Star Maker (17 page)

He
smiled and hugged her tightly. “I really do love you, Kit. I always will.”
He pulled back and gazed into her eyes. “I may be married now, but you’ll
still always be my best gal pal. The one that made me a star…albeit a
reluctant one at times.”

She
giggled. “You did that on your own, love.”

He shook his head. “No. Not entirely. I couldn’t have gotten here
without you. Like I said, Kit, you have a talent polishing random musicians
into sought after diamonds. You’re a star maker. No matter what happens or
how bleak things may look at the moment, don’t forget that. You’re gonna need
it to survive this business.” He chuckled and winked. “It’s a fucking jungle
out there.”

Sully
strolled into the apartment, wandered over to the table as he usually did, and
found Kit hunched over her schoolwork. He chuckled. “Some things never change.
You wanna take a lunch break?”

She
looked up and grinned. “Hey. How long have you been standing there?”

“Not
long. Let’s go. I’m sure your brain is throbbing by now.”

She
chuckled. “Gimme a minute. I have to finish this paragraph and we can go.”
There was a knock at the door. She rolled her eyes. “Sull, can you grab that
please?”

He
nodded and got up. He opened the door and froze. He gulped and stared at the
uniformed officers with wide eyes. “Can I help you?”

The
lead officer looked solemn. “We’re looking for Kit McKenna. Does she live
here?”

Sully
couldn’t mask the worried look in his eyes. He prayed that Kit hadn’t done
something illegal. He called out to her. “Kit, come here, please.” She
frowned and shut her book, finally done. She walked into the living room and
froze in her tracks the moment she noticed the officer. Sully looked at her.
“This officer was asking for you.”

She
took a deep breath and stepped forward. “I’m Kit McKenna.”

The
officer nodded. “Are you acquainted with Joseph Arden?”

Kit
instantly felt invisible knots tighten in her stomach. She had a very bad
feeling about all of this and prayed he didn’t have a relapse that landed him
in jail. She nodded slowly. “Yes. He’s a very close friend. Has something
happened?” She swallowed hard and the words slipped out before she could
retract them. “I’m his attorney. Is there a problem?”

The
officer nodded. “Yes. He was found unresponsive this morning in his
residence. The coroner estimated the time of death around four or five this
morning. We’re unclear on the cause of death. There’s an investigation
underway and an autopsy will be conducted…” He continued but suddenly his
words didn’t make any sense to Kit. She felt a wave of excruciatingly painful
grief coupled with confusion and disbelief. The room started to spin and then
everything went black.

Sully
watched as Kit wavered and when her knees started to buckle, he and both
officers leapt into action to catch her. She fainted in Sully’s arms. He
gently guided her down to the floor, keeping her close to him as he looked up
at the officers. “She’ll be ok.” He seized a piece of sheet music that he
noticed sticking out of the one of the bookcases and started fanning her. One
of the officers asked where the kitchen was and went to retrieve a glass of
water for her.

Sully
felt choked up and held back his own tears, not wanting to accept what the
officer said as truth, but somehow feeling in his heart that it was. He kissed
Kit on the forehead. “C’mon, baby. I’m right here. It will be ok. We’ll
handle this together.”

Her
eyes fluttered open and she noticed the officer hovering over her with his hand
extending a glass of water. She looked up at Sully and saw the look in his eyes
as he smoothed her hair. She burst into tears knowing it wasn’t a bad dream.
Joe was really gone.

She
rubbed her eyes and sat up slowly, taking the glass of water from the officer.
Sully stood up and offered his hand to help her up. He threw his arm around
her to guide her to the sofa and motioned to the officers to take a seat in the
chairs across from them.

