Deja Vu

by Samantha Gentry

  He cupped her breast and teased her nipple with the tip of his tongue until it puckered into a taut bud. His touch excited her senses as no one else ever had. She wanted to know about his plan, but as he said…it could wait. Right now she wanted more of him.

  And that was her last conscious thought. His mouth claimed hers in a passion-filled kiss. Tremors of excitement assaulted her senses when he slipped his finger between her feminine folds and sensually stroked her core. Her breathing quickened as the delicious sensations coursed through her body. Her fingers wrapped around his rigid shaft. His groan of pleasure reached her ears, sending her level of arousal soaring. Waves of incendiary delight crashed through her body causing her to cry out in delicious release.

  Gable reached for a condom. A minute later he positioned himself between her legs and slowly entered her. She gasped as the intense sensation filled her. Every time he touched her, every place he touched her, left her panting for more. Everything about him pushed her to the pinnacle. He guided her into a smooth rhythm that quickly escalated as the heat built to a fever pitch. She tightened her legs and arms around him as the orgasmic convulsions claimed her again. Seconds later his body shuddered as his climax meshed with hers.

  They held each other for what seemed like a long time, neither of them wanting to move or break the magical spell binding them together. She reveled in the closeness and warmth she felt with him, something she didn’t want to ever lose. Their lives had become entwined on several levels ranging from the passion of their lovemaking to the dangers of the mystery unfolding around them.

  Thirty years ago two people were murdered. The murderer had escaped detection…until now. But how to get him into the open, prove that J.D. Prescott and Winthrop Hollingsworth were one and the same and that he killed his wife and Jack Stinson?

  “Stay with me all night.” Gable’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

  “Mmmm…I’d like to, but isn’t that a little dangerous? What if someone sees me leaving your room in the morning? Especially if that person is Brian?”

  A sigh of resignation escaped his throat. “You’re right. When I change Brian’s shift, I’ll have him working from nine in the morning until six in the evening. That won’t interfere with what happens here first thing in the morning.” He brushed a kiss across her lips. “That will allow us our privacy in addition to keeping Brian where I can watch him.”

  “I like that.” She snuggled her body against his for a moment, then sat up. “But until then, I need to get back to my room before it gets any later. I imagine Brian does his snooping after midnight.”

  “Let’s stage a little show for his benefit. Instead of you going back to your room, let’s go to the game room and play a little pool. We’ll make sure he knows we’re there, then I can check in at the security room to make sure he stays put while you go to your room so you won’t be confronted by him in the hallway again.”

  Gable wrinkled his forehead into a slight frown as he locked eye contact with her. “I don’t want to worry you, but it might be a good idea if you hook the back of a chair under the door knob in your room to make sure no one can get in…something more than just locking the door.”

  Her eyes widened in surprise. “Do you think I’m in danger?”

  “I’m sure you’re not, but you did say Brian was dangerous, that you were fearful around him. There’s no point in tempting fate.” He leaned his face into hers and placed a soft kiss on her lips. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

  Gable climbed out of bed and pulled her up with him. “So, are you ready to tackle the game room?”

  They dressed and quickly put their plan into action. Once in the game room, they laughed and carried on a casual conversation about movies and books. They continued their charade for nearly an hour. At eleven o’clock Lexi went to her room and Gable went to the security office.

  “How’s it going, Brian?”

  “Just fine, Mr. Talbot. Everything’s quiet. It looks like having that reporter arrested must have made an impression on him and everyone else who heard about it.”

  Gable perched on the edge of the desk trying his best to appear casual. “I need to make a change in work assignments. I want to put you on days, nine in the morning until six in the evening. In fact,” he glanced at his watch, “I’d like to start that new schedule right away. As you said, things have been quiet around here. Why don’t you take off now so you can get some sleep and then come back for the morning shift. You will be paid for a full shift tonight, of course.”

  He saw the abject surprise flash across Brian’s face. “But that will leave everything open tonight.”

  “I’m not sleepy. I’ll sit in for a few hours.”

  “Are you sure, Mr. Talbot?” A hint of uncertainty and a level of nervousness clung to his words.

  “Lexi and I were playing pool, but she gave up and went to bed. As I said, I’m not tired.”

  “Uh…do you mind if I ask why the change? Are you unhappy with my work?”

  Gable forced a casual chuckle. “Of course not. There will be some changes happening shortly and I want to have a more efficient rotation in place before that. I’ll be putting on a couple more guards, too.”

  Brian’s reaction to the news left no confusion about Gable’s head of security being rattled by this unexpected news. Would Brian be calling Prescott right away knowing full well that the three hour time difference made it a little after two o’clock in the morning on the east coast?

  As soon as Brian left the house, Gable slipped out the side door and shadowed him. Rather than going back to the guard’s dorm, he wandered across the lawn to the back of the yard. When he reached the trees, he made a call from his cell phone. Gable wasn’t close enough to hear what was being said, but the fact that Brian made a call from an isolated location where he couldn’t be overheard spoke for itself.

  Gable hurried back to the security room, took his cell phone from his pocket and hit a speed dial number. A couple of seconds later he had a response on the other end. “We’re set.” He disconnected from the call, then phoned Ralph and the two other guards to notify them of the schedule changes.

