Strangers (35 page)

“Fuck.” Kate moaned as he held a paper towel over the wound.

“Get out there and see what’s happening,” Tony told Mel.
“Some guy’s grabbed the woman that did it and got her to drop the knife, but be careful.
Don’t go anywhere near her.”

Kate’s back hurt now.
Throbbed.
Tears sprang to her eyes and she blinked.
Was this what she got for dating Charlie?

“I knew that health and safety course would come in handy.
Never thought I’d have to remove a woman’s top though.” Tony winked.
“This only needs some butterfly strips.
Keep your hand here.” He pulled Kate’s arm across her chest and onto her shoulder, and then lifted the first-aid box off the wall.
“Are you up to date on your tetanus?”

“Yes.”

“Not keen on hospitals, are you?”

Kate shook her head.
She’d refused to go on the course when Mel asked for volunteers.
Kate arched her shoulder blades as he ran an antiseptic wipe across her back.

“Not the first time someone’s had a go at you by the look of it.” Tony’s finger brushed her scar.

“Childhood accident,” Kate said.

“This isn’t too bad.
I’m just going to line up the edges of the wound.”

“And why are you telling me that?”

“We’re supposed to reassure the patient.
You’re my first one.
I don’t count that splinter of Lois’.”

“I got that out.”

“Oh yeah.
Well, to make sure the strips stay in place, I’ll stick another two parallel to the cut to keep it dry.
No vigorous sex, unless it’s with me.”

Kate groaned.

“Honestly, it’s not too bad.”

In trying to reassure her, he was worrying her.

“What’s not too bad—the sex with you?” she asked, trying to ease the moment.

“No, that’s brilliant,” he said, laughing.
“You better go home.
I’ll pay for a cab.”

“I’m fine, Tony.
I was just shocked.”

The door swung open and both turned to see the woman who’d stabbed her standing next to the reporter.
Tony stepped in front of a shirtless Kate.

“Out of my kitchen,” he said.

“Are you okay?” Andy asked.

“Get out.”

“This is Tiffany Samuels,” Andy said.
“She wants to apologize and explain.”

“All right,” Kate said.
The apology was pointless but she’d like an explanation.

“You sure, Kate?” Tony asked.

Kate nodded.

“Go on, Tiffany,” Andy urged.

“Until a month ago, I was engaged to Charlie.
It was a secret.
We didn’t want the press to find out.
Only…he broke it off and broke my heart.”

Tears started to roll down her cheeks.
Kate wasn’t impressed.

“I’m sorry I hurt you.
Please don’t call the police.
Something snapped inside me when I saw the paper yesterday.
I thought Charlie had finished with me because I was ordinary.
I mean, I’m not a film star or a singer, but there’s nothing special about you.
You’re only a waitress, so it couldn’t be that.”

Gee thanks
, Kate thought.
“I—” She started to say she hadn’t known Charlie very long and then spotted the reptilian eyes of the reporter and shut her mouth.

“I still love him,” Tiffany sobbed.
“I thought if I could make you go away, he’d come back to me.
I wish I’d kept the baby.
Then I’d still have a little part of him.”

Oh Christ, the woman is crazy.

“But he didn’t want it,” she whispered.
“He said it would ruin his career.
He asked me to have an abortion.”

“How long were you going out with him?” Andy asked.

Kate wondered if he was recording all this.

“Three months.”

“What’s your reaction to that, Kate?” Andy turned to her.

Kate walked out of the room.
What was she supposed to say?
The man’s eyes had been gleaming.
He didn’t care whether it was true or not.
He had his story.
Kate went down to the staff toilets and locked herself in a cubicle.
She sent a text to Charlie.

Do U know Tiffany Samuels?

xx Mermaid.

Kate was determined not to move until she heard from him.
She didn’t believe the woman.
She suspected there were all sorts of weird people out there, waiting for opportunities to surge out of the cracks.
But Kate hoped Charlie had never heard of this one.
Her phone beeped with a message.

No. Hinting 4 jewelry?

xxx Hippo

“Kate, are you in there?”

It was Mel.
Kate flushed the unused toilet and came out.

“Are you all right?” Mel asked.

“Yes.”

“You look a bit pale.”

