“What was your sister like? Were you close to her?” Pru was an only child, but she couldn’t imagine the pain of losing a sister and a parent at once.
“Mandy? Yeah, I loved her,” he said with a small smile. “She was three years younger than me, so there were times when she was a pain in my—“
“Hey!” PJ cut him off swatting his arm. “Not nice.”
He grinned, then his face grew soft and serious. “But I loved her. I’d have done anything for her. When I came home from school for visits, we’d hang out when I wasn’t seeing friends. Just get ice cream and sit on the hood of my car in the parking lot of DQ and talk about how school was going for her and what schools she wanted to apply to. Or what Mom and Dad were doing to drive her nuts that week.” He shrugged a shoulder. “That kind of thing.”
“I’m so sorry she’s gone, Gabe,” PJ whispered.
“Me too,” he whispered back and kissed her gently. “She would have loved you.”
PJ’s heart flipped in her chest at the thought of all he had missing from his life now. Here she’d been, so jealous of the tight bonds he had with his friends, but he’d lost his sister and father, and he’d told her his mother’s mind was slipping away more and more with each passing day.
“How often do you see your mom?”
This brought another shrug from him, but she knew he cared a lot more than he was letting on. “Once a month. More if I can. She only recognizes me now every few visits. It’s awful to say, but sometimes I think it’ll be a blessing when she dies. She’s in a really good facility that specializes in dementia, but honestly, she began to slip away the minute my father and sister were gone. I don’t think she wants to be here without them. I think part of her always wished she went with them.”
PJ framed his face with her hands and kissed him long and gently, willing away the feelings of sorrow she could see on his face as she did. She’d give anything to take away that pain for him. His arms came around her and pulled her on top of him, and she felt herself sink into the kiss, hoping he would lose himself in her body until the sad memories left him.
Chapter 23
Over the course of the next few days, Gabe tried to tell himself to relax. That the immediate threat to Pru was gone. Her secrets were out to the world and Ellis couldn't hurt her any longer. But, when he thought about the fact that Jimmy had lost his life in all of this, it hit home just how vulnerable Pru was. Ellis could have killed her.
They’d gotten the final reports on a lot of the missing details and the picture of what had happened was becoming clearer. Jimmy Mondo’s blood alcohol level had been below the legal limit, but he’d had high doses of a date rape drug in his system.
The police theorized it had been slipped into his drink just before he left the bar. It wouldn’t have kicked in until he was already behind the wheel driving home.
The bandmate who suffered numerous miscarriages had been exactly where she said she’d been when Jimmy had been killed. More than one person had verified that she’d spent those days in New York City with friends.
Gabe’s hotel hadn’t found Lydia on the video footage in any of the public areas of the hotel, so her whereabouts were still a little murky, but the police had shared more information on Ellis’s case with Chad.
Ellis had a lot of photos of Pru on his phone. Everyone had known he had a crush on her, but the photos made it clear it went beyond a passing crush. It had been an obsession. And, in addition to finding the USB drive in his luggage, there had been a burner phone in there as well. The same burner phone that had been used to text the threatening messages to Pru.
As harmless as everyone wanted to think Ellis had been, he’d turned out to be hiding a very dark personality behind his meek facade.
But, what still ate at Gabe was the fact that Pru remained vulnerable as long as she was such a public figure. There were other weirdoes out there. Her secrets might be out in the open, making it impossible to hold them over her again, but that wouldn’t necessarily stop some crazed fan from going after her….
Gabe had to admit he was more than a little relieved she’d decided to step back from touring for a while. He’d feel better when they were just two normal people living an ordinary, everyday existence in Connecticut.
Oh, he got that she could never be obscure. Her fame was a part of who she was and would be a part of her forever, but if she stepped back from the limelight, he’d at least feel like she wasn’t as big a target anymore. Wouldn’t be as out there to the world.
His phone buzzed and he glanced down at it. He was sitting outside the venue of Pru’s show, catching up on emails and messages from his assistant. Pru and Lydia were tucked inside the tour bus that idled in the alley next to the venue, working on last-minute changes to her schedule.
He’d grab her for an early dinner in about thirty minutes. Some days, if no one made sure she ate, she didn’t. Ironically, it used to be Ellis who always made sure she had her meals.
“Hey, Chad,” Gabe said, closing his laptop as he answered the phone.
Chad didn’t bother with a greeting, and the tone of his voice set Gabe on edge. What he said sent his blood running cold.
“Lydia’s mom was discovered dead in her bed this morning. The police believe she died two days ago, the evening of Ellis’s funeral.”
Gabe was up and moving as Chad continued.
“The police initially thought it was suicide, but one of the officers was paying close attention and realized the glass of juice she had next to her bed had powder residue in it, as though the pills from the empty bottle of valium next to her had been crushed and put in the juice, not swallowed whole. Or, as though someone gave her a small dose in the juice to disorient her, and then force-fed the others once she was out of it. They haven’t said conclusively yet whether it was murder or suicide, but if it was murder, there’s only one suspect.” Chad didn’t have to tell Gabe who that was.
“Lydia,” Gabe said.
“The police are on the way. Is PJ with you?”