Spotlight

by Traci Hunter Abramson

  “He’s the one from the concert, isn’t he?” Tristan asked.

  “He is,” Craig confirmed. “He’s also one of William’s top suspects. According to William, Bruce dropped out of sight right after Kendra’s concert.”

  “Looks like we may have found the source of Sienna’s troubles.”

  “I’ll feel better after we get the chance to talk to him,” Craig said. “I can’t tell you how happy I’ll be when we’re sure this is all over.”

  Brent exchanged glances with Tristan and Quinn. “Oh, we have an idea.”

  * * *

  Sienna woke to the sound of her grandfather’s voice in the living room of her hotel suite. She started to roll over, assuming he was talking on the phone. Then she heard Craig’s voice as well.

  She climbed out of bed and debated whether she should get dressed before investigating. She looked down at her T-shirt and Hello Kitty pajama pants and pulled on a sweatshirt, deciding that was all she had the energy for.

  She was two steps out of her room before she thought to run her fingers through her hair. “What’s going on?”

  “Sorry. Did we wake you?” Craig asked.

  Sienna decided he deserved serious points for not commenting on her choice of sleeping attire. She answered his question with one of her own. “What time is it?”

  “Almost six o’clock,” her grandfather answered. “Craig came by with some news.”

  “What kind of news?”

  “Mostly good.” William motioned to Craig. “You tell her.”

  Craig took a step closer. “We did surveillance at the beach house tonight.”

  “And?”

  “Bruce Parsons was there. We have him in custody.”

  “Bruce? It was Bruce who caused the accidents?” Sienna thought of her father’s longtime head of security and tried to wrap her mind around the possibility of his involvement.

  “We think so,” William offered tentatively.

  “Did he say why?”

  “That’s the bad news,” Craig told her. “He’s unconscious. He hit his head when he tried to run away, and the injury was worse than we originally thought. He came to a couple times, but he hasn’t been coherent enough for the police to question him.”

  “Is he going to be okay?”

  “The doctors seem to think so. The hospital will let us know when he’s well enough to answer questions,” Craig told her.

  “Like why he would try to hurt me?” Sienna asked.

  “Exactly.”

  Her grandfather took a step toward his bedroom door. “I’m going to get dressed and go down to the hospital myself. Not that I don’t trust the local cops, but I’d rather be the one to question him.”

  Sienna watched him go, replaying the conversation in her mind. Finally she managed to ask Craig, “Is this really over?”

  “I think so.”

  The tears that sprang to her eyes were born of relief. She tried to rein them in, but when Craig pulled her into his arms, she let her emotions take over.

  He didn’t offer any words of comfort or assurance. He simply held her, one hand rubbing lightly up and down her back.

  The quiet acceptance undid her. How had he known that was what she needed? His unconditional support said so much more than he realized and reinforced what she had already come to understand. Craig knew the real her. More surprising was her realization that he was the first man besides her father and grandfather she had allowed to get this close.

  She reached up and swiped at the tears on her cheek before looking up at him. Her voice raspy, she managed to say, “I’m sorry. I hardly ever cry.”

  “Everyone needs a good cry now and then.”

  Sienna tried to imagine what it would be like to go to work today without worrying about another near-death experience. “I know it sounds silly, but is there any way you could come with me to the set today? I think I still need some time to feel safe.”

  “I have to check in with my squad at oh seven hundred, but Brent said after our morning briefing he was giving us the rest of the day off.”

  “It sounds like you already worked all night.”

  “Most of it,” Craig admitted.

  “I’ll understand if you need to go home and get some sleep,” Sienna said, though she didn’t mean what she was saying.

  He leaned down and kissed her, drawing her closer as he did so. “I’ll be there.”

  30

  William Blake sat in the hospital room staring at the man who held the answers he so desperately needed. Why had he been on the beach last night, and what was his motivation behind going after Sienna?

  The idea that he was out for revenge against the family was possible, but something wasn’t sitting right, and William couldn’t put his finger on what it was.

  One thing he had learned after more than thirty years with the FBI was to keep digging until that feeling in his gut either panned out or went away. Three hours sitting in a hospital room hadn’t helped it go away.

  His cell phone rang, and he answered it to find Charlie Whitmore on the other end. “William, I e-mailed you the link and access code so you can see those surveillance videos you wanted.”

  “Thanks, Charlie.”

  “You’re welcome, but I don’t know what you expect to find. The police went over it several times. They said they saw some shadows near the Mustang around midnight two nights before the accident.”

  “I’ll start there,” William said. “Thanks for your help.”

  “Not a problem. How’s Sienna doing?”

  “She’s still rattled, but she’s feeling a lot better now that we have a suspect in custody.”

  “I’ll feel a lot better when we know why he was there in the first place,” Charlie said. “It’s hard to believe two people in the same family could fall from a status of trust so quickly.”

  “That it is,” William agreed, already pulling Charlie’s e-mail up on his tablet and accessing the link. “I’ll let you know when I have any updates.”

  “I appreciate it.”

