His eyes closed slowly then leveraged open and he looked at Kayleigh. “I was going to mail you something before I left. There’s a card. I was going to send you a card. There’s a present inside too. My jacket. Look in the pocket. Where’s my jacket?”

Dance found the garment in the closet. Kayleigh fished through the pocket. She extracted a stamped envelope, addressed to her.

“Open it.”

She did. Looking over her shoulder, Dance noted the silly drugstore card with a mournful-looking dog on the front, the balloon above its head reporting, “I’m ‘Dog-gone’ sorry.”

Kayleigh smiled. “And I’m sorry too, Edwin.”

“Look in the tissue.”

She opened the square of thin paper; inside were three small guitar picks. “Oh, Edwin.”

“I got a deer antler in this pawn shop in Seattle. I made them out of that.”

“They’re beautiful.” She showed them to Dance, who agreed.

“I …” His eyes floated in an arc around the room and he remembered what he was going to say. “I sent them to you before but you sent them back. I mean, somebody sent them back. But if you want, you can have them now.”

“Of course I want them. Thank you so much. I’ll use them at the concert. In fact, I’ll thank you in person for them there.”

“Oh, no. I’m headed back to Seattle. I was packing up when Alicia called.” A wan smile.

“Leaving?”

“Better for you, I think.” He laughed. “Better for me too, you know. You think a famous star kind of likes you, then next thing some crazy people want to use you to assassinate a politician and some psycho’s stolen your trash to frame you for murder. Never thought being a fan could be so dangerous.”

Both Dance and Kayleigh smiled.

“Think I’m … think I’m … better off in Seattle.” His head eased toward his chest and he muttered, “It’s not as hot either. It’s really hot in … it’s hot here.”

Kayleigh smiled but said earnestly, “Edwin, you can’t drive like this. Wait a couple of days. Please. Come to the concert if you’re feeling up for it. I’ll get you a ticket front row center.”

He was fading fast. “No. Better. It’s better if I …”

Then he was sound asleep. Kayleigh looked over the picks and seemed genuinely moved by the gift.

She and Dance then left the hospital. They were in the parking lot when Kayleigh gave a laugh.

The agent lifted an eyebrow.

“Hey, you hear the one about the blond country singer?”

“Tell me.”

“She was so dumb she got dumped by her stalker.”

Chapter 67

THE DAY OF the show.

The band had arrived from Nashville at nine a.m. and come straight here, the convention center, where Kayleigh and the crew were waiting. They got right to work.

After a couple of hours Kayleigh had called a break. Backstage she had a tea and called Suellyn, then spoke to Mary-Gordon; she was going to take the girl shopping that afternoon for a new dress to wear to the concert.