by Cate Remy
Her interns traded glances. They thought she sounded weird. Nelle folded up the camera tripod and put it away in the storage closet. “Are you sure? You know how social media followers get if your videos are posted late.”
“Yeah”, Brandon agreed. “They show exactly how they feel in the comments.”
Wasn’t that the truth? Dahlia knew it for a fact. “I won’t be too long. If one of you could post a message for me saying that I’m having a small delay, that’d be awesome. Tell them I’ll have the video posted by tomorrow night.” She kept her fingers crossed in hopes she could make good on the promise.
Brandon nodded while moving his index finger across the tablet. “I’ll send it in one second.”
“Also send a copy of the new video to my email. I’ll take the flash drive with me.”
He glanced up from the email. “You’re leaving?”
Her head ached when she nodded. “I need to rest. The past couple days have been rough.”
Her interns gave her sympathetic looks. Nelle took the flash drive out of the computer and gave it to her. “Is there anything we can do to help?”
“You both are a big help to me already. When you’re finished in here, go out and have a drink on me. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” She waved goodbye to them as she grabbed her purse and left the office.
Cy took out his car keys when he saw her. “They’re all ready for the flash drive at the firm.”
She extended her hand with the flash drive. “I’m going to need this back tomorrow. I’m going to post a video tomorrow night.”
He touched her hand when he took it away.” I can’t guarantee it. If they find something, they’re going to work on it for as long as it takes.”
Dahlia slung her purse over her shoulder. “Nelle and Brandon are going to close down for me. We can go.”
“Before I take you home, I’ll stop at the firm to give them the flash drive.”
Dahlia left the building with him. In his car, she checked her phone and got a news alert. She experienced a tiny pain in her chest you read the headline.
“What happened?” Cy started the ignition.
He must have seen her face. She closed the app on her phone. “The autopsy results came back in for Mary. They’re saying she had a heart attack when she fell to the ground.” She motioned her head left and right as she stared out the window. Then she viewed Cy. He was silent as he drove out of the parking lot. “Do you think the police will still be looking for the masked man, then, since the coroner ruled the cause of her death?”
“He still showed up in her house uninvited. That’s breaking and entering.”
“And, if it’s the same person, he sent me a threat. This person knows where I live and probably my work address, too.”
“If you feel uncomfortable, you could work offsite.”
She refused. “I’m not going to let all this make me change more of my routine.”
Cy reached Iron Guard Security and parked to go inside. “You can wait in my office. I’ll just drop the flash drive off to IT and Surveillance.”
Dahlia took a seat in his office and busied herself with an outdated Christmas issue of a Reader’s Digest. She looked up when someone passed by the door left partially open. She saw another receptionist bring a client to a door across the hall. Guess the one with the combat boots took off for the day.
She was halfway finished with the magazine when Cy came back and handed her the flash drive. “You’re all clear. They couldn’t find embedded codes or anything suspicious in the follower comments.”
“Just annoying trolls, right?”
“Seems that way.”
“For once, that’s a good thing.” She stashed the flash drive in a small compartment in her purse. “I can upload my video tonight as scheduled.”
“Remember what I said. Be careful about what you post online.” He gave her one last warning before they got in the car.
It was five in the evening by the time they reached her house. Dahlia looked at the windows from the outside and briefly thought about how similar the darkness of the interior appeared to Mary’s house when she arrived on the doorstep that awful day. She shook off a chill that crept up her arms.
“Do you have a home security system?”
“A burglar alarm,” she answered Cy’s question. “Nothing fancy.”
“Let me take a look.” He unbuckled his seatbelt and followed her to the door.
The system started beeping when Dahlia unlocked the door. She had thirty seconds to put in the code to turn it off.
Cy looked at the panel after she finished. “Standard model, but it works.”
Dahlia rubbed her temples. She understood Cy was doing his job, yet everything involving her, her work, her house, and the people in her life all had to be scrutinized.
His eyes drifted to her bookshelf. “You kept your yearbook.”
She saw the item sticking out at the end of the top shelf. She bit her lower lip as embarrassment went through her body and left a fuzzy feeling along her ears. “I couldn’t sleep last night so I dusted the bookshelf. I forgot to put the book back.”
He looked from the yearbook to her. “See you tomorrow. Lock the door behind me.” He left, closing the door.
Dahlia huffed. She locked the door and went to the kitchen to rummage the fridge for leftovers for dinner. Why did she practically stammer and make a big deal about a stupid old high school yearbook?
Cy could care less about it and the past. Why now, after all this time, couldn’t she seem to do the same?
OVER THE NEXT TWO DAYS, Dahlia adjusted to Cy accompanying her to work. He played along and pretended to be her quality control assistant. When the weekend came, she was so tired that she spent Saturday and Sunday at home. As Cy promised, the patrol from Iron Guard Security took shifts to drive around her house and neighborhood day and night.
Both local and national news now had ongoing updates about Mary’s funeral service. Her relatives opted to have a family-only service, with the potential of having another service for Mary’s work colleagues in the future. Dahlia ordered flowers sent to Mary’s talent agent. She still couldn’t believe that less than a week ago, her client was alive.
