Along Came A Prince (23 page)

“What about the
other security cameras?” Ryan asked. “What did they pick up?”

“Not much. When
the security guards let Melbourne and the man into the building, he had his cap
pulled down low and also kept his head down when coming and going. When you
watch the videos, he makes it appear like a normal person’s actions. Obviously,
he’s done this before, and who knows how many times? You know someone like this
can work all over the world. That’s why it’s so difficult to identify them in
local cases like this one.”

“You know he’s our
guy though, don’t you?”

“Doesn’t seem to
be much doubt in that, especially since a note was found next to her body which
said,
Guess who’s next, Audra?”

“What kind of
psychotic bastard are we dealing with, Chief? He
kills someone just to
deliver a few notes.”

“When you’ve been
in this business as long as I have, you learn life or death means nothing to
scum like him. He’d just as soon kill you as look at you. He doesn’t need a
reason,” Brannigan said. “And Ryan, I didn’t want to tell you about the note
yesterday in front of your sister. Since the murderer used the name
Audra
,
I was sure it was our man, but I wanted to wait until we had a chance to
compare the note to the others to see if the same person wrote them all.”

“And did he?” Ryan
was certain he didn’t have to be psychic to know the chief’s answer.

“Absolutely. He
used the same paper, the same ink, and the writing’s the same. Everything’s
been confirmed on this by the experts.”

“I appreciate you
withholding this last note from Stace,” Ryan said, then lowered his voice to a
whisper. “I have to hang up now, Chief. She’s heading this way.”

“One more thing,
can you come to the station tomorrow? I’d like to get your input on some mug
shots I’ve been searching through. We’re narrowing down our choices. We’ve had
the people who’ve seen him trying to identify him. Also, I understand there’s
some paperwork that needs your attention. It shouldn’t take long.”

“I’ll be in about
ten,” Ryan said as he ended his call and turned toward Stacia. “This reminds me
of when you were little, and you used to make me play tea parties with you and
your dolls.” He grinned at his sister as she set his plate of food on the
coffee table. “The only difference is now we get real food.”

“I could get a
couple teddy bears out of my closet if you’re lonesome.”

“I wish we were
back in those days right now,” Ryan replied, his somber tone reflecting his
fateful thoughts.

Me too. And
then there would be no psychotic killer planning a different kind of party for me.
Stacia closed her eyes and shuddered as fear trampled through her body
destroying her much-loved memories of another time, another place.

Ryan was at the
office the next morning for his meeting with the chief when the security man
guarding Stacia’s front door was called on his lapel microphone. “I’ll check
with her,” she heard him say.

“There’s a guy at
the front gate who wants to see you. He says he’s Prince Clayton.”

“You’ve got to be
kidding,” Stacia said.
What was he doing here?

“I take it that’s
a no.” He turned his head to transmit the answer.

“Stop.” Stacia
stuck her hand up to gesture her objection. “Of course, I want to see him.”

“I don’t think so,
Miss Saunders,” the guard said, shaking his head. “Your brother wouldn’t approve
of someone we don’t know coming up here. This man could be anybody, including the
stalker.”

“Let me talk to
him then. If it’s Prince Clayton, I’ll take the responsibility for letting him
come up.” Her heart was beating so rapidly she didn’t know how she had the
ability to speak rationally.
What was Clay doing here?
she asked herself
again.

“The guard at the
gate has already checked his I.D., but this Prince Clayton person still has to
be frisked.”

“All right,”
Stacia said, trying hard not to smile. “You do know you’re planning on frisking
royalty, right? I’ll bet he’s never had that done before. May I please talk to
him now?”

“Push this button
and you’re all set.” He handed her the mic.

“Clay, is it
really you?”

“Hi, Stacia,” the
sexy male voice that could only belong to Clay said.

“What are you
doing here?” Stacia asked. Her heart kept racing in a back and forth Ping-Pong ball
pattern. Even his voice, in the middle of all this terror, could still turn her
on.

“I was in the
neighborhood?” he replied, allowing his statement to become a question. “May I
see you?”

“I’d like that,
but I’m told there’s something else you need to do before you can come up.”

“What?”

 “I seem to be
having a problem here with a stalker. They’re afraid you might be him, so they
don’t want to take any chances with my safety. They want to frisk you.”

“Sure, why not?
It’s not like I haven’t been frisked before.”

“Have you?”

“You know better
than that.”

Stacia turned to
the detective. “The prince is ready to be frisked.” She gave him the mic back.
She wanted to jump up and down and raise her arms in victory.

“I don’t know,”
the detective said and began to shake his head again. “Maybe I should call your
brother.”

