Note of Peril

by Hannah Alexander

  Just then the headwaiter approached Grace and asked to speak with her privately. She got up and followed him through a door at the far end of the room into an office.

  The headwaiter gestured for her to have a chair, then sat down across from her and held out her charge card. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but there’s a problem with this.”

  She frowned down at it. “A problem?”

  “It was rejected.”

  “But that can’t be possible.” She had a high limit on that card, and she paid off her balance every month.

  “We ran it through three times.” He hesitated, obviously embarrassed. “Sometimes these things happen. Perhaps there’s been an error, but I called the company and was told you had already reached your limit.”

  “Then they must have made some mistake. Did they say what else was supposedly charged against it?”

  “No, I’m sorry, but you’re welcome to use our telephone to call the company yourself. Of course, we’ll have no trouble extending you our own credit if you—”

  “No, that won’t be necessary. I can write you a check.”

  “That would be fine.”

  Then she realized she’d changed purses, and hadn’t brought her checkbook with her. Just great.

  So she took the headwaiter up on his offer and used the phone, hoping to clear up the error and pay with the credit card after all. But instead she discovered something shocking.

  The Lladró had been charged to her.

  Delight stepped out of the ladies’ room downstairs and paused. She usually loved parties, but lately she’d been enjoying things less and worrying more.

  Instead of returning upstairs immediately, she strolled through the atrium, where a waterfall splashed into a pool behind an ornate wooden railing.

  She didn’t want to turn out like Cassidy, whom no one took seriously because he was about as deep as a birdbath. And yet she’d been so focused on herself lately that she hadn’t realized she was quickly becoming another publicity scrambler—one of those entertainers so desperate for the spotlight, for personal praise and adoration, that they didn’t have a life. They scrambled to every audition they could find, fawned over the stars, made sure to be at the right place at the right time to catch the right person’s attention. They used people to advance their careers. In the end, did they enjoy any of it?

  “I’m not like that,” she whispered toward the stream that trickled beneath the bridge on which she stood. “Am I?”

  She had set goals for herself. There was nothing wrong with setting goals. She wanted to be a successful Branson entertainer. The world needed entertainment.

  She heard footsteps on the stairs behind her, and she strolled past tables and chairs and a bank of elevators toward a waterfall that splashed into a meandering pool.

  “Delight.” A deep voice came from behind her.

  She froze and closed her eyes. Denton.

  “Are you okay?”

  She nodded as she stepped to the railing and leaned against it. Be nice and maybe he’ll go away. “No problem here—just enjoying the water. It kind of reminds me of Bass Pro up in Springfield. You know the wildlife place on the corner of Sunshine and Campbell?”

  “Yes. Nice place.” He stepped up beside her. “I like a good hike in the woods better.”

  “Not me,” Delight said. “I like the climate control.”

  He leaned against the railing next to her, and she could smell the spicy scent of his aftershave. “I’d intended to have this talk with you under different circumstances, but it looks as if this is the best I’m going to get.”

  She turned to leave, and he placed a hand on her arm.

  “Delight, we’re going to have this talk, even if we have to air a great deal of dirty laundry at the table upstairs.” His eyes narrowed as he continued to hold her arm and look down at her.

  Her shoulders slumped as she relented.

  He gestured to a nearby table with two chairs, then pulled out one of the chairs for her. “Just hear me out, then I’ll leave you alone if you still want me to. I promise.”

  She glanced longingly up the stairs, then did as she was asked. He sat down across from her. The splash of the water provided a barrier so passersby would not hear them.

  “Do you remember I told you about doing things I later regretted?” he asked.

  “Yes.” She heard the resentful sound of her own voice.

  “I graduated from high school with honors, and had a full scholarship to SMSU in Springfield. But by the time I completed my second year, I had become quite an entrepreneur in the specialty coffee business, and I decided I didn’t have time for college.”

  “Looks like you did pretty good for yourself.”

  “That isn’t the end of the story. Four years after I quit college, I met a girl and fell in love. Eventually she decided that without a degree I wouldn’t truly amount to anything, so she married someone else. I could have sworn she loved me, but she apparently preferred a man with a higher education.”

  “So you never finished college?”

  “Yes, I did. Because of her, I returned to school later and completed my education with a degree in business administration.”

  “So you’re trying to tell me to finish college?” she asked. “Is that what this is all about?”

  “Would you let me finish? There’s another point to this story. I kept tabs on this woman through some business connections, and discovered she and her new husband had a baby girl two months after they were married. I also discovered that she hadn’t even known her husband when she became pregnant.”

  “You stalked her?” Delight fought the urge to get up immediately and escape this man. “Did you keep a picture of her in your room, too?”

  He closed his eyes and sighed. “Delight, you can be one of the rudest and most obtuse—”

  “Okay, I’m sorry, but there seems to be a pattern here.”

  He glowered at her. “That was my baby. I know it was, because I did the math.” A tremor of bitterness threaded his voice. “Our relationship had been an exclusive one, if you know what I mean.”

  “I wish I didn’t. Why are you telling me this?”

