Dark Star (3 page)

Thad had only been with them for a moment
when a buzz started across the room.

“Isn’t that Sioux Dupree over there?” he
asked pointing to the young pop star whose wild mane of cherry Coke
colored hair made her stand out even in this crowd.

Tonya looked at Callie. “What on earth is she
doing here? For that matter what’s she doing out of rehab?”

Callie laughed. “Supposedly she’s been clean
for a while. She’s taken to following StormCrow around. I think she
wants to collaborate with them. Maybe open for the next tour.”

“Say what? Her music is nothing like
StormCrow’s.”

“Apparently she has a new sound or gig or
something. I don’t know all that much about it. Bryan won’t talk to
her, which is why she’s following him around,” Callie said.

“You’re the only woman I know who wouldn’t
worry about a beautiful young pop star following her husband
around.”

“Bryan could’ve had a pop star each day of
the week and two on Sunday if he wanted. He chose me instead. I’ve
got nothing to worry about. Come on, I’ve got more people for you
to meet.”

Before Tonya could respond the whirlwind that
was Sioux Dupree descended upon them.

“Hi, Thad,” she said in a voice evocative of
all the long nights of assorted mayhem she was rumored to have had.
Tonya was always surprised anytime she heard the girl speak. For
such a tiny little thing, she had a deep rich voice that they
somehow managed to sanitize into pop pabulum on her records.

Thad sighed. “He’s not going to talk to you.
You really need to stop stalking him this way.”

“He’ll talk to me if you come with me,” she
said looking up at him with luminous brown eyes. Was that a tear?
Clearly the little pop princess should’ve been an actor, if she
could stay clean long enough to complete a film.

“Nope, he’ll just be pissed at me, too,” Thad
said.

Tonya and Callie exchanged amused glances as
Sioux continued to work on Thad, until he finally gave in and
escorted her over to Bryan. Tonya giggled, then raised a
melodramatic hand to her forehead. “I think I just got my heart
broken. Abandoned for a younger woman.”

They both laughed, but then Callie sobered,
“I hope you’re wrong. That girl is nothing but trouble,” she said
shaking her head.

They watched as Sioux began pestering Bryan,
who managed to look bored and aggravated at the same time, but they
lost interest as the young woman eventually wandered off apparently
defeated again.

Callie and Tonya continued to work the room
in tandem. Callie had just introduced her to Badger Metcalf, star
of an offbeat little comedy she’d enjoyed tremendously, when she
felt eyes on her again. She leaned over to Callie.

“Do you see anyone watching me?”

“Everyone’s watching you. It’s your party.
Besides you’re with Badger, he’s the “it boy” of the moment. Now
stop whispering to me and talk to him, we’re being rude,” Callie
said.

Chatting Badger up wasn’t all that difficult.
For one thing he was gorgeous; tall with a classic dancer’s body,
dark auburn hair and intense gray eyes. She had little trouble
responding to his blatant flirting. It was a comfortable flirtation
between a significantly younger man and an older woman when both
know there’s no chance for anything more than a little playtime.
Their conversation quickly segued into an exchange of telephone
numbers. It was only after he mentioned an early shooting schedule
that Tonya realized it was well past her bedtime, but for most of
her guests it was the shank of the evening. Badger gave her a
casual goodbye kiss that promised more and she looked forward to
seeing him again. But the eerie feeling persisted and she was on
edge for the rest of the night.

Despite her unease it turned out to be a very
festive evening. When the music stopped she walked over to the
cleared space at the far end of the room where Bryan had been
playing. He and Callie were there obviously having an argument.

“You’ve been on your feet all day. You look
exhausted,” Bryan said.

“Gee thanks. Just a few minutes ago you said
I was beautiful,” Callie said.

“You are beautiful, and unbelievably tired. I
don’t know why you’re arguing with me. You’re six months pregnant.
With Rory and Brodie you were already on bedrest at this
point.”

“They’re twins. I haven’t had any problems
with this pregnancy.”

Tonya studied her friend in growing
consternation. Callie did look tired and worn. Her movements were
slow and almost wooden. It was definitely time for bed. She cleared
her throat to get their attention and Bryan looked up. “Tonya,
great. Will you please tell my lovely, but mule-headed wife that
you won’t head for the nearest exit if she leaves?”

