Killing America's Sweetheart: A Natalie Miller Mystery (21 page)

             
He was quiet for a moment and said, “You know, I’ve had my share of eager fans. Some of whom my management team thought crossed the line, but nothing major. But this one was different…” he said trailing off.

             
“Different how?” I asked, wanting him to continue.

             
“Well, for starters, this stalker was a man. And while I like to think of myself as liberal and open minded, I always assumed if I had a super stalker it’d be some obsessed housewife from the Midwest. Not a thirty something man named Armando Estrada.

             
Wow.

I, like Simon could easily picture a unhappy housewife camping out in front of his house, but a man, especially one as macho sounding as ‘Armando Estrada’, that was harder to imagine
.             

“What was he like?” I asked Simon, trying to
build a mental picture of the guy in my mind.

             
“He was a little on the short side for a guy, maybe 5’6? With short dark hair and blue eyes. I remember my lawyer said he had ‘crazy eyes.’ Anyhow, I never actually had to face him, but I did see photos of him.”
              “But didn’t he break into your house?” assuming Simon must have had a run in with him then.

             
“Yes, but when that happened I was up here in Sacramento filming Out of Darkness,” he said.

             
Ah, so he hadn’t met him.

             
“Have you noticed any man fitting Armando’s description hanging around?” I asked trying to think of any other questions to ask.

             
“No, but then again, I haven’t really had a reason to,” he admitted. “The last I heard, he was locked up and besides that, I haven’t gotten any threatening or unusual fan mail. I’ve had no reason to be alarmed.”

             
“Do me a favor; be more aware of your surroundings. Be on the lookout for a guy matching Armando’s description,” I said with worry.

             
“You think it might be my stalker who murdered Hannah?” he asked a bit bewildered.

             
I wasn’t totally certain, but something about this theory felt right. There was a sickening feeling in my stomach that I almost always got when I was right about something bad.

             
“Maybe,” I said, not wanting to alarm him. “Listen, why don’t you meet me later at the new office space Karen and I are renting. I’d love to show it to you and maybe we can all grab a bite to eat afterwards.”

             
Simon agreed and I hung up with him and stewed.

CHAPTER TWENTY
EIGHT

At a little after six, Honey and
I arrived at the office. After grabbing my bag of supplies, and balancing the bag and dog in my arms, I was just about to turn the knob, when I heard voices from inside the door. Cautiously I opened the door and found Karen sitting on the shabby chic pink velvet chair we’d picked up at the thrift store and Debbie sitting on a mismatched accompanying piece.

“Hey!” they both
said and greeted me happily.

Honey and
I walked in, and deposited the bag on the desk. Gingerly I put Honey down so she could begin exploring.

“What’d you bring?”
Karen asked.

“Some necessities, mainly for Honey,” I admitted. I pulled the gear out of the bag which
consisted of one doggy bed, a bag of food, treats and a blanket.

“No human food?” Debbie
chimed in.

“Sorry. I guess I’m a total mom. Only thinking of my kid a
nd nothing else,” I said jokingly.

Both women laughed and then a thought occurred to me, what was Debbie doing here?

“Debbie, this is a surprise? How’d you find us?” I asked, not trying to sound irritated. I liked Debbie a great deal, but there were some things I needed to discuss with Karen and Simon was due to arrive shortly.

“She was out walking and I saw her as I was coming inside, so I invited her up,” Karen said cheerfully.

“I was just entertaining Karen with horror stories of Eric and his behavior,” Debbie said with a rueful smile.

I inspected Karen’s wardrobe of loose fitting track pants, zip up sweatshirt
, scarf, athletic shoes and her usual slathering of excessive foundation and makeup. Well, she was known for her evening walks. I supposed sharing the information from today with her was okay. Besides, Debbie was harmless and after all the terror she had been through from her ex-boyfriend, I was pretty sure she needed a few good female friends.

We made small talk for a few minutes, when there was a kn
ock on the door. I walked over, opened the door and ushered Simon inside.

“Simon, this is my friend Karen,” I said making introductions. They politely shook hands as I noticed a crimson shade creep up Karen’s face.

“And you remember Debbie from the store?” I said making sure to include our unexpected guest into the fold.

“Of course,” he said, pausing for a moment as he looked at Debbie.

“I look a bit different out of the ugly red and black uniform,” she said as she gestured to her dressed down ensemble and her curly hair which was pulled away from her face in a low hanging pony tail.

“Ah, that’s it,” Simon agreed and smiled warmly.

“So, Simon, what do you think of our place?” Karen asked proudly.

I immediately felt myself grow uneasy as the office wasn’t exactly high end. More like bottom of the barrel, with our thrift store finds and marked down Ikea castaways. Surely a wealthy man like Simon was accustomed to the finer things.

He looked around, surveying the single room space and said, “I think it’s lovely and very cozy.” There was no cynicism in his voice, it was warm and rich and I felt myself melt slightly. This guy was not at all who I thought he’d be.

“I found the place,” Karen beamed. “If I had left it up to Nat, we’d be sitting around doing business in her little apartment.”

“Hey, I would have gotten on it eventually. Not everyone is as efficient as you are,” I said mockingly.

“I think it’s a great place and you can’t beat the location,” Debbie added.

“So, what did you find out about…well, you know, ‘the stalker’?” Karen asked carefully, as she threw slide glanced toward Debbie, apparently unsure if she should be talking about the situation in front of her.

