Game On Read online

  Serena, her eyes clouding over and tiny cries emerging from her luscious mouth as he drove her to her peak. Serena, sleeping beside him, her hair spilling onto his shoulder. Her face unguarded in sleep. He’d only known her a few weeks, and now he couldn’t imagine her not being in his life.

  The streets rolled past and he forced himself to start focusing on the day’s task. “What do we know about the container ship?” he asked Joey.

  “Not much. Suspicious cargo. What the hell does that mean? It’s drugs? Stolen cars? Stowaways?” He shook his head. “Probably get taken away from us anyway if it’s anything good.” Joey was still irritable that the DEA had claimed jurisdiction of the grow-op investigation when it turned out to be part of a much larger network.

  Adam would normally be more keen to tackle a big case, but right now he didn’t want to be involved in anything that would involve a lot of overtime. He needed to be around for Serena.

  They stopped to grab a takeout coffee on the way. “You can buy, Mr. Happy,” Joey said, pulling over.

  It was his turn anyway, so he merely grunted and dashed into the corner coffee place for two takeouts. When he got back to the car, Joey pulled a U-turn the second he was inside the car.

  “What’s going on?”

  “The container ship will have to wait.” He sounded keyed up, as if something big was happening.

  “Why?”

  “Suspicious death,” Joey said. “Downtown. Just got called in.”

  “What do we know?” The crime rate in Hunter, Washington, wasn’t very high. Murder was extremely rare. Suspicious death usually meant somebody didn’t die of old age in their bed or of a known illness in hospital.

  “Female. Found in the lobby of an apartment building. Tenant found her. Had the sense not to move her.”

  An awful sense of dread crept over Adam’s skin. “What’s the address?”

  Joey told him. It was Serena’s building.

  He didn’t say a word, but every fiber of his being shouted, No! Not Serena.

  Maybe she wasn’t dead. Joey had said no one had touched the body. It could be another game. Maybe the perp had just knocked Serena out, not killed her.

  Adam had to believe that. He had to hang on.

  It took all his self-control not to scream at Joey to drive faster. The guy was going as fast as he could.

  When they drew closer to the building, he snapped, “Go left down the next lane. It’s faster.” He knew this area well because he’d driven it a lot lately and he’d mapped out the area in his mind in case he ever needed to get to Serena fast. Or get her away from the area in haste.

  Never had he anticipated this scenario. He refused to let himself imagine the worst. They were almost there.

  Joey pulled up in front of the building with a screech of tires. A couple of uniforms were already there.

  Adam didn’t wait for Joey to turn off the engine. He was out of the car and racing for the building.

  A uniform opened it for him. “Haven’t touched anything. Witness who called it in is over there. Body’s this way.”

  He led Adam around the corner to the trio of elevators. Their shoes clipped against the marble lobby floor. A churchlike hush enveloped the place. Even though there were probably a dozen people hanging around watching, no one spoke.

  Adam slipped on surgical gloves. Had trouble because his hands wouldn’t stay steady.

  She lay facedown. A spill of black hair draped over her face like a shroud. She wore a black skirt and a blue sweater. One high heel had fallen off and lay beside her on the floor.

  Adam wasn’t a praying man, but right now he wished he were. Wished he could beg for Serena to be alive. He’d do anything, give up his own life if it would preserve hers. Because a world without Serena wasn’t a world he cared to live in.

  He knelt. Pressed two fingers to her carotid artery. No pulse. Her skin was as cold as the marble she lay on. Even before he’d touched her he’d known she was dead. There was a stillness about the body he recognized. The stillness of death.

  He felt a kind of fog come over him. He knew he’d face the full impact of his pain soon enough, but for now the fog helped keep him from experiencing the full horror of the moment.

  Gently, he brushed the hair back to reveal her face.

  A stranger’s face.

