Obsession Read online

  The floor vibrated as Kendra’s captivating voice filled the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles. The chaos backstage calmed as everyone’s attention shifted to the stage and the woman singing in the center of it.

  Lingering in the shadows, he watched and waited as the crew settled in to enjoy the show. The first song drew tremendous applause, and Kendra bantered with the crowd before segueing into the next number. As the third song began, he stepped out of his hiding place, now certain that no one would notice him.

  He moved down the hall and past the main-level dressing rooms, fully aware that he didn’t have to worry about keeping his movements quiet. The tremendous noise from the music and the crowd would drown out any sound he might make.

  His fingers gripped the cardboard box he held, and his eyes focused on his target. He passed the green room, glancing briefly at the cluster of chairs inside where the band could relax before and after the show. In front of him was the deep stage, only a small portion of which was currently being used for the concert. A thick black curtain sectioned off Kendra’s band from the dark backstage area that was crowded with various equipment.

  He was nearly to the edge of the center curtain when he noticed Kendra’s bodyguard approaching. Unlike everyone else backstage, his attention wasn’t on the performance, but rather, his eyes scanned the area looking for anything out of place.

  Annoyance shot through him in a quick burst. Why was Dustin here right now? Why wasn’t he on the other side of the stage where he was supposed to be?

  Moving quickly, he stepped behind the curtain and let the deep folds of heavy fabric surround him. His heart raced for a moment. Then he remembered why he was here. He was supposed to be here to take that next step toward his future, the future he had been waiting for.

  He peeked out into the wings of the stage where Dustin was still standing like a Doberman anxious to sniff out trouble. His jaw clenched as he considered his options. He couldn’t let Dustin see him, but he certainly wasn’t going to let him ruin his plans.

  Shifting to the left, he felt something beneath his foot and heard the muffled clang of metal rolling on the floor. His heartbeat jumped into his throat, his eyes darting to Dustin to see if he’d heard the sound or sensed the movement. To his relief, Dustin hadn’t moved from his spot; he was still standing stage left where he could monitor the backstage activity.

  He let an expulsion of breath escape, and he looked down at the long, thin length of metal beneath his foot. Leaning down, he picked it up and discovered that it was a section of a microphone stand.

  He set his package beside the curtain, and his gloved fingers curled tightly around the cold metal as he watched and waited. Several minutes passed before Dustin finally shifted his body to look down the hall, leaving his back exposed.

  Seizing the opportunity he had been waiting for, he moved quickly, wielding the piece of metal like a weapon in the air. Then without any hesitation, he brought it down with force, and it connected with the back of Dustin’s head.

  Dustin’s moan was silenced in the music as he collapsed on the floor.

  With some effort, he leaned down, gripped the larger man’s arms, and dragged him behind a riser. Once he was satisfied that Dustin was no longer visible, he moved back to where he had left his package and made his way deeper backstage.

  The boards beneath his feet vibrated with the music as he surveyed his possibilities. Risers, floodlights, and various musical equipment were crammed together in no apparent order. He noticed the wide spotlight located near the edge of stage left, not far from where the opening band’s drums were still set up on a riser. He considered the angles and the possibilities as one song ended and another began.

  He stopped and listened, his heart squeezing in his chest as Kendra began singing his favorite song—a slow ballad about searching for love. Even though she couldn’t see him, he knew her words were meant for him.

  Soon she would find out what they could have together. He let himself dream of their future for a minute, of that moment when she would finally see him for what he really was—the only man who could ever truly love her. Ah, she was a fool—a beautiful fool—for not seeing it already.

  Drawing a deep breath, he slowly opened the box he held to reveal the homemade explosive that he had designed himself. Slowly, methodically, he connected it to the underside of the spotlight and set the timer. He stared down at it, double checking every detail as the song ended and the noise from the crowd spiked again.

  As Kendra Blake started into another song, he contemplated how her fans would react when they experienced the surprise he had in store for them. She deserved more than what her fans could give her, and soon they would understand that she wasn’t performing for them.

  She was performing for him alone.

  A single press of a button started the countdown. He shifted back into the wings of the stage, where he could peer through the curtains. Kendra’s blonde hair bounced with her movements as she crossed the stage, her voice captivating the audience. She was perfect, more perfect than any of the others. She was his now, even if she didn’t know it yet.

  In a few minutes, she would learn that she wasn’t safe in front of all these people, and finally, he would have her to himself.

  With a sense of anticipation rushing through him, he started down the hall and listened to the words Kendra sang for him.

  * * *

  Kendra stared out at the crowd, wondering if she would ever get used to this overwhelming feeling of seeing people singing along to a song she had written. Her legs felt like rubber as she moved with the music, but she didn’t care. She was as captured by the fans as they were by her.

  Only after she finished the last song did she begin to feel the exhaustion and the sweat dripping down her back. She exited stage left the moment the lights dimmed. The entire arena was encased in darkness for a brief moment before the houselights were brought up. Then the rumble of applause crescendoed as the crowd demanded yet another encore.

  “Are we going back out again?” Zack asked as he joined her, looking out at the crowd.

