Chapter Twenty-Four
Late October
“Hey, baby. How’s your day going?”
Julia smiled at the sound of Nathan’s voice on the other end of the phone. “Kind of crazy, but in a good way. Very productive so far. How about yours?”
He sighed. “Not quite as productive as yours, I’m afraid. This site survey is taking a lot longer than I’d planned. Will you be mad if I can’t make lunch?”
“You can make it up by buying me a really expensive dinner,” she joked. “And, no, I’m not mad. It was going to have to be a quick lunch anyway since I’m meeting that new client at two-thirty at her home.”
“I forgot about that. Tell you what – I’ll definitely be back in the city by then. Give me the address and I’ll pick you up there.”
“Sounds great, let me get the address.” She searched through her normally tidy desk for the form she needed. In the meanwhile, a beep sounded on the phone, signaling that Nathan had another call coming in.
“Damn,” he muttered. “Look, just send me a text when you find the address. Gotta go, baby. Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
Sure enough, she located the form with all the contact information for her new prospective client mere seconds after Nathan ended the call. Before she forgot, she sent him a quick text with the address, adding that she’d likely be finished with the appointment by three-thirty.
She hadn’t been too thrilled to take on this client – whom she’d yet to meet or even speak to personally. She’d received the call about a week ago from the woman’s PA - a young woman who had been a little too pushy for Julia’s liking - to set up an appointment as soon as possible. The client – a woman named Elizabeth Gardiner – wanted to have her entire condo redecorated, and had been referred to Julia via Jackson West. It was only because of her association with the winery owner that Julia had accepted the job. She was already so busy these days with all the projects Travis kept throwing her way that she really didn’t have time for Ms. Gardiner. But the PA had been almost obnoxiously persistent, and Julia had finally relented just to get the woman off her back.
Not having enough hours in the day notwithstanding, life was pretty damned perfect these days. She loved her job and her co-workers; was really starting to adore San Francisco and learn her way around, making Manhattan a distant memory; and she was head over heels in love with her Nathan. They were always together, never spending a night apart, though still shuttling back and forth between his condo and her flat. Nathan had finally contacted a friend who was a leasing agent, and he was actively searching for a larger place for them to rent together. He was certain he could rent Nathan’s condo out as well until the time was right to sell it.
And the most exciting development was that Nathan had almost finalized the plans for his dream home in Tiburon. After spending the weekend at her parents’ house and soaking up her father’s considerable experience, Nathan had found new inspiration to finish the plans. Her parents were due for a visit in less than a week’s time, and they had already planned to see the Tiburon property up close.
Julia was also making plans for entertaining her parents during their visit. It had already been decided that they would stay at her flat while she and Nathan would bunk at his condo.
Nathan had also been after her lately to finally buy a car, and she was quickly running out of excuses. In fact, he was planning for them to go car shopping this weekend, and she had more or less resigned herself to canvassing car lots instead of browsing the sale at Neiman Marcus.
At two twenty-five, the cab let her off in front of the building where her new client lived. The building was located in a high-priced, high-class neighborhood, as evidenced by the bevy of luxury automobiles parked nearby, and the well-dressed residents who walked past. She was glad she’d chosen an elegant black Ralph Lauren dress. Paired with her go-to black Louboutins and a Prada tote, she more than fit in with this elite crowd.
The condo was in an older building and appeared to only have about a dozen units in all. It was nothing like the ultra-modern high-rise structure where Nathan lived, with its spacious lobby and 24-hour security. This small building had a keypad entry, for which Elizabeth Gardiner’s pushy assistant had given Julia the code. She had thought that a bit odd, but had been anxious to get the obnoxious PA off the phone and hadn’t questioned it. Checking her notes, she keyed in the security code and pushed the door open into the small lobby. There were only three floors in the building, and Ms. Gardiner lived on the top one. Julia contemplated taking the stairs, but decided instead on the elevator, given her four-inch heels.
She was further puzzled when she reached Elizabeth Gardiners’ front door and found it slightly ajar. She knocked and called out. “Ms. Gardiner? It’s Julia McKinnon, the interior designer.”
