And I was kind of pissed off because I'd specifically wanted to meet Hugo's guy Kurt there alone to get some advice about this entire stalker thing. However, Fran was there and even Andrew showed up... it was like old home week.
I excused myself from Andrew, "I'm gonna talk to Kurt-- he wants some advice on how to deal with Hugo."
I grabbed him and found a somewhat quiet table.
We talked for about an hour and the long and short of it was that there wasn't a damn thing I could do unless my life was threatened and had proof that it was this Marinaro freak that was sending the notes. Of course I had nothing -- nothing substantial except my instincts -- but ever since I got the note at work, I couldn't sleep.
It wasn't that it didn't matter when it was happening to Andrew and now it did matter because it was happening to me -- it was the lengths this lunatic was going to and now I was afraid for both of us.
Kurt was friendly and as helpful as he could be, "You should get a lawyer, you should file this with the police-- but they're not gonna be able to do much, Eric till -- unfortunately, till it gets worse."
I got it. Suddenly, I remembered all those poor famous people that get stalked and then wind up on the front page of the newspaper-- with a tragic ending.
"You talking about Rudy?" asked Andrew, standing at our table.
I looked at Drew and realized he could read me from across the room. Busted.
"Yeah, Babe. Sorry. I didn't want to upset you, but I thought Kurt might know what to do..."
"I'm sorry guys," Kurt said. "You're gonna have to brace yourselves for a long, drawn out bunch of bull-- and this is probably just the beginning, trust me."
Andrew paused, becoming emotional, until finally he cracked "I saw Rudy last night." I saw the fear in his eyes and took his hand. He sat down at our table.
"Where?" asked Kurt.
"At the catering job. He was a guest, I assume -- but he took one look at me and disappeared. I dropped an entire tray of glasses and totally freaked out when I saw him...I wanted to call the police."
"For showing up at a party you happened to be working?"
Drew and I both got Kurt's point.
I was home when Mark Fitzgerald called.
"Hi, Eric, it's Mark. Is