All I Ask

by KT Webb

  “There was an incident tonight between Andrew Overland and Aria Durant. He got very agitated when she told him she’d met a man who claimed to have saved her from the fire. There are bruises on her arms from where he grabbed her.”

  “What? How long ago did this happen?”

  “A little over an hour ago.”

  “I’m going to pay a visit to Mr. Overland. I think it’s time we had another chat. Is Miss Durant okay?”

  Christine felt her stomach clench. She wasn’t upset that the Detective planned to talk to Drew, she was more concerned that he may take his anger out on Aria again. There were only two more shows. Two more days before they could get rid of Andrew for good and move on with their lives.

  “Aria will be fine, she’s pretty resilient. Do me a favor and make sure Drew doesn’t think Aria is the one who reported this. I would never forgive myself if something happened because of me.”

  “Don’t you worry about that, Miss Miller. Thank you for the information.”

  When Christine hung up the phone, Patrick hugged her closely. It was never easy to take a chance like Christine just had. He knew she felt guilty for betraying Aria’s trust, but in the long-run, it was better to protect her at all costs than let her get hurt.

  A knock at the door made Drew jump. He wasn’t expecting anyone. Against all the odds, he hoped Aria had come to him so they could talk without interference. He knew that was likely impossible considering the presence of Patrick and Christine. He’d really fucked up. The knocking grew more insistent, so he opened the door without checking who it was.

  “Hello, Mr. Overland.”

  “Detective,” Drew silently cursed himself for not checking the peephole.

  “Mind if I come in for a minute?”

  Drew wasn’t stupid enough to keep anything around that could cause him any trouble, “Sure, come on in. To what do I owe this. . .uh, pleasure.”

  “I received an interesting phone call regarding an instance with Aria Durant this evening. Care to talk about that?”

  The man returned his gaze coolly. Detective Pahl already knew Andrew was a tough egg to crack. There was no way he would get the man to admit what happened. Instead, he decided to move on from the topic to see if Drew slipped up and volunteered any information on his own.

  “Nah, you probably don’t know anything about that. I was just talking about you the other day, though. I got a call at the precinct about your past.”

  Drew narrowed his eyes. He knew Aria wouldn’t have called the Detective herself. That left either Patrick or Christine; the former was likely to try to stay neutral, but the latter was already running interference for Aria. His money was on Christine, without a doubt. The Detective wasn’t there to arrest him, if he were, he wouldn’t have bothered with any pleasantries. Drew brought his focus onto the last bit of information.

  “You say you got a call from someone about me?”

  “Yes, it was quite interesting actually. The caller preferred to remain anonymous, but he told me a little about you before you left New York.”

  That surprised him; he had no idea who may have known him back then that would think to call the Detective now. Drew’s mind immediately went to whoever D’Angelo was. If the guy claimed to have saved Aria from the fire, he could very well also be claiming to know Drew. There was no one else he could think of that might know him.

  “Interesting. What tabloid do you think this guy worked for? I’m sure he was fishing for information from you,” Andrew tried to deflect the attention.

  Detective Pahl shook his head, “No, I have to say there was something about what this man that led me to believe him. He seemed to know you pretty well.”

  “Well, whoever he is, I’m guessing he has no idea what he’s talking about. I don’t know anyone from my youth, I haven’t been here in ten years.”

  “This one gave me a lead. Someone I need to talk to so I can get a better idea of who you were even before your family died.”

  Detective Pahl was fishing for information he wasn’t going to get. Andrew stood up and went to the door. He opened it for the other man.

  “I think if there’s nothing else you’d like to talk about, you should probably go. I need to get some sleep before we start our last weekend of performances.”

  The Detective stood in the doorway to keep it from being shut on him before he delivered one more warning to the arrogant young man. “There was one thing I found very interesting that this anonymous source told me to look into. He said I should ask you about the metronome.”

  Drew felt the color drain from his face. No one knew about the metronome, the only people who knew about it were killed. He shook his head and tried to look as though he had no idea what the Detective was referring to. Detective Pahl watched Andrew Overland for a reaction. He was satisfied that there was something in the tip about the metronome when he witnessed the change in the younger man’s demeanor.

  “Ah, well, since it obviously means nothing to you, I’d better go. I’ve taken up enough of your time. Interesting that you didn’t ask me about the altercation involving Aria Durant.”

  With that, Detective Pahl walked out of the studio apartment without a backward glance. He had certainly rattled Drew’s cage. That would be enough for the time being.

  Drew paced his apartment late into the night. Nothing could take back his reaction to Aria, but he could find a way to make it up to her. He hadn’t meant to hurt Aria.

