Autumn's Game

by Mary Stone

  Autumn could have argued the point—she had seen Adam’s intuition about how a serial killer might work in action—but it was true that she might not be the best fit there. The idea of sorting through property records the way Mike did had no appeal.

  The idea of helping people more directly definitely appealed.

  “I’ll think about it,” Autumn promised.

  “Please do. I like Mike Shadley, but I didn’t see him step between a killer and the innocent. And I definitely can’t see Latham ever doing so.” Winter put the car in gear.

  The night was quiet, and they let themselves into the hotel even more quietly, almost tiptoeing to their rooms. There were two television news trucks in the parking lot to remind them that tomorrow was another day—one that would involve a lot of PR.

  At the door of Autumn’s room, she stopped and gave Winter a hug good night. “Thank you for everything you did today.”

  “You’re welcome. Oh…and let me give you a tip. Take extra time with your hair and makeup in the morning.”

  Autumn frowned. “Why?”

  “Because you’re a woman, and the media vultures will do their best to discredit an investigation if you have frizzy hair.”

  Autumn pulled a fake-surprised face. “It’s almost like they’re sexist or something.”

  Winter winked, then jumped when her phone buzzed in her hand. She grinned at the screen. “It’s Noah. It’s after four a.m. Eastern time. Why is that man still awake?”

  Autumn smiled. “Because he loves you.”

  Winter practically beamed. “I know.”

  Autumn grabbed her friend’s hand before she could walk away. A rush of Winter’s thoughts poured into her brain. She had to take a breath from the mental images she got of Justin. Even now, after a hectic case, Winter’s baby brother was on her mind.

  “Winter, regardless of what I decide on the job front, I’ll check on Justin once we get back. I won’t forget.”

  Winter’s smile slid away. “Thanks.”

  All through her shower, and even as she brushed her teeth and got under the covers, tired to the bone, Autumn couldn’t stop thinking about Winter’s connection to her brother. Which led her to another thought.

  Her own sister, Sarah.

  Where was she? Was Sarah truly lost to her?

  Maybe it was time to find out.

  36

  The next morning, Winter and Autumn stopped by the sheriff’s office before heading to the airport.

  Winter had to pick up some documents before they headed out, and Autumn just wanted to say goodbye to the woman she’d grown to like and respect.

  Carla gave her a big hug. “How’s my favorite forensic psychologist?”

  Autumn caught a flash of a red rose from Carla’s touch and couldn’t help but wonder about it. “Ready to go home. I’m going to sleep for a week.”

  Carla laughed. “Be ready for that not to happen. I don’t know what it’s like back East, but out here, it’s just one damned thing after another.” Carla’s cheeks pinkened. “Are you flying back with Mike?”

  Autumn studied her thoughtfully. “No, we have separate flights. He wanted to get back a little earlier so he could catch Adam alone. I’ll tell him that you asked about him, though.”

  Carla’s blush darkened. “That’s okay. I’ll just text him when he gets in. We, uh, well…he came back with me to the office last night.”

  Autumn’s eyebrow shot up. “Oh?”

  Carla waved a hand in front of her face. “He went out and got us some food, that’s all.”

  “Mike’s a good guy. Maybe you can come out to Virginia soon, and we’ll all go for a proper dinner.”

  The sheriff’s eyes twinkled. “Good idea.”

  Winter strode up with an armful of folders and tapped on her watch. “Go time.”

  Carla hugged them both. “Have a good flight and keep in touch. You never know when you’ll need a sheriff’s down-to-earth opinion.”

  “I promise.” Autumn winked. “And don’t forget you always have a friend out East if you need one.”

  The flight was uneventful and both Autumn and Winter slept most of the way.

  Before they landed, Autumn checked her messages. There was an email from Victor Goren, Justin Black’s attorney. After checking that Winter was still asleep, she clicked the email.

  “What’s that?”

  Autumn jumped. How in the world had Winter gone from sound asleep to fully alert in an instant?

  She sighed. “Victor Goren is asking when I’ll be interviewing Justin again.”

  Winter stared at the screen, clearly not giving one wit that she was being nosey. “It says ‘on behalf of Justin.’”

  It was clear that Winter was still upset about being shut out of Justin’s life.

  “Be patient with him,” Autumn advised. “Let me see if I can reach him, and don’t take anything personally until then. He’s just transferring his anger onto you.”

  Winter snorted, but the sound didn’t hold its normal level of sarcasm. “Lucky me.”

  Autumn was saved from a deep conversation about the little boy turned serial killer when the captain made his spiel about being ready to land. It was a relief, and Winter seemed relieved as well.

