Obsession (21 page)

Jed put a hand on his chest as though trying to steady his rapidly beating heart. Then he nodded. “Let me just get my shoes.”

* * *

Charlie hated losing his temper. Absolutely hated it. He didn’t know what he had expected from Kendra. He could even admit now that he had deliberately tried not to think about what to expect, but her accusations had gone far beyond whatever worst-case scenario he might have come up with.

Sure, he could have anticipated her being miffed at him for neglecting to tell her why he was really in Pinewood. He could even understand her feeling hurt or annoyed at him for the kisses they had shared. But nothing had prepared him for the accusation that he had mistreated or used her in any way because of her celebrity status.

He might have made a mistake in kissing her, but it wasn’t like he had been alone in that little experiment. She’d kissed him first. The fact that he had kept his distance from Kendra up until that point should count for something.

He paced across the little office, annoyed that his pulse wasn’t quite steady as he tried to get a grip on his anger. He paused by the window and looked out into the darkness. He needed to put some distance between himself and Kendra, and he supposed now was as good a time as any to do a quick check outside. He made sure his files were securely locked inside his briefcase and then turned to go. He stopped short when he saw Kendra standing in the doorway.

“I said I have work to do,” Charlie said, a little more sharply than he intended.

“I just have to ask you one question.” Kendra looked at him like a wounded puppy, and her voice was unexpectedly sincere.

“What?” Charlie bit off the word, annoyed both that she hadn’t given him any time to compose himself and that her presence alone caused another wave of guilt to slice through him.

A faint blush rose to her cheeks, but she kept her eyes on his. “Why did you kiss me?”

His eyebrows lifted, and he was suddenly grateful that Ray was still getting settled in his room. “I would think that would be obvious.”

She shook her head, and her voice was barely louder than a whisper. “Not to me.”

He saw it now—the vulnerability and the hurt that was undeniably his fault. She’d told him that she never dated much, but he hadn’t really considered that a woman like her, a beautiful, talented, famous woman, could really be that inexperienced with men. The naiveté he saw in her eyes told him that she had been completely honest with him in that most private part of her life.

Charlie swallowed. Hard. How could he explain that he’d made a mistake? How could he tell her he’d let himself get caught up in the moment, a moment he knew he should regret but desperately wanted to repeat?

He chose to leave several feet between them as he leaned back against the desk. She remained in the doorway, looking unexpectedly fragile. He shoved his hands in his pockets, fisting them there as his anger faded and a myriad of emotions replaced it. He wanted her to trust him and knew that nothing less than the truth would give her what she needed and what she deserved.

“I kissed you because I care about you,” he said softly. “The real you.”

Her eyes stayed steady on his, but Charlie could see the tears threatening. “I don’t know what to believe anymore.”

“Believe that I wanted to tell you everything. Believe that I never wanted to hurt you and that it was killing me to have to hide anything from you.” He saw a single tear spill over, and his heart ached for her. She deserved to be happy, to be safe without worries, and he hated knowing that he couldn’t give her those things right now.

He knew he needed to keep his distance, to put their relationship on a strictly professional level while he was protecting her, but when he saw the next tear spill over, he felt himself wavering. He knew it was a mistake when he pulled his hands out of his pockets, pushed away from the desk, and crossed to her.

Without a word, he slid his arms around her waist and pulled her against him. A second passed, then two, before her hands came up to encircle his waist. Then she clung to him as she fought off her tears.

Charlie held her while her breathing steadied and the little tremors working through her body faded. He wanted more than anything for the circumstances to be different. He wanted to be in a position where he could spend time with Kendra and have the freedom to explore the attraction between them. But he reminded himself that if she hadn’t been forced to stay in one place because of the current threat against her, he never would have had any of this time with her.

Normal life for Kendra meant touring around the country, playing in concerts, and shooting music videos. With his job anchoring him in Phoenix, he was unlikely to ever have a real chance to date her. He started to pull away, only to find her staring up at him, tears still shimmering in her eyes.