  So many thoughts were swirling through his mind. Who could the man who claimed to be D’Angelo really be? Whoever he was, he’d somehow convinced Aria that he was her savior. He was going to have to find a way to talk to her about her relationship with the man. If he was still around, he might know something about the fire.

  Drew grabbed his phone and searched for flowers online. He arranged to have a large bouquet delivered to Aria the following day in her dressing room. No matter what, Drew had to make up for scaring her and causing her pain. Drew couldn’t afford to lose his temper as he had at Durant Theater. If he did, it could spell the end of everything he’d worked for.

  Aria arrived in her dressing room for the second to last performance. The idea of having to act as though she was in love with Drew on-stage was nearly impossible for her to stomach. Patrick stayed at her apartment with the girls after he escorted Drew out the door and set the alarm behind him. She flipped on the light in the small room to find a massive bouquet of pink roses sitting on the vanity.

  Her heart swelled for a moment before she realized that D’Angelo wouldn’t have sent her pink roses. He always left her a red rose to tell her he’d been there. She went to the flowers and found the card.

  Aria,

  Words cannot express how sorry I am for my behavior last night. It made me realize that I have demons in my past that have not been vanquished. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.

  Your friend,

  Drew

  With a sigh, Aria decided to go in search of the friend she wasn’t sure she wanted to have. She found him in his dressing room, he seemed to be anticipating her arrival. He came out into the hallway, making sure to give her plenty of space, so she didn’t feel uncomfortable.

  “I’m so sorry, Aria.”

  “Thank you, I appreciate your apology, but I’m not sure I’ll feel comfortable around you for a while. I wish I understood why you got so upset.”

  “I’ll try to explain, but I’m not asking you to immediately understand me, I only ask that you consider what I have to say,” Drew explained.

  “I’m listening.”

  After Detective Pahl left his apartment the night before, Drew thought long and hard about what he was going to tell Aria. Someone out there knew things that could spell the end of everything for Drew. He didn’t trust D’Angelo. The man had to be lying to Aria about saving her from the fire. It was too much of coincidence that this man had that ring and may have been the person to tell the Detective about the metronome.

&nbs
p; “When Detective Pahl interviewed me, he made it clear that you were the person he liked for Karen’s death,” Drew shared.

  Aria was utterly blindsided by the information. During her interview, the Detective had indicated they had reason to believe Drew was involved. She chose to keep that information to herself until she felt the need to share it.

  “Why would they be looking at me? I had nothing against Karen.”

  Drew shook his head, “They don’t think it was that kind of murder. They think you killed her to get her part. Detective Pahl tried to paint you as some ladder-climbing bitch hell-bent on taking out anyone in your way.”

  “They can’t possibly believe that,” Aria narrowed her eyes at Drew, trying to find the lie on his face.

  “I wouldn’t tell you that if it wasn’t true. I’m trying to protect you. When you start talking about some guy who claims to be D’Angelo, it makes me think something sinister could be happening, and you don’t even see it.”

  “I’m not sure what you’re getting at. Are you trying to tell me you think D’Angelo is some creep who lied about saving me and tricked me into falling in love with him? Doesn’t that seem a little far-fetched?” Aria could feel herself growing more irritated.

  “I’m not saying this man didn’t save you from the fire, how else would he have that ring? But there is absolutely no evidence to tell us that whoever he is and the famous composer are the same person.”

  Aria interjected, “I understand where you’re coming from, but D’Angelo trained me to sing. He is the reason I grew brave enough to audition for this production.”

  Drew added that to his list of things to think about as he tried to determine the true identity of the man who called himself D’Angelo. By talking to Aria calmly and rationally, he was making her more comfortable with sharing details she’d previously been reluctant to share.

  “Okay, so he can sing. He claims to be a friend of your fathers, but I don’t recall Alfonse ever mentioning anyone named D’Angelo, can you?”

  Aria shook her head. She’d wondered that herself on more than one occasion. Though she reminded herself that she was just a child when her father died. For all she knew, her father could have had any number of friends she’d never heard of because she wasn’t old enough to care.

  “What does he look like?” Drew asked.

  “I’ve never seen him. At first, I wasn’t sure what it was about him that made him stay hidden in the darkness. But I’ve touched him. His face, his chest, his arm. I think he may have been burned when he saved me,” Aria hadn’t realized she thought that until the words escaped her mouth.

  Drew narrowed his eyes, “You’ve never seen him?”

  “The few times I’ve seen him in the light, he wore a mask. For the longest time, he didn’t want me to see or feel any of his skin. He wore gloves, a hoodie, and a mask.”

  “At the masquerade, that was him?” Drew questioned.

  Aria nodded, “That was the night we admitted our feelings for each other.”

