A/N – I realise that in the last chapter I did take a few liberties, like with the premise for the chapter itself in that in the UK it isn't a legal requirement for the will to be read out by a lawyer and I'm not actually sure if there is paperwork for the executors to sign as an acceptance of terms but it kind of worked for narrative reasons.
"Promise me you'll Skype us at least once a month," Sarah told her sister-in-law before giving her a hug as they stood in the airport.
"Of course we will and you'll have to send me the pictures from the next scan," Karen told her, it had been two weeks since the will reading and most of that time had been spent packing up Emmeline's stuff or more to the point, persuading Derek, James and Grace to pack up the things.
Karen received a hug from James next as he told her "Look after my little brother,"
Karen looked to her brother-in-law in surprise for a second but quickly recovered "Of course I will and you look after Sarah," she warned.
James chuckled and Karen accepted the brief hug from Grace.
"Love, we've got to go through security, the flight leaves in about half an hour," Derek told his wife and soon enough they were forced into running to get to their flight.
Their flight landed safely, as Derek had expected, and they collected their baggage. They went to the arrivals gate and were surprised to be greeted by Amy, Lily, Julia, Ivy, Ana, Eileen, Tom, Sam, Jessica, Sue, Bobby and Dennis.
"Oh my god," Karen exclaimed, she'd only actually expected to see Julia, Amy and Lily at the airport and the thought that all of these people had come to greet them was quite nice.
"Iowa we've missed you," Bobby said with an excited smile "and of course we've missed the dark lord as well," he added with a laugh.
"It's good to see you guys," Karen replied with a laugh "Although I'm a little surprised to see all of you, I hear the producer of Hit List is a little bit of an ass," the line earned a laugh from Jessica, Sue and surprisingly Eileen laughed at her ex-husband.
"We'll just risk it Iowa," Jessica said.
The group continued to laugh and joke for a few minutes as they walked over to their respective cars with Karen and Derek travelling in Julia's car.
Julia dropped them off outside of their apartment building knowing that they'd want some time alone together in the apartment to sort out things in the apartment. When they got home Karen and Derek breathed a sigh of relief as they saw the familiar surroundings of the place they called home. Karen went and sat down on the couch and looked out at the view of the New York skyline she loved so much. Derek walked over to the phone and played the messages many of them were condolences, there were several from Michael Riedel asking for quotes and several offering Derek money to direct new shows.
Karen went and took a look at the mail that had collected up in a pile on the kitchen workbench. Karen began looking through for anything interesting. There was a letter with her name and the apartment's address handwritten on the envelope, which appeared to be rather bulky, that caught her eye and she opened it. What she found inside the envelope shocked and horrified her. There was a vial of red liquid and a handwritten note which read
KAREN CARTWRIGHT YOU DESERVE TO DIE YOU UNGRATEFUL BITCH!
"Oh my god!" she exclaimed fearfully.
"What's up love?" Derek asked confused and concerned.
She turned to look at him and upon seeing the doe-eyed, Bambi scared in the woods look on her face he rushed over to her. He took one look at the note she still held in her hand and pulled her into his arms. As she wept in his arms he wondered who on earth would want his beautiful, loveable, kind wife dead, it was unlikely to be Jimmy, although prison guards could be persuaded he still knew it was unlikely, there was Dev but he doubted that one, the man had a career in politics to think about. The one thing he was certain about was that he was getting his wife some security, even if she protested, it was the only way he could make sure that she was safe on a close enough to permanent basis. He found that the envelope was on the kitchen bench next to him, grabbed it and took a look at the back. There wasn't a return address on it, this person, whoever he/she was, knew what they were about. Karen continued to sob in Derek's arms and he just held her, knowing that she'd calm down eventually.
After another fifteen minutes of crying, Karen stopped and looked up at Derek "What do we do?" she asked.
"Well I want to get you some security," he announced and watched as she shook her head.
"They're obviously not serious about their threats otherwise they would have done something about it," she said.
"Karen, we lay pretty low while we were in London, there's still a chance that whoever this psycho is will do and I'm not willing to take the risk," he told her firmly.
"You're not going to back down are you?" she asked quietly.
"No," he replied, his voice still firm "And if you receive any more letters we are going to the police about it, this counts as grounds for harassment,"
"Okay," she said softly, she couldn't be bothered arguing the matter with him, she knew he wouldn't give up.
So, Derek went through the rest of the mail as Karen went to sit on the couch and look out at New York skyline. Derek found another letter this one contained what looked like a plastic finger with blood all over it this one read
I WILL CUT YOU INTO A MILLION PIECES YOU SLUT!
Derek placed it with the other letter and continued through the mail making sure there wasn't any other letters. He found another one; this one was slim and didn't appear to have anything in it. Derek opened it and was surprised when he found a shard of glass inside it, glad that it hadn't actually cut him he took it out of the envelope and read the note.
I WILL KILL YOU AND THE LIGHTS OF BROADWAY WON'T DIM FOR YOU, YOU WHORE!
Every word Derek read was like a dagger being plunged into his chest as he took in the viciousness and malicious nature of the words. 'Who would write such things? Karen Natalie Cartwright, the woman I've loved and adored from the very moment I saw her is the most kind, caring, loveable woman anyone could ever meet, who would want her dead?' he asked himself.
He went through the list of people he knew that she knew in his head: Ivy, the pair had buried the hatchet long ago; Ana, about as unlikely as the end of the world; Sam, too kind and loving; Tom, nope; Julia, the woman didn't have a vicious bone in her body; Jessica, the pair were like sisters; Sue, ditto; Bobby, too gentle a person; Dennis, unlikely; Linda, no woman in their right mind would even consider murdering their own daughter. He didn't even bother considering Amy. Either this was some sick psychopath or Karen had really hurt before he'd met her, something that seemed extremely unlikely. His mind was made up on what he should do: he was going to call Tom and Sam, who, it appeared, had gotten back together, as well as Julia and Ana, get them to come around and keep a watch on Karen whilst Derek went to the police station to see if he could sort the issue out.
The first person he called was Julia "Derek, I didn't expect to hear from you so soon," she said when she picked up.
"Would you mind coming round to keep an eye on Karen for me? Please," he said practically begging.
"Yeah, sure what's up?" she asked slightly suspicious.
"I'll explain when you get here," he told her desperately trying to keep an air of coolness.
He then phoned Sam, Tom and Ana, keeping details to a minimum because of the possibility of phone hacking, and unsurprisingly they all agreed to come round.
When Julia and Ana arrived, at the same time, they walked into the apartment, saw Karen staring out the large window opposite the sofa and both simultaneously asked "What did you do?"
Derek sighed and said "She was going through the post and found a threatening note along with a vial of red liquid, she was in tears for a full fifteen minutes and then I started looking through the rest of the mail and found two more letters, I'm going to go down to police station and see what they can do," he said in an almost whisper.
"Is anyone else coming round?" Ana asked
"Tom and Sam should be round here soon," he said.
Once Tom and Sam arrived, Derek explained the situation again and then he left ready to make hell if the police decided not to do anything.