LOGINIt's your own fault if he doesn't give his name," he commented dryly. "Don't worry, I'll take care of it."
Kim breathed a sigh of relief, watched him get up, take his cell phone out of his pocket and switch it on. She tried to turn to go again, but he made a gesture that motioned her to stay and pressed a speed dial button.
"It's me," he said, and although she couldn't understand his manager's words, the volume left no doubt that he was still quite upset.
"No, that wasn't ..." Luke cut himself off with a quick glance at Kim, then went on, "That was my assistant."
Again something boomed from the receiver.
"I've decided." - "Well, come here tomorrow and we'll talk about it in peace." - "See you then."
Luke hung up and looked at Kim, shaking his head.
"Austin will be over here tomorrow to talk to me about 'my weird idea,'" he said.
"I'm sorry," she said contrite, "I couldn't have guessed ..."
" It's okay, it's not so bad," he smiled at her.
Then he sat down on the floor again, picked up his guitar and struck a few chords without paying any attention to them.
Kim paused uncertainly, listened to him for a moment, until he raised his head and looked at her.
"Do you want to stay here?" He asked, but she hastily shook her head.
"No, no, I'm going upstairs," she muttered, and went out.
A little later she was sitting on her bed with a book, reading until she heard the door in the room next door open and Luke go to sleep. Then she turned off the light and shortly afterwards she fell asleep.
The next morning Kim went jogging again with Luke, then she showered, got dressed and fished the envelope out of the suitcase. She crossed the garden, knocked on the door of the little house in which the Aldridge couple lived.
"Yes?" Harvey muttered when he opened the door.
"Harvey, I had to go to Sunville shortly, and Luke said I could borrow your car for that."
The old man nodded, fumbling a key from the dresser in the hallway and thrust it into her hand, then pointed to a vehicle was parked next to the house.
"Thank you," Kim smiled at him pleasantly, and walked towards the car.
"Drive carefully, the car is new," Harvey growled after her, and Kim got in with a smile.
She reached Sunville in less than half an hour, searched a moment to find the post office, and posted the letter by registered express mail.
Another half hour later she was back, parked the car, and knocked again on the Aldridges to return the key.
"Did everything go well?" Harvey asked after she thanked him again.
"Yes, no problems," Kim nodded, while her eyes fell on an elegant car parked right by the driveway.
Kim grimaced, it looked like Luke's manager had already arrived. While she went into the house with a slightly uncomfortable feeling, she hoped that the man had calmed down again and that she no longer resented the phone call from the previous day.
She knocked carefully on the study door and entered.
"Kim, you've come to the right place," Luke said, waving her over to the seating area. "Kim, this is my manager, Austin Dering - Austin, my assistant Kim," he introduced her.
Kim glanced at the man in the dark suit, who was peering at her disapprovingly, and held out his hand, but he ignored her and turned to Luke.
“Assistant, huh? Can you tell me what kind of crazy idea this is? ”
Luke grinned briefly. "This is by no means a crazy idea," he said calmly. “I have so much on my mind, you keep setting dates for me, at the same time you expect me to deliver one hit after the other, it's all slowly getting over my head. How should I take care of my music if I have to deal with organizational matters all the time? So I made up my mind that I needed someone to help, and that's what I have Kim for. ”
Austin Dering shook his head in annoyance. "First you cancel a large part of your appointments, and now you get this ...", he glanced again at Kim, "this woman in this house. Should I discuss your appointments with her in the future? ”
“ Yes, my appointments, and everything else that concerns me. Kim will be by my side from now on, taking care of everything. ”
At that moment the phone rang. Kim took a step towards the desk, but Luke waved it off. "Don't worry, I'll answer it."
He picked up the receiver and shortly afterwards was absorbed in a long conversation. Kim stood waiting, gave Austin Dering an uncertain look, and hoped that she wouldn't have to deal with him too often in the future.
As if the man had read her mind, he took a step towards her, leaned over and hissed at her, "I know what you're up to, honey, but it won't work."