  * * *

  THE RELIEF ADAM felt was so intense he was glad he was down on his haunches. He wavered and his gaze went blank. In that moment Adam knew. He was in love with Serena. A love so intense that the thought of life without her was impossible to contemplate.

  He rose slowly.

  Joey stood back regarding the scene.

  He removed the gloves. Walked forward. “She’s dead, all right.”

  “You okay?” his partner asked.

  He nodded briefly. “This is Serena’s building. Dead woman looks like her from the back.”

  Joey blew out a breath as the obvious implication hit. He’d been involved in her case in a peripheral way but he had to know that Adam wasn’t simply a cop doing his job where Serena was concerned. His involvement was as personal as it gets. “You think there could be a connection?”

  Adam had a really bad feeling that there was. “I don’t know, but I don’t like it. Seems like a pretty big coincidence. Let’s talk to the woman who found the victim. Then I’m going to see Serena.”

  They walked over to an older woman sitting in a lobby chair. She had the stunned look he’d come to associate with the loved ones of violent-crime victims and those who stumble on death unexpectedly.

  The uniformed cop had given Adam a brief history. The woman’s name was Eleanor McCormack. She was a retired history teacher. She’d been on her way out to get groceries when she stumbled on the crime scene. Adam approached the woman. “Hi, Mrs. McCormack. I’m Detective Shawnigan. This is Detective Sorento.”

  “Hello,” she said. Polite. A vinyl shopping bag on wheels, empty, sat at her feet. Her wool coat was still buttoned, ready to go out. A poodle brooch set with fake diamonds was pinned to her collar.

  “Mind if we ask you a few questions?”

  “No. Of course not.”

  He took the chair beside her. Joey pulled a third chair around so they were sitting in a ragged circle.

  “This was quite a shock for you. Can you tell us what happened?”

  “Well, I was on my way out to do some shopping. Percy—that’s my dog—is out of Milk-Bones. And I need some milk and bread. Things like that.” She clasped her hands together.

  “Did you take the elevator down to the lobby or the stairs?”

  “The elevator. I live on the fifth floor.”

  Joey had his notebook out, but Adam simply concentrated on Mrs. McCormack’s words.

  “I came out of the elevator and—and there she was. The poor woman. Lying there on the floor. I didn’t know what to do. I called out, ‘Are you all right?’ but she didn’t answer. I was alarmed, of course. I didn’t know what to do. Oh, I already said that. Well, I simply didn’t. I think I knew she was dead, but I wouldn’t want to make assumptions if a life could be saved. I have my CPR, you know, from when I used to volunteer at the Shakespeare festival. Anyway—” Eleanor McCormack’s hand fluttered to her chest and he saw that it was shaking “—I checked her pulse, but there wasn’t one.”

  “What time was this?”

  “Not very long ago. I watched Good Morning America and as soon as it was over, I brushed my teeth and put on my coat. Say five minutes after that I came down. I called 911 as soon as I’d checked her pulse. It’s a good thing I remembered my cell phone. Usually I forget to unplug it from the wall, but my children insist I take it with me wherever I go. Silly, really. What did they think we did for all those years there weren’t any such thing as cell phones? Anyway, now I m
ake sure I always have my phone in my purse when I go out.” She clutched the worn black leather bag in her lap. She seemed to realize she was rambling and stopped herself with an effort. “I called right after I checked that poor girl’s pulse.”

  “Did you see anyone?”

  “No. It was just me.”

  “No one in the lobby? Just leaving?”

  She shook her head.

  “Did you hear the elevator?”

  “Not that I can recall.”

  Adam had a mental snapshot of the scene in his mind. He glanced at Mrs. McCormack’s purse and her bag. Realized the dead woman had nothing in her hands or around her.

  “A few minutes later a couple came in the front door.” She gestured with her chin. “That’s them over there. Ghouls. Then I called the building supervisor. And the police came quite quickly. And a few other people have come out of the elevator or in from the street.”

  “Do you recognize the dead woman?”