  ****

  “This is perfect.” Lexi glanced at Gable, then read the text of the email once again before clicking the send button. “If this doesn’t throw a monkey wrench in Prescott’s plans, I don’t know what will. It gives him what he asked for, but takes away his control of the situation.”

  “Exactly. My first response will be to decline his request for the party because of the adverse publicity about the skeletons. His need for control won’t allow him to play a waiting game. He’ll get back to you right away and have you convey to me all the reasons it has to be and he’ll keep at it until I give in. That’s when we hit him with our list of conditions for agreeing to his party request.”

  Gable checked the time. “Dolly will have breakfast ready in a couple of minutes. By the time we finish eating, we might have an answer from Prescott. Then we can hit him with the second email.”

  Breakfast was next on the list. Lexi went to the kitchen first rather than the two of them arriving together. Dolly and Hank were already there and, to her surprise, so was Brian. Gable joined them a few minutes later.

  An uneasy feeling reverberated through Lexi’s consciousness. A couple of times she caught Brian staring at her, but wasn’t sure how to read his expression other than it made her nervous. She had never wanted to be finished with a meal as quickly as she did that one.

  After finishing his breakfast, Gable made an announcement that caught everyone by surprise, including Lexi. “I am initiating several changes in preparation for what I anticipate being an onslaught of unwanted publicity and interruptions to the daily routine as a result of the skeletons. As I’m sure Brian has mentioned, I have changed the guards’ schedules and am also putting on a couple more security guards. I’ve changed the locks on the Victorian mansion and instituted security measures there including a timer to turn lights
on and off inside the mansion at random times. I’ve also made arrangements with Bud Lansing for a sheriff’s deputy to make a stop here at least once a day on an arbitrary schedule of his choosing. The deputy will check with you, Brian, to make sure everything is okay, which is one of the reasons I’ve put you on days.”

  She could tell by the looks on Dolly’s and Hank’s faces that they were unaware of Gable changing the locks on the mansion. That one surprised her, too. For some reason he didn’t want anyone to be able to get inside. Could that explain his lie to her about not changing anything on the third floor in spite of the new flat panel television? Someone would be staying there and Gable didn’t want anyone to know about it? More secrets. Obviously something he didn’t want to share with her, either. She didn’t know whether to be unhappy or hurt that he apparently didn’t trust her with the complete truth.

  As anticipated, when Lexi checked her email after breakfast she found a response from Prescott about Gable’s refusal to allow the party reenactment. Gable smiled when he read it, giving Lexi a knowing wink.

  “He suckered into the bait. He’s now playing on our terms. Let him sweat for a couple of hours, then send the next one saying I’m considering it but it doesn’t look good.”

  “I wonder what the announcement is that he mentioned, something that will shed new light on the cold case.”

  “He’s probably come up with a new ending for the story, one that will tie up the loose ends as a result of finding the skeletons, make him look good, and guarantee a best-seller for his book.”

  Lexi looked at him quizzically. “Yes, but what could that be? What kind of a new ending did he dream up that will explain everything, especially when he has to take into account that the lab can prove Winthrop is not one of the skeletons? Surely he wouldn’t come up with an announcement stating Winthrop was still alive. With the varied holdings of the Hollingsworth empire extending far beyond the borders of Washington state, that would put it into federal jurisdiction and involve the FBI in a new investigation to locate Winthrop. For someone who has spent the last thirty years establishing himself as a reclusive author, that doesn’t seem very logical to me.”

  “I’m sure we’ll know soon enough. In the meantime, I’m going to start a trace on Prescott beginning with the present and working my way back to the night of the party. One way or the other, he had already made arrangements to have cash available to him when he disappeared and it had to come from the Hollingsworth fortune. I need to find when and how he was able to make the transfer of a huge amount of funds without raising any red flags on the transaction.”

  Gable paused as he wrinkled his brow in a moment of concentration. “I also want to call Bud Lansing and ask how they’re coming with the identification of the skeletons, although it will probably take them a few days, maybe even weeks. Confirming that it’s not Winthrop is one thing, but it’s quite another to prove beyond a doubt that it’s my father even if that’s what they suspect.”

  The day seemed to pass quickly even though much of it became part of a waiting game between Gable and Prescott with back and forth emails setting the tone for the party reenactment that Gable wanted as much as Prescott did, but for reasons of his own. Lexi’s final email to Prescott agreed to the party, but stated that Gable’s terms of agreement wouldn’t be sent until the next morning. That gave Prescott all night to worry about it and further erode any control he thought he still had—a step calculated to make him careless in his actions in an attempt to regain that lost control. The ground work for Gable’s revised plan had been set.

  The ringing phone interrupted the work going on in Gable’s office. Gable answered it and listened for a moment, then responded as if the information came as a total shock to him.

  “What? You’ve got to be kidding, Bud! You’ve identified Evelyn through dental records, but the other skeleton is not Winthrop? Are you sure?”

  “There’s no mistake. We have Winthrop’s dental records and they do not match the other skeleton. Even though Winthrop’s driver’s license was found with the skeleton, it’s not him.”