I looked at Simon who nodded, and said, “It’s fine.” So, I went on to inform both Karen and Debbie about Simon’s super fan who had stalked and harassed him, only to be thrown in jail for violating his restraining order.

“Holy shit,” Karen replied dumbfounded.

Everyone was quiet for a few moments, until Debbie broke the silence.

“Do you know where he is now?”

Simon said he didn’t. The last thing he knew, the guy was in jail and if he had been released, he was assured by the D.A. that he’d be notified in advanced.

“How long was he sentenced for the violation?” Karen asked.

“Two and a half years,” Simon replied.

“Is that a typical punishment?” I asked.

Simon went on to explain that Armando had violated the order twice, which is what led to an increased sentence.

“I wonder if there’s a way to find out if he’s still locked up?” Debbie asked.

The three of them started talking about the situation, while I sorted through my own thoughts. I knew I could call Zack and ask him to check on Armando’s status, but I honestly didn’t feel comfortable involving him. Everything felt so upended, and his dishonestly was weighing on me heavily. I knew I couldn’t trust him with this task, but I did know of someone else.

“Hello? Earth to Nat?” Karen announced waving a hand in front of my face.

“She must be zoning out,” Debbie said to Simon.

I shook my head and said, “What? Sorry, I was thinking.”

“That’s okay,” Karen said smiling. “We were just saying that it might be a good idea to have Zack look into this Armando Estrada guy. You know, just to cover all the bases.”

“Uh, I think Zack’s a little preoccupied. But, I think I know who we can call,” I said trying to sound upbeat.

“Who?” Simon asked.

“Alex. My brother.”

My older brother Alex
was nearly forty and the proud owner of a successful pizza chain in San Francisco. He was a friendly, outgoing guy, who made a good and decent living. However, what most people didn’t know was that he was an excellent computer hacker. About ten years ago, he almost got caught for hacking into my father’s pension account. The financial company tried to cheat our mother out of money that rightfully belonged to my father, and Alex suspected they were withholding some of the pension. Long story short, they were lying big time, and it wasn’t just my father’s account, it was thousands of people who were being duped out of money. Anyhow, Alex made copies of the fraud and sent it to the media and the feds. No charges were ever filed against him, but a few agents did make his life hell for a couple of months. They had no proof he had leaked the info or hacked into the system, but it was enough to make Alex close up shop. I knew he might say no, but I had more faith in my brother right now, than I did in Zack.

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

             
I excused myself and walked out into the empty hallway to make my call. I decided it was best to do so in private, that way I’d be able to fill Alex in on everything, especially Zack’s involvement.

             
“Hello?” said a tired male voice.

             
“Alex? It’s me. Can you talk?” I asked.

             
“Hey, Nat. Yeah, what’s up?” he said, immediately perking up.

             
“I need to ask you a favor,” I said cautiously. “And, it’s something you may not feel comfortable doing.”

There was a pause on his end and then he said, “Go on, I’m listening.”

I proceeded to fill him in on all the events that had happened recently, concluding with, “So, going to Zack with this information is a bit awkward.”

“Yeah, no shit. I can’t believe that guy? What the hell happened to him?”
Alex wondered out loud.

Alex used to coach Zack on the high school baseball team and was a mentor to him. The two were for a time close, but
drifted apart over the years.

“I’m not sure. I thought I knew him,” I said softly.

“Well, people change. That’s something we both know,” he said sadly. He was referring to my divorce and his engagement that was called off. Our love lives were equally disastrous.

“I hate to ask you, but…” I said trailing off.

“It’s fine. I don’t mind. Trust me; I’ve done this type of thing many times. Do you know how much running a background check costs? Anytime I hire, I just do the criminal checks on my own. If I send it out to an independent company, they’d bleed me dry,” he said.

             
Relieved, I said, “Thank you!” and give him all the information I had on Estrada.

             
“Okay, so it’ll probably take me a while to get all this. It might be later tonight or early tomorrow morning. I’ll give you a ring when I have something,” he said.

We said our goodbyes and I ended the call. Feeling relieved I walked back into the office and said, “Who’s hungry? Should we order pizza?”

After running to the corner market and grabbing a liter of diet Pepsi and a six pack of beer, Domino’s delivered us two pizzas, a large bacon and pepperoni and one veggie. At first I thought it might be too much food, but after Karen and Simon faced off over the last piece, I realized maybe two wasn’t enough.

“Easy there, you guys
,” I said playfully.

I was in a much better mood. Talking to my brother made me feel more at ease and having a full stomach also helped.

“I’m so full,” Debbie bellowed.

“Me too,” Karen added, giving Simon a dirty look who won the final piece of pizza.

“What?” he asked innocently?

“I think we’re all amazed that someone who looks like
you can eat the way you do, and still look…” I stopped not sure how to finish my reply.

“Fucking, hot!” Karen said with snort.

Second hand embarrassment immediately filled me. I could not believe she said that to him. Of course, since she drank three beers, her senses were definitely altered.

Thankfully Simon laughed along with a shocked Debbie. I on the other hand felt slightly mortified.

“Ah, I think you are cut off now,” I said to Karen, removing the beer from her reach.

“Ah, Man! You’re a d
owner!” Karen complained.

“Well, it’s getting late, and we should all be going,” I argued.

Karen looked at her watch and frowned. “Shit, I gotta get going. I have a meeting first thing in the morning,” she said getting up unsteadily.