by K E Lane
The worried faces of Perry and James looked back at me through the peephole, and I pulled the door open immediately, frowning. "Hey guys…I thought we said seven?"
Perry pushed the door open further and walked by me, and James followed, his eyes widening slightly when he saw my state of undress. He stopped in the doorway, uncertain, and I waved him in.
"It's okay, come on in, James," I reassured him, pulling the belt around my waist a little tighter and closing the door after he walked through.
"Caid, did you tell anyone where you were going?" Perry said abruptly.
I raised my eyebrows at his tone, and crossed my arms over my chest. "I didn't actually talk to anyone directly, but I left messages with Connie and Liz and I mentioned to a few more people that I'd be out of town…why?"
"Because apparently, you're missing."
I blinked. "What?"
He looked around my room, found the remote, and turned on the TV, flipping through the channels. "We went down to the bar just now and saw it on the local news…" He continued to flip.
"Saw what? Perry, what are you talking about," I asked, starting to get annoyed.
"There." He pointed at the TV. A woman reporter stood next to a road in the desert, talking earnestly to the camera, above a line of text on the screen that read "Actress Missing." The picture panned out and swung to the right, showing a battered, burnt out pickup truck.
My pickup truck.
"What the fuck?" I said, and grabbed the remote from Perry to turn the volume up.
"…blood found on the front seat and steering wheel has now been confirmed to be that of the actress, and local police are looking into the possibility of foul play. Samantha Dwyer, Channel Five News, off of I-10 west of Palm Springs."
"What the fuck?!?" I said louder, and looked around frantically for the cell phone that I'd carried with me on the hike, but never turned on. I found it, flipped it open and turned it on, waiting impatiently for it to power up.
Perry picked up the remote where I'd dropped it on the bed and continued to change channels, stopping at another station just as another "Actress Missing" headline showed up on the anchor's left. I sank down on the bed, cell phone forgotten, watching with morbid curiosity.
"The search for actress Caidence Harris continues today in the desert west of Palm Springs. An abandoned car belonging to the actresses was found by two hikers early Thursday morning, stripped and badly burnt, in ravine just off of I-10 west of Palm Springs. Blood found on the steering wheel and seat of the car has now been confirmed as Harris', and law enforcement officials are expected to expand the investigation to include the possibility of foul play.
The picture changed to a publicity still of me, then a few quick 9th Precinct clips in the background as the anchor continued. "Harris reportedly left LA on Monday morning for a several day camping trip, and was last seen at a gas station in the Riverside area.
"Members of Harris' family could not be reached for comment, but friends of the actress say they are optimistic, despite the disturbing new blood evidence, and several have gotten together to offer a $500,000 reward to anyone who has information about the actresses' whereabouts."
The picture changed again to show Liz, Josiah, Danny and Robyn, sitting at a table at some type of press conference. They looked solemn and drawn, and the affect on me was like a punch in the stomach.
"Oh, fuck," I whispered. "Shit, shit, shit…" I jumped up and looked around frantically, my brain going in a thousand directions at once. "I need to…I need to…"
"Hey, Caid, easy." Perry's hand on my arm finally calmed me down, and he handed me back my cell phone, which I had dropped when I lunged off the bed.
I took a calming breath, then another. Think, Caid, Think. What do you need to do?
Perry was thinking the same thing. "Okay, we need to tell them that obviously you're not missing, and that you're healthy and alive."
I looked at my cell, and then up at Perry.
"Caid?" He said cautiously, worry clear in his face.
I shook myself. "I'm fine, just thinking."
"Um…" James' voice was hesitant, "I think the first thing you should do is go to the police department up here. I think you need to actually go there in person, because with a $500,000 reward, I bet they're getting tons of prank calls, and they might not believe it if you call."
We both turned to him in surprise. The kid made a whole lot of sense, and it started my brain working again. I needed to let the police know, and then I needed to start making some phone calls.
"Good idea, James." I smiled at him and he blushed. "Okay, um…" I looked down at myself. "I need to change, and then we'll go." Perry nodded, and I grabbed my clothes off the bed and headed for the bathroom.
##
"Jesus, what a mess." I stopped my pacing and dropped into one of the chairs in my room, running a hand through my hair. It was past eleven; James had long since gone off to bed, and Perry was watching TV, sprawled across one of the beds with two pillows propping his head up.
As I'd been doing for the past six hours, I thought back over the strange sequence of events that caused this whole mess and shook my head. The truck being stolen by several joy-riding teenagers who had been too scared to fess up. Traces of blood from my mountain biking incident still on the steering wheel and seat. The messages I'd left for Connie and Liz hadn't specified where I'd be hiking, or who I was going to be with. Reserving the rental car and hotel rooms with credit cards using my middle name, Renee, which I often used when traveling.
"It's not really your fault, Caid," Perry said, flipping absently through stations. "Although you should have left an itinerary with someone," he added mildly.