Callie gasped. “I never said that!”

“Might as well have. Look babe, I’ll stay
down here and help Tonya. I’ll play all night if I have to, but you
have to rest.”

Tonya laughed. “I won’t leave until the last
guest does. I promise, but I’ll never forgive myself if something
happens to your baby.”

Callie finally nodded. “Fine, I’ll go, but
remember you promised to stay and help Tonya.”

“Yes,” Bryan said. “I’m going to call the
driver to take you back to the hotel.”

Tonya left the two of them and continued to
work the room, not leaving until the bartenders announced last
call. Even knowing it was crazy she couldn’t stop looking for Nate,
and the sensation of being watched never abated. Though she was
excited about the publicity, she was extremely happy when the party
finally wound down and she could go to bed.

Chapter Two

“So what do you think of this one,
Tonya?”

Tonya looked on as her mother modeled a
gorgeous bronze brocade sheath dress. It had a 1960s retro vibe and
like pretty much anything she put on the dress looked fabulous on
her mother and Tonya told her so.

Anita turned with her back to the full-length
mirror. “You really think so? I swear the battle to keep my figure
gets harder every day. Reuben and I are going to Vegas for a
convention and I want to look nice.”

“Nobody dresses for Vegas anymore, Mama.”

Anita turned up her nose and gave an elegant
sniff. “Philistines. Life is too short to run around looking like
you don’t have any people. Where are the clothes you picked
out?”

Tonya gestured to the tiny boutique’s only
other dressing room. “I put them in there. Are you going to get the
dress?”

“Yeah, I think I will. Reuben will love it,”
her mother said.

“Where is he today anyway? I thought for sure
you’d drag him along on this excursion.”

“He had to make some phone calls. Something
came up at work.” In addition to being a minister, Reuben was one
of North Alabama’s most successful real estate agents. “Besides, I
thought we could take this time together, since you’re going to be
gone so long.”

Tonya rolled her eyes. She was not going to
be gone more than two weeks. She got up from the Biedermeier chair
she’d been perched on. Geechee was a small boutique with an up and
coming designer named Tree Tolbert. Clearly no expense had been
spared in decorating the boutique, which looked like a lady’s
boudoir. Tonya loved the décor nearly as much as she adored the
clothes. The walls were draped in soft mauve hued silk which played
well off the dark furnishings. Walking into the dressing room, she
picked up the first outfit she’d planned to try on: a pair of black
cigarette pants with a matching tuxedo jacket. She had no idea
where she’d wear such an ensemble, but she’d wanted it from the
moment she laid eyes on it. Her mother instantly approved it, as
well as four other outfits Tonya had picked out. Though she could
happily spend the day in the store, Tonya knew she needed to get
back to the hotel. She’d moved her meeting with her editor to later
that evening and she didn’t want to be late.

They exited the boutique with far too many
bags and started walking toward the corner to hail a taxi. As they
passed an alleyway between the boutique and another building, Tonya
suddenly felt a hard shove to her back and then a very strong hand
grabbed her arm. Before she could turn to see who had assaulted
her, she heard her mother cry out. Looking down she saw Anita
sprawled on the ground, her packages spilled all around her while
the man who’d shoved her turned to grab Tonya.

Tonya swung her bag at this new assailant
while desperately trying to free herself from the first. Too winded
to even scream she was grateful that her mother was screeching at
the decibel level of a tornado siren as she struggled to regain her
feet. Tonya’s arm hurt and had begun to throb and she was starting
to think she’d never get away. No matter how many times she kicked
and scratched, the man held on and dragged her inexorably toward an
alley between two stores. Making herself a dead weight helped slow
them down somewhat and Tonya finally got enough air to scream
herself as she realized that what she had assumed was a simple
robbery was starting to look like rape. Determined to at least be
able to ID them, she turned her head to get a good look at the
first one’s face. He was small, dark and looked Latino, though he
could’ve been Arabic, it was hard to tell. Either way he had a wiry
strength from which it seemed impossible to break free.

