Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
“Someone want to tell me what is going on here?”
She jumped and shrank away from the harsh voice, and a splash of water hit her feet.
The sound of the front door closing reached her ears, immediately followed by the heavy footsteps of two large men headed her way.
The water bottle shook in her hands, and she hastily set it on the counter.
A pair of dark eyes settled on her as Roman and the second man approached, sending a slither of unease down her spine.
“Ms. Sterling, you remember Knox Castillo, my boss.”
“Yes. Hi.” She shifted awkwardly.
The man tipped his chin at her, then glared at Roman. “Care to explain what happened?”
A muscle ticked in Roman’s jaw. “As I was telling you on the phone, we were just getting ready to come into headquarters when her brakes failed. She blew through the stop sign and hit the median.”
Knox’s face darkened. “Your orders were to stay inside. If you can’t handle this, I’ll find someone else who can.”
“It wasn’t his fault,” she immediately cut in. Both men’s eyes jumped to her, and she trembled under the force of Knox’s intense gaze. She swallowed hard. “I’m the one responsible. Roman tried to stop me, but I wouldn’t listen.”
Knox stared at her. “You put your life in jeopardy, as well as one of my agents. I won’t tolerate that. You either follow the instructions given to you, or I will terminate the contract right now.”
She knew if she dismissed Roman, Louis would just insist on getting someone else. Arguing with this man would be an exercise in futility, but she steeled her backbone and strove to remain calm and rational. “My brakes failed, that’s all—”
“They were bled.”
She blinked. “What?”
“Your brakes were drained of all fluid. I spoke with Lt. Shepler on the way over here. They found the bleeder valve wide open and a significant amount of brake fluid in the drain in your garage.”
Ice sluiced through her veins. The police had been back to look around and take fingerprints; she knew that, but they hadn’t said much.
She watched warily as Knox tossed a manila folder on the countertop between them.
Her mouth opened, then snapped closed again, and she was dimly aware of Roman murmuring a soft curse beside her.
“Do you understand why you’re under protection? Have they told you anything?”
She reluctantly met Knox’s gaze, then shook her head.
His lips flattened into a thin line of displeasure. “Those letters you’ve been getting?” He spun the folder toward her and flipped open the front flap. “This one included a couple lovely recipes.”
“Recipes?” She tentatively touched the first page on top, a copy of a list of ingredients someone had scribbled on a piece of plain white paper. At the top were the words She-girl Stew. She slid the paper to the side and read the one beneath. Fa-Rina. Mozza-Rina.
“I don’t…” She trailed off, her mind struggling to make sense of what she was reading. Realization hit her hard, and she rocked back on her heels, stunned.
“Come on, Knox.” Roman’s voice came from behind her, and a firm hand clasped her shoulder, giving her strength.
She slowly lifted her gaze to the dark brown eyes across from her. “But I thought… Louis said they were just sappy love letters.”
Knox snorted. “Well, there’s a fine line between love and obsession, and this guy blew past it a long time ago.”
The hand on her shoulder eased and slipped away as she crossed her arms over her midsection. “Why didn’t Louis say anything? I never would’ve tried to leave if I had known about this.”
Knox studied her for a moment. “It doesn’t take much knowledge or experience to open a bleeder valve and let the fluid run out. Have you gone anywhere else over the last couple of days?”
She shook her head. “Not since…” She drew back, trying to remember the last time she had left the house. “I think it was last weekend, maybe a week ago? I went to the grocery store off Alto Palo.”
“Did you notice anything strange when you were driving it?”
“Not that I remember.”
Knox’s brooding, dark gaze slid to Roman. “You’ve been doing perimeter checks?”
“Every hour,” he acknowledged. “Nothing out of the ordinary, but I never thought to check under the car since the garage doors are kept locked.”
Knox seemed to think it over. “There’s a good chance that it was done elsewhere and you just didn’t realize it. I don’t think anyone would be brash or stupid enough to try to bleed the lines with Ink here making cursory checks unexpectedly.”
So where did that leave them? “What do I do now?”
“I don’t know if this person knows where you live, but I’d rather err on the side of caution until we determine otherwise.
I spoke with Shepler, and we’re going to increase police presence for a while.
” He directed his next words to Roman. “They’ll have patrolmen doing drive-bys every hour or so, as well, so you’ll have some backup close if you need it. ”
She nodded, still feeling numb and off-balance.
She couldn’t believe someone was doing this to her.
It all seemed so far-fetched, so juvenile.
