Falling For Her Bodyguard

Kelly swallowed hard. She was up for any challenge, but the way Caroline said it made it seem a bit scary.

“Whatever you want.”

Caroline opened a file drawer to her left. She pulled out a folder and set it on the desk. She handed Kelly a flyer for the farmers market near Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park.

“I’ve heard you’ve been asking to do some more promo for us. Stan keeps trying to convince me that you’re the next big thing here and I should let him find more ways to use your popularity,” Caroline said, making it clear she didn’t agree with him yet. “I’d like to see what kind of draw you really are. I’ve agreed to let you make more public appearances. We’ll start with sending you out to this farmers market every Friday after your show for the rest of the summer. There are also a few smaller concerts we’re sponsoring that I’d like you to attend before we have you onstage at the Grace Note fund-raiser.”

“I’m happy to do all of that.” This was what she had been begging Stan to let her do. Finally, Caroline was on board.

“Great. Once we see how things go, we can meet to discuss your new contract and a possible move to mornings.”

“Thank you so much, Caroline. You won’t be sorry you gave me this chance.”

Kelly practically floated back to her office, where Lyle and Donovan were chatting with Nancy.

“Someone looks happy,” Nancy said when Kelly walked in.

“Maybe that’s because Stan has finally convinced Caroline to give me a chance to prove my worth around here.”

Lyle and Nancy applauded. “That’s awesome!” Lyle said. “Did she offer you a new contract?”

“Not yet.” Kelly stepped over the pile of promo material on the floor and sat down on the corner of her desk that surprisingly didn’t have anything on it. “But she’s going to. She wants me to get out and do more promotion at some of the concerts we’re sponsoring and at the farmers market every week.”

“But you told her about your stalker and how it would be safer if you were here in the studio instead of out there in the public for the time being,” Donovan chimed in. It felt like he took a pin and popped her balloon.

“No, I didn’t tell her that because that would have made her very unhappy, and a very unhappy boss means bad things for my impending contract negotiations.”

Donovan rubbed his forehead as if she had given him a headache. “The detectives working on your case aren’t going to crack it in one day, Kelly. Having you out in the public is going to make it a lot harder to keep you safe.”

“Maybe there’s nothing to worry about. Maybe he’s done with me. He messed up my car and thinks I have a boyfriend. It could all be over.”

Donovan shook his head. “It’s not over.”

* * *

DONOVAN DIDN’T KNOW why he was so sure that Kelly’s stalker wasn’t through with her yet, but he had such a strong feeling about it, he couldn’t ignore it. Hearing that her job was going to take her out of the studio and out in the spotlight again (and on the regular) made him uneasy.

His phone alerted him to a text. The officers investigating the vandalism had some luck getting some surveillance camera footage from outside the parking garage and were going to follow up on a couple leads. Perhaps they would wrap this up faster than he thought.

“What’s your cell number?”

Kelly rattled off the number. Donovan put it in his phone and sent her a text message so she could contact him.

“That’s me,” he said when her phone chimed. “Let me know when you’re ready to leave and I’ll be waiting in the station’s lobby for you.” He wanted to do a little investigating on his own while he had some time.

“I just need to plan for tomorrow’s show and I’ll be ready to go.”

Donovan left her and her friends to finish their work. He stopped to talk to Ms. Delgado before heading down to the parking garage.

“Can I ask you a question about the items that were delivered here for Miss Bonner?”

The observant receptionist tilted her head. “Sure, what do you want to know?”

“I’m wondering if you remember how the packages were delivered. Did they come through the regular mail? Or maybe delivered by someone from wherever the gift was purchased?”

Juliette shook her head. “Same guy every time. Except for the singing telegram. That was a different guy, obviously. But all the rest were delivered by a young guy with sandy blond hair.”

“Can you remember anything else? Was he tall or short, fat or thin?”

“He was about your height. Sturdy-looking guy. I remember faces better than I remember other things about a person.”

“Did he appear to work for a delivery service? Was he wearing a uniform?”

“No uniform. One time he was wearing a hat, but it wasn’t from a delivery company.” She paused for a moment. She pursed her lips and rubbed her chin. “It was a college hat. Alabama maybe. Their colors are red and white, right?”

That was an excellent observation. “You are a gem, Juliette. If you see this man again, would you please call me?” He snatched a pen out of the holder on her desk and wrote his cell number on a scrap of paper. “And if he comes when Kelly is here, could you contact me right away so I can ask him a few questions. If she’s here, I’ll be nearby.”

“Absolutely. Whatever you need, Detective.”

Donovan headed down to the parking garage to take a look around. The officers who were investigating had probably done their due diligence, but it never hurt to have an extra pair of eyes searching for any clues that the stalker may have left behind.

There were no cameras in the garage. No way to be sure who had vandalized Kelly’s car. On the lower level, there was a valet. The officers had surely asked them if they had seen anyone suspicious. Donovan had one question for them the officers wouldn’t have known to ask, however.

Two men with jackets that clearly identified them as the valets were finishing up with a customer, who tipped the one who had retrieved the car. Once the man had driven off, he counted the wad of dollar bills.

“Hey there, can I ask you guys a couple questions?” Donovan asked.

“Questions about what?” one of them asked. He had a young face and dark hair the same color as Kelly’s.

“My name is Detective Walsh and I was wondering if you guys were working here yesterday afternoon.”

“We already talked to some cops earlier today,” the other one said. His hair was light brown and his complexion pale, like he didn’t get out in the sun much. He was built like a marine. Strong and thick.

“Yeah, I know. I’m just following up.”

“You got some ID?” the dark-haired one asked.

Why was it that when he didn’t have his badge, everyone wanted to see it? “You two aren’t in trouble. I just need to know if you were working yesterday and if you saw anyone suspicious hanging around.”

“He asked you if you have any ID,” the light-haired one said. “If you’re a cop, you should have a badge or something.”

Donovan inhaled sharply. “I don’t have my badge on me, but I—”

The dark-haired one pulled his phone out. “Maybe we should call those cops from this morning and tell them someone real suspicious is nosing around and asking weird questions, pretending to be a cop.”

“Go right ahead. They’ll be able to vouch for me and then you two can finally answer some questions.”

“I wasn’t working yesterday,” the dark-haired one said, putting his phone back in his pocket. “That’s what I told the cops this morning, so it doesn’t matter if you’re a cop or not. I can’t help you either way.”