They spent the rest of the day in the studio. Luke was busy with his music as usual, while Kim's mind jumped wildly.The conversation with Charlie was still in her stomach, she didn't like the fact that he was aware of her connection to Luke at the time. Then she had to keep thinking about what was going to happen next, she was sure that the whole thing was not over yet. After the mission had failed so miserably the previous night, it was to be expected that the stranger would try again, and she racked her mind again who could be behind it.Unobtrusively and carefully, she observed the three men who were playing music with Luke, but they all behaved completely normal and unsuspicious. She made up her mind to take another look at each individual as soon as Charlie had emailed her the evaluations.Then her gaze fell on Luke again, and she remembered how worried he had been for her last night. She wondered whether she might not have misjudged him on the basis of he
When Kim woke up the next day, it was already late morning. The previous evening's events flashed back to her immediately and she began to brood.She didn't regret that she'd acted against Tom's instructions and walked around the crypt instead of disappearing. The area would certainly have been thoroughly searched the next day, but who knows whether the Walkman would still have been there. She only quarreled with the fact that she had made the suggestion that she should go to the cemetery in Luke's place, she still had the dull suspicion that someone in the house had noticed something."Maybe it would have been better if Luke had gone himself," she thought with discomfort.But the fear that something might have happened to him then immediately made this thought disappear again. No, it was good that she had tried, since she was still not sure whether the stranger was really after money, she might have prevented something worse.While she was still sitting
While Kim stood rooted to the spot and was stunned by the fact that this song meant nothing more than that her plan had already been seen through in advance, the men of the emergency team rushed towards her from all sides, especially Tom."Damn it, what were you thinking?" He snapped angrily.She looked at him irritated, first pulled the earplug of the Walkman, then the one of the radio out of her ear."Can you tell me what that was about?" Tom raged on. "Why are you defying my instructions?""Nothing happened," Kim said meekly, "But ..."Tom interrupted her. "I don't want to hear any more, you can discuss this with Charlie later."He turned away and took out his cell phone, and Kim knew he would call Charlie and tell him everything.Meanwhile, the men turned the entire area around the crypt upside down. They had brought in searchlights and combed every inch of the surrounding area, but to no avail. Aside from a plethora of footprints
Tense Kim drove the car through the night streets of Sunville in the direction of the cemetery."I'll be right there," she said into the microphone, and seconds later heard Tom's voice in her ear."Okay, we're ready."She parked the car in front of the entrance, got out, and took the bag from the back seat.She looked around examiningly, there was no one to be seen far and wide.It was a moonless night, and she was pleased to see that the cemetery was in deep darkness, so it wouldn't be easy to see that she wasn't Luke.She walked slowly through the gate, then stopped hesitantly."Stay on the main path so we can see you," Tom instructed.Kim followed his request, took small steps forward, constantly looking around in all directions.After a few minutes the crypt came into view, gloomy and threatening it loomed in the darkness before her."Not too close, otherwise we won't have a view," came the earphone again.
Charlie appeared over the next morning. After showing a press ID, Harvey escorted him into the study.Kim greeted him and introduced him to Luke, who was pacing up and down with a worried expression.Charlie scanned the letter briefly, then turned to Luke.“Mr. Summer, I think Kim has already informed you how this will play out. I have brought a suitably prepared bag with me that you will take with you, and as soon as the handover starts, we will access it. My men are already in the process of submitting themselves to the cemetery, so you needn't worry. ”“ All right, ”Luke nodded, but it was clear that he wasn't enthusiastic about the plan."No," Kim said spontaneously at that moment, "he won't go."The men turned their heads to her in surprise, stared at her questioningly.“Kim? What's the problem? ”Asked Charlie."You can't just send him there," Kim blurted out nervously. "It's too dangero
A few days went by without any more letters or anything happening.Kim had called Charlie again briefly that afternoon, who could only advise her to wait and keep an eye on Luke. Checking the names hadn't revealed anything suspicious so far, and as expected, no usable traces had been found on the envelopes either, so Kim sighed and accepted her fate and followed Luke every step of the way. She had to listen to one or two amused comments from him now and then, but he seemed to be slowly accepting her presence and she tried not to take his remarks too seriously.They had breakfast together every morning, then went jogging together and then they mostly went to the studio, where Luke and the boys continued to work on his new album, and Kim sat quietly in the armchair, reading a book or just listening.Luke was often alone in the studio, trying out different melodies on his guitar and writing down dozen of sheets of music without noticing Kim, who watched and listene