Page 22 of Blood Stone

Kate stopped rubbing her temples and looked at him properly. “You’re checking up on me?”

Roman picked his words carefully. “I figured something major had happened if you forgot to even phone. I thought I’d see if you needed...help.”

Kate gave a laugh. It was probably supposed to be a dry one, but it twisted and there was a panicky sound to the end of it, and she pressed her lips together, her fingers over them for a moment. “Help?” she repeated. “I’d take help from Lucifer himself if I knew how to contact him, and if I thought he could possibly help. But I don’t think even he could get me out of this, Adrian.” She pressed her lips tightly together again and took a deep breath.

“What’s happened?” Roman asked.

Kate sighed. “What hasn’t happened? But I could sum it up in two words.”

“Calum Garrett.”

She sat back. “How did you...?”

“I passed his lawyer fellow as I was coming in.”

“MacDonald.” Her mouth curled down in disgust.

“What has Garrett done?” Roman asked curiously.

Kate stood up. “I need coffee. I’ve been up since...early. Want one?”

He shook his head. “I’ve had too many already today, thanks.”

“It’s French Roast,” she coaxed, moving over to the sideboard where a mini espresso machine sat gleaming.

“Maybe the smell will talk me into it,” Roman lied. “You go ahead. And tell me what Garrett did.”

She held up the coffee scoop. “One. There is nothing directly connecting Garrett to any of this. He’s as devious as original sin, the fucking bastard. But he’s made sure I know it’s him every time, because that MacDonald character has delivered thecoup de graceeach time. The first time I wanted to skewer him with his own ancestral broadsword. The second time, I was ready to strangle him with my own bare hands. Now, it’s just fucking humiliating.”

As she spoke, she set up the espresso machine for making a single cup of espresso, her movements sharp and hard. Kate was growing angrier with each statement.

“Details, Kate,” Roman cajoled, keeping his voice soft and non-confrontational, although he had already begun to suspect the shape of it. If MacDonald was involved, then Garrett was staying in character. He was toying with Kate business-style, using legal means to strangle her and bring her to her knees. “What was the first thing?” he pressed.

She waved her hand again, this time at the window of the trailer. “You see it out there?” she asked.

He glanced at the window. “I saw it. It’s a great studio.”

“It’sempty.” She let her hand fall. “That great studio is costing me eight thousand dollars in lost revenuea day. There was supposed to be a horror film in here, on their third day of principal photography.”

“How did Garrett shut you down?” Roman asked curiously.

“My lawyer took a whole two days to confirm it was one of his companies, working it back through parent corporations and umbrella subsidiaries. But it seems that when you connect enough dots, back far enough, Garrett owns controlling shares in the company that holds the finance on this building.” She shrugged.

“He called in the loan?”

“If it had been that simple, I could have rallied around a few interested backers and paid it off.” She scowled. “He put a lien on it. Now the building is in escrow and under legal dispute. I can’t use the damn property to conduct business until the dispute is settled.” She dropped into her chair and scowled even harder at her coffee. “The son of a bitch.”

“And the second thing?” Roman prompted her.

She blew on her coffee. “You’ll notice I’m not exactly swimming in staff.” Her mouth turned down.

“Just Britney and the security guard.”

“John is working as a personnel favour to me,” Kate said. “Britney is a new hire and I don’t know how long I’ll be able to keep her.”

“Labour issues?”

“Employment and Immigration. And Labour. Enough of my employees were illegal or underage and the rest of them had records or histories or shaky ID papers that they didn’t want looked at too closely for reasons of their own...this is Hollywood. Everyone’s got secrets. Immigration carted off two illegal aliens and suddenly, I didn’t have a workforce. Everyone else melted away like butter at noon.”