For the next three weekdays, her routine and Cy’s consisted of the same thing. He’d stand outside her office door like a lone sentry. Employees from other office suites would sometimes ask about him to her in the break room. “He’s your new assistant?” was the most popular question.
“I needed help running back and forth with my errands.” She always kept her answers short and concise. She didn’t want anyone to ask too many questions about her bodyguard.
On the fourth day, she had an appointment scheduled for an editorial team from MUA Elite, a trade publication for makeup artists, to come by the office. They wanted to see her new line up close and give an interview after seeing her online videos. Dahlia spent the morning cleaning up the conference room and making sure all of her makeup was on display and the area was well-lit to sample and study.
She informed Cy about the interview. “MUA Elite will be here soon.”
“What’s MUA stand for?”
“Makeup artist. If the editors like my line and create a good story on it, I’ll have more exposure. Models and other celebrities will want to use it.” Of course, she didn’t expect him to be over the moon excited, but she did her part by telling him her plans ahead of time. “They’re legit. You can look at their licenses and credentials online.”
He looked unenthused. “I’ll be over here in the corner.”
With him standing in the corner, scowling like a bear, he was going to dampen the mood. “Please try not to scare anyone. I want the MUA Elite team in a bubbly, happy mood, not wondering why the guy in the corner is standing there and frowning at them.”
Dahlia had a nagging thought. If they knew the real reason why she hired Cy to stand there, they would be afraid. She hoped the police would catch the masked man soon so she could live
her life.
Her interns finished laying out small refreshments when the editorial team from the magazine arrived fashionably late. One by one they filed in. They wore designer denim and cozy scarves over their coats. The woman in front took off her sunglasses before she reached out to shake Dahlia’s hand. “I’m Alexis Coy, Trends editor at MUA Elite.”
“I know you.”
“We’ve met before?”
“I’ve read your column for years,” Dahlia corrected herself. “It’s an honor to meet you in person and to have you check out my new line.”
“Let’s get started. My camera guy is going to do some live streaming. My assistant is going to be taking notes.”
Dahlia took a deep breath to begin.
CY OBSERVED DAHLIA as she went through the interview and walked the editorial team through her product line. They asked questions about strange things he never heard people doing to their faces, things like highlighting and contouring. He didn’t understand how they could apply highlighters to the face, or why anyone would want to, but what did he know?
His gaze drifted outside the conference room to find a strange man in the lobby. The man was dressed in all dark clothing. His cap and scarf covered most of his face. He kept taking pictures of the conference room with his cell phone. Who was he, and who let him into the building?
While the editorial team was focused on Dahlia explaining something about glue and eyelashes, Cy used the time to slip out of the room. He walked up to the guy, carefully looking him over to see if there was something else in his hands or on his person. “Can I help you? I saw you taking pictures.”
“No, thanks. I’m good.” The man snapped one more photo before slipping his phone into his pocket and turning on his heel to go.
“Wait a second.”
The man kept walking away. This had suspicious behavior written all over it.
“I said, wait.” Cy went after him. The man’s steps sped up until he broke into a jog.
Cy ran the man down. Being the taller one, he easily caught up and grabbed him by the jacket collar. The wrenching motion caused the man to lose his footing. He tripped and stumbled to his knees.
“Cy, what in the world?” Dahlia cried. She and the rest of the magazine team came pouring out of the conference room.
He put out his hand for them to stay back. “This guy was out here taking pictures. He ran away when I tried to talk to him.”
“You looked like you were coming up to kick my you-know-what.” The man scrambled to pick up his phone he dropped on the ground. Cy got to it first. “Give that back. I need it to write my article.”
“Article? You’re with them?” Cy nodded in the direction of the editorial team.
“I’m MUA Elite’s online content writer. I just wanted to get a shot with the whole team and Dahlia from the outside.”
Dahlia marched up to Cy. She looked so embarrassed. And mad as a hornet. “You heard him. Give him back his phone.”
Cy held it out. The man took it carefully, as though he was passing a loaded grenade. Then the guy pocketed the phone, jumped up, and hurried towards the other people from the magazine.
Cy wished he had done a better job of reading the man’s intentions. “He looked suspicious.” He spoke so only Dahlia could hear him.
“He’s with them. You probably just cost me a spot in their magazine, not to mention a lawsuit.” Shaking her head, she gave her back to him and returned to talk to the editorial team.
He could have sworn the guy looked like he was up to no good. Cy went up to the team to begin cleaning up his damage. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt Dahlia or her chances for success. They gaped at him with big saucer eyes.
“Please excuse my assistant,” Dahlia implored. “He handles my security and didn’t realize all of you came into the building together.”
“It was a mistake,” Cy admitted. “I apologize.”
The woman with the fancy sunglasses put them on her face. “Thanks for letting us see the new makeup. We’ll let you know if we can find a spot for you next month in the magazine.” She stalked off for the elevator, accompanied by her team.
