STAGESTRUCK - The Complete Series (33 page)

The next morning, Dr. Godwin ran a battery of tests to make sure that the poison hadn’t caused any lasting damage to my organs. Everything came back clear, and I was discharged at two in the afternoon. Marion had arrived early in the day, and she gave us a ride home in her chauffeured car.

“I need to get back to the office, girls,” Marion said as the driver pulled up to our curb. “Get some rest Kate and call if you need anything.”

“Thank you Marion,” I said as we slid out of the car. I felt exposed on the street and I rushed into the building; Janette followed closely behind me. We were greeted by our head doorman Scott and a uniformed security guard.

“Kate, I’m so glad to see that you’re feeling better.” Scott said. “I wish you’d have shared your situation with me earlier. We have protocols to put in place when a tenant needs extra security. We implement them all of the time during custody cases and nasty breakups.”

“I never thought that anything this serious would happen.” I explained with a sigh.

“Ms. Harper, I’m Josh Thomas,” the uniformed man said. “My firm has been hired by the theater to keep your apartment secure. I apologize for divulging the situation to Scott without speaking to you first, but we needed to move quickly.”

“That’s fine Mr. Thomas, would you like to come upstairs?”

“Please, call me Josh. I’ll be covering the first watch but Scott and I need to explain the new security protocols before we go upstairs.” He explained, gesturing to the small seating area on the far side of the lobby. The four of us took seats on the stiffly upholstered furniture.

“The theaters usual security team will focus on keeping you safe there and my team will work with the building’s existing staff to keep you safe here. You will have an armed guard in your apartment at all times until this case has been resolved.”

“We’ve instituted our lobby check in policy for non-tenants. Guests will sign in with the doormen and list the apartment they’re visiting. We’ve added two people per shift to monitor the elevators and if anyone we can’t verify against the sign in sheet steps onto you’re floor, your guard will be notified.” Scott explained.

“I spoke with Dylan Matthews early this morning and he put together a tentative list of the people he thought you’d want cleared to enter the apartment. Can you review it before we mark it as final?” He passed us the page; Dylan had listed himself, my family, Marion, Mark, and Parker.

“I can’t think of anyone else, can you?” I asked Janette; she shook her head.

“Great,” Scott said. “We’re all familiar with Mr. Matthews, of course, but everyone else will need to check in the next time they visit. We’ll snap a quick picture and then they can come and go as they please.”

“Thank you,” Janette told him. “Mark and Parker should be here anytime now, I’ll text and tell them the new rules.”

My head and stomach felt much better but I felt weak on my feet. “Scott, I appreciate everything you’re doing for me. I’m still not feeling very well; I think I need to get upstairs.”

“Of course,” Scott said as we all stood. He returned to his post while Josh, Janette, and I rode the elevator to our floor.

“I met Detective Ramos here this morning; he cleared the apartment and left your key with me.” He unlocked our door and gave the key back to Janette. We walked inside and I was relieved to see that the apartment looked the same, with the exception of a folding table and chair that sat in the entryway.

“What is that?” I asked.

“That’s our makeshift guard station.” Josh explained. “We need to be inside to keep you safe, but we don’t want to invade your life.”

“So we’re supposed to just pretend you aren’t sitting there?” I asked.

“We’re all pretty good at keeping ourselves occupied.” He assured me, lifting a tablet. “Trust me, after a few hours you’ll forget I’m even here.” He sat down in the small plastic chair while Janette and I continued on to the living room. I grabbed a hold of one of the leather armchairs and tried to drag it across the room.

“Kate, what are you doing?” Janette asked as she took the chair away from me.

“If people are going to sit behind our door for hours at a time to keep me safe, I’d like for them to at least be comfortable.”

“Thank you Kate,” Josh said as he entered the room. “I’ll move it.” He pulled the chair halfway across the room and then stopped, pressing a hand to his left ear. “Copy,” he said into a hidden microphone.

