“And what? We’re just going to leave Kellan here?”
“His parents will be with him when we leave. You need to worry about yourself, Ms. Tilley. It’s dangerous for you here with the perp still at large. It’s clear that they wanted to kill you. Why is the question of the day.”
Amanda stiffened. She thought the same, but hearing it from someone else made the hairs on the back of her neck stand.
Who could possibly want me dead?
Caldwell first took Amanda and her friends to have lunch. He used the time to call the personal security agency he worked for, letting them know about Kellan. They regretted the vicious assault, and agreed to let Grayson know.
“The agency is sending another guard to replace Hughes,” Caldwell told Amanda. She looked up at him from her seat. “It most likely won’t be Grayson, as he’s still on assignment.”
Amanda nodded halfheartedly. Caldwell noticed she was only picking at her food.
“I’ll be sure to send Kellan’s family some money. That way, they can take care of the expenses and whatever else they need.”
Moments later, Caldwell drove Amanda to the police station. He dropped off Judith and Emmy at the former’s apartment on the way. Amanda met with Detective Sutton, who introduced her to the squad’s sketch artist. With her aid, they had a rough idea of the woman’s appearance after little over a half hour.
Amanda waited some time for the officers to review the sketch. Then, Sutton called her to his office.
“Sit down,” Sutton said. Amanda and Caldwell sat on the chairs in front of the desk. “We have the finished sketch of the perp. Here it is.”
Amanda took the printout Sutton handed her. The sketch was of a woman in her mid-to-late twenties, with dark hair and pale skin. She wore sunglasses and a gray—violet in real life—dot-patterned head scarf.
“We had the artist try to make a version of the sketch without the disguise,” said Sutton. He handed Amanda a second printout. It depicted the possible appearance of the woman with the sunglasses and scarf taken off. Her hair fell in waves down her head, reaching past her shoulders.
“She seems vaguely familiar,” said Amanda, squinting at the sketch. Caldwell looked at her.
“You’ve seen this woman before?”
Amanda turned her head slowly.
“I’m not sure. Right now, I can’t remember.”
Sutton cleared his throat.
“You can keep those copies. We’ll distribute them around town. Chances are someone’s seen this woman. If she’s still around, we’ll get her.”
“Caldwell thinks he was able to hit her,” Amanda said. “He shot at the truck as it drove away.”
“Hmm. In that case, we’ll look for young women with gunshot wounds checking into hospitals.”
Amanda and Caldwell stood up. She shook hands with Sutton.
“Thanks, Detective.”
“You take care, Ms. Tilley. I’ll keep you informed.”
“Thanks. By the way, I’m going to travel out of town during spring break.”
Sutton raised his eyebrows.
“That’s no problem for us, Ms. Tilley. We’ll track every lead that might help us find this woman.”
“I hope you catch her. Have a good day, Detective.”
Amanda didn’t sleep easy that night. She kept tossing and turning in bed. When Amanda did manage to fall asleep, she had nightmares of Kellan dying. On one instance, she woke up screaming. Caldwell and Emmy burst into her bedroom to see that she was all right.
The next morning, Caldwell took Amanda and Emmy to the airport. Brad would be arriving shortly.
“I’m nervous,” Emmy told Amanda. “What if he doesn’t like my new look?”
“Nonsense, friend. You look gorgeous.”
They waited another ten minutes. Finally, the passengers from Brad’s flight began showing up. Emmy eagerly scanned the crowd. Amanda spotted Brad walking towards them. She waved at him.
“Hi, girls!” he said, approaching them. Brad embraced Emmy first. “What have you done to yourself? You look like a Covergirl ad.”
Emmy blushed bright red, smiling.
“You think I’m that beautiful?”
“You are. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing chasing pretty girls all over the world.”
Amanda laughed. Brad turned to her.
“It’s great to see you again, friend,” he said, hugging Amanda. “I missed you.”
“I missed you too.”