She lifted a hand to his face and looked up at him expectantly. Their faces were close, and he leaned toward her instinctively, hesitating when his mouth was just a breath away from hers. He knew he should resist, knew that even a single kiss would complicate things between them further. Then she closed the distance between them. Her lips brushed against his, and he couldn’t resist deepening the kiss.

His heart squeezed in his chest, and his emotions tangled as she consumed his thoughts. This was a woman to be cherished and treasured, a woman unlike any he had ever met. She was full of contrasts, of twists and turns that demanded to be explored: fragile one minute and daring the next. Charlie was overwhelmed with the need to understand her and have her understand him.

A door closed down the hall, and Charlie jerked back. He stared down at her, his breathing unsteady. How had this happened? How had Kendra managed to bypass his defenses? How had she managed to weave her way into his heart?

“Kendra, I’m sorry. I can’t do this.” He stepped free of her embrace and took another deliberate step back. “I can’t focus on my job if we’re together like this.” He took a deep breath. “You understand that, don’t you?”

The vulnerability was back in her eyes, but she nodded.

Footsteps sounded in the front hall, and Ray appeared in the doorway. “If everything’s okay in here, I’m going to go check the perimeter of the house.”

Again feeling the need to distance himself from Kendra, Charlie stepped toward the door. “I’ll take care of it.”

Ray’s eyebrows lifted. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure.” He glanced back at Kendra for a brief moment. Then he turned and left the room, hoping that focusing on defensive measures to keep Kendra safe would help him put his priorities back into perspective. As he donned his jacket and stepped outside, he let out a sigh. Like it or not, Kendra had destroyed the walls he’d built around his heart, and he had no idea what to do about it.

Neal Coramavich stared warily across the table at Jed Burgess. He narrowed his eyes as he leaned forward. “You’re telling me you were in Los Angeles on these dates to attend award shows?”

“That’s right.” Jed nodded. He tapped a finger on the four dates that investigators had placed him in California.

“I’m understandably confused,” Neal said, shaking his head. “Why would someone who lives in Pinewood, Arizona, go to award shows in Los Angeles? How do you even get tickets?”

“About five years ago, a friend of mine wanted to go to the Academy Awards. His son was up for an award, but my friend had just had hip replacement surgery and couldn’t drive yet. He didn’t want his wife to drive all the way from Phoenix to LA, so he asked if I wanted to go,” Jed explained.

“And this friend would be . . .”

“William Blake. His son is Sterling Blake,” Jed told him. “Anyway, while we were there, I noticed how every time someone got up out of their seat, someone else came and sat down so there weren’t any empty seats. I asked who they were and found out that there are people who go to the award shows to be seat fillers.”

“Seat fillers?”

“Yeah, you know, to fill the seats so that on TV it always looks like there’s a full house at the show.”

“So you drive all the way to California to fill seats,” Neal said skeptically.

“That’s how it started. After a few shows, I got to know some people who work backstage. Those connections got me different jobs working at the shows, usually helping the backstage coordinators.”

“Can you give me the names of the people you worked for?”

“Sure.” Jed nodded agreeably. “Do you want their phone numbers too?”

“Yeah, that would be great.” He pushed a pad of paper and a pen across the table, and Jed started jotting down the names and numbers. As soon as he finished, Neal asked, “Was Kendra Blake at any of these award shows?”

“Kendra?” His eyebrows lifted, but then he nodded. “Sure. She’s always at them.”

“Always?”

“Well, yeah.” He nodded again. “She always goes if her dad’s up for an award, which is just about every year, and she usually gets at least one nomination for the music award shows.”

“Were you in LA for either of these two dates?”

Jed leaned forward and read the dates on the paper Neal shoved in front of him. “This date doesn’t look familiar, but I might have been in California for the one in February. The Grammys would have been right around that time.”