“That was Scott,” he explained. “You’re friends are here, they’re on the way up.” He pushed the chair out of the room and I collapsed onto the couch.

“I’m so hungry,” I sighed. “And I bet Detective Ramos didn’t leave a scrap of food in the kitchen.”

“Hold that thought.” Janette said as she walked to the door to greet Mark and Parker. They filed in a few moments later, their arms laden with grocery bags. Mark rushed to deposit his bags on the kitchen counter and joined me on the couch.

“Kate, I’m so glad you’re okay.” He cried as he wrapped me in a hug. “I’m so sorry we couldn’t get to the hospital, I had parent teacher conferences last night and Parker had a business dinner. We didn’t get the messages until after visiting hours.”

“It’s okay, I’m glad you’re here now.” I said as I hugged him back. “Did you meet my new bodyguard?”

“Yes, I also had a mug shot taken so I could grace you with my presence.” He teased. “How are you feeling, really?”

“Numb, mostly,” I replied.

“Kate, we bought all of your favorite foods.” Parker called out from the kitchen. “What can I make for you?”

“Whatever’s easiest is fine,” I told him. “Please tell me that you got coffee.”

“I’m starting a pot now.” Janette replied.

Mark lay against the arm of the couch and I curled up next to him. I laid my head against his shoulder; he wrapped his arms around me and lightly rubbed my back.

“I know that you’re terrified right now Kate,” Mark said softly. “And I can’t promise that everything will be okay. I can promise that no matter what happens, you won’t have to face it alone.”

I lay in Mark’s arms and listened to the words that I’d hoped to hear from Dylan; Mark seemed to read my mind.

“Where is Dylan?” He asked softly. “I expected him to be here.”

“He’s probably at work.” I answered flatly. “He has a contract; he can only miss so many days.”

“That’s horseshit.” Mark insisted. “He should be here taking care of you. There’s still a chance that the person behind this is one of HIS sick fans who’s jealous of your relationship. He should be here to protect you.”

“I don’t think there’s anything he could do that an armed guard can’t.” I reminded him. “I know he spoke to the security team this morning. I’m sure I’ll hear from him soon.”

Parker carried a tray into the room and set it on the coffee table. It held a B.L.T., a mug of coffee, and a large glass of orange juice.

“We also bought ginger ale, in case the food upsets your stomach. Let me know if you need one. I bought stuff to make chicken noodle soup for dinner, I’m going to get to work.” He said as he walked back to the kitchen.

“You two are going to be great dads.” I told Mark before biting in to the sandwich.

“Thanks,” he beamed. “I hope we can find a birth mom who agrees with you.”

I devoured the sandwich in a matter of minutes and chased it with the glass of orange juice.

“Feel better?” Mark laughed.

I nodded. “I had hospital eggs for breakfast, I was starving.”

“I’ll make you another sandwich.” He insisted; as he rose from the couch, Josh returned to the living room.

“Ms. Harper, there’s a man downstairs trying to check in with Scott. He’s not on your visitors list, but he said that he was referred her by Marion Russo.”

“Of course, Marion said the P.I. she hired would be stopping by today. Tell Scott to send him up.” I turned to Mark. “Forget about the sandwich for now. Parker, Janette, you should probably come in here too.”

Parker and Janette joined us in the living room and when the doorbell rang, Josh let the private investigator in to the apartment. I stood when he entered the living room.

“Hello Ms. Harper, I’m Caleb Porter. Your agent has hired me to look in to your stalking case. I understand that you’ve had a tough time lately.”

I nodded. “Please, call me Kate.” I introduced my friends and noticed a spark of attraction between Janette and the muscular, attractive investigator.

“It’s nice to meet you all,” Caleb told us. “I know that you must be exhausted after last night’s ordeal. Marion has already given me most of the information I need, but I wanted to introduce myself and ask just a couple of questions.”

“Of course, whatever you need.” I replied.

“From what I understand, three significant things were happening when the harassment started: you’d just started the show, you ended your relationship with Max Shepherd, and you started seeing Dylan Matthews. Is that correct?”

