Stranded (14 page)

“Okay,” Kendall agreed. “But save the cloth and the note.” Juan bent down to pick up the flowers. “Wait,” Kendall said, and he grabbed his phone and snapped a picture of everything as it had been left. “Okay. Get rid of all of it.” He wondered again if he should call the police, but figured he’d talk to Lyman, like he’d been asked, before he did.

Kendall went back inside and Juan joined him a few minutes later. He closed the door and locked it. “Have you told your landlord that someone is bothering you? If they know, they could have the access changed,” Juan said, and Kendall shook his head, flopping into one of the chairs. “What I’m really worried about is being on location.”

“Yeah,” Juan sighed and walked back over to the sofa. “You should also see if there’s a camera in the lobby. If there is, you might be able to see if there’s anyone you know coming into the building.” Kendall shuddered. It was easier to think of a stranger doing this than someone he knew and maybe even liked. “Go on to bed and get some rest. I’ll be out here.”

“Okay,” Kendall said. He got up and went into his bedroom, then climbed beneath the covers. Hours later he was still staring up at the ceiling and only fell asleep an hour or so before his alarm sounded.

T
HANKFULLY
,
the next few days were quiet. No new presents were left either at the studio or at his apartment. He’d spoken to the landlord, who had agreed to change the locks on the front doors. Of course Kendall had had to pay for it, but he’d done it gladly. He at least felt safer in the apartment. He either carried his keys with him or gave them to Juan, who also watched over his cleaned-up dressing room. On Friday, they wrapped up shooting about noon to a round of applause, and Kendall gathered all his things as they prepared to vacate the soundstage.

“You were really good,” Kendall told Barbara after they wrapped up the last scene.

“Thanks.” She beamed, giving Kendall a light hug. “I think I’m really feeling it, you know?”

“It’s great when that happens, isn’t it? And for the record, you were right to play that scene slightly bitchy. It’s what the character calls for,” Kendall said, and she glowed. The only hitch that day had been a difference of opinion between Lyman and Barbara. Kendall had argued Barbara’s case when Lyman pressed it, and in the end the scene was better once Lyman let them have a bit of freedom.

“He’s such an ass sometimes,” Barbara said.

“Well, maybe, but he believes he’s right and he’s the director. That doesn’t mean you’re wrong, but that we need to make our case sometimes,” Kendall said.

“That’s right,” Lyman said from behind him, and Kendall jumped a bit, turned, and glared at the director. “You were both excellent,” Lyman said with excitement. “Babs”—Lyman’s nickname for Barbara, which she hated with a passion—“we’ll see you in a few weeks.” Kendall could almost see her grinding her teeth. “Kenny”—an equally hated nickname that had made an appearance lately—“I’ll see you Monday.” Kendall figured Lyman was trying to be an equal opportunity hemorrhoid.

“I’ll see you in a few weeks,” Kendall said, and Barbara hugged him again and then hurried off.

“By the way,” Lyman said from behind him, and Kendall jumped again.

“Would you stop that?” Kendall said, turning around. He’d been jumpy for days, and it was only getting worse.

“There will be security while we’re on location. Special security, in addition to what we usually have, and they’ve been informed about the problem you’re having. I’ve been promised you’ll be looked after.” Lyman didn’t breeze out the way he usually did, and to Kendall’s surprise, he closed the door. “Look, it was no secret I wasn’t convinced you could do this picture, but I was wrong. You’ve been a godsend. Barbara is a real pain in the ass, everyone knows that. But you have her eating out of the palm of your hand, something everyone on the set is grateful for. You’ve been professional, on time, and always ready with your scene. I couldn’t ask for more from anyone.”

“Thanks,” Kendall said as brightly as he could. “It’s been an experience, and I’m assuming it will continue while we’re in the desert.”

