ALEXA . . .”
Her name came to her. Soft. Low.
She whimpered as she tried to lift a hand to her throbbing head, but . . . she couldn’t lift it. Something rough and thick was wrapped around her wrists.
She pushed out with her feet and hit something hard. A door? Where the hell was she? What was happening?
“We’re here, Alexa.”
Darkness was all around her. She couldn’t see anything. “Help me!” She shoved against covers that were on top of her. Where had they come from? The last thing she remembered was—
Something creaked—the door?
Light hit her.
He was there. The handsome cop.
Relief flooded through her. Ridiculous relief that turned to confusion in an instant as she realized—
I’m tied up.
And he’s holding a knife.
Alexa shook her head. This whole scene was wrong. The handsome guy in front of her—wait, what had his name been?—he wasn’t going to hurt her.
“Wh-What’s happening?
He crouched down so that they were on eye level, and Alexa realized she was crumpled in some sort of closet.
“We’re here.”
Here?
“Let me help you.” And he put the knife back in a sheath on his side. Then he reached for her, pulling her up by the rope that bound her wrists and he—he slung her over his shoulder.
Alexa grunted because that move hurt. Her head was throbbing and nausea rolled through her stomach.
What was his name? She normally didn’t hook up with strangers. But Mark—that jerk Mark—had left her two months ago for his ex. She’d just wanted some payback. No . . .
I just needed someone to want me. She’d wanted to feel desired again.
“L-Let me go . . .”
They were climbing upstairs, and a few seconds later fresh air hit her, air carried on the wind and the waves.
We’re on a boat.
“It’s just us out here, Alexa.” He jumped off the boat, still carrying her, and then he dumped her onto the sand. Alexa scrambled back.
This is wrong.
“Just you and me . . . for miles and miles.” He pulled that knife out. Only the glow of the moon shone down on them, seeming to reflect off the sand. “So no one will hear you when you scream, and, believe me, Alexa, you will scream.” A brief pause, “They always do.”
This was a nightmare. It had to be. She was not on some little strip of sand with a man holding a knife. She was Vince Chambers’s daughter. She’d gone to Stanford. She had a trust fund. She had a cheating ex-fiancé back in Texas.
She had . . . a life.
A home.
And he was coming at her with the knife. “Please . . .” she whispered.
He stilled. “Sometimes they beg first, but that doesn’t do any good . . .”
Her hands fisted in the sand.
“They beg and they scream, but, Jessica, you know that doesn’t change anything.”
“M-My name’s not Jessica.”
His body stiffened.
“Y-You have the wrong woman.” Right. That was what had happened. This whole thing was a mistake. Every single bit of it—a mistake. “Let me go. Just let me go and I—”
“You wanted to see the lighthouse.”
He was closing in on her again.
“Look behind you. The lighthouse is right there. I brought you out, just like you wanted.”
She risked a fast glance over her shoulder. Saw the shadowy outline of the lighthouse.
And then she felt the slice of a knife across her side.
Alexa screamed.
EVE PROPPED THE canvas against the wall. She’d already spread out a sheet to cover the floor. Sleeping wasn’t an option for her—yes, big surprise—so maybe . . . maybe she’d just see if Trey had been right.
Jessica could paint anything. I’m Jessica. I can do this.
Victoria was asleep on the couch. Wade, ever watchful, sat just a few feet away. She’d learned fast that the guy wasn’t much for conversation. He’d meant it when he said that he wasn’t baring his soul. He’d told her pretty much nothing.
Eve reached for a paintbrush. Her fingers trembled. Was she seriously trembling just from holding the thing? She pulled in a deep breath and tried to steady herself.
The brush kept trembling. She had the paint ready, but—
I can’t even hold the brush steady.
“Your fingers were broken.” Wade’s voice made her jump. Mostly because he wasn’t sitting in the overstuffed chair any longer. He was right beside her. “Maybe you just need some time for the strength to come back to them.”
Eve dropped the brush on the table. “The strength is fine. I just don’t know what the hell I’m doing.” She looked up and got caught by his stare. “Suspicion,” she whispered.
One brow lifted.
“That’s what I see when I look at your face, in your eyes. You don’t trust me.”
He shrugged. “Don’t take it personally. I can count the people I trust on one hand.”
She waited.
“Gabe. Sarah. Viki. And Dean.”
“Your team.”
“My team.”
“And you think I’m—what? Scamming Gabe? Scamming you all?”
