CELEBRITY STATUS (The Kate Huntington mystery series #4) (18 page)

            Dolph resisted the urge to curse. “Thank you,” he glanced at her name badge, “Natalie. You have a charming manner and a beautiful smile. You will go far in this field.”

            He reached over and hit the delete key on her keyboard. Her smile shifted to a look of horror. “Mr. Franklin asked me to cancel his reservation,” Dolph said, as he turned to leave.

* * *

            Tuesday morning, Rose appeared in Skip’s office doorway, papers under her arm. Skip sighed and mimicked banging his head against the desktop.

            “Different rag than the others. Fly-by-night, comes out once a week,” Rose said, flopping into his visitor’s chair and tossing the papers on the desk. “Rehashing all the garbage by quoting the first story. So they can say they’re not defaming you, just reporting what the other paper said. Doubt that’ll work though. Have to ask Rob.”

            Skip was looking at the two pictures, side by side, at the top of the first page–one of him and Kate kissing in front of her office building and the other of Rob and Liz on his front porch. The caption slashed across the page was
Pulling the Wool Over Their Spouses’ Eyes?
Next to the article immediately below those pictures was the one of Skip escorting Cherise through the crowd at Merriweather, cropped to make it look like a man holding his girlfriend by the arm.

            He didn’t bother to read the article, but he did zero in on the byline. It was a woman. He could guess which one.

            Skip tossed the pages back to Rose. “Fax them to Fran while I call Rob,” was all he said.

            Rob concurred with Rose’s assessment. Posing statements as questions and saying they were just quoting another paper would be a poor defense.

            “File the lawsuit,” Skip said.

            “Are you sure you want to do that?” Rob asked.

            “No, but do it anyway. I’ve gotta let these S.O.B.’s know they can’t mess with my friends and family without suffering some consequences.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

            On Wednesday morning there was more bad news when Sarah received the biweekly sack of fan mail forwarded from Cherise’s Los Angeles condo. It included a shoe box-sized package, wrapped in brown paper, no return address, that smelled of decaying meat. Sarah dropped it hastily back into the sack and called Skip.

            Skip dispatched Dolph to check it out. He called in an hour later.

            “Dog’s head, looks like a golden retriever. Guy keeps this up we’ll have the whole dog eventually. Note in a baggie, I guess to keep the blood off it. Says, ‘This is what will happen to anyone who gets between us.’”

            “Any prints?” Skip asked.

            “Dozens outside, probably postal workers’. None inside. And more bad news, son. Date and time on the little strip of postage is the morning Lansing was in jail waiting for his bail hearing.”

            Skip grabbed his hair and yanked. “Where was it mailed from?”

            “New York City.”

            “Oh, ho. Now that’s interesting. Ask Cherise where in New York Kirk Thompson’s former penthouse is. Then check to see if it’s the same zip code.”

            “We need to tell Howard County about this,” Dolph pointed out. “Kind of blows holes in their case against Lansing.”

            “Yeah, tell them Cherise will be dropping all the charges except those related to the bracelet.”

            “Might want to drop that one, as well. Without the pattern of harassment, that’s just a sick joke. She might come across as petty for pursuing it. She drops that one too and then he wouldn’t have much grounds for accusing her of false arrest, since he’d already admitted to sending the bracelet.”

            “Let me check with Rob on that,” Skip said. “Hopefully we can keep the restraining order in place, so he doesn’t get any more cute ideas.”

            “You think this Thompson guy’s the stalker?” Dolph asked.

            “Might be. Get me that penthouse address, and ask her if she has any current contact info for him.”

            “Will do. Then I’ll take the package and note to Robinson. Fido’s head can be reunited with his heart in the Howard County evidence freezer.”

            “Robinson isn’t going to be happy you didn’t call him to come out there.”

            “Cherise freaked out when I suggested calling the police,” Dolph said. “She’s paranoid someone will spill the beans to the press about the location of the farm.”

