Still, she had added it to her small but growing collection, a cherished sign that she was doing something right for at least a few people in the movie-going world.
The second note had followed a few days later. It was as appreciative of her talents and body of work as the first, but the tone had been less gushing, a little more familiar, and the note had included advice regarding her makeup and mode of dress.
The one after that had reeked of entitlement, telling her how such a nice girl should respect herself more and behave in a seemlier manner to avoid drawing so much attention to herself. And each subsequent note had been more demanding, less a piece of fan mail than a diatribe about how she could and should be a better person.
They had started, too, to confuse Regina with some of the roles she played. The last one, just yesterday, had warned her that her actions and attitude would get her in trouble one day.
“Regina, what’s up?” Archie’s voice sounded thick, rough, as though he’d been sleeping, but it was the middle of the afternoon. He should have been on the lot already – he usually arrived a few minutes before she did – and if he’d been taking a nap, it would have been here in her trailer.
“Where are you?” she asked, her tone sharper than she’d intended. She heard a sneeze on the other end of the call.
Archie cleared his throat before answering. “Actually, I’m at the front gate. I should be there in just a couple of minutes.” He sneezed again, the sound explosive; reflexively, she pulled the phone away from her ear.
“Gesundheit,” she told him, the response ingrained in her from an early age by her German grandmother. “I got another one.”
“Another one?” he asked her then said, “Thanks, Joe,” to the gate guard, probably as he took his set ID card back from him. “I’m gonna miss meeting you like this.”
“Another one of those notes,” Regina clarified. She was appalled at how small and frightened she sounded, so she infused a bit more spine into it when she continued, “I haven’t opened it yet.”
Archie knew all about the other notes and had been urging her to talk to the police about them. That last one with the warning had been more than a little threatening.
“I’ll be there in a couple of minutes. You can either read it to me while I drive or wait until I get there.”
Regina felt a little better just knowing he’d be there soon. Someone had still broken into her trailer – and she would definitely be giving the head of security an earful about that – but talking to Archie about it took away some of her unknown “fan’s” power.
“I’ll read. It’ll be more entertaining for you than that crap music you listen to.”
They’d had an ongoing argument for years over whether or not country music was actually music, especially that twangy stuff Archie preferred. She slipped her index finger into a gap in the envelope and tore it open.
Something fell from the envelope, dropping to the floor and landing face down halfway under the tiny table in the equally tiny kitchenette. Regina bent to pick it up, but when she turned it over, she gasped.
“Regina?”
The photograph was a recent one. She was in her underwear in her bedroom reaching for something in her closet.
Whoever he was, he knew where she lived.
Her heart began to race as white noise filled her head. She dropped the photo, watched it sail to the floor.
“Regina!”
The near panic in Archie’s voice finally broke through the static in her head. Even as she heard his car squeal to a stop outside her trailer, she said, “I’m okay, Arch, just startled.”
“Jesus, Reggie!” Archie answered from behind, slamming through the trailer door, left unlocked when she’d come in earlier. “You had me scared to death.” He stopped just behind her, looking over her shoulder at the photograph.
Reaching past her, he picked up the envelope; it still contained the note that accompanied the photo. Regina watched his face as he read, the way his dark eyes widened.
“What does it say?”
A flash of fear quickly morphed into determination as he handed her the sheet of stationery. “It says we’re going to the police. Where are the rest of those letters?”
He started to walk away, heading toward the area of her trailer that doubled as both bedroom for quick naps and dressing room for when the day was done and she changed back into civilian clothes. Regina stopped him with a touch of her hand on his arm.
Before she could say anything, Archie interrupted her. “We’re not playing around with this, Reg. This guy was in your house.”
“I promise you, Archie, I’ll take the letters to the police, but not right now. I cannot – will not – walk out on the last day of shooting.” He shot her a skeptical look. “Just as soon as my last scene is done, we’ll go. I’ll even let you drive.”
Chapter 2
Regina’s hand still felt cramped from all the paperwork. Reams of it, it seemed. Archie was the one who dragged her to the police station, kicking and screaming – figuratively, anyway – so shouldn’t it be him doing the paperwork?
He was her assistant, so wasn’t that his job? But neither Archie nor the Los Angeles Police Department saw things that way.
She had spoken to half a dozen people so far, men and women, uniformed and plain clothed, and while Regina had thought they’d laugh her out of the station when they read the notes on their lacy, pastel-colored stationery, that hadn’t happened. Quite the opposite.
The first person they’d spoken to had told Regina to fill out a complaint form, which she had done with Archie’s help in recalling some of the details of dates and times she’d received the notes, but after that, they’d bounced from clerks to officers to detectives until they’d finally landed sometime near midnight at the desk of Detective Joan Chang.
