Paradise (25 page)

The officer dutifully wrote the name down in his notebook and then advised them to review their security, but it was clear that he thought Ethan was over-reacting and that it was only because he was such a huge star that the police were bothering to follow up on the incident.

‘Let’s go out and grab a bite to eat with Honey, we’ll take her to that diner she likes,’ Ethan said once the officer had left. ‘I kinda feel I want to show whoever trashed your car that we don’t give a shit. In fact, while we’re out, I’m going to buy you a new car.’

Angel couldn’t help smiling at Ethan’s over-the-top offer. ‘Seriously, babe, you don’t have to get me a new car! We can just get mine resprayed.’

‘I’m going to. You can choose whatever model you want.’ Ethan wrapped his arms around her. ‘Think of it as an early wedding present.’

It was easy to forget about what had happened in the late-afternoon sunshine, surrounded by people out to enjoy the evening. They were pursued by the paps as they drove off and later as they got out of the car, but once they were in the diner they were free from the unwanted attention. Angel didn’t have much of an appetite so sipped a strawberry shake and watched Ethan and Honey tuck into burgers and fries, helping Honey out by snitching the odd fry from her plate when she wasn’t looking.

‘And now on to the showroom,’ Ethan declared when they’d finished. His money troubles were far behind him now and he had the Porsche salesman practically falling over himself in his eagerness to serve Mr Turner.

‘So, babe, which one do you want?’ Ethan asked as Angel surveyed the gleaming motors. She did adore a
car. ‘I think I like that one.’ She pointed out a cream Porsche Cayenne. ‘I love the colour!’

‘Excellent choice,’ Mr Porsche Salesman agreed, and went on to reel off the specifications of the luxury motor, which Ethan pretended to be interested in when Angel knew for a fact that he was just putting on an act. While he loved fast cars, he knew nothing about them.

Some $50,000 later – Ethan would pay the rest in monthly instalments – they were on their way back home. As he punched in the security code on the keypad by the gate, Angel looked around her, wondering if the cars parked alongside the road belonged to paps or to the stalker. Ethan caught her looking.

‘I’m going to call in the security guys now, get them to go over the place and make sure there are no weak points. I don’t want you to worry about anything.’

Angel couldn’t help thinking then that Ethan should have got rid of Benny a long time ago – he was so in control of everything now, and she liked this new decisive side of him. While he made the security arrangements, Angel gave Honey her bath and then put her to bed.

‘Daddy say night-night?’ Honey piped up just as Angel bent down to kiss her.

‘Oh, baby, you’ll see daddy very soon,’ Angel exclaimed, fearing that the older Honey got, the more she was going to want to see Cal. She sat with her daughter a while longer until she fell asleep, then wandered into her dressing room intending to phone Gemma. She felt like she needed a chat with her friend after the day’s events, hoping that Gemma would make her laugh.

She was busy fumbling for her mobile in her bag when a flash of red caught her eye at the far side of the room. ‘Oh my God!’ Angel exclaimed as she took in the
word ‘Bitch’ written in red lipstick on her dressing-table mirror. She froze for a second then raced back to her daughter’s bedroom, terrified that whoever had written it was still in the house. ‘Ethan!’ she shouted in the hallway. No answer. She shouted again, looking fearfully around her.

Ethan raced up the stairs. ‘What is it?’

‘Someone’s been in here.’ She pointed at the mirror in the dressing room and had the unsettling thought that the word looked as if it had been written in blood.

‘Shit!’ Ethan immediately dialled up the police on his mobile, who promised to send a unit right away.

Angel remained in the doorway of Honey’s bedroom as if guarding her daughter. ‘What if they’re still here?’ she whispered, feeling totally creeped out.

‘I’m sure they’re not,’ he reassured her. ‘I’ll check round with Jose.’

Angel grabbed his arm. ‘Please don’t leave us! I’m really scared.’ It was one thing to find out your car had been vandalised, quite another to discover that there’d been an intruder inside your house. By now Jose and Maria had come upstairs, wondering what the noise had been about, and Maria stayed with Angel while the two men checked out the many rooms.

‘Don’t worry, Angel,’ Maria tried to reassure her. ‘I’m sure the police will catch them.’

‘But how did they get in?’

Maria shrugged helplessly. ‘I don’t know, but Jose and I were out food shopping all afternoon. There was no one here then.’