  “Hear me out. I contacted the woman and asked if I could see the baby, and told her I knew I was the father.” His voice caught, and he paused before he continued. “I wanted to pay child support, to be a part of the little girl’s life. She refused. I stopped short of forcing a paternity suit.”

  Delight felt a very unwilling tug of compassion for this man with the tired, lined face and suddenly trembling voice.

  “That baby was born twenty years ago,” he said.

  There was no way for Delight to misread the tenderness with which he said the words. “So your daughter must be my age.” Okay, so maybe there was a reason he’d taken a special interest in her. Could it be he was reaching out to her because he couldn’t be with his own child? “Why don’t you approach her now that she’s grown up and old enough to make her own decisions?”

  Denton’s brows shot up. He leaned back in his chair. “That’s exactly what I’m doing.”

  Delight froze. All the oxygen seemed to leave the air and Denton’s face grew fuzzy. She refused to faint. For a moment she couldn’t open her mouth, for fear she might start screaming and never stop.

  But this was crazy! “You can’t be trying to tell me…”

  “I don’t make a fool of myself over a woman young enough to be my daughter unless she is my daughter.”

  Delight opened her mouth, then closed it. The noise of the waterfall behind them became a roar in her ears. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” she asked at last. “How do you know I’m your daughter? And how do I know you’re not making this up?”

  “Ask your mother.”

  “I can’t.” She would not do that to her mom.

  But if this was true, how could her mom do this to her? How could her dad do this to her? “You’ve known me all this time and you haven’t said anything to me before thi
s?”

  “Think about it for a minute, Delight. It isn’t something one just blurts out without preparation.” He glanced toward the waterfall irritably, as if he, too, found the noise distracting. “I’d hoped we could build some kind of relationship before I dumped this heavy knowledge on you.”

  “That obviously didn’t work,” she muttered.

  “This has probably been the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I’ve struggled with thoughts of the possible consequences from the time you first auditioned for the show.”

  “You knew who I was then?”

  “Of course I knew. I’ve kept track of you ever since you were born. Even though your mother refused to acknowledge me, I wasn’t about to let my only child be taken out of my life completely.”

  “You sure you’ve got the right person? My family lives in Alabama.”

  “Your mother attended SMSU in Springfield, Missouri, and she’s always been fascinated by Branson. You vacationed here from time to time when you were growing up. Isn’t that why you decided to attend college here?”

  She closed her eyes against the impact of his words. Why hadn’t they told her?

  A drifting thought occurred to her. “Is that why I have this job?”

  He looked away.

  She braced her elbows on the table and buried her face in her hands. She hadn’t been selected for her voice or her dancing abilities or any other talent. She’d been selected because of who she knew—or rather, because of who knew her…or thought he knew her.

  Was it possible he truly was crazy? He’d made some dandy blunders the past few weeks. Now this guy thought he was her father! Was he really?

  What about the man she had loved as her own daddy all these years? He’d never let on, never treated her any differently from the way he treated her brothers.

  “Your mother came to Missouri from a well-to-do family in Montgomery, Alabama, and fell for the wrong man,” Denton said. “That man wore down her defenses until she was unable to resist him, and she lived to regret those nights of passion.”

  Delight was going to throw up. She didn’t want to hear this.

  “She chose to marry a man from her hometown, someone her parents approved of, whom she believed could support her and a family comfortably. Not a college dropout.”

  Voices reached them from the top of the stairs, and Ladonna and Mitzi came down. Instead of heading straight toward the restrooms, they chose this uncomfortable moment to take a tour of the waterfall and bridge and pools. They caught sight of Denton and Delight, then dropped their gazes and hurried past. Delight wanted to follow them and get away from this man.

  “I don’t believe you,” she whispered once the others stepped out of earshot. “I think you’re crazy.” She couldn’t look at him. She shoved her chair back and stood. She had to get out of there.

  “Delight, ask your mother,” he called after her.

  She reached the stairs and raced away from him.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Grace strained at the highest note of “Party in Heaven.” Her voice cracked. Frustrated, she broke off and turned to ask the band to start from the top, but another voice continued where hers ended.

  Delight caught her attention with a brief smile and a nod of her head as she sang. Phoebe and Rachel harmonized.

  Grace reached for the water bottle at her feet, exhausted, frustrated, mystified. Her mouth felt filled with cotton. Again. In spite of the copious amounts of water she drank.

  She nodded in approval at the heavenly sound as the three women finished the song. “That works,” she croaked.

  “But what’s up with you?” Delight asked, giving Grace a quick look of concern as she stepped down from the riser.

  Ladonna stepped up onto the stage from the first row of seats, perspiration dampening the curls of black hair that fell into her face. “Grace, are you okay?”

  “What’s going on down there?” Denton’s clipped words came from far above them, where the window to Henry’s old office overlooked the auditorium. “They’re taping our show tonight for the television pilot.”

  “I know that.” Grace took another swallow of water, then held the bottle against her face to cool down.

  “Maybe the stress is getting to her,” Cassidy said.

  “After two years of live shows?” Delight snorted. “I doubt it. Sounds like laryngitis to me. Grace, you sick? Hope you didn’t give it to me.”

