She jumped when she realized he was right behind her. “I thought you were making tea.”
“I was. Things change.”
He came up to her, took the whiskey bottle from her and set it on the counter, pushing it back.
“Hey, this is my house, my whiskey—”
“Yeah, but you’re just trying to hide behind it.”
“Excuse me—”
“You didn’t hear that video from down the hall.”
She was an actress; she could keep her jaw from dropping. She turned away and started back toward her own bedroom.
“Serena.”
She stopped.
“If you want something that you know you can have, why don’t you just take it?”
She turned back around slowly. “How do I know I can have it?”
“Uncertainty? That’s not like you,” he said, leaning against the counter.
“All we ever do is fight.”
“Not in bed. We’re very good together in bed.”
“Is that enough?”
“For tonight? It would be enough for me.”
The night. Oh, sure, the night. It wasn’t enough for her.
But she didn’t want to be alone. She had gone to find him.
She looked him up and down without replying. He wore boxers very well. She turned again, slipping off a shoe as she did so, taking a step, shedding the other shoe. He hadn’t moved, hadn’t taken a step to follow her. Dangling both heels from her fingers, she told him, “If you want something you know you can have, why don’t you just take it?”
This time he followed her.
And later, when they were quiet, and it was the dead of night, she heard the leaves rustling outside her windows, and she was glad. She fell into a peaceful sleep.
Toward daybreak, she awoke to find him standing by the bedside window, looking out into the yard. She came up on her elbows, rubbing her eyes. “Liam?”
“It’s all right. Go back to sleep.” He let the drape fall. “Really, go back to sleep.”
She was so tired that she closed her eyes. Half asleep again, she realized that he hadn’t crawled back in beside her. But she was too close to sleep to gather the energy to wake up and find out where he was.
She dreamed. Dreamed she woke up and started looking for him. He wasn’t in the house. The doors to the patio were open. She walked out, feeling the breeze. But in the breeze she heard a rustling, coming closer, moving toward her. She spun around and around, trying to find the direction of the danger. Serena … ! Her name was hissed with the wind that stroked her ears. She was inside the cabana, and she could hear the whir and roll of a camera, and someone was behind her, reaching out. She could almost feel the touch of fingers against her nape …
She woke with a start, bathed in a cold sweat. She was alone. She almost leaped up in a panic. She took a deep breath. From the kitchen, she could hear the reassuring sound of Liam’s voice. Then a clattering noise alerted her to the fact that he was making coffee.
She showered and dressed, then went to the living room.
She found him dressed in a suede jacket and Dockers, dark hair freshly washed and combed back. “You’re late,” he told her, pouring her a cup of coffee. “You’ll have to take this in the car.” His manner was all business.
He was quiet on the drive. She shook her head, watching him. “I still think I should tell people about that tape.”
He glared at her before giving his full attention to the winding road down to the valley from Glenwood. “Serena, you announced to everyone that you’d seen something in Jane’s room, a saucer used as an ashtray and a half-burned note.”
“Yes?”
“What do you make of it?”
“That she was nervous and smoking, and pissed off about something someone wrote to her.”
“Right. And then she was dead. And you started getting warnings.”
“What warnings?”
“The roses. The one you got at the cemetery. Then there was the rose in your dressing room, the one you thought I gave you.” He hesitated. “Then there was another rose, on your doorstep yesterday morning.”
She stared at him. “There was a rose on my doorstep yesterday?”
“Yes.”
“But you were protecting me. And the house.”
“I’m good—not perfect,” he told her.
She didn’t reply.
“Serena, someone is possibly trying to kill you.”
“We still don’t know that.”
“What the hell do you want? Me to find your body and say, ‘See there, I was right’?”
“Doug has been over to Kyle’s a few times. And he’s been kind of quiet about it. For Doug.”
“That wasn’t Doug in the video.”
“No. It was someone with dark hair.”
“Jay,” he said. After a moment he added, “Or Jeff Guelph.”
She flared at that. “If we’re going by dark hair, it could have been you or Conar.”
The look he gave her might have frozen fire. He didn’t respond. He didn’t talk to her again until they pulled into Joe Penny’s space at the studio. “Serena, leave it alone for a while. That’s why I didn’t tell you about the tape right away. I want to do a little further investigating on my own, without anyone knowing about it. All right?”
“He had dozens of tapes,” she told him.
“Yes, I know,” he said quietly.
She exited the car, and he followed. They walked through the downstairs entry, waved to the guard, and headed up the elevators, straight to the dressing rooms. Serena opened her door. There was a box of candy on her dressing table.
Liam started walking on by her, ready to take it.
“No, it’s all right.”
He gave a questioning look.
She smiled. “I know the brand. And when I talked to Jeff the other day, he said he was sending me something.”
He kept waiting for more.
“Liam, I had a little argument on the phone with Jeff the other day. He called back, upset, apologizing. He said he’s been meaning to send this and that it would come soon.”
“Throw it out. If Jeffrey wants to give you something, let him hand it to you in person. Let’s see where he bought it.” He picked up the candy.