  Her shoulders lifted. “I try to draw the limit at three encores.”

  “Come on, Kendra,” Ben Artina said, tapping his drumsticks together. “This is our hometown. Let’s give them one more before we send them on their way.”

  Kendra considered briefly, and then she nodded and lifted her hands in surrender. “Why not.”

  She signaled the stage manager, and a moment later the houselights began to flicker and then dim. Instantly, the crowd erupted with deafening screams and applause.

  A new wave of energy pulsed through Kendra, her previous nerves long forgotten. She grinned at her band and then glanced over at her manager, who was standing in the wings.

  A flicker of surprise rushed through her when she noticed that Dustin wasn’t in his usual position at the edge of the center curtain. A little red flag went up in the back of her mind, and her brow furrowed slightly. Not once could she remember a time when he hadn’t been at her side the moment she’d stepped off the stage.

  Then she heard her cue, and she let herself get swept up in the moment. She jogged onto the stage, all thoughts of Dustin quickly forgotten.

  The drums started and set the beat. The keyboard joined in, followed by the guitar and bass. Then Kendra lifted the microphone, and her voice filled the arena once more, the music competing with the rumble of the crowd. She moved from one side of the stage to the other, reaching a hand out to connect with the fans in the front row.

  When the guitar player started his solo, she moved back across the stage, her steps timed to the beat of the song. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of movement. Then she noticed Dustin stumbling near the edge of the stage.

  Her first thought was that Dustin was back where he was supposed to be, but then she noticed the way he grabbed onto the curtain as though he couldn’t quite support his own weight. One part of her brain was tuned into the music, listening for h
er next cue, but the other part let an underlying sense of concern flood through her as she saw Dustin take a staggering step forward.

  One of the backstage security guards rushed to his side, and Kendra tried to focus once more on the music and her upcoming cue. Then she saw Dustin motion wildly toward the stage. She wondered what could have upset—

  Before she could finish her thought, an explosion rocked the stage and everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Curtains and equipment crashed down behind them. Shards of glass and mangled metal spewed through the air. Intense screams erupted from the crowd.

  Kendra’s microphone flew out of her hand, and the blast sent her body hurtling through the air. She could see the stage floor rising too quickly, and she slammed down hard on it.

  To her right, Ben’s drums flew off of their riser, and Ben was thrown to the floor beside them. In front of them, the other band members and the fans dropped to the ground in an effort to avoid the flying debris.

  From the depths of the stage, flames spiraled upward, and smoke filled the air.

  Before Kendra could try to sit up, footsteps sounded, and she felt hands pulling her away from the heat and the flames. Dazed and confused, Kendra could only stare as her fans crowded toward the exits and chaos reigned.

  Chapter 3

  Charlie walked into his sparsely furnished apartment and locked the door behind him. He toed off his shoes and then immediately reached for the remote to turn on the television. A late night movie wasn’t something he would normally watch, but at least the dialogue would help drown out the silence.

  The events of the night replayed through his mind as he shrugged out of his suit jacket and tossed it over the back of the couch. He sat down, immediately dropping his head into his hands as he fought back his emotions. His stomach curled at the realization that someone had tried to kill him—that someone had nearly succeeded.

  Charlie took a deep breath, a silent prayer of gratitude running through his mind that he had survived another shooting. On the heels of that silent prayer was a new resolve to hide this part of his job from his family. He reached for the framed photograph on the end table and stared down at it. His parents stood in the center, surrounded by their children and grandchildren.

  His gaze lingered on the woman beside him in the photograph and on the diamond ring sparkling on her left hand. He never would have guessed the day that picture was taken that only two weeks later, one dream would come true while another would shatter. When the memory of that last day with Lisa flashed into his mind, he didn’t even try to fight it.

  Charlie hung up the phone, both thrilled and stunned at the news. They wanted him. The FBI wanted him. Everything he’d ever dared hope for was about to be his. In a few short months, he would be married to a beautiful woman whom he adored, and now the career that he had secretly dreamed about for the past four years was going to be his.

  Barely able to contain his excitement, Charlie quickly finished getting ready for his engagement party that would begin in a matter of minutes. Then he hurried down the stairs of his childhood home and headed straight for the guest room.

  He rapped on the door, his smile widening when Lisa pulled it open. As always, her short chestnut-brown hair was perfectly styled, and her makeup was flawless. Her dark brown eyes met his expectantly. “Are the guests here?”

  “I don’t know,” Charlie said, even as the doorbell rang. “I have some great news. I just got a job offer.”

  Her face lit with anticipation, and she reached for his hands. “Already? I thought Harrison & Bates wasn’t making their decision until next month.”

  “The job isn’t with Harrison & Bates.” Charlie’s eyes were alive with excitement. “I got accepted by the FBI.”

  She stared blankly at him before she echoed, “The FBI?”

  “I can’t believe I made it in. I’ll find out next week when I’m scheduled to start at the FBI Academy.”

  “Wait a minute.” Her voice was incredulous. “You already accepted the job?”

  “Well, yeah,” he said, puzzled by her expression. “Why wouldn’t I?”