“There’s a lot of money at stake with your case. Just look around you.” He waved to indicate the lush condo. “The Montgomerys know how to live in style.”
“And I was living in a homeless shelter when I first went to Gabe.” The guy thought she was some gold-digging schemer?
“Gabe believes you’re legit.” He exhaled. “But then, Gabe wants to fuck you, too.”
She backed up a step. “You don’t pull your punches, do you?”
“Don’t see the point in pulling them. Polite lies are still lies.”
Well, yes. “But at least they’re polite,” she mumbled, rubbing the side of her neck. “A little politeness won’t kill you.”
His lips twitched. “Don’t be too sure about that.”
Eve didn’t understand him. And she wasn’t sure she wanted to. Schemer, my ass. You try waking up to nothing. “What time is it?”
He glanced at his watch. “Two A.M.”
“And they still haven’t found her.” That hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach told Eve they wouldn’t be finding Alexa. Alexa Chambers. Viki had learned the missing woman’s full name and shared it with her.
“There were no signs of a struggle at her condo . . .”
A condo in that building. She swallowed.
“And no one can remember seeing her at the West End. She was just another blonde in a crowd. It’s so easy to vanish in a crowd.”
And it’s easy to die alone.
“You should try and get some sleep.”
She almost laughed at that. “I don’t sleep much.” But she would retreat to the bedroom so that she didn’t constantly feel his watchful stare.
She’d taken five steps when she heard him say, “I don’t sleep much, either. The damn nightmares just won’t stop.”
We all lost someone. Viki had been right, after all.
Eve pushed open the door to the bedroom. She changed quickly, putting on her sweatpants and a T-shirt before she slipped into the bed.
Then she froze.
Why do I do that? She glanced down at herself.
She . . . always dressed before getting into the bed. She always had to be covered underneath the bedding.
Biting her lip, Eve eased off the mattress. She took off her shirt. Her sweats. Just in her panties, she slid back into the bed.
Her body was as tense as a board.
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong!
She yanked the covers up to her chin. This was ridiculous. Why would she be—
Shuddering, trembling . . . crying?
He’ll see, he’ll see . . .
Eve jumped up and put her clothes back on.
When she crawled back into the bed again, she wasn’t shuddering. But her skin felt iced and her stomach was twisting.
What is wrong with me?
Gabe kept saying that she was strong, that he wasn’t worried about her breaking apart. He didn’t seem to realize the truth.
She already was broken.
GABE OPENED THE condo door, his steps slow, fury the main force keeping him moving.
The light fell on Victoria’s sleeping form. Viki—she’d always been able to sleep anywhere, anytime. Despite her past, the nightmares didn’t plague her.
Or maybe . . . because of her past they didn’t.
“Your lady’s in the bedroom, but I don’t think she’s sleeping.” Wade’s voice was low. He was in the chair near Viki, and, being Wade, of course the guy was wide-awake.
Gabe rolled back his shoulders. “We didn’t find her.”
Wade rose. “You think she vanished on her own or do you think—”
“She fits his profile. Sarah said that Alexa Chambers fit the killer’s profile to a perfect T.” Dammit. “And he took her—right under our noses.” His hands fisted. “The guy wanted to prove that he could do it, and that there wasn’t a thing we could do to stop him.”
Wade rose and marched toward him. “Victoria said that he doesn’t kill his prey right away.”
No, he didn’t. “Torture is part of his M.O.”
“So Alexa—if he has her—she could still be alive.”
Gabe nodded. “And that’s why the FBI agents are swarming. They’ve taken over the investigation and . . . officially . . . asked us to back the hell off.” So much for cooperation.
Wade grunted at that. “And you’re backing off?”
“Hell, no. Dean is going to learn everything he can about them, and Sarah’s interviewing Alexa’s friend Sydney. We can’t keep searching in the dark, but as soon as the sun rises, I’ll be out there again.” The FBI agents could screw off. This wasn’t a pissing match about turf dominance. This was a woman’s life.
“If it is the Lady Killer,” Wade spoke slowly, “we have an ace to use against him.”
The fuck they did. “Don’t go there.”
“She’s remembering—that’s what you told me when you called and told me to haul ass down here. She remembered the bakery. She remembered the drinks she used to like. The more she’s here, the more she sees of the island, hell, she could lead us right to him.” Wade glowered at him. “Are you seriously not going to use her? A woman is missing. This isn’t just about Eve—”
The bedroom door opened. “No, it’s not just about me.”