They broke from their embrace. Brad noticed that Amanda was upset, but chose not to mention it there. Emmy offered to help Brad with his luggage. He handed her one of his lighter suitcases. Amanda took another, and Caldwell decided to help with the rest.
“My parents called earlier,” Amanda told Brad on the way to her apartment. “They said Ryan wanted to go with us to Arkansas. He’s boarding a flight there.”
“That’s cool. Just be sure to call him to let him know which hotel to find us at.”
Amanda put off telling Brad about the recent events in her life…the bad ones, at least. She told Brad that she was now retired from modeling and had started working at Best Buy. Brad asked why she’d quit.
“I didn’t. They let me go. After the night I got attacked, I suffered pretty nasty bruises. I have a scar on my temple, too. My agent thought I wasn’t beautiful enough to grace a billboard anymore, so he let me go.”
“Pompous jerk,” Brad murmured, shaking his head. “If you hadn’t told me you have a scar, I wouldn’t even have noticed.”
Brad reached forward to touch Amanda’s temple. He could feel the line. It was short, and faint pink.
“It takes certain lighting, and you have to look close.”
Brad looked at his watch.
“Our flight takes off tonight,” he said. “That way we’ll get there next morning. I need to take some rest.”
“You can use my bed,” Emmy suggested. “Let me show you to my bedroom.”
“Thanks.”
Amanda watched Emmy and Brad go, smiling. She hoped that they would finally be together. Standing up, Amanda went to her bedroom to get a few more things ready for her trip.
Emmy came back a few minutes later. She sat on Amanda’s bed.
“You didn’t tell Brad about yesterday.”
Amanda pursed her lips.
“I didn’t want to worry him. He was tired from his flight. We’ll let him know later, when he’s rested.”
There was a knock on the front door. Amanda went to answer before they woke up Brad. She saw that it was Christopher outside.
“Hi,” she said gravelly, letting him in. “Are there any updates?”
“No. Kellan’s in much the same condition. The doctors think he’ll be out of danger by the end of the day.”
“That’s great. I hope he gets better.”
Amanda and Christopher sat down in the sofa.
“So, you’re leaving?”
“Yes. It’s dangerous for me here. With luck, the police will catch my attacker while I’m away on my trip. She can’t hide for long.”
Christopher frowned.
“You’re sure it’s a woman?”
“I saw her. Right then, in those two seconds of time that the truck was coming at me, I got a look at her face. It was only for a split second, before I was pushed, but it’s burned into my brain.”
“Did you recognize her?”
“No. After seeing the police sketch, I thought she seemed familiar.”
“What did she look like?”
“She was wearing a head scarf, and sunglasses. I remember because I found it strange for anyone to wear shades in winter. The sky was overcast that day. Obviously she didn’t want us to see her face.”
Amanda reached into her purse. She handed Christopher a copy of the first version of the printout. He looked at it.
“That’s the woman’s sketch.”
Christopher stared at the drawing. The woman was even more familiar to him than to Amanda.
It can’t be.
“Have you seen her?”
“No, of course not,” said Christopher, blinking twice before turning to Amanda. “I also find the sunglasses weird. Why would this woman be after you?”
“That’s what I wish I knew.”
Christopher handed the printout back to Amanda. She looked at the woman, trying to place where she might have seen her.
“I think you need a distraction now,” he proposed. “How about hot chocolate?”
Amanda mulled it over. Hot chocolate reminded her of Nathan. She shook her head, telling herself not to forget that she was angry with him.
“I’m not very hungry. Let’s just watch a movie.”
Christopher nodded. He browsed through Amanda’s movie collection, as she didn’t feel well enough to stand.
It had been several weeks since Nathan last heard Amanda’s voice. He was hardly able to take it anymore. Nathan would talk to Amanda, even if he had to knock out her bodyguards to get to her.
Nathan looked up at the building where Amanda lived. He looked around, wondering if Caldwell or Kellan were in the shadows. Not caring, Nathan walked up to the building. He ascended the stairs to Amanda’s floor.
