by Lori Ryan
Do you have any of your people available for personal security for PJ for the foreseeable future? She’s been getting threats. I’ll be with her, but I’d like additional security if you have anyone. I don’t trust her security staff. They really aren’t even off the suspect list themselves yet, so I need backup for her.
The response came back almost instantly.
I can send two of my people tomorrow morning. I can come over myself if you need someone before then.
Gabe texted back. Tomorrow’s fine. I really don’t think anyone knows where she is right now. Thanks.
He brushed her temple with his mouth. “You okay, Pru?” he asked, and she nodded before looking up at him.
“I guess I haven’t been taking this seriously enough. Do you…?” She swallowed and licked her lips before she continued. “Do you really think he killed Jimmy?”
Gabe could see her blinking her eyes and knew she was close to crying. She was shaken more than she wanted to admit. That was Pru—always trying to be tough, not letting people see what she was really feeling or how hard things really were.
He’d seen her do the same thing on tour. She had this crazy hard work ethic, and truly believed she’d been given a gift in her stardom. She believed she owed her fans for the opportunity they’d given her…the life they’d given her. And, he knew, she’d work forever to try to pay them back for that.
Now that he knew what had really happened thirteen years ago, he had a feeling she felt the same way about her parents. As if they’d given her a second shot at a career she’d almost thrown away with her alcohol abuse.
Her parents had helped give her child a chance at a life that was more than she would have been able to give the baby as a fifteen-year-old. Gabe looked her in the eye, knowing her tough-girl act was held together by a very thin strand at the moment.
“There’s a possibility Jimmy just got drunk and stupid and crashed his car on his own. It’s not like the man isn’t known to drink. But—whether this guy’s just taking credit for an accident or really had something to do with it—I don’t want to take any chances. I cleared my schedule for a while so I can go with you for your next few tour stops, and I’ve got Zach sending extra security over tomorrow.”
Chad approached and sat on the sofa across from them.
“What have you got, Chad?” Gabe asked.
“The blackmailer is using burn phones to send his texts. So far, he’s used three different phones. With some carriers, we can get more than just the number. With other carriers, information like texts and calls is never recorded. So, if the person paid in cash for the phone, and paid cash for a phone card to charge up the phone, there’s no way to trace it. That’s what we’ve got here. Your guy knows how to stay anonymous.”
“There’s nothing you can do to trace it? Even if we’re monitoring her phone when a text comes in?” Gabe asked.
Chad shook his head, his mouth set in a tight line. “Sorry. There’s no way to trace it. Even if we got the police involved, they wouldn’t be able to get the information either. It simply isn’t there to get, and I think your guy knows that.”
Chad turned to PJ, who sat tense and anxious next to Gabe. “Based on what Gabe’s told me, it’s safe for us to assume this was someone close to you, correct?”
Gabe could feel the intake of breath as PJ seemed to brace herself for the conversation. He couldn’t blame her. The idea that this was someone close to her killed him. It had to be tearing her apart inside, too.
“Right,” she said, quietly. “No one knows I keep that journal. I’m careful only to get it out when I’m alone in my room, and I put it back each time I finish. I never write in it around anyone; even my parents didn’t know it was there.”
Chad’s face creased in thought.
“What?” Gabe asked, knowing Chad had a theory.
“You don’t travel in a typical bus like other singers? You only use Gabe’s hotels?” When PJ nodded, Chad continued. “Who preps your room for you when you arrive at a new hotel? Does someone go in ahead of you, other than the hotel staff, that is?”
“Usually either Lydia or Ellis. Sometimes Debra if she’s with us, but she doesn’t travel with us very often. One of my bodyguards accompanies hotel staff when they take my luggage up to the hotel room. Ellis or Lydia often have things to drop off for me, or they may be in there laying out clothes for interviews, shows, that kind of thing.” PJ blushed a stark red.
“I guess it sounds like I’m a spoiled princess, but I usually have to go over to the venue and do a sound check or talk to the guys in my band. They travel in a bus and not with us. They prefer that.”
“Why don’t you travel by bus too?” Chad asked, and Gabe saw PJ flush again.
“I don’t––” She paused and glanced at Gabe. “It’s just that it reminds me of what it was like when I first started my career…of what happened with Jimmy.”
Gabe had filled Chad in on the whole story before they’d come over, everything from the baby to Jimmy’s agreement to let her out of her contract, to his recent angry text messages.
Gabe squeezed PJ’s hand and rubbed his thumb over hers where their hands were joined.
“PJ, did you leave your luggage at the hotel with Lydia and Ellis, or do you have it here with you?” Chad asked.
“Most of it is with the team. I only brought a small bag with me,” she answered. “Why?”
“The way I figure it, someone had to have found out about the journal. If you had a bus you used regularly, I’d check it for peepholes of some sort in your section. Some way someone could spy on you.” PJ’s intake of breath was sharp and audible. She shook her head. “No one, no.... Not on my team.”
This last part was weak. They all knew it had to be someone on her team, but it sounded as if she wasn’t ready to face that possibility.
