5 The Ghosts in the Audience

by SUE FINEMAN

  “How did you know where to find me?”

  “Carson called me. He said you were back in Chicago, but you were staying in a ritzy condo overlooking the lake. Steffen, I can’t wait to see you. Why don’t I come by after work and we can—”

  “I have other plans, Sheryl.”

  “Okay, then tomorrow—”

  “I don’t think so.”

  She didn’t speak for several seconds. He knew she was surprised he didn’t want to see her, but he had to tell her why. “I met someone in Ohio.”

  “For God’s sake, Steffen, this isn’t some farm town. This is Chicago. Great pizza. Sophisticated nightlife.” She lowered her voice. “And outstanding sex.”

  “Find another man, Sheryl.” Their relationship was all about him performing for her friends and giving her mind-enhanced sex. They’d never spoken of love or commitment, and he assumed she saw other men when he was on the road.

  “Oh, I see,” she said, her voice hard. “You’re moving up in the world and I’m not good enough for you anymore. Is that it?”

  “This isn’t about you. It’s about me finding another woman, one who doesn’t insist I perform for her friends at parties.”

  “If that’s all that’s wrong—”

  He hated doing this over the phone. “You’re a beautiful woman, Sheryl, and I’ve enjoyed our physical relationship, but I don’t love you.”

  “Maybe if we spent more time together, you could grow to love me.”

  He knew that wouldn’t happen. They’d been together off and on for eight years. Having someone waiting for him at home, someone beautiful and exciting, gave him something to look forward to, but he didn’t want to sleep with her again, and he didn’t want to be her trained monkey. Being with Ginny had given him another perspective on what a loving relationship could be. Whether Ginny wanted him or not, he didn’t want to be with Sheryl again.

  “I’m not interested in continuing our relationship.”

  After a long pause, she said, “You’ll change your mind.”

  No, he wouldn’t. “Goodbye, Sheryl.”

  Steffen hung up. “That was rough,” he said to Jerry.

  “Girlfriend?”

  “A woman I saw off and on for years. After you meet Ginny, you’ll understand why I couldn’t see another woman.”

  “Sounds like someone special.”

  “She’s more than special. I think I’m in love.”

  Still thinking about Ginny, Steffen went into the study to sort his mail. One pile for fan mail and people wanting readings, one pile for bills and other things he needed to deal with right away, one pile for junk mail, and one pile for catalogs.

  A vision popped into his head of a man staring at a wall of pictures. Every picture was of Virginia Kane. Ginny.

  A cold chill washed over him.

  He tried to see the man’s face, but all he saw was his meaty, hairy hands. The man made a gun with his hand and shot at the newspaper picture of Steffen kissing Ginny.

  Fearing for her safety, Steffen called Ginny and got her voice mail. He left a message for her to call him right away, so he could warn her.

  While waiting for Ginny to return his call, he used the condo phone to call Charles Hamilton’s office. “This is Steffen Marchand. I need to see Mr. Hamilton.” He needed to make a will before this jerk – whoever he was – killed him. And he would if given the chance. The man didn’t want any other man near Ginny.

  “Would next week be all right?” Hamilton’s secretary asked.

  “No, I’ll be out of town next week and this can’t wait until I get back.”

  “He has a few minutes tomorrow afternoon at four. Would that do?”

  “Yes, thank you.”

  All this time looking for a reason for someone to shoot him, and he was living in her house, snuggling in front of her fireplace, and making love to her. He still didn’t know who the shooter was, but he knew it was a man, a man who seemed to be obsessed with Ginny.

  He tried calling her again and got the recording.

  This time he didn’t leave a message.

  <>

  Ginny had left her cell phone at home while she attended Jill’s funeral, and when she returned home, she found three phone messages, one from Karen, one from Mark, and one from Steffen. She called Karen first.

  “The captain has been fired,” said Karen.

  Ginny sighed. “What did he do this time?”

  “Told an off-color joke about worthless women.”

  “That’s nothing new.”