At least, that’s the way Louis had made it sound.
He played it off as if this person were merely infatuated with her.
Nothing strange had ever turned up in her dressing rooms while she was on tour, and this was the first time anything ever happened near her home.
She felt violated, like the one place she should feel safe had been breached.
Knox blew out a breath. “I also need to check—do you know where the key to the garage door is?”
She nodded and pointed to a drawer on the far right. “Should be in here.” She dug around for a minute, then produced two generic-looking silver keys on a small ring. “I had the locks changed as soon as I moved in, but I never come in that way, so I just tossed the keys in here.”
He nodded. “We’re going to get someone out here to change the lock again, just in case. I’d suggest changing the code to the front door and only giving it to those absolutely necessary.”
“Okay.”
He stared at her for a moment. “Is there anyone who would have had access to that door, or to the keys?”
She shook her head. “They’ve been in that drawer for as long as I can remember. I never made a copy for anyone, not even a spare, because I never needed one.”
“No neighbors to take care of the house?”
“Definitely not.” She didn’t think she could even name two of the people who lived on her street. She’d seen them in passing but nothing more.
“Boyfriend?”
She almost laughed at his mention of a boyfriend.
She had become incredibly selective of her partners and had been celibate for the past eight months.
The men she’d dated in the music industry were arrogant and self-centered, and they only cared about using relationships to further their careers.
The men outside of the industry were worse.
She had played at a local fair two summers ago and met a guy who, by all appearances, seemed to be polite and well-mannered—a truly good man.
They went on two dates before they’d slept together.
He’d rolled out of bed the second it was over, with the comment that he could now tell his friends he’d “banged a celebrity.” Jerk.
Most of the others she’d met were users or alcoholics, and she had no desire to invite that into her life.
She let out a sigh. “No.”
Knox mulled that over for a second, then pinned that intense, dark gaze on her. “All right. We’ll see what we can dig up. We’re not going to have a problem here, are we?”
She shook her head. “N-no. I’m… I’ll do what he says. I promise.”
“Okay, then.” He turned to Roman. “I’ll text you details on the locksmith here in a few.”
She felt frozen in place as Roman led Knox to the door, then locked up behind him. Her eyes fell to the manila folder on the counter, and a shiver rolled down her spine. She knew he’d left it there intentionally, as a kind of warning. He was right; seeing the evidence made it all so much more real.
“You want me to get rid of that?”
She lifted her eyes to Roman’s, and he tipped his head at the documents in front of her. Finally, she nodded. “Please.”
To the best of her knowledge, she hadn’t done anything to elicit this kind of reaction.
Sure, she knew there were fans who took it a little far sometimes.
People on social media weren’t afraid to make their feelings known, especially those who hated her music.
She knew she sometimes got messages from random men hoping to capture her attention, but Aster always responded with something polite yet off-putting.
She wondered if Aster had seen the most recent note, or if she was even aware of the turn the content had taken.
She didn’t know who she was allowed to talk to, but Aster was her assistant, her right hand.
Aster was a singer, too, when she was younger, and they’d actually sung back-up to a few artists together before she’d gotten her big break with Stargazer.
She would never have made it as far as she had without Aster’s encouragement, and she hated to keep her out of the loop.
Finally, Roman looked over at her. “You hungry?”
She shook her head. She couldn’t bear the thought of eating right now, even though it was creeping close to dinner time.
“Let me know when you get hungry, and we’ll figure out the food situation.”
She nodded, but her mind wasn’t on food. It was back on the accident that morning that replayed through her mind. She kept hearing Knox’s voice telling her that her brake lines had been drained, that it hadn’t been an accident at all.
She turned to Roman. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it.” His voice was gruff and curt, and it only made her feel worse.
Knox was right when he said she’d put Roman’s life in jeopardy. Her actions were rash and selfish, thinking only of herself. “I should have listened to you,” she continued. “I just… wanted you to know.”
He stared at her for a long minute, then nodded. “I appreciate it.”
She stared out the window, thinking about everything that had happened that morning. Part of her wanted to disappear, to just hide away until this was all over. “Maybe I should go wait it out at the beach.”
Roman snorted. “Not a terrible idea.”
At this point, any place was better than here. Her home didn’t feel like home anymore. She stared out at the late-afternoon sun spilling over the homes across the street, and she imagined what it might be like to be far away.
She could go someplace safe, where no one knew her name or recognized her face. A place she didn’t have to worry about Roman or Mama or her stalker. Somewhere she could just be… her.