  After ending the call and pocketing his phone, William focused his attention on the screen in front of him, expanding the images so he could focus on different areas around the car.

  The garage area was dimly lit, and the video feed wasn’t the best quality. He fast-forwarded to the time Charlie had mentioned, waiting impatiently for something to flash before him, anything that would help him prove Bruce had really been the culprit behind this personal reign of terror.

  He glanced over at Bruce where he lay in a stark, white hospital bed. The bandage on his head covered his six stitches, but William could see where part of his hair had been shaved away to make it easier for the medical personnel to treat him.

  He turned his attention back to the screen, the minutes ticking by as he studied the same image, feeling like the moment could be standing still in time.

  A brief shadow cut across the screen. William refocused the picture to discover the shadow was the garage door opening.

  His eyes narrowed when no other shadows appeared. Logically he should have seen some interruption in the light when the saboteur entered the building. Unless . . .

  William scrolled lower, focusing not on the car but on the base of the doorway. It was barely visible from behind the Mustang, but after several minutes of manipulating the image, William found the spot he was looking for.

  The surveillance tape had a nearly undetectable interruption in the video feed.

  William’s phone rang, and he looked down to see his son’s name on his screen. “Sterling, I was about to call you.”

  “I just heard. Is it true that Bruce has been stalking my little girl?”

  “It looks that way, but I wanted to ask you, what kind of electronics skills does Bruce have?”

  “He’s a whiz at security systems, surveillance, all that kind of stuff. That’s one of the reasons I hired him in the first place. Why?”

  “The classic Mustang that nearly ran over Sienn
a was parked in a locked garage for several days before it was loaded up and brought to the movie location,” William told him. “Except for one glimpse of a shadow from a door opening, the video surveillance doesn’t show any sign of anyone entering the garage. That makes me think our culprit must have tapped into the video feed and created a loop while he was inside tampering with the car.”

  “Maybe the shadow you saw was when he opened the door to access the security system.”

  A chill ran through him. “Let me get back to you.”

  William hung up the phone and called Charlie. “Charlie, do you have access to the full police report on the car incident?”

  “Yeah, I have it right here,” Charlie said. “What do you need?”

  “Where was the security access panel located?”

  “In the main house. There’s a security room near the kitchen. Why?”

  “Because I think Bruce created a loop in the video feed.” William took a deep breath before he added, “The shadow we saw could very well be from his accomplice.”

  “Accomplice?”

  “My son said Bruce is skilled with electronics and security systems. If that’s the case, he had the skills needed to make sure we never knew he was there.”

  “But there was that brief shadow,” Charlie said.

  “Which makes me think he had someone else working with him.”

  “The question is who.”

  Beside him, Bruce shifted slightly. “Pray our friend here wakes up soon so he can answer that question for us.”

  “Definitely sending prayers your way.”

  * * *

  Craig headed down the hall toward Brent’s office, his mind crowded with thoughts. At the center of them all was Sienna. The memory of holding her that morning, of the simplicity of that moment, haunted him. It wasn’t the way she had cried on his shoulder and let him see her sensitive side again. Or perhaps that was part of it. More than anything, though, it was the warmth he’d found as they’d stood together.

  His heart squeezed in his chest, a tightness that was nearly unbearable when he remembered Sienna would leave when this movie was over. Even if they did try to keep a long-distance relationship going, how long could he expect it to last? He had seen for himself through the many headlines with her name in them that she rarely lasted with anyone for more than a few months. Why should he be any different?

  Could he be different? That thought was still forming in his mind when he walked inside to find Brent, Tristan, and Quinn already sitting in the office.

  “How is Sienna doing?” Tristan asked.

  “A little emotional, but overall I guess she’s okay.” Craig took the seat beside Tristan and then looked at him quizzically. “How did you know I saw Sienna this morning?”

  “Duh.” Tristan rolled his eyes. “You said you would let William know what had happened, and you don’t look like an idiot to me.”

  “Thanks, I think, but that doesn’t answer my question. I could have called William.”

  “An idiot would make a phone call,” Tristan clarified. “A man with any brains doesn’t miss out on a chance to see the woman he’s head over heels in love with.”

  Craig jerked back in his seat, Tristan’s words striking him. “I never said I was in love with her.”

  Quinn gave him a pitying look before speaking to Tristan. “Maybe he is an idiot.”

  The thoughts that had crowded Craig’s mind all morning scrambled and somehow refocused on Tristan’s and Quinn’s assumptions. Could he have fallen in love with Sienna so quickly? They had known each other for only six weeks, and for part of that, he had been on assignment.

  “Good morning.” Seth walked in, followed by Jay and Damian. He took a look around and focused on Craig. “What’s with you, Craig? You look like you got hit by a truck.”

  “Don’t mind him. He’s just coming to grips with reality,” Quinn said.

  “What reality?” Damian asked.

  “That he’s in love with Sienna.”

  “Oh, that.” Damian dropped into the chair beside Craig. “Terrifying, huh?”

  Craig shook his head in denial. “I’ve only known her a few weeks.”

