Cole would have enjoyed the chaos he created.
Alex tapped her foot impatiently as the three men fetched their luggage from the plane. "You'd think three men would have packed less."
Roger dropped his bag at her feet and picked her up, giddily spinning her around for a moment. "You are the most beautiful woman on either side of the Atlantic."
She allowed him to kiss her forehead, smiling indulgently. "I'm glad you've learned to appreciate me. Maybe I'll have to let you go away more often."
Dragging his stuff over with Ethan on his heels, Sean looked at the two adults expectantly. "Well this is it. All our stuff. Can we eat now?"
Ethan joined Sean's pouting. "Please? It's been bloody hours since we got to eat anything. We're wasting away." He tightened his shirt across his stomach. "Look at how thin I am. And Sean- he's just skin and bones."
Roger tossed his arm around Alex's shoulders. "All right let's feed them. Would burgers and fries at Elaine's be acceptable?"
Sean grinned and threw his bag over his shoulder. "Lead the way."
Elaine's was quiet. Before eleven wasn't usually her lunch time, but she made an exception for the two charming young men who attacked her with their most pitiable looks. "I'll be back with your burgers soon, onion rings and milkshakes should just take a second though." She headed to the kitchen and placed their order. When she came back with their milkshakes and coffee for Alex and Roger, Elaine turned up the radio.
"That's my mom!" Sean realized, taking a break from the pile of onion rings between him and Ethan.
"She's answering questions about the hospital today." Elaine explained with a proud smile. "Olivia sounds so informed, doesn't she?"
"The accent helps." Ethan explained as he ate the wafer out of his milkshake. "I get told all the time how intelligent I sound-"
Stealing the cherry from his son with an evil grin, Roger agreed. "That's why I went to med school in the colonies. Accent impressed everyone, barely had to study at all." Sean jumped in and it became a three way battle of wits, Roger invariably coming out on top.
Alex sipped her coffee with one hand, letting the other rest in Roger's lap. Olivia was explaining how medical students would interact with the community. Living in town, working, shopping- a valuable part of the fabric of the town. Their food arrived and Sean and Ethan attacked it like ravenous wolves. Olivia's hour on-air was winding down and the producer announced the last caller.
Roger set down his sandwich, putting all his attention on the radio. When Sean started to speak he hushed him firmly. "Listen."
Olivia still sounded polite. "What's the message?" Alex knew she would have been far less tactful in Olivia's position.
Cole's next comment brought complete silence to the waffle shop. Everyone was listening to the radio with morbid curiosity. "He's been taking too long to make his decision."
Elaine turned up the volume. "He received a letter this morning. If the Deschanel jewels aren't where it asks by sunset tomorrow- You'll be dead."
Alex's coffee cup slipped from her hand, bounced on the edge of the table and shattered on the floor as Cole concluded:
"-he'll have no one to blame but himself." Choking, Sean spit what he had been eating into his napkin. Sean and Alex both stood up, Ethan watched his father for a cue.
Roger opened his wallet, took out well over the estimated coast of the food and left it on the table as he stood up. "I think all our appetites are ruined now."
Alex was pale, her lips set in a thin line. "How could anyone-?"
"It just doesn't make sense." Ethan added quietly as he stepped aside to let Sean out of the booth. Sean's jaw muscles seemed ready to work their way free of his mouth.
Roger recognized Gregory's simmering anger in his son. "I know our first impulse is to rush over to the studio and make sure Olivia's all right-" Sean started headed for the car.
"But that's going to be the busiest place in Sunset Beach for the next few hours until this is sorted out." He caught Sean in the doorway. "We'll go down to the station; she'll have to come in to give her statement. Okay?"
Alex and Ethan nodded, Roger's solution was logical even if it didn't immediately make anyone feel any better. Sean shook his head, feeling like he had been instantly reduced to six-years-old again. "Why would anyone want to hurt my mom?"
Gregory had the radio on the entire hour. Knowing she wasn't just down the hallway was making him nervous, but listening to her voice almost made him fell better. He didn't pay much attention to the words; he knew the details of the project just as well as she did. He just liked to listen to her speak. The lilt of her voice when she was amused, the proper tone she took when she was explaining- he could have listened to her all day.
Gregory was finishing up his pro bono casework and trying to decide what he wanted for lunch when the words came back to assault his ears.
"I have a message for your husband." It was as if the devil himself had reached out of the radio to taunt him. The ball, their bedroom and now- Was nowhere sacred? He dropped his folder to his desk, praying it wasn't what he thought. The station would certainly cut off the crank and go to commercial.
But Olivia encouraged the caller. Gregory could picture her curiosity, the way she played with her tongue when she was thinking. He missed the next sentence when Emily opened the door to drop an envelope on his desk. Not bothering to acknowledge her, he took the envelope just as the mysterious caller mentioned it on air.
He was opening it with his finger when Cole crossed the unseen line.
"You'll be dead." The phrase echoed in his head, bouncing off the walls of his office, mocking him as the radio fell into white noise. His mental image of Olivia sitting quietly in silent radio booth turned horrible in a way he didn't even want to imagine. Gregory couldn't picture how she was going to die. Even his imagination was too horrified by that thought. Her unnaturally still, white face- her hands folded immobile over her chest- Olivia's blue eyes dim, fogged over with death-
His heart attempted to punch through his ribs. Without taking the time to read the letter, he jammed it into his pocket, grabbed his keys and ran out of the office.