“I’m okay.”

“I brought this for you to put on.
Nice bra by the way.
Where did you get it?
Did Charlie buy it for you?”

“No.”

Mel offered Kate one of her tops, a horrible red and yellow flowered thing.
Kate bit her lip to stop it from curling in horror.

“Thank you.”

“You can go home if you want.”

“I think I’d rather work.” Kate slipped on the top and leaned against the wash basin to look at her pale face.
An escapee from an old folk’s home stared back.

Mel opened the door.
“It wouldn’t have lasted anyway.
They end up with their own sort.
People like us are cheap thrills.”

That barb hurt more than the stab in the back.
Was that what she was to Charlie?
A cheap thrill?
Maybe this was a test.
What would he do when he heard what had happened?

Taking a deep breath, Kate walked into the dining area.
There were more customers than ever.
Every chair was taken and people still lined up outside.
She wondered how long it would be before Mel decided the extra income was not worth the hassle.
Crispies would lose its regulars and these gawpers would leave once they realized they weren’t going to be treated to a spectacular fly-past by the British acting contingent.

Kate got on with her work, smiled and said as little as possible.
Her back felt sore, but wasn’t a major problem.
The continual, “are you all right?” bothered her far more.
She didn’t like it when people made a fuss.
On the plus side, the tips were great.

When she saw the two policemen walk in, Kate gave a mental groan.
Tiffany had long gone, no doubt to reveal all, including her breasts, to the reporter from the
Star
.
Kate wondered if she should ring Charlie and warn him, or maybe she should ring Ethan.

“Kate Snow?” one of the policemen asked Lois.

He didn’t need to ask.
All eyes were on Kate.
Every ear strained to listen.

“Is there somewhere we can talk?” the cop said.

Mel let them use her office.
Kate had no intention of pressing charges, but she knew it wasn’t up to her.
By the time she’d finished talking, she hoped she’d convinced them the whole thing wasn’t worth bothering with, but she doubted it.
They wanted her to go to hospital, but Kate refused.
The moment the police left, another load of reporters and photographers arrived.

She didn’t know how Charlie could stand it.
Why were people so obsessed with celebrities?
Why did they feel entitled to know minute details of their lives?
They wanted to tour their homes, inspect their toilets, peek in their fridges.
It was as if they felt they had a right to know.

Kate knew she’d made herself unpopular by refusing to talk to anyone.

“How long have you been going out with Charlie?”

“Is this a setup?
Publicity for his next film?”

“Are you pregnant?”

Jesus Christ!

“Talk to us, Kate.
We’re going to write about you whether you talk to us or not.
Don’t you want to make sure we get it right?”

She knew the papers would print their truth, not hers and decided enough was enough.

“Tony, can I go home?”

“Course you can.
You should have gone home earlier.
Hell, you should have gone to hospital and I’m having a hard time convincing myself that I did the right thing not making you.
Have as much time off as you need.
In fact, take off the rest of this week.
Nip out the back way.
I’ll square it with Her Highness.”

Once Kate reached the safety of Greenwich Park and knew no one had followed, she relaxed though she had a horrible suspicion there would be more press outside the apartment.
She wandered along the path until she found an empty bench, then sat down and took out her phone.
Charlie’s number was out of service.
Kate put the phone back in her bag.
She didn’t have anyone else to ring.

This was what it must be like for Charlie, relentless pursuit, never being allowed to be on his own except in his home.
Even then he wasn’t safe.
The possibility of another Tiffany in the shadows worried her.
Charlie would always be photographed; on holiday, at the cinema, in restaurants, even at the supermarket.
As he grew old, if he was ill, if he lost his pants, there would be someone ready to capture the moment.
If she stayed with Charlie, that would be her life, too.

Kate closed her eyes and tipped her face to the sun.
She could walk away from all this but Charlie couldn’t.
Could the two of them deal with it better than one?
Her mobile rang and made her jump.
It wasn’t Charlie.

“Where are you?” Ethan demanded.

“Walking home through Greenwich Park.”

“Don’t talk to anyone.
Go straight back to your apartment and wait for me.”

Kate was about to ask why, but he rang off.