Kit
listened to the details while tears streamed down her cheeks. She knew
Veronique had been out of town on a modeling shoot in New York and wasn’t due
back for another day. She automatically assumed that Joe had a relapse until
she learned from Sully that he had been over at Joe’s the night before hanging
out and there were no drugs or alcohol present. They were just jamming on
guitars. The officer confirmed that there were no drugs or alcohol on the
scene either. The maid had found Joe that morning in his bed without a pulse
and called the authorities. The officers scrambled to find a contact and
noticed Kit’s information on the refrigerator.

She gave the officer a phone number for Joe’s parents in Lake Forest
and Sully offered up the information he had. He remembered Joe mentioning that
Veronique was staying at the Waldorf Astoria in Manhattan and recalled them
having a conversation before she went to sleep. Sully and Joe resumed their
jamming after that until Sully left shortly after midnight when Joe told him he
was exhausted, had a splitting headache, and wanted to sleep it off. Sully
sighed, recalling his last words with Joe were nothing out of the ordinary. He
wished he could rewind and change the situation, but he couldn’t.

Alexa
walked out with her small overnight suitcase in hand. She forced a grin when
she saw Sully. He did the same as he walked in and set his bag down. She
looked at him. “Your girl drop you off?”

He
nodded solemnly and approached her. “How are you?”

She
shook her head as tears welled up in her eyes. “Not good. This is really
hard.” She gave him a quick hug and pulled back. “Go get Kit. She’s really
gonna need you. I’m not quite sure she’s ready to go and the limo is due here
any second.”

He
nodded and walked into Kit’s bedroom. She was sitting on her bed staring off
into space. “Hey.”

She
looked over slowly and smirked. “Hey. Limo here?”

He
shook his head. “Not yet. You ready? Do you need help with anything?” He
noticed her small suitcase half full, in disarray.

She
nodded and stared sobbing. He sat down and took her into his arms. He kissed
her on the top of her head. Alexa yelled to them. “Driver’s here. C’mon,
guys.”

Kit
pulled away from Sully and jumped into action, throwing things in hastily. She
wiped her eyes and stood up. “Let’s go.” She was about to grab her suitcase
when Sully grinned and picked it up. He offered his hand. She took it and
forced a grin.

Sully
sat in his first class seat next to Kit watching her as she slept soundly. She
had been drinking scotch constantly from the moment they took their seats and
finally drifted off to sleep. He glanced around the cabin and thought it
ironic how one of his dreams was coming true under the direst of circumstances.
He had always wanted to fly first class. He had hoped one day his first flight
in luxury would be picked up by a record company, not by the parents’ of his
now deceased best buddy.

Joe’s
parents had elected to fly Kit, Sully, and Alexa out for the funeral in Lake
Forest, Illinois. Maxine was being flown in from New York where she was on
assignment. They had taken care of all the expenses, booked their flights, and
arranged for limousines to and from the airport. Kit and Sully would be
staying in the enormous Valois family mansion for the weekend, while Alexa and
Maxine stayed at Alexa’s parents’ estate nearby. Joe’s mother, Abigail, specifically
wanted Kit nearby. She loved her new daughter-in-law, Veronique, but was still
getting to know her. Kit was like family and had a long history with the
Valois family.

The
turnout for the funeral was purposely small and included only family and
selected friends including Steel Pony, their manager Nigel, and a few record
executives from Joe’s label. His parents wanted to keep the hoopla out of it
as much as possible and negotiated with the record company to hold a large
memorial service in Joe’s honor in Los Angeles the following week where all of
his friends, acquaintances, and the recording industry could celebrate his
memory.

Kit looked around, recognizing all of Joe’s family, including the
contingent from France who she and Alexa had stayed with one summer when they
were eleven. She even noticed her own grandmother and younger brother off in
the distance as she kept her arm firmly fixed around Veronique who was
inconsolable. Although she hadn’t gotten to know her that well yet, Kit sensed
she and Veronique would always be closely bonded no matter what happened going
forward. She felt badly for her and immediately wanted to close her heart off
to insure nothing so devastating would ever happen to her. Joe’s voice rang
out in her mind though, reminding her otherwise. She made a pact to start
living her life differently from now on. She would take bigger risks and leave
her heart open. It was the least she could do not only to honor Joe’s memory,
but to live the life she dreamed of.

