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“Sounds like she was incredible,” Amanda said.
“She was that. I had the privilege of accompanying her to many book signings. That’s how I got to know her.”
Amanda was interested in the depth of their relationship, and if it was romantic, whether that factored into Felicity ending things with Luis Navarro. Best to find out those answers. “Were you and Felicity seeing each other romantically?”
Kristopher nodded. “Not for long and nothing too serious. Say, just over a month. We weren’t exclusive, but I was hoping to ask her about that this coming weekend. It just never felt like the right time, ya know? Her book blew up the bestselling charts, then the movie deal. I didn’t want her thinking I was after her because of her money or fame.”
Just over a month ago, Felicity still would have been with Luis. Had either man found out about the other one? “Felicity had a boyfriend. Did she tell you about him?”
“She did, but she ended things with him when we decided to start seeing each other.”
“That’s not how we heard it,” Amanda said.
A flicker of pain crossed Kristopher’s eyes.
“Then you didn’t know she was seeing him up until three weeks ago?” Trent asked.
“Nope.” A single word, but it carried a note of sadness. “I never took her for the cheating type. It was just one thing that I loved about her. I despise players and two-faced people.”
He’d just denied knowing about Luis Navarro but how far could they take his word on that—and his relationship with Felicity? He could have exaggerated their connection, making it into something it wasn’t. “Is there any way you can prove your involvement with Felicity to us?”
“Yeah, of course.” Kristopher fumbled to get his cell phone out of a pocket and worked on it a few seconds. “Here,” he said as he handed it to Amanda. “You’ll see the string of text messages.”
Amanda nudged closer to Trent, so they could both see the screen. The language was of a romantic nature, supporting what Kristopher had told them. She gave his phone back to him.
“Do you have any idea who might have… done this to her?” Kristopher’s voice cracked partway through his question, and he massaged a temple.
Her mind instantly went to Luis Navarro. Did he know about Kristopher Black? Just because Luis was a cheater, that didn’t mean he’d be okay if the roles were reversed. Though if Luis knew about Kristopher, why not send them here? Did he think that move too transparent and risky, that suspicion would immediately fall back on him? Whatever the case, he still had Amanda’s attention.
SEVENTEEN
Amanda considered how to best proceed with Kristopher and decided to shift from the personal side while giving him a vague answer about their suspicions. “We have a couple of theories. We’re hoping that you’d be able to help us sort out one avenue.”
“Anything you need.”
“In managing her emails, did you run into any fans who might have been obsessed with her, possibly crossing an inappropriate line in that regard?” Amanda asked.
“Thankfully, most were obsessed, as you put it or in love with her work. If not, she wouldn’t have had the success she had. As far as any of them crossing a line, I don’t think so… Well, unless you’re talking about people trying to take liberties. She’d get emails from people asking for free autographed books or requesting their name be used for a character. Some were rather demanding, bossy even. Then there’s a handful who think they know better than the author. They’ll write in to say how the book should have been done.”
That sounded similar to the messages Celeste had mentioned. Kristopher must have told Felicity about them.
“Was anyone in regular contact or give you the feeling something was off with them?” Trent asked.
“There are a few repeat offenders as I call them. They lay out all their personal details and ask Felicity to share hers. Some can get quite heated when their requests meet with a boilerplate response. ‘Garrison & Marrow Publishing and Felicity Kelley thank you for your readership and support.’” He prattled the latter off in a singsong voice.
“We’re going to need their names,” Trent requested.
Amanda glanced at her partner, back at Kristopher. “Actually, it would be even better if you could forward those emails to me.” She produced her card, which Kristopher accepted.
“It might take me some time to ferret them out, but sure”—he lifted her card—“as soon as I can, you’ll have them.”
“Terrific.” She and Trent would then get them to Detective Briggs in Digital Forensics to track the senders’ IP addresses.
“Speaking about ardent fans, though…” He stopped there, his eyes widening. “There’s one specific character that comes to mind. It wasn’t anything he wrote, but rather, he showed up at every single one of her book signings. Just following her around across the country like a puppy.”
The back of Amanda’s neck tightened. That struck her as an obsessed fan starting the transition to deranged. “Do you know his name?”
“Sheldon Lowe. I saw her sign enough books for him.”