She was right about the press.
When she turned the final corner, she saw several photographers waiting outside the entrance.
They stood chatting until they saw her and then mobbed her like vultures.
Kate closed her ears and pushed straight through.
It was no use worrying about photographs now.
Her face had been in the paper.
If she was going to be found, she would be.

* * * * *

Ethan wasn’t sure if this was his opportunity to sweep Kate away from Charlie.
It hadn’t been what he’d planned, so maybe he’d keep that in reserve and see how this flew.
Kate was pleasant enough, but of no value to Charlie and therefore no value to Ethan.
He’d asked Charlie again about the life-saving episode, but he refused to talk about it.
In fact, he more or less threatened that if Ethan mentioned it again, Charlie would be looking for another agent.
Ethan couldn’t afford to lose him, not now he’d landed the role in
The Green
and especially not after Ethan’s recent conversation with Jody Morton.

When his secretary put the call through, Ethan hadn’t believed it was Jody.
By the time they finished talking, a whole new life opened up in front of Ethan.
He already ran a successful agency, but having Jody Morton on his list would move him into the big-time.
The mega time.
Jody wanted Charlie and if Ethan could deliver him, she’d leave her agent and sign with Ethan.
Straightforward and simple.
One favor for another.
Except as far as Charlie was concerned, nothing could ever be straightforward and simple.
Still, Ethan thought, all Charlie needed to do was stay with Jody long enough for her to be drawn into a watertight contract and then they could break up.

Ethan was a bit surprised to see all the press outside Kate’s block.
He thought he’d been given a head’s up on the Veronica Ward story, but he could see word had spread.
He’d been a bit pissed off with Malcolm Ward because Ethan thought he’d smoothed things over after Charlie agreed to do the charity concert in September.
Considering Charlie had fucked Malcolm’s wife and both his daughters, Ethan thought the guy let Charlie off lightly, but he hadn’t expected Veronica Ward to make fucking a tsunami of her own.
What was the saying about a woman scorned?
Veronica was a walking time-bomb.

Ethan got Kate to open the electric gates so he could drive in and then went back to the railings.
The carrion stayed outside.
They knew their place.
Ethan had made a few phone calls about the invasion of Charlie’s privacy and scored a few points for not pursuing the matter but had made it clear any more trespassing on private property would mean serious trouble.
It was a balancing act.
Ethan needed the press as much as they needed him.

“Hey, Ethan, how about an exclusive?” someone called.

“On what?” Ethan asked, hoping some idiot would give him a clue.
He hoped to fuck it had nothing to do with Veronica Ward, otherwise he could be kissing goodbye to Jody Morton’s contract.

“Is she really having Charlie’s kid?” one of the reporters shouted.

Something curled up inside his chest, but Ethan’s face showed nothing.

“He’s still a kid himself,” Ethan said with a forced laugh at his weak attempt at a joke as he hurried into the building.
“Shit,” he muttered through clenched teeth as he leapt up the stairs.
“Shit, shit, shit.”

Kate opened the door.

“Is it true?” he demanded.

“What?”

He strode in and slammed the door behind him.

“About the baby?” Ethan fixed his eyes on hers.

Kate paled and backed up.
“He said he didn’t know her.”

Now Ethan was the puzzled one.
“Who?”

“Tiffany Samuels.”

Ethan put two and two together and got the right answer, though he wasn’t too sure about the question.
He knew Tiffany.
She was one of Charlie’s most devoted fans.
Too devoted.
And fan wasn’t the right word.
More like obsessed stalker.
Tiffany had to be the most persistent, aggravating and hysterical fuckwit he’d ever come across and he’d come across more than his fair share.
She tried everything to find out where Charlie planned to be on any given day in order that she could turn up too.
Once they’d realized what she was like, Ethan’s employees knew better than to tell her anything.
She’d never gotten anywhere near Charlie.
Ethan guessed she’d seen the papers on Sunday, read Kate worked at a Greenwich restaurant and it had been a simple process of elimination to track her down.

“What did she want?” Ethan asked.

He listened to Kate’s story.

“Did you speak to anyone?
Say anything to anyone at all?”

“I’ve told you what happened.
I haven’t said anything.
Does Charlie know her, then?” Kate asked.