“I won’t kid you. This is going to be the hardest part of this film. It’s going to be hot, miserable, and the days long. But I need you to keep your eyes open. I have been, but I haven’t seen anything. I also asked a few of the senior people to keep an eye out without telling them why. I made up some story about receiving a vague threat.” Kendall wasn’t sure how he felt about that, but there was nothing he could do, and Lyman was trying to help. “Have a good weekend, maybe go out and see something, have a bit of fun. I’ve worked everyone really hard, and the next month is going to be as bad or worse, depending upon the weather.”

“Thanks. I’ll do that,” Kendall said, and Lyman opened the door and left the dressing room. Kendall closed the door to finish changing and immediately heard a knock.

“It’s me.”

“Give me a minute, Juan,” Kendall said, and he finished changing before opening the door.

“Here’s the stuff you asked me to hold for you,” Juan said, and he handed Kendall his keys and wallet. “It’s been quiet on the freak front,” Juan said. That’s how they’d begun referring to the stalker incidents.

“Let’s hope it stays that way. Since everyone isn’t going on location, maybe whoever it is will be left behind,” Kendall said as he shoved his wallet in his back pocket. “Thanks for everything,” he said. “I was wondering if you have plans for—” A knock on his doorframe cut him off, and he turned to where Guy stood, smiling.

“I was wondering if you’d like to get some dinner or something? Maybe have a beer and watch a game,” Guy offered.

“That’d be great,” Kendall said hesitantly. “But I was about to ask Juan if he had plans. He’s been helping me learn my way around, and I wanted to thank him. Do you mind?”

“Not at all, that’s cool,” Guy said, and his phone rang. He raised his finger and answered it, talking quickly before hanging up. “I gotta go, but I’ll call you later.” Guy hurried off, and Kendall got the rest of his things.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to get out of here,” Kendall said.

“I still have work to do,” Juan explained. “Do you want me to come to your place?”

“That would be great. There are some cool places near the apartment, we can probably eat at one of them,” Kendall suggested, and Juan nodded and smiled. “Sounds great. I’ll stop by this evening.” Juan hurried away, and Kendall grabbed his things and headed out to his car, moving as fast as he could without actually running.

On the drive home, he could have sworn he was being followed. He kept seeing the same red car even after he made more than one turn. So instead of going to the apartment, he stopped off at the Glendale Galleria, parking with the valet. As he got out, he looked around carefully for the red car, but saw nothing. Feeling a bit foolish, he headed inside and wandered around the mall for a while. At one point he grabbed a small bit of lunch. Afterward, he stopped by a bookstore with a display of Johnny’s books in the window. He browsed for a bit and then continued on. He stopped in a small store filled with displays of rocks and fossils. Kendall was fascinated and looked at everything before buying Johnny an ammonite. The sales girl wrapped it and placed it in a bag. Kendall paid for it and left the store with a smile on his face. Throughout their relationship they’d had to travel separately, which Johnny hated, but they always brought back little gifts for each other, and he wanted to have something interesting for Johnny.

Kendall sat down on one of the benches, his bag resting next to him, and without thinking he pulled out his phone. “How are you?” Kendall said when Johnny answered his call.

“Really good. The book is coming along well, and I should be done in a few weeks. How much longer will you be out there?” He sounded more excited than he had since Kendall left.

“About a month. I may have to come back after that if they need me to fix things. We’re starting the location work on Monday. I don’t know if I’ll have cell phone coverage during the day, but I’ll call when I get back to the hotel at night.” Johnny made an agreeable sound but didn’t say anything. “Is something wrong?”

“No… well, maybe yes. But I…. It’s not really important,” Johnny began.

“What isn’t important?” Kendall asked.

“Nothing. I’m just a bit lonely,” Johnny admitted, and Kendall grinned.

“So am I,” Kendall said, and he heard some noise in the background. “What’s that?”

“Jeremy’s here. We’re going over the things he found and having dinner,” Johnny said, and Kendall wanted to reach through the phone and throttle whoever this Jeremy was. He should be the one there having dinner with Johnny.

“I’m tired of this whole thing and want to come home,” Kendall said. “I’ve been working for months, and everyone I know except for Juan and a few others are there in New York. I’m sick of being alone all the time. Right now I’m sitting in the middle of the mall on a bench whiling away the time like a well-dressed homeless person.”