I deserved the rebuke, and nodded. "I know."
We watched TV for a few minutes, and Perry stopped on a station with an "Actress Found" tagline.
The anchor looked happy as he reported, "Actress Caidence Harris, thought to be missing after her car was found abandoned along I-10 earlier this week, has surfaced in the Big Bear area, unharmed. The search, which had been concentrated in the desert west of Palm Springs where the vehicle was found, has been called off. John Isaac is live at the Mountain Inn in Big Bear where Miss Harris is reported to be staying. John?"
The picture cut to a tall, well-groomed blonde man standing on the steps of the inn where we were staying.
"Thanks, Chris." The man glanced at a notepad in his hand, and then looked back up at the camera. "Well, it's been a tense, emotional few days for friends of actress Caidence Harris, but it all ends on a happy note tonight." The man was replaced with pictures of Perry, James and me getting into a police cruiser outside the Big Bear Lake Police Department. "The actress walked into the Big Bear Lake Police Department earlier this evening, safe and unharmed, and after talking with San Bernardino County officials, it appears that an unfortunate and rather bizarre series of events were to blame for her feared disappearance…"
I tuned the man out, thinking of the three hours we spent in the Big Bear Lake Police Department, first convincing the young deputy on duty that the tired, jean and t-shirt clad woman sitting at his desk was indeed a missing celebrity, then answering questions and talking via phone with agencies in Palm Springs who were heading up the investigation of my "disappearance". During lulls in activity, I had begun to make some necessary phone calls, one of them being to my agent and publicist, Connie Reynolds. The less than scathing, almost positive press the story was getting was all due to her agency's expert handling.
The news program moved on to another story, and Perry changed the channel again, settling finally on ESPN. I pushed myself out of the chair and resumed pacing, stopping at the window and pulling the curtain aside slightly to look out at the parking lot. There were only three news trucks there now where earlier there had been more than ten, and I guiltily thanked a seventeen-car pileup on I-5 and a mid-western politician's unfortunate choice in sex partners for pushing the story of my reappearance out of the limelight.
I shrugged. "I guess."
He frowned at my lack of clear direction and reached for the phone. "Yeah?"
I wondered if a reporter had finally bribed someone into giving out my room number, but Perry looked up at me, listening, and didn't hang up immediately. I walked over to sit beside him on the bed, watching him curiously.
"Um, I think that's fine, but let me check and make sure," he said, and covered the mouthpiece with his hand. "Elizabeth Stokley is downstairs, demanding to see you. The guy at the front desk is asking if he can have someone show her up. He said they can get up here without anyone seeing."
I raised my eyebrows. "Liz is here?" He nodded, and I waved my hand at him. "Yeah, yeah, of course. Send her up."
"So, I finally get to meet Elizabeth Ann Stokley?" Perry asked when he'd hung up the phone.
"Looks like it," I replied absently, still mulling over the fact that Liz was here. When I had called her earlier from the police station, her emotional and tearful response to hearing I was okay had overwhelmed me, and her being here now reminded me again how much upset and worry I had caused.
There was a gentle knock on the door and both Perry and I rose from the bed. I crossed the room and pulled open the door, and Liz flew at me, catching me in a tight embrace and whispering fiercely in my ear, "Don't you ever do this to me again. Do you hear me? Never again…" she let out a choked sob, and held on tighter.
"Hey, shhhhh," I held her tightly with one hand and stroked her hair with the other, fighting back tears of my own. "I'm so sorry, Liz. God, I'm sorry."
Finally, Liz sniffed and pulled away slowly, running her eyes over me worriedly. "You're really okay?"
"I'm fine." She didn't look convinced. "Honest, Liz, I'm fine. It was all one big…misunderstanding."
She snorted, and smacked me hard in the arm.
"Ow!" I rubbed my arm. Liz was a lot stronger than she looked. I was going to have a bruise in the morning.
"Goddamit, Caid," she fumed, and hit me again. "If you ever scare me like that again, I'm going to kill you."
Perry's laughter drew both of our attention, and we looked over to where he had been standing and watching our interaction. "It's nice to see someone beat up on Caid for a change," he said with a charming smile at Liz, and I rolled my eyes.
"Liz, this is my brother Perry," I told her, still rubbing my arm. "Perry, Elizabeth Stokley."
Perry stepped forward and shook her hand. "A pleasure, Miss Stokley."
Liz released his hand slowly and cocked her head to the side, eyeing him speculatively. "Well aren't you a handsome one. And those eyes…just like Caid's," she mused.
I watched in open amusement as Perry mumbled a thank you, blushing to the roots of his hair. "Liz," I admonished gently, "play nice."
She turned to me with a cocked eyebrow and an innocent smile. "I always play nice, Sugar." She looked back at Perry and smiled. "Call me Liz."
