Diamonds and Dreams (14 page)

“I
wasn’t paying attention and fell down the step,” he explained.
 
“Clumsy of me!”

Recalling
that she saw him gaze at the sign a few moments ago, Lindsay wondered if he
staged the accident.
 
Why would he
purposely try to hurt himself, or would he?
 
Her mind wandered back to the time when he played football in high
school.
 
She remembered one game when
Rafe
lay injured on the field for several minutes.
 
When he finally rose, after the doctor
examined him, the anxious crowd cheered wildly.
 
Rafe
seemed to enjoy the attention, going on
to score the winning touchdown.
 
A
similar incident occurred later during the season.
 
Lindsay recalled hearing Constance’s friends
talking about the other members of the team that claimed
Rafe
hadn’t actually been injured.
 
They
insisted that he seized an opportunity to gain the sympathy of the crowd.

By
this time, several curious customers gathered around the area and the
nervous-looking store manager tried to make sure
Rafe
was fine.
 
“I’m okay,”
Rafe
assured him.
 
“Really, I’m not hurt except for this minor cut on my arm.
 
I’ll take care of it when I get home.”
 

“See
you later, Lindsay,” Ariel said as she and
Rafe
headed for the check-out counter.

“Take
care,” Lindsay called after them.

A
few days later Lindsay encountered her plump, gray-haired neighbor along the
street as they each picked up their mail.
 
“Hello, Mrs. Lawrence.”

“Lindsay!
 
Mr. Hall over on the next block told me there
has been a rash of incidents concerning a prowler in our neighborhood during
the past few weeks.”
 
Through Mrs.
Lawrence’s dark-framed glasses Lindsay saw concern in her narrow blue eyes as
she continued to speak in a voice tinged with worry.
 
“Since your home was burglarized, I thought
you’d want to know.”

“Yes.
 
What happened?”
 
It was a strange mixture of dread, curiosity
and alarm that crept over Lindsay.

“A
Peeping Tom looked through people’s windows, but so far every time anyone
caught him and started outside after him, he ran away on foot and escaped.
 
Some neighbors contacted the police, but they
haven’t identified the culprit yet.
 
The
only clue they have is that he leaves dried rose petals along the front walks
of the houses where he chooses his ‘prey.’”

The
mention of roses made Lindsay’s stomach lurch.
 
She had no proof, but her instincts told her that the prowler was
probably the same person that left the rose on her car.
 
“Except for the robbery, I haven’t seen
anyone suspicious around my house,” she reported, “but I’ll watch for anyone
that doesn’t appear to belong around here.
 
You
be
careful, too, and if there’s anything
you need, call me at home or at the radio station.”

“Thank
you, dear.
 
Since I live alone, I
sometimes worry who I could call if I have an emergency.
 
I’ll let you know if I hear more.”

Within
a week Lindsay had a story of her own to tell about the neighborhood Peeping
Tom.
 
She was awakened one moonlit night
after she heard scraping noises outside her window.
 
Rising from her bed, she summoned her courage
and walked across the dark bedroom to peer from behind the sheer lace curtain.
 
A dark figure must have spotted her, for
almost immediately after she appeared at the window the shadowy form raced
toward the street.
 
She felt as if her
nerves were tied up in knots as she glanced at the clock and saw that it wasn’t
night at all, but four o’clock in the morning.
 
The incident upset her too much to sleep, so she stayed awake until the
first golden light of morning swept over the earth.
 
When she heard a familiar “thud” against her
front door, she knew that the paper boy dropped off the print edition of the morning
newspaper.
 
She was almost afraid to open
the door to get it because she feared what she might find.
 
At last, she gathered the strength and opened
the door only to find dried rosebuds scattered across her welcome mat.

CHAPTER
TWELVE

“
Desi
has never been one of my favorite people, but I could
kiss him for this!” Danielle told Lindsay as they sat in the front row of the
Palace Theatre and waited for the lights to dim.
 
“This Derek Eden concert sold out months ago,
but
Desi
gave us tickets to the best seats in the
house!
 
And to think that you’ll
introduce Derek—wow!
 
Derek will have to
notice you—hopefully, me too—for a few seconds of his famous life.”

Lindsay
shook her head in amusement.
 
