Page 79 of Endeavor

The rest of the evening is pleasant as we eat Chinese takeout. I watch Grady and his brother interact. Their similarities are astounding. Even the way they hold their glasses with their first two fingers together is oddly the same.

By ten o’clock, Jason is yawning. “I should get home. But I’m glad you called me. This was great.”

“Absolutely, we should do something again this week, if you have time,” Grady says. We all stand and walk to the front door.

“I’d love to”—Jason pauses as at the door—“maybe Thursday night? There’s a new Mexican restaurant over in Arlington Heights.”

“Yeah, that sounds great,” Grady says. “Text me a time, and I’ll be there.”

“You should come too, Emma,” Jason says to me with a smile.

“Uh, yeah, sure. I’d love to, I mean if you guys want me to tag along? I don’t want to rain on the parade.”

“Not at all,” Jason assures me as he steps into the elevator. “See you guys on Thursday.”

The doors close and Grady shuts the penthouse door. “What do you think?” he asks me.

“I like him. He’s sort of awkward and nerdy. He’s different than you, but he seems nice. I’m glad you invited him over.”

“I’m glad you approve. I’m a little nervous about Mom meeting him. I suppose that will happen in time, but I’m glad someone other than me has had a chance to talk to him.”

I yawn.

“Let’s go get some sleep. You look exhausted,” Grady says as he wraps an arm around my shoulder.

“Oh, I don’t know why, it’s not like my boyfriend spent all weekend making love to me,” I say and then freeze at the words I just spoke. “Making love.” And “boyfriend.” I cringe hoping he doesn’t read into it.

“Well, I could make love to you again,” he says as he kisses my neck. I sigh at his relaxed voice.

“You might be able to talk me into it,” I admit as we enter the guest suite, shutting the door behind us.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Grady

After enjoying my girlfriend thoroughly all night and again this morning, a security agent named Carl accompanied her to school.

And here I am, sitting at my mother’s conference table after a grueling morning of going through album issues with Kellen from the recording studio after which I had a fitting for some clothes I need to wear for a shoot for the album cover. My publicist, Clyde, and his assistant, Wilson, stopped by to discuss things with my brother. Wilson still creeps me out with the way he watches me like I’m some sort of alien.

And don’t forget my manager and his assistant popping by to check out the new digs. Dean has a secured video conference call set up with Benson, Rhett, Max, me, and Calvin. Calvin is sitting in his office along with a record executive from our label who suddenly gives a shit about us after a few news outlets reported on the stalker issue.

“Thanks, everyone, for being available to meet with us today,” Dean begins. “We’ve been working closely with the LAPD, particularly Detective Benson, and we have some information we wanted to debrief you on.” He presses the touchscreen monitor on the wall and a report pops up. “You should now all have this report. We ran an analysis through our software program that was designed by former intelligence officers. It has presented us with what we believe is a clear description of the stalker.”

I can see all the small screens with everyone else on the call and their gazes are locked on the shared screen with the report.

“We believe we are looking for a white male, age twenty-five to thirty. He is likely educated, most likely has a college degree and work experience in some area of biology and/or medicine. He may have worked as a technician at an animal hospital or a doctor’s office. He likely does not openly seem unusual. He may actually present as friendly and outgoing. We believe his obsession is with the band, but predominately with Grady.” All eyes glance up at what I assume is the square with my face in it on their screens. “This obsession likely started prior to the band formation, when Grady was racing, although now it is possible it’s morphed into something more. We aren’t sure of the underlying motive at this time. At first, we thought it might be a case of intimate stalking and that the individual may know Grady, but considering the most recent events, there is a firm possibility that the stalker is psychotic. This means the individual is delusional and their actions may be erratic to us but make sense to him. We’ve cross-matched the database with individuals known to Grady. There are a few individuals that work with the band that presented as possible suspects. Detective Benson is working on interviewing each of them. At present time, we can’t rule out a possibility of a delusional fan. The fan may even have been a fan of Ken Daniels and transitioned the focus of their obsession to Grady. That being said, the security plan will continue to be in place until the case is solved. Following that, we will re-evaluate protocols and move on from there. Any questions?”

The video feeds are silent as everyone processes what we’ve just learned.

“What about any partial prints from the break-in at my house?” Rhett asks.

“Unfortunately, whoever broke in was very clever and wore gloves. We’re trying to use some new software to pull a possible full face for facial recognition, but that software takes time to fill in the missing parts of the face,” Dean explains. “We’ll keep this as our weekly debriefing time and add in any additional meetings as they become needed.”

Everyone mutters goodbyes. I continue to stare at the blank screen on the wall.

“You alright, Mr. Daniels?” Dean asks me.

I turn to him, my hands folded in my lap, one leg crossed over the other. “I need this resolved ASAP, Dean. I mean it. I’ll kick extra money if that helps.”

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