‘Bitch’, ‘Slag’, ‘Slut’, ‘Die Bitch’.
“How do you know it’s not blood?” Warren asked Ollie as he put a gentle, comforting hand on Anna’s shoulder. Warren thought she was more unsettled than even Jaxxon who looked more curious than anything else. Oh she was enraged, there was no denying that. But there was no fear there to be seen on her face.
“Don’t forget I have plenty of scientists and lab technicians working for me. It was easy enough to get them to test it.”
“Why didn’t Lily phone the police?” asked Anna. “You said in the car that the police haven’t seen this yet and that’s why the papers haven’t got hold of it.”
Ollie sighed. “I asked her not to. I don’t think we should get the police involved.”
“What? How can you say that? Look around you. Whoever did this was sick.”
“And cowardly,” muttered Jaxxon.
Anna double-blinked. “Cowardly?”
Jaxxon turned to her. “Did they have the bottle to come and say any of this to my face? No. Did they leave a signature? No. There’s nothing big and bad about breaking into someone’s place, making a mess and then running off so it doesn’t exactly strike fear into my heart. Same as with the letter.”
“Letter?” said Connor, Anna and Ollie.
“Last Sunday someone stuck an envelope under my window-wiper. Inside was a piece of paper that said ‘Die Bitch’.” And in her opinion, it was too much of a confidence for it not to be the same person who did this to her apartment.
“What?” demanded Connor, Anna and Ollie.
“Will you all stop talking at the same time, it’s freaky.”
“You got a threatening letter and didn’t think to say anything?” Connor wanted to throttle her. “Where is it?”
“I wouldn’t exactly call it ‘threatening’. Besides, it was just a little note. I binned it straight away. Come on, celebs must get things like that happening all the time.”
“Indeed they do,” confirmed Ollie with a sigh. “So we can assume they also did this.”
Warren nodded. “And that she has a stalker.”
Connor frowned, skeptical. “A stalker who doesn’t make themselves known until she buggers off on holiday?”
“Maybe he missed her.”
“I know stalkers are, normally, stealthy but they do like for their existence to be acknowledged by who they’re stalking. I’m pretty sure Jaxx would have picked up on someone following her around.” The twist of her lips and the way she dropped her eyes bothered him. “Jaxx?”
She scratched her head. “A couple of times I did get this feeling like I was being watched.”
“What?”
“Could have just been the paparazzi,” said Warren.
“I know. But this was different…it didn’t feel right.”
Connor resisted the urge to growl. “Jaxx, when did this happen?”
“Sometimes I’d feel it just as I was going into or leaving my apartment building. Other times it’s been when I was out shopping or walking Bronty.”
“And it didn’t occur to you to tell me?”
“Exactly what could you have done? Besides, it doesn’t have to mean anything. Being glared at and being stalked are two different things. I’m not even saying that if someone was watching me that they had anything to do with this or the stupid note.”
Anna ran a hand through her hair in a movement that screamed ‘stressed out’. “We have to phone the police, they can look for fingerprints and stuff.”
Ollie sighed. “There are plenty of nutcases out there, Anna, and plenty of them fixate on someone, often a celebrity, and do crap like this. What they want is to scare, distress and unsettle that person, to get themselves some attention. It makes them feel good, clever, and powerful. A reaction of any kind only encourages them to continue. The way I like to handle things is to clean up the mess discretely and quickly and then keep quiet about it. The trick is not to give the nutcase what they want.”
“I’m sorry but I don’t see the logic in annoying a nutcase.”
“When they realise they haven’t got themselves a reaction or any attention they’ll get bored and stop.”
“In theory.”
“I’ve seen it happen. Look, it’s uncommon for stalkers of celebs to be violent toward them. Having said that, I still think Jaxxon should stay elsewhere for a while.”
“No one’s scaring me out of my apartment,” Jaxxon insisted sharply.
Ollie appealed to her with his eyes. “Be smart, not stubborn.”
“This isn’t about being stubborn, it’s the principle of -”
“Luv, you’ll be leaving for the tour in a week, your lease ends then. Will it really make that much difference to you to leave the apartment a week early? Besides, the cleaning job will take at least two days.”
“He’s right.” Connor stood in front of her. “I’m not saying you need to run and hide. I’m saying you don’t give this person the satisfaction of getting near you. Make it hard for them.”
Jaxxon could see where Connor’s thoughts had led him. “It wasn’t Anita.”
“You think it’s a coincidence that while me and you are away together this happens?”
Ollie frowned. “Who’s Anita?”
“Oscar Award Winning Actress Anita Donovan,” elaborated Anna. “I agree with Connor, Jaxxon, it’s not looking good for Anita that while the tabloids are printing photos of you and him looking all cozy -”
“Hold on a minute,” interrupted Ollie. “What reason would she have to do this?”
“She didn’t take it well when I ended things with her,” said Connor.
“I’ll bet she didn’t, you’re not known for your sensitivity.”
“It’s hard to be sensitive to someone who was planning to get pregnant with your kid to try to trap you into marrying them.”
“Still, why mess up Jaxxon’s apartment, why not yours?”
“Anita came to see Jaxx a few days ago and fed her some crap about being pregnant, hoping it would make her back off. Instead Jaxx slammed the door in her face. I don’t think Anita did this in a rage, I think she did it as part of a game; wanting to scare her.”
“That makes sense,” said Warren. “That’s the type of thing she’d get a kick out of. Phone Dane and ask if she was out last night.”
Ollie waved his hand. “We’ll look more into who’s responsible once we’ve sorted out what we’re doing next. I still say we don’t involve the police -”
“I say we do,” Anna spat.
“- or we’d be giving this nutcase what they want.”
“That’s better than winding up said nutcase.”
“Ollie’s right,” sighed Jaxxon. “Phoning the police will show that all this got to me and give this arsehole all the satisfaction they’re hoping for. And seen as I can’t do what I really want which is to pound their face into the ground, I’ll have to settle for cheesing them off.”
Pleased, Ollie smiled and nodded. “A few things though: If there’re any more notes or whatever, save them, they’re evidence – just in case it’s something that ever went to trial. If there’s ever a time they contact you wanting to meet up, the answer’s always no. If you’re ever cornered by them and need help, shout “Fire!” That always gets people’s attention and it’s a cry for help that’s rarely ignored. Change any patterns you have and maybe use a different route to get to the studio or anywhere else you regularly go. Try not to go about alone if you can help it. You might want to change your phone numbers as well.”