Game On (15 page)

“Sit down. You too, Mark. Joey will take over watch.”

With a nod, Joey moved to the front office.

Mark and Lisa sat. She couldn’t. So she stood by the window and watched Adam. He said, “We had a call this morning. A woman was found dead in the lobby of your apartment building.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh, how awful. Was it someone I know?”

He drilled her with his gaze. “Don’t have an ID yet. She had nothing on her. She looked a lot like you. She was facedown in the lobby of your apartment building.”

Her hand drifted to her throat. “How did she die?”

His gaze went to where her hand rested. She could feel her pulse jump. “Blow to the head. Could have been accidental, but I don’t think so. I think she was murdered.”

“No.” She didn’t realize she’d said the word aloud until she heard it. More like a moan than an actual word. “Oh, no.”

“She had a red scarf tied around her neck.”

“A lot of people wear scarves,” Mark said in his soft voice.

“Yeah. But the guy sending the messages left Serena a picture of a smiley face with blood coming out of its mouth.”

“Do you think the killer hit the wrong woman? A case of mistaken identity?” Mark asked, crisp and professional.

“Could be. We’ll know more when we discover her identity and whether she lives in the building. But my gut says it’s the guy who’s been sending those messages. He chose a woman who looks like Serena deliberately. He’s letting Serena know he’s coming for her.” His words were cold, brutal. He sounded angry.

“But why would anyone kill an innocent woman to send me a message?”

Adam turned to her. Eyes blazing. “Because he’s a sick bastard who gets his thrills from tormenting you. He’s leading up to the big finale in his game.”

“You mean, he’s planning—”

He grabbed her arms, blue eyes burning into hers. “He can plan all he wants. He’s not getting you.”

There was silence for several seconds. Then Lisa said, “But there’s been nothing for two weeks. Now, suddenly, he does this? Why now? What’s different?”

Serena and Adam exchanged glances.

“Stanley,” she said.

“Stanley?” Lisa echoed. “The guy at the gym?”

“I was working out the day before yesterday and noticed that Stanley wasn’t using the machine beside mine. It was another man. An older guy. He works out around the same time, too. We got chatting and he mentioned that Stanley was in Poland visiting family.” She could hardly stand to spit out the next part. “Stanley was due back yesterday.”

19

“C
AN
YOU
LEAVE
NOW
?”
Adam asked. He couldn’t stand the thought of Serena being vulnerable and him not being right there to protect her.

She nodded. “It’s not like I’ll get any work done.” She turned to her assistant. “Lisa, we might as well lock up for the day.”

“I’ve got work, and Marcus scheduled a meeting.”

“Go to his work. Or reschedule. I don’t want you here on your own.”

He saw Lisa give a slight shudder. “I’ll get hold of Marcus.”

Then Adam took Serena home. There was no discussion. He drove her to his place. She already had an extra toothbrush and some of her things there, enough that she didn’t need to stop at her apartment. Even if she’d wanted to go there, he’d have refused. He wasn’t remotely surprised that she didn’t.

They got to his place and he felt the newfound knowledge that he loved her burn deep within him. It wasn’t a happy, contented sort of love. Not today. His feelings were more like a fiery need to keep her safe, to protect her from any harm and to pulverize anybody or anything that threatened.

He suspected he’d slipped right back to some caveman stage of male development and knew he was operating on the most basic of instincts.

When they got to his place, he hustled her inside. Then he turned to her, took her face in his hands and said, “I thought for a second that was you. I—” He hoped she could read his feelings in his eyes, because he couldn’t say the words—the emotion was too strong. Instead he pulled her soft, beautiful body against him and kissed her, giving in to his equally primal urge to mate.

When she responded to him, when her lips trembled beneath his and she opened to him, he thought he might have grunted. No time for patience, no time for careful wooing; he needed her so badly he ached. He bent and put an arm under her knees, lifted her into the air and stalked into his bedroom. She made a small sound of surprise when he lifted her, but they never broke the kiss. He managed to flip back the covers before placing her down on the bed.

With his newfound awareness that he loved this woman, he wanted to take things slowly, to seduce her with every part of him until she realized she loved him, too. But his need was too great. He couldn’t hold back. And because she shared his urgency, he was lost. They tore at each other’s clothes, not even waiting to get naked. He yanked up her skirt, had her hose and panties off in one tug. He heard some soft fabric tear. Meanwhile, she attacked his belt buckle, dragged at his zipper. He helped her yank his slacks down past his knees and didn’t bother removing anything else.

He took her as a caveman would. Rough, hard, thrusting, thrusting as though he could reach the very heart of her. She met him with equal force, her hips grinding against him as though she could suck him in and up to the very heart of her.

His climax was a bone-shattering explosion. It was as though a part of him believed that if he could pump all his life force into her, he could somehow keep her safe.

