“Okay, boys, give it to me,” I finally say, and they both look at each other, and then Brian nods his head.
He doesn’t say anything when he opens his own folder and hands us a booklet, which is double the size of the one Cori was going to hand out to us. “Now let’s begin,” he says, his voice straight and to the point and more irritating than I thought was possible.
Chapter Six
Brian
“You give a whole new meaning to over the top,” Tommy says from in front of me while he opens the booklet Rachel and I put together.
For the past two weeks, we scoped out every single hotel. We dug up every blueprint for every hotel and found all the little places where someone could hide in each venue. We spent hours on top of hours, days on top of days. And the only one who knows all of this is Hunter and my team. I have evacuations mapped out in each city along with emergency pit stops along the way. We are leaving nothing to chance.
“If we are going to keep Kellie safe, this is the way to do it,” Hunter says, and I know what they are looking at. In the booklets I just gave them is the floorplan for every hotel we will be staying at. From the rooms we will be staying in to the venues where she will be singing.
“Oh my God,” Kellie says, looking up at me from her booklet. “How did you even get all these plans?” she asks, and Hunter just nods.
“Everything in there has been acquired via the internet.” He starts saying, and then he sees Tommy look at me. “How it got on the internet isn’t my concern.” He sits up. “We knew this stalker wasn’t going to go away. If he went through all the trouble of cutting up little pieces of paper to form a sentence, he isn’t just going to shy away.” Now all eyes turn to Tommy.
“I thought I had it under control,” he says, putting his hand on her. “I promise you I have it covered.”
“And how is that working out for you now?” I ask him, leaning back in the chair.
“Fine,” Tommy says, getting up from his chair and walking over to the corner where I didn’t notice a wet bar. He pours himself a shot of whiskey, then downs it, hissing afterward. “You guys were right, okay? Is that what you want?”
“It’s a start,” I tell him, and he nods at me. “Now tell her about the dressing room.”
“Kellie,” Cori says softly, but with one look at the anger on Kellie’s face, she stops talking. Tommy pours a second shot, downing that one also, and then he comes back to sit down.
“You have to know that at no time were you in danger. The minute we got the present, we had extra security watching you,” Tommy says, and I look at Hunter who just raises an eyebrow.
“What present?” Kellie says almost in a whisper when she sits down. “Where?”
“I found it in your dressing room,” Cori says softly from beside her. “You went straight to the stage, and I went to put your bag away. There was a huge box of chocolates, and the note looked funny.”
“What did it say?” Kellie asks, and Cori looks down at her hands and then looks up with tears in her eyes.
“It said I wish I could sit with you and watch the sun.” The minute she says that, Kellie gasps, then looks at Tommy.
“Like in the picture he took of me,” she tells him, her voice going higher and higher. “In the mornings, I walk outside with coffee and sit on the big couch to watch the valley as the sun rises.” She looks at them now. “Why didn’t anyone fucking tell me? I would have stopped.” She gets up, walking out of the room, and Cori follows her out.
“We had it,” Tommy starts, and then Hunter finally says something.
“You had shit,” Hunter finally says. “You hired two robo cops to watch her, and they fell asleep twice.” He raises his hand and motions with his fingers. “In five days. And in that time, the guy came into her house.” Hunter looks at her. “I can sugarcoat this, or we can just chalk it up to it wasn’t good.”
“Now you think I’m over the top?” I ask Tommy. “That sick fuck was in her house. In her fucking bedroom.” Sitting up more, I hiss out the last sentence. “When the fuck were you going to finally take this seriously, Tommy? You hire two imbeciles who can’t even stay awake. Then you don’t even get someone to shadow her.” I shake my head. “You should have called us right away.”
He nods and puts his hands up. “It’s not the first time she’s had stalkers.” He looks at us. “And it won’t be the last. Do you know how many sickos we block on social media? Tons.”