do. This
time will be WORSE than the last time. I promise you that.

The words hit
Stacia like someone had shoved his fist into her stomach. She shivered
uncontrollably. Her heart pounded, and it took every ounce of her strength to
hold her body in an upright position and hang onto the piece of paper.

“You’ve gotten
notes like this before in your office, haven’t you, Jamie?” Ryan asked as he
sat down next to Stacia and put his arm around her. He gently guided her head
to his chest.

Jamie’s eyes grew
bigger. “Never,” she said.

“Then I guess my
sister’s been very lucky –”

“Until now,”
Stacia interrupted.

“Most people in
the public eye receive threatening notes similar to this all the time. We
receive many complaints, and no matter how many we check out, more keep coming,”
Ryan said. “How many people have touched this?” he asked Jamie.

“I don’t know who
handled it at the answering service, but in our office, only me.”

He removed his arm
from Stacia’s shoulder and turned the envelope over. “It’s addressed to you,
Stace, but the inside says
Audra.
”

“Audra is the
deceased actress who played the same role as I am in the movie we’re remaking,”
Stacia said, her strength slowly returning to her.

“There’s no
mistaken identity then. It’s meant for you. We have to work under the
assumption the sender of this note is not a harmless quack looking for his
jollies, but someone who means business. You’re being implicated or identified
in the sender’s mind as a woman who he obviously wants dead for some reason.”
Ryan stood up, walked over to the phone and picked it up. Seconds later, he
spoke. “This is Saunders. Put me through to Brannigan immediately.” 

A brief moment
passed, and Ryan spoke again. “My sister’s life has been threatened, Chief. I
need someone to pick up the note she received. I don’t want to leave her,” he
said. He turned his back to Stacia and spoke in a low voice. “Yeah, one note.”
Silence filled the room until Ryan spoke again in the same low tone. “I know
one threatening letter doesn’t make a stalking, but trust me, Chief, in this
case it does. We can’t run the risk this is a hoax.” His voice returned to
normal, and he filled his boss in with the rest of the information he knew and
ended the conversation. He stuck his cell into his pocket, went over to Stacia
and held her again. “It’ll be okay. I won’t let anything happen to you.” He
kissed the top of her head.

Beneath his brave
exterior, Stacia could tell he was shaking.

“I really should
get right back,” Jamie said. “There’s so much work to do.”

“Forget work,”
Stacia replied. “Take the rest of the day off and the week until this all blows
over.”

Jamie shook her
head. “I think you need me at the office more than ever. Especially if there’s
another note or this story breaks.”

“Thanks for your
loyalty, Jamie, but nothing more is going to happen today. Please go home and
rest up for whatever might happen later.” Stacia wondered where all this courage
was coming from. She really wished she could fast-forward life until this whole
experience was behind her.

“Home does sound
good right about now,” Jamie admitted. She started to leave, then turned around
and faced Stacia. “If anything should happen to you...” Jamie couldn’t finish
because she was too choked up and tears were beginning to slide down her face.

Stacia stood and
hugged her. “Nothing will happen to me. My big brother will see to that. Now
dry your tears and try to have a good afternoon. Call me if you need anything.”
She walked Jamie to the door, hoping her assistant believed her because she
wasn’t so sure she even believed herself.

“I’ll be talking
with you tomorrow too,” Ryan called out as Jamie left. He turned to his sister.
“Now, Stace, let’s review what we know. You said who Audra was, now tell me
about her.”

“She made the
movie,
London Affair,
in 1949 and died before it premiered.”

“How?”

“In a…car
accident.” She looked up at Ryan’s face. She hated to lie to him.

“You hesitated
with your answer, just like you did when you were a kid and didn’t want to tell
me the truth about something. What’s the rest of the story?” he asked.

“I...I can’t say. I
sorta promised I wouldn’t.”

“Keeping my sister
alive is more important to me than a
sorta
promise. Stace, please tell
me what you know.”

“But if I do, what
assurance do I have it won’t be spread all over the police report and –”

“Someone is
stalking you,” Ryan interrupted. “He probably has every intention of killing
you, and you worry about it leaking out and some
sorta promise
you
made?” His tone was one of incredulous disbelief.

“This is my life,
Ryan. I’m scared, but I don’t believe I’m going to die. I have to keep focused
on what will happen if I don’t, not what happens if I do.”

Ryan shook his
head.

“And a promise is
a promise even if it’s only a
sorta
one.” Stacia managed to give him a
small smile.

