Kelsey Roberts - Undying Laughter

“Also wanted to be a comic, isn’t that right?” Wes said.

Sighing, Destiny said, “That was years ago. David gave up on performing when he realized he didn’t have the timing to do stand-up.”

“So now he’s living his dreams vicariously through your career?”

Glaring at Wesley now, she felt her blood pressure begin to rise. “As soon as you pass your boards, Dr. Porter, feel free to diagnose at will. Until then, I’d be grateful if you’d keep your Psych 101 diagnoses to yourself.”

“It is a possibility,” Dylan said, breaking the string of tension connecting Destiny to the handsome doctor.

“No,” she said, without even a trace of the venom she’d spewed at Wesley. “The worst thing I can say about David Crane is that he can, on occasion, be overbearing.”

“What about the other people you’re close to?” Dylan queried.

“There’s only Gina and Walter.”

“Gina’s the one with the gun,” Dylan surmised, smiling at the now-demure Gina. “Who’s this Walter person?”

“Walter Sommerfield,” Destiny answered. “He lives in Potomac, Maryland. He and his daughter, Samantha, used to come to every one of my shows when I was working at David’s place.” Sadness settled over her as she remembered the bright-eyed young woman with so much promise. “After Samantha died, Walter sort of latched on to me and gave me the backing I needed to hit the road.”

“What happened to the daughter?” Wesley asked.

“She died in a car accident two days after she was accepted at Harvard Law School. Walter had already lost his wife. Losing Samantha nearly killed him.”

Wesley nodded. From anyone else, it would have been a comforting gesture. From Wesley, though, she interpreted it in a completely different way.

“Is Walter’s pain psychologically significant?” she asked. Why, she wondered, did everything this man say or do annoy her so much? It was like nothing she’d ever experienced in her life. Destiny walked over to the phone, lifted it from the cradle and held it near Wes. “Maybe you can have a session over the phone. Maybe you’d find it fascinating to discuss the story of his only child’s death?”

Calmly, Wesley took the phone from her hand and replaced it. In the process, his knuckles brushed against her skin, causing an immediate and involuntary reaction. It was a tingle that warmed her blood and quickened her pulse for just an instant.

“I have no intention of causing anyone any pain,” he said softly.

When he spoke in that deep, velvety voice, Destiny was quite certain that she would do anything he asked. Hell, she thought, if he used that voice to tell her to take a leap into Charleston Harbor, she’d be smelling like fish and diesel fuel in no time flat.

“Tell me about the first delivery,” Dylan said to Gina.

“She was onstage,” Gina began. “I thought they might have been from her father, so I took a peek at the card. When I saw it—” Gina paused as a chill shook her body “—David and I decided to toss them. They’ve been coming like clockwork for the past six months.”

“What’s your first recollection?” Dylan asked Destiny.

Taking a seat across from the two men, Destiny didn’t hesitate with her answer. “I received a pot of gardenias with the note when I was appearing in the Bahamas about three months ago.”

“And you hired a detective to try and trace the deliveries?” Dylan continued.

Destiny met Dylan’s concerned eyes and said, “Miller. Gina can give you his number.”

“Why did you think the flowers were from her father?” Wes asked.

“Carl’s like that. The pot was huge, you know. Destiny’s father never does things in half measure.”

Wesley’s dark brows drew together. “And I guess you’re sure he’s not behind this? Meaning it as a joke,” he added quickly.

“My father’s an alcoholic who spends more time in detox than he does at home,” she answered. “So even though he does have a slightly off-center sense of humor, he couldn’t afford to do something like this, nor would he ever do anything remotely threatening to me.”

There was something about the understanding she saw in Wesley’s expression that made her feel suddenly less hostile and more willing to share with this man. Still, she wasn’t yet able to let down the barrier of her stage persona. Donning a huge smile, she said, “In case you haven’t noticed, it’s politically correct and quite in vogue to come from a dysfunctional family.” She leaned across the coffee table, her glass cupped between her hands. “My father’s binges are well documented, and I even make references to them in my routines. It happens to be common knowledge. But this, this is another matter altogether.”

Gina abruptly excused herself from the room.

A small alarm went off in Destiny’s head. The two women were as close as sisters. It was very much out of character for Gina to run off like that. Then again, her little voice of reason argued, maybe Gina was hiding in case the matter of her father’s current residence became a part of the conversation.

“And this Miller person you hired never found anything?”

“Nothing,” she admitted, feeling silly for even paying his bill in light of his complete and total lack of results.

“Did anyone know you were coming into Charleston a day early?” Dylan asked.

“I think I said something about it when I was onstage the other night—in front of about two hundred and fifty people. Something about a one-day vacation.”

“That narrows it down,” Wesley said with a resigned sigh.

“Do you get these flowers every night? Opening night?”

“It varies,” she told Dylan. “Sometimes I get four or five in a week. Other times I only get them on opening night. Once it was the last performance.”

“No pattern,” Wesley said to Dylan.

“They scare the bejesus out of me every time,” Destiny said. “That’s a pattern.”

“Can you think of anyone who would want to hurt you?” Dylan asked. “Maybe you’ve gotten some weird mail, something like that?”

“You would have to ask Gina for—”

“What in the hell are you two doing here?”

Startled, Destiny turned toward the angry voice. She actually jumped when David slammed the door with enough force to rattle the watercolor prints on the walls.

Dylan and Wesley rose in unison, both men appearing unfazed by David’s display of ire.

Wesley spoke first. “I’m Rose’s son, Wesley, and this is Dylan Tanner. We dropped by to discuss the threats against Ms. Talbott.”

David cast her an irritated look before turning his furious brown eyes on Wesley. “Anything even remotely connected to Destiny is my business. I’ll handle everything—without interference from some bar hand and his buddy.”

Dylan wasted no time producing his official identification. David visibly blanched.

“As far as I can tell,” Wesley began, “you’ve done very little to protect Destiny from the individual who seems to be quite aware of her every move.”

“I hired a detective!” David wailed in his own defense. “And he’s never gotten close to her. He only leaves her notes and flowers.”

“He got pretty close to her today,” Wesley said. For the first time Destiny heard the faint trace of an actual, honest emotion in his tone. It could only be described as annoyance. For some reason, that pleased her. It also disturbed her.

“What are you talking about?” David thundered as he stomped over to her side.

“He left her a welcoming pot of gardenias at the Tattoo,” Dylan stated.

“How in the world would he know you were arriving today?” David asked

David was her manager, accustomed to orchestrating every aspect of her professional life. She could tell by his narrowed eyes that he was struggling to control his fury. Apparently he wasn’t too thrilled to have this Ivy League poster boy basically tell him to go to blazes.