Jeffery Deaver: XO

The suburbs and the cities, that’s what I’m about.

Me, I’m not a cowgirl, unless maybe you count:

Looking people in the eye and talking to them straight.

Not putting up with bigots or cheaters or with hate.

Remembering everything my mom and daddy said

About how to treat my family, my country and my friends.

Didn’t think I was a cowgirl, but I guess that all depends.

“Love that song,” he gushed. “Just love it. Well, you know that. I told you must be a hundred times.”

“I really…” Kayleigh was a deer in the middle of the road.

Bobby put his hand on Edwin’s shoulder. Not quite hostile, not quite friendly. Dance wondered if this would be the start of a fight and she reached for the only weapon she had-her mobile-to dial 911 if need be. But Edwin simply stepped back a few inches, ignoring Bobby. “Come on, let’s get that iced tea. I know you think theirs here is the best in town. I’ll treat. Mr. Today, remember? Hey, your hair’s really beautiful. Ten years, four months.”

Dance had no idea what that meant but the comment clearly upset Kayleigh even more. Her jaw trembled.

“Kayleigh’d like to be left alone,” Alicia said firmly. The woman seemed to be just as strong as Bobby Prescott and her glare was more fierce.

“You enjoying working for the band, Alicia?” he asked her as if making conversation at a cocktail party. “You’ve been with ’em about, what? Five, six months, right? You’re talented too. I’ve seen you on YouTube. You surely can sing. Wow.”

Alicia leaned forward ominously. “What the hell is this? How do you know me?”

“Listen, friend,” Bobby said. “Time for you to leave.”

Then Tye Slocum slowly pushed back in his chair and strode to the door. Edwin’s eyes followed and on his face was welded the same smile that had been there from the moment he’d stepped to the table. But something had changed; it was as if he actually expected Kayleigh to join him for tea and was perplexed she wasn’t. Tye’s mission to summon the security guard seemed to irritate him. “Kayleigh. Please. I didn’t want to bother you here but you never got back to me on email. I just want to visit for a bit. We’ve got a lot to talk about.”

“I really can’t.”

Bobby took Edwin’s arm once more before Dance could intervene. But again the man simply stood back. He didn’t seem to have any interest in a confrontation, much less a physical fight.

There was a blinding flash and the table was immersed in light as the door opened, then the illumination was blocked. Removing his aviator shades, Darthur Morgan moved in fast. He looked at Edwin’s face and Dance could see the muscles around his mouth tighten, a sign of displeasure at himself for missing the slimmed-down stalker.

“You’re Edwin Sharp?”

“That’s right, Mr. Morgan.”

It wasn’t hard to get information about people nowadays, especially those connected with a very public person like Kayleigh Towne. But learning the name of her security guard?

“I’m going to ask you to leave Ms. Towne alone now. She wants you to leave. You’re becoming a security threat.”

“Well, under Giles versus Lohan, I’m really not, Mr. Morgan. There’s not even an implied threat. Anyway, the last thing that I want is to hurt or threaten anybody. I’m just here offering my friend some sympathy over something that happened to her, something traumatic. And seeing if she’d like some tea. Happy to buy you some too.”

“I think that’s about it now,” Morgan said in a low, insistent baritone.

Edwin continued calmly, “You’re private, of course. You can make a citizen’s arrest but only if you see me committing a crime. And I haven’t done that. You were a police officer, that’d be different, but you’re-”

Well, it’s come to that, Dance thought. Guess I knew it would. And she rose, displaying her CBI identification card.

“Ah.” Edwin stared for what seemed to be an inordinately long time as if memorizing it. “Had a feeling you were law.”

“Could I see some ID?”

“You bet.” He handed over his driver’s license, issued by Washington state. Edwin Stanton Sharp. Address in Seattle. The picture was of somebody who was indeed much heavier and with long, stringy hair.

“Where are you staying in Fresno?” Dance asked.

“A house by Woodward Park. One of those new developments. It’s not bad.” A smile. “Sure gets hot in Fresno.”

“You moved here?” Alicia asked in a surprised whisper.

Kayleigh’s eyes widened at this and her shoulders rose.

“Nope, just renting. For the time being. I’m in town for the concert. It’s going to be the best of the year. I can’t wait.”

Why would he rent a house to attend a single concert?

“No, you wanted to stalk Kayleigh,” Bobby blurted. “The lawyers warned you about that.”

Lawyers? Dance wondered.

Edwin looked around the table. The smile dimmed. “I think all of you… how you’re acting is upsetting Kayleigh.” He said to her, “I’m sorry about that. I know what you’re up against. But don’t worry, it’ll all work out.” He walked to the door, paused and turned back. “And goodbye to you too, Agent Dance. God bless you for the sacrifices you make for the people of this state.”

WHEN DANCE SAID, “Tell me,” they did. All of them.

At once.

And only after she reined in the intersecting narratives did she begin to grasp the whole picture. Last winter a fan had become convinced that Kayleigh’s automated form letters and emails, signed “XO, Kayleigh,” hugs and kisses, were to be taken personally. Because the songs had meant so much to him, perfectly expressing how he felt about life, he’d told himself that they were soul mates. He began a barrage of correspondence-email, Facebook and Twitter posts, handwritten letters-and he’d sent her presents.

Advised to ignore him, Kayleigh and her assistants stopped responding, except to send back any gifts, unopened, but Edwin Sharp nonetheless persisted, apparently believing that her father and handlers felt threatened by the connection between him and Kayleigh and wanted to keep them apart.

He was told to stop, dozens of times. The law firm representing Kayleigh and her father threatened him with civil action and referral to the police if he didn’t cease and desist.

But he hadn’t.

“It’s been so creepy,” Kayleigh now said, her voice breaking. She took a sip of tea from a new glass the bartender had brought her when he’d come to mop up the spill. “He’d want a strand of hair, a fingernail clipping, a piece of paper I’d kissed, with my lipstick on it. He’d take pictures of me in places where I’d never seen him. Backstage or in parking lots.”

Dance said, “That’s the thing about a crime like this. You never quite know where the stalker is. Maybe miles away. Maybe outside your window.”

Kayleigh continued, “And the mail! Hundreds of letters and email messages. I’d change my email address and a few hours later he’d have the new one.”

“Do you think he had anything to do with the light that fell?” Dance asked.

Kayleigh said she thought she’d seen some “weird” things that morning at the convention center, maybe shadows moving, maybe not. She hadn’t seen an actual person.

Alicia Sessions was more certain. “I saw something too, I’m sure.” She shrugged her broad shoulders, offering hints of tattoos largely hidden under the cloth. “Nothing specific, though. No face or body.”

The band wasn’t in town yet and the rest of the crew had been outside when they thought they’d seen the shadowy figure. Bobby hadn’t seen anything other than the strip light starting to fall.