by Peggy Jaeger
She shook her head, the blond and white strands swaying. “I didn’t bother. When she came back into the room I told her I’d just finished up a call to my office. She never suspected anything. It was only when I found out about everything else I put two and two together.”
“She’s been getting calls at home, too,” he confided. “Along the same line as the one you intercepted.”
He watched her eyes narrow into slits. “Jesus. Maybe we should notify the police. What if some wacko really is hell-bent on doing her harm?”
“If you think this through, you’ll realize it’s not some random wacko. It’s someone she knows; she just doesn’t want to believe it.”
Reva stared across at him for a few moments. “You mean because the calls have been on her private unlisted lines, don’t you?”
“Yup. Plus, the lighting accident, and even her supposedly misplaced wallet. It makes me think it’s someone who’s able to get close enough to the studio without being suspected, like it’s a natural thing to be around her.”
“Oh God, she’ll never believe it’s someone close to her. Never.” She downed the remainder of the water, crushing the bottle and tossing it into the recycling basket under Kandy’s desk. “Wait a minute; she fired her cousin a few weeks ago. Did she tell you that?”
“Yeah. I’ve already started looking at him. I should know more by this afternoon.”
“My money’s still on Evan Chandler. He’s a creep and, I think, fully capable of terrorizing someone.”
“You’re the only one who’s admitted that so far. Why do you think it’s him? Playing devil’s advocate here,” he said. “Everyone else I’ve talked to, including Kandy, keeps telling me he’s not smart enough.”
“I disagree. I think he’s fully capable of being malicious and vindictive. You only got a glimpse of him yesterday. But I dealt with him for more than three months. He could be quite nasty when things didn’t go his way. He wanted Kandy, not only because he thought she’d introduce him to network executives, but because she looked good on his arm, which, in turn, made him look good. Evan is all about appearance.”
“I figured that one out for myself. He’s a superficial moron who thinks he’s a player.”
“Perfect description.”
“Is there anything else you can tell me?”
“I don’t think so.”
Josh thought for moment. “Stacy let it slip not everyone in Kandy’s family is happy with her success. Has she shut anyone out?”
“No, it’s not her who’s done the shutting out. You should be able to tell by now, even though you’ve known her only a short time, Kandy is a family-conscious woman. They mean everything to her and she tries to help them out as much as she can. Her grandmother instilled this deep sense of family loyalty in her from an early age. No matter what path Kandy would have taken in life I think she would have included her family in her success. But not everyone is receptive to her assistance.”
“Give me a name, Reva.”
He could see she was mentally weighing her options on how much to say. Finally, he guessed, she thought Kandy’s welfare was more important than potentially slandering someone.
“Her uncle Peter. Peter Czewski. He’s the middle sibling in her mother’s generation. The only male, which is probably at the heart of the whole matter.” Her lips thinned and she crossed her arms over the front of her suit.
“What’s the story?”
“I don’t know it all. You’ll have to talk to Kandy to get the full Monty. But the basic background is Peter claims to be a writer.”
“Claims?”
“I’ve read his stuff. Kandy asked me to as a favor.”
“And?”
“To put it bluntly, it sucks. He doesn’t know basic grammar and sentence structure. I couldn’t even follow the plotline in the four manuscripts he sent.”
“So, what? He’s jealous of Kandy’s success?”
“It’s more, I think. She offered him a job as a researcher for her first cookbook. He declined, saying the work was beneath him. Instead, he asked her to do him the favor of letting me see his work. The problem is his writing is pitiful.”
“Did you tell him that?”
She nodded. “In the nicest, subtlest way I could.”
Josh could figure out what happened next. “He didn’t take it well, did he?”
“No. The worst part is, he blames Kandy. My guess is he thinks she somehow poisoned my opinion of him before I ever read his work just because he rejected her original offer.”
“So he’s someone else I need to speak to.”
“I would. Definitely. Betrayal, perceived or actual, is always a good motive for vindictive behavior, right?”
“Yeah. Anyone else?”
She tapped her fingers on her chin and drew her thin brows together in thought. “No. That’s it, since you know about the other incidents from Stacy.”
“Okay. I’d better get back.”
They both rose. “I’ll walk with you,” she said. “I have to speak to her about her book tour schedule.”
When they arrived back at the makeup room, Josh was stunned at the transformation in Kandy. Gone was the ponytail, replaced by a sedate coif, where her curly hair was tamed and pulled off her face at the temples to ski down her back. The heavy studio makeup he’d seen her wear yesterday had been applied with a lighter hand today. She’d changed into a tight-fitting pair of washed denim overalls, with a baby blue long-sleeved Henley underneath.
“All done being grilled?” Kandy asked, the grin on her face playful.
“I’ll have you know I do not grill,” Reva replied from behind them in a voice dripping with acid.
“Yes, you do, and you know it.” Kandy checked her reflection in the mirror.
“I think I’d like a chance to grill him,” Lucy said. “What about you?” she asked her sister.
Josh swiped at his mouth to hide the grin lurking there.
Both women were studying him as if they’d like to devour him whole. They could be close to thirty years his senior, but his ego vaulted just looking at their assessing expressions.
