Diamonds and Dreams (13 page)

“But
aren’t you glad he did?”

“For now, sure.
 
Yet if I wind up being miserable because he doesn’t turn out to be the
man I thought he was, I’ll regret ever laying eyes on him.
 
If only there could be a written guarantee
that came along with falling in love…”

“But
there’s not.
 
We all must take
risks.
 
That’s how true love always
begins.”

“Leaving
myself wide open by being vulnerable scares me.
 
Even though I felt at ease opening my heart to Brant, I’m afraid now
that his love won’t be as strong as mine.”

“Have
faith.
 
Everything will turn out all
right.”

This
time I’m not so sure,
Lindsay thought, depressed.
 

Desi
unexpectedly gave her the night off and
she planned to catch up on some chores around the house.
 
Noticing that the cupboard was nearly bare,
she went shopping for groceries when the red sun started to set.
 
By the time she was ready to return home, the
sky darkened.
 
She drove about a block
when she noticed in her rear view mirror that the same car, a tan Toyota,
followed her out of the parking lot near the grocery store and was still behind
her.

Is
someone tailing me?
 
When the
suspicious car remained visible in the next block, she slowed down and turned
into a lot in front of a firehouse to see if the other car did the same.
 
It went on.

Am I
starting to become paranoid?
she
questioned
herself.
 
By the time she arrived home,
her favorite TV show was on, so she forgot all about the possibility that
someone retraced her path.

CHAPTER
TEN

“You
just missed speaking with your date,” Danielle informed Lindsay as soon as she
arrived at the radio station the next evening.

She
blinked rapidly in confusion.
 
“What are
you talking about?”

“A
few minutes ago a man called, and I answered the phone.
 
He asked if you were here, and when I said
you hadn’t arrived yet, he told me that he’s your boyfriend.
 
He left a message, saying he’s unable to pick
you up after you finish your show, but I wrote down his instructions about
where he’d like for you to meet him.
 
Here they are.”

Lindsay
took the paper that Danielle offered and glanced at the unfamiliar
address.
 
“I don’t understand any of
this.”

Danielle
looked up from her desk and motioned for Lindsay to sit down in the chair
across from her.
 
“You look pale.
 
Are you all right?”

Sitting
down, Lindsay stared blankly at the paper,
then
tossed
it into a metal trash can.
 
Questions
spun in her mind as she tried to hold onto her composure and not let Danielle
see that she was upset.
 
“I’m okay.
 
Your news surprised me; that’s all.
 
I wonder who could have called because I
don’t have a date for tonight.
 
In fact,
since Brant and I are at odds, I’m not involved with any man right now.”

Licking
her lips, Danielle stared at her and an uneasy silence passed between them for
a few seconds.
 
Finally Danielle pointed
out, “You’ve received a lot of publicity lately.
 
Your picture’s been in the newspapers, you’ve
made many personal appearances,
you
can be heard over
the radio a lot at night.
 
Probably you
have a fan who’s desperate to meet you or who’d like to date you.”

“Why
would he lie and say he’s my boyfriend?
 
He surely must realize that I’d know if I had a date tonight.”

“I
hope you don’t plan on going to the address he left for you.”

“No.”

“Good.
 
The guy could be dangerous.
 
If he’s an obsessed fan, he might try to
contact you again in the future.
 
Already
we know he’s dishonest or he wouldn’t have lied about being your boyfriend.
 
Be careful, Lindsay, and don’t let your guard
down because you don’t know what kind of schemes he might try to put into
action if he’s determined to be alone with you.”

Rising,
Lindsay clenched her jaw and called upon every ounce of willpower she had to
chase away the hard knot of fear growing inside her.
 
“I’ll stay alert, but I won’t worry too much
about the strange caller.
 
When he sees
that his trick didn’t work and I don’t show up tonight, he probably won’t
bother me again.”

“I
wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Danielle warned.
 
“Some men like a challenge.
 
Brant’s one of them.
 
Perhaps he disguised his voice and made the
call to find out if you started seeing another man.”

Relief
filled Lindsay as she considered Danielle’s theory.
 
“Maybe that’s what happened.
 
It seems rather childish of Brant, though, to
scheme and go to such extremes when all he had to do was ask me directly if I’m
dating anyone else yet.”

“True,
but you know how most men are.
 
They have
their pride.”

“Right.
 
Well, thanks for telling me all this, Danielle.”

Lindsay
managed to push the incident to the far corner of her mind by the time she
started her show.
 
When she went off the
air, it was after midnight, and by the time she was ready to go home, the clock
already struck one a.m.
 
The night air
was refreshingly cool and flashing neon signs blinked in every direction as
Lindsay walked to the parking lot with Janice, the night receptionist who, with
her exotic dark eyes and jet black hair, might have been considered
good-looking except she carried about forty-five extra pounds on her 5’4”
frame.

“Is
it true that you and Brant are no longer a couple?” Janice probed.

“It’s
true.”
 
Lindsay hoped that she wasn’t
about to become a victim of one of Janice’s long interrogations.

“Then
he’s fair game?
 
I’d love a chance to
date him.”

Detecting
the note of hopefulness in her voice, Lindsay nearly laughed aloud.
 
Somehow Janice didn’t strike her as being
Brant’s type.
 