  “The chief overheard him this time, and he was livid.”

  Ginny grinned. The chief was on their side.

  “He said we’re obviously understaffed if we have to work so many hours, so he’s promoting two officers to detective.”

  “Who?”

  “I don’t know yet. He said he’d make a decision about a new captain within the next few days. Mark is walking around gloating. He thinks he’s got the job.”

  Ginny wasn’t sorry the captain had gotten fired, but she didn’t want to work for Mark. He’d take sexual harassment to another level. If she’d known when she started dating him three years ago that she’d end up working with him – or for him – she never would have dated him in the first place.

  She sank onto the sofa with the phone in her hand. “I hope you get the job, Karen.”

  “Me, too. I want it so bad I can almost taste it, but I’m not holding my breath.”

  Ginny had another concern. “Does this mean I need to come back to work?”

  “Who knows?”

  Maybe she should call off her trip to Chicago. She really wanted to spend more time with Steffen, but if she was needed at work, she’d have to cancel her trip.

  Steffen would understand, wouldn’t he?

  Before she could dial Steffen’s number, Mark called. “Hey, Princess. Did you hear the good news?”

  She could hear the gloating in his voice. “What news is that, Mark?”

  “The captain is gone. You know what that means?”

  “That Karen will be the new captain?”

  “Yeah, right. As if they’d appoint a woman to a position of importance.”

  She wanted to smack him for his holier-than-thou attitude. “We’ll see.” If Mark got the job, she might be forced to look elsewhere for work. As much as she liked her job, she wouldn’t work for a sexist pig like Mark Montgomery. Why hadn’t she seen that side of his personality before she dated him? If he got promoted to captain, he’d make her life a living hell.

  Mark had a surprise coming. If he made captain and pulled that sexist crap on her, he’d end up leaving in disgrace like Captain Pierson. The job was stressful enough without putting up with men like that. She didn’t mind a joke now and then, but Mark took the jokes to an uncomfortable level.

  “Your leave time is about over, Princess. When I take over, you’ll have to come back.”

  “Go to hell, Montgomery.” She hung up on him.

  Why did men have to act like jerks? As much as she loved her father and brothers, that me-man-you-obey attitude sometimes came through. Mom didn’t put up with it, and her brothers’ wives didn’t put up with it, either.

  And people wondered why she didn’t want to get married. If she had to listen to that crap at work, she didn’t want to have to hear it at home, too.

  She changed out of her funeral clothes and sat down at the piano, playing one melancholy tune after another, until she felt Boomer rubbing against her leg. She reached down to pick him up and saw the dead mouse on the floor. “Oh, Boomer. I told you not to bring me any more presents.”

  There were times when it might be handy to have a man around the house. Like now.

  <>

  Steffen was still pacing and worrying about Ginny when she called. Just hearing her sweet voice calmed him. “I’m so glad to hear from you.”

  “What’s wrong, Steffen?”

  “Why do you think something’s wrong? Is your radar working over
time?”

  “I’m not the one with the radar, and I don’t need radar to hear the worry in your voice. Tell me.”

  “I got a vision of a room in the shooter’s house. Ginny, honey, a wall is covered with pictures of you.”

  “Oh, God! Can you see who it is?”

  “I still can’t see his face, but I know it’s a man with big, hairy hands. He has the newspaper picture of us kissing. He’s angry, thinks nobody should be kissing you.”

  She groaned.

  “Ginny, I want you to come to Chicago right away. He doesn’t know where you live yet, but he’s following you and members of your family, so it’s only a matter of time before he finds your house. I don’t want you to stay there alone.”

  Ginny didn’t want to stay there alone either. Not now. “I’ll take Boomer out to the farm and go stay with my parents. I’ll be all right.” She’d be fine once she figured out who this man was.

  She just hoped he didn’t follow her to Chicago.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The next afternoon, Charles Hamilton greeted Steffen. “Mr. Marchand, it’s good to see you again, but I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon.”