“It might be fun,” Lucy said, placing Kandy’s discarded clothes on hangers.
“It would certainly be memorable,” her sister added, rearranging the makeup pots she’d used on her niece.
“Down, girls,” Kandy told her aunts. “Josh isn’t used to such flagrant temptation, and I don’t want him to be damaged so early in the game. Come on. I’ll rescue you. You can ride up to the roof with me.”
She snaked one hand around his arm and gave him a gentle tug.
“Kandy, I need to tell you something,” Reva said.
“Ride with us.”
Once they were out of the makeup room and away from the prying eyes of her aunts, Kandy removed her arm. “Sorry about those two,” she said, her demeanor going from playful to serious.
“Are they always like that?” he asked, finally letting the grin he’d been holding back come to the surface.
Kandy rolled her beautifully made-up eyes. “For as long as I can remember. They get it from their dad, my grandfather. He was an outrageous flirt. Had all the ladies in Grandma’s neighborhood at his beck and call.”
“How’d she feel about it?”
Kandy got into the waiting elevator and punched in the roof access. She turned to him, crossed her arms in front of her, and said, “She loved it. Kept him out of her hair and out of her kitchen as much as possible. She actually used to encourage him to do favors for the widows in the area so he’d be gone for hours at a clip.”
“She wasn’t jealous?”
“Not a whit. Grandpa loved her to pieces. Couldn’t imagine a life without her. He used to tell me his life started the day he met her. They were married three weeks later.”
“As much as this touching trip down memory lane is moving me toward emotions not experienced in years,” Reva said, “I need to go
over something with you and get back to my office. I do have other clients, you know.”
Kandy turned to her and said, “Shoot.”
The elevators doors opened and the three of them stepped out.
While Reva spoke with Kandy, Josh took in the beauty surrounding them.
They were at the very top of the thirty-story building, the entire roof enclosed by a glass solarium at least twenty feet high. The magnificent natural lighting filtering through the glass made the need for the artificial studio lights redundant. The climate was temperate and comfortable, with just a hint of humidity. Six rows of long tables housed dozens of flowering pots; hanging baskets of numerous blooms and buds lined one part of the glass ceiling, dripping down toward the center of the room.
The fragrance that hit him was enticing, sensual, and beguiling. Much like the woman at his side.
“What do you think?” Kandy asked him once Reva left.
“It’s the prettiest hothouse I’ve ever seen.”
“It’s not really a hothouse,” she said, cocking her head. “More like a life-size terrarium.”
“Did you plant all of these?” He swiped a hand across the area.
“Most. The herbs are mine. There are twenty-five varieties blooming right now. By month’s end, it’ll bump up to about forty. Come on. I’ll take you on a tour.”
She guided him around the spacious area, pointing out her favorite flowers, budding spices, and herbs. He wasn’t surprised when she gave him the Latin names and origins of everything she indicated. He had a feeling Kandy made herself an expert on anything she attempted, be it cooking or gardening.
“Kandy? You ready?” the assistant director called from across the roof.
“Yup.”
They moved in his direction, Josh noting Lucy and Callie had come to the roof as well.
“Don’t be worried about them,” Kandy said in a low voice. “They’ll act professionally up here. No flirting. Honest.”
“I was beginning to really enjoy it.”
She stared up at him, her crystal blue eyes slitting. “I’ll just bet you were. Typical male.”
“Where’s Cort?” she asked a moment later as Callie swiped some powder across her nose.
“He just phoned from downstairs. He’ll be up in minute,” the A.D. told her.
“You’re good.” Callie stepped back.
Together, Kandy and the A.D., whose name Josh learned from Lucy was Mark Begman, moved to the herb section of the solarium. They were going over Kandy’s demonstration of how to gently pick an herb without harming its flavor. Josh watched the man move in front of her making a square shape of his two thumbs and index fingers.
“They really do that?” he asked Lucy. “I always thought it was just a gag.”
“It helps him see the shot more clearly from the camera’s perspective,” Lucy said, all business and polish, no teasing banter.
Cort arrived a few seconds later, greeted everyone with a gruff “Morning,” and moved over to Kandy and Mark. He spoke with them for a few moments before turning.
“Let’s try to do this in one, two at the most, kids. The weather’s gonna turn soon and I don’t want to move to the artificial lights if we don’t have to, okay? Places.”
Cort moved next to the main camera, after making sure the other three were ready to go as well.
“All set, Kandy?”
She smiled and gave him a thumbs-up sign.
Cort nodded and Mark called, “Quiet! In five…four…three…”
He counted the last two on his fingers.
“There’s nothing better than the aroma of homegrown herbs and spices added to your cooking. Especially if they’re freshly picked from your own garden.”
She continued her speech for three minutes, uninterrupted, flawless, and without the use of cue cards.
“Cut!” Cort called. “That was great, Kandy.”
“I want to do another one.”
“That one was perfect,” Cort said. “I don’t think—”
“I want to do another one.”
There was steel in her voice, coupled with a hard, determined glare no one on the roof missed, including Josh.