“Stop being dramatic,” Johnny said with a slight chuckle. “Are you still having the troubles with the flowers and stuff?” Johnny always asked, but in a skeptical way that told Kendall he didn’t believe how unnerving and serious it was.

“You mean other than someone breaking into my dressing room, trashing it, and leaving two roses in the mess?” Kendall said.

“Kendall, you should have called,” Johnny scolded.

“I did, and you would have known if you’d called me back. I left you a message two days ago,” Kendall snapped. “Look, if you don’t care anymore, that’s fine. You can just say so.” Kendall stood up, yanked his bag off the bench, and stomped back through the mall toward where he’d come in. “I know you don’t believe me, but whoever is doing this has me really scared, and being patronized isn’t helping.”

“I’m not patronizing you,” Johnny said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize how serious it was. And….” Johnny paused. “I sort of dropped my phone in the toilet and had to get a new one.” Kendall slowed his pace as he reached the mall entrance and began to laugh.

“Okay,” Kendall began, still chuckling. “It’s okay. I’m sorry too. I think all this really has me on edge,” he said with a sigh, his humor gone. “They’ve hired extra security for when we’re on location, and though it’s been a few days since anything happened, I’m still nervous.”

“You should be,” Johnny said. “Have you gone to the police?”

“No. The studio is handling it. They’ve had extra security on the set for the past few days, and I’ve had no issues,” Kendall explained. “I know it isn’t over, but maybe they’ll get the message and move on to bother someone else.”

“Okay. But be careful,” Johnny said.

“I will,” Kendall replied and pushed open the door to the parking garage. “I’ll talk to you later.”

“Okay. Jeremy and I have work to get done. I’ll talk to you soon.” Johnny hung up, and Kendall stopped, shaking a bit with anger as he thought about what Jeremy and Johnny might be up to. He handed the valet his ticket. While the valet got his car, Kendall wondered what Johnny had wanted to talk about. God, things were a real mess.

His phone rang as the valet braked his car to a stop. “Hey, Guy,” Kendall said when he answered the call.

“I’ve got things I have to do for Lyman and won’t be able to have dinner,” Guy said. “But I’ll see you on location, and maybe if we got done filming early one night, I can show you a bit of Vegas.”

“That would be nice,” Kendall said. The valet held his door, and Kendall tipped him. “I’ll see you next week.” He hung up and placed the phone on his seat, then drove to the apartment.

There was nothing outside his door when Kendall let himself inside. He set down the bag and went into the bedroom. After stripping off his clothes, Kendall took a shower and dressed comfortably, then flopped on the sofa to watch television while he waited for Juan to arrive. He wished Johnny were here to curl up with him. But then again, maybe those days were over forever.

“T
WO
weeks,” Kendall grumbled as he walked back to his trailer, desperate to get out of the infernal heat. Juan raced to catch up with him.

“Kendall,” Juan said. “You know they’re going to need you on the set in a few minutes.”

Kendall stopped and waited for Juan to catch up.

“If you need something I can get it for you,” Juan said.

“What I need is five minutes to get out of this heat,” he lied. What he really needed was for them to rewrite the entire premise of the movie so he wouldn’t need to spend hours inside that car. The thought made him cold even in this ungodly heat. “I’ll be fine once I get a drink and can spend a few minutes where it’s cool.”

He could tell Juan wasn’t buying it, but he kept his opinion to himself and followed behind. Over the past few weeks, Juan had made sure Kendall was rarely alone when on the set. There hadn’t been any incidents at all, but Kendall passed the guard who sat in the shade near his trailer. “Hey, Carl,” Kendall called as he approached. He nodded to Kendall as he passed.

The inside was cool. Thank God for air-conditioning and the nearly silent generators that powered everything out here in the middle of nowhere. Kendall got bottles of water out of the refrigerator and handed two to Juan. “Pass one to Carl too,” he instructed. He sat on one of the benches and did his best to push the fear away. He’d known this part of the movie was going to be hard to make, but he’d had no idea how difficult.