"Beck?"
"Quiet!" She rushed to the television and turned up the sound.
The announcer spoke, "…outside of the Philips arena. Melody Mason was rushed to Westwood hospital…" The footage showed an explosion of blood all over Melody's chest about one second before her manager, Hal Coleman, bodily shoved her into the back of her limousine. Then the footage looped. The look on Melody's face in that split second was an expression of complete surprise followed by terror.
Rebecca's pulse started pounding and she could only hear a roaring sound in her ears. She didn't even hear the gasps of the other people in the room. The yogurt fell forgotten from her hands as she ran from the break room. She impatiently kicked off her high heeled shoes and sprinted down the hall. She knocked someone over as she rounded a corner, but she regained her balance and burst into her office. Eve looked up, shocked. Rebecca yelled as she headed toward the big oak door at the other end, "Go to Kurt's office and find his car keys. Try to find that pass he got from Melody Mason's people. Go now, hurry — it's an emergency. Run!"
She threw open the door to James' office, going straight to his desk to look through the stack of mail she'd placed there before his meeting began. James sat at the conference table with Kurt and five other men, three of whom were the representatives from Japan. "What in the world, Rebecca?" he asked, startled.
She faced down the table of men, putting her hand to her chest. She panted so hard it took a moment before she could speak. "Melody's been shot — she's at Westwood." James and Kurt bolted out of their chairs, almost to the private elevator doors before she even finished her sentence. Desperate, she looked through the stack again and finally found what she was looking for.
"James, wait. Here's the pass Hal Coleman sent over this morning — you're going to need it to get in the hospital. Eve is bringing Kurt's keys and his pass," she said. She ran to the coat stand in the corner of his office and grabbed his coat, making sure his phone was in the pocket before she handed it over to him.
Eve ran into the office and handed everything over to Kurt, then the two men stepped into the elevator and began their descent to the parking garage. Rebecca and Eve turned and looked at the shocked gentlemen at the table, and Rebecca gave a weak smile. Eve turned to her and said, "You want to tell me what's going on?"
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CHAPTER 23
JAMES tried Melody's cell, then Hal's. When he got no answer at either number, he mentally flipped through the information pages of the clients who used his technology and pictured the number to the Westwood Hospital. He dialed while Kurt drove onto the shoulder to pass an out of town driver who was driving a mere five miles over the posted speed limit. James ground his teeth when he got a busy signal. "It's busy."
"Keep trying," Kurt said. He used his own phone to try to call Morgan. When there was no answer at the house, he called her mobile. "Morgan," he said.
"Oh, thank God almighty, Kurt," Morgan prayed a brief relieved prayer of thanks. "I just tried to get you at your office. Did you hear?"
"Yeah, I'm on my way to the hospital now," he said, careening onto the exit ramp and passing another car.
"I'm almost there. I'll see you when you get there," she said, and disconnected the phone.
James hung up the phone and then threw it with some force to the floorboard. "I can't get through." His stomach turned to a hard knot of fear.
"Half the free world is probably trying to get through," Kurt said. "Turn on the radio, maybe they know something."
He scanned the stations until he found a country channel. A song by Melody was just finishing, as the disc jockey came on the air. "That was Red Roses and White Lies by Melody Mason. Once again, for those of you just tuning in, there is an unconfirmed report that Melody Mason has been shot outside the Philips arena while leaving rehearsals for her upcoming concert tour. We have no information to report to you at this time, and we would like to stress that these are unconfirmed reports. We'll keep you updated as we learn anything but let's keep that little lady in our prayers."
He scanned the stations and ended up on the local talk radio channel. Some anonymous caller was expressing her opinion that "… probably that new husband has something to do with it. I read in the Journal his first wife was murdered, too."
James stabbed the button to turn off the radio and barely clamped down on a curse word before it could escape from his lips. Kurt skidded into the hospital parking lot. A huge crowd had gathered outside and the police worked at setting up barricades. Kurt pulled into the grass in front of the emergency entrance. The two men jumped out of the vehicle. As they passed the uniformed security at the scene, one held out a hand to stop them. "You two can't go in there," he said.
James pulled the pass Rebecca had given him out of his coat pocket. "I'm Melody's husband."
Immediately, the security officer opened the barricade to let them pass, handing the paperwork back over to James. "I apologize for the delay, sirs. This gentleman will take you in." The crowd protested someone gaining entrance, while paparazzo snapped photos of the men important enough to enter through the barricades, and still more people arrived to take up the vigil. They started lighting candles in little paper cups.
Kurt looked out at the gathering crowd and mused, "Don't these people have jobs?"
The guard took them past the waiting room, straight to a room off the emergency room guarded by a uniformed policeman and Melody's driver, Peter Glasser. Peter opened the door and stood back to let them go inside.
When the door opened, Melody immediately looked up. James felt his breath catch when he saw Melody sitting next to the bed.
"It's not my blood," Melody announced, her voice pitched high on the edge of panic. Rust colored blood covered her once white shirt. There was blood in her hair and spatter on her neck and cheek. A doctor worked on Melody's arm, applying a white bandage.