“You have to tell
me what you know, in order for me to help you. You don’t need anyone’s
permission to save your own life.”

She remembered
Ryan’s dead-serious, anger-tinged voice. He’d used it on her all their lives
whenever he wanted the truth out of her, and she’d learned a long time ago she
better respect and obey him. Being an adult now made no difference in the rules.
Yet... “Tell you what, I’ll call Helen and get permission to break my promise
to her. If she agrees, then I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. Okay?”

“Helen?”

“Don’t ask. I’m
not saying anything else until I talk to her. I’ll call from my bedroom.” She
went into the next room, closing the door softly, and called Helen who readily
gave Stacia permission to tell Ryan what she knew. Stacia dispersed a sigh of
relief and went back into the living room.

“Okay, Ryan, I have
permission to tell you about Audra, but what happens next? Will everything be
splashed all over the media?”

“You know I’ll do
my best to stop it, Stace. Right now, only Chief Brannigan knows, and he’s a
good man. He’ll keep it as quiet as he can, but others will be involved. And if
things get out of control, then, yes, I’m sure everything will be
splashed
all over the media.”

♥♥

“How are you
doing, Stace?” Hal asked when he called her at the studio the next afternoon.

“I’m okay as long
as Ryan’s with me.”

“He stopped into
my office early this morning to tell me what happened and ask me some questions.
Is there anything I can do? I’ll come stay with you if you’d like.”

“Thanks, Hal, but
Ryan has become my personal bodyguard. He doesn’t leave my side unless he has
to. He hired a security team that is stationed at my front and back doors,
inside and out, at all times.”

“I’m glad Ryan’s
in charge of you,” Hal said. “What about work?”

“He demanded a
closed set, and his orders were followed before he’d even let me come to the
studio. He’s here with me now.” Stacia smiled at her brother sitting across
from her.

“You seem to be
holding up well. Hang on a second, my assistant just walked in.” Hal stopped
talking for a short time. “God, Stace!” he exclaimed.

“What’s the
matter, Hal?”

“You said Ryan was
there? Let me talk to him.”

Stacia gave the
phone to her brother.

“Go ahead, Hal,”
Ryan said. A frown crossed his face as he listened to Stacia’s agent. “How’s
the envelope addressed?”

Not another
one,
Stacia thought.

“I see. Did it
come by mail or messenger?”

Stacia suddenly
felt sick. She placed her clasped hands gently on top of her stomach, hoping
their warmth would help dispel the nausea churning inside her.

“I’ll send someone
over right away to pick it up.” Ryan ended his conversation, stood up and
peered out from the side of the closed blinds. “This damn perp now knows who
your agent is. He’s shrewd, and he’s no amateur,” Ryan said coldly. “The
envelope was addressed to you in care of Hal. This stalker is playing cat and
mouse games with us until he moves in for the...” Her brother stopped talking.

“
Kill
,”
Stacia finished for him, surprised that she felt as cold as Ryan sounded. “That’s
what you were going to say, wasn’t it?” She pressed her hands together tightly.
They were ice cold. There was no warmth there, so she let her arms drop into
her lap.

“Sorry. I was
thinking out loud planning my next strategy.”

“It doesn’t matter.
I was thinking the same thing. Now I know exactly how Helen felt when she told
me her kidnapping story. No matter what, she had to finish it or the monsters
won, she said. I’ve already come to the conclusion I can’t let this stalker
control my life. As long as I’m scared, he does control it...and me.”

“I know one thing
I
can control, and that’s not letting you film anymore today or until
this perp is in custody. I want to keep you as safe as possible, and the only
way is to keep you holed up at home.”

“You can’t let him
win, Ryan. If you shut down production, he will.”

“Your definition
of winning is different than mine. Keeping you alive is winning to me. Let’s
go.” From the determined set of his jaw, she knew he’d delivered the maximum
irrevocable command.

“But I don’t
understand why you can’t protect me here just as well,” she persisted, smiling
up at him. “I feel safe as long as you’re with me.”

Ryan rolled his
eyes. “Come on, Stace. This isn’t a silly issue you tried to talk me out of
doing when we were younger. There are no options to this. We’re going home,
even if I have to carry you out of here.”

Same brother. Same
determination. Same winner.
“Well, I can see some things in life never
change. She grinned at her brother and grabbed her jacket. “But one thing,
Ryan, before we leave, tell me what this note said.”