“He knows Prince
Clayton, so all he’ll do is tell you the same thing I am.
It is
him
.”
Her temper was beginning to sizzle. “I said I’d take the responsibility, and I
will. Now do what you have to do, just let him come up here.” She felt bad the
instant the words were out of her mouth. “I’m sorry, I realize you’re only
doing your job. I guess this whole ugly situation is getting to me more than I
know.”

“Apology
accepted.” He smiled and pushed the button to transmit his response. “Escort
him up here once you’ve cleared him.”

“Thank you,”
Stacia said. She realized they weren’t taking any chances with Clay not being
who he said he was.

“When he arrives,
I’ll open the door,” the guard instructed. “But before I do, I’d like you to
look through the peephole and make sure he’s the right man.”

Oh, he’s the
right man,
Stacia thought.
He has been from the beginning. All we need
is the right time...and the right destiny.

The knock sounded
what seemed to Stacia to be an eternity later. As directed, she looked through
the peephole and there stood Clay, as sexy as ever in his tight jeans and his
blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up, showing off his tanned muscles. She
started to unlock the door.

“Get away from
there,” her security guard demanded.

Stacia gaped at
him.

“Sorry,” he said,
“but you don’t know where the stalker is. You standing in an open doorway is an
invitation for him to shoot.”

“You think he
could be in the hallway with an armed, security guard out there?”

“He could be
anywhere. It’s not for me to decide if he is or isn’t. My job is to keep you
safe no matter what. Now, please back away from the door altogether.” He looked
through the peephole and unlocked the door. “Okay, Cinderella, I’ll let your
Prince Charming in,” he muttered, more to himself than to her.

Stacia watched as her
protector opened the door, and Clay walked into her life once again.

♥♥

“Do you have
another ice sculpture exhibit near here?” Stacia asked when Clay and she sat
down on the sofa.

He didn’t seem to
know what she was talking about.

“You said you were
in the neighborhood,” she explained.

“I was joking,” he
said. “Ryan called me.”

“He did? Why? Did
he ask you to come here?”

“He called because
he was worried about you. And, no, he didn’t want me here.”

“So you decided to
come galloping to my rescue anyway?”

Clay grinned. “That’s
what a prince is for, so I’m told.”

She didn’t feel
like laughing, so she stood up and walked to the bar. “Can I get you anything?”
she asked, a smile teasing the corners of her mouth in spite of her effort to
be serious.

“I’m fine,” he
said. “Ryan told me a little of what’s going on. Suppose you fill me in with
the rest.”

She ignored his
request. “Why would you fly all the way here from SwissDen to help protect
me?” 

“Because I care
about you, or didn’t you gather that from our last conversation?”

“But you’re the
one who left me. You didn’t give me much of a chance to say how I really felt.”

“Suppose you tell
me now.”

The guard was
sitting on a straight-backed chair facing the door. She motioned her head
toward him. “I can’t,” she said.

“Now you sound
like your brother. When we talked on the phone, he kept telling me those same
words, but I came here anyway. I want to take you back to SwissDen with me. You’ll
be safe there.”

“And how will you
be able to accomplish that?”

“I don’t know, but
I thought once I got here, Ryan would help me figure it out.”

“The stalker wrote
in his note that one step out my door and I’m dead,” she said in a fatalistic
tone. Just saying those words terrorized her. Even having Clay here with armed security
people guarding her front and back doors couldn’t stop her from believing the
inevitable would happen if she left the condo...and possibly even if she
didn’t.

Clay got up and
walked over to her. He put his arms around her and pulled her close to him. “Ryan
and I aren’t going to let anything happen to you, Stacia. Whatever the three of
us do, we’ll decide together first, and I guarantee you’ll be safe. I flew my
own plane over here to get you, so we wouldn’t have to use commercial airlines.
And when we get to Switzerland, there are some places even a stalker can’t get
to, and believe me, SwissDen is one of them.” He tilted her face up to his. “Trust
me, Stacia,” he said.

“I can’t go to
SwissDen, Clay. As soon as the stalker’s caught, I have to get back to work.”

“That’s not a good
enough reason. It’ll only take hours to get back here from there. It won’t be holding
up the production schedule much. Got any more excuses for me?”

“Did Ryan tell you
the stalker has now become a killer?”

“He did, and he
also said you’d be angry at both of us because he called me without asking you
first. Are you?”

“I should be.”

“But you realize
we both love you, right?”

Stacia stared at
him.

“You have a
strange look on your face, Stacia,” Clay said. “Does it bother you to know I never
stopped loving you? Or have you met someone else?”

“There’s no one
else.”

“Let me guess. You’re
still hung up on the right time business.”

“It’s more than
that.” She glanced nervously in the guard’s direction.

“Where can we talk
privately? Can we go into your bedroom?”

“We have nothing
but time,” she said. “We can talk later.”

Clay crossed his
arms. “Have you ever played chess, Stacia?”

She shook her head.
“Why?”