She snatched it from him. “I know where he bought it. It’s my favorite kind of candy. Every time I celebrate something, he and Melinda send this particular candy. I know this is from my brother-in-law. He’s not a killer!”
She made a point of opening the candy. Then she stuck a piece defiantly in her mouth.
“You idiot! Spit that out.”
She bit into it, and was surprised to find it was a chocolate-covered cherry. She hated cherries.
“Now! Spit it out. I mean it!”
To her amazement, he wrenched her around by the arm, ready to pry open her jaws.
“All right, all right!”
She took a tissue from the box on the dressing table and spat the candy into it. She lifted her chin. “I hate chocolate-covered cherries anyway.”
“Don’t touch that candy. You should have more sense than to touch anything that comes in from a fan, even at the best of times.”
“I don’t eat things that come in the mail from strangers. This is from my brother-in-law,” she said indignantly.
“We’ll give it to Hutchens.”
She decided not to argue. “All right, all right, but hold off for just a minute. Please, just let me call the store first and find out if Jeffrey did order the candy for me. I won’t eat any; I promise. And I swear I’ll tell you what the shop says.”
Liam backed away. “All right, here’s the deal. You don’t eat that candy—no matter what. Call the shop. I’ll wait outside and let you get dressed.”
“I think I can resist,” she said.
“No thinking about anything. If you want me out of this room so that you can get ready, swear you won’t touch anything that comes in here through an unknown sour
ce. And don’t leave this room alone.”
“I won’t leave the room alone.”
Liam headed straight down the hallway to Serena’s assistant’s room. He knocked on the door, then opened it. Jinx was behind her desk, working away at her computer. She hadn’t heard his knock, apparently, nor did she hear him enter.
“Jinx?”
The girl jumped out of her chair.
“Hey, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”
She smiled at him, her hand against her chest. “No, I’m sorry I jumped, like a goose.”
“You’re scared around here lately, huh?”
“Well, a little nervous, I guess. But I always startle easily. What can I do for you, Mr. Murphy?”
“Liam, if you don’t mind. Do you know about the box of chocolates in Serena’s room?”
“Of course. They arrived a while ago—with a zillion other things. Serena receives all kinds of gifts in the mail. I censor it all.” She smiled. “But the chocolates are from Jeff and Melinda.”
“You know that for certain?”
“Well, no,” Jinx said, frowning, “but they always send her candy on special occasions.”
“What’s the occasion?”
“I don’t know,” Jinx said. “You’ll have to ask Serena about that.”
“Thanks. Do you have a phone number for Jeff?”
“Sure. There in my Rolodex.”
“Thanks.”
“Help yourself to the phone, too.”
“Thanks. I will.”
He dialed the number to the Guelph home. An answering machine picked up. He didn’t leave a message.
“Thanks,” he told Jinx. “I didn’t mean to interrupt you.”
“Mail,” she said with a grimace. “Tons and tons of it.”
“You know to watch for—”
“Anything remotely threatening,” she finished for him. “I do. I pull it all out. I was told from the beginning that anything ugly or mean goes to Joe first.”
“There’s a lot that’s ugly and threatening?”
Jinx laughed. “This is a soap, and Serena plays a manipulative woman. She gets mostly adoring stuff, but hey, you know. Some people don’t seem to have anything better to do than write nasty letters. There aren’t many in comparison to the great stuff, but hey, like I said, it’s a soap.”
Liam suddenly wished that he was still a cop. He’d like to be reviewing the mail first. Hutchens would share anything he found suspicious, he was certain.
“Well, thanks again. If I need anything, I’ll try not to scare you next time.”
“You didn’t scare me. You just startled me. And it’s okay, really. Please, I’d just die if anything happened to Miss McCormack.”
“Don’t worry. Nothing will happen to her.”
Serena tried calling the candy store when Liam left, but she couldn’t get through. The line continued to be busy. Valentine’s Day was coming up.
At the sound of a tap on her door, she jerked around. Then she shook her head with disgust, telling herself that if there was a murderer out there he wasn’t going to knock first.
She walked to the door, still hesitating. “Serena, it’s me,” Allona announced.
Serena opened the door.
“Mind if I come in?” Allona seemed agitated.
“No, of course not.”
Allona walked into the room and plopped on the sofa. “They’re making me crazy.”
“Who?”
“Joe and Andy.”
“Oh?”
“This should happen, that should happen, this is a great scene, this is too … too tame! We can’t be so tame all of a sudden!”
Serena smiled at her. “So, what’s so different?”
“Well, you’ve got a point there. But I don’t know how you guys are going to deal with all this. You get your scripts, you read, you learn, you rehearse … and two minutes later it’s all been rewritten four times.”
“It isn’t easy, that’s for sure. But I know they’re trying—”
“They’re trying to stay with the original bible for the season; with Jane gone, everything has to be reworked. Even Doug is going nuts. Although,” she said, smiling, “he’s been rewriting one scene for you over and over again. He’s all excited. He says everyone loves a good dirty love scene.”
