Daddy Dearest

Chapter Twenty

I pat his back. "For you, Ted, I've got five."

He chuckles and nods toward the pink box on the counter next to my hand. "Grab me a bear claw, will you?"

I give him the donut he requested and grab a sugar-glazed one for myself before he and I return to the table where I set myself up. I settle back down in my chair and Ted sits across from me. "What's on your mind, mate?"

He puts both of his arms on the table and stares at his coffee mug for a moment before answering. "I received an email from Tessie Kwon this morning and your son Charlie was CC'd on it. They want to do a special edition of the newspaper focusing on the person stalking Melody Plum. What I want to know, before I bring it up to the Holy Mother or Father Hal, is how serious is it? Have there been any threats made on Miss Plum's life?"

I shake my head. "I've seen all the notes, Ted. They're obnoxious, but they haven't threatened her. Obviously they've invaded her privacy and damaged her personal property, but who's to say it's being done by one person?"

"I've had the pleasure of having Miss Plum as a student before and can tell you she is a bright and proper girl who invites no trouble," Hodges says with a frown. "Tessie told me her bike was vandalized in the school parking lot? And there's an instance of her personal locker being broken into?"

I nod, gritting my teeth. "The school security staff is already looking into it and apparently, Alex Chambers asked his father to have someone in the LAPD investigate it."

My colleague snorts and shakes his head. "Of course he did. I like the kid, I do, but methinks he's gotten too big for his britches. Mr. Action Man, our head boy is. So I guess we can expect the cops to be poking around campus within the next couple of days?"

"I don't think so. They've already spoken to Waverly and Tracy Huerta. They haven't got anything to go on." I sip my coffee and think about the envelope burning a hole in my pocket. "Waverly and I spoke to Nancy Plum last night and told her we'll watch out for Melody. Wave sent a memo to all of her instructors and counselors to inform them of the situation and what to look out for."

"Looks like we're doing everything we can already, then," says Hodges before biting into his bear claw. "I know that girl is special to you, Davenport. You practically raised her, didn't you? Both of her parents are dead?"

The bite of glazed donut I just swallowed sticks in my throat. I gulp some coffee to choke it down. "Yeah. Her mother died when she was six and her father when she was eleven. She spends a lot of time in our home. Her father was my best mate."

"That's what I figured. Harry Plum was your agent, right? Too bad he's passed. The man was a legend. He made you millions, didn't he? I've been thinking of writing a novel myself. Who is your agent now?"

I groan inwardly. Because I'm an author of some success and renown, would-be writers often seek me out, in hopes I'd introduce them to my agent or someone in the publishing industry. When I don't, they usually get mad at me and accuse me of being jealous that they'd show me up or something. "Pamela Bixby. She works out of her London office, though, and only took me on because we were university chums."

Hodges nods in understanding, getting the hint. "She probably wouldn't like my stuff, anyway. I'm a genre fiction writer. Action and suspense like Tom Clancy, you know, except with… ahem, people of color in them. But you, man… you write the kind of stuff that gets nominated for Pulitzer's and shit."

I laugh and self-consciously rub my eyebrow, where I have a scar from a childhood skiing accident. "It's been a while since I've written anything worthy of a nomination, so I don't know about that."