  Grace’s new cell phone chose that moment to announce, in a sultry, feminine voice, that she had an incoming call. She knew it was against the rules for them to take calls during practice. With Mom on a buying trip, however, Grace wanted to be available for her—a leftover sentiment from the “you-and-me-against-the-world” mentality in which Grace had spent the last half of her teen years.

  She gave Ladonna an apologetic look.

  Ladonna glanced toward Denton, who continued to stand at the open window to his new office, glaring down at them.

  “Take a break,” she said. “But only about ten minutes. Grace, go gargle or something. You picked a rotten time to be sick.”

  “I’m not sick.” Grace shot the words over her shoulder as she stepped from the stage. She couldn’t be sick.

  She checked the caller ID screen on her cell phone and almost pressed it off without answering. It was Sherilyn. On impulse, however, she connected.

  “Can I call you later?” she said quickly, forcing her voice past the sizable bullfrog that seemed to have taken her tonsils captive in the past thirty minutes. “We’re practicing.”

  “Hey, doll, you sound like you’ve swallowed sandpaper,” came the sultry-deep voice of her agent.

  “I know that. Look, can I—”

  “This won’t take but a minute. Sweetie, you’re a genius, but you should’ve talked to me about your publicity program first.”

  Grace sighed. She should have known Sherilyn wouldn’t be put off so easily. “What are you talking about?”

  “All I’m saying is I could’ve helped so it wouldn’t all turn to mush like this. Our dear Jolene wouldn’t have guessed—”

  “Hold it.” Grace glanced over her right shoulder at the curious faces of the backup singers. Sherilyn’s voice carried well, and this wasn’t a good time for an exposé.

  With a wave of apology Grace excused herself and retreated to the quick-change room just offstage. “Do you mind telling me what you’re talking about?” she said when she closed the door.

  “The publicity stunt. The music boxes, the Lladró, the threats? You definitely got the public’s attention, but I could have kept Jolene from catching on so—”

  “Publicity stunt? You’ve got to be kidding. You think all that was something I did for publicity? Come on, Sherilyn.”

  “Honey, it’s all over the papers, and I imagine it’ll be a major write-up in Across the Country this weekend. Jolene won’t be able to resist something this juicy.”

  Grace’s light-headedness suddenly hit her with renewed force. “What kind of juicy are you talking about?” She raised the water bottle to her lips for a long swig that didn’t break the power of thirst or wet the cotton in her mouth. What an awful day.

  “It’s right here in the local paper,” Sherilyn said. “A major story about how those gifts were charged to your own account.”

  Grace choked on the water. “Oh, of all the ridiculous things…Sherilyn, you know me better than that. You can’t honestly think I’d do something like that.”

  Silence on the other end of the line.

  “Hello?”

  “I called the horse’s mouth,” Sherilyn said at last.

  “What horse’s mouth? Stop talking in riddles.”

  “Jolene Tucker. She’s the one who did the story in the local paper.”

  “You called her?”

  “You got that right, baby. Seems she’s been doing some freelance work the past week or so. Anyway, it was her byline. I was in the process of teaching her the libel laws until she told me she had proof.”r />
  “What kind of proof?”

  “Her mole sent her a copy of your credit-card bill. It’s right there in plain English, Grace. Those gifts were charged to your account.”

  “I’m aware of that, and I’ve already had a nice long talk with representatives from the company.”

  “And?”

  “And I’ve already returned the gifts and had the charges reversed, but I didn’t do the charging in the first place. It’s called identity theft, in case you’ve never heard of it.”

  There was another silence, then Sherilyn said, “You sure about that?”

  “Positive. I’ve already called the police. How did Jolene’s mole get a copy of my credit-card bill? That’s invasion of privacy. Maybe I’ll need to make another call to the police.” Grace’s voice had nearly disappeared.

  “Okay, if you didn’t do it, who did? And why?”

  “How am I supposed to know?” Grace took another swallow of water. Something was definitely wrong with her. The voice just refused to work. Period. Delight might get her wish and take on the whole show if this continued.

  “I’ll tell you who it looks like to me,” Sherilyn said. “Who’s suddenly buddies with Jolene?”

  “You mean Denton?” Grace croaked. “A bit obvious, don’t you think?”

  “Sure it’s obvious, but it isn’t as if the man has a reason to hide what he’s doing. This is publicity, Grace. It’s like I’ve been telling you all along. You’ve got the public eye, so milk it for all it’s worth.”

  Grace rolled her eyes. Sherilyn and her clichés. “Have you ever milked a cow?”

  “I grew up in east St. Louis. What do you think?”

  “I milked some goats for a friend of mine in Hideaway,” Grace said. “When those goats go dry, there’s no more milk. I’m about to go dry, so they’re scrabbling for nonexistent information.”

  Sherilyn groaned. “Honey, that is not a pretty picture to leave me with.”

  “Sorry. Can I hang up now? The cast is likely to become Branson’s latest lynch mob if I don’t get back out there.”

  Michael carried a large plastic cup of his special brew to the quick-change room, where he’d seen Grace enter.