Part 15 (1/2)
”Just the young ones, like all babies,” I answered, watching a smile edge across Ca.s.sidys face. Sometimes horses can get to folks that other folks cant, fix them. I figured, why not try? ”If you want to, you can follow us to the pasture. Its Warriors first outing.”
”Is that his name? Warrior?”
”Yup,” I said, and then I decided to add, ”If you want, you can help care for them while youre here. Foals, especially preemies, need a lot of attention.”
For a moment, Ca.s.sidy appeared to consider my offer. Then she shrugged. ”Nah,” she said, the word laced with a heavy dose of condescension. ”Im no farmer.”
The girl had a chip on her shoulder the size of Texas. ”No problem. Id hate to interrupt your nap time,” I said. ”But if youre not helping, go up to the house and wait. Well be right there to start work.”
With a smirk, Collins walked away.
”You said last night that you wondered if Argus is someone in your crew,” I said to Collins, when we sat together in the living room. The kid was spread over Moms favorite chair, a red corduroy recliner. The arms were worn, and Ca.s.sidy picked absentmindedly at fraying threads. ”Lets start with that a.s.sumption. Do you have anyone in mind?”
”No,” she snapped. ”I just kept telling Rick that the creep knows more about me than my friends.”
”What do you mean?”
”He knows where I live in L.A., and what I do, who Im with. His e-mails sound like hes watching me or like he knows where Im supposed to be,” she said. For a minute, she looked tentative. There was something else there, something the kid wasnt eager to say.
”Theres more youre not telling us, isnt there?”
The kid said nothing, just stared at me, thinking.
”Ca.s.sidy, this guy is threatening to kill you,” I reminded her. ”This isnt the time to hold back any information that could help us.”
For another moment, she paused and frowned, thinking that through. Then she said, ”Sometimes I wonder if he knew me before L.A.”
”Why?” David asked.
”In one e-mail, he said he liked the freckles on my nose when I was a little girl,” she said, with a puzzled look. She shook her head slightly and shrugged. ”I havent had those freckles since fifth grade. They faded. How would he know that?”
”I dont know. Youve got a fair complexion. Maybe he just guessed you had freckles as a kid? I didnt see that e-mail in the packet Mr. Barron gave me,” I said. ”Why not?”
”I deleted it,” she said, with a shrug. ”It was one of the first ones I got, before I was really scared of this jerk. I thought he was just another nut. I get them all the time. I didnt think hed threaten to . . .”
Her voice dwindled off.
”Did you show that to anyone, the e-mail I mean?”
”No, but it was the same guy. He signed it Argus.”
”Are there other e-mails you didnt tell Barron or anyone about?”
”A few,” she admitted more than a little reluctantly.
”Did they contain anything else surprising?” I asked.
”Yeah,” she said. ”I guess, maybe.”
”What?” David asked.
The kid wrinkled up her face in disgust. ”The morning after the concert in Atlanta, that was a week or so before we played Caesars Palace, that Argus dude e-mailed and claimed I winked at him,” she said. ”He said our eyes met, and he knew that we had some kind of special bond. Yuck. Really sick.”
”What did he mean by that, the bit about the special bond?” I asked.
The kid grimaced and shrugged. ”Nothing, okay? Nothing I know of anyway.”
”He could have meant anything,” David said. ”These types of stalkers often fantasize that they have a relations.h.i.+p with their victims.”
”Yeah. Thats true,” I said. ”Okay, talk about Atlanta. Do you remember anyone you saw that night? Is it possible that he was telling the truth, that you saw his face in the crowd?”
”That was a big show, full-stage show, with the fly harness and the coc.o.o.n. Sometimes, up on the hoist, over the audience, I kind of see people, but I cant see faces,” she said. ”Its more shapes. Girls and moms, a few dads. I dont focus on anyone, and no one ever stands out.”
”Did you respond to those e-mails?” David asked.
”No,” she answered. ”Like I said, I did what Rick says to do with garbage. I trashed them. But that Argus jerk, his e-mails had those things, where you click and it tells the sender that I opened it. So he knew I got them.”
”What else did this Argus know about your past?” I asked.
”That my family was dirt poor,” she said. ”And thats something I dont tell anyone.”
”What do you mean?” I asked.
Collins looked wary, guarded about saying any more.
”Whats the problem?” I asked.
”What I tell you two goes nowhere?” she said. ”You dont flap about it? Like to reporters?”
”No,” I said. ”We wont tell anyone.”
”Sure?” she prodded.
”Sure,” David said. ”Absolutely.”
”Well, okay. I dont ever tell anyone about my past. I dont want the press to dig around, find out where I grew up,” she said. ”The truth is that Mom and I lived in a trailer park. My mom was a drunk. I dont know my dad, not even his name. The thing is, I have no privacy. Anything anybody finds out about me gets splashed all over those grocery store rags.”
”Okay, Ca.s.sidy, lets go with that,” David said, ever so patiently. ”Lets a.s.sume this guy is someone out of your past. Tell me about people you knew growing up, anyone whod know about your life before Los Angeles.”
Her eyes dropped, and she layered her hands on her lap, looking young and frightened. The kid was tough but hurting. Shed been through a lot in her short lifetime, but now someone wanted her dead. That was beyond all her experience.
Of course, that didnt give her the right to be rude, I told myself, but . . .
”I changed my name when I hit L.A. Id thought of Ca.s.sidy Collins when I was a little kid, liked it, so I gave that to everyone, even the social worker who stuck me in those foster homes. I made up a name for my mom, too. Said she was dead. Thats the only true thing I told anyone,” she said. ”I never talk about being trailer park trash. I dont talk about my mom drinking herself to death, either. Once I got to L.A., I wanted to be a different person.”
”We understand, Ca.s.sidy. But think back, before Los Angeles,” David instructed. ”Whom do you remember?”