Moments later, a somewhat muffled voice called out, “Yes, come in. I’ll be right there.”
Fighting off a growing sense of unease, Julia nonetheless stepped inside the condo and shut the door behind her. A quick glance around the living/dining space revealed sleek, modern furnishings, tasteful artwork, and a variety of carefully chosen sculptures, vases and pottery. It did not look in the least bit like a space that needed to be redecorated.
“Hello, Julia. So nice of you to stop by.”
Julia froze at the sound of that familiar, menacing voice and her blood chilled as Cameron walked slowly into the room. Cameron looked even worse than she had in the restaurant a few weeks earlier – gaunt and thin, her clothes wrinkled and stained, and her hair unkempt. But what really, really concerned Julia was the pistol Cameron held in her hand – a pistol that was now pointed at Julia.
“Cameron.” Julia expelled a long breath, trying to stay calm and rational, something that wasn’t easy to do in the presence of a semi-crazed woman holding a gun. “I assume this Elizabeth Gardiner ruse was meant to get me here alone.”
Cameron shrugged. “I gave my assistant a nice bonus for pushing so hard to get you here. You apparently weren’t too eager to get my business. I told my assistant I was just trying to play an elaborate prank on a friend.”
“Except that the joke’s on me, I suppose,” stated Julia flatly.
“You’re a smart girl. Guess that fancy Ivy League education paid off,” said Cameron with heavy sarcasm. “What a smug bitch you are, thinking you’re better than I am because you went to Cornell and lived in New York and speak French. Big fucking deal.”
Julia winced as Cameron’s voice increased in volume. “I never thought I was better than you,” she told her softly, trying to keep her calm.
Cameron’s eyes blazed angrily. “Shut up! I don’t want you to talk. You fucked up my life so badly, you little whore. Why didn’t you just stay in goddamned New York and leave my fiancé alone? You’ve ruined everything – everything!”
Cameron was screaming at this point, and Julia began to gingerly start backing up towards the door. She wondered wildly if she could possibly hope to outrun Cameron and make it safely outside. She’d have to ditch her shoes, of course, and even then –
“Don’t fucking move, bitch!” screeched Cameron. “I see what you’re trying to do. You’re not going anywhere, Julia. Not until you pay for what you did to me. You’ve ruined me, made me a fucking laughingstock with all my friends, made me an object of pity. Poor Cameron, dumped again. She’ll meet the right guy one of these days. Fuck them! I did meet the right guy. Nathan was perfect for me, until you stole him away. You’re not going to get away with it!”
Now Julia was really beginning to quiver with fear, especially when she noticed how Cameron’s gun hand was waving around erratically. How in the world had Cameron obtained a gun anyway?
“Cameron, calm down, please. Let’s talk about this rationally. And please put the gun down. You don’t want it going off accidentally.” Julia spoke with a calm she sure as hell didn’t feel.
Cameron gave a hysterical laugh. “Accidentally? Oh, please. I’ve been handling guns since I was a child. Daddy is on the board of the NRA and he made sure all of us could shoot. I still go to the shooting range once or twice a month to stay in practice. No, Julia, there will be nothing accidental about shooting you. In fact, it will be quite intentional.”
Julia was frozen with fear, and strove to keep her voice from breaking. “Cameron, that’s crazy. You can’t possibly think you could get away with something like that.”
“Oh, but I have it all figured out,” declared Cameron. “I’ll say I thought you were an intruder and shot you in self-defense. My father will get me the best attorney in the state, and I won’t even be charged with anything. Money talks, Julia.”
Julia could only stare in horrified disbelief. “That – you’re insane. Insane. Cameron, you can’t do something like that. My God, I know you’re angry and hurt but you aren’t a cold-blooded murderer.”
“Shut up!” shrieked Cameron. “You don’t know fuck about me, Julia. I was the best fucking thing that ever happened to Nathan until you shoved those big tits in his face and wiggled your ass in those tight skirts and stole him away. He was in love with me, we were supposed to be married, were going to be so happy. And then you had to come along and fuck everything up. You need to pay for that, bitch.”
“And how do you think Nathan is going to react when he knows what you’ve done?” asked Julia quietly. “You know he’ll never believe your story.”