The quiet studio became a hub of activity as soon as the producer flicked the on-air light off. She started copying the tape of the show. An assistant came in to announce he'd just called the police, who were on their way. Casey backed out of the way, retreating away from the equipment towards the soundproof booth. Olivia had her face in her hands, head down. She looked tiny inside her neat black suit, too small to be the center of so much attention.
Casey let himself in, walking up to her and putting a hand on her shoulder. "The police are coming. Gregory's secretary called and he's on his way as well." If she had been his mother she would have looked up at him and made a joke about increasing her life insurance.
Olivia looked up slowly, her face a porcelain mask. Her body was numb; the movements of her legs to get her to a standing position were taking place miles away from the rest of her. Casey's hand on her elbow steadied her. She had to say something to him; he was looking at her with such concern- "Gregory?"
"Should be here soon." Casey assured her with a calm he didn't feel. He had never seen anyone receive a death threat before. He didn't know what to say. How could he tell her it was going to be all right when even the police seemed stunned? "Do you need-?" Stupid question, he berated himself.
Olivia surprised him by reaching for his hand. Detaching his fingers from her elbow so she could hold onto them. Her hand was ice cold, like the ocean in winter. "Can we go outside? I'm feeling a bit claustrophobic."
"Sure." He replied, opening the door into the crowd of people who filled the tiny studio space. Thanking his stature, he pushed through them, getting Olivia through to the hallway. They could hear the sirens now, wailing in the distance as they grew steadily closer. The noise was almost comforting.
Olivia knew where she was going. Casey didn't ask. He just followed one step behind, wishing her hand would warm up. Shoving open the security door activated the alarm. It joined the growing cacophony of sound around them.
The roof was gravel, wide and flat. The flashing red and blue lights of the squad cars danced over the surrounding walls. "Everyone's going to be looking for you." Casey pointed out as Olivia dropped his hand and retreated to the wall, sinking down and hugging her knees to her chest.
She pointed to the doorway. "They can follow the alarm. I just can't- it's suffocating in there." Olivia tried to control her breathing, slow the racing of her heart. She should have recognized the voice as soon as he came on the air. It was the voice from the ball that had made her chest tight. She closed her eyes against the sunshine, but that just let the face from her bedroom in to mock her. The hands on her throat- the sick satisfaction in the eyes that bored into her.
The first sensation to return to her body was nausea. She lowered her forehead to her knees, immediately missing the numbness.
Casey stood in the doorway, putting his hands in his pockets and watching as the uniformed police officers came towards them. Paula Stevens was point, weapon drawn. "Where's Mrs. Richards?"
"She's here." Casey replied softly. "She's all right." He put his hand on her gun, dropping his voice to a whisper. "Pretty badly shaken up."
Paula holstered her weapon grimly. "I don't blame her. This is the third threat in the last two weeks, these incidents just keep escalating. It's only a matter of time before-"
Gregory's angry demand echoed through the hallway, rattling the entire building. "Where is my wife!"
Paula picked up her walkie-talkie, "Subject is just outside the roof door on second floor, west side." Inclining her head, the other two officers took up positions flanking Olivia at the wall, looking around for a moment and nodding. "Area is secure."
Ricardo's voice clicked back. "I'm escorting up her husband. Don't leave that area."
"Roger." Clipping the radio to her belt, Paula pulled out her notebook. "What are you doing here Casey?"
"Me?" It took him a moment to realize what she was asking. "Mr. Richards hired me to be her assistant." He loosed his tie sheepishly. "It's my first day."
Patting his shoulder sympathetically, Paula's eyes widened. "Some first day."
"Yeah, I'd say so-" Casey stopped speaking beofre he finished his thought when Gregory and Ricardo appeared down the hallway. Gregory breaking into a run as he saw Casey, desperation naked on his face. He pushed past them both, looking around for a moment frantically in the doorway until he found her. He dropped to his knees in the stones, lifting up Olivia's head to look at her.
Gregory didn't have to say anything. Everything in his heart was bare on his face. Olivia's fingers caught the collar of his jacket, tightening in the fabric. Her face remained impassive for one last moment and then crumbled from within. First her lip quivered, then her chin, the tears were in her eyes as the first sob fought free of her throat. Gregory pulled her away from the wall, crushing her to his chest. Rocking back and forth in the indifferent sunshine.
Casey realized why Olivia been so quiet. She had been waiting. The two officers looked stoically away as Olivia's sobbing continued. Detective Torres turned to Casey, his expression grim and troubled. "Forensics is downstairs; trying to trace the phone call- looks like it was scrambled. Bounced around the system so much we'll never figure out where it came from."
"Damn." Paula folded her arms on her chest. "Do we know anything about the letter?"
Ricardo pulled it out of his jacket. "Gregory gave it to me. It arrived just before he left the office. He hasn't read it." Knowing the lab would have to ignore his fingerprints anyway, he opened the envelope. Like the last note this one was handwritten in block letters. A small key was taped on the bottom, marked C3 with nail polish.
Failure to comply will result in the immediate and painful death of Olivia Richards. Put the jewels in an unmarked duffel bag. You alone will place it in E-Z storage locker number C3. The locker will be monitored. You have until 8:22pm Friday, one minute more will be considered failure. Any police presence will result in her death.
Ricardo reread the note, his lips forming the words as he tried to think about the kind of man who wrote it. Paula titled her head, mildly confused.
"8:22pm is pretty specific."
"That's exactly sunset tomorrow." Casey pointed out, shrugging as Ricardo looked at him in surprise. "We keep track on the board at the lifeguard station."
"Romantic." Ricardo bleakly replied.