The next couple of hours were taken up with the police getting statements from Ethan, Angel and the staff, and checking through the house. There was no sign that it had been broken into; whoever had got in was either let in or had a key. Ethan had CCTV but when the police checked the tapes they discovered they
were blank, the day’s output having been erased, most likely by whoever broke in. This showed a level of knowledge of the house which made Angel feel even more uneasy. It didn’t seem as if anything had been taken, but when Angel went back into her dressing room with the police to check if everything was there, she opened her walk-in wardrobe and screamed. One of her dresses – a long red Valentino number, one of her favourites – had been slashed all over with a knife. It had been carefully arranged on the floor as if the intruder wanted to make the maximum impact. Angel took one look at the garment which made her think of a woman’s body, no doubt the image intended by the intruder, and then bolted into the bathroom to be sick. Even the police seemed to take the break-in more seriously after that and told Ethan they were sending a squad car round to Benny Sullivan’s to interview him. Angel couldn’t help wondering if there would be some other nasty message left for her to find too.

She couldn’t stop shaking, even after drinking the sweet tea Maria had insisted on making and after putting on one of Ethan’s sweaters. She couldn’t face touching anything in her dressing room, was going to have to have everything washed and the whole room repainted. It felt contaminated, violated. Whoever had done this hated her, really hated her, and wanted to make her afraid. It showed a sick, calculating mind. Angel thought of Benny’s cold grey eyes raking over her, his threats to fuck up her life. The police found the third piece of work by the intruder in Ethan’s games room where a picture of him and Angel had been defaced. Angel’s eyes had been cut out and the word ‘Bitch’ written on her dress in red.

‘Who would do such a thing?’ Ethan shouted, visibly shaken.

It was a question the police were no closer to
answering when they finally left at midnight. Their visit to Benny Sullivan had revealed nothing as he had an alibi after spending the day in meetings with clients, all of whom could vouch for him. And yet it seemed to Angel that he was the only one who could have such a grudge against them. But when she voiced her concerns to Ethan, he said that he couldn’t believe that Benny would jeopardise his whole career by doing something like this.

That night Ethan and Angel slept in Honey’s room. A team of locksmiths had changed all the locks, but Angel had to be close to her daughter and Ethan didn’t try and argue with her. Angel hardly slept. Whenever she closed her eyes she saw the red dress lying on the floor. She had the strongest feeling that was how the intruder would like her to be.

The next day Ethan pulled out of training, to be with her and Honey and to sort out new security arrangements. He had hired bodyguards for them. Part of Angel wanted to say that this was an over-reaction, the other part was relieved, especially when she met the two guards, Carlos and Brandon, both of whom were ex-marines and built like tanks.

‘I want them with you whenever you go out until this sick fuck is caught,’ Ethan told her. ‘You and Honey are going to be safe, I swear.’

Even with the security guards and beefed-up security – they’d increased the number of CCTV cameras and put in another alarm upstairs – Angel still felt jumpy and couldn’t bring herself to go into her dressing room. Maria had gone shopping to buy her some basics and had sent everything else to be cleaned, but Angel couldn’t imagine ever wanting to chill out in that room again.

‘We can move house, if it makes you feel better,’
Ethan told her as they sat by the pool watching Honey splashing happily about in a rubber ring, thankfully oblivious to how anxious her mother felt. She looked at Ethan. He absolutely loved it here, but she knew he was serious.

‘Of course we’re not going to move!’ Angel exclaimed, trying to sound as if she meant it. ‘Then I would feel like that mad person has won . . . and no way do I want to give them that satisfaction.’

They were brave words but she couldn’t live up to them when she went back inside the house to get drinks for everyone and ended up smashing several glasses when she jumped in fright as Maria came into the kitchen. She really needed to get a grip but couldn’t shake off the sickening feeling of apprehension that something else was going to happen. It was hardly how she wanted to feel in the run up to her wedding. The only good thing was that she had barely thought about Cal and Madeleine.

‘I’m flying back tomorrow,’ Susie told her as they sat out on one of the balconies having tea. Her agent had called by two days after the break-in. She was sorry to hear about the incident but seemed distracted. Angel had expected Susie to urge her to give an interview to the press about what had happened, that was her usual style, but she seemed subdued. Susie looked at Angel and she was surprised to see tears in her brown eyes. She had always thought that Susie was really tough.

