“Now I am,” I said to calm him down. “I take it that everyone is talking about it?”
“Yes,” he muttered while still in fight mode. “But no one mentioned the gun shots.”
“Wonderful.”
“Well,” his tone lifted. “I just wanted to check in on you before Hawkins sweeps you away from all us little people again.”
“Hawkins?” I pretended to be clueless.
“You were never very good at lying.” Kosic winked at me.
Scrunching my face up, I tried not to crack a smile. How did he hear about us?
“Later.” He pushed off the side of the van and waved as he left.
Once Kosic left, we overheard Hampton muttering outside, “I’m stationed out by their van.” Shortly after, he came around to the side of the van. “They need me up in security. I should be back before the show starts. Just stay here,” he instructed before jogging off.
“What happened to not being able to leave our side?” I asked Riley.
“Yeah, a lot of people aren’t doing what they’re supposed to, are they?”
“What do you mean?” I asked as we both grabbed up another slice.
“How did The Grimm Reaper get past security and the crew?”
“Have you seen him? He looks just like all the rest of them.” I dramatically widened my eyes as I discarded the tomatoes off the slice and nibbled on it.
“Yeah, to us, but when you work with the same people night after night, day after day?” he questioned.
“That’s true,” I agreed.
“No one is just walking into this place. Look at the situation like it is the seating arrangement,” he explained. “You can’t even get up to the seats in the second pavilion without a ticket and we all know those are the shit seats.” He held his shoulders out like, come on now. “It’s layer after layer of security just to get down to the orchestra pit where they watch everyone like a hawk. Hell, some nights they take signs away so it doesn’t obscure their view of everyone in front of the stage.” He chomped on the crust of his pizza. “I once heard that at a Jonas Brothers’ concert they knew a woman twelve rows back was mentally ill. They warned them not to make eye contact with her.”
“Wow! Wait…you went to a Jonas Brothers concert?” I smiled.
“Shut it.” Riley suddenly became preoccupied with his slice of pizza. “But, you get the idea. No one just shows up and pretends to be someone they aren’t.” He sighed. “Because that’s how, in this case, a person got killed.”
“And how is it that no one has a record of him with you and Lizzie backstage? You guys didn’t know Cyrus wasn’t Monroe, but he still had to be allowed back.”
“Yeah.” I narrowed my eyes as I finished my last bite and rubbed my hands together. “That is weird. I remember overhearing Woodley wondering the same thing that night I tried to identify Cyrus.”
“This means that he can’t be doing this alone.” He looked distractedly out at the greenery that faced away from the parking lot.
“Riley, no one from security or the crew is going to let one of their own get killed.”
“You think? What about for five million dollars?” His eyes suddenly peaked. “My boss told me that everyone in the crew is being interrogated by the police. Security for the band is starting to wonder if The Grimm Reaper has a few people helping him from within.”
“Wow, you’ve been busy,” I noticed.
“Of course I have, Joie, if what Hawkins says is true then you’re next.” He looked at me intently. “Plus, what do you think there is to do while Lizzie and you are off gallivanting with the band and I’m stuck by myself in this hot, sticky van?”
“Well, you’re not staying by yourself from now on.”
“Yeah, I am because voyeurism isn’t my thing.” He cleared his throat and smiled.
“Whatever.” Rolling my eyes, I thought about Cyrus again. “I can’t believe that something as stupid as a little blogging put my life in jeopardy.”
“That’s not what did it.” Riley’s eyebrows knitted together. “It’s because of your relationship with Hawkins.”
“All we have done before today was fight on the internet,” I said in my defense.
“You two have sexual chemistry on the internet. All you’re missing is the makeup sex. People love it,” he continued. “They can’t get enough of it. The only people who are clueless as to what brought the two of you together are Hawkins and you,
apparently
.”
Laughing, I bit my lip, I wasn’t sure I agreed, but I liked that he thought that. “You know, truthfully, I don’t want to blog about Hawkins anymore.”
“I know,” he murmured. “I wouldn’t want to share the details of my love life either.”
“But Lizzie is getting restless.” He exhaled loudly. “I’m not sure how much more of this she can take. She’s never had to work this hard to get a guy before.” He sighed. “I just hope she doesn’t do something stupid.”