  “I can’t tell. Her face was obscured by her hair. But I don’t think so.”

  “Did you notice a purse or bag of any kind? When you discovered her?”

  “I didn’t really pay attention. But I didn’t notice one.”

  “Thank you. You’ve been very helpful. You can go now.”

  Mrs. McCormack rose slowly. Glanced in the direction of the dead woman. “She seems so young. Do you suppose it was a heart attack?”

  “Impossible to tell until the medical examiner gets here. You absolutely did the right thing in calling us right away and not trying to move her.”

  A police photographer showed up while they were interviewing Mrs. McCormack and began snapping photos. The medical examiner and the forensic guys were right behind him.

  Adam and Joey watched and waited. Joey said, “What do you think happened to her purse? Some guy hit her on the head and stole it?”

  “Inside her building lobby?”

  “Maybe she doesn’t carry one.”

  “Then where’s her cell phone? Building key?”

  “Maybe she’s lying on them.”

  But when they flipped the body, there was nothing underneath her. And her skirt had pockets. When they first turned her, Adam saw a flash of red and thought for a moment the dead woman’s throat had been slit. Then his vision cleared and he realized she had a red scarf tied around her neck.

  And any faint hope he’d harbored that this death was completely unrelated to Serena died a fast death.

  In a few minutes the medical examiner came over to them, a portly man in his fifties. “What do you think, Doc?” Joey asked.

  “Hard to tell. She’s got a bump on her head. That’s the only sign of trauma I can see. But she could have hit her head on the way down. Could be heart, an aneurism. Severe allergic reaction to something. I’ll let you know the autopsy results as soon as I can.”

  “Could it be murder?”

  He shrugged. A man who’d seen death in a hundred forms. “No signs of struggle or foul play. But anything’s possible.”

  They began bagging the body and Adam turned away.

  To Joey he said, “It’s murder, all right. That scarf around her neck? It’s like the red crayon blood Serena’s stalker drew on the happy face he scrawled. The perp killed that woman and planted the body here. I’m sure of it. He’s sending a message.”

  Joey glanced at the body bag and back to Adam. “Pretty dramatic message.”

  “Yeah.” He grabbed his cell phone and called Serena immediately.

  “Hi, Adam,” she answered, sounding happy to hear from him.

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m at the office.” Obviously she heard the tension in his voice. “Is everything all right?”

  “No. Stay where you are. I’m on my way. Do not let anyone in that office.”

  “All right, but I wish you’d tell me—”

  He disconnected. Called Mark. “You’re in lockdown. Lock the office. Nobody comes near Serena until I get there. Got that?”

  “Affirmative.”

  * * *

  SERENA TRIED NOT to panic, but each minute that passed as she waited for Adam to arrive seemed like an ice age. The tone of his voice told her something seriously bad had happened.

  Her stomach felt jumpy and she couldn’t settle. Mark locked the front door. Drew his weapon. Put Lisa and her together in her office. Told her to lock her office door.

  “What do you think happened?” Lisa asked.

  “I don’t know. This is the worst part, the waiting, not knowing anything.” She couldn’t work, couldn’t sit, couldn’t do anything but pace. Lisa sat in a chair, staring at the glass sculpture. She took a tissue from the box on Serena’s desk and began dusting the colorful glass, obsessively, focused completely on her task, while Serena paced, rubbing cold hands up and down her upper arms as though she could soothe herself.

  Fortunately, they didn’t have long to wait.

  Adam shouted at her to open her door and she did. He looked as though he’d aged ten years and did something he’d never done before in front of Lisa and Mark.

  He pulled her into his arms. Kissed her. She felt tension in every cell of his body. He squeezed her so tight she could barely breathe. She realized he was shaking.

  When she pulled away, she asked, “What? What is going on?”

  Adam’s partner, Joey, stood behind him. Impassive and dejected looking. But then, according to Adam, Joey always looked dejected.

  “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

  “CAN 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.