Stalked to Death (Aspen Valley Sisters Series Book 1)

Prologue

She stared blindly at the red and white barricade tape, the universal stop sign shape and the word Politi repeatedly printed.

The interpreter they had assigned her led her to an empty room quite a distance down the long hallway. Please Ms. Mays, please come with me.

She dragged her gaze from the tape stretched across her hotel room door. Yes, do you know who is in there? Who was she? What happened? Veronika Mays voice was desperate.

Signora, please calm yourself. It is an unfortunate incident. The poor girl is one of the room maids and must have interrupted a robbery. It is unfortunate but does not happen often here in Rome, the blonde woman said.

Are you seriously worried about the effect on tourism? And you are wrong; this has everything to do with me. Someone is after me. Don’t you understand? Veronika tightened her grip on the young woman’s arm.

The interpreter pulled her arm free and gestured to one of the police officers. As the small dark man made his way towards them, she patted Veronika’s back in a useless effort to soothe her.

The man joined them with a distracted look back down the hall. Signora, this is Agenti Caraniro. He is with Polizia di Stato, the Italian state police. He will assure you that what I say is true, the interpreter waved her hand at the man. Tell her, please.

The young police officer looked like he would resist the urging of the flustered woman. He had his first murder scene just down the hall, and that had a much bigger pull on him than explaining a robbery gone badly to a rich American author.

Before he could speak Veronika asked, She’s dead, isn’t she?

The man looked at Veronika’s pale face. For a moment, he looked as if he would slap her. He knew she had seen all of the blood and surely knew the woman was dead. Nevertheless, he took a deep breath before answering. One had to be careful when dealing with famous Americans. He knew that much. Signora, it is as the lady explained to you. The house cleaner came into your room at the wrong moment. You have many valuable items in your room. It is certainly tragic. But you must remember this is one of the finest hotels in our city, and this does not happen in Rome very often, he said in a soothing tone.

That is word for word what she said, Veronika shrilled.

He nodded solemnly, That is because it is the truth.

But did she tell you about the person that has been after me? Did she? Someone has been after me for months. I know this is about me, and it was supposed to happen to me. Someone wanted me to die. I should be lying dead in that room, Veronika said.

Yes, yes she told us about your fears. I’m sure that finding the girl covered in blood in your room was horrifying but you must not let your imagination run away with you, was his calm reply.

Frustrated, Veronika turned away just in time to see the sheet shrouded gurney maneuvered out of her once gorgeous Rome hotel room.

The interpreter and police officer watched her with pity. The interpreter whispered softly in Italian that it was not surprising this woman was able to write so many popular books. She certainly had a vivid imagination.

Chapter 1

Veronika Mays was excited to see both of her sisters. She hadn’t seen them since the grand opening of Enchanted Events. Her younger sisters had opened Aspen Valley Inn together and then a few months later branched out into the event planning business. She wasn’t surprised that both ventures had been wildly successful. Her siblings were smart and extremely talented.

That apple hadn’t fallen far from the tree. Veronika was herself a world famous romance writer. She had written one after another of her bodice ripper novels, each one a bigger success than the last. Her unique style and interesting characters had earned her fame, fortune and the ability to tell the major publishing houses what she would or would not write. She traveled all over the world, promoting the stories she had created.

It was ironic that she could write such realistic love stories when she had felt that emotion only once in her thirty-four years.

As a young college student, she had given her heart and soul to a young philosophy professor. She had truly believed that he loved her as intensely as any man had ever loved a woman. Six months later, she discovered that she was only one of many beautiful young students he romanced each semester. She had felt like a fool when he had laughed and patiently explained that he did not intend to see her after the school year ended. He told her in a matter of fact tone he had a wife, and was expecting his third child with the woman he actually felt something more than lust for. He had been her first; her ‘soul mate’ and a part of her heart had frozen that day.

Since that cold January day, she had never let her heart have anything to say about her affairs. She could write fiery, passionate love scenes. She could revel in what she could do to a man’s body and bask in the sensations a man could make her body feel. She could feel something when she was with a man, but it was not love. Her scarred and battered heart never let that wasted emotion develop.

She turned her thoughts back to her sisters. Lacey was getting married this weekend. Last year, she had met Wyatt Graves; the sheriff that had won Lacey’s hardened heart. She supposed she should take solace in the fact that Lacey, who had sworn off men years ago, had changed her mind and was ready to spend her life with Wyatt.

Eighteen months ago, the three of them would have bet millions that they would never need a man for anything more than an interesting evening. Now Lacey was getting married, and Charlotte was ‘seriously’ dating Cody Westerfield.

Of course, she was happy that her little sisters had been able to find love. When it came to her own heart, she didn’t believe true love existed. She had dared various beaus over the last ten years to prove her theory incorrect. Her theory was that what most people called love, was merely lust. The fiery attraction lasted a brief period and then disappeared like the puff of smoke that rose from a candle blown out by the wind.

She stared blindly at the fluffy white clouds that were visible from the tiny plane window. She always traveled first class because she liked the invisible wall the extra space and luxury created around her. The fawning flight attendant irritated her; he had recognized her from one of her book jackets. Now, his admiration and attempts to provide the highest level of service to his ‘favorite’ author was drawing the attention of the other first-class passengers. She had graciously signed the copy of her latest book for him, then smiled politely, and tried to avoid any eye contact with him or anyone else on this transatlantic flight.

She did not enjoy all of this attention, especially now. She knew that she would have to talk to someone about her situation. She didn’t want to bother Wyatt, but he was the obvious choice. She needed help. Her sisters would want to know all about everything that had happened in the last few months. Her mind listed the events, the threatening letters, numerous warnings and then finally the murder. Someone was after her. She wondered how long they had hated her before she realized the feeling of foreboding was real. It was not only real, but it was so serious that she had no choice but to listen. She still could not believe what they had done.

She had protection; her agency had always provided that. The problem was that even the top-notch protection had not been able to prevent whoever was after her from getting close, very close.

She was afraid, and she needed her sisters help. Hell, she needed more than that; she needed to stop the villain before he or she could carry out anymore of the horrible threats.

As the plane began to circle the airport in preparation for landing, she tried to decide if she could wait until after the wedding to ask for guidance. If she waited too long, would she actually die as her enemy had promised?

Chapter 2

As the plane docked at the gate, she gathered her belongings. She placed huge face shielding sunglasses on her tired grey eyes. This simple disguise made it nearly impossible for people to recognize her. For the first time in weeks, she was feeling lighthearted and was looking forward to the next few weeks.

As soon as she formed that thought, the black cloud of doom forced its way into her subconscious. They had found her before.

She shook her head to erase the negative thought. She wanted to believe that everything would be fine. After all, she had been very careful to keep all of her personal details hidden from everyone. No one except her agent knew where she was going. She had never told anyone very much about her background. She was an expert at turning interviewers away from her personal life and back to the latest book. She had made sure that she never disclosed the information that she had two sisters who were her only living family.

It had seemed unnecessary at the time, but she had cautiously used a pen name for her first book. A year later, she had legally dissolved the connection to her old last name.

She had thought burying the records would ensure that no one could ever trace her sister's back to her. As far as anyone else knew, she was taking a much-needed vacation at one of her favorite locations.

The flight attendant stood to the side of the doorway thanking the passengers as each one exited the plane. When Vernie drew even with him, he smiled deeply and grasped her hand.

I’m so glad I was able to meet you, Ms. Mays. Thank you for the autograph. I guess I’m not the only one to recognize you. One of the passengers left this on the serving cart for you, his eyes shone with pleasure.

He handed her a plain white envelope. Her name, Veronika Mays, was neatly printed across the