Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 57423 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 287(@200wpm)___ 230(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57423 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 287(@200wpm)___ 230(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
It felt good. It had felt so good being with him the night before, and it hadn’t all been about sex. Crying in his arms had felt like she’d released a pressure valve she hadn’t even known she had.
She heard the sliding glass door open and turned. West was in the shower. They needed to leave in an hour, and she would have to face her castmates. She was eager to get to do some research today while they were on the tour, but she wasn’t happy about putting her mask back on.
It wasn’t West who walked out. It was Mr. Taggart’s big body taking up all the space in the doorway.
“Is it all right if we talk before I head out to the office? I’ve got a couple of questions Eve wanted the answers to.” When he wasn’t frowning, he was a spectacularly gorgeous man. Not that he was bad when he frowned.
He reminded her of her stepdad. When he wasn’t in authoritative mode, he was quite pleasant to be around.
She stepped to the side and allowed him to join her. “Sure. What does she need to know?” Eve was the profiler who was doing a work-up on her stalker. “Although I can make it easy for her. If she’s wondering why JK does what he does, it’s because he’s an asshole.”
Taggart chuckled. “Yeah, I got that. I think she wants to understand why he’s an asshole.”
She wasn’t sure having someone profile her stalker would really do any good. “Does it matter? It’s not like I’m going to pay for his therapy. He could use it, though.”
Taggart joined her, resting his arms on the balcony railing. “Yeah, we all need that from time to time. How are you this morning? Yesterday seems to have been pretty rough on you.”
She was surprised he was being so nice to her. She’d gotten the feeling they hadn’t exactly hit it off, but he’d been charming this morning. That could have been all about Martin’s breakfast. “I’m okay. It was rough, but good things happened too. I mean, the exploding box thing was awful, but it turned out to not be real blood. I knew it the minute I calmed down enough to smell it. It’s a common mixture the FX guys use for blood on movie sets. I know the policewoman said she needed to send it to a lab, but that’s what it is.”
“So you think he’s working with someone? I thought he was in set design not special effects,” Taggart said.
He might have been the inspiration for a couple of movies, but it was clear he didn’t know how crews worked. “He would know how to make it. Everyone pitches in, especially on small budget sets, and almost everyone starts there. I happen to know JK started out working for the set dresser on a couple of low-budget horror films, so he would have helped the FX guys. He would also know how to spring-load a box.”
“But he’s never done anything like this before,” Taggart mused. “None of his stalking behavior has been physical.”
“The LA cops told me they thought he might be escalating. Not that they would do much about it.” They hadn’t arrested him for the dead birds in her home citing they didn’t have enough evidence to get a warrant. “West told me he’s probably here in Dallas.”
Over breakfast, he’d given her a rundown of all the reasons she needed to be super careful. She rather thought she was about to get another lecture.
“We’re looking for him,” Taggart assured her. “I’ve got our sister company actively taking the lead. Despite teasing Adam about his design choices, he’s the best in the business. He’ll find this guy. Did anything happen around the time he first broke into your home? If I understand correctly, before that he’d never physically accosted you.”
“He liked to yell things at me,” she admitted. “It sucked, but I didn’t feel like I was in real danger. It’s not like he cornered me or tried to get me alone. I think it was more like he wanted an audience to air his grievances to. Oh, he was big into trolling me on all the socials.”
Taggart’s head nodded as though that was the answer he’d expected. “So what changed?”
“I don’t know. I’ve heard he’s had trouble getting a job. I don’t feel bad about that. He was harassing women. He should have trouble getting a job.” Most men she talked to about it hedged in some way. They talked about giving him another chance and him learning his lesson.
“He could have kept his mouth shut, done some training, and been a better human being. Then he would deserve a job. Until then, fuck him.”
Okay, she kind of liked West’s boss. It gave her the courage she needed to tell him the bad part. She knew West would tell his boss about what had happened with Matt, but she needed to do it herself. “Speaking of, we should talk about Matt.”