The other man had similar looks and stature,
except that he had a long scar that ran almost from ear-to-ear. A
wave of nausea came up in her throat and for a moment Tonya thought
she was going to hurl all over them. She almost welcomed it, as it
seemed to be her only hope of escape. Despite their loud screams no
one had come to their assistance. Everything had happened so
quickly it was possible that no one realized that anything untoward
was going on.

Then just as suddenly as the attack had begun
the men were gone. A tall dreadlocked man had grabbed one by the
collar while the other abruptly collapsed at her feet as though
someone had suddenly cut a puppet’s string. She didn’t see the blow
that felled him, but assumed there had been one. She leaned against
the wall far out of reach of the fight as the man delivered one
punch and then another to the side of the attacker’s neck. He
promptly fell to the ground in much the same fashion as the first
one.

Their rescuer then rushed back out to help
her mother up from the ground as a curious crowd began to gather
around. He grabbed their packages and then herded them both to the
curb. With a talent only a few possess, he hailed a taxi that
stopped immediately right in front of him.

“Tonya, you and your mom go back to the hotel
and stay there,” the man said handing the driver a wad of
bills.

“Wait, wait a minute,” Anita said. “What
about the police? Shouldn’t we call?”

“It’ll be taken care of. You two just need to
get out of here.” With that, he slammed the door closed and then
slapped one of his meaty hands on top of the taxi. The driver took
off at the silent command.

Tonya collapsed back on the seat turning her
head to see where the mystery man was going. She watched as he
walked back over to the unconscious attackers. Another man, shorter
with dark curly hair joined him. Her breath whistled between her
teeth. Could it be? From this distance it was impossible to tell,
especially since he had his back to her, but she was almost
convinced it was Nate Randolph. Two sightings in two days were too
much of a coincidence. But what on earth would he be doing here?
Her first instinct was to tell the taxi to turn around so she could
get to the bottom of this mystery, but then she turned to her
mother who had sustained some scrapes and bruises from the
encounter. Her own arm still throbbed and she knew she’d have a
doozy of a bruise the next day. It would be ridiculous to subject
her mother to possible danger just to indulge her overactive
imagination. It wasn’t Nate. It couldn’t be.

Anita waved her away. “I’m fine. I’m fine.
I’m not even bleeding. Nothing a little Neosporin won’t take care
of when we get back to the hotel. Who was that man and why were
those muggers trying to drag you away?”

Tonya shook her head. “I have no idea. I
assumed they were going to rape me. But who commits rape in the
middle of a busy street in broad daylight?”

“This is just too strange. I can’t even
imagine what Reuben will make of it. He always says I attract
trouble wherever I go. I’m starting to believe him.”

“You don’t attract trouble, you make trouble,
but somehow I don’t think I can blame this one on you. Did you see
the other man? The one who showed up to help the one who saved
us?”

“There were two of them? No, I only saw the
one with the long locks. What about him?”

“Never mind. It’s not important,” Tonya
said.

“Don’t you think we should’ve called the
law?” her mother asked.

“Probably, but I guess it’s too late now.
Right now I just want to get back to the hotel and lie down before
my meeting.”

Her mother frowned in concern, but said
nothing more. Tonya lay back on the seat, the bruises from her
fight with the attacker were really hurting now and she wanted
nothing so much as a warm shower and a couple of Advil. Thanking
God for the stranger she closed her eyes, which sprang open almost
immediately when a thought sliced through the adrenaline fog that
had surrounded her since the attack began.

How had he known her name? And who was the
other man?

* * * * *

Tonya woke with a start, somehow aware that
she wasn’t alone in the room. “Mama?” she called out, though she
also knew that it wasn’t her mother’s presence she felt. For one
thing, Anita always smelled of Opium, a fragrance she’d worn for so
long it seemed to have seeped into her pores. And for another, she
always felt comforted when her mother was around, and right now she
felt anything but comfortable. Tonya immediately sat up reaching
for the lamp in almost the same motion. Skittish from the attack
earlier that day, she was panting from the fear that nearly choked
off her breathing. Even so, she’d be damned if she’d be raped and
murdered without a fight. Her outstretched arm was grabbed in a
bruising grip before she could flip on the light. She swung blindly
with her other arm; her left hook connecting with the side of
someone’s head. She twisted wildly, trying to free her body from
the covers and raising her foot to kick her attacker away.