  “You have verified that it’s male?”

  “Yes, the other skeleton is a male, six feet tall with no identifiable indications such as an old break of a leg, arm, or rib that’s healed and no apparent diseases that would show up in the bones. Even without the dental records, Winthrop broke his leg in a skiing accident when he was in his twenties, so that alone would rule him out in trying to identify the other body. There’s only one other person associated with this case…a male who is also missing…and that’s Jack Stinson.”

  “Can you get his dental records?”

  “Nope. We checked and the dental office burned down about ten years ago and all the old records were lost.”

  Gable’s voice continued to convey his surprise at the startling news. “What about a DNA match?”

  “So far, we don’t have anything to match the skeleton to. Jack had a twin brother, Robert Stinson, who was a professional magician. He retired a couple of years ago and was reported killed in Spain in a car accident shortly after that. From the sketchy information I’ve been able to uncover, the body was cremated and ashes scattered at sea. Jack also had a son, a young boy at the time of the disappearances, but there isn’t any information about him, either. Jack and the boy’s mother had been divorced for a while. She died three years ago. It’s like the son has disappeared off the face of the earth. It’s possible he’s living in a foreign country or he might even be dead. So, unless we can track down the son, we won’t be able to do any type of DNA match to prove or disprove that the other skeleton is Jack Stinson. Right now the lab is trying to determine the cause of death on both skeletons. Is the gravesite still cordoned off?”

  “Yes. I gave instructions for it to remain untouched until you released it as a crime scene and gave the all clear for us to do repairs on the foot path. Do you need to do some more work here?”

  “The crime scene investigators want to do a more thorough search to see if they missed anything. I’m not sure at this point exactly what they’re looking for. Possibly bullets if the bodies had been shot. Once the bodies decomposed and became only bones, any bullets embedded in the flesh or organs would have fallen through. If there are any bullets, we can try for a ballistics’ match to other crimes from that time. At the very least, we’ll know the type of weapon used.”

  “Of course. Whatever you need.”

  Gable disconnected from the call and turned toward Lexi. “That answers some questions. They’ve identified Evelyn and have confirmed the other skeleton is not Winthrop. They logically suspect it’s Jack, but don’t have any way of verifying it at this time.” He glanced at his watch. “I want to make sure Brian has this information before his shift is over. I want Prescott to know where things stand before he gets our email in the morning. That will give him some time to revamp his plan before we throw another loop at him.”

  Lexi eyed him curiously. “You know, it almost seems like you’re treating this as a game of some kind—a matching of wits with winner takes all as the ultimate prize.”

  He took her hand in his and kissed the inside of her wrist. Reveling in the warmth and emotional sensation of her touch, he brought her hand to his chest and held it there. “It is a game…of sorts.”

  Gable’s voice took on a low, almost menacing quality. “A deadly serious game that I intend to win.”

  Chapter Nine

  Lexi printed out the email. “Well, here it is. Prescott has agreed to your terms for allowing the party. He says he’ll be here in four days, the day prior to the party, as you requested.” She pointed to the last paragraph of the email. “And here’s a little surprise that he has for us.”

  Gable took the printout and read it. “One thing for sure. We need to always be on our toes and never under estimate J.D. Prescott. After all, the mind that came up with those novels he writes is the same mind that devised the original crime, one that took thirty years and a rain storm in ord
er to prove a crime had even been committed. So, it doesn’t really surprise me that he had a list of all the original party attendees and their current locations. I’m sure he had it before he hired you to do research. All of this was carefully thought out including having a spy on my payroll.”

  “And according to his email, he’s already extended his personal invitation to the guests for the party reenactment.”

  Gable’s chuckle indicated part amusement and part irritation. “Looks like he’s managed to salvage a bit of control in spite of our efforts.” His voice turned serious. “But that’s the last bit of control he’ll have. Even though his inside man is working as my head of security, it won’t give him the edge. In fact, it gives us the opportunity to use Brian to our advantage.”

  “I’m going to take that walk around the island that was originally interrupted by the sudden appearance of the skeletons. I have something I want to run through my mind and some exercise in the fresh air will help.”

  Gable wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. “Anything you’d like to share?”

  She gave a playful pat to his rear end before pulling away from him. “You have your secrets and I have mine. Besides, I want to get it figured out first. And this time I won’t have to worry about running into Brian since he’s on duty.”

  He brushed a tender kiss across her lips. “Be careful.”

  Lexi returned to her room to grab a jacket, her camera, and her recorder before starting on her walk. Hank and Dolly continued to pique her interest. Even though they seemed genuinely surprised about the skeletons—Dolly seemed more horrified than surprised—they had to know something. They worked for Winthrop and were present at the party. They claimed to have been in the kitchen, but it was only their word for it without anyone else’s corroborating statement.

  She headed along the same path as before, until she came to the place cordoned off by the sheriff’s department. She skirted the area and continued on the path. The caretaker’s cottage stood to the right. She glanced back in the direction of Gable’s house. Dolly was working there, but what about Hank? If she knew for certain that he wasn’t in the cottage and didn’t plan to be there any time soon, she would take a chance and look around inside.