Cameron’s eyes looked glazed. “That’s not true. He will believe me. And with you out of the picture he’ll realize how much he still loves me and will come back to me. But he won’t do that until you’re not around anymore. So be prepared to die now, bitch.”
As Julia recognized the sound of the trigger of the gun being pulled, she barely had time to react, ducking behind a cabinet filled with objects d’art. She could see the bullet ricochet off the cabinet, and then felt a sudden, searing pain on her upper left arm. Glancing down she saw blood begin to pour down her arm from where the bullet had grazed her, and she bit her lip to hold back the scream of terror bubbling up in her throat.
The sight of Julia’s blood seemed to have caused Cameron to freeze in place, as though she couldn’t believe she’d actually pulled the trigger. Julia reacted quickly, taking advantage of Cameron’s sudden confusion, and grabbed an undoubtedly priceless sculpture from a nearby table, flinging it wildly at Cameron. The marble piece caught Cameron square on the arm, and she dropped the gun from her shaking fingers. As she fell to her knees, intent on retrieving the gun, Julia snatched a heavy crystal vase and smashed it over Cameron’s head. Cameron groaned and slumped to the floor.
Julia’s heart was racing so hard she feared she’d faint, but wasted no time in tearing madly out of the condo.
Nathan was tired and irritable when he finally wrapped up surveying the site of a potential new office building. The site was in a community a few miles south of San Francisco, one he wasn’t too familiar with, so he’d had to wait on the arrival of the city planner and civil engineer, and they had both been late. The builder who’d been selected for the project had had dozens of questions, and what should have been a relatively quick survey had taken far too long.
He was back in San Francisco now, and he debated whether he had time to return to the office before picking Julia up from her client’s. It occurred to him that he didn’t even know the address, and hoped that she’d sent him the promised text. While stopped at a red light, he quickly found the text and immediately felt his blood turn to ice.
Cameron. It was her address. Somehow she’d managed to lure Julia to her home, obviously under false pretenses, because there was no possible way Julia would have gone there willingly.
“Shit!” he cursed, and immediately started figuring out the absolute fastest route to Cameron’s condo. He couldn’t imagine that his ex-fiancée would actually harm Julia, until he recalled the hard slap Cameron had given her once, hard enough to leave a bruise and a cut.
The light turned green and he surged ahead, grateful he’d driven the BMW today for it was much faster and easier to maneuver than his SUV. He hoped fervently he didn’t cross paths with a police car, because he was intent on breaking every speeding record in the book to get to Cameron’s the fastest possible way. He ignored the honks from pissed-off drivers as he cut them off, veered into lanes without signaling, and tailgated unmercifully. All the while he was half-praying, half reassuring himself that nothing was wrong, that Julia was fine, that Cameron was probably doing nothing more than insulting her or screaming like the shrew she was. God, if that crazy bitch even dared to lift a finger against Julia, he’d wring her skinny neck until it snapped!
His heart was pounding like crazy, and he felt sick to his stomach as he drew ever closer to Cameron’s condo. A glance at the clock revealed it to be two forty-five, only fifteen minutes past the time Julia was supposed to have arrived. Nathan thanked the powers that be that had made him check Julia’s text before heading for the office instead.
His leg was shaking with fear as he came within three blocks of his destination. Parking was an absolute nightmare in this area no matter the time of day, and he only hoped he could find a space nearby.
He had circled the block twice already, cursing vividly when there was no parking to be found. He was going around for the third time when his blood chilled at the horrifying sight that greeted his eyes – a bloodied, disheveled, hysterical Julia stumbling out the front door of the condo building. Immediately, he double parked the car and raced over to the sidewalk to catch her as she collapsed tearfully in his arms.
“Jesus, baby, what the hell happened? Julia – you’re bleeding. Let me call 911. Jesus.”