Neat stacks of folders and books and notepads covered Detective Chang’s desk. Tacked to the side of a metal file cabinet to the left of her desk were a dozen photographs of a man and child Regina presumed to be her husband and either son or daughter – she couldn’t tell from the photographs. Along with the photos were several paintings and drawings in a childish style, mostly of a pair of dogs.
Chang herself sat on the edge of her desk. She read the notes in chronological order through their clear plastic covers, evidence sleeves marked with the date and time received and a location marker.
There were dark smudges around the edges of the sheets that hadn’t been there when Regina and Archie brought them in a few hours before.
When Chang reached the last of the notes, she ran her fingers through her hair, stopping when she had it pulled up off her neck to hold it there. She blew out a huff of air when she finished it and tossed it onto the stack with its mates.
“You certainly do seem to have a bona fide stalker, Miss Molinari.” She studied first Regina and then Archie, no doubt taking in the dark circles that had to be there beneath Regina’s eyes, making her look like a zombie. A quick glance at Archie told Regina all she needed to know.
Out in the hallway, a man angrily shouted something, drawing Regina’s attention momentarily away from Detective Chang. A stout white man who might have been anywhere from thirty to sixty struggled to break free from a man in police uniform, but with no success; his voice faded away as they passed out of sight.
“You said this has been going on for about two weeks?” Chang’s thin voice brought Regina back.
“Yes, Detective,” she answered. “But it really wasn’t anything out of the ordinary until these last couple of notes.” Beside her, Archie made a sound as though he might protest that opinion, but he said nothing, just shifted in his chair.
“Some fans can be very… dedicated.” Archie snorted, making Regina laugh. Chang raised one eyebrow.
“Well I’d say this ‘fan’ has gone a few miles north of dedicated.” Picking up the letters, she read the last one, the one that threatened Regina with dire consequences if she didn’t stop her unseemly behavior.
“Obsession and entitlement can be a dangerous combination, Miss Molinari.” Setting the letters down, she picked up the photograph the stalker had taken from inside Regina’s living room.
“What do we need to do to keep her safe, Detective?” Archie asked.
Glancing up from the photograph still in her hand, Chang replied, “I’m going to advise you not to return to your home or to work for a few days. Give us some time to track this guy down.”
“You want me to hide?” Regina asked.
“Essentially, yes.” Chang set the photograph aside and settle more comfortably on the desk. “I want you to go somewhere that hasn’t been linked to you somehow in the past and lie low for a while. Consider it a vacation.”
“I thought the cops were supposed to pick out the safe house.”
Chang laughed. “If this were some kind of mob hit, then yes, we’d take care of that. But while the situation is serious, I don’t believe it’s deadly.” The word yet hung unspoken in the air. “Do you have someplace like that?” She looked back and forth between Regina and Archie.
“Let me make a quick call,” Archie said and stood up, fishing his phone from his trousers pocket.
“Who do you know,” Regina asked, incredulous, “that would answer the phone this late?” He held up his hand by way of response.
While Archie made his call – and apparently, there was at least one person around to take a call, since Archie was engaged in a real conversation, not just leaving a voicemail – Regina asked Chang, “So am I supposed to stay close by or something? Not leave the city?”
“Actually, the farther away you can go the better. We just need to be able to keep in touch via phone or email. And I’ll need to know where you are, but for anyone else, including you your friends and family, your whereabouts will be strictly need to know. As soon as we catch him, you’ll be able to return home.”
“Alright, Reggie, you are all set. You leave for the island of St. John at eight o’clock tomorrow morning.”
Regina frowned. “St. John? The Virgin Islands?”
“That’s the one. My old college roommate owns a villa there, and he’s graciously allowing you to use it.”
“Oh, what the hell.” Regina grinned. “Who can say no to the Caribbean?” Maybe she could start working out the details of her character for her next movie. She’d received the script earlier that day, before she’d found the latest note in her trailer. “His place does have Wi-Fi, right?”
Chapter 3
The ferry from the airport on St. Thomas dropped Regina at the marina on St. John. From there, she took a cab to the villa, paying for the trip with cash. She neither gave the man a name, nor removed her sunglasses, so she was fairly certain he didn’t recognize her.
Archie remained in L.A., taking care of business and putting out the fiction that she’d gone on an unanticipated vacation between movies and that she hadn’t told him where she would be, only that she’d be back in time for her next gig.
As for transportation while she was here, Archie’s friend had offered her the use of his boat, bicycle, and car. Thus the cab; she’d call another to take her back to the airport once this was all over.
She was traveling light, just one suitcase and her laptop; once she found the master suite, she left them and her shoes there while she explored what would be her home for at least the next couple of weeks.