“Yes,” I blushed. “It was a busy week…”

“One of those things is most likely the motivation behind your attacks. Which one do you think is the most likely?”

“The show or Dylan,” I replied quickly. “Max would never hurt me.”

“Alright, then I’ll focus my attention on the people from the theater and I’d like to speak with whoever handles Mr. Matthews’s fan mail and social media accounts.”

“Just like that?” I asked. “You’re not going to argue that I don’t really know Max? That’s what the cops did.”

“I assure you Kate, if the other angles don’t turn up any leads I’ll turn my attention back to Mr. Shepherd. But in my experience people’s gut feelings are usually right, so that’s where I like to start.”

“That’s a refreshing change,” Janette smiled. “Can I get you something to drink?”

“No thank you, I’m on my way out.” He smiled back. “Kate, I’ll be working in conjunction with the police and both security teams. We know that the stalker has some tech skills since they hacked the theater’s security system and turned off the recorders. That takes some considerable skill, so the chances are good that we’ll catch the culprit soon.”

Mark stiffened his back and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. “No offense Mr. Porter, but I’d rather you didn’t make promises you can’t keep.”

“Ms. Harper?” Josh announced. “Mr. Matthews is on his way up.”

“Thanks Josh,” I said. “Would you let him in when he gets here?”

“Of course,” he replied. Josh returned to his post and I turned to Janette.

“Would you mind giving us a minute?” I asked her.

“Only if you promise not to go easy on him,” she replied shortly. “He hasn’t been here all day. He hasn’t even called to check on you, Kate. I swear to god, if you let him slide on this I’ll come out here and tell him what I think myself.”

“I know I defended him to the guys Janette, but I’m just as pissed at him as you are. I won’t fold, I promise.”

She stood and moved towards her bedroom. “I can’t promise not to listen.” She warned.

“I’d never expect you too.”

She ducked into her bedroom just as the front door opened. I heard Dylan step into the living room, but I didn’t get up to greet him.

“Hey baby, how are you doing?” He asked.

I propped myself up on the arm of the sofa but I didn’t move my legs to make room for him to sit down with me.  “How have I been? I was poisoned, I collapsed, and I had to spend the night in the hospital. How the fuck do you think I’ve been?” I growled.

“Okay, let me rephrase the question.” He said patiently. “How do you feel?” He sat on the coffee table, waiting for me to respond.

Tears fell from my eyes. “I feel awful. My stomach burns, my head is pounding… someone tried to… kill me.” I sobbed.

Dylan tried to put his arm around me but I pushed him away. “Don’t touch me. You didn’t even call to check on me today, it’s too late to act like you care.”

“Kate, I’m sorry.” He said softly. “I thought you’d be sleeping off all of the medicine and I didn’t want to wake you.”

“That makes sense,” I said sarcastically. “Did you think that Janette, Mark, and Patrick would all be asleep too?”

“I called Janette this morning but it went straight to voicemail. I went to theater to see what the police were up to. I spoke with Marcus, who filled me in on the new security protocols. He told me about the check in policy. I thought that you’d want them to let Mark and Parker in if they got here before you were released from the hospital, so I gave them their names. I hadn’t expected to spend so much time with Marcus. I had to rush to make it to a meeting with my agent and then from there I had to rush back to the theater. I’m sorry that I didn’t call back after this morning, but I knew that you were okay. Janette promised to call if anything happened.”

“You knew I was alive.” I corrected him. “You couldn’t be more wrong about me being okay.” My tears started falling again; I’d kept up a brave face for everyone else, but I couldn’t do it with Dylan. I was too hurt and disappointed that he’d abandoned me at the hospital. Since we’d met he hadn’t quit talking about how we belonged together, but when I needed him most he’d disappeared.

“Kate I’m so sorry,” he said again. “I don’t know what I was thinking, of course you’re traumatized. You may even have PTSD, did the doctor give you anything to help your nerves, or help you sleep?”