“More than she already has?”
“Yeah.” He threw his hands up in the air. “It’s Lizzie.”
“Speaking of which,” I said. “Where is she?”
“What time is it?” Riley shrugged while looking down at his wrist watch. “Oh, shit, we need to get seated.”
“Well, I’m not going to another concert like this.” I pulled down my shirt with Hawkins’ face across it. Grabbing up my navy blue book bag, I proceeded to dump the contents out on the cot. “I have nothing to wear that’s clean,” I mumbled when something was tossed off the cot and clinked off the metal of the van below.
“You could always wear one of my t-shirts,” he offered.
“Or we could stop at the laundry mat.” I pushed the clothes to the side.
“Even my clothes want me to wash them. Look, they’re throwing money at me.” I wrapped my fingers around the coin and held it up.
Both our eyes suddenly narrowed as we looked at the thick round metal piece about the size of a quarter, but without any inscription on it. Riley plucked it out of my hands, glaring down at it.
“Did this come from your bag?” He suddenly sounded troubled.
“Yeah.”
Riley grabbed the bag and turned it inside out. He felt along the silken interior material, but didn’t find any others.
“You think someone planted that thing in my bag?”
“Someone had to of, Joie.” His eyes flashed up to mine. “This is a tracking device.”
I was speechless, but it all made perfect sense. “So that’s how Cyrus found us.”
“Probably.” He pressed his lips together grimly.
“But who put it in my book bag?” Then Hampton popped into my mind remembering that I had given it to him to leave in the SUV.
“What about the van the night you thought Cyrus raided it, did you have your bag?” Riley asked.
“I don’t know?”
“Joie, think,” he pressed me.
“It would have been the night when we were on the roof with Hawkins.” I tried to replay what I could remember of the day, but all the days were starting to blend together. “I don’t know.”
“And the only other time you left it with someone else was that night Hampton offered to take it, right?”
“Yes.”
“If you didn’t leave your bag in the van that night, that means that Hampton is invested in your whereabouts way more than he should be.”
“Speaking of which,” I pulled back the side curtain, “where is he
now
?”
We both perked up in the back to scan the parking lot in front of the van, but we didn’t see him anywhere. In fact, we didn’t see
anyone
in the parking lot. The sun was already setting across the sky. A couple overhead lights flickered on and off.
“I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to try to find the lighting booth in the dark,” I said hesitantly.
“I’ve been shot at enough today, if that’s what you mean,” Riley said tensely. “I’ll get the back door.”
Riley peeked his head out of the busted back window and darted a sideway glance over at the buses. He suddenly crouched down at the spot. He threw a cautious look over his shoulder at me.
“What is it?” I mouthed.
“I don’t know,” he muttered. “Let’s just get out of here.”
He quickly guided me out of the side of the van. “Riley, are you sure?”
He hushed me as he pulled me across the parking lot. We walked past the buses when Riley suddenly stopped, spraying gravel below. The quick motion jerked my arm back when I had continued to walk because I was still holding Riley’s hand. I went to say something a typical girl would say like “ow” when he held a finger up to his lips. He was staring at the buses to our left like a hawk. “I thought I heard something.”
“SHHAACK!” We both quickly looked over at the metal fence behind the buses since it sounded like someone had bounced off the fence and ran. We bolted for the backstage entrance. When we reached the door, Riley pulled it back for me and I collided hard into Woodley. I bounced right back off his hard chest and Riley shot his arm out to stop me from falling back.
“What are you doing?” he asked us.
“Someone jumped the fence,” Riley explained while I tried to catch my breath.
“Hampton never came back for us.”
“Hampton?”
“Our bodyguard,” I explained. “It’s the name I call him to keep all you guys straight,” I said with the wave of my hand.
“How long have you been unaccompanied out there?”
We shrugged. “Forty-five minutes?”
“Forty-five minutes!!” Woodley bugged his eyes out.
Woodley turned his back on us to radio. “I don’t F-ing care what excuse you were given,” he roared.
“Stay here.” Woodley pulled out his gun. “I’ll check the parking lot.”
Riley and I were standing there as I tried to catch my breath with my hands on my hips.