Outside the apartment, Nathan knocked on the door. There was no response. He put his ear against it. No sound came from inside. Nathan looked around. It surprised him that the bodyguards hadn’t showed up to kick him out already.
Nathan knocked again.
“Amanda! We need to talk. Open the door, please.”
Still, no response. There wasn’t even the sound of the AC inside. Nathan thought that was weird.
Just then, the door from the apartment to the left opened. Nathan knew that the bodyguards occupied the one to the right of Amanda’s door. A girl walked in his direction.
“Hi. Are you looking for Amanda?”
“Yes. Do you know where she is?”
“Amanda’s away. She’s going to be on a trip for the whole week.”
Nathan raised his eyebrows. He didn’t know about that. Of course Amanda would have left. Spring break was the perfect excuse to get away from him. Nathan hadn’t made any plans, except to follow Amanda wherever she went. He wouldn’t give up.
“No wonder. I found it odd not to see her bodyguards on my way up here.”
The girl’s eyebrows furrowed.
“You haven’t heard?”
Nathan looked at her, concerned
“Heard what?”
“Amanda was almost run over last Friday. One of her guards was seriously injured. He’s in the hospital now.”
Nathan froze. Amanda had been in danger again, and he didn’t know? How was it possible?
“Aren’t you Amanda’s friend?” the girl asked, eyeing him suspiciously.
“Not really. She’s kept me at arm’s length lately.”
The girl looked puzzled at that answer.
“Do you know where she went?”
“She didn’t tell me.”
Nathan took a deep breath. He thanked the girl and left. He was deep in thought all the way to his car. How could he find out where Amanda was? Nathan doubted Judith and Emmy were still around.
Just outside the building, Nathan bumped into someone. He vaguely recognized the man now standing in front of him.
“Mr. Ferland, isn’t it?” the man asked. He was carrying a suitcase in one hand.
“Yes, sir,” Nathan replied, shaking hands with him.
“I’m Patrick Hayden, private investigator. You may remember me from last year, when I helped in the capture of Hilbert Melendez.”
Nathan nodded, remembering that evening.
“Ms. Tilley’s bodyguard, a man named Caldwell, asked me to assist the Ithaca police department. I’m told they have a new case that concerns her. I was just going to stop by and talk to her. I assume you’re back from seeing Ms. Tilley.”
“She’s not here. Amanda’s away on a trip. I don’t know where.”
Hayden found that odd.
“Aren’t you her boyfriend?”
Nathan pursed his lips.
“We’ve had a…misunderstanding lately.”
“Oh. In that case, I gather you still live nearby. May we take this conversation to your place, if you don’t mind?”
“Sure, Mr. Hayden.”
Nathan led the investigator toward his apartment. Inside, Nathan offered him a drink. Hayden thanked him, saying that water was fine.
“Now,” said Hayden, sitting on the sofa. “I need you to talk to me about what you know so far. Caldwell tells me that someone’s out there to kill Amanda. How long has this been going on?”
Nathan decided to be honest.
“This will sound odd, but I don’t know much. I wasn’t even aware that someone wanted to kill Amanda. She got mugged weeks ago. They found the thief, and none of us had any reason to believe that Amanda was singled out. We assumed she’d just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Hayden absorbed the information.
“What was the identity of the thief?” he asked, pulling out his notepad.
“I do not know. Amanda and I were already distant by the time the thief’s identity was discovered.”
“I understand that an inmate murdered Hilbert Melendez in jail recently.”
“Yes. Amanda was worried about herself when it happened. She feared retaliation. Thankfully, it never came. Amanda didn’t have to recall her bodyguards until after the mugging.”
“Do you have any idea who might have a beef with Ms. Tilley?”
“We asked ourselves that question for a long time. There wasn’t anyone we could think of.”
Hayden continued taking notes.
“The last time I worked with Ms. Tilley on a case, she gave me a name. One that Mr. Melendez claimed had been the person who tried to kidnap her. Does the name Rebecca ring any bells?”