“He gave me three different bottles of pills, I can’t remember what they’re all for.” I told him. “My brain has been fuzzy all day, Janette’s kept track of all of the medicines and when I’m supposed to take them.”

“Is she in her room?” He asked.

I nodded and he moved towards her door. “You don’t want to go in there.” I warned him. “She’s not too happy with you today. When it’s time for me to take my next pill, she’ll bring it to me.”

He sighed and returned to the couch. I was still pissed at him so I left my legs where they were; he got the hint and perched in front of me on the coffee table. “Look Kate,” he began slowly. “I know that I fucked up. I should have stayed at the hospital last night. I should have been by your side this whole time. You and your friends have every right to be pissed at me.”

“I’m sure they’ll be happy to learn that they have your approval.” I interrupted.

“I just meant that I understand why they’re upset.” He patiently replied. “I should have been there. And I would have been Kate, if I could have. But Ralph called last night to tell me that he was flying in to the city today. I was supposed to fly back to L.A. weeks ago to meet with him, but I kept putting it off. When he came here I didn’t have a choice, I had to see him.”

“Couldn’t you have explained the circumstances and asked him to reschedule?”

“I explained the circumstances, which in his eyes made the meeting even more urgent.” Dylan told me; I didn’t understand.

“How does what happened to me affect Ralph?” I asked.

“I have news,” he said anxiously. “I think it’s great news, but I don’t know how you’ll feel about it.”

“Well the only way to find out is to tell me. What’s going on?”

“Remember when we talked about doing a movie together?” He asked.

“I remember you bringing it up, and telling you that I’m not interested.” I replied.

“You said that you were afraid of what the press would say if I got you another audition.” He reminded me. “But Ralph and I weren’t talking about those other movies today. An executive at Warner Brothers called him last week. The studio has a big budget romantic comedy on their schedule but they haven’t cast the leads yet. He wanted to know if you and I would be interested in doing the film. I told Ralph that I’m in and that I’d talk to you. What do you think?”

“I think that I told you weeks ago that I’m not interested in doing movies.” I snapped.

“Okay baby, that’s all you have to say.” He quickly replied. “It seemed like a great opportunity for both of us. They’re shooting the movie in L.A. and I thought that it might be something fun we could do together. We could stay in my house and I could show you the California sites. I think you’d really love it there, we could spend our days off on the beach… will you at least think about it? The pay is more than you’d make on stage in two years; you could take four months off for the shoot, think of it as a vacation and go back to theater when it’s over. They want us Kate, we need to strike while the iron is hot.”

I still hated the idea of being in a movie, but the thought of lying on a beach was tempting. ‘The paycheck would also be nice.’ I admitted to myself.

“How long do we have to decide?” I asked with a sigh.

“They won’t take it to anyone else for two more weeks. After that, we could lose it.”

The beach and the paycheck were the only things I liked about the idea. I knew that I’d never go through with it, but I was exhausted and I didn’t want to talk about it anymore. “Alright, I’ll think about it.” I told Dylan. “But I’m so tired right now; can we talk about it later?”

“Of course,” he quickly replied. He was obviously relieved that I hadn’t shot down the idea completely. “I wasn’t even going to bring it up until you felt better.” He told me. “That was before I realized that I’d have to explain myself. I’m sorry that I wasn’t here but you understand, don’t you? If the roles were reversed, I wouldn’t expect you to sacrifice your career to sit in a hospital room with me. There really wasn’t much I could have done to help.”

‘You could have held me.’ I thought bitterly.

“You’re right, I understand.” I agreed, too tired to fight. “I forgive you.”

Janette chose that moment to step out of her bedroom. “How are you feeling?” She asked me, ignoring Dylan.

“I’m really tired.” I replied. “And my stomach still hurts.”

“It’s time for two of your pills, what do you want to drink?”

“Some ginger ale,” I told her.

“I’ll get it.” Dylan quickly volunteered. He hopped up from the coffee table and hurried to the kitchen.

