Xo (Kathryn Dance 3)

Dance rose. "Kayleigh!"

Surrounded by four others, the young singer stepped into the restaurant, smiling but also looking around quickly. She was troubled, Dance noted immediately. No, more than that, Kayleigh Towne was scared.

But whatever she'd been concerned about finding here was absent and she relaxed, then stepped forward, hugging Dance firmly. "Kathryn, hey. This is so great!"

"I couldn't wait to get here."

The singer was in jeans and, oddly, a thick denim jacket, despite the heat. Her lovely hair flowed free, nearly as long as she was tall.

Dance added, "I called a couple of times."

"There was ... well, there was a little problem at the concert hall. It's all right. Hey, everybody, this's my bud, Kathryn Dance."

Dance greeted Bobby Prescott, whom she'd met a few years ago: thirtyish, an actor's looks belied by a shy smile, curly brown hair. There was also pudgy and terminally shy Tye Slocum, with long reddish hair in need of a trim. He was the band's guitar technician and repairman. Unsmiling, athletic Alicia Sessions, who looked to Dance like she belonged in a downtown Manhattan punk-rock club, was Kayleigh's personal assistant.

And someone else was in the entourage. An African-American man, over six feet tall, well into the 250-pound range.

Security.

The fact that Kayleigh had a bodyguard wasn't surprising, though Dance was troubled to note that he was intently on the job, even here. He carefully examined everyone in the bar--the young man at the jukebox, the workers, the businessmen and even the elderly couples and the bartender, clearly running their faces through a mental database of potential threats.

What had prompted this?

Whatever threat he was here to guard against wasn't present and he turned his attention back to Kayleigh. He didn't relax, though. People like him never did--that's what made them so good. He went into a waiting state. "Looks okay to me."

His name was Darthur Morgan and when he shook Dance's hand he examined her closely and his eyes gave a flicker of recognition. Dance, as an expert in kinesics and body language, knew that she gave off "cop" vibrations, even when not intending to.

"Join us for lunch," Kayleigh said to the big man.

"No, thank you, ma'am. I'll be outside."

"No, it's too hot."

"Better there."

"Well, get an iced tea or soda. And come in if you need to."

But without ordering a beverage, he steamed slowly through the dim restaurant and, with one glance at a wax museum cowgirl twirling a lasso, stepped outside.

The skinny bartender came around, carrying menus and a fierce admiration for Kayleigh Towne, who smiled at the young man in a maternal way, though they were about the same age.

Kayleigh glanced at the jukebox, embarrassed that it was her voice serenading them.

"So," Dance asked, "what happened?"

"Okay, I'll tell you." She explained that as she was doing some prep work for the Friday-night concert a strip light--one of the long ones above the stage--came loose and fell.

"My God. You're all right?"

"Yeah, fine. Aside from a sore butt."

Bobby, sitting next to Kayleigh, gripped her arm. He looked at her protectively. "I don't know how it happened," he said in a low voice. "I mean, it was a strip light, a cyc light. You don't mount or dismount it for a show. It was there permanently."

Eyes avoiding everyone's, big Tye Slocum offered, "And you checked it, Bobby. I saw you. Twice. All the lights. Bobby's the best roadie around. Never had an accident like that before."

"If it'd hit her," Alicia said, anger in her voice, "man, that would have been it. It could've killed her."

Bobby added, "It's a thousand watts. Could also've set the whole place on fire, if the lamps had shattered. I cut the main power switch in case they did. I'm going to check it out better when I'm back tonight. I've got to go to Bakersfield and pick up a new amplifier and speaker bank."