She didn’t let him go but kept grinding her hips against him until he felt her inner muscles clench him like a vice. Her head fell back and she cried out. He held her tight through her explosive climax.

Their breathing was harsh in the quiet room and as it slowed, he took stock. The bedding was a tangle, their clothes twisted and pulled all over the place. “Wow,” she said in a deeply sated tone.

“I acted like an animal,” he said, ashamed of himself. “I didn’t even take your clothes off.”

She rose over him, kissed him deeply. “Guess you’re going to have to start all over again, then.”

So he did. Taking the time to undress her slowly, properly. Kissing and caressing her as he did so.

They stopped briefly to raid the fridge around eleven when hunger got in their way. Then they continued making love far into the night.

* * *

A
DAM
REMAINED
vigilant, so keyed up he felt as though he were mainlining espresso. He wanted to be with her 24/7 but even if his job would have allowed it, Serena wouldn’t. One day bled into the next.

Nothing happened.

The perp didn’t make a move of any kind.

“Joey, we need to get a search warrant for Stanley Wozniak’s apartment, his place of business. He’s our guy. I’m sure of it,” he said as they finished up a morning briefing session at the station.

“Why?” Virge wore his long-suffering look.

Adam related the details. The fact that the perp had gone quiet during the exact times Stanley was out of the country. “Then, the second day he’s back, he goes crazy and kills a woman who looks like Serena.”

“And another week’s gone by with nothing.”

“It’s part of his plan to scare Serena and mess with us.”

“What evidence do you have?” Joey asked. “What evidence will convince a judge to let us enter Stanley Wozniak’s residence? And to prove what? That he broke into her apartment to leave a tasteless joke?”

“He murdered a woman and left her in Serena’s lobby. A woman who looks a lot like Serena.”

Joey sighed, the exhausted sigh of a man whose patience was nearing its limit. “We talked to him. He didn’t know that girl and his alibi is pretty solid. He came home from Poland and his house was flooded. He was at home with workmen and plumbers, up to his knees in water, when Patricia Hagan died.”

“He could have slipped away. No way anyone would have noticed if he was gone for an hour or so. That’s all it would have taken. He sneaks away from the crew cleaning up from the flood, kills the girl, dumps her body in the lobby to send Serena another message. Then he goes back to his flooded house.”

“And once again, I have to remind you that we don’t have any evidence that Miss Hagan was murdered. Death was probably accidental.”

“A blow to the head killed her. Otherwise she was a healthy twenty-nine-year-old.”

“She was also a mountain climber, a cyclist, an athlete. You heard the M.E. She could have cracked her head and not realized she had a concussion. Her brain’s bleeding and she doesn’t know it. She gets ready to go to work, has a headache, her vision’s kind of blurry. She figures it’ll pass. She takes the elevator downstairs
because she lives in the building,
gets to the lobby and poof, she’s dead.” Joey waved his hands around as though he were stage-directing a play.

“Or she was hit on the head from behind by someone who is so familiar with human anatomy they know the exact spot on the skull where one blow can kill a woman. Like, say, someone in the medical field.”

“You’re stretching.”

“Where was her stuff? Her keys? A bag? There was nothing at all on the body. I’ve been in that building. You need a key fob for just about everything. Yet hers was missing.”

Joey shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe she went to check her mail and realized she’d forgotten her key. Turns back to return to her apartment and—”

“Yeah, yeah. Poof, she’s dead.” He was so frustrated, so edgy he couldn’t see straight. “What about the scarf?”

“A popular fashion accessory,” Joey said with the infinite patience of a man who’s had the same argument too many times.

“It’s too much of a coincidence.”

“My friend, coincidences happen all the time.”

Adam banged his fist against his palm so hard he felt the blow all the way to his elbow. “You don’t believe Patty Hagan’s death is unrelated to Serena’s stalker any more than I do.”

“I believe in the due process of law and not going off like a grenade without any proof.”

Joey was right, of course. He wanted to kick something. “Come on. Stanley Wozniak’s smitten with Serena. Could have swiped her keys from her purse while she was working out, gone to her place. Got the spare set. He knows her routines, where she lives.”

“So could any other person who works out at the gym and knows her even slightly. Somebody who’s been in her office could also have taken Serena’s keys. She’s a pretty high-profile person. A lot of people come in contact with her.” Joey put his coffee mug on the coaster he kept on his neat desktop. “Seems to me, Stanley Wozniak isn’t the only one smitten with Serena. Maybe your personal feelings are screwing with your judgment?”

“But what if I’m right?” He knew his partner had a valid point and that only pissed him off even more. “If Patricia Hagan was murdered, then we both know the murderer is coming for Serena.”

* * *

“I
CAN
’
T
LIVE
like this,” Serena snapped as she replaced the free weights in the rack with a clack. She and Adam were working out in the gym in her apartment building, which was small, smelled of stale air and sweat, and didn’t have an elliptical. “I feel like a prisoner. I want to go to my own gym.”