  Damian’s voice held entirely too much understanding when he spoke. “Like I said. Terrifying.”

  Craig let out a shuddering breath. “Yeah.”

  31

  His eyelids felt like they had lead weights in them. He tried to struggle against the heaviness, at first not sure why he felt the need. Then his clarity of thought returned in a swift bolt.

  A moan escaped him, his hands gripping at the bed as he tried to push himself into full consciousness.

  “Bruce? Can you hear me?”

  He heard the man’s voice. He recognized the urgency and felt the same urgency himself.

  Mustering all of his willpower, he forced his eyes open and managed to focus on the man beside his bed, a man who could be trusted as Bruce had once been. “Have . . .” Bruce began, struggling to get the single word out. He took a breath and tried again. “Stop . . . him.”

  “Who?” William asked. “Bruce, who were you working with?”

  The name wouldn’t come. He could see it floating just out of reach, the word begging to get out but still not willing to be said. He tried another tactic. “Deck. Broken.”

  “What deck?”

  He tried again to speak, but his energy failed him, and he felt himself sinking back into the darkness.

  * * *

  Sienna looked up into Adam’s eyes, adoration on her face as he pulled her into his arms. She imagined it was Craig holding her, and she let those warm feelings flow through her for the camera to see, as well as the millions of people who would view this scene in the theaters and their homes. She tried not to think about how grateful she was that this particular scene didn’t include a kiss, instead keeping her expression in place until Marcus yelled cut.

  Adam released her and stepped back. “That boyfriend of yours must be something.”

  Sienna’s eyebrows drew together. “What do you mean?”

  “You almost had me convinced you were in love with me. Only way someone can be that good is if they’re feeling the emotion for real.”

  Sienna stared, speechless. People couldn’t fall in love this quickly, could they?

  Adam rolled his shoulders. “I’m going to go find the masseuse. My back is killing me.”

  Sienna managed to regain her composure and looked at her watch. “I don’t think you have time. As soon as they get the cameras set, we’re supposed to shoot the scene on the deck.”

  “I thought they were doing the stunt doubles first.”

  “Nope. Marcus wants us first so he knows where to position the stunt doubles.”

  Adam let out an exasperated sigh. “It’s times like these I wish I’d let Carter get his way.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “In the original script, Carter had my role, I had yours, and Liam’s character had twice as many scenes. After they decided to add the romantic element, it all got switched around.”

  “I thought it was Liam who originally had the other lead role.”

  “Maybe before they signed me.” Adam pointed at the deck, which was three stories from the beach below. “Personally, I’d love for Carter to be the one who has to hang suspended in air for the next hour.”

  “Don’t worry.” Sienna smiled sweetly. “I promise to rescue you.”

  “Thanks.”

  Sienna laughed. “I’m sure the masseuse will be happy to give you that massage as soon as we break for lunch. You will have earned it by then.”

  “You’re darn right.”

  * * *

  Craig watched Sienna laughing with Adam. He didn’t know which was worse, the easy way they seemed to be getting along now or seeing her in his arms a moment ago. He fought back the surge of jealousy. This was her job, he reminded himself. She was supposed to portray whatever feelings the director demanded. He just wished she hadn’t
been quite so convincing in that last scene.

  He crossed the lawn in front of the beach house and walked to where the cameras were currently being adjusted to point toward the deck and the ocean beyond. His insecurities scattered when Sienna noticed him and lifted a hand in greeting. She headed toward him, leaving Adam behind.

  “Hey, there. I’m glad you made it.”

  To Craig’s surprise, she reached up and gave him a quick kiss. He looked around, noticing how many people were milling around. “Why are so many people here?”

  “They’re setting up for one of the big action scenes. It takes a lot of people to pull them off, and they put an extra camera or two on so they don’t have to shoot it so many times.”

  Craig looked over at Adam and noticed the director watching them. Marcus raised a hand and motioned for Sienna and Adam to join him. “It looks like your director wants you.”

  “What else is new?” Sienna took a step back the way she had come. “Come on. You can hang out over here.”

  “How long will it be before they’re ready to start again?”

  “A few minutes. I have to go make a quick wardrobe change, but I’ll be right back.”

  “I’ll be here.”

  * * *

  William picked up the phone to call Craig and pass along what little information Bruce had shared. He wasn’t sure what Bruce had meant by the deck being broken, but he had to imagine it had something to do with the movie set. He pulled up Craig’s contact information and was about to initiate the call when he noticed Bruce stirring again.

  He lowered his phone and sat beside the hospital bed once more. Bruce’s eyes were clearer this time, and William waited a moment until he woke up completely. “Bruce, tell me who is after Sienna. I need to know.”

  “It’s not Sienna. It’s Adam.”

  “What?” William asked, not sure he was hearing Bruce correctly. He thought of the various incidents that had threatened Sienna’s safety. All had been when she was with Adam except one.

  “Adam wasn’t around when the car almost ran over Sienna.”

  “The director changed the schedule. They were supposed to do the scene with Adam driving the car first. Without any brakes or steering, he would have crashed right into the ocean.”