wanted Matthew, who was much too young to have to be this mature, to find the strength to forgive Pru. The strength to let Pru remain a part of his life.
There was silence on the line for a long time as PJ and Gabe waited.
“I’m thirteen,” Matthew said and Gabe held his breath. The kid was doing the math. He was putting it together. He understood how young Pru was when she had him.
Pru waited.
“You coming home for my birthday, Aunt PJ?” Matthew finally asked, his voice cracking a bit as he spoke, and Gabe watched as Pru cried and nodded, trying to say yes into the phone, but not quite getting anything out.
An hour later, showered and dressed, they met with Chad and Zach in the kitchen and looked at all the information they had gathered to that point.
“So far, your blackmailer hasn’t done anything that required him or her to leave the tour, other than possibly tampering with Jimmy Mondo’s car or somehow setting Jimmy’s accident in motion. And in reality, we still don’t know for sure that’s what happened. Jimmy’s death could have been an accident,” Chad said.
Zach cut in. “We’ve got a few friends on the police force in Los Angeles where the accident took place. We’re waiting to hear if the car had been tampered with, and to get a tox screen back on Jimmy to see what was in his system.”
Chad nodded. “So far, everything your guy’s been doing has been from behind the scenes, hiding behind texts and messenger services. It’s highly likely that this person’s absence from your team would be noticed at any exact moment, and it would be easy to connect that absence with any attack on you here.”
Chad pulled his cell phone out and read from the notes app on the screen. “Unfortunately, your entire team hasn’t been together since you arrived here. Your tour bus was sent ahead to your next tour stop in Denver and the driver has been waiting at the Towers there. Your team and band met them there yesterday, but between then and now, Debra has gone back to her office, and Ellis and Lydia took two days off. Ellis said he was driving across the country, stopping at civil war monuments on the way. He met up with Lydia at the Towers in Denver late yesterday afternoon.”
“So, it’s possible he could have gone out to LA and tampered with Jimmy Mondo’s car before meeting up with Lydia?” Gabe asked.
Chad nodded. “Exactly. But, the others are equally unaccounted for. Lydia supposedly stayed at the Towers in New York for two days before she went to Denver. But, since checkout is automated and there’s no record of her using room service or anything, we’ll need to get someone on the ground there to see if any of the staff remember seeing her. Gabe, can you take care of that for us?”
“Yep. I’m on it,” Gabe said, sending a quick text to the general manager of the Towers New York asking him to send security footage from the hotel lobby and all other public areas for the day Jimmy was killed, and to see if any of the staff remembered seeing Lydia that day.
“There’s also the band. They split up and went their separate ways. The driver of the tour bus continued on to Denver, and the various members of the band each went to stay with friends. We’re working on getting in touch with the friends they saw, trying to confirm they were with them for the days we need to track,” Zach said.
“So you think the reason this person hasn’t actually come after me yet is because they can’t slip away from the group unnoticed?” PJ asked.
Chad nodded. “I think so. They clearly know where you are. They know a lot about you, and about Gabe, it seems. Enough to know he owns this house—that not many people know about—and what courier Gabe’s assistant uses to send things to him here. This person must be someone who moves around the Towers properties easily and unnoticed.”
“Lydia and Ellis are often in the Towers offices talking to my staff about arrangements for PJ,” Gabe said. “We let her security move around the hotel so they can check on things for her. I don’t think the band would move around easily in the back areas.”
Chad nodded, making notes before looking at PJ. “Who did you tell about your plan to stay with Gabe?”
“Only Debra and my parents