She was sobbing, clutching his arm as they sunk to the sidewalk together. “Oh, God, Nathan. It’s Cameron – she has a gun – and she tried to kill me – I think it’s just a graze, but –“
“Shh.” He kept an arm wrapped around her while he searched for his phone, somehow managing to punch in 9-1-1 with badly shaking fingers. He ignored the gathering crowd of passers-by, most of whom just gawked in alarm before hurrying on their way, but a few who hovered in the background, and one man who hunkered down next to them. He introduced himself briefly as Charlie, and identified himself as an off-duty nurse. Charlie began checking Julia’s arm as Nathan answered the 911 operator’s questions rather brusquely, and ignored the woman’s repeated admonishments to calm down. After barking out the required information, he was assured by the operator that both an ambulance and a police unit would arrive very soon.
Charlie, meanwhile, was doing his best to calm Julia down, and desperately searching for something to staunch the flow of blood, which seemed to Nathan to be substantial.
“Do you have a first aid kit in your car?” he asked Nathan, when he learned the BMW was his. “Or a towel, anything like that? I’m almost sure this is just a deep graze, but it’s bleeding like crazy and I’m sure it must hurt her like hell.
Nathan was reluctant to leave Julia even for a second, especially when he saw how pale she was and how clammy her skin felt. But he dashed to his car, not giving a flying fuck if he got three tickets for double-parking, and found a towel inside the gym bag he always kept stashed in the trunk.
As Charlie began to wrap the towel around Julia’s arm to staunch the flow of blood, Nathan heard the telltale sound of a siren nearby and felt a mild relief. He clutched Julia’s hand tightly, and kept kissing her forehead, brushing her damp curls behind her ear.
“It’ll be okay, baby. You’re going to be just fine,” he assured her even as her eyes shut and her head lolled back limply.
“Shit,” muttered Charlie. “She’s passed out. I sure hope that’s the ambulance and not the cops I hear approaching. Here, let’s rest her head on your lap.
Nathan felt a hot tear run down his cheek as he tenderly cradled Julia’s head in his lap. “Is she going to be okay? Christ, that’s a helluva lot of blood.”
Charlie nodded as he tightened the towel around her arm. “Yep, probably why she passed out. She might need a transfusion but I’m fairly sure she’ll be okay. Ah, here’s the ambulance.”
Nathan bent and kissed Julia gently on the lips. “Hang on baby. Everything’s going to be just fine.”
Cameron staggered to her feet, her vision impaired by the sluggish trickle of blood that ran from her temple into her eye. She was more than a little woozy but still alert enough to find the gun she’d dropped earlier and picked it up. A quick glance around revealed that Julia had escaped, leaving the front door wide open behind her. Enraged, Cameron grabbed her keys from the entryway table and ran down the three flights of stairs. That bitch couldn’t have gotten far, especially in those ridiculous fuck-me stilettos, and Cameron was certain she could overtake her. Julia wouldn’t be so lucky to escape with just a flesh wound this time. She’d shoot the bitch in the brain, the heart, the gut, to make sure she was well and truly dead.
But when she stumbled unsteadily into the lobby, she froze in her tracks as she saw the scene unfolding just outside the front door of the building. A small crowd had gathered on the sidewalk, including two paramedics who were lifting Julia onto a gurney.
And Nathan was there, too, somehow. How in the world had he arrived so quickly? How had Julia managed to contact him since it appeared she was passed out cold? Cameron watched, her heart shattering into a thousand pieces, as Nathan tenderly bent over Julia, clutching her hand and kissing her forehead. He was crying, shaken, and looked absolutely devastated. And it was in that moment Cameron realized how completely in love with Julia he really was, and how she could never, ever hope to get him back. Her legs wobbled, and she fought the urge to sink to the floor and weep.
And then another siren sounded, and Cameron’s despair turned to fear at the arrival of the police cruiser. Aware all of a sudden that she was clutching a gun, she turned and ran down the flight of stairs that led to the small underground parking garage.
Her hands were shaking as she unlocked the door to her Mercedes sedan, and then tore out of the garage as fast as she could. Her heart was racing as panic surged through her. With Julia still alive, there was no way now that anyone would believe the fabricated tale of Cameron mistaking her for an intruder. God, she’d be arrested and charged with who knew what and all of her father’s money and connections wouldn’t save her from jail. She would be destroyed socially, her family would cut her off, she’d lose her business – the list went on.
