Chapter 12

The next morning, before going straight to the precinct, Jason decided to pay Abigail a little visit to talk about the incident involving his friend. He pulled his navy blue SUV into her driveway before cutting off the engine and jumping out.

When he was facing her huge, white, wooden door, he rang the doorbell and waited, hand tucked in the pockets of his jeans. The door sprang open a few minutes later, revealing Abigail. She was dressed in a tank top and looney tunes pajama bottoms. Her hair was in slight disarray revealing the fact that she had just woken up.

Jason smiled at her.

“Nice PJ’s.” he said looking her up and down.

Abigail groaned and leaned against the door.

“What are you doing here, Jason? I’m on vacation remember?” she told him.

“I know and I really am sorry for bothering you but we really need to talk.” He told her.

Abigail looked at him and let out a weary sigh.

“Fine. Come on in.” she said opening the door wider to allow him in. she closed the door and motioned him to the sofa in the living room. “I would offer you some coffee but I haven’t exactly gotten around to making any yet. I wasn’t planning on being up this early.” She was looking pointedly at him and he put his hands up in protest as he sat down.

“Hey. I said I was sorry.” He stated, “But this is really important.”

“Let me guess, you spoke to Rick right?” she asked standing near the sofa and folding her arms.

“Yeah. He called me last night.” Jason said.

“So he told you about the light incident.” Abigail guessed.

“Yes he did. He also mentioned that you checked it out and that you believe that it was an accident.” He added.

Abigail shook her head then.

“To be quite honest with you Jason,” she began taking a seat opposite him, “When I checked it out, I asked the guy who was sent to investigate the lights all about it and he told me that-“

“The lights were too heavy and the rope burst from the weight of it, I know. Rick told me.” Jason finished for her.

“Rick doesn’t believe that. He really thinks someone is after him and he may be right. The guy I was talking to said that they usually check out all the lights and stuff before the show to make sure everything’ okay and that it was strange that the rope wasn’t strong enough to hold the lights.” She informed him.

“Wait a second.” Jason said with a frown, “Rick never told me any of that.”

Abigail lowered her eyes.

“That’s probably because I didn’t tell him that part.” She said.

Jason opened his mouth to say something but she rushed on.

“He was really upset and worried and I didn’t want to add to that unnecessarily by telling him. He was under a lot of stress as it is.” Abigail told him, “But I was going to tell you.”

Jason let out a breath slowly.

“So let me get this straight.” He began looking at her, “You basically told Rick that you believe it was all an accident just so he wouldn’t worry.”

“Basically.” She said, biting her lower lip.

Jason shook his head at her.

“That was very unprofessional of you, Abby.” He said, his tone scolding, “I never expected you to do something like that. Why would you do that?”

He was looking at her too closely so she got up and started pacing.

“I don’t know.” She said with a shrug.

Jason saw her expression and let out a short laugh.

“You like him, don’t you?”

Abigail paused and turned to face him.

“What? Jason don’t be ridiculous! We already spoke about this.” She said quickly, “I guess I just told him that because, well, it’s not my case. I didn’t want to worry him and I was going to tell you so you could tell him. Me, on the other hand, I’m never going to see him again.”

Jason raised his eyebrows at her.

“Fine. If that’s the way you want it. But I think you should have told him the truth. Last night Rick walked into his room and found one of his pillows tied to the bed with the same rope that was used to hold the lights.” Jason watched as her jaw dropped, “And the pillow that was tied to the bed had a picture of him on it. What do you think about that now?”

“That can’t just be a coincidence.” Abigail said shaking her head.

Jason had decided to tell her about the bedroom incident because he had a feeling that Christian and maybe the rest of fellas from BBKAY were more involved in this than they let on that meant that he was going to have to investigate it, as much as he didn’t want to. That meant that he was going to have to find the right person for the case. And he thought he found her.

“Look Abby,” he said making her raise her head to meet his, “I know you’re supposed to be on vacation but I was wondering-“

“No, no, no!” She saw it coming, “I know exactly what you’re thinking!” she got up and put her hands on her chest dramatically, “I’m on vacation, Jas! You can’t be giving me this case!”

“Come on, Abby. You know Rick could be in serious trouble unless we do something about it. I mean, he could’ve gotten killed last night.” Her expression softened a bit and she chewed her bottom lip.

“Why me, Jason?” she asked, her hands on her hips, “You’ve got lots of people. Get one of them to do it!”

It was true. He could get anyone else to go on this case for him. Then he remembered what Rick had suggested and realized that he had a point. The things he did for his friends.

“You’ve been backstage. You’ve met him and his friends too, I suppose. People there know you. It shouldn’t be difficult for you to go undercover.” He said.

Abigail put up a hand stopping him.

“I’m going to have to go undercover again?”

Jason nodded.

“It’s the only way we can find this person. I’m thinking maybe it’s someone on tour with him.” He said, “Therefore, it’s really important that no one knows who you really are.”

Abigail ran her hands through her hair and started pacing again.

“So what you’re telling me is that I have to go on tour with him while being undercover as his girlfriend?” she managed to ask through the tightness of her throat.

“It’s not that bad!” Jason said walking up to her and putting her hands on her shoulders, “You get to go on tour with one of the biggest groups in the world. You get to be a groupie!”

Abigail shot him a menacing look.

“What I get is screaming girls, a guy who think he’s God’s gift and no vacation!” she announced.

“If you do this for me, I’ll get you a month vacation instead. How about that?” he told her.

Abigail eyed him sceptically. She’d handled a lot of cases before, most of them worse than this one. But none of them involved someone who affected her like Rick Camden. It seemed that all the boy had to do was smile that half-twisted smile to make her insides turn to Jello.

She knew the answer already when she remembered how she’d protected him last night by not telling him the whole truth. But then she couldn’t turn Jason down. He was a good friend and her superior. He could’ve demanded that she go on this case, but instead he was asking, as a friend.

She faced him squarely as she made up her mind.

“I hope he’s as a good a friend as you are, Jas. But I’ll do it. I’ll go on this case for you.”