“I’d like to check your luggage to see if anyone’s tampered with it or planted cameras in your belongings. That’s really the only way someone could have seen you write in your journal and known where to look for it. Where are Debra and the rest of your team now?” Chad asked.
“Debra went on to Denver. She’s in the Towers there, getting ready for the next show. She plans to stay with us for a few stops until this all dies down, then she’ll go back to her office. I think the rest of the team was given a few days off. They’ll meet us in Denver for the show. They should arrive tomorrow.”
“Give me a minute,” Chad said and crossed back over to speak to Sam. They could hear him instructing her to send two of his people to Denver to screen all of PJ’s luggage. He also sent someone to the hotel in New York where she’d been when all this blew up to search the hotel suite there for any evidence that someone had been spying on her.
PJ sank forward, her head in her hands, and Gabe rubbed her back. He wanted to say something, anything, that could make this better for her, but he knew there wasn’t anything to say.
Whoever this was, would prove to be a huge and very personal betrayal by someone she loved very much – or at the very least, trusted. Chad returned, sitting down across from them once again.
Before he had a chance to speak, Samantha stood and came over to them, holding her laptop.
“Chad, you need to see this.”
Gabe leaned in. “What is it, Samantha?”
Chad was watching something on the screen intently. Samantha looked up at Gabe and explained.
“I’ve been looking at footage from security cameras and sightings posted on social media of PJ coming and going from her venues and from the hotels.”
Gabe’s eyes widened. “That’s a lot of footage.”
Sam waved a hand. “There are algorithms involved. And I told the computer to look for a few people, so it’s not really me doing the looking.”
Gabe knew Sam was a genius with computers. She had a game out that had been some kind of instahit when it released the year before. And he knew she’d worked for the FBI.
But he’d never seen her in acti
on like this. He was glad she was here helping them.
“What did you find?” Pru asked.
Chad turned the screen toward them and played a clip. It was grainy like it had come from a security camera, and a cheap one at that. He saw PJ’s limo pull up to his hotel in New York City.
“That’s after a show two months ago,” Pru said.
“Yeah, New York,” Sam said. She pointed to a corner of the screen. “Watch here.”
Pru went into the hotel with her security by her side. Seconds later, a woman stepped out from the shadow of the building and followed Pru into the building.
A gasp had Gabe looking at Pru. She was staring at the video.
“That’s Erika Wilde.”
Gabe knew the name, but couldn’t place it.
Pru filled him in. “She’s Kurt’s girlfriend. The one he left me for.”
“Do you think it’s a coincidence she’s at the hotel?” Pru asked.
Chad shook his head. “Sam found another video of her in the hotel lobby the following day when you were leaving for the venue you were playing that weekend.”
“I cross checked Kurt’s band’s schedule with your tour and there are two more times you guys were in the same city near the same time. I’ve got the computer looking for videos from those cities now.”
“You guys can go back to your house, Gabe. Sam and I will be running full background checks on your team, the band, your bodyguards—anyone who could be behind this, PJ. We’ll keep going on the Erika lead also. We’ll come by to talk about the results tomorrow. You have security arriving in the morning, Gabe?”
“Yes, Zach’s sending two of his people over at daybreak. We’ll keep them at the house with us, and then take them with us when we go on the road.”
Gabe could feel PJ’s eyes on him. He hadn’t exactly told her he planned to go on her tour with her and stay on the tour for as long as she needed.
“All right. Sam and I will be over in the morning, but I’ll call if we find anything major in the meantime. Let me know if you hear from this guy again.”
Gabe nodded and pulled PJ up to her feet, then guided her to the back door. She seemed a bit shell-shocked as they walked back down the beach.
Chapter 13
PJ felt numb as they walked up through Gabe’s backyard. He entered the code to the back gate and held it open for her, then ensured that it clicked shut behind them before they continued up to the patio.
When her phone chimed, she pulled it out of her pocket, tense but comforted when she felt Gabe’s strong hand on her back. She didn’t mind at all that he looked over her shoulder, and she angled the phone toward him to allow him to see. Aunt Susie and Uncle Brian had sent a text.
Call when you can.
She hit the button to make the call and put the phone to her ear. Brian picked up almost immediately.
“What is it?” PJ asked. “Is Matthew all right?”
“Yes, PJ. But, we wanted to let you know,” he paused, and she felt a jagged pain in her gut, dreading what was coming. Had her blackmailer found Matthew? Had he contacted them?
Brian continued. “We told Matthew about you. We told him you’re his birth mother.”
PJ felt hollow and then felt Gabe’s arm around her, all but holding her up. Her head was reeling. “I always thought…. Well, I always just assumed….”
Matthew had known for years that he was adopted, but they hadn’t told him PJ was his birth mother until now. She thought she’d be a part of that conversation when the time came.
“I’m sorry, PJ,” Brian’s voice softened. “We just felt we needed to tell him before he found out some other way. We didn’t want to wait and then have him see something on the news.”
She squared her shoulders. “Yeah…. No, I get it. That’s fine, Brian. I understand. How did he take it? Can I talk to him?”
There was hesitation in his voice when he answered. “I’m sorry, Peej, honey. He’s upstairs. He doesn’t want to talk right now. I think he’s still processing it.”