Tears poured down her cheeks, mingling with the blood and sweat already streaming from her forehead, and her vision grew blurry. In the distance she could hear sirens, and she panicked, assuming the police were after her. She drove faster, recklessly, swerving into lanes of traffic, at one point driving over a curb, and had no clear idea of where she was headed or what she would do when she got there.
Cameron was so terrified, so panic-stricken, and so bewildered that she didn’t notice she’d turned down a dead-end street, still traveling at a reckless speed. The last thing she thought before the darkness claimed her was that this was a strange place for a concrete wall to be.
“The doctor said you can leave tomorrow, baby.”
Julia gave Nathan a weak smile and squeezed his hand. She was more than a little dopey from the pains meds they’d shot her up with, and still shocky from everything that had happened earlier today. Since she had apparently fainted from shock and blood loss, she’d had to rely on Nathan’s recounting of what had happened after she’d managed to escape a crazed Cameron.
The bullet had indeed only been a graze, but it had cut a deep groove and she’d lost a lot of blood. She’d received a transfusion, plus antibiotics and a tetanus shot, and been bandaged up. Though in no danger, the doctor wanted to keep her overnight for observation. Nathan had already called her parents and Lauren, and they were understandably upset but also grateful that she was okay. Julia had managed a small smile through her woozy state when she’d heard that Lauren was ready to drive up tonight, round up three or four friends, and go on the hunt for Cameron until they found her and broke every bone in her skinny body.
“Travis should be here any minute,” Nathan told her, brushing her tangled hair off her shoulders. He’d been hovering over her, fretting and pacing, as though he was afraid to let her out of his sight for even a second. Even through her drug-addled state, she could see how agitated he was, how his suit and shirt were hopelessly rumpled and stained with her blood. His hair was a mess, sticking up haphazardly and in total disarray.
“I hope he’s bringing you dinner,” she said sleepily. “It’s after seven and I know you haven’t had a thing to eat or drink. You also look kind of scary with all those bloodstains.”
He brought her hand to his lips. “Imagine then how terrified I was when I saw you falling to the sidewalk with all that blood pouring from your arm. Jesus, if I’d lost you, Julia, if she’d managed to really hurt you – I’d want to die, too.”
“Shhh.” She tenderly ran her fingers over his lips. “I’m okay. Just sleepy. And I’m sure this arm will hurt like hell when the meds wear off. At least it’s not my drawing hand so I won’t miss any work.”
“Your boss might have something to say about that.”
Julia and Nathan looked up as Travis strode into the room, carrying a takeout bag in one hand and a fuzzy stuffed pink unicorn in the other. He handed the bag to Nathan, proclaiming it dinner, and then tucked the stuffed toy next to Julia’s pillow as he bent to kiss her cheek.
“Even bloodied and bandaged and drugged up, with that appalling hospital gown on, you still manage to look gorgeous,” he told her with a smile.
She managed a small chuckle as she cuddled the unicorn. “Yes, well, forgive me if I don’t believe you at the moment.”
Travis shooed Nathan away from the hospital bed as he carefully sat down on the edge. “But he looks twice as bad as you do. You should have told me to bring you a clean shirt, Nate. Ugh, glad I already had my dinner because you look very unappetizing right now. Go over to that chair and eat your dinner there, out of my sight.”
Scowling, Nathan did as he bid and took out the to-go order of pasta vongole, green salad, and garlic bread that Travis had brought, along with a can of soda. When Travis was satisfied that Nathan was digging into the food, he turned his attention back to Julia.
“I didn’t think to ask, sweetie. Should I have brought something for you to eat?” he asked in concern.
She grimaced and shook her head. “For once in my life, I’m not the least bit hungry. The pain meds are making me a little nauseous, I think. They brought me some broth and Jell-O awhile ago. That was more than I could manage.”
Travis shook his head as he gently clasped her hand. “Who’d have thought Cameron was actually capable of something like this? Jesus, when Nathan called me from the ER I thought I’d pass out. Why in the world were you at her condo to begin with?”