When what she said registered, James realized she was sitting next to the bed holding Hal's hand. The big man lay unconscious, hooked up to IV's and monitors, his normally dark chocolate brown skin looked nearly gray. A stark white bandage covered his shoulder and part of his massive chest.
James went to Melody and knelt beside her chair, putting his arms around her. "I love you, baby." He looked over at Hal. "Is he going to be okay?"
The doctor answered, "Yes, he'll be really sore, but he'll be okay. The bullet went through his shoulder and nicked a vein which we sutured. Don't ask me how, but it missed arteries and bone. Someone was watching out for him."
He handed a tube of medicine to Melody. "Put this on twice a day, and keep it clean. The residue on the bullet could cause a nasty infection. I'm going to keep Mr. Coleman overnight at least. I want to keep him on the intravenous antibiotics for a few more hours and observe him. He lost a lot of blood. You're wearing most of it."
Melody felt James tense. "It only scratched me. It went through Hal and grazed my arm." As she continued to explain, her voice came out in an even monotone absent of emotion, as if analyzing a spreadsheet or discussing historical events. "He stepped in front of me. He stepped in front of me to make me get in the car. If he hadn't done that, the bullet would have hit me in the chest."
She buried her face in his neck and sobbed, "He's always blocking me like that. I always tell him it's rude."
The doctor gathered his supplies. "I'm going outside to make a statement. Everyone thinks you're the one who was shot, Miss Mason." Melody nodded as the doctor left.
"Has Morgan been in here yet, Melly?" Kurt asked.
"She went to find a signal to try to call you to tell you I was okay. She wasn't sure how much longer you'd be, and she knew you two were frantic about me."
They all looked up as Detective Roberts walked into the room. "Mrs. Montgomery, Suarez just called and said that another rose was in your dressing room." He cleared his throat, "The note read, 'bang, you're dead.'"
"I didn't see it," Melody said in a panicked voice. "I'm about to go out of my mind."
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James stood and looked at Roberts. "Did anyone see anything this time?"
"No one so far. We're obtaining copies of the news footage now, and we have a request in for a warrant in case the stations give us a hard time. We'll want your wife to look them over, see if there's anyone around she recognizes." He looked at Melody. "I'm going to go help Suarez interview your crew, see if we can find out how he got into your dressing room," Roberts said.
Morgan came into the room, saw Kurt, and went straight to his arms. "I've never been so scared in my life," she said.
Hal opened his eyes and frowned at the crowd in his room. Melody reached for his hand again, and gave it a squeeze. He turned his head to look at her. "You okay, Melody?"
"Yeah, Hal. You took my bullet. I never thought I'd say that to anyone," she said as she smiled at him.
"Sounds like a good song title." Hal constantly teased Melody about country song titles. "You took my bullet and I gave you my heart?"
"Don't make me laugh right now. I'm trying to maintain my composure."
"What's all that blood?" he asked her, indicating her shirt.
"Yours," she said, her eyes welling up again. "You passed out on me in the car."
Hal's eyes slowly closed as if his lids were very heavy. "Better me than you, baby girl," he whispered as he fell asleep again.
James remembered the men he left in his office. "I have to call Rebecca," he told Melody, "I'm going to step outside."
"Will you go to my car and get my bag? Peter can get it for you. That way, he can take the car to get it cleaned up and not have to fight to get back through the crowds." She stood and went to the door.
"Where's your car?" he asked.
She stuck her head out the door and spoke quietly with Peter. She turned back to James. "He'll take you."
"You want some coffee, too?" James asked, running a finger down her cheek. She nodded and watched him walk away. She went to the sink in the corner of the room.
"Oh, man. No wonder everyone keeps reacting the way they do when they see me," she said as she looked in the mirror. She ran water on a paper towel, added some soap, and started to scrub at the dried blood on her face.
Morgan went to her and took the paper towel from her, then held her chin in her hands and took over the task. "Let me do this before you rub your skin off." She worked for a few minutes, going through several towels, then lifted a strand of Melody's hair, looking at the blood matting it. "There's nothing I can do about this right now."
"Do you have a clip or something?" Melody asked her. Morgan shook her head. "That's okay, I have one in my bag." She wrapped her arms around her sister. "I'm scared, Morg."
"So am I, honey," Morgan said as she hugged her back.
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JAMES followed the security guard out through a back entrance to the hospital and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He dialed his office number and Rebecca picked up on the first ring. "She's fine, Rebecca," he began without preamble, "Hal Coleman was shot, but he's going to be all right, too."
"I've been so worried. The news footage was awful," Rebecca said.
"What happened after we left?"
"At first they were highly offended, but I explained everything to them. Apparently, Melody Mason is a big star in Japan, too, and with your marriage and Kurt's family connection, they understood and said that they would wait at the hotel for you to complete your personal business."
"Good. I'll be in first thing. Have a car at the hotel at nine to pick up our friends, and call to let them know what's happening now." They reached the car. When Peter opened the back door and pulled Melody's bag out of the back seat, James saw the amount of blood on the seat, and thought that it was a good thing Hal was such a big guy. "And get me Redman."
"Yes, sir."