“I was wondering
if we were still at
stalemate
like we were the last time I was here. Or
have we moved to
checkmate
and
game, you win?”

♥♥

“I told you not to
come here,” Ryan said angrily when he returned a short time later.

“I couldn’t stay
away when Stacia’s life was in danger. You should have realized that,” Clay
replied.

“What did you tell
her?” Ryan asked.

“That you said
she’d be angry at both of us if she knew you’d called me.”

“Wait a minute,”
Stacia said, placing her hands on her hips and directing her question to Clay. “You
haven’t said why Ryan called you in the first place. If he didn’t want you to
come here, why did he call you?” 

“Watch it, Clay,”
Ryan warned. “That’s the position she assumes when her temper’s ready to blow.”

“I know all about
her red-haired temper. Did she tell you what –”

“You’re not going
to get out of answering my question, either one of you, by trying to change the
subject. Quit stalling and talk.” Stacia had all she could do to refrain from
shaking her finger at them.

“It wasn’t too
long ago I said the same thing to you,” Ryan said.

“She didn’t want
to talk to me either,” Clay added.

“My question is
serious. You two are acting like...” She tried to grab for the corresponding analogy.
“Like a couple of little boys caught with their hands stuck in the cookie jar. For
the last time, why did Ryan call you, Clay?”

“I just thought he
should know what was going on with you, Stace,” Ryan tried to explain, not
waiting for Clay to answer.

“I don’t believe
you,” Stacia retorted. “What could be so bad that you both try to make a joke
out of it instead of telling me the truth?”

“Let it rest,
Stace. It’s not important,” Ryan said sharply.

“I’d rather put
our energies into how we’re going to get you to the plane. Anyone got any
ideas?” Clay asked.

Stacia thought
about Ryan’s belligerent attitude when he’d come back after stomping out of the
room. When he’d returned, he’d said,
I did what I had to do.
He had to
mean he’d called Clay, yet he didn’t want him to come to California. So what
was the purpose of his call to Clay, and why did Ryan say he had such a bad
taste in his mouth? Everything in her life seemed to have taken on an air of a bizarre
mystery ever since she’d first met Clay. From an anonymous backer for her
latest movie, to mystifying dreams with the power to change her life, to a
stalker who believed she was Audra. Now both of them refused to tell her about
the purpose of their phone conversation.

“I’m not sold on
her leaving here anymore,” Ryan said, breaking into her thoughts.

“I can think of a
dozen scenarios where she’d be in more danger here,” Clay said. “The killer
could start a fire in the building, and everyone would have to evacuate the
premises. What would you do then? Or what about a bomb? If Stacia has to get
out of here in a hurry, how would you handle those unexpected scenarios? Or he
could hold a gun at the security guard’s head and force his way in here, or
even shoot his way up here.” Clay looked up at the plywood-covered skylights
and pointed at them. “And why do you think that could stop him from crashing
through your barricade?”

“Okay...okay. You
can stop now. We’re not the amateurs here, you know. We have thought of every
one of your scenarios and taken them all into consideration. We have men on the
roof, but I see your basic point. It does make sense to get her out of here,”
Ryan said. “I wanted to do that from the beginning, but Stacia wouldn’t leave.”

“So I don’t have
to go into the reasons why SwissDen is safer than here?”

Stacia shivered. After
listening to Clay, she wanted to leave too. “How about if I put on a
bullet-proof vest?” she asked.

“Right, we’ll
start with that,” Ryan said.

“What’s next?”
Clay asked.

 “The SWAT team’s
gear will protect the rest of her. And a police van with bullet-proof sides and
windows backed up to the building’s front door might work. We’d just have a few
feet to worry about her being shot at,” Ryan suggested.

“Do you have one
of those vans?” Clay asked.

“More than one.”

“How safe is the
interior of this building? Could he be somewhere inside?” Clay questioned
further.

“We’ve done a
room-by-room search of this complex. He could be hiding somewhere in here yet,
but if he thought he’d been in jeopardy at that time, he’d have come out
shooting at our men. Our guards outside and around the building have been
doubled. I doubt he could have gotten back in,” Ryan said.

“I don’t want to
gamble with Stacia’s life if we’re not positive,” Clay stated.

“Nor do I,” Ryan
replied. “If I handpick the SWAT team, they can form a guard around her out the
building and into the van. She’ll be well protected, I can guarantee that
much.”

“Great,” Clay said.
“But perhaps we should go one step farther. How about a little puzzle for our
killer to solve? What if there were three identical police vans at the
entrances to the building? Which one would he choose?”

“And there’ll be
three women walking to three different vans,” Ryan added. “They could be
detectives or police officers. They should all be the same size and have red wigs
on. One out the front door, one out the service entrance, and the other out the
back entrance. Everyone’s in full SWAT team equipment, of course. Then we swing
out the garage with Stacia.”