When she walked into the next project, the big icy one, she stood there, looking at it, when Frankie came up.
“Hey, how are you doing today?” he asked.
“I’m doing fine,” she said with a smile. “At least I’m doing better than I was.”
He looked at her intently. “You do look better,” he said. “Brighter skin, a little happier.”
“It’ll take time,” she said. “There’s really no other answer for grief.”
“I understand,” he said. “At least you’re in the position where you can keep moving forward.”
She motioned at the backdrop behind him. “How’s this going?”
“You tell me,” he said with that big grin of his.
She smiled, loving the energy that came with Frankie’s smile. He was always calm, upbeat, energizing to be around. She studied the icy backdrop and smiled. “Those areas there need a bit of work,” she said, pointing. “That series of icicles hanging around the cave needs a bit of work too,” she murmured.
He nodded. “I knew you’d catch those two areas,” he said. “Look at the bottom far corner. I don’t think the trees are quite right yet.”
“I can finish those,” she murmured. “I just want to make sure we’ve got a really good solid foundation before we even attempt to find models.”
“Not Naomi?” he asked in surprise. “I thought she was booked.”
“If she was booked, she just became unbooked,” she said briskly.
“Got it,” he said, nodding. “Can’t say I’m sad to see her go.”
“You and me both,” she said with a smile. “Just being around her is terrible.”
“True,” he said. “This a good thing.”
“Says you,” she said with a smile.
“And you too,” he said. “Otherwise you wouldn’t have done it.”
“I had to,” she said. “It was just too impossible.”
“You’ll never hear me argue that point,” he said. “I’m all for it. I do know a couple potentials, if you’re interested.”
She looked at him in surprise. “Friends?”
He nodded. “Yeah, friends.”
Something odd was in his voice. She looked at him, smiled, and said, “Lovers?”
He flushed. “Yeah. I love her.”
“Send me her photos, and I’ll see,” she said, “but I make no promises.”
“Good enough,” he said. “That’s all any of us can do, you know? Is take a look and see.”
“Okay,” she said. “Now let’s get to work.” And she quickly pulled her long smock over her clothing, kicked off her shoes, rolled up her capris a little bit higher, and walked over the canvas cloths littering the floor. “I’ll work down here first,” she said. “I’ll fix these trees and then work my way up this side.”
“Good enough.” And they got started.
When she turned around a few hours later, somehow she wasn’t surprised to see Richard standing in front of her.
He eyed her critically. “You do look better.”
She shrugged self-consciously. “Thank you. I didn’t expect such kindness from you last night.”
“We tend to have that initial negative effect,” he said, “but we’re not mean people.”
She nodded. “No, it’s just that you’re involved in an ugly job.”
“That we are,” he said.
She looked at him and asked, “Do you have any more details about what happened last night?” She gave a slight glance over in Frankie’s direction.
“It’s not connected,” he said.
She sighed in relief. “Well, thank God for that.”
“Exactly.”
“Not to worry,” he said. “You can carry on with the next installation. We’ll probably have some undercover cops around, just to make sure we don’t have a third victim.”
“And yet I don’t think Thorne was at the last installation, was he?” She frowned and looked at Frankie. “Frankie, was Thorne at the last installation the night that he died?”
Frankie nodded. “But we were done easily by four o’clock in the afternoon.”
She turned to look at Richard. “So I don’t know that added security at that show would have made any difference.”
“What you really mean is,” he said, “that somebody could be watching during the day, if they pinpointed Thorne.”
“That’s not what I meant to say,” she said, “but, now that you brought it up, it is quite possible.”
“Good enough,” he said. “Maybe I’ll just hang around, walk a few blocks, take a look at what’s going on around you, while you do this,” he said. “A fair bit of attention is out there.”
“Of course,” she said. “It’s a big project, lots of activity, and I think I need to put a sign or two outside to say what is coming.”
“Okay, I’ll just blend into the background and see what I can see.”
“You can also get video cameras,” she said. “You might see the same person at the same installations.”
He smiled at her. “I am a cop, and I’ve been one for a really long time. I do know what I’m doing,” he said. “And honestly, we have asked various people for those feeds. And we have several people at the station culling through all those that we’ve received to date.”
“Oh,” she said, flushing. “I didn’t mean to be rude. It just occurred to me that maybe the same person, if he was stalking Thorne, could also be stalking someone else.”
“Exactly,” he said. “Go and do your work. Let me take a look around and do mine.” And, with that, he turned and walked away.
Frankie walked over and asked, “This is still about Elena?”
“Elena and Thorne,” she said sadly. “Two young lives that had no business being cut short.”
“I know,” he said. “There’s been some talk on the set too.”
“Anybody quit because of it?” she asked him, stepping back slightly. “Does it bother you?”
“It doesn’t bother me,” he said, “but I also have a black belt in karate. Killing me won’t be quite so easy.”
“No,” she said, “but the minute you think that it’s almost a guarantee, somebody will find a way around your skills.”
He chuckled. “Come on. Let’s get back to work. It’s the only time you are ever really happy.”
She thought about it, nodded, and said, “Boy, you are right there.”
*
Richard wandered around the area, checking out her work, checking out Frankie—and her relationship with him—seeing a bond, and, although Richard had told her that he