  Steffen sat in front of the man’s desk. “I told you someone shot me in Ohio, didn’t I?”

  “Yes, you did.”

  “I have reason to believe he might try to kill me again. I’ve never had anything of value to leave to anyone, but that has changed, so I want to make a will.”

  Mr. Hamilton nodded. “Good idea.” He pulled out a legal pad and began writing on it. “How would you like your assets distributed in the event of your death?”

  “The condo goes to Jerry Cannon, Joseph’s assistant. He’s a good guy, and he’s lived there a long time. A half million goes to the rehab center… can’t think of the name of the place right now… where Jerry and I put Phillip Marchand.”

  Mr. Hamilton looked up, his eyes wide. “If you gave him money—”

  “I didn’t give him anything but a chance. I paid the rehab center to take care of him for a few months. He’s a pathetic man, but I couldn’t let him die.”

  The attorney nodded. “I understand.”

  No, he didn’t, but it didn’t matter. “A million goes to my uncle, Carson Edwards, of Chicago, and a million goes to my mother, Natalee Dubois. She lives in San Francisco now. Everything else goes to Virginia Kane of River Valley, Ohio.”

  “Including the house in Florida?”

  Steffen nodded. “Sure.” She could send that big family of hers on vacation there.

  Steffen left the attorney’s office with a sense of relief. He’d never had enough money to worry about who would get it if he died. Now he did, and he didn’t want his mother and uncle to have it all.

  He wanted to end this nightmare before the shooter came after him again.

  Before the creep could get his hands on Ginny.

  <>

  Roland kept Phoebe’s mind busy with redecorating his home. They bought magazines and picked up paint color charts and brochures to study, and he took her to furniture stores to look at furniture. At first, he thought she’d choose the same kind of furnishings her mother had in her home, but the furniture Phoebe chose was simple contemporary pieces that not only looked good, they were comfortable.

  Picking colors similar to the ones he’d chosen for his bedroom, they bought buckets of paint and cleared out the clutter in the living room. Roland was glad to see his mother’s clutter go into the trash. The room looked more spacious already, and they hadn’t started the painting.

  “We should have the wood floors refinished,” Phoebe said.

  “I agree,” said Roland, “but we’ll have to move out of the house while they’re done.”

  “We’ll go to my mother’s house.”

  She didn’t offer to use any of her mother’s furniture in his home, and he didn’t ask. The Goldberg home looked like it had been professionally decorated, and although everything there looked nice, he didn’t think any of Jill’s things would look right in his home. Her taste was more traditional and his taste leaned toward more clean lines and contemporary furnishings.

  Roland wondered what Phoebe would do with her mother’s home. Did she plan to live there or stay in his home with him? They were still sleeping together, sometimes with very little clothing, and although they kissed and touched and snuggled every night, they still hadn’t had sexual intercourse. He’d promised himself he wouldn’t touch her that way until her memory returned completely, and she still didn’t remember anything about the library.

  “Phoebe, I have to go back to work on Monday.”

  “That’s fine, Roland. Go ahead and schedule the floor refinishing and we’ll move the pieces we want to keep to the garage. We’ll stay at my house until the work here is done and we get the new furniture in.”

  She didn’t seem worried about being alone while he worked. Maybe she’d be all right now that she had a project to keep her mind off her recent losses.

  Jill’s hospital bed and all the medical equipment had been removed from her house. Donovan Kane had seen to that before the funeral. He and his wife had stepped in and helped with the unpleasant tasks after Jill’s death. Roland had handled his mother’s death and funeral on his own. His friends at work had attended the funeral, but he’d made all the decisions and handled all the arrangements by himself.

  “Phoebe, did I thank you for helping me with the redecorating?”

  She smiled. “Yes, you did, and it’s my pleasure. My mother had a decorator do our house, and it’s so perfect I was always afraid to make a mess.” She glanced around at Roland’s living room. “I like your house. It’s cozy and warm, an inviting place to be.”

  He cocked his head. “You don’t like your house?”