“Dirty? You don’t mean too sexually explicit, do you? I mean, we already go too far for daytime—”
“I didn’t mean explicit, I meant … dirty. He wants you rolling in the field, or something like that. Personally, I think he’s been watching too much mud wrestling on cable, but hey … who am I to judge?”
“Great. A day in the mud,” Serena murmured. “Oh, well, I guess sex is better than murder and mayhem.”
“Most people would probably think so. I mean, would I rather have my day filled with great sex, or murder and mayhem? Sex, I think. Oh, well. I’ve bitched long enough. Back to the grind, I guess.” She stood up and stretched.
“Try to rein Doug in, okay?” Serena said, and picked up a mascara wand to touch up her lashes. She paused, looking up to see that Allona had opened the box of candy and popped a piece in her mouth.
“Don’t!” she cried.
Startled, Allona swallowed the candy whole, then coughed.
“Water, hang on, I’ll get water—”
Allona lifted a hand. “No,” she gasped. “I’m all right. It’s just that—when did you get so stingy with your candy?”
“I’m not being stingy, I’m just being careful.”
“Of candy?” Allona asked incredulously
“Well, I’m not positive it came from Jeff.”
“That stuff always comes from Jeff. Wow. And I got a chocolate-covered cherry. Really delicious. If you don’t want me eating the cherries—”
“I hate the cherries; you’re welcome to them, except that—”
“I thought you loved cherries.”
“I’d be delighted if you’d eat them all, except that, with everything going on around here … just don’t eat any more, okay?”
“It’s creepy,” Allona said, nearly shuddering. “It’s like having … eyes, eyes crawling over us all the time. Oh, you know what I forgot to tell you?”
“What?”
“He was sniffing around here again this morning.”
“He who?”
“Kyle.”
“Kyle Amesbury was on the set?”
“He pretended he came to see Doug when I ran into him in the hall, but you know what?”
“I haven’t a clue. What?”
“I asked Doug, and Doug said that he hadn’t seen him.”
“Maybe he didn’t get to Doug’s office yet.”
Allona shook her head. “He left. I saw him go down on the elevator before I came in here.”
“Maybe he came to threaten Joe again.”
“Maybe,” Allona agreed with a shrug. She made a face, pointing at Serena. “You know, you’re the one he seems most interested in.”
“I don’t like him, and he knows it. He makes my skin crawl. I wish I could make Doug stay away from him.”
Allona stretched and yawned, then said, “I think Doug is watching his step. You know, Serena, I ate that candy and I haven’t dropped dead yet.”
“Don’t even say that!”
“Can I have another?”
“Allona, let me find out first—”
“Fine. Keep your old candy,” Allona said. “This whole place is going nuts!”
She left, slamming the door.
Chapter 15
GEORGE OLSEN WAS UP in Joe’s office, telling him they hadn’t gotten anywhere. The ladder had so many prints on it that there was no way to discover who had pushed it over.
Joe sat glumly in front of him. Jinx had just brought in a box filled with fan mail, most of it telling Serena how wonderful she was, a strong woman, and even if Verona Valentine wasn’t always entirely ethical, she did take responsibility for her own actions. Most wrote that she was
a wonderful actress, that she entertained them tremendously, and that they got through mounds of housework, pet messes, laundry, baby care, and cooking—because of her.
Not all the mail, however, was positive. Of course they all knew that. Sometimes they would laugh over a fan taking the soap too seriously.
Some of it was mail telling Verona Valentine that she was a monster and that she needed to stay away from her sisters’ husbands and lovers. A few notes were worse, telling her that she should be shot, horsewhipped, and sunk to the bottom of the sea. Usually they found such passionate hatred, which was actually necessary to the longevity of a soap, to be amusing.
None of it was funny now.
Joe had told Jinx to make sure that he saw anything threatening before Serena did. There were a few letters that the police had seen and dismissed; letters that dealt with the nastiness of her character, warning that she had to be very careful because there was such a thing as karma and something terrible could happen to her, too.
One of them read, “Verona! You love Egypt so much, you should sink into the desert sand and mummify yourself!”
Joe had gotten a big kick out of that letter. He wondered if it might be used for a scene. Maybe a dream sequence, in which Verona imagined herself a queen of Egypt, falling in love with the wrong man and earning the vengeance of the pharaoh. She could wake up, smothering in the covers, and find herself saved by … oh, well, that one would have to be figured out. Verona Valentine wasn’t saving herself for anyone special.
“Mr. Penny,” Olsen said, “have you been listening to me?”
“Of course. I always listen to you, Lieutenant,” Joe said politely. “I just had a thought. A creative idea, you know.”
“I said, I would like to see Serena.”
“I’ll call her up.”
Joe buzzed through to Serena’s dressing room, telling her that Olsen was there, and would she mind terribly coming up?
A few minutes later, she walked in, followed by Liam Murphy.
“Serena, have a seat,” Olsen invited, nodding to Liam.
Serena sat across the desk from Joe. Liam Murphy remained standing, but he immediately said, “Serena received a box of candy this morning. It should be checked out.”
“Oh?” Olsen looked at Serena. She pursed her lips. “Miss McCormack? Do you know who sent you the candy?”