  It wasn’t quite five in the afternoon when they arrived in Richmond. Winter was going home to Noah, but Autumn wasn’t quite ready for home just yet. She called Mike Shadley instead.

  “I have something for you at the office.” Paper rustled as he spoke. “From Adam. You should see it, I think.”

  She stiffened, glad he couldn’t see her. “Is he there?”

  “No. He’s gone for the day.”

  She was anxious by the time she arrived at Mike’s office. With a soft smile, Mike slid a letter across the desk to her. “I read it. It’s relatively inoffensive.”

  It was a blundering sort of apology for Adam having “misread” her level of attraction to him. Regardless of any mutual attraction, as your employer and mentor, I should not have allowed things to go as far as they did.

  Autumn rolled her eyes and handed Mike back the letter. “You keep it. I’m sure HR will want it for Adam’s personnel file.” She took a deep breath. “For the sake of fairness and honesty, I need to tell you something.”

  Autumn had thought of this a long time. As much as she disliked her other boss, she needed to make sure the record was straight.

  Mike tucked the letter away, looking uncomfortable. “Okay.”

  “When Adam and I visited Helen Mathers’s home, I told you that I assessed him as being unprofessional with the minor, Lisa Hill.”

  Mike grew a little pale. “And?”

  “And I learned from Lisa that Adam wasn’t entirely at fault.” Oh…how that hurt to admit. “She confessed that she was trying hard to get him to like her, and when they were on the porch, Adam had stayed a professional distance away. It was Lisa who approached him, touched him. When I went outside, I made an assumption.”

  Mike leaned back in his seat. “I see. I appreciate your honesty, and to be quite honest in return, I’ll be speaking to our attorney tomorrow to see what can be done about this situation.”

  Autumn nodded. “I understand. ‘He said versus she said’ is difficult to prove.”

  “But I believe you. I want you to know that I believe your side of the story, Autumn. I’m personally appalled by his behavior, and I’m quite worried that your situation isn’t the first. My attorneys will advise me of the best course of action.”

  She understood. “Thank you, Mike. See you tomorrow.”

  “Take tomorrow off, get some rest.”

  She jumped at the chance. “I’ll do that. Thank you.”

  She went home and plopped down on her comfy couch, laughing as Toad, her little Pomeranian mix, whirled around in circles on her lap, his entire body shaking with joy at her return. She accepted his kisses as gracefully as she could while Peach, her orange tabby, glared at her from the kitchen door.

  Her neig
hbor was a jewel and her official pet watcher whenever she was gone. Autumn loved that she didn’t have to worry about kenneling her beloved pets and had someone at the ready if she had to stay late or take a trip.

  By the time Toad settled and Peach deigned to climb into her lap, Autumn knew she’d made a decision about her future. As if just thinking the thought had magically conjured the man, her phone buzzed. A text from Aiden Parrish: Lunch tomorrow?

  She smiled as she typed. Only if it’s Mexican. Messy subject, messy lunch.

  Her phone buzzed within seconds. That sounds promising. Eleven thirty at Asoleamiento’s?

  See you there.

  The next day, she walked into the restaurant, a small place tucked along a side street near the city center, spotted Aiden, and seated herself in one of the restaurant’s signature purple chairs across from him at a small two-top. The server appeared with a glass of water and a menu.

  She ordered a wide enough variety of tacos to make Aiden lift an eyebrow. “You have to be careful about offering to pay for lunch,” she warned him. “My mom used to joke that I should become a professional eater.”

  He was wearing a polo shirt and had draped his jacket across the chair behind him. Whether or not he was trying to show her that he was unarmed—and therefore off duty—or just too warm in the overheated restaurant, she wasn’t sure. It was snowing outside.

  He leaned forward. “So, what’s the messy subject?”

  “I’ve been thinking about your numerous job offerings.”

  “And?”

  “And I’m thinking I’d like to join the team, if you still want me, that is.” Confession time. “I did lose two civilians no more than an hour apart, if you haven’t already heard.”

  Aiden broke into a smile. “Oh, I heard. I also heard that you saved a number of lives. So, to answer your non-questions, yes, we still want you.” He frowned and seemed to be studying her face. “But that’s not the messy part, is it? I’ve already mentioned several times that you’d be welcome any time you wanted. This isn’t about Adam Latham, is it? Is he still causing trouble? I heard he’s on a leave of absence.”

  Autumn took a sip of her water. “It’s not about Adam. It’s about you.”

  His eyes widened. “Me?”

  “I wanted to make sure that our past…flirtation won’t cause problems. I am not about to get out of one shitty, inappropriate situation with my boss just to jump into another one.”

  Though she had kept her tone intentionally light, Aiden was still frowning. Clearly thinking.

  Whatever wheels were spinning in his head, they only spun for a brief time.