“Good luck with
that.”
 
She knew Brant always went out of
his way to avoid Janice and he once said that he bet she collected confidential
dossiers on everyone she ever met.

“Oh,
darn!
 
It seems like he’s not over you
yet.
 
Look at what’s stuck under the
wiper of your car.”

The
sight of a long-stemmed red rose
laying
against the
windshield made Lindsay’s mouth drop open in surprise.
 
She barely heard Janice say, “Is there a
card?”

Picking
up the rose, Lindsay shook her head,
then
stroked the
silken petals before she held the flower up to her nose to inhale its heady
fragrance.
 
Why did the pleasant scent
suddenly make her feel like crying?

“What
a romantic gesture,” Janice rambled.
 
“I
wish someone would leave a rose on my car.
 
No man ever gave me flowers.
 
My
date for the high school prom didn’t even buy me a corsage.
 
You’re really lucky, Lindsay.”
 
Janice opened the door of her little blue
Honda and cried
out,
“goodnight” before she slammed
the door shut and started the motor.

After
she left, Lindsay fumbled with her key as she unlocked her BMW, opened the door
and checked to make sure that no one crouched down and hid on the floor of the
back seat.
 
For the first time since she
was a child, she felt uncomfortable about being alone in the dark.
 
As she drove home, the tall buildings on both
sides of the street looked menacing.
 
The
light buzz of traffic along with occasional blaring horns sounded louder than
usual.
 
While she stopped at a red light,
Lindsay glanced down at the rose laying on the passenger seat beside her.
 
Its perfume seemed so strong now that she
imagined she could almost taste its sweetness, but a bitter sensation formed in
her mouth.
 
She wanted to believe that
the rose was from Brant, but suddenly she remembered that someone sent three
giant bouquets of long-stemmed red roses to the funeral parlor when Constance
died, but there’d been no card to tell who sent them.
 
Shuddering with fear, she wondered if it
might be the same mysterious person that left her the rose tonight.
 
Why did someone—who?—think about her and give
her the flower?

Instead
of taking the rose home and putting it in a vase of water, Lindsay reached for
it, and then rolled down the top half of her window before she sent the rose
flying away on the evening breeze.
 
For
some odd, unknown reason, she felt much safer after she threw the rose out of
her car.

“Aren’t
you ready yet, Lindsay?”
Serita
paced back and forth
in Lindsay’s kitchen the next afternoon.
 
“We’ll be late for the movie if you don’t hurry.”

“Give
me a minute.”
 
Lindsay entered her
bedroom and pulled open the top drawer of her dresser to take out an envelope
where she kept extra money.
 
She slipped
a few bills into her wallet,
then
laid the envelope
back in the drawer, but she noticed that her journal in which she often
recorded her private thoughts or anything else that she wanted to remember was
missing.
 
Not feeling it in the left-hand
corner where she always kept it, she rummaged through everything—loose papers,
jewelry, nail polish bottles—in the drawer.
 
It wasn’t there.
 
Opening the
second drawer, she hoped that she absent-mindedly misplaced it, but this wasn’t
the case.
 
Her heart pounded faster and she
felt dizzy as she faced the distinct possibility that someone invaded her
bedroom, snooped through her personal belongings and removed the journal
without her knowledge.

“Lindsay,
it’s getting late,”
Serita
called as she started down
the hall.
 
She approached Lindsay, who
sat dejectedly on the edge of the bed and stared at the floor.
 
“What’s wrong?
 
Are you ill?”

“I
suspect that someone has been in my bedroom and stole my journal.”

“Maybe
the thief that stole your computer and other items earlier took the journal,
too.”

Lindsay
shook her head.
 
“It was here after the
burglary.”

“Is
anything else missing?”

“I
don’t think so.
 
The money I keep at home
for an emergency was tucked away inside an envelope that was beside the
journal.
 
The money is just as I left
it.”

“Odd,”
Serita
remarked.
 
“Want me to help you look for the diary?”

“No, thanks.
 
The book is gone.
 
I sense
strongly that someone skulked through my bedroom and pawed through my private
things.
 
I just started to feel comfortable
at my house again after the robbery, and now this is happening to make me
nervous again.
 
Maybe I should consider
moving.”

“What
kind of things did you write in the journal?
 
Nothing too personal, I hope.”

“Nothing
too private is in the diary.
 
Birthdays, appointments, other reminders.”

“Then
I wouldn’t worry too much about it,”
Serita
advised,
“but change your locks and boost your home security, just to be on the safe
side.”

“Good
idea.
 
Do you mind if I cancel out on
going with you to the movies?
 
Suddenly I
don’t feel in the mood for entertainment.”

“You
don’t look well all of a sudden.
 
Maybe
you should stay home and rest.”

After
Serita
left, Lindsay tried taking her advice and
attempted to catch a short nap, but sleep eluded her.
 
Someone stalked her; she felt sure of
it.
 
Why?
 
Fright swept through her as she recalled the many strange
incidents—finding the rose, the missing journal, the mysterious phone call.
 
As soon as she could afford it, she decided,
she’d begin looking for a new house where she felt safer.
 
Too often lately, she felt as if she were in
danger at her own house, so she was determined to find a way to get rid of the
fears that kept her tossing and turning at night.