Detective Chang had advised her to stay there until she contacted her either with an all clear or with a more long-term protection plan.
The villa was enormous, far too large for just one woman alone. The floors were made of tile, no carpet anywhere, although there were rugs in some of the larger spaces and in the bathrooms.
Every room facing the ocean had floor to ceiling windows and Regina opened every one of them as she passed, letting in the breeze to blow away the stale air of a house that had been closed for too long.
Here and there were framed photographs of a man Regina assumed was her benefactor and a woman with red hair and a captivating smile.
She paused to study a photograph of the young woman laughing; there was something so free about her that made Regina want to know who she was. Returning the frame to its place on the bookshelf, she continued her explorations.
The main living area and the kitchen had doors that opened onto a brick patio complete with an outdoor kitchen area to keep from heating up the house on hotter days.
The patio ended in a walkway to a hot tub, surrounded by stone and bougainvillea in full bloom, a riot of magenta flowers. Just looking at it, Regina felt some of the tension inside her start to drain away.
Regina continued to wander outside, loathe to return to her exploration of the house, impressive as it was. The wildness of the gardens around the patio and hot tub area – clearly maintained, but not on a regular basis – were much more to her liking.
At the edge of the maintained area, she found a set of wooden stairs leading to the white-sand beach below; she left her shoes at the top and headed down.
There was no one else on the beach, nor was there any indication anyone had ever been there. It was part of a small cove, protected by rocks at either end. Archie’s friend kept his boat at the marina in the nearest town as there wasn’t a suitable area near his home to keep one docked.
Regina walked barefoot from one end of the private beach to the other. The entire time, she only saw one sailboat pass by too far out on the water for her to read any names or numbers.
She splashed along through the water for a bit, enjoying the feel of the sand slipping away beneath her feet as she walked. In the morning, she’d come down for a swim, but for now she was content to just walk and breathe in the salt air, kissed by the scent of tropical flowers.
After a time, Regina walked back up toward the stairs, but rather than go up them, she sat on the bottom step and watched the tide come in, the sun drop lower in the sky.
Wispy clouds drifted by, filtering the light. Birds flew overhead or wheeled and dove into the water, hunting for their supper. Surrounded by solitude, something she hadn’t experienced in a long time, Regina felt at peace.
Chapter 4
She thought sleep would be elusive, but when she fell into bed that night, it took her only a few minutes of listening to the ocean outside the open windows before she fell asleep.
They shouldn’t be open, she knew, but there was something about the isolation of the villa, the utter lack of human habitation within sight, that felt safer to her than hiding behind windows and walls and locked doors.
Warmth on her face and the bright light of the rising sun woke her the next morning, but by the time she managed to drag herself from the comfort of the bed and into the kitchen to make coffee, the sky was already clouding over. She took her coffee out onto the patio and watched as a storm rolled in over the water.
The breeze picked up as it drew closer to the island. Lightning lit up the clouds from within and thunder rumbled, but Regina was cozy and dry under the tin roof that covered a portion of the patio, wrapped in a sweater and with her coffee in hand.
That first full day on the island felt like the first day of a long-anticipated vacation in spite of the rain; in that sense, the story she and Archie had concocted before she left wasn’t a story at all.
It rained all day and into the night, but that only added to the peace and relative quiet of the setting, the sense of getting away from it all.
Soon, she would have to make the trip into the town for groceries, but at least for that day, there was plenty in the freezer and the cupboards, if she didn’t mind that none of it was fresh.
She read for several hours and then watched a movie for a couple more. The collections of books and DVDs and music CDs were extensive, and while not all of it was to Regina’s tastes, much of it was. Surprised, she even found one of her own movies in the collection. She’d never seen any of them, too embarrassed to watch herself act.
Before she turned in for the night – still to the sound o
f rain – she called Detective Chang to check on the progress of her case using the untraceable “burner” phone she had given Regina to use exclusively for that purpose.
“There isn’t much to tell right now, Miss Molinari,” Chang told her. “We do have what I believe is a good lead, but the investigation is on-going.”
Regina gave a little laugh. “I guess it wasn’t reasonable to hope for better news.”
“Maybe not, but it is still good news. If you had waited any longer to bring in those letters, we wouldn’t have even as much to go on as we do.”
“I’ll have to call Archie to thank him for forcing the issue.”
There was a pause before Chang responded. “As to that, you should wait until you can thank him in person. The phone I gave you should be secure, but I don’t want to take any chances. No calls to anyone but me, and do not answer anything incoming. If you do receive any calls, just let it ring until it stops and then call me.”
Claire Decker Bundle Page 3