Yawning sleepily, Julia told him how Cameron’s employee at the gallery had duped her. Nathan chimed in between bites of pasta, confirming that the police had talked to the tearful young woman, who’d had no idea of Cameron’s real intent. She’d been under the impression that all she was doing was playing a little practical joke on a friend of Cameron’s.
Travis expressed his sympathies, told her that Anton sent his love, and assured her that she was to take the rest of the week off from work and longer if needed. It was only when Nathan touched his arm and motioned him outside the hospital room with a tilt of his head that Travis realized Julia had fallen asleep.
“You really do look like shit,” he told Nathan as they stepped into the hallway. “You’re going to have to throw that shirt out, probably the tie, too.”
Nathan shrugged. “Like I give a fuck. When I think about what Cameron was intending to do, what could have happened to Julia if she hadn’t gotten lucky – what a fucking disaster. And I feel responsible. I knew how unhinged Cameron had become, how she was stalking us. I should have called the police. Or hired a bodyguard. Something.”
“The police haven’t located her yet?”
Nathan shook his head. “They’ve got patrols stationed by her condo, the gallery, her parents’ home. Of course they’re keeping a watch on her credit card and passport to make sure she doesn’t try to get a flight out. But nothing yet.”
“Unbelievable. I mean, I always knew she was a coldhearted bitch but I never thought she’d be capable of actually trying to kill someone,” mused Travis. “Bet her old man is shitting a brick.”
“Good. He deserves to suffer, the evil old dick,” muttered Nathan. “Thank God I never had to suffer having him as my father-in-law. What the hell was I thinking?”
Travis gave him a reassuring pat on the back. “Hey, Cameron could certainly be charming and fun and engaging. That’s the side of her she made sure you saw. Obviously, the breakup made something inside of her snap. And before you say anything,” he pointed a warning finger, “that was not your fault. She’s probably been a little crazy most of her life. It wouldn’t have taken much at all to push her over the edge.”
Nathan sighed. “I don’t dare tell Julia this, at least not now. When the police interviewed her employees at the gallery, nearly every one of them expressed concern about her erratic behavior these past few months. Last week – Jesus – she slashed the two Benoits she owned, just destroyed two of the most valuable paintings in the whole gallery.”
“Crazy fucking bitch,” muttered Travis. “You’re right – Julia doesn’t need to know that, maybe not ever. And please tell me you weren’t planning on going back to your condo tonight. Crazy bitch might be waiting there for you.”
Nathan hesitated. “She’d have a hell of a time getting past security, especially since the police have already notified them to be on the alert. But I figured on staying at Julia’s since its closer to the hospital.”
“My place is even closer. You’ll stay in our guest room, it’s the most sensible solution. If the police haven’t found Cameron by tomorrow, you should hire security. Thank God we took precautions at the office weeks ago and already have them in place.”
Nathan nodded tiredly and was about to reply when his phone rang. He frowned when he didn’t recognize the number but answered it anyway. Travis watched with concern as he paled, and then closed his eyes. Nathan turned away and walked down the hall a short distance, obviously intent on keeping the conversation private. It was several minutes later when he walked back to where Travis stood, visibly shaken.
“That was the detective in charge of this case,” he told a concerned Travis. “They – Christ – they found Cameron. She rammed her car into a concrete wall at the end of a cul-de-sac about five miles from her place. She’s dead – probably died on impact. Holy fuck, Travis.”
As Nathan swayed slightly, Travis grabbed hold of his arm and steered him around the corner from the nurses’ station to a visitors waiting area. Both men sank down to sit on the padded bench.
“I’m sorry, Nate,” said Travis gently. “Despite all of her craziness, I realize she was still your girlfriend for two years. This must be upsetting for you.”
Nathan waved a hand in dismissal. “Not in the way you think. Sorry, but that bitch deserved everything she got for what she tried to do to Julia. You won’t see me mourning her or attending her funeral. Any feelings I had for her are long gone. No, I’m just relieved this whole fucking mess is over. Julia and I don’t have to keep worrying about her any longer.”
Travis winked. “And now you can ask Julia to marry you.”
In spite of the hell he’d been through in the past several hours, Nathan grinned. “All in good time, my friend. All in good time.”