Frustrated and angry — more angry than he could ever remember feeling — he slammed the door of the car much harder than he needed to. He whirled around and leaned against the car door. He had to get a grip on his emotions or else he was going to make a mistake or do something he would regret.
Mike Redman was on the phone in seconds. "Heard what happened, James. Is Melody okay?"
"She's fine. Her manager was shot, but it's not life threatening. I need you to arrange protection for Melody."
"I'm on it. I actually know someone who will be perfect."
"Have him contact me immediately."
"Her."
James paused. "Her?"
"Trust me."
He internally debated, considered, and decided in the span of two heartbeats. "Have her call me immediately."
He disconnected the call.
Peter Glasser narrowed his eyes at him. "I am Miss Mason's protection."
"Understood. However," James straightened and did not flinch from the anger on the other man's face. "Mrs. Montgomery needs more than someone trained at keeping the crowds of adoring fans at bay." He slipped the strap of the bag over his shoulder. "Unless you think I'm mistaken in light of where we're presently standing."
The younger man's face fell. "You're absolutely right. I'm sorry, sir."
"Don't be sorry. Help us be diligent. Now we know this is real."
Without another word, he left the driver at the car and walked back to the hospital.
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DAVID and Ginger Patterson came to the hospital and left after a short visit. Kurt and Morgan left at dinnertime, promising Hal that they'd come back in the morning. It took James another three hours to convince Melody to leave. Hal finally intervened, telling her that he wasn't going back to sleep until she left, no matter how much the doctor said he needed to rest. She finally conceded and asked James to drive her back to the hotel so she could talk to her crew.
He watched her as she had them all gather in one of the suites. She was obviously well liked, but more importantly, well respected. It was apparent that she was their leader, and he felt proud to be her husband. She explained to everyone what the doctor had said to her, then answered as many questions as she could, not giving any detail about the roses or threats.
"Are we still performing Friday?" Todd asked.
"Yes. Nothing changes. The band needs to continue rehearsing, as well as the dancers. I'll be back to work Wednesday, going first to the dance studio then to the Philips arena. I've not danced with everyone yet, so that needs to be the focus of my practice. We'll still have a full show rehearsal on Thursday, but the songs that don't require dancing aren't going to get played more than the intro and end. We've all done the songs enough times that we could do them in our sleep, so we don't need to practice doing them, we just need to practice the stage movements for them. There's that complicated entrance for You Got Me Tied in Knots that we're going to shelve until Jacksonville. I can't focus on that right now."
"How can we perform with Hal shot?" someone asked her.
"Listen, ya'll. You know Hal will blow a gasket if we cancel the show. Besides, I know Hal well enough to know that he's not going to stay in bed if he's not tied down. He'll be up and around by Thursday."
She answered more questions until the questions started repeating, then dismissed everyone. "Get some rest tonight. I'll see all y'all tomorrow." James stayed in the back of the room until the last person left, then went to Melody and pulled her into his arms.
"There's someone here you need to meet," he said.
Melody felt more exhausted than she'd felt in her life, but she didn't protest as James took her hand and led her to the room on the floor that had been turned into Hal's office. She walked in and stopped short when she saw a tall, thin woman with brown hair that brushed her shoulders, dark eyes that sized her up like a predator, and only one arm.
"Jennifer Thorne, I'd like you to meet my wife, Melody Mason."
"Montgomery," Melody said, correcting him.
Despite the day, James smiled. "Montgomery. Melody, this is Jen."
Melody stepped forward with her right hand extended. "Nice to meet you, Jen."
> The woman was classically beautiful, but her hazel eyes looked hard, mean. It detracted from her beauty and threw Melody off. "Likewise. You know why I'm here?"
She looked at James and back at the woman. "I'm going to guess, by the shoulder holster and the gun, that you're to be my bodyguard."
Jen raised an eyebrow and her eyes momentarily softened. "Personal security."
"Are you law enforcement?"
"I am not. I worked for the government until —" she paused, shrugging the shoulder on the side with the missing arm. "— recently. Anyway, I contract privately, now."
"May I ask what happened to your arm?"
"It was a freak accident. I was chopping carrots and just didn't want to stop." Her delivery was perfectly deadpan.
Melody, likewise, kept a straight face, "So you'd rather not discuss it then."
"I like to keep that subject at arm's length."
Despite herself, Melody smiled. "Okay, then. What do you need from me?"
"Mostly, I'm going to be invisible and quiet. If that ever changes, I need you to listen to me the first time I speak and never argue with me or second guess me. About anything. Be where you say you are and go where I tell you to be. If something happens, you don't have to understand it while it's happening. Just take direction and you'll come through it. We can vacillate in chains about the details and minutia over coffee a week later. We'll have that luxury because you'll be alive to buy it for me." Jen looked at her watch. "What do you need from me?"
"Other than the obvious?" Melody decided immediately that she liked this woman. She didn't know why, but she very much did. "I need you to be obscure. I don't want my crew afraid."
"I will do what I can under the purview of keeping you alive," Jen said. "Are you staying here?"
"No. We have an apartment." Melody turned to James. "Are you ready to go home?" she asked in a tight voice. Reaction was starting to set in.
A Melody for James (Christian Suspense) Page 21