  “Not especially. I’m thinking about selling it, including the furniture. But first, I have to take out all the personal things, and I can’t deal with that right now. Maybe after we get your house finished.”

  “If you can wait until after tax season, I’ll have time to help you. I’ll be rather busy the next couple months preparing income taxes for my clients.”

  “Okay. I’ll wait. While you’re working on the taxes, I’ll work here.”

  “Thank you, darling. You’re so good to me.” He wanted to tell her he loved her, but it was too soon. One of these days, when she was ready, he’d tell her he loved her and ask her to marry him.

  One of these days.

  <>

  Ginny called her parents, then took Boomer to Andy’s farm. He and Julie would take care of the cat. Boomer didn’t especially like Andy’s collie, and he was afraid of the twin toddler monsters, but he loved the farm. Andy liked having a cat around to kill the mice in the barn.

  Ginny finished packing and drove to her parents’ home on Livingston Avenue, where she explained why she needed another place to spend the night. “I promised Steffen I wouldn’t stay in my house alone until we figured out who has all these pictures of me.”

  Dad’s eyebrows knit in a worried expression. “Does he think it’s the same person who shot him?”

  “Yes. I called Karen and told her about Steffen’s vision. She’s pretty good at considering every piece of evidence, even if it came from a psychic. Mark thinks visions are just a bunch of hogwash.”

  “Any ideas who it could be?”

  She shrugged. “None. Bob Pierson hates me, but he wouldn’t have a wall of pictures of me. Mark Montgomery keeps nagging at me to come back to him, but he’s not obsessed with me. He just likes having a woman to boss around.”

  “Could it be someone you dated?” Dad asked.

  “I don’t think so.” She dragged in a deep breath and blew it out. “If this man – whoever he is – shot Steffen because of me—”

  Mom squeezed her hand. “Don’t think that way, honey. It isn’t your fault Steffen got shot, and it isn’t your fault someone is obsessed with you.”

  “I know, but still…” She owned some of Steffen’s pa
in. It didn’t matter if he was a psychic and had done nothing wrong. The man who shot him might have shot anyone who got close enough to kiss her.

  Ginny settled in her old bedroom and set the alarm for an ungodly hour so she could get to the airport on time to catch the early flight. She couldn’t wait to see Steffen again. He’d only been gone a few days, but she missed him so much. The other men she’d been with over the years had drifted in and out of her life, but she’d never wanted to be around them for long. She valued her privacy and men took so much work. They expected a woman to spend all her time fussing over them, feeding them, and treating them like the king of the castle. Steffen was the only man who’d ever respected the fact that her home was her castle, not his.

  Steffen had an enormous ego, but unlike other men she’d been with, he never made her feel like she was put on this earth to indulge all his desires. He made her feel lucky to be with him, and he always left her feeling well satisfied in the bedroom.

  Dad drove her to the airport in Columbus the next morning. Hours later, she walked off the plane at the Chicago airport and into the arms of the most exciting man she’d ever known. He’d trimmed his beard, but hadn’t shaved it off.

  She kissed him. “You’re looking good. New clothes?”

  He grinned. “Jerry took me shopping.”

  “Good for him.”

  They walked down to baggage claim together and then out to the parking garage, where he unlocked an old car. “I know it’s a little pretentious, but—”

  “It’s a classic, but it’s huge!”

  Steffen laughed. He took her for a drive past the little house he’d grown up in, then drove down Lake Shore Drive. He pointed. “We’re home.”

  “Looks like a well-preserved antique.” Like his car. She hadn’t seen one like it in years. The house he grew up in looked shabby and neglected, which wasn’t a surprise given the amount of time he and his uncle spent on the road, but the condo building was a beauty, and the uniformed doorman added to the charm.

  Minutes later, he introduced her to Jerry and gave her a tour of his grandfather’s condo.

  She stood in the study window. “What an incredible view, Steffen, and this room is nice.”

  He cocked his head. “What about the rest of the condo?”