STAGESTRUCK - The Complete Series (34 page)

“Thank you so much for coming with me today.” I told Parker as we climbed the steps into Lincoln Theater. It was Friday and I’d insisted on going back to work. My friends knew that I didn’t want to walk around the theater with a guard all day so they volunteered to take turns going to work with me. Dylan called Marcus, who’d agreed to have the security team keep a close eye on me, but from a comfortable distance.

“Are you kidding me, this is one of the coolest things I’ve ever done.” Parker gushed. “I can’t wait to see everything, I’ve never been backstage.”

We walked to the east side of the theater and through the backstage entrance. Bruce was in the hallway with one of the musicians; he ended his conversation and crossed the hall to greet us.

“Kate, it’s great to have you back.” He smiled widely. “Let’s step into your dressing room and I’ll catch you up on a few things. “

I introduced Parker and Bruce as he unlocked the door. “It’s nice to meet you Parker. Kate, we’ve changed out all of your locks again. Shane made you a new set of keys and installed a silent alarm, here’s the code.” He told me, passing me a small sheet of paper. “I set that myself, so you and are the only ones who know the number. Ramos bagged up everything from the mini-fridge; I took the liberty of replacing it for you.”

“Thank you, Bruce.”

“Kate, I can’t tell you how awful I feel that someone was able to hurt you here.” He said nervously. “If there’s anything at all I can do for you, just let me know.”

“I will.” I assured him; I glanced at the time. “We’d better get to the makeup room; Mica will probably need extra time to hide all of these circles under my eyes.”

“I’m impressed that you’re here Kate,” Bruce told me. “But if you change your mind, I’ll understand.”

“If I give up what I love doing, whoever’s behind this wins.” I told him.

“You’re a hell of a woman, Kate.” Bruce said before leaving the room.

Parker turned to me and smiled. “I have to confess, I’m ridiculously excited about seeing the makeup room, especially with all of the added intrigue. If she does know anything about the attacks, maybe she’ll slip up and we can break the case ourselves.”

“I doubt that will happen Sherlock,” I laughed. “But keep your eyes on her.”

I led Parker through the hallways and into the makeup room. “Hi Mica, I hope you don’t mind but I have a friend with me today.”

“No problem,” she smiled. “I’m glad to see that you’re feeling better.”

“Thanks,” I said as I settled into the chair; Parker too the vacant chair next to me. “This is Parker, Parker this is Mica.”

“I’m a big fan of your work.” Parker gushed. “I can’t wait to watch you in action.”

“Well thank you,” Mica smiled. “I hope you enjoy the show.” She slathered the foundation over my face as she spoke. “Are you back to one hundred percent?” She asked.

“Yes, I think I finally got enough sleep.” I told her. “I’m so embarrassed that I passed out in front of the audience. I should’ve just stayed home a few extra days after the food poisoning.”

“So that’s what happened?” Mica pressed. “You came back to work too soon and just got run down again?”

“Yes, the doctors kept me overnight for observation, but they didn’t find anything wrong with me.” I lied.

“I have to tell you, I was surprised to hear that you were sick again. You seemed fine when you came back after the food poisoning… and you seemed fine right before you passed out.”

“I missed my makeup time that day because I fell asleep in my dressing room, remember?” I replied quickly. “I guess my body was trying to tell me something.” I could tell that Mica didn’t believe me, but she didn’t question my story.

“Well, you’re better now and that’s all that’s important.” She said with a dismissive smile. “So Parker, what brings you to the theater today? Bruce doesn’t usually let outsiders backstage.”

“The advertising firm I work for spends a lot of money on theater tickets.” He covered quickly. “Bruce threw a backstage pass into the last ticket package; my boss gave it to me because he knows I’m friends with Kate.”

“Well that was nice of him!” Mica smiled. She and Parker launched into an impossibly long conversation about the advertising industry and I was relieved when my hair and makeup were finally finished.

“You’re fantastic Mica.” Parker pronounced when she was finished with my hair.

“Thanks,” she smiled. “Come back anytime you want. Bruce never comes back here, you won’t get in trouble.”

“I may take you up on that.” He said as we left the room. We walked back to my dressing room in silence.

“You don’t think she has anything to do with this.” I said to Parker once we were behind the closed door.

“I really don’t,” he agreed. “I don’t think that she buys your story either.”

