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Noah said, “In your observations, have you ever noticed anyone you think might want to harm the Collinses or even kill Claudia? Or Eve?”
The last vestiges of Kathy’s laughter leaked away as she considered the gravity of the question. She took a long moment. Then she said, “I can’t think of anyone. Not here. Not that I’ve noticed. They get a lot of hate on the internet though. You should talk to Margot about that. She does the social media.”
“Will do.” Noah smiled at her. A dazzling smile. Josie had seen him use it on witnesses dozens of times. He handed her a business card. “Thank you, Kathy,” he said. “You’ve been a big help. Please call us if you think of anything else.”
Kathy stared down at the card as Josie and Noah started to exit the office. They were in the hallway when she called, “Wait!”
She joined them in the middle of the empty hallway, looking around to make sure no one was near before lowering her voice to a near whisper. “I didn’t tell you or your colleagues this because I figured that Eve must have told you before she died, but maybe she didn’t.”
“Tell us what?” asked Josie.
Kathy tucked the business card into her pants pocket. She brushed her hands through her hair again. “About a month ago, maybe between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I overheard Eve and Claudia talking. They were in Claudia’s office. The door was ajar. I had gone to ask Claudia for something but I heard them talking when I reached the door so I stopped and…I’m ashamed to say I listened. Just for a few seconds. Claudia was telling Eve that she thought someone was following her.”
“Did she say what made her think that?” asked Noah.
Kathy shook her head. “I came in right at the end of the conversation. I just heard her saying something to Eve like, ‘it’s just a feeling I have lately like someone is watching me everywhere I go.’ Then Eve said she was a celebrity and in the public eye all the time and maybe it was just that. Then they heard me outside the door and stopped talking altogether.”
Josie asked, “Did you say anything to either of them?”
Kathy put a hand to her chest. “Oh no, of course not. I didn’t want them to think that I was eavesdropping. If Claudia thought someone was following her, really following her, I figured she would go to the police. Or she could have hired a private investigator or a bodyguard or something. Claudia and Beau are wealthy enough to do that. I never heard anything about it again, so I figured either it was resolved or Eve was right—it was all in Claudia’s head.”
TWENTY-SEVEN
Josie and Noah thanked Kathy for her time and went back to the security desk to get directions to Raffy Sullivan’s office. The door stood open. Behind a tiny desk in a windowless room that was easily a quarter the size of Kathy’s office, Raffy sat, scrolling through WYEP’s Facebook page on a laptop. Two cell phones lay next to his computer. Crammed into the small space was another office chair next to the one he occupied. A woman’s purse hung from the back of it.
“Oh, hey,” Raffy said when Josie knocked on the doorframe. “I’d say come in, but there’s not much room.”
Josie managed to squeeze inside. Noah stayed at the threshold.
“As you can see, they started converting closets into ‘offices,’” Raffy added, using air quotes for the word offices. “Margot’s in the bathroom, but I’ve got that list your colleague asked for if you want to take it.” One of the phones on the desk buzzed. Raffy quickly covered it with his hand, dragging it toward him and deftly dismissing the call. Tossing it back onto the desk, he lifted a stack of pages from the other side of his laptop and handed them to Josie. She flipped through them while Noah asked questions.
“These are people who have been blocked from both the WYEP platforms and the Collinses’ platforms?”
“Yeah, exactly,” Raffy said. “Margot and I figured we’d combine forces. As you can see, most of the trolls target the Collinses directly. But every now and then we get some who also troll them on the station’s social media. Some come over to the WYEP pages after Margot blocks them on the show page.”
The list was long. Names, profile photos, and any information that could be gleaned from their profiles. It was mostly men.
Noah said, “You’ve had to block them for trolling the Collinses. What kinds of things have they said? Is there anyone who seems to have a personal vendetta against either of them?”
Raffy stroked his goatee thoughtfully. The buzz of his cell phone sounded again. With a frown, he looked at the screen. This time, Josie saw a name flash across the screen. Brooke. Raffy swiped dismiss and looked back at Noah. “A vendetta? That’s a strong word. What we’ve got is mostly just a bunch of really mean people who hate the Collinses for various reasons: their hair, their voices, something they said one time on one show. One woman started trolling them because she tried one of their exercises on her husband and he called her stupid. Then there are the women who are obsessed with Mr. Collins and think he should leave Claudia.” He pointed to the pages in Josie’s hand. “Those two are on page ten, I think. There are screenshots of whatever content got them banned after each profile.”
Josie flipped to page ten and read over the profiles and then the comments and messages the women had left.
I know we’re meant to be together. I know you know it, too, deep down. You have to work up the nerve to leave her once and for all.
Beau, baby, you’re all I can think about day and night. Please come to me.
Claudia is a dumb bitch who will never satisfy you. Let me show you what a real woman can do.
It makes me sick watching you pretend with her every day on TV. I know you hate her. I am the only one who can make you happy.
The tone of what they’d posted bordered on psychosis, but was it enough for either of them to try to ruin Beau’s life? Would their delusions allow them to plan so carefully? Did they even live in the area? A thorough background check was in order for later.
“Any threats?” Josie asked.
“That depends,” said Raffy. “There were a few things I sent to my boss because I thought maybe we should get the police involved, but his feeling was that ‘I hope you die’ is not a direct threat.”
“Really?” said Josie. “Which one of these people said that?”
