Garrett says, “So he fantasized about remaking Abby’s movie. Now he’s found an Abby look-a-like to play the role. Still, there has to be something in his life that happened. Something that made him snap.”
“His grandmother died,” I say. “He idolized her. She was an old film star, and he said she was a lady. He went on and on about how Grandmother—that’s what he called her, never Grandma, always Grandmother—respected Abby because she never took off her clothes in her movies; that hers were clean, like they were in the old days. He had a bad childhood, and it sounds like his mom was pretty slutty. She was married like six times. The last guy she married had money, but didn’t want kids, so she dumped him at his grandmother’s house. It was good for him though. It sounded like he kind of had low self-esteem, like maybe kids used to make fun of him. But his grandmother told him he could fake confidence. He said eventually he didn’t have to fake it anymore.”
“So the woman he idolizes dies. Okay,” Garrett says. “What else?”
“I helped him spread her ashes on our beach. He was very sad. I don’t think he was faking it. He sobbed on my shoulder. I hugged him and cried too. He was buying the beach house for her birthday. Apparently, she met the love of her life on this beach and was happiest there. She wanted Vincent to find true love. He told me she would have loved that he met me on their beach. The next day, he texted me and asked me to dinner. He wanted to thank me for being nice to him.”
“That’s the night Barbara called and said you were having dinner with a hot, older guy, right?” Mom says.
“Yeah. We drank wine on the patio first.”
Garrett says, “What happened that night?”
I think about it. “We talked all about the movie, but then not.”
“What do you mean?”
“Even though we talked about the movie, it was like . . .” I trail off, and finally whisper, “I don’t know. I don’t know anything.”
Garrett touches my arm, and I immediately flinch. “Did something happen?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know. I always thought I was good at reading people. I was so wrong about him.”
“Don’t question your instincts. Tell me what you really thought.”
“Even though the things he said were about the movie, it kinda felt like he was trying to seduce me. His hand would accidentally brush against my knee when he filled the wine. He asked me when I’d be legal. He told me I have an expressive face and all about these things I do with my mouth, like how I bite my lip. He ran his thumb across my lip. After dinner, he kissed me on the cheek, but it was longer than a kiss on the cheek should be. Then he looked at me and told me he could tell my other cheek was jealous, so he kissed it too. He was really quite charming.”
“Sociopaths are charming, Keatyn. People are naturally drawn to them, but they’re cold inside.”
I look at a photo of the girls on the coffee table. They’re all in rainbow tutus, except for Gracie. She’s in full-on princess garb. I remember the note in Avery’s backpack, and I instantly know what made him snap. “Mom became a whore,” I mutter.
Mom goes, “What?”
“The note that was in Avery’s backpack. He was pissed at you. You did those sex scenes and instead of being like the grandmother he idolized, you became a whore . . . like his mother. He hated his mother.”
“That’s very insightful, Keatyn. Now we’re getting somewhere,” Garrett says. “His grandmother, the woman he idolizes, dies. And the other woman he idolizes becomes a whore. That’s what did it. What sent him over the edge. Tell me the rest. Every time you had contact with him.”
I tell him everything.
Garrett looks very somber when he says, “Keatyn, Abby, this isn’t going to stop.”
“What do you mean?”
“We’re going to have to send Keatyn away for a while. She can’t stay here. It’s too dangerous.”
“We’re getting ready to go to Vancouver to shoot a movie,” Mom says. “She’ll come with us.”
“Abby, this has gone beyond your typical obsessed fan. The pictures, his following her, and breaking into the house a few doors down in a private, gated community all suggest that this has become a game to him. He managed to work his way into her life. Vancouver isn’t the answer. This is very serious, and I think it would be best for the whole family if you split up for the time being.”
Mom gets a fierce look on her face, like a lion protecting her young. “We’re not sending her anywhere. She’ll stay with us.”
“I was thinking of something like witness protection. We can change her name and she can go away until he finds someone else to obsess over, or until we can catch him.”
“Change my name? Move away? What happened to I’m not going to allow myself to be victimized. Isn’t that what you always say, Mom?”
“This is different, Keatyn, because you almost were a victim,” Garrett says bluntly.