“She bought yours though, that was some quick thinking.”

“Thank you,” he smiled. “I think that Mica’s smart enough to know that something serious is going on. She’s figured out that you’re lying to her, but I don’t think she knows about the attacks. To me, it seemed more like she was pumping you for information.”

“I guess you could be right.” I agreed. “ But right now, I can’t afford to trust anyone. If it turns out she’s completely innocent, I’ll apologize and tell her the whole story. Thank you again for coming with me today Parker, the way everyone’s rallied around me has been amazing.”

“We all care about you Kate. I know that Mark confided in you when we were having problems. You gave him great advice; you were there for both of us when we really needed you. The least we could do is return the favor.”

“You know, my whole life here has felt surreal.” I told him. “It started like a fairytale and now it’s turned to a nightmare. I just want one normal day, you know?”

“I hate to break it to you Kate, but you’re a star now. Your life will never be normal again. But the nightmare will be over soon, and you’ll survive it.”

“Ms. Harper, the officers are on their way up.” Henry, the morning’s security guard, announced as Janette, Dylan, and I finished our breakfasts.

“Thank you Henry, are you sure that you’re not hungry?” I replied.

“I’m good mam, my wife made me breakfast before I left home. I will take a refill on the coffee.”

“Help yourself; I just made a fresh pot.”

The doorbell chimed and I let Detective Ramos, Officer Klein, and Caleb Porter in to the apartment. “Good morning guys, do you want some coffee?”

Everyone declined; their faces looked serious and I realized that this wasn’t a casual check in. “Have you found something?” I asked.

“Let’s have a seat, Kate.” Detective Ramos suggested. We filed in to the living room; Dylan moved two kitchen chairs in front of the coffee table so everyone could sit comfortably. We settled in and I turned back to the detective.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“There’s no easy way to say this Kate, but the preliminary labs came back on all of your food.”

“How bad was it?”

“Everything here was clean, but the lunch from your dressing room tested positive for arsenic. Did you make the sandwich here at home?”

I nodded. “How much arsenic?”

“Enough that we’ve upgraded the charges to attempted murder.” He said gravely. “From the time you put the lunch in the fridge and the time you drank the tainted water, how many times did you leave your dressing room?”

“Just once, when I went to have my hair and makeup done.”

“That means we can rule Mica out as a suspect.” Dylan observed.

“Not just yet, Mr. Matthews. We’re still not sure that we’re dealing with a single attacker,” Officer Klein explained.

“So you’re just here with the test results, you don’t have any leads yet?” Janette asked in a frustrated voice.

“We’ve still got our tech guys working on the theater computers.” Detective Ramos answered patiently. “That’s the best lead we have right now, but it will take time. I came to give you the test results and also to warn you that I can no longer promise discretion. Someone tried to kill you Kate and I have to start asking the hard questions around the theater.”

I sighed. “I knew this would happen eventually. So how does it work? Are you going to release a statement first, or just start the interviews and wait for the reporters to call?”

“We can handle it however you’d like. The precinct can release a statement, or we can conduct the investigation and say ‘no comment’ when reporters ask questions.”

“If I may offer a suggestion Kate,” Caleb chimed in. “I think it may be best if you release a statement personally. Show that you have nothing to hide and the public will rally around you.”

“I think he’s right,” Janette said. “At this point, it’s best to just face it. And who knows? Someone who sees the news stories may know who’s behind it.” 

I turned to Dylan. “What do you think?”

“I agree with Caleb and Janette. The press could actually work in your favor right now. Not to mention that if god forbid something else happens, no one’s going to believe that you’re still getting over food poisoning.”

“Alright, so I’ll write a statement… how do I do this?” I asked Dylan.

“You can type something up and we’ll email it to the news stations and post it on your Facebook page. Or you can write a speech and I’ll arrange for a press conference.”

“No press conferences, I’ll type something up tonight.” I turned back to Detective Ramos. “When are you starting the interviews?”

“As soon as we leave here.”

“So the story will break before I release anything.”

“It probably won’t make the evening papers, but I won’t be surprised if it’s online by nightfall.” Officer Klein told me.

I stood from the couch, dreading what I knew I had to do next. “Thank you all for everything you’re doing.” I told the men. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to call my mother.”