“Tonight
you remind me of a teenybopper about to see her favorite singer.”

“I
can’t help it.
 
Besides, I’m not
alone.
 
Look around at all the other
dreamy-eyed women who are obviously counting the seconds until he walks out on
stage.
 
Aren’t you the least bit excited
about being here?”

“Sure,”
Lindsay replied.
 
“I simply have other
things on my mind, like the prowler who dropped rosebuds on my doorstep.”

“Didn’t
you report the incident to the police?”

“Yes,
but they still have no other leads.
 
Another thing that worried me is Brant.
 
He hasn’t called me for weeks now.”

“He’s
probably been busy with his new job.
 
If
you don’t hear from him soon, it’ll be his loss more than yours.
 
He’s giving up a great gal if he breaks up
with you, and--”
 
Danielle stopped
talking suddenly and shot a glance toward an usher who peered around the stage
curtain and motioned for Lindsay to use the side exit to join him.
 
“It must be almost
time
!
 
Good luck, Lindsay.
 
If you pass Derek on your way back, will you
give him this?”

“What
is it?”
 
Lindsay accepted the wadded up
piece of paper that Danielle handed her.

“It’s
my name and phone number.
 
With any luck,
he’ll think your name is Danielle,
then
he might call
me later.
 
You know you always have
better luck attracting men than I do.”

“What
good would it do even if Derek got together with you later?
 
He’ll notice right away that you’re a
redhead, not the blonde that handed him the note.
 
Then he could feel deceived.”

“At
least I’ll get to meet him.
 
Oh, please,
Lindsay, won’t you do it if you get the opportunity to slip the paper to him?”

She
sighed
defeatedly
.
 
“I’ll try.”

Her
Gucci heels that matched her elegantly draped red dress clicked when Lindsay
walked across the stage to the center where a giant spotlight shone down upon
her and caused her blonde hair to look almost silver.
 
A hush fell over the audience.
 
She picked up the microphone and smiled
before she said, “Ladies and gentlemen, WBKB and the Palace Theatre are proud
to present to you tonight the most romantic singing star in the world—Derek
Eden!”

A
roar of shouting and cheering rose from the excited women who anticipated
seeing their favorite sex symbol strut out on stage.
 
Just as Lindsay made her exit and was on her
way back to her seat, the orchestra began playing action-packed music that
seemed to amplify the heartbeats of Derek’s fans as the driving beat became intense,
promising that something explosive was about to occur.
 
When the screams from the audience grew so
loud that it sounded like the ladies couldn’t bear another moment of suspense,
the most attractive man Lindsay ever saw walked on stage so confidently that
she wondered if even an earthquake could cause him to lose any of his
smoothness.
 

Looking
at Derek’s dark wavy hair and sexy hazel eyes, Danielle grabbed Lindsay’s
arm.
 
“My eyes can’t take much more!
 
He’s gorgeous!”

Wearing
a black tuxedo jacket and pants that overstated the definition of the word,
“tight,” Derek plunged into a medley of his hit songs and often reached out to
touch the hands of adoring fans that stretched their arms out to him.
 
Women clapped or danced in place while he
melted their hearts by finally shedding his jacket so they could have a better
view of his almost perfect physique.
 
Lindsay was one of the few women in the audience who sat quietly and
smiled slightly instead of acting like an infatuated teenager that could no
longer control her wild emotions.

In
a split second things changed.
 
Derek
stopped in front of her and reached out to take her soft, warm hand in his and
hold it tightly as his husky voice broke into another song.
 
Before she recovered from the shock that he
noticed her, she allowed him to pull her on stage with him and was vaguely
aware of the protests that erupted from the audience.
 
Derek wrapped his arm around her waist and
urged her to dance with him.
 
Her hips
swayed and she lost herself in the music and in the sight of Derek’s seductive
moments as she forgot that several thousand people watched.
 
Near the end of the song she and Derek
kissed, and then rubbed noses before he whispered, “Meet me backstage.”

His
request numbed her senses and she felt like she was lost in a dream as he
helped her off the stage and back to her seat.
 
“Well, did you do it?” Danielle asked anxiously.

“What?”
 
Lindsay still felt dazzled, although somehow
she managed to keep her composure, so her nervousness didn’t show.