Dying to Have Her by Heather Graham

Author:Heather Graham
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781453234051
Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media LLC
Published: 2012-04-17T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

GEORGE OLSEN WAS UP in Joe’s office, telling him they hadn’t gotten anywhere. The ladder had so many prints on it that there was no way to discover who had pushed it over.

Joe sat glumly in front of him. Jinx had just brought in a box filled with fan mail, most of it telling Serena how wonderful she was, a strong woman, and even if Verona Valentine wasn’t always entirely ethical, she did take responsibility for her own actions. Most wrote that she was a wonderful actress, that she entertained them tremendously, and that they got through mounds of housework, pet messes, laundry, baby care, and cooking—because of her.

Not all the mail, however, was positive. Of course they all knew that. Sometimes they would laugh over a fan taking the soap too seriously.

Some of it was mail telling Verona Valentine that she was a monster and that she needed to stay away from her sisters’ husbands and lovers. A few notes were worse, telling her that she should be shot, horsewhipped, and sunk to the bottom of the sea. Usually they found such passionate hatred, which was actually necessary to the longevity of a soap, to be amusing.

None of it was funny now.

Joe had told Jinx to make sure that he saw anything threatening before Serena did. There were a few letters that the police had seen and dismissed; letters that dealt with the nastiness of her character, warning that she had to be very careful because there was such a thing as karma and something terrible could happen to her, too.

One of them read, “Verona! You love Egypt so much, you should sink into the desert sand and mummify yourself!”

Joe had gotten a big kick out of that letter. He wondered if it might be used for a scene. Maybe a dream sequence, in which Verona imagined herself a queen of Egypt, falling in love with the wrong man and earning the vengeance of the pharaoh. She could wake up, smothering in the covers, and find herself saved by … oh, well, that one would have to be figured out. Verona Valentine wasn’t saving herself for anyone special.

“Mr. Penny,” Olsen said, “have you been listening to me?”

“Of course. I always listen to you, Lieutenant,” Joe said politely. “I just had a thought. A creative idea, you know.”

“I said, I would like to see Serena.”

“I’ll call her up.”

Joe buzzed through to Serena’s dressing room, telling her that Olsen was there, and would she mind terribly coming up?

A few minutes later, she walked in, followed by Liam Murphy.

“Serena, have a seat,” Olsen invited, nodding to Liam.

Serena sat across the desk from Joe. Liam Murphy remained standing, but he immediately said, “Serena received a box of candy this morning. It should be checked out.”

“Oh?” Olsen looked at Serena. She pursed her lips. “Miss McCormack? Do you know who sent you the candy?”

Serena hesitated, glancing at Liam. “I can’t be certain.”

“Who do you think sent it?”

“It’s the kind of candy my brother-in-law and sister send me on occasion.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.