A PORTRAIT OF OLIVIA (10 page)

I cannot allow such a thing to occur. These perverts must be stamped out—or
at least not given the freedom to express themselves in public. That awful show
was repeated yesterday—and I had to sit and endure an hour of it, listening to the
twaddle they talk—and dare to call it ‘a life experience’.

What utter nonsense. Those men think they have endured tragedy and heartbreak. I could tell them about tragedy. When your own children turn against you
and accuse their father of vile deeds—and the lies are believed—that is tragedy.

When the son you loved above all else throws his perversion in your face and then
blames his father for his condition—that is heartbreak.

Oh, my darling Anthony—if only you would tell me you have freed yourself of
the terrible life you chose, I would forgive you. Yes, even now, despite the sins you
have committed with that awful Justin. How could you do this to me? How could
you shame me so? But I would forgive you, my darling boy, if you would just tell
me your were mistaken and that you would give up this life. I would forgive
you…I would forgive you…

- 58 -

J.P. Bowie

59

Emily put down her coffee cup and looked at Peter, astonishment in her large blue eyes. “She wants me on your show? But why?”

Peter grinned at her. “It’s not my show—it’s very much her show, as she would be the first to tell you. Just don’t feel pressured into doing it, if you don’t want to. I told Olivia I’d ask you and Anthony—that’s all.”

“But what would we do?”

“It would be pretty informal. She’d talk to you about your life before and after, if you know what I mean.”

Emily looked dubious. “Oh, I don’t know if I want to rehash all that again.

And Anthony…he never talks of it. I know he still feels bad about not seeing Mother anymore, so he wouldn’t want to talk about that, for sure.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Peter said. “That she’d dig too deep, I mean. She wants to go for the human aspect of it, or so she said, but I know she likes to go for the drama first.”

“You mean she’d ask some really searching questions?”

Peter nodded.

“Well, I don’t think I can do it.” Emily sighed unhappily. “There is really nothing to be gained from it, is there?”

“Well, only that it highlights the problem of child abuse within the family structure. That’s probably the aspect Olivia’s looking for…”

“What does Jeff think?”

“Lord, you and my mother,” Peter laughed. “Jeff is rapidly becoming ‘the one who knows all’ around here.”

“Oh, I’m sorry…” Emily said, blushing. “…I just figured you two had talked about it and I was curious to know what he thought. Did I upset you?”

“No,” Peter replied, still laughing. “I value his opinion highly, you know that. You know he’s worked with abused children for years…?”

Emily nodded.

“Well, he said it might give some of those kids hope that there is a better life out there. If they had a chance to listen to you and hear how you have come out of it so well, with Jerry and the kids…how you’ve put it all behind you and have moved on…But, he said it had to be your decision alone—and being the strong-willed person you are, not even Olivia could persuade you if you didn’t want to do it.”

J.P. Bowie

60

“Thank him for his high opinion of me,” Emily chuckled. “Well, I don’t know,” she added. “Maybe I should talk to Jerry first—see what he thinks.”

“Good idea. Should I call Anthony, or do you want to tell him about this?”

“I’ll tell him. If he has any questions he can call you.”

“Okay…” They were interrupted by a wail from the intercom.

“That’s Sarah,” Emily said, standing up. “Must be feeding time.”

“Is little Jer still napping?”

“Yeah, he kept us both up all night with tummy cramps—now he’s out like a light. Jerry was very grumpy when he left for work this morning.”

Peter winked at her. “Jeff ’s just the same when I keep him up all night.”

“Jesus H. Christ!” Olivia yelled when Brenda showed her the latest threatening letter. “Doesn’t this prick have anything better to do but plague me with this garbage?”

“Olivia,” Brenda said, frowning. “You have to take this more serious. This letter is a definite death threat.”

“Honey, I don’t have time for this. Give the damned thing to the police and let them deal with it.” She paused and thought for a moment. “Make a copy. I want Jeff Stevens to take a look at this. I told Peter to have him call me…Where’s Luke?”

“I sent him to get us some coffee,” Brenda said with a smug expression. “I don’t think he liked it.”

“Well, he’s not an errand boy, Brenda.” Her lips stretched in a wicked smile.

“’Cept when
I
want him to be.”

“So, how is he?”

“In what capacity exactly?”