"Uh…sure…Liz," he managed, still blushing, but regaining some of his usual confidence. "Caid talks about you often…thank you for being such a good friend to her."
"Ohhh," Liz laughed melodically. "And charming, too." She glanced over at me. "Caid, you could take lessons from your brother."
"I'll keep that in mind," I said dryly.
She smiled and looked back at Perry. "And Perry, despite her many flaws, your sister is a very good friend to have."
She really could be very sweet.
"Now." Liz looked at her watch with a graceful flick of her wrist. "It's late, and Paula is waiting for me in the lobby, hopefully getting us a place to sleep." Her gaze ran over me from head to toe. "The police in Palm Springs told me you were fine, but I had to see for myself."
"I'm fine, Liz," I assured her, and after a pause, "Thanks for caring."
She nodded briskly, obviously done with emotional outbursts. "How are you getting back to LA?"
"I rented a car…"
"You'll drive back with us," she said firmly. "Let's have breakfast downstairs at eight and all those poor reporters prowling around can take pictures of you happy and alive and eating pancakes, then they can go off and report on something more interesting."
"There are three of us…Perry's friend James is with us too." I warned her.
She shrugged. "Plenty of room for six, it'll be fine."
I nodded, and frowned. "Six?"
"Ah." Liz said, frowning a little. "That's the other thing. Robyn is with us. She didn't come up here with me because she is under the impression that you are angry with her and don't want to see her, but she's come all this way to make sure that you're alive and in one piece, so maybe you could call a time out in this stupid little feud and talk to her for a few minutes, hmm?"
"Robyn is here?" I managed as calmly as I could, but the narrowing of Liz's eyes told me she'd noticed the slight waver in my voice.
"Yes, she is, and I'm going to send her up," she said with finality.
"Okay…" I said faintly, and Liz looked at me suspiciously for a moment before walking to the door.
"Perry, would you mind walking me down to the lobby? I hate walking around by myself in hotels."
"Of course." He literally jumped to the door to open it for her. Then he stopped, and turned to me. "I'll probably just head to my room…you'll be okay?"
I smiled slightly. "Yeah, I'll be fine, thanks. See you in the morning."
"'Kay." He opened the door for Liz, who paused before going through it.
"It's good to see you, Caid. I'm glad you're okay."
I nodded and smiled at her, trying to convey my gratitude. "Thanks, Liz."
I watched the door close behind them and just stood for a moment, taking a few deep breaths to try and still the fluttering in my stomach at the thought of seeing Robyn. Robyn was here. I wondered what that meant, and forced myself not to read too much into it.
I busied myself with straightening out the pillows where Perry had been and calling the front desk to request a wakeup call for seven. At the knock on the door, the fluttering in my stomach came back full force, and I paused to take a few more deep breaths before walking to the door and pulling it open.
Her hair was pulled back from her face in a messy, loose ponytail and she wore faded jeans, loafers, and a black, short-sleeved mock turtleneck blouse. Her face was drawn, and she looked at me guardedly, fidgeting with the large black purse slung over her shoulder.
"Hi," she said finally, her voice a near whisper.
She looked so good I nearly cried.
"Hi," I responded quietly, and stepped back, gesturing for her to enter.
She did so hesitantly, sliding the bag from her shoulder and depositing it near the door before turning to watch me as I closed the door softly. We looked at each other for several long moments, and then she stepped forward and raised a hand to brush my cheek with her knuckles and stroke lightly with her thumb. I stood still as she ran her other hand through my hair and down my arm, tilting her chin up to kiss my forehead.
I closed my eyes at the contact, not moving, but when she tugged me forward into her body and wrapped her arms around me, I let my arms drift up around her waist and held on tightly. We both sighed at the same time and she kissed my hair, whispering in my ear, "God, I'm so glad you're safe."
I tightened my arms briefly, then stepped back, missing her warmth instantly. "I'm sorry I worried everyone."
She smiled slightly, brushing my cheek again. "It was quite a bit more than worry, Caid." The smile faded and her face took on a haunted look. "We though you…" She dropped her hand abruptly and turned away, walking a few paces towards the window before turning around.
"Do you remember the first time we met? When they told you I'd be sharing your trailer?"
I remembered it well. The first time I'd looked into those eyes and lost my breath, the first time that voice and flowed through me like h
oney, the first time another person's presence had left me completely and utterly befuddled. I nodded slowly, confused at the turn the conversation had taken.
"I wanted you from the first second I saw you." She smiled in remembrance. "I'd seen you in pictures, and on TV of course, and knew you were attractive, but something about meeting you in person…I think it was the eyes," she mused, tilting her head, "or maybe that mouth…" her eyes dropped to my mouth, and then looked back up to meet my startled gaze.
"I remember thinking it would be fun to try and get you into bed." She smiled wryly, adding honestly, "I'm something of a pig when it comes to sex…or at least I have been in the past."