Nathan thought hard. He shook his head.
“I investigated Mr. Melendez’s background and social circle thoroughly. I couldn’t find any Rebecca among his acquaintances, family, work contacts, or anyone at all. As far as we’re concerned, Mr. Melendez never knew or met anyone by the name of Rebecca. Either he lied, or he kept her a secret from everyone.”
“It’s most likely that he lied. Hilbert may not have wanted to admit he was willing to hurt Amanda. He claimed to be in love with her.”
Hayden took a few more notes. He then looked up at Nathan.
“Tell me about this misunderstanding between you and Ms. Tilley.”
Nathan hesitated for a moment.
“Amanda thinks I cheated on her. It’s partly true, but it was a setup. There’s this woman I met months ago who’s obsessed with me.”
“What’s her name, if I may know?”
“Erika. I never found out her last name.”
Hayden frowned.
“Another lady without a last name.”
“Do you think it’s a coincidence?”
“I think we should look closely into it.”
“Erika is a transfer student. She’s here because she changed her major, and her previous school didn’t have it. Erika told me she didn’t want to move out of state, so she came here.”
Nathan continued telling Hayden more about what he knew about Erika. Then he filled him in on the strange events that had been going on.
“I’ll talk to Detective Sutton to see if he will talk to me about that hit-and-run,” said Hayden. “In the meantime, try to find out where Amanda is. She has protection, but one can never be too cautious.”
“Okay, Mr. Hayden. I’ll call you when I find out.”
Hayden stood up.
“We’ll be in contact.”
Nathan shook hands with the investigator. He then led him to the door. After he left, Nathan thought about calling Claire. Of all his friends, she was the closest to Amanda’s social circle.
“Hi, Nathan,” Claire greeted.
“Claire, I don’t have much time. There’s a quest
ion I need to ask you.”
“What is it?”
“Do you have any idea where Amanda is spending her spring break?”
There was silence for a few seconds.
“Claire?”
“Judith said that a friend of Amanda’s was taking her to where the set of the movie he’s filming is in. All I know is that it’s in Arkansas.”
Nathan ran his hand through his hair.
“Thanks, Claire. Bye.”
“Wait! Have you guys worked things out?”
“Soon, Claire. I’ll win Amanda’s heart back.”
“I hope so, friend. I’ve known you for years and I’m sure you wouldn’t cheat on a woman, willingly. That harpy is going to pay for setting you up.”
“She will. Thanks for believing in me.”
“Let’s talk later, friend. Good luck.”
“Bye,” Nathan said, and hung up.
After arriving at Little Rock, Brad, Amanda, and Ryan slept for most of the day. They spent the evening visiting a few spots around the city, except the filming location. It was not accessible without the film crew there.
Sunlight woke Amanda up on Monday morning. She opened her eyes a fraction, seeing Brad opening the curtains of her window.
“Wake up, sleepyhead,” he said to her. “I get to work early today, if you want to come.”
Amanda stretched her muscles, and then she rose up.
“Good morning,” Amanda said. She looked up when Brad cleared his throat. When Amanda remembered that she was wearing only her thin pajamas, she blushed. Amanda lifted the bedcover to her chest.
“I’ll go so you can get dressed,” Brad said. He walked out of the room. Amanda grabbed her smartphone from the bedside table. The clock read that it was a little past seven. It had been a long time since Amanda had woken up so early.
After a quick breakfast, Brad took Amanda and Ryan to one of the film sets. It was a small chunk of the city that the producers blocked to traffic.
“So those scenes in the book aren’t actually set in this city?” Amanda asked. Brad was driving back to the hotel with her and Ryan.
“No. Film adaptations for books rarely use the exact same locations. They don’t need to, anyway. Several things come into play. The filmmakers have to figure out where it’s cheaper to shoot the film, and then get permission. They also have to ensure the actors can stay there for the duration of filming.”
Devoted to Her (Dream Date Book 2) Page 23
