Page 36 of Two Hearts' Ploy

“There’s been a break in the case in California. I wanted to fill you in on the details before anyone else got a chance to talk with you first,” Jake said, guiding her to the elevator. “I suppose it’s not too professional of me, but it’ll allow me to get a jump start on the investigation and determine how all of this has to do with you.”

“I’d actually appreciate that,” she answered. “At first, I didn’t really take the threats seriously, but after what happened at the Hollywood studio, I need to know why someone hates me enough to want to kill me.”

Jake glanced around as they headed to the lakefront breezeway where the elevator leading to his office was located.

“The news I have is rather disturbing,” he murmured softly. “Disturbing enough that I think that it would be better if we waited to discuss everything from now on behind closed doors.”

“Now, you’re scaring me,” she answered as they stepped onto the elevator.

“I wish I could reassure you that you shouldn’t be,” he answered grimly.

She blinked, feeling a deep sense of foreboding as they stepped off the elevator across from Jake’s private office apartment.

Quickly unlocking the door, he motioned her inside.

“Would you like something to drink before we sit down?” he asked, pointing to the padded kitchen stools.

“Water would be great,” she answered, taking a seat on one of the stools at the island, where a laptop was resting.

After handing her water, Jake took a seat in front of the laptop, opening it wide.

“I’m going to try to make this brief. I know you’ve got a busy week ahead recording,” Jake admitted, giving her a smile. “Eve was thrilled with your demo, I guess, and hopefully, you won’t mind that she told Danny and I about everything.”

“Of course not,” Wren replied. “You’re her parents. And besides, I’m not sure what my next move would have been if you hadn’t taken charge of this stalking situation once I arrived. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.”

“Then I’d better just spit it all out,” Jake said, sighing. “They found the man who was responsible for sabotaging the wiring at the studio. It was done very deliberately the evening before. The local authorities were able to access some additional videos that had been recorded by the band technicians the night before. The video recordings were routed to a laptop, since they sometimes like to use those images for promotional purposes. Purely by coincidence, the tech who’d been recording the performance of the band the night before had left the cameras running afterwards so it didn’t get shut down until the studio was locked up for the night.”

Jake heaved a sigh, turning the screen of his laptop towards her.

“Do you recognize this man?”

Wren pursed her lips, staring at the slightly familiar face. “I’m not sure. Maybe I’ve worked with him at some time or another. Is he a musician?”

“Yes. He was a studio guitarist, who was regularly called in for recording sessions.”

“Then he might have been part of my backup band sometime or another. I rotate musicians between tours,” she admitted, hesitating. “Did you say hewasa studio musician?”

“His name was Chad Winslow. They found him dead in his apartment earlier today,” Jake said grimly. “He’d been shot.”

Her eyes going wide, Wren drifted into a state of shock as Jake went on to detail their next moves.

“We’ll need to keep this quiet of course. If there’s some kind of a targeted plan to kill you, then more than one person has to be involved, because a second person would have had to have been the one to shoot the musician. The stalking itself might have been a ploy, but then again, if someone has a vendetta against you, it could have been a reason in itself to go after you,” Jake observed.

Wren tried to focus on what Jake was saying.

“You couldn’t have chosen a better place than Crystal Rock to hide out,” he said matter-of-factly. “You’re going to need a lot of support, Wren. Fortunately, we’ve had quite a bit of experience with criminals along with their associated activities. Trafficking, stalking, murder…this town has had more than its share of issues.”

She felt…dazed, she realized, shaking her head in disbelief.

“Extra security is being installed tomorrow at Jeff’s property. We’re going to speed things up as fast as we can in case there’s trouble. If news of your stay here gets out somehow – Eve mentioned that you’d be needing musicians to begin recording – there’s no telling how long it would take for your stalker to find you.”

“I understand,” she finally said. “There’s really no way we can keep so many people silent on something this big. My agent is planning on relaunching my entire career if the prerelease single is as successful as he thinks it will be. But, I’m thinking we could probably wait at least a few weeks before we begin recording the version of the song we’ll be releasing.”

Standing, Jake nodded his approval. “A little more time to prepare for tighter security for you would definitely help. We’ll talk more during the next few days. Okay?”

She nodded, standing.

“Come on. I’d better escort you back to your suite. From now on, you’re going to need a shadow, Wren. I’m sorry about that. It would probably be better for you to move into Jeff’s place as soon as possible.”

---