Dahlia, once they were gone, looked at him in a huff. “How do you like that? All my hard work for nothing.” She put her hands on her hips and walked into the conference room.
He went in, too. “She said she’d see if she could find a spot for you in the magazine.”
“She was definitely going to do that at first. She probably won’t now. She was just saying that to get her team out of the door without you chasing them.”
Why couldn’t Dahlia see he was just trying to do his job? “I made a mistake, but it was to protect you.”
“So that should make up for it? I’m not going to be able to pay you if you cost me all my customers.” She gathered her makeup and left him standing alone in the conference room.
Chapter Five
Dahlia took the rest of the day to cool off after Cy nearly botched things with the MUA Elite editorial team. Fortunately, Alexis called before the close of business to let her know that the interview would indeed be featured in next month’s issue. “Thanks so much, Alexis, and sorry again for the mix-up outside the conference room.”
“My writer will be fine. I upped his pay per word for this article. Talk soon, Dahlia.”
Dahlia ended the day on a better note. The next morning at work, her phone was ringing while she had one foot inside the door. She set her purse down to answer. “Dahlia Dean’s office. Dahlia speaking.
“This is Harry Bishop, set manager for Prima Studios.”
She almost gasped. Prima Studios was at the top of the growing list of movie studios cropping up in Atlanta. “Yes, Mr. Bishop? How can I help you?”
“Listen, our resident makeup artist is out with the flu. Would you be able to get Keke Cramer’s hair and makeup ready to start filming this morning?”
“Keke Cramer?”
“Yeah, you know. She was in all the big romantic comedies back in the day.”
“I know exactly who Keke is. Yes, I’d be honored to get her ready for the movie. What time do you need me to be on set?”
“We start filming in an hour.”
Wow, that was no time, and she didn’t know what kind of look the studio wanted her to create for Keke. “I’ll be bringing two assistants with me.” She thought of Brandon and his interest in special effects makeup. He’d love to go on set.
“I’ll have three passes waiting for you.”
“What look does Keke need for the movie? I’m packing my kit now.”
“This is a horror film. She plays a disco diva. So bring the glitter, I guess. We have plenty of fake blood.”
She began tossing glitter glue and vials of the sparkly stuff in her kit. “See you in a few, Mr. Bishop.” She hung up the phone and used her cell to quickly send a text to Brandon to meet her at the studio and for Nelle to spend the day studying for her afternoon exam. No need to come in this morning. I’m working at Prima Studios today.
Nelle’s reply was immediate. I’m sooo jealous I have an exam and can’t make it. She included a sad face and a crying emoji in her text.
Dahlia smiled. I’ll see if I can get an autograph for you.
She closed down her office and went right out to where Cy was in the hall. He looked at her purse and the coat she still wore. “You’re leaving already?”
“Prima Studios just called. Their makeup artist is out sick and they need someone to come help.” She did a light jog to the elevator.
Cy had no problems catching up with her. He pressed the elevator button to go down. “Don’t we need clearance to go on set?”
His willingness to go took her by surprise. “I told them I’d be bringing two assistants.”
“Dahlia, you agreed to run your schedule by me first, remember?”
“I forgot, and I’m sorry, but Keke Cramer is a veteran actress. If I do her makeup, it’ll really help my reputation and business.”
�
�You still should have run it by me first before you agreed to anything.”
She met his disapproving gaze. “I have to do this to make it in the industry. If I pass up opportunities like this, someone else will be there to take my place.”
“I don’t need to remind you why you need to be careful.”
Then don’t. She wanted to say the words out loud. Instead, she kept them to herself as the elevator carried them to the main floor.
“You said you’d be bringing two assistants. Who else is coming with you?”
“Brandon should be getting out from his morning meeting at the mall. He met with a manager to see if we could get a pop-up kiosk for my makeup.” She checked the time. “I sent him a text to meet me on set. He usually replies fast.”
Outside, she jumped into Cy’s BMW. Right as she closed the passenger door, her phone vibrated in her pocket. She shifted to get it out. “Oh, it’s him.” She answered the call. “Hey, Brandon. Did you get my text?”
She heard a lot of rustling on the other line. A car horn blared in her ear. She had to pull the phone away. “Brandon?”
“Dahlia, I can’t make it to the movie studio. Someone just rear-ended me as I was coming out of the mall parking lot.”
“You’re not hurt, are you?”
“I think I’m okay. The other driver hit the back of my car pretty hard, though. It took the bumper off.”
Cy gave her a look of concern as he drove. She pulled the phone away from her ear. “Brandon got rear-ended at the mall.” She heard a rush of wind and people mumbling on Brandon’s end. She resumed talking to her intern. “What did you say? I hear a lot of background noise.”
“I’m talking to the guy who bumped into me. He’s giving me his insurance info. Look, Dahlia, I have to stay and wait for someone to come tow my car. We’re in the street. A police officer sees us and is coming over to help.”
She pushed her hair away from her face. “You’re just down the street from the office. Cy and I can come meet you and take you to get checked out at a clinic.”
“No, traffic is crazy. You have to go to that movie set. I can’t make you late.”