“You know what
capacity
exactly. In the sack, what else?”

Olivia feigned disdain for a moment then let out a raucous laugh. “He’s got a ways to go in that department.” She lowered her voice a tad. “What’s with these guys that think they’re God’s gift? I mean, he’s cute and all, but he doesn’t have the first clue ’bout pleasuring a woman. I don’t know what he’s been fooling around with, but I’m going to have it’s gonna be hard work getting him up to standard.”

“Who’s standard would that be?” Brenda asked, smirking

“You know who’s…Anyway, I’ll have my hands full…”

“How full?”

J.P. Bowie

61

“Oh, pretty full. He’s big in all the right places.” The two women giggled, their heads together.

“What’s so funny?” Luke was standing in the doorway, holding a cup of coffee in each hand.

“Why, just girl talk, sugar,” Olivia told him. “Nothin’ you’d be interested in.

Come and sit your pretty butt next to me, while Brenda gives me the lowdown on the days happenin’s.”

Luke, with a good-natured smile on his wholesome face, did as he was bid and Olivia draped herself over him, winking at Brenda.

“Well, like I was saying…” Brenda consulted the list her secretary had printed up earlier. “You have Todd Graham, the writer, on the show—his new book is already making waves, and Renee—she’s gonna talk about her latest breakup.”

“Jeez,” Olivia muttered. “Can’t these broads pick a man who’ll stay married to ’em.” She leaned against Luke. “Would you marry me, sugar?”

“In a heartbeat,” Luke answered, his face lighting up.

Brenda snorted rudely. “I can see the headlines now,” she said with a sneer.

‘Daytime Diva Marries Penniless Nobody!’ Yeah, like
that’s
gonna happen.”

“Hey, that’s not very nice.” Luke flushed with anger as he glared at Brenda.

“Oh, don’t kid yourself dearie,” Brenda rasped. “You’re just the flavor of the month.”

“Brenda,” Olivia demurred. “Don’t put the kid down like that…”

“I’m not a kid!” Luke exploded.

“Calm down, sugar.” Olivia stroked Luke’s arm while shaking her head at Brenda. “Brenda’s just joshing with you—aren’t you Brenda, dear?”

“Mmm, I guess,” her manager said, standing up. “Well, I got things to do.”

She paused at the door. “Don’t forget what I said about those letters, Olivia.”

“Oh, I won’t.” Olivia smiled broadly as if an idea had just occurred to her.

“Let me have the copies when you make ’em.”

“What letters?” Luke asked, after Brenda had left them alone.

“Oh, more of the same threatening stuff. Nothin’ I have to worry about with you close by. You’ll take care of me, won’t you cowboy?”

Luke put his arms around her and pulled her close to his hard body. “Yeah,”

he said huskily. “And when we find out who’s screwing with you, I’ll make sure he can’t write another letter for a long time.”

“That’s my boy,” Olivia crooned, fondling his crotch. “Mmm, that’s my big boy.”

J.P. Bowie

62

“Jeff?” Monica, Jeff ’s secretary, buzzed him from the outer office.

“Yes, Monica?”

“There’s a Brenda Shapiro on the line for you—says it’s important.”

“Oh God,” Jeff groaned, recognizing the name. “Okay, I’ll take it.” He put a smile in his voice as he answered. “Hi, Brenda. How are you?”

“Just fine.” Brenda’s voice, as always, sounded brittle and without warmth.

“Listen, Olivia wants you to do something about these letters she keeps getting.

Are you up for it?”

“I haven’t really given it much thought, Brenda.” Jeff maintained a civil tone despite his dislike for the woman. “I’ve been kind of busy here.”

“Well,
this
is important!” Brenda rasped. “We’ve received another letter and this time it’s even more threatening than the others. Frankly, I’m worried that this screwball may be planning some kind of hit.”

“Have you informed the police?”

“Of course I have,” Brenda snapped. “
Miss Winter’s
life is of the utmost importance to me. But she wants to get you involved too…seeing as how you’ve cracked so many cases,” she added, with just a trace of mockery.

Jeff ignored the woman’s challenging manner. “Look Brenda, like I said, I’m very busy…but, because Olivia has some kind of vested interest in Peter, I will consider taking this on. I’ll need to see the letters and I’ll talk to a friend of mine at LAPD. Can you fax me copies?”