“Kathryn Elizabeth Harper, what do you mean someone has been STALKING you?” My mother gasped. “I just talked to you yesterday; you said that you’d passed out because you were exhausted. Now you’re telling me that someone tried to KILL you? Just what in the hell made you think that it was alright to lie to me?” She demanded.

That was the first time I’d ever heard my mother curse; I knew that she’d probably never been so scared and so pissed off at the same time. “I’m sorry mom,” I pleaded. “I know that I shouldn’t have lied. But I really thought that I had a handle on everything and I didn’t want you to worry.”

“This happened at the theater?”

“Yes.”

“Kate, I want you to come home right now.” She insisted. “I know that you want to stay there honey, but no job is worth risking your life for.”

“Mother, I will not let this person win. I have a great life here and as soon as the police solve the case, everything will go back to normal. The police are working around the clock, along with a private detective and two security teams. I’m completely safe and this will all be over soon.”

“I take it since you lied yesterday and came clean today that I’m about to read about this in the papers.” She sighed.

“Yes, the police just came by and told us that there’s no way to keep the case quiet anymore. I wanted you to hear it from me before your phone started ringing.”

“If you won’t come home, I’m coming out there.” She insisted. “I can’t just sit here and stare at the cornfields knowing that you’re in trouble.”

“Mom, that really isn’t necessary.” I assured her. “I have around the clock guards, and you’d just get tired of following me back and forth from the apartment to the theater.”

“You’re still going to the THEATER?” She demanded. “Are you suicidal Kate?”

“Mother, I have guards.” I repeated. “They follow me everywhere I go. No one is going to hurt me again and the police are going to find the person behind this. I promise that I’ll call you at least twice a day. If anything else happens, I’ll come home.”

“If something else happens, you won’t tell me about it.” She sighed. “But fine, I give up. I want you to call me three times a day, your father too. Have you told him about this yet, or was I your first call?”

“You were my first call.”

“I’ll go tell him myself, I’ll try to soften the blow. I’ll call Mimi and Nathan too, if you want.”

“That would be great mom,” I told her. “I’m really getting tired of telling the story. Let them know that I’m safe, I’ve recovered from the attack, and not to believe everything they read in the news. In fact, it may be best if everyone just ignores the news until this all blows over.”

“We can’t do that darling, our friends will be calling to talk about this. We’ll need to know what they’ve read. But I promise, I’ll tell everyone that you’re safe and leave it at that.”

“Thanks Mom.”

“You’re welcome darling. I just heard Dad’s car pull up, I’m going to get off here and go break the news. Call me this afternoon.”

I promised that I would, ended the call, and returned to the living room. Caleb and the police had left and Janette was nowhere to be seen; Dylan sat silently on the sofa.

“Where’s Janette?” I asked as I settled in next to him.

“She’s taking a shower. How did your mom take the news?”

“She wanted to come down here and guard me herself until the police solve the case.”

“I’m surprised she didn’t threaten to take you back home.”

“That was actually her first choice.” I told him. “I refused and she countered with coming here. I managed to talk her out of that too, but I had to promise to call three times a day and come home if something else happens.”

“I wish you hadn’t promised that.” Dylan said softly. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned through all of this, it’s that I don’t want to lose you.”

“Really baby?”

“Really,” he smiled his dashing smile. “I love being around you. We have so much in common, I feel like someone finally understands me. And I hate being on stage without you. If you go back to Iowa, I’ll follow you.” He teased.

“Be careful what you promise,” I warned. “As much as I hate to admit it, I know that my mother has a point. I love being on the stage, but it’s not worth dying over. I’ve never been as scared as I was Wednesday night. I couldn’t speak, the whole theater was spinning… I can’t go through something like that again, Dylan. If something else happens, I’m going back to Iowa until the police solve the case.”

“Kate, if you run away the person behind this will never be caught.” He argued. “You’ll leave, the police will never get a new lead, and the stalker will get off scot free. Or worse, they’ll move on to a new target.”

“What are you saying Dylan? That the only way to solve the case is to offer myself up as bait? If that’s the case, why is everyone so damn worried about my security?”

“I would have worded it differently but essentially yes, you have to be the bait. It’s the only way to end this Kate. And remember, you’re well protected bait. You won’t be hurt again, I promise.”

I was cranky and tired of arguing with him. “Fine, you’re right. I need to shower before we go to work, will you clean the kitchen?” I walked back into the bedroom and slammed the door behind me without giving Dylan a chance to respond.