He should have known she’d overheard. It wasn’t like Wade had been whispering. Could the guy whisper? Victoria was still asleep, but that woman had slept through a near-explosion on one of their previous cases.
“I have to help, Gabe. I need to do this.”
She wore a white T-shirt and a pair of jogging pants that hugged her hips. He’d seen her in those clothes before. She looked tousled and sexy and he wanted her in his arms. He also wanted her far, far away from the killer’s reach.
Alexa Chambers is out there.
And Eve was the key.
“Tell me what to do,” Eve said.
He exhaled . . . and knew that he was giving in.
“THE FBI IS searching the marina and the beaches,” Gabe said, “so we’re going off the beaten path.”
And their path was taking them to . . . “A fort?” Eve asked as she stared at the looming wooden structure. A large sign welcomed them to Historic Fort Gaines.
The sun had risen, and with the new day, Gabe had taken her out to search. Only she hadn’t expected this place to be their first stop. It was a little after eight A.M., and the place appeared deserted.
Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead! Eve read the text beneath the fort’s name. General James Farragut. The Battle of Mobile Bay.
Gabe led the way into the fort. They crossed over what looked like an old moat, then made their way into the shop to pay the fort’s admission fee. Eve thought the door to the shop might be locked because the place looked so deserted, but Gabe easily swung it open and led the way inside.
“You be careful out there,” the man behind the counter said after Gabe had paid their admission fee and he was handing back some change. “This here fort is one of the most haunted in the U.S. Our ghosts walk in the day and the night.”
Eve’s eyes widened. Was that guy serious?
Gabe caught her hand, his fingers threading through with hers. “We’ll be careful, don’t worry.”
The guy behind the counter gave them another grin. “They’ll be firing the cannon out there later this morning. You don’t want to miss the show.”
A cannon? Was he for real? Eve kept glancing back over her shoulder at him as Gabe led her out of the shop and into the heart of the fort.
The place seemed massive from inside. The ramparts stretched out, surrounding them on all sides as the heavy stone walls rose toward the sky. Stairs—old and heavy—led up to those ramparts, as did sloping trails of land.
Gabe was striding toward the wall on the east side, and Eve hurried to keep up with him. “Why are we here again?”
“Because we’re going to every main stop on this island. If something happened to you at one of these spots, if one of these places can trigger your memory, then dammit, we’re going to make that happen.”
Her heart was racing by the time they reached the top of the eastern ramparts. Eve tried to suck in a deep breath to steady herself, but then she lost that breath as she took in the view. The crashing waves pounded below, rolling in again and again, and, in the distance, she could just see . . . “The lighthouse.”
“There are plenty of places to hide in this fort. Plenty of places to . . . get rid of a body.”
I don’t want Alexa to be dead!
He still had her hand in his grip. “Are you ready for this?”
Eve had to drag her gaze off that lighthouse. “Yes.” No.
“Then let’s go.” And he turned to the right. They weren’t heading back down below, into the open field that spread in the middle of the fort. Instead, he was taking her down into what felt like the bones of the fort. A twisting, brick staircase led them lower and lower. The stairs seemed to be crumbling beneath her feet, and she put her left hand on the cold wall for support. Light barely cracked inside as they entered the bowels of the fort.
When they reached the bottom of the staircase, cold air seemed to blow against her face.
“There’s a tunnel here,” Gabe said.
She could see it. A rounded ceiling curved down, and old lights flickered about every ten feet. The tunnel was so long and—
Eve tensed. “Someone’s down there.” Or at least she’d thought that she’d caught sight of someone down there. Now she couldn’t see anyone.
No wonder the old guy thought this place was haunted. The fort was sure giving her goose bumps.
But Gabe had her hand and was leading her forward. The tunnel was so narrow that they had to walk in single file.
“Does it seem familiar to you?” Gabe asked.
“No.” Her answer was immediate and maybe too fast. Because as they headed down that narrow tunnel, Eve did feel something, but it wasn’t familiarity. It was fear.
I don’t want to be here. “We should stop.”
Gabe kept going. “The tunnel ends up ahead.”
She didn’t want to go up ahead. She pulled on his hand. “I don’t remember this place.”
He turned toward her, stopping just a few feet from the tunnel’s exit. His body caged her against the old bricks. “It’s all right.”