“Yeah…” Brenda gave him the bored tone. “I’ll get right on it. What’s your number?”

He gave her his fax number then quickly hung up. This was one case he could live without, he thought, as he put the receiver down. Too bad Nick wasn’t up to taking it on, but he couldn’t blame his partner for wanting to steer clear of Olivia—she was just too much hard work.

“Why so glum, chum?” Nick stood in front of Jeff ’s desk looking down at him with a half smile on his handsome face.

“Oh, Olivia’s watchdog was gnawing at my ankles,” Jeff replied. “Wants me to solve the mystery of the anonymous letters they keep getting.”

“Better you than me,” Nick chuckled.

“Hey, I haven’t entirely let you off the hook yet, buddy. What’s a partner for, after all?”

“Come on,” Nick groaned. “You wouldn’t do this to me, would you?’

J.P. Bowie

63

Jeff laughed at his friend’s discomfort. “Probably not…” He broke off as Monica entered the office carrying the faxes Brenda had sent. “But let’s take a look at these together, shall we?”

Olivia, looking as poised and beautiful as ever, smiled warmly at her audience as she accepted their riotous applause. She waited till the noise subsided then welcomed them to the taping of her new show.

“We’re going to have a lot of fun today, ladies and gentlemen,” she told them, with a wink. She then reeled off the names of her guests, waiting for each celebrity name to get the desired ‘Oohs’ and ‘Aahs’ their individual star status merited. “But first,” she continued, “I want to take a moment for some serious stuff.” She walked to her desk with a stately tread and picked up a sheaf of papers that lay there.

In the wings, Brenda gasped as she realized what Olivia was about to do.

“Damn her,” she muttered, under her breath. They had not discussed this…

“I have here some correspondence I would like to share with you,” Olivia was saying. “Y’all probably think that all the mail I get is in the form of fan-mail—and for the most part that is true. However…” She paused for dramatic effect. “These, that I hold here, have been sent by someone who wishes me a great deal of harm.”

A gasp went up from the audience.

“I’m afraid it’s true, ladies and gentlemen,” Olivia continued. “Listen to this…‘Unless you refrain from exposing we God-fearing, law-abiding citizens to the depraved lifestyles of some of your guests, I will have no recourse other than to take matters into my own hands. If you will not stop paying lip-service to those whom our Lord has condemned to hell for their sins, you will find yourself punished by His decree.’”

Olivia looked into the camera. “I say to you, whoever you are,” she said with a quiet drama, “That if you truly served the Lord, you would know that he advocated love for all men and women—and urged us not to judge others,

‘Lest we too be judged’!”

Wild applause greeted her statement.

“I would also like to say that you’re not so damned law-abiding. Or don’t you know it’s a criminal offence to send anonymous threatening letters?”

More applause.

J.P. Bowie

64

Olivia smiled sweetly at the camera. “Your threats, and there are many in these letters I hold, don’t frighten me for one moment. Trying to scare me with phrases like ‘You will suffer the wrath of the children of God’, and ‘Beware of those close to you, for they are of a like mind and will bring you down’—those threats are empty and meaningless. You should know, however, that we have handed these letters over to the police and I have engaged private investigators to find you and bring you to justice.” She cocked her head to one side then said;

“Now, who should be afraid?”

“What the hell were you thinking?” Brenda seethed as they sat in Olivia’s dressing room at the end of the segment. “The cops are going to be furious if that airs.”

“There’s no ‘if ’ Brenda,” Olivia told her. “If you attempt to have that cut, I will personally fire your ass.”

Brenda ignored the threat. “Are you crazy? I told you Jeff Stevens still hadn’t taken the case—and there you were, telling the audience you have ‘engaged private investigators’. The cops will love that.”

“Jeff was a cop—he has connections. So has the other one—Nick.” Olivia yawned and stretched languidly. “Stop being such a bore, Brenda. This was the best thing I could have possibly done. Now it’s out in the open. The publicity will be great—and it might just scare off the asshole who’s sending the letters.

When the show airs next week it just might give him something to think about, when he hears the cops are on it.”

“I hope you’re right, girl. There’s just so much at risk here. I don’t want the sponsors getting nervous about this.”

“Are you kidding?” Olivia gave a derisive snort. “They’ll love all the extra media attention. There is no such thing as bad free publicity.”