Close to You by Mary Jane Clark

for squeezing me in on such short notice, Augie. We’re leaving for Point Pleasant tomorrow and I really wanted to have the car gone over before we go”
    â€œNo problem, Mrs. P. Happy to do it Mr. Palumbo can settle with me next time he stops in for gas.”
    He smiled and shook his head as he walked down the driveway to the truck that had followed him over so that he would have a ride back to the station.
    God, people were stupid. Trusting, but stupid.

Chapter 30
    Joe Connelly remained in his small office adjoining the main security room at the Broadcast Center later than usual that evening, entering the newest data into his ABERRANT BEHAVIOR computer program. He currently had sixty cases in his computer culled from mail and telephone threats coming into KEY News headquarters and KEY affiliates around the United States. Some of the cases were simple. Some were extremely complex.
    Eliza Blake received lots of odd correspondence, but not all that many threats. Most of the letters that came addressed to her were more persistent nuisances than anything truly alarming. After years of experience, Joe had learned what to dismiss and what to take notice of.
    The ordinary letters, those commenting on stories or asking for a signed photo of Eliza, went to KEY Audience Services. The scary stuff was sent to security. As Joe typed in a fresh entry about this clown Meat’s latest letter, he marveled that Eliza’s new assistant had such a knack for separating the wheat from the chaff.
    In Connelly’s experience, on-air women got more letters than on-air men. Female correspondents, especially at local stations, bore the brunt of the nut mail. Joe thought it wasbecause the women gave off a more approachable aura on the screen. It wasn’t a function of how cutesy they were. It was because they looked open and welcoming.
    For Eliza Blake, the same qualities that made her popular with the sane viewing audience made her vulnerable to wackos.
    The trick was to tell how bad the threat really was. And to decide when to intervene and with what. If he intervened prematurely or inappropriately it could exacerbate the situation.
    Joe scanned the letter again, looking for common verbiage used in the preceding letters. “Blood” was Meat’s word of choice.
Dear Miss Arrogant Defiant Eliza Blake,
    You think you know so much.
    But you don’t.
    Vampire bats suck blood, but did you also know that they adopt orphans and risk their lives to share food with less fortunate roost-mates?
    That’s what you should do. Learn from the bats. Stay home and take care of that little girl of yours like a good mother would. Instead you choose to parade around each night, strutting your stuff out in the open for the whole country to see.
    I’ve told you before and I’m getting sick of repeating myself. Clean up your act. Cover yourself up and stop showing skin.
    I’d like nothing more than to suck
your
crimson blood. Keep it up, white Eliza, and I will. I promise you I will.
    Meat.
    Evaluating a letter was always a judgment call based on experience and intuition. Joe Connelly’s gut told him that Meat was trouble.

Chapter 31
    KayKay and Poppie were lifesavers, insisting that Eliza take their car until she found the time to buy one.
    â€œIt just sits in that garage for days on end, dear. We rarely use it,” offered Katharine. “You’d be doing us a
favor
by driving it for a while. A car should be driven, you know. Poppie says that it’s not good for it to sit idle all the time.”
    Eliza had just gotten home from work and she was acutely aware that at this moment Mack was now somewhere over the Atlantic. She was too tired and upset to protest, and truth be known, she was very thankful for the offer.
    â€œThat’s so generous of you, Katharine. If you really don’t mind, I will take you up on it. The closing is tomorrow, we move in on Saturday and I just haven’t had a minute to