It was a devastating attack.
"Ava was the face of several brands. She's going to lose all of those endorsements. Somebody else will take her spot. Somebody else always does. There's always someone younger and prettier coming up.”
"Any idea who that somebody might be?”
"Every time Ava is up for a job, it's always between her and Amara. They can't stand each other." He sighed. “Now, Amara has never made any overt threats, butshe continually makes underhanded comments to the press and on social media. That would be the first place I’d look.”
"Tell me about your security staff," I said. "I'm sure a man like you has nothing but the best.”
Sebastian nodded. "But it happened so fast. I don't know if anybody could have stopped it. The guy just came out of nowhere.”
I agreed.
"I usually travel with a two-person security team. We have 24-hour round-the-clock protection, broken up into three shifts of eight hours. My people are good about varying our routine, breaking it up, and not falling into predictable patterns.”
"I’ll need the names of everyone on your staff, along with contact information for your ex-fiancée,” I said.
"I'll get you those," Vanessa said.
"Vanessa handles everything for me," Sebastian said. "Scheduling, transportation, media, publicity. You name it. I don't know what I’d do without her," he said with a smile, looking at her with affection.
Vanessa smiled back. "That's very kind of you to say.”
"Well, it's the truth." Sebastian took a deep breath. “I believe in giving credit where credit is due.”
I gave them both a card and told them to get in touch if they could think of anybody else who might be responsible. "Is Ava up for visitors?"
"Let me talk to her," Sebastian said.
He excused himself, walked down the hallway, and dipped into her room. A few moments later, he stepped back into the hall and shook his head.
Ava was under mild sedation. Even if she could talk, at this juncture, she was probably too traumatized to have a meaningful discussion.
I figured we'd catch up with her later.
JD and I left the ER. Our driver had returned with the limo, and we climbed in and slid across the comfy leather seats.
The mood was somber.
Jack just shook his head. "Man, I feel terrible for that girl. Who the hell does something like that?”
“Evil people.”
The driver chauffeured us to the station, where we filled out reports. Afterward, we headed up to Oyster Avenue to catch up with Ginger and Cinnamon.
They wanted to know how Ava was doing. Their faces filled with sorrow as we updated them. They were heartbroken. They had both known Ava back in the day before she had rocketed to superstardom.
We tried to enjoy the rest of the evening despite the chaos, but a heavy cloud hung over the night.
JD and I returned to the boat at a reasonable hour, had a cocktail on the sky deck, and tried to talk about anything but the recent events.
I was the odd man out and left Jack to his own devices withhis two nursemaids. I grabbed Buddy's leash and took him out for a walk, then settled in for bed.
The next morning, I woke with the sunrise, pulled myself out of bed, showered, shaved, and got dressed. I headed down to the galley to start grilling breakfast.
Sheriff Daniels buzzed my phone. I hoped it was good news.
10