            “She’s got a point. Too many people find out about it, it’s gonna leak out eventually.”

            Rose walked into Skip’s office as he was hanging up the phone. She raised an eyebrow at his grim expression.

            “What? No tabloid article to top off my morning?” he said.

            “Not today. Maybe the assholes are finally losing interest,” she replied.

            Skip filled her in on the dog’s head and all its implications.

            “Thompson looks like a good suspect,” Rose said. “Mild to moderate set-back in my book. Why are you looking so unhappy, partner?”

            “Because I was hoping to get shuck of this woman soon. But we can’t abandon her as a client while she’s still being stalked. Word gets out we did that and our reputation wouldn’t be worth shit. And she’ll make sure that the word gets out. She as much as threatened just that on Monday.”

            “You want me to take over the case?” Rose offered, even though she didn’t particularly want to. She felt as he did, that this woman wasn’t worth the stress, despite the big bucks they were charging her.

            “No, but thanks for offering. I already told her I can’t come out to the farm because I might lead the press to her, and Mark now has orders not to bring her here. I can just deal with her over the phone, and send you or Dolph out there as needed, if that’s okay?”

            “Sure, partner. Anything you need me to do at the moment?”

            “Dolph’s getting that address in New York. How would you feel about a road trip? I’m not real comfortable leaving Kate and the kids right now, with the paparazzi still hanging around.”

            “Think I’ll need my jammies?”

            “Wouldn’t hurt, in case you need to stay over.”

            “Okay, I’m going to check to see if Thompson’s got a record. Then I’ll head home and pack. Have Dolph call me when he has the info.”

            Thompson didn’t have a record
per se
but he had been arrested twice in New York for drunk and disorderly and possession of small amounts of drugs. The charges were later dropped and his prints weren’t in the national database. Rose figured he probably had connections. She called Robinson in Howard County to suggest he request Thompson’s fingerprints from NYPD and check them against those on the knife from the gory bouquet.

            She stuck her head in her partner’s door. He was on the phone.

            “Hold on, Rob,” Skip said.

            Rose gave him a quick update before heading home to collect her jammies.

* * *

            Kate and Rob decided to have their weekly lunch in the Franklins’ kitchen since being seen in public together was probably not a good idea at the moment. Ben circled the block around Kate’s office building several times to make sure they weren’t being followed before heading to Rob’s house.

            “So what’s on the menu?” Kate asked when Rob let her in the front door. He led the way to the kitchen, saying over his shoulder, “Liz made us some chicken salad this morning, before she left for work.”

            “Yum. I love her chicken salad.”

            “Sit, Kate. I’ll make the sandwiches. You look exhausted.”

            “That’s because I am. Haven’t been sleeping well. Because of all this stuff with Cherise, and the press chasing us. We think we’ve got the situation resolved and then something else happens. We had a major fight last week. Worst one we’ve ever had, by far. Woke up the kids, scared them to death.”

            “What was the fight about?” Rob asked as he put a plate in front of her. He walked over to the fridge to get out a pitcher of iced tea.

            “The article about you and me. I found out about it from Cherise, when she came in for a session that afternoon. Totally threw me. I was so pissed at him that he didn’t call and tell me. He’d already had that press conference with you, but I wouldn’t stop yelling long enough for him to tell me that. I felt so bad when I found out he really had tried to fix the mess.” Kate took a small bite of her sandwich, then shook her head. “The mess just won’t stay fixed though.”

            Rob put glasses for the tea on the table, then took his seat. He patted her hand, decided that was insufficient and leaned over to peck her on the cheek, before picking up his sandwich. They ate in silence for a couple minutes.

            Rob took a sip of iced tea. “Now they’re back to square one, almost, although it sounds like they’ve got a good suspect for the stalker.”

            Kate looked at him in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

            “Uh, there was a new development this morning.” He’d only gotten halfway through telling her about the macabre package and the implications of the date it was mailed when Kate jumped up and started pacing around the kitchen.