It was getting harder for her to breathe. “I don’t want to be here. Let’s go look outside for Alexa. The killer wouldn’t . . . he wouldn’t bring her here. How would he even get inside? I mean, it’s a fort! The place is secure!”
Gabe shook his head. “There are always means of getting inside and methods of sneaking out.”
For a SEAL, maybe. Those guys specialized in their covert operations.
“Don’t be afraid.”
“Easy for you to say,” she whispered back.
“Yes.” He was so close. Or maybe the tunnel was just ridiculously narrow. Either way, she couldn’t seem to take a breath without feeling him against her. His body was so close and his warmth was surrounding her as he . . . just stared into her eyes.
“Gabe?”
“Don’t be afraid,” he whispered again, and then he kissed her. Just leaned forward in that dark, too tight tunnel, and, with her trapped against the bricks, his mouth captured hers. The kiss wasn’t light. It wasn’t some brief caress.
His lips took hers. His tongue plunged into her mouth. He licked her. He seemed to savor her, and when he pulled her against his body, squeezing them in that tight space, Eve didn’t give a damn where they were.
“Still scared?” The words were a growl against her lips.
Her breath heaved out. “Not exactly.” She was focusing on another emotion.
“Good.” He kissed her again. “Because anytime you get afraid . . . just remember that I’m right . . .” Another long kiss, one that made her breasts ache and her toes curl. “ . . . here.”
Her hands tightened around his shoulders. “You can’t always be with me.”
He kissed her again. In the darkness of that tunnel, in a place that caused an instinctive terror within her . . .
But I’m safe with him. And maybe that was the key for her. Gabe wasn’t tied with her past. He hadn’t known her until she walked into his office.
He can’t be the man who hurt me.
But the others that she met on that island . . . all the people who rushed in and out of her life, people who claimed to be friends, former lovers, even family . . . she couldn’t trust them.
Because it was too easy for people to lie.
Her eyes squeezed shut as she kissed Gabe back, kissed him with a wild desperation. She wanted to hold tightly to him and never let go. To give in to the feelings he stirred so effortlessly within her.
Be stronger.
But Eve made herself push against his shoulders and pulled her mouth from his. She could do this.
He stared into her eyes. The light in the tunnel was so dim, she wondered how he could see her expression, but he gave a slow nod and backed away.
Then they were heading down the tunnel again. She could still taste him, and her lips seemed to tingle a bit from his kiss. Her steps were faster now. The shadows didn’t seem as thick as they walked, and a few moments later, they were out of that tunnel and walking into a big open room. One that had thick, faded bricks lining the walls. And . . .
“Are those names?” Eve asked as she crept closer to the far wall. She lifted her hand and touched the bricks as her eyes narrowed. Yes, there were names there. Dozens of them. It looked as if some had been carved into the bricks while others were written in chalk. Some even appeared to have been written with a marker.
“Guess the kids like to tag the place,” Gabe said as he approached the wall with the names.
Yeah, she guessed they did.
Her eyes slid over the names. John. Ally. Beau.
“This room is so deep in the fort that the park officials probably can’t ever catch the people tagging the bricks.” He was walking ahead, slipping even deeper into the fort. Eve followed him and found another room. Smaller. Even darker. He turned on his phone and used a flashlight app to light up the interior.
More names.
Kate.
Cassie.
Sharon.
Lyla.
Chantal.
Helen.
Jessica.
All of those names had been scratched into the bricks. Not written in chalk or marker, but carved into the bricks—maybe with a knife?
Jessica. Her hand lifted and touched the letters of that name, but when she looked below and saw the last name on that wall . . .
Alexa.
Her heart stopped.
“Gabe!”
“The others are victim names, too.” His voice was grim. “Every one of them in this room.”
She whirled toward him. “What is this?” Fear was back, beating hard and heavy within her as her heart thundered in her chest. All of the names were females, all appeared to have been scratched in a similar handwriting, and . . . my name is there. Alexa’s is there.
We’re all there.
The light from his phone drifted to the left, to the right, as Gabe seemed to inspect the wall. “That section of bricks doesn’t look as old as the rest.”
He was missing the huge damn point! “Those are his kills!”
“The bricks are different.” Gabe stalked forward. Pressed against the bricks with those scratched names on their surfaces. “Newer.”
“We need to get out of here.”
Sweetheart, let’s play a game . . .
The voice seemed to whisper through her mind. “We should get out of here, now.” She was already backing away from that wall.