‘He dumped me,’ Susie said simply. Angel prepared herself for the inevitable tirade that was sure to follow, about how all men were bastards and she was a million times better than him and he couldn’t get it up anyway. None came. Angel was stunned when Susie said, ‘I love him but he doesn’t love me. I don’t think he cares about me at all.’

‘I’m sorry, Susie, I had no idea you felt that way about Benny. Though, to be honest, I think you’re well out of it. He was so threatening and abusive to me, and I think he might even have been behind the break in.’

‘No way would Benny do something like that, Angel! Whatever he said, he’s just bitterly hurt about Ethan firing him.’

Angel gave a non-committal ‘Ummm’ while Susie pressed on. ‘For the first time, I felt as if I’d met my match. We could have been a great partnership – and not just at work.’ Susie sounded so bitter and hurt. ‘With Benny I felt I could finally be myself because he’s vulnerable as well, underneath it all.’

About as vulnerable as a cobra! Please let Susie not expect Angel to have any sympathy for Benny Sullivan.

‘I don’t expect you to understand, Angel. You and Ethan, you’re the beautiful people, you can have anything or anyone you want. Benny and I are just there to serve people like you.’ God, she was sounding so melodramatic, Angel felt like Susie needed a reality check.

‘Susie, that really isn’t how I see you, so please don’t think that. You’re upset, I understand.’

Susie seemed to gather herself at this. ‘Yes, well, I had hopes that Benny and I had a future together. But there you go. Life’s shit then you die.’ What had happened to her perky, can-do-anything optimism? It seemed to have left the building.

She stood up. ‘I’ll see you back in the UK, Angel. I’m not sure if LA is a place I’ll want to be for a long while to come. I’m sorry I’ll miss the wedding.’

They exchanged air kisses and then Susie headed out of the house, escorted by Carlos. But judging by the appreciative look Susie shot at Carlos and his bulging biceps Angel thought it perhaps wouldn’t be long
before Susie got over her heartbreak. She felt sorry for her. She had seemed genuinely upset, but Angel was also relieved – her being involved with Benny had been just too close for comfort.

IN THE WEEK
that followed, Angel tried to get on with her life and push away her anxieties that the stalker was watching her every move. She did a shoot to promote a swimwear range, had a fitting for her wedding dress and took Honey to her art and ballet classes. But every time she returned to the house she had sense of foreboding that something else would have happened; the house no longer seemed like the beautiful sanctuary it had once been. And every time she had a free moment, she couldn’t resist looking up Cal and Madeleine even though it made her experience a toxic mix of jealousy and sadness when she saw them photographed together, something which she didn’t want to reveal to any of her friends. No, she would get over it and everything would be fine.

She was jolted out of this when Cal sent her a text asking her if she was okay and could she phone him. As soon as his name came up on her phone Angel felt a flutter of anticipation in her stomach. She thought about leaving it a while before phoning him, but couldn’t resist calling him straight back. But Cal only wanted to know about the new security arrangements for the house, asking how secure it was for Honey and then ending the call by saying he was late for dinner,
leaving Angel yet again wondering about him and Madeleine.

At the weekend Logan and Alisha were throwing a party to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary, and Ethan and Angel were forced to socialise. It was the first time they’d been out together since the intruder.

‘You’re not still worried are you, babe?’ Ethan asked as he noticed Angel constantly checking in the wing mirror to see who was behind as he drove them to the party. He had done so much to protect her that she was reluctant to admit her fears, to tell him about the nightmares she kept having. And if she admitted to them, it felt as if she’d be giving them credence – much better to pretend that everything was okay. ‘I’m fine,’ she lied. ‘I was just seeing which bastard photographer was behind us.’

The party was in full swing when they arrived. Angel recognised Ethan’s team mates from the Dodgers and many of Alisha’s friends and family as she wove her way through the guests to get to their hosts who were greeting everyone in the huge cream marquee. They were surrounded by their three boys, who immediately made a bee line for Honey and promised to take her swimming. The anniversary couple looked blissfully happy as they chatted to their guests. Behind them was a five-tier cake decorated with white chocolate cherubs, which was almost as tall as their eleven-year-old son. The whole atmosphere was one of celebration. For the first time since the break-in Angel felt herself relax. She was amongst friends here, she, Ethan and Honey were safe.