Cort stared at her for a lengthy moment. Then, he nodded. “Again everyone. Time?”
In his opinion, Josh thought the first was as perfect as it could get. She never faltered with the second take, either.
When Cort stopped the action again, Callie jumped up from her seat and adjusted Kandy’s hair, her makeup, and her clothing before the next take began.
When the filming restarted, Kandy bent over a flat of basil, explaining the different varieties of the herb and the ways it could be used to enhance food flavors.
“The best way to keep the flavor as rich and potent as possible,” she told the camera, “is to very gently pinch the leaves at the point where they shoot from the stalk. Like this.”
She put one hand on the base of the plant, the other on one of the leaves. With a gentle tug, she separated the leaf from its stem. A dollop of dirt shot up from the flat when she did.
“Cut!” Cort called. “What happened?”
“I tugged too hard. The dirt’s all over the place.” She started to swipe at the flat when her brow furrowed and her eyes squinted. “What is this?”
Josh moved in closer just as she yanked something long and slender from the dirt.
When she screamed and jumped back, he bolted to her side.
“What’s wrong?” He pulled her shaking form into his arms. She was ghost white under the pancake makeup, her eyes wide with shock.
She folded into him, her gaze never moving from the dirt.
Josh tightened his grip when he felt the magnitude of her quaking. With a quick glance down at the table, he found the handle of a knife jutting up from the dirt. That didn’t bother him half as much as what was pierced by the blade end, stuck, half hidden in the dirt.
A dead rat.
The knife was impaled through its chest. The rodent lay supine in the bed, its arms and legs curled inward in rigor. Its neck had been sliced clear through to the spine and hung by a tenuous, thin tendon, congealed blood circled around it.
In the next second Kandy’s grip on his arm slackened as her eyes rolled upward and her head lolled back. Josh caught her right before she dropped to the ground.
Chapter Seven
Josh scooped her up in his arms and carried her from the scene and straight to her office, where they were met by a frantic Stacy.
“What happened?” she yelled, her eyes raking down her cousin’s body. “Mark called me. Is she hurt? Should I get a doctor?”
“Calm down, Stacy, and lower your voice,” Lucy told her in a tone only a mother could use effectively.
“Let’s just get her settled,” Callie said. “She’ll be fine after a cup of tea.”
Josh laid Kandy down on one of the couches, Lucy appearing with a knitted afghan to toss over her.
“Kandy?” Josh squatted next to her. “Look at me. You’re in your office. You’re okay.”
Slowly, she nodded. “Why?” she asked, her blurry gaze trying to focus on his face. Her voice sounded faraway and hollow to her own ears.
“I’ll find out. I promise.”
Unable to stop them, tears slipped down her cheeks. Josh, in a move so tender it threatened to shatter her already coiled nerves, reached out and caught one with his finger as it slid downward. He gathered her close, moved up on the couch, and pulled her onto his lap.
The shaking came full force, rocking her body as she felt him soothe and snuggle, rubbing his hands up and down her back, whispering into her hair.
Behind them she heard the aunts tell Stacy what had happened on the roof, their voices muffled.
“Why does someone hate me so much?” she whispered. “Why?”
“Shush. Don’t think about it. I’m here. Just lean on me.”
He continued rocking her for a fe
w minutes more, until Callie came over with a cup of tea.
“Drink this. You’ll feel better after you do,” her aunt said.
Kandy reached for the cup with trembling hands.
“Let me have it.” Josh took it from Callie. To Kandy, he said, “You’ll just spill it all over yourself. Take a few sips and settle down. Then I’ll let you hold it.”
He tipped it toward her lips, held it steady so she could drink.
She obeyed without debating. Her gaze stayed on his eyes as she drank the hot, strong liquid. For some reason she couldn’t fathom, just staring at his steady, composed face helped to calm her nerves. A minute later her hands began to settle.
“Better?” he asked.
With a nod, she said, “I can sit up.”
He let her, shifting so she leaned the long way across the couch, from one end almost to the other. As soon as she was out of his warm grasp, she folded her legs under and pulled the afghan completely over her body.
“Here.” He handed her the cup. “Go slow.”
Once again she did as he commanded.
“I’m okay,” she said after a bit. Turning to her aunts and cousin, she added, “Sorry to be so much trouble.”
All three of them protested at the same time.
“I’m gonna head back upstairs for a few minutes,” Josh said. “You’ll be okay here?”
“We’ll stay with her,” Stacy said. “She won’t be alone.”
He nodded, took one last look at her, and left.
The moment he exited the room they all started talking in a rush. Kandy blocked them out and sipped her tea, focusing instead on how it had felt to be held in Josh’s strong, reassuring grip.
* * *
Josh stalked off the elevator and found the crew huddled behind the cameras, talking.
Cort was the first to notice him. He jumped from his chair and followed Josh to where the rat still lay.
“How is she?” he asked.
“Shaken, but coming out of it.” Josh glanced over at the garden bed.
“No one touched it,” the director told him. “Just as you ordered.”
Josh nodded. “Good. I need a plastic bag, like one of those gallon baggies. Something that can be sealed, but big enough to fit this thing.”
