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There was a muffled conversation at the other end of the phone and Alex came back to me to tell me everything was sorted and to go to the room of Carl, the tour manager.
“Come in, come in.” Carl ushered me in the second I knocked on his door. “Johnny called me. He’s handling it all for you. There’s a private investigator on the case, and he’s going to liaise between us and the police. He’s been talking about a bodyguard too.”
I scoffed at the notion of needing someone to babysit me. “It’s not that bad is it? Do I really need a babysitter?”
Carl looked at me blankly. “You’ve had notes, gifts, and now they’ve been in your actual hotel room. Is that something that you think you should be risking, mate?”
Admitting defeat, I flopped onto the sofa in his room, my shoulders sagging, my head down. “No, probably not,” I conceded.
“Order yourself some room service, and I’ll get back on the phone with Johnny and Alex. We’ll get all this figured out, okay?”
Food was the furthest thing from my mind, but my stomach growled at the mention of it. I had to acknowledge that, perhaps, it was something I needed.
When the police finally knocked on the door two hours later, I had worn a track in the carpet pacing back and forth, feeling like a caged tiger, wondering what the hell was going to happen next.
The officer strode in and outstretched their hand to me. “Mr Love.” He nodded. “So, we have been to your room and it seems as though it was just the items that you had seen that were left in the room and nothing else. No one was still in there, and there wasn’t anything we would term as particularly sinister.”
I nodded blankly. Had they expected to find more? Could there have been someone in my room I hadn’t noticed? Would there be the next time? A chill ran through me and goosebumps pebbled all over my skin as I tried to concentrate on what the policeman was saying.
“Now, I’ve been made aware this isn’t the first thing you’ve experienced from this person, is that correct?”
I nodded my head. “Uh, yes, there have been other things, but honestly, it’s show business, isn’t it? I didn’t think much of it. When I was in a boy band when I was younger, we had so many things sent to us. Some of them were pretty out there, so I foolishly just dismissed it at first.”
“I understand. If you have any examples of that prior contact, it could be helpful in locating the person, or persons, involved.”
Something about his comment struck me more than anything else and made me feel even more on edge. “You think there could be more than one person? Really?”
The officer shook his head and held up his hand. “I didn’t mean to alarm you, Mr Love. In our experience, more than one suspect can be the case.”
I puffed out my cheeks and exhaled as I started to pace up and down the floor again. “Right.” I nodded in a daze. “Can I go back to my room now?”
Carl interrupted before the officer had a chance to speak. “It’s okay. you’re going to take my suite here and I’m going to get another room. Johnny thought it would be better given the circumstances.”
The words washed over me, but I wasn’t sure I was actually taking any of them in. Had I really been ignoring something that was this much of a threat? Was this really happening? This was the first night of a life changing tour for me, and the high I had felt from it had come crashing down in a heartbeat. This wasn’t how I thought things would be when I started my return to the music industry.
As I continued to try and process all of this, Carl took over. He talked to the officer and arranged everything that needed to be organised and handed over to them as evidence. I heard him thank them for their help on the matter.
“I know that this probably isn’t what you want to hear, Mr Love, but it might be a good idea if you perhaps arranged yourself some personal protection. Maybe think about getting a bodyguard or something.”
I stared at the police officer and they winced at my expression. He nodded in acknowledgement of my fears. Not at any time in the twelve years I had been sober had I ever wanted a drink more than I did at this moment. I was in hell.
Maybe this wasn’t the best move for me after all. Maybe I should be cancelling the tour until this was all sorted out.
CHAPTER 2
TOM
Private security had been the most sensible idea for me once I retired from the Army. I say retired, but what I meant was once I was of an age where I felt I’d done enough. I’d enlisted in Her Majesty’s Army when I was just sixteen, and as clichéd as it sounded, it had been the making of me.
I’d learned a lot of skills, been through a lot of rough situations, and met some interesting people. I’d also made some decent connections in a few helpful places.
Security was the perfect profession for someone like me, and it was proving pretty lucrative too. It also gave me a great way to help guys just like me. As soon as their feet hit civvy street, I was able to offer them somewhere to use their interesting range of skills.
I had worked for 45RPM Records a few times now. The first had been when they stepped up their personal security after the nasty incident with Alex’s ex. Aside from that, everything with them over the last few years had been fairly routine.
From what Johnny described on the phone, it seemed as though one of the musicians they had signed was experiencing a bit of trouble with a stalker. It sounded like it was escalating too, and that was never a good sign. I was glad he had called me when he did.
I had the perfect guy in mind for the role; Levi. He was a new recruit, expert marksman, an E5 of Krav Maga, covert specialist, and fluent in several languages. He was genuinely lethal, but so unassuming; he blended beautifully into the background and no one would ever know he was security. Perfect if we wanted to actually catch this stalker in the act.