PJ broke down when she heard that. Tears ran down her cheeks as Gabe’s arms came around her and held her tight. She tried to talk, tried to ask if Brian thought Matthew would be all right, but she couldn’t.
In her head, all she could do was berate herself for crying like this. Matthew was the important one. Only his feelings mattered here.
But somehow, knowing he knew the truth about where he’d come from and might choose never to speak to her again…well, it brought back all of the memories of having to turn over her tiny, incredible, precious baby the day he was born.
For months after she gave him up, her arms felt hollow, like she should be holding him but wasn’t.
Even though she had given him to people she knew in her heart, with all her heart, would care for him and love him as if he were their own, she’d still felt the agony of letting someone else raise her child.
Now, she could be losing Matthew all over again.
She heard Brian soothing her. “It’ll be okay, PJ. Matthew just needs time, but he loves you. And, he knows we’re all there for him. He’ll come around.”
PJ felt Gabe take the phone from her hand. “Brian, she’ll call you back.”
PJ would like to say she was strong, that she brushed away the tears and collected herself and all was good and well in the world….
It wasn’t. And she didn’t. Gabe lifted her and she let him. She rested her head against his chest and sobbed as he carried her to the house and into her room.
Gabe sat on the edge of her bed, letting her settle into his lap.
PJ couldn’t believe she’d let him see her fall apart like this. She was a grown woman, for heaven’s sake. But, she also hadn’t had any warning, had no idea she was about to hear what she had. What if Matthew didn’t ever want to speak with her? What if he didn’t want her in his life? What if she couldn’t be a part of his life? Couldn’t see him growing up?
Part of her knew it had been better for him to find out this way than to discover it when or if it leaked to the media, but that didn’t lessen the pain.
It took a long time for her tears to stop and when they did, she was spent. Beyond spent.
Gabe seemed to read her mind. He laid her on her bed and then pulled the covers back to tuck her in. As she closed her eyes, the last thing she was aware of was the sense of security, the feeling of unquestionable support, as Gabe stretched out and lay down next to her, one arm slung over her as he pulled her close.
Chapter 14
Gabe watched PJ’s breath as it evened out. She had fallen asleep in minutes, if not seconds. Her face relaxed in sleep as the grief fell away.
He couldn’t even begin to imagine what she was feeling, but he hated seeing her so torn apart. She had been ripped to shreds by all this, and he hated not being able to do anything to fix it.
He wanted to stay next to her for as long as she needed him, but he heard the faint buzz of the front gate alert from the kitchen, and didn’t want to risk it buzzing again. If the dark circles under her eyes were any indication, PJ needed to rest for a long time.
Gabe went to the kitchen and pressed the intercom to the front gate. “Yes?” he said into the speaker.
“Courier delivery for Gabe Sawyer.”
“What company are you with?”
The courier didn’t hesitate at the question. “Long and Short Overnight Service, sir.”
“Thank you. Come on up.” Gabe hit the button to open the gate and walked out to the front door to meet the courier at the top of the drive. His secretary always used the same company when she had to send something to him that couldn’t be done by fax or DocuSign.
Gabe still worked with a few people in the industry who were old school and didn’t trust the security of online document signing services. Although Gabe found that ridiculous, and more than once had been tempted to break ties because of the inconvenience, they’d been good companies to work with in all other ways, so he’d persevered.
&nb
sp; Relationships were crucial to Gabe’s success. Burning bridges over the use of a courier to deliver a few things here and there didn’t seem worth the trade-off in the end.
The courier handed him a letter-sized envelope and waited for him to sign a paper before getting back in his van and leaving the way he’d come. Gabe waited until the gate closed behind the courier’s car and returned to the kitchen, tossing the envelope on the kitchen counter before grabbing a soda from the fridge.
Gabe chugged half the can before turning to the envelope and tearing it open. Instead of a contract, the stack of papers that slid out turned his blood hot and cold all at once.
Shit.
The pages were filled with nothing but the words, ‘It’s almost time, Pretty Pru’ over and over again. There must have been twenty or thirty pages with nothing but the same message. And right on top of the stack was a photo. A small, worn, wallet-sized photo of a baby. Gabe knew without asking Pru who the baby was. It was Matthew. Gabe was sure of it.
Gabe went to look in on PJ, and saw she was still sleeping in the other room. He dialed Zach’s phone and was relieved when Zach picked up right away.
“Zach, it’s Gabe. He knows she’s here. He knows she’s with me.” He quickly explained about the courier delivery, especially the part where the blackmailer or stalker or whatever the hell you call a guy who hasn’t actually made a demand for money, had used the same courier service that Gabe’s secretary always used.
“On my way,” Zach said before hanging up and Gabe knew he’d be there in half an hour, or less. That’s the way his friends in Connecticut were. It was the reason he had bought the house here, why he planned to settle here someday—probably sooner rather than later.
After the accident that killed his dad and sister, he didn’t have much family left. Only his mom and she didn’t recognize him most of the time now. That made the connections he’d found in the people around him all the more important.
There wasn’t a damn thing they all wouldn’t do for each other. No questions asked. Anytime. Here he had the kind of friendships he never imagined.