“It’s too dangerous.”

“But nothing’s happened! You got me all worked up and I thought some poor woman was murdered, because of me, but the paper said she was an athlete who probably died from a brain injury suffered doing sports.”

“I think your stalker killed her.”

“And what if he didn’t? What if the sick prankster who sent me those messages has moved on? Then I’m under house arrest for nothing.”

“You’re not under house arrest. Don’t be dramatic.” Adam looked overtired. She knew he was barely sleeping. He was so certain that some guy was about to pounce that he had her scared of her own shadow. “You watch me constantly. You control every move I make. I feel stifled and confined.”

“Stifled? Confined?” He bellowed the words, disbelief in every line of his body. “Well, that’s a hell of a lot better than dead!”

She took a deep breath. “I know. You’re right. I am being unreasonable, but it’s awful living like this. When you watch me every second as though you’re terrified some deranged killer is going to pounce if you take your eyes off me for a second, what do you think that does to me? I can’t live in fear. Not anymore. I did that long enough in my life. I won’t do it again.” She couldn’t stand her own feelings of vulnerability. She’d worked so hard to live with confidence and courage and now she was being dragged back to a fear that was all too reminiscent of her childhood.

“It’s not going to be forever,” he said. “Have patience.”

“I’m out of patience.”

Adam replaced his own free weights, much larger ones than Serena had used. His gray T-shirt had a sexy sweat stain down the front and clung to his impressive torso. She didn’t want to notice, didn’t want to be aroused by his nearness. “I admit I’m being overprotective. Believe me, Joey’s given me the same lecture. But I can’t protect you here. I can’t protect you and, at the same time, catch the guy who’s stalking you. I need for you to go away somewhere.”

“Go away?”

“Yes.”

“Where?” Her temper started to build. She had assumed her confinement couldn’t get any worse. She had a bodyguard at work, another at home. He’d stopped her going to the gym, the grocery store. He’d even nixed a manicure. Now Adam wanted to send her away?

“I don’t know. And I don’t care. Somewhere where you’ll be safe. Take a vacation. We’ll get a police officer to pose as you. Draw the perp out. Then when we’ve got him, you can come back.”

“How long do you think it will take?”

“I don’t know. Couple of weeks maybe?”

Her fingers tapped her arm in frustration. “And is your police officer going to give the keynote address to the accountants’ association that’s been booked for more than two months?”

“I know it’s not perfect—”

“And is the police officer going to take my place at all the other events on my calendar? Is she going to see my clients and run my business?”

“Lisa can take up the slack,” he said lamely.

“Lisa is learning the business. It’s still my business and I need to be here to run it. So thank you for the suggestion, but I’m not going anywhere.”

“Quit being so stubborn and unreasonable.” She felt his anger blaze into life and it ignited her own.

“Me?” She shrieked the word. “Me? Stubborn and unreasonable? Look in the mirror if you want to see stubborn and unreasonable. And while you’re looking, you’ll see controlling and dictatorial, too.”

“I’m trying to keep you safe.” He banged a weight up and back into the rack, and the sound echoed off the walls.

“You’re trying to scare me and kill my business. In fact, you’re doing the smiley-face guy’s work for him.”

He grabbed her shoulders, blazing eyes staring into her face. “I can’t lose you.”

She yanked herself out of his grasp. She felt smothered. She’d let herself fall for him. Become more vulnerable than she’d ever let herself be with a man. And look where it got her. He was sounding as deranged as her stalker. She couldn’t stand it. “You are losing me. Right now.”

He acted as though she hadn’t spoken. “Leave town. I mean it.”

“I’m not leaving.” She glared at him, knowing she was overreacting and not caring. “You are.”

“What?’ He seemed genuinely stunned.

“Right now. You’re leaving my home. I don’t want you here.”

“Don’t be irrational. You need me.”

“No. I don’t.” She leaned against the wall beside the water station that was, as usual, empty. “I wasn’t planning to tell you this but when I called you at the office yesterday, Joey answered your phone. He feels you’re losing perspective.”

Adam took a swift step back, as though he’d been kicked. “Joey said that?”

“Well, I asked for his honest opinion of the level of risk. He doesn’t think I’m in as much danger as you do.”

“One man’s opinion.”

“What about my opinion? Doesn’t that count for anything? I need my life. I need my freedom. I’ve changed my locks. I drive my car to the office and home. I can’t stand being watched all day and all night. It’s making me crazy.”

“Fine.” He threw up his hands. “Fine. So you want me to leave? Is that what you want?”

Did she? Her feelings were a mess. When she’d said she was going crazy, she hadn’t entirely exaggerated. She was falling for Adam and falling hard. Their sex was so searingly intimate it scared her. Her own feelings confused her. If only she could have some time to herself to think. To sort out her own messed-up psyche.