  “Wait, he wore gloves?” Drew grabbed onto that minuscule fact. It would be the key to unraveling her trust in the strange man.

  “Yes, why?”

  “Didn’t Patrick tell us that the man who killed Karen wore black leather gloves?”

  The thought had occurred to her at one point, but she refused to believe D’Angelo had anything to do with the murder. Aria was shaking her head before Drew started speaking again.

  “Listen, this guy could be dangerous, Aria. You’ve never seen him. He trained you to sing, but you auditioned and didn’t get the part. Maybe he killed Karen to help your career progress,” Drew explained.

  “He didn’t even want me to audition. He told me I wasn’t ready.”

  “Whoever this man is, he is not the real D’Angelo, he’s lying to you,” Drew demanded.

  “How would you know? No one has met D’Angelo. Why couldn’t his story be true?”

  “Can’t you see how convenient it all is? This guy convinced you that you were in love with him, and you don’t even know who he really is!”

  Aria was trying not to get frustrated or emotional. Drew was doing very well, keeping his anger in check, and she wasn’t the least bit afraid of him standing in the hallway outside his dressing room. She didn’t want to incite his anger by overreacting to the things he was suggesting.

  “Okay, you’ve given me a lot to think about. I have a friend who has known D’Angelo for a long time. If I go talk to her, I’m sure I’ll get to the bottom of all this.”

  Drew hadn’t expected that response. He didn’t think anyone knew the true identity of the man known as D’Angelo. Drew needed to expose this person who hid in the shadows if there was any hope of protecting his potential future with Aria. Unfortunately, that meant he would have to lie to her. If he found a way to convince Aria that the man was lying to her about his identity, he could turn her thoughts away from the man who threatened everything Drew had been working toward. The fact that she was convinced that she loved this freak was enough to send Drew over the edge.

  “Who knows this man? Is it someone we can trust?” Drew asked with a calm tone.

  “Yes, she’s a dear friend. I’ll talk to her tonight,” Aria still didn’t give him a name.

  “Okay, call me in the morning to tell me what you find out,” Drew went back into his dressing room.

  Aria was more confused than she ever had been. Things would have been much easier if D’Angelo had only been less mysterious about his identity. The warnings he’d given her about the dangers to her life swirled around in her mind. Nothing made sense to her anymore. Drew wasn’t who she wanted him to be, and D’Angelo was missing in action. She pulled out her phone and called Madame Rossi from the hallway.

  “Hello?”

  “Lena! How are you?”

  “I’m doing well, just very busy. What do you need, honey?”

  Aria took a deep breath, “Have you heard from D’Angelo lately?”

  “Yes.”

  “I need to talk to you about him. I need to know if you think he’s capable of killing anyone,” Aria whispered.

  “No, he’s not. Believe me. I’ll plan to come to see you after your performance tonight,” Lena told her.

  On the other side of the door, Drew hung on every word. Lena Rossi was the person who knew the identity of D’Angelo? That was fascinating information. If Madame Rossi knew the answers, he would have to see what he could do to help expose the truth for Aria’s sake.

  Madame Rossi hung up the phone to return to her conversation with Detective Pahl. She’d anticipated his visit after D’Angelo told her he would be giving the detective some leads to investigate regarding Andrew.

  “Was that Miss Durant?”

  Lena nodded, “She wants to get together after her performance tonight.”

  “You seem to have a strong connection with Aria. That’s got to be good for her,” Detective Pahl observed.

  “Yes, after her father died, I was the closest thing to family she had left. I was happy to take her in here at the academy and teach her what I knew.”

  Detective Pahl stirred the creamer in his coffee cup. None of that was new information to him. The things he really needed to know were much darker than he wanted to admit. Lena was waiting for him to get to the point. She knew he would have questions about Andrew’s childhood, and she was ready to tell him everything.

  “Are you aware that Andrew lost his temper with Aria last night? I received a call from a rather concerned young woman after it happened. Christine Miller told me that Mr. Overland physically attacked Aria.”

  Lena was surprised, “No, Aria didn’t tell me anything about it.”

  “Do you have any idea what would make him flip a switch like that? I got the impression that Drew was romantically interested in Miss Durant.”

  Lena sighed. There were any number of things that could make Andrew Overland snap. When it came to Aria, it was more than likely related to her interest in another
man. Lena decided she could tell him that much without betraying anyone.

  “I think it’s likely that Andrew is upset that Aria is dating someone else.”

  Detective Pahl sat forward in his chair, “Do you happen to know who she may be seeing?”

  “I do.”

  “And I suppose you’re not willing to tell me?”

  “Detective, who Miss Durant is dating isn’t your biggest concern right now. What you should be concerned about is the likelihood that Andrew Overland has killed and will kill again.”