“Did you hear everything?” I asked Janette softly.

She nodded. “I guess I kind of see his point Kate, but he still could have picked up the phone and called. That part is inexcusable. I talked to Caleb while I was in there, he said that he’s working some leads but so far he hasn’t learned anything.”

“He checked in to say that?” I asked.

“It wasn’t exactly a… professional call.” She blushed.

“I knew it!” I gasped.

“Knew what?” Dylan asked, returning to the couch. In one hand he had a cold can of ginger ale, in the other he held my prescription bottles. “I didn’t know which ones it’s time for so I just brought them all.” He explained, handing the medicine to Janette. “What were you two talking about?”

Janette opened two of the bottles and shook pills out into her hand. “Oh, we were just talking about my album.” Janette lied. “Nothing that would interest you, I’m sure.”

“Janette, I owe you an apology.” Dylan told her. “I’m so thankful that you were around to take care of Kate. I know that I should have been here helping you today but I’m here now. Luis is going to cover for me tomorrow so I can take over from here.”

“Okay,” she shrugged. “I’m supposed to record tomorrow and Mark was going to come over. Should I call and tell him it’s covered?”

“Tell him that he doesn’t have to come over, but I’d love to see him.” I replied. I let out a long yawn and stretched my arms above my head.

“Do you want to lie down in bed?” Dylan asked.

“I don’t know. I’m tired, but I don’t think that I can sleep.”

“I have something that may help.” Dylan announced. He disappeared into the entryway and returned with a large gift bag and a small suitcase. “I stopped at my place and grabbed myself some clothes, and then I stopped at the Body Shop and got you all kinds of aromatherapy stuff. If it said ‘relax’, ‘sleep’, or ‘uplift’ on it, I grabbed one. If you want I’ll run you a bubble bath and when you get out I’ll massage you to sleep.”

“A bubble bath sounds perfect.” I told him. “If you’ve got lavender in that bag, that’s what I’d like.”

“No problem, I’ll get it ready now.” He said, walking towards my bedroom.

“He’s trying; you have to give him that.” I told Janette once we were alone again. “I want to hear all about you and Caleb: how it happened, when it happened. But I’m afraid that if you told me right now, I’d forget all about it by morning.”

“Dr. Godwin said that it’s normal for your brain to be a little fuzzy.” She assured me. “I’ll fill you in soon though, I promise. Go enjoy your bath; I’ll see you in the morning.”

Dylan stuck his head out of my bedroom door. “Do you need some help baby?” He asked.

I shook my head. “I’m not shaky on my feet anymore.” I told him; he crossed the room anyway and put an arm around me for support. I let him help me and we walked to the bathroom together. My whirlpool tub was covered in a blanket of think, white bubbles. The flowery, soothing smell of lavender filled the room and I felt myself relax just a little.

I turned to Dylan. “I appreciate all of this baby, but would you mind giving me a little time alone?” I asked. “Everyone’s been hovering over me all day. I just need a minute to catch my breath.

“Of course, baby.” He told me. “I’ll be in the bedroom, if you need anything just call for me.”

“I will.” I promised.

Dylan left the room and I stripped out of my pajamas. I tested the bathwater with my hand, stepped into the tub, and gently lowered myself into the water. I rested my head against my foam pillow, closed my eyes, and considered what I’d just been through.

Someone, maybe more than one person, hated me bad enough to physically harm me. I knew in my heart that Serena was somehow involved but I wasn’t convinced that Mica had anything to do with it. ‘I must be overlooking someone.’ I thought. ‘Serena has to have help, that’s the only way to explain her alibi.’

I knew that a dozen good, hardworking detectives were investigating the case, but I also knew that they were limited in how far they could go and which lines they could cross. I wasn’t limited at all; I was more than willing to do whatever it took to put an end to the threats.

‘I’ll give them two weeks.’ I silently vowed. ‘If they haven’t solved the case by then, I’ll figure out how to deal with this myself.’