  Aiden’s gaze snapped to her own. “I think I can swear to no shitty, inappropriate boss-type behavior, other than the standard ruthless calling-out you’re going to get if you screw up. Even worse, I have been known to praise agents for doing well. No unrequested groping, patronizing ‘mentoring,’ or career sabotage will be provided at this or any future time.”

  A twinge of regret plucked at Autumn’s heartstrings for a second. Was it so easy for him to swear that he would never cross the line?

  Which was completely irrational. A lack of drama was exactly what she wanted. Wasn’t it? After all, a boss who thought he had free rein to put the moves on her wasn’t exactly appealing at the moment.

  “Thanks, Aiden. Let’s just hope there’s more of the praise than the calling-out, okay?”

  “I’m sure.” Aiden took her hand, then having realized what he’d done, sat it back down, lifting both his arms, surrender style.

  They both laughed, breaking the tension.

  “You’ll make a great agent, Autumn. We need you. I know you’re not experienced yet, at least not in the way you clearly want to be. But having trained special agents before, I know that you’ll do well. Just give us a chance.”

  From the brief contact with his hand, Autumn got the impression that Aiden truly wanted her on his team. And he truly wanted…her.

  She took another sip of water. “What type of training do I need?”

  “With your education, Dr. Trent, you’re already qualified for the position. As for training, you won’t be heading for Quantico if that’s what you’re asking. There is, of course, intensive training to the tune of five hundred hours or so, which we’ll discuss more in-depth at a later time. You’ll be asked to join professional organizations and attend conferences to keep your knowledge up-to-date.”

  She nodded. That was expected, and she’d already learned that there was much she didn’t know. And she was eager to learn.

  The server came and delivered their food. Aiden hadn’t been shy in ordering, either, although his choices were a little less adventurous. They ate, cutting off the conversation until the last taco had disappeared.

  Aiden’s face had relaxed while they were eating, but now he frowned again.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Aiden flipped his fork around between his fingers. “To be transparent, even if you don’t decide to join the FBI, I intended to ask Mike if he can loan you to me for something.” He met her gaze. “It’s going to be rough. In Chester County, outside of Philadelphia. You’d be right back on the road again.”

  She was immediately intrigued. “What is it?”

  “Several elderly widowers have been getting scammed. Some get fleeced online. Some are getting fleeced in person, at social mixers. The cases seem unrelated, except that they’re happening more often than usual. They are persuaded to provide their financial information to a girlfriend, who disappears. They end up broke. And now? One of them is dead.”

  “How?”

  “Initially, they were treating it like a suicide until one of the police officers on the scene remarked that it looked like the body had been posed, almost as if it were a sex-related killing but with his clothes still on. The chief called it in, worried that these widowers are being targeted by the same person.”

  “And he’s afraid that person will kill again.”

  Aiden nodded. “I told him we’d look into it. We have no true evidence to prove if these crimes are connected or not, but my gut says they are.”

  “Interesting.”

  Was a black widow involved? Or was this a “simple” con job operation, where seniors were being ripped off by human predators? Autumn thought about her mother, who was getting older, and saw red for a moment as she thought about someone stealing her hard-won retirement years.

  Autumn leaned back as the server appeared with the check, which he tactfully laid between them. Autumn faked a grab for it, but Aiden snatched it away from her with an audible growl. “Mine.”

  She raised her hands in mock surrender.

  While Aiden tucked his credit card into the holder and the server once again appeared like magic, she thought about it. Pack up and head to another state, investigate a complex series of crimes that might swiftly turn into something over her head.

  Sure, why not? It was better than the dull cases that were waiting for her at the office.

  “When would I start?”

  “That depends on whether you join us or not. If you stay with Shadley and Latham, we’ll have to go through them. If you don’t, you’ll have to get some training before we can turn you loose. And I have some footwork that needs to be done before it will be useful to put you on the case. But I think it’s safe to say that I can have you in the Behavioral Analysis Unit and in Pennsylvania before you can read the fine print.”

  Autumn waited a moment, even though she really didn’t want to think about it. “I wanted a few days to get settled from being in Oregon, but you can count me in.”

  “As one of my agents, or…?”

  She smiled sweetly at him. “I’m talking to Mike Shadley about the timing on that first. You’ll just have to wait to find out.”

  Aiden made a face. “I can wait. That’s me. Mr. Patient. But I’ll start going forward with the assumption that I’ll have your help on this. And soon.”

  “I have to admit, I’m intr
igued by the idea of possibly diving into the mind of a black widow.”

  Aiden grinned broadly, slipping his credit card back into his wallet. “Don’t tell Mike that I’m bribing you…but I thought you might.”

  The End

  To be continued…

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