“I really need to cut back on the fast food. I literally only ran to the door,” I panted while bending over again. “It’s pathetic.”
“What is Woodley doing here all alone? Shouldn’t he be watching the band?”
“Oh, Riley not this again,” I complained. “You’re spooking me out.”
“Why would Cyrus come for you twice in the same day?” Riley muttered to himself. “Joie, I don’t like what this might mean. How can he get to you so easily?”
“Riley, you’re not helping my nerves!” I snapped while continuing to breathe erratically. The door opened causing me to jump and brace my chest at the sight of the bodyguard. Woodley looked winded and a little sweaty. He fastened his gun back into his hip belt.
“What is it that you saw, exactly?” he asked us.
“We didn’t see anyone,” Riley explained, “we heard them.”
“It probably was just the crew,” he grumbled.
“Actually, we didn’t see any crew out there,” I added.
“That’s because the show’s about to start.” He dismissed the thought. “Let me escort you out to the field.”
“Thanks,” Riley answered for both of us.
He led the way out of a side door to the field which was already packed with people. There were beach balls flying around us. The good old days, I thought while tagging closely behind Woodley with Riley right behind me.
“Are we going to tell someone about the tracking device?” I whispered only loud enough for him to hear.
“We don’t know who did it or can trust,” Riley said, resigned. “I have a better idea though.”
“Which is?” Keeping an eye on the surrounding faces, we neared the lighting section with Woodley’s tall, thick frame leading the way.
“We leave the tracking device somewhere we can watch and see who comes looking for it. Then we’ll know who turned and can tell Hawkins. He’ll believe you.”
“Like where?”
“The picnic tables by the vendors?” Riley proposed as we continued to move through the crowd behind the bodyguard.
“No, too many people.”
“Right,” he breathed heavily, “It would have to be a place that was clearly off limits or made him stand out.”
Woodley pulled back the makeshift gate to let Riley and me into the lighting crew area. I noticed that Harlow was nowhere to be found.
“He comes out just before the band.” Riley seemed to read my thoughts.
We were ushered over to a couple folded out chairs in the back of the small, rectangular space. The other two crew members were checking over the boards for tonight. I tried to think of a place that would make Cyrus stand out. Hell, he was creepy, he should stand out anywhere. Where would I freak out the most if I saw him?
“Manly man,” I whispered.
“What?”
“Oh, I know! The girl’s restroom,” I gushed.
“That’s brilliant,” Riley said in a hushed voice. “We’ll have to wait until the show is well under way. Whoever it is, they’re more likely to take the bait when the restroom is less crowded.”
“There’s only one problem though,” I mentioned while keeping my voice down.
“What?”
“What if it’s Cyrus who comes looking for it?”
“Then we snap a photo of him on my sidekick,” Riley said triumphantly. “And plaster the picture across the news.”
“Now that is brilliant.” I smiled over at him.
Hampton was crossing the lawn and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. He probably wasn’t particularly happy to see us again, at least not alive. Our eyes met for a second before I quickly looked away. Woodley ripped into Hampton until he was satisfied that the entire surrounding lighting crew, Riley and I understood how badly Hampton had messed up. Seconds later, Rob Harlow came in while looking absolutely livid. I only needed a second before I understood why as Lizzie slinked in right behind him.
“Next time find your own seat before the show!” Harlow yelled in her direction, “I’m not your personal escort.”
“Gosh,” Lizzie groaned as she came to sit down next to us. “You would think that he was someone important or something.” And of course she said it loud enough for everyone to hear. “Riley, you can do so much better than him,” she added.
Riley sunk down into his seat while burying his face to block Harlow’s view. The audience roared to life as the band took the stage. The screaming drowned out even Lizzie’s big mouth. Riley sat up again and crossed his arms while glaring out at the people to the side of us, but the damage was already done. Everyone had heard it. The nice thing about Harlow compared to Hawkins was that when he was pissed he didn’t look at the person for the rest of the night. It could have also been because Harlow’s job required his fullest attention
which
was the excuse I was preparing to use on Riley. I wanted to wrap a consoling arm around my defeated friend, but I also wanted him to get laid in this century so I stopped myself.