Sully
stood in the living room a week later singing the chorus of the new song he had
written the day before. Kit watched him and nodded her head in approval when
the phone rang. She groaned and got up, headed for the kitchen. “Hold on,
Sull.” She smiled. “It’s sounding great. I think you’re onto something.
Maybe we can add that to the set for the tour?”

She
dragged the phone into the living room and answered. Her happy expression
faded as she listened to Joe’s mother talking on the other end. Sully noticed
the shift and took a seat next to her on the sofa, sensing something was up.
He stroked her back gently, watching as tears rolled down her cheeks. She only
remained on the phone for a short time and concluded the call. She hung up and
let out a long sigh.

Sully
spoke gently. “Babe, who was that?”

She
took a deep breath to compose herself. “Abigail Valois. The autopsy report
came back.” She searched Sully’s eyes. “Joe didn’t die from anything drug or
alcohol related. Toxicology revealed there were no traces in his bloodstream.
He had a fatal brain aneurysm. His doctors think he went to rehab too late.
Too much brain damage was done and coming out of his drinking and drugging was
too much on his body. Joe was always super sensitive. He was a sickly kid.
His body evidently couldn’t handle it. They think he died in his sleep and it
was quick. They said it was probably peaceful, but I know leading up to it, he
was having really painful headaches. I should have listened. I should have
taken him to emergency that day.”

Sully
shook his head. “Kit, do not blame yourself. He told me about the headaches
too and I told him to see a doctor. We didn’t know. We couldn’t have known.”
He hugged her tightly as she let the tears flow freely again and he felt a lone
tear trickle down his own cheek. Joe was his best friend next to Kit and he
wasn’t sure how things were going to be without him around. Seven weeks had
passed since his death and Sully still expected to get a call from him or see
him stroll into Dahlia’s house unexpectedly as he always used to do.

Kit
pulled back and sniffled. “Anyway, there is some good news. Veronique is
pregnant. She’s staying in Illinois permanently to live with them. She
doesn’t want to be alone through this. She’s leaving the modeling industry and
is going to focus on her art. She is coming into town in two days and wants to
meet with us and Joe’s attorney.”

He
frowned. “Huh? Why an attorney?”

Kit
forced a grin. “Babe, we’re both in Joe’s will and Veronique is the executor
along with the help of an attorney that Joe has had on retainer for a while. I
know the guy. He works for my dad’s firm in Chicago and specializes in
interstate probate matters.”

Sully’s
eyes widened. “Joe had a will?”

She
nodded. “Joe has had a will since he turned twenty-one and got his trust fund.
His parents made it mandatory. Every time he acquired something new like a car
or property, he’d amend it. And apparently, he amended it recently. He and
Veronique were planning on moving out of the condo.”

Sully
nodded. “I know. They were looking for a house. Something bigger that was
super secure and would be good for the baby.”

She
chuckled. “Am I the only one that didn’t know about the baby?”

He
smiled. “Why do you think they got married so fast? Yes, Joe was head over
heels in love with her and she was with him too, but he was on a mission to do
things right. He had met her before, y’know. They had this on and off again
thing going when he was touring in Europe but she would never take him
seriously because he was high all the time. Then they reconnected in France
after he got out of rehab and it worked out. I know you haven’t hung out with
her much, but I think you’ll like her, Kit. She’s really grounded. She was
good for Joe. And she’ll make a good mom.”

Kit
nodded, feeling slightly overwhelmed by all the information coming at her.
“We’ll need to do our best to support her, even though she’ll be in another
state. Joe would want that.”

Sully
nodded. “Absolutely.”

Kit
gazed into his eyes. “Sull, Abigail mentioned that Joe left his Ferrari to
you. Veronique will give us all the details when she’s here in two days.”