“I see.” Neal tried to size up the man across from him and couldn’t. He was offering information, apparently without censure, and he didn’t act like a man who had anything to hide. Neal had no idea if he was really that good an actor or if he was really as clueless as he seemed. “Have you ever met Joslyn Korden?”

Now his eyebrows drew together. “The model?”

“Yes, the model.”

Jed shook his head. “No, I can’t say that I have.”

“What about this woman? Lacey O’Riley.” Ray slid a DMV photo in front of Jed.

Again he shook his head. “Who is she?”

“Can you look at these photos and see if you might have seen any of them?” Neal slid four more photos across the table as he considered the information Jed had already given him and twisted it to suit his purposes. “They might have been at one of the award shows you were at.”

“If any of them were there, I didn’t notice them,” Jed said after studying the group of photos. “But like I said, the last few years I’ve been working backstage. I didn’t really get a chance to see many people out in the crowd.”

Neal nodded, gathered up the stack of photos, and slid all his notes into a file. “I’ll be right back.”

He walked out of the interrogation room and entered the viewing room adjoining it, where Elias was watching through the glass. “What do you think?”

“I think this guy is clueless.”

“Yeah, but do you think he could be lying?”

“I don’t think so. I don’t think he’s our guy, but I do think he’s given us another angle to consider.”

“The award shows?”

Elias nodded. “Five out of six of the murders were committed around the same time as one of those shows. See if there were any similar events on that other date.”

“What about him?” Neal jerked a thumb toward the glass separating the two rooms.

“Make sure you have good contact information for him and then let him go.”

* * *

Kendra rolled over in bed and stared at the faded blue-and-white-striped wallpaper. After her talk with Charlie the night before, she had unpacked her belongings in her bedroom and found herself working on lyrics as she let her emotions settle. Charlie had checked in with her after he’d finished looking around outside but then had left her alone with her thoughts. She suspected he needed some time alone as well.

Her chest was still tight with anticipation as she tried to figure out what to expect over the next few weeks. As unrealistic as it was, she wanted the illusion back. She wanted to pretend that she was safe and that Charlie was with her because he wanted to be. The way he had kissed her last night made her think that his feelings for her were genuine.

He must have withdrawn from her because his professional integrity wouldn’t allow him to explore the sparks that kept snapping between them—at least, she hoped that was the reason. She didn’t know whether to wish for this situation to drag on so she could stay with Charlie indefinitely or to hope that life would return to normal so she could see what would happen once he was free to shed his professional armor.

What would it be like
, she wondered,
to feel safe and loved and content?

She shook her head and blew out a breath. She tried to think of the last time she had really felt that way, quickly realizing that she had to go all the way back to her childhood. When she’d turned twelve, her father had decided it was time to teach her about the real world, about how everyone wanted something from people like the Blakes and that danger was everywhere and had to be combated.

Since then, she had never felt completely secure, and now she also didn’t know whom to trust. She wanted to trust Charlie. She wanted to believe what he had told her the night before. But she simply didn’t know if she could.

He had been the only bright spot in this whole ordeal, this nightmare that she’d put a time limit on. Ray Underwood had tried to be up front with her, explaining that a month might not give them the time they needed to track down the leads Charlie had turned up—leads he had uncovered by talking to her, by pretending to be her friend. That still grated at her, the way she’d thought he was such a good listener while, in reality, he had been interrogating her without her knowledge.

Still, she was realistic enough to consider that if he could figure out who was after her, this nightmare would finally end.

After she showered and dressed for the day, she walked down the hall and heard Charlie’s voice.

“Do we have enough to hold him?” Charlie asked as she approached the office door. She glanced inside to see him holding his cell phone to his ear as he paced the narrow room. “Okay, then e-mail me the Burgess interrogation as soon as you get it.” He paused again and then nodded to the empty room. “Thanks.”

Kendra waited until he hung up before asking, “Were you talking about Jed Burgess?”