But Gabe was trying to use his phone to call someone. “No signal,” he muttered.
Right. They were in the bowels of hell. No big surprise that there wasn’t a signal there. She turned from him and began hurrying back through the tunnel. They needed to get out of that place ASAP. They had to go find Trey and tell him what they’d discovered.
All of the victims’ names are on that wall!
The killer had been keeping track of his prey. Right there. The guy in the fort’s shop had been right. There were ghosts in that fort, and Eve could swear she felt them all around her then.
Her feet thudded faster and faster in the tunnel. The lights overhead seemed to dim, and—
Darkness surrounded her.
Suddenly, Eve couldn’t hear Gabe’s voice or his footsteps. She could only hear the sound of her own heaving breaths and her desperate heartbeat. She knew she had to run. She had to get away. Because if she didn’t escape, he was going to kill her.
Her hands flew up and slapped against the bricks on either side of her. They were cool to the touch. She could follow those bricks, keep touching them and make her way to safety.
A hand had grabbed Eve, jerking her back.
Time for the game to begin, sweetheart. I’ve waited for you, so long . . . it’s all for you.
Eve screamed and punched out, hitting as hard as she could.
“Eve!” Gabe shook her lightly. “Baby, it’s me!”
And she realized that she’d just punched him in the face. “Gabe! I’m sorry!” In a blink, the darkness vanished. She was back in the dim tunnel, back with Gabe, but that voice—it was still whispering in her head . . .
Time for the game to begin, sweetheart.
“He brought me here,” Eve said, body shaking. “This is where it started. Here.” And she’d been running from him, trying to get away.
But he’d caught her. In that tunnel. It had been pitch-black, and he’d caught her.
“I’ve got you,” Gabe said.
She pulled away from him because those words—they were too familiar.
He had me, too.
Eve ran for the stairs, desperate to get out of that fort because the place felt like a tomb to her, and she was very afraid that was exactly what the place was.
“IT’S A HISTORIC site,” Trey muttered as he and one of his officers stood with Gabe and Dean in the bowels of the fort. “You expect me to just tear into the wall of a historical place like this? Do you even know what kind of paperwork and government red tape you’re talking about?”
The FBI agent, Avery Granger, was peering at the bricks with a close eye and a very bright flashlight. “Let me worry about the paperwork.”
“Those bricks are newer,” Gabe said. The guy had to see that and stop spouting about his paperwork bullshit. “You can look at them and tell that they’re different.” And they were different for a reason. The fire in his gut told him that reason wasn’t going to be good. We need to get behind those bricks.
“The killer was here.” Dean’s voice was flat. “We all damn well know it.”
Trey tapped the bricks. “And what do you think I’m going to find if I rip out these bricks?”
Gabe wasn’t one hundred percent sure, but he had his suspicions. “If I wanted to hide a body, that might be one real good place.”
“Shit.” Trey jerked his hand away from the bricks. “He buries them. In the sand. He doesn’t pull some twisted Edgar Allan Poe crap and seal his prey up in the walls!”
Footsteps rustled behind them, and Gabe turned to see Sarah making her way toward them. Her head was cocked, her eyes on the illuminated names. “He would seal up the prey, if this victim was special to him.”
Gabe had called and asked Sarah and Victoria to haul ass over there. Sarah would need to examine the scene so that she could create a stronger profile for the killer, and Victoria, well, if a dead body was there, then she was the woman they needed on point for this one.
“I don’t get it. Wouldn’t someone have noticed freaking new bricks going up at this place?” Dean paced around them. “Hard to miss, don’t you think?”
“They could have been put in years ago,” Gabe said, because he’d already considered that point. “The other bricks have been here for a hundred years, but these . . . hell, they look like they’ve been put up in the last decade.” A rough estimate. Techs would be able to tell them for sure.
Avery was poking around the top of the wall. “These bricks . . . two of them are loose.”
Trey swore.
Avery poked harder. He shoved. He yanked, and one of the bricks came flying back at him. “Definitely loose.”
“So much for doing paperwork,” Trey muttered. “So how about now you worry about not destroying more evidence, Agent Granger.”
“If I see something inside,” Avery said as he leaned up on his toes and shone his light into the darkness, “then I’ll worry about paperwork and I’ll—”
He broke off.
Gabe kept his eyes on the agent.
“We’re going to need that paperwork,” Avery told them all, “and an excavation team, now.” He looked back at Gabe. “Because I can see a fucking skull in there.”