LOGINAs they discussed more details, the house began to come to life. Apparently Luke's band members had also woken up in the meantime, occasionally the clatter of feet and indistinct voices penetrated them.
"I need a list of everyone who was informed that you were at the Newhaven Inn," Kim said as she sat at the desk and turned on the computer. “I also need to know who you have regular contact with, both professionally and privately. - Is there anyone you had an argument with, or who might have a reason to want revenge for something? ”
Luke shrugged. “I'm not aware of any guilt, I don't see what I could have done to make someone have a reason for something like this.”
“The motives for such things are usually difficult to understand,” Kim explained, “if you can think of anything else , let me know. ”
“ All right. I'm assuming you'll be busy for a while, in case something goes wrong, I'll be down in the studio. ”
Kim hesitated for a moment. Actually, she shouldn't take her eyes off him. But on the one hand she wanted to give Charlie a quick call, and on the other hand he wouldn’t be alone there, so it wasn’t to be expected that anything would happen if there was any danger at all.
"Yeah, I'd like to do a few things first, if it's okay, I'll come later."
Luke smiled. “Even if I wasn't okay, I wouldn't have a chance to escape you anyway, would I? - All right, then I can introduce you to the boys. ”
He went to the door and turned around again.
“By the way - I'd suggest we say 'you'. It's common in music circles, and I find it more pleasant. ”
“ Agreed, ”she nodded hesitantly,“ Kim. ”
He looked at her thoughtfully for a moment, then smiled. "I know."
After Luke went out, Kim sat motionless for a while. She had become extremely queasy under his scrutinizing gaze, she had almost feared that he would have recognized her after all. She had a guilty conscience, actually he had a right to know who she was. But finally she pushed that thought aside again. If he didn't even begin to recognize her, it probably didn't matter.
Sighing, she picked up the phone and dialed Charlie's number.
"Hi, Kim here," she greeted him after he answered.
“Kim,” he said happily, “good to hear from you. How's it going so far? ”
“ Well, okay, although I don't really know what to think of the matter. ”She
read him briefly the contents of the letter. "What do you think, does that sound like a harmless weirdo, or do I have to expect something more serious?"
Charlie hesitated. “Well, that's hard to say, in any case I would advise you to be careful and take good care of Luke Summer. We try to find out something about his background and, above all, about his people as soon as possible. Usually you can find it quickly if you dig a little deeper. ”
“ I hope so, ”Kim said with a sigh. She didn't like the idea of someone being snooped into Luke's personal life. "I don't feel like staying here long either."
"You already know that millions of women would like to swap places with you, right?" Charlie smirked.
"Fine, I'm wondering what they all think about him," Kim grumbled, although she remembered all too clearly how attractive he had already been to her then. “He's acting like an ax in the forest. He must have been expecting a man to take care of the matter, and now I have to listen to his stupid comments all the time. ”
“ Don't let that intimidate you, I know you're doing your job well, and I'll count on it You, I want everything to go smoothly, "he tried to cheer her up." And remember, even if you don't like Luke Summer, please don't let it show and hold back, I don't want any trouble with Wainsworth . "
" Yes, I understand. Mr. Rockstar gets a little powdered sugar in his ass because he knows the boss - don't worry, I'll handle him with kid gloves. ”
After the phone call, Kim went briefly to her room. She took the small, black suitcase from under the bed, which besides her weapon also contained various other things that she needed for her work. She carefully packed the envelope with the letter in a plastic bag and then put the whole thing in a larger envelope, along with a short cover letter to the laboratory, which, like the envelope, she had already prepared in the study.
Then she put the envelope in the suitcase, locked it and stowed it back under the bed. She had to ask Luke if there was a vehicle she could take to Sunville to post the letter.
Slowly she descended the stairs, just as when she arrived there was muffled music from behind one of the doors. At first she headed straight for it, but then changed her mind. It was noon, her stomach growled, and she decided to get something to eat quickly, so she went over to the kitchen.
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