            “Damn it to hell. He did it again. Something happens that affects me and he doesn’t even pick up the phone.”

            “Kate, calm down. He’s had a busy morning, and how does this affect you anyway?”

            She dropped back into her chair. “Because... this case keeps affecting our family. He gets yanked away from home at all hours. The paparazzi are hounding us. We thought the case was almost wrapped up. He was just waiting for Lansing’s conviction, then he was going to turn the routine security at Cherise’s farm over to Rose.”

            “So the only way this affects you is because the case is still alive,” Rob pointed out. “Not exactly in the same category as our supposed affair making the front page.”

            “Oh, stop being the logical lawyer when I’m trying to–”

            “Be illogical?”

            Kate glared at him.

            He held up his hands. “Hey, I’m just trying to look out for my buddy here, when the man’s not around to stand up for himself.”

            “I thought you were
my
friend.”

            “I am, but us men have to stick together when our women start getting irrational on us.” Kate was too worked up to hear his teasing tone.

            “Irrational?” She started to jump up from her chair again, but Rob reached out to put a big hand on each shoulder. He gently nudged her back down.

            “Calm down, sweetheart. The man is just doing his job, trying his damnedest to make this case go away. You really expect him to stop every ten minutes and call you with an update?”

            Kate deflated. “No, you’re right. I am being irrational. But that’s the problem, this whole situation is making me crazy.”

            Rob nudged her plate. She picked up her sandwich and took another bite. “You know what you guys need?” Rob said. “A vacation, just the two of you, when the dust finally settles from this damned case. Liz and I will help Maria with the kids.”

            “Wow! What a great idea,” Kate said. “I’ve always wanted to go on a cruise. That would be ideal. Get him out in the middle of the ocean where the damn cell phones won’t work.”

            She glanced at the calendar hanging on the kitchen wall next to the fridge. “And I know just the occasion, coming up in a few weeks.”

            Rob’s brow furrowed. “That may be a little soon. Case might not be resolved by then.”

            “True, but I can buy the tickets, for September maybe, and give them to him next month.”

            “What’s the special occasion? I thought his birthday was in the spring,” Rob said.

            “It is. July 21
^st
is the anniversary of our first kiss.”

            “You remember the exact date of your first kiss?” After two and a half decades of marriage, Rob wasn’t sure what season it had been when he and Liz started dating, much less the date of their first kiss.

            “It kind of stood out, since I wouldn’t let him touch me again for five months, while I was still grieving for Eddie.”

            Rob chuckled. “Yeah, I can see where only one kiss per five months might help one remember the date.”

            “So where should we go?”

            “Don’t want to be in the Caribbean in September. Height of hurricane season,” Rob pointed out.

            Kate spent the rest of their lunch happily bouncing ideas off of Rob about where and when she and Skip should take their cruise.

* * *

            When her last client had left that afternoon, Kate apologized to Ben for keeping him so late. “I really need to run some errands on the way home. Things I didn’t get a chance to do over the weekend, what with Liz’s party and all.”

            “No problem,” Ben said.

            At their last stop Kate made a quick detour into the travel agency two doors down from the grocery store.

            Skip beat her home by almost an hour. He walked into the kitchen. “Kate’s not home yet?” he asked Maria.

            “No. She say she run errands on way home today,” Maria answered.

            “Where’d the flowers come from?” he asked. There were a dozen red roses in a vase in the middle of the table.

            “You no send?” Maria asked, turning from the sink.

            “No.” He plucked the card from its holder. It was blank.

            “What the hell?”

            “Skip, little pitchers have de big ears.” Maria tilted her head toward Billy playing on the kitchen floor.

            “Wha da hell,” Billy dutifully mimicked.

            “Billy, that’s a big person word. It’s not appropriate for a child to say,” Skip admonished gently.