  “You accepted the job without even discussing it with me?” She pulled her hands free of his and took a step back. “How could you do that?”

  “Wait a second. Is it the fact that I didn’t talk it over with you first or is it the job itself that’s the problem?”

  “I can’t believe you would seriously consider taking a job like this.”

  Charlie felt his reality shift before his eyes. “I thought you would be happy for me. This is a job I’ve dreamed of getting for years.”

  Lisa shook her head and crossed her arms firmly across her chest. “You’ll never make any real money, and it certainly won’t be of any use to you when it comes time to run for office.”

  “I never said I was going to run for office. Where did you get that idea?”

  “Your father, for one. He said that with your personality and your law degree from Georgetown, you could take his job someday if you wanted it.”

  “Just because I could run for office doesn’t mean I want to,” Charlie said, his heart squeezing in his chest. “The idea that I would try for Dad’s seat in the Senate when he retires has been a running joke in my family since I was a kid. I don’t think anyone ever really expected that it would happen.”

  Lisa held up one hand. “So let me get this straight. You’re telling me that the man I plan to marry has no other ambition in life besides carrying around a gun and playing policeman every night. What am I supposed to do? Sit around and clip coupons?”

  Charlie stared down at her, his mind trying to comprehend how this woman he thought he knew had turned into someone else right before his eyes. “You’re in law school too. I thought you wanted to work until we started a family.”

  “Yes, because it looks good for a politician’s wife to have a solid résumé.”

  “You can’t be serious.”

  “Of course I’m serious.” Lisa rolled her eyes before staring up at him. “I spend six months dating someone from a solid family, someone who is going places in life, then all of a sudden, he’s going to walk away from all the opportunities sitting in front of him to go play cops and robbers. That’s not what I thought I was signing up for. What else have you been planning for our future without telling me?”

  Charlie took a deep breath and then took a deliberate step back, disgust and confusion warring with each other. “I’m starting to wonder if you really love me or if you love the idea of marrying the senator’s son.”

  “Of course I love you, but that doesn’t mean I’m willing to see you throw your future away.” Lisa took a step forward and ran her hands up his chest to rest on his shoulders. Smiling seductively, she continued, “Sweetheart, you’re destined for more than working a menial job with minimal pay. We should be thinking about celebrating our future together. I’m sure we can find a more suitable job for someone with your connections. Why don’t you go call the FBI and tell them you changed your mind?”

  Slowly, he shook his head and took a step back. All he could see were two paths before him. He could be the man Lisa wanted him to be and try to fill his father’s shoes, or he could follow his dreams and forge his own path—alone.

  “I have changed my mind,” he said softly. “But not about the job.”

  Lisa’s shock had quickly turned to fury. When she had stormed out of the house a short while later, she had left Charlie with a diamond ring, two nonrefundable tickets to the Bahamas, a houseful of family and friends, and the stunning realization that he had nearly married a complete stranger.

  Looking back now, Charlie knew that Lisa had let him see what he had wanted to see. He had gotten distracted by the outer package without taking the time to know the woman within. He promised himself he wouldn’t make that mistake a second time.

  Charlie indulged in one last look at the photograph before setting it aside. Lisa wasn’t part of his life anymore, and it was time for him to start loo
king forward instead of living in the past.

  * * *

  “Can you think of anyone who could have set off the explosive device at your concert?” Detective Dan Eadelton asked gently. “An old boyfriend or someone you might have fired recently?”

  Kendra shook her head, her body still trembling even though she had arrived home more than an hour before. An ambulance attendant had checked her out and bandaged the minor cuts she had sustained when she was thrown to the floor. Then she had been allowed to go home. She still couldn’t believe that someone had planted a bomb backstage. A small bomb, according to the detective—but a bomb nonetheless.

  Dustin had been the closest person to it and was currently at the hospital in stable condition. Ben, her drummer, had suffered a broken arm, and several other people backstage had been taken to the hospital for various broken bones and burns. Kendra considered it a minor miracle that more people hadn’t been injured.

  She tried to concentrate on the detective’s questions, despite the constant throbbing in her head. “I haven’t dated anyone recently, and it’s been more than three months since anyone left the band.”

  “Who was that? Why did he leave?”

  “Adam Templeton,” Kendra said. She saw the light go on in the detective’s eyes, but she expounded on her answer anyway. “He signed a contract as a solo artist with my record label. It was time for him to branch out on his own.”

  “Have you received any threatening letters or phone calls? Any unusual fan mail?”

  Kendra shook her head, but she turned to Greg Young, her manager, for confirmation.

  “She always gets a few obsessive letters from fans, but nothing out of the ordinary,” Greg told him. “Of course, we’ve had a few nasty e-mails about Kendra winning best female artist at the Grammys.”

  “What kind of e-mails?”

  “Just fans of the competition complaining that someone else should have won,” Greg told him. “From what I understand, this kind of thing is pretty common.”

  “The e-mails might be, but bombs sure aren’t,” Detective Eadelton said. “I suppose it’s possible that some obsessed fan got backstage and set off a bomb to scare Miss Blake. For now, I would suggest you stay home for at least a couple of days while we pursue our investigation.”