A Murderous Game

by Paris Patricia

  The doorbell rang and Abby looked at her watch. "Wow, that was fast. It's only been about twenty minutes."

  Gage pushed away from the counter. "I'll get it. It looks like the coffee's done. You pour and I'll pay for the pizza."

  Abby took two cups from the cupboard and filled them. Not knowing what he took, she got out cream and sugar, too. She got out plates and forks and set them on the counter.

  After several minutes, she began to wonder what was taking him so long and decided to check.

  "Everything okay with the—" She jerked to a stop just past the kitchen door. A cold wave of dread rippled through her. She didn't need this. And she would not, would not, allow this man to disrupt her life whenever the urge struck.

  ~~~

  Gage watched Abby take a step forward, then another, narrowing her eyes as she crossed the room. "What are you doing here, Dick?"

  Dick Carpenter glared at Gage then charged through the front door uninvited. The man stormed toward Abby, his face distorted with anger. Gage flexed his hands at his sides, ready to spring if necessary.

  "What the hell's going on here?" Carpenter yelled, only inches from Abby's face. "How dare you let that bastard into my house?"

  He swung back around, the vein in his forehead bulging. "Get out!" He shook his finger toward the door as if Gage might need help with which way out was. "Get out or I'll have your ass hauled to jail for trespassing."

  Crossing his arms, Gage leaned against the now closed door. He wasn't going anywhere, not unless Abby told him to go, and even then he'd have to give it some serious thought before he'd leave her alone with this guy.

  "Stop it!" Abby said heatedly. "This isn't your house. It's mine! And if anyone's not welcome here, it's you." She took several quick steps, positioning herself, for reasons Gage didn't understand, between him and her ex.

  If it were up to him, Gage would haul the guy out onto the sidewalk and pitch him into the street with the rest of the trash. But it wasn't his place. Abby had a right to handle her ex as she saw fit unless the man tried to hurt her. In that case he'd make it his place whether she liked it or not.

  "You have no business here, Dick. Not that I owe you an explanation, but Gage and I are working and you're interrupting."

  "Working my ass!" Carpenter got in her face again. "And don't tell me you're handling the development Faraday stole from me. Harold already told me he'd been assigned to work it." He attempted to grab Abby's wrist, but she stepped beyond his reach. Something rumbled deep in Gage's gut, primitive and instinctive. He took a step forward.

  "I don't have to explain anything to you." Abby inched further away from her ex.

  "You lying bitch. If I find out you're sleeping with this lowlife, I'll make you regret it."

  Gage's control slipped another notch.

  "Get out of here, Dick!" Abby's face burned with color. "I mean it. Get out now!"

  Carpenter ignored her and threw a hateful glance at Gage. "That development should have been mine. You might have won the bid, but things aren't over yet. You'll find that out soon enough." His eyes spilled vengeance. "I'm going to bury you, Faraday. No one takes what belongs to me." His gaze narrowed before sliding to Abby. "And that includes my wife."

  "Ex-wife," Gage reminded him dryly, "and if you threaten her again, I might lose my patience and have to hurry you along."

  Carpenter started to laugh. "You're a big talker, aren't you? Big ladies' man, too, from what I've heard."

  How had Abby gotten mixed up with such an ass? Gage stuck his tongue in his cheek. Just keep your cool, he told himself. It'd only upset Abby more if he decked the creep.

  "Yeah," the other man snorted. "Billings told me you're supposed to be some kind of international playboy or something. So what are you doing hanging around my wife?"

  "I told you to leave," Abby said, her voice taut with barely controlled anger. "Leave or I'm calling the police."

  "I'll leave. But I'll be back when your boyfriend isn't around. I've still got stuff here and I want it."

  "If that's what you came for, I'll box up everything and send it to you. But don't come back again; I don't want you here."

  Carpenter turned back to Gage. "You're in for a big disappointment where my wife is concerned."

  Gage straightened to his full height, which put him about three inches above Carpenter. "She told you to leave. I think you should do what she says."

  "Or what? You'll make me?" The guy laughed. "You think that'll win points with her?"

  He strutted back towards Abby, and Gage flinched. "Guess lover boy hasn't gotten you into the sack yet. If he had, he'd know you weren't worth sniffing around, wouldn't he, sweetheart?" He clamped his fingers around Abby's chin.

  Gage was on the man before he could take another breath. He grabbed Carpenter by the arm and spun him around.

  "You had your chance," Gage bit out. "Now it's time to say goodbye."

  He hauled him to the door, and with great relish, pitched him onto the sidewalk. Carpenter landed on his ass. He got up quickly, dusted himself off, and glared at Gage.

  "You'll pay for that, you prick."

  "Send me a bill," Gage said, and closed the door with a solid thud, securing the deadbolt before turning back to face Abby.

  Her eyes came up to his slowly. He couldn't begin to interpret everything he saw there. He just knew that wherever she'd gone, she shouldn't be there alone.

  "Are you all right?" He walked toward her.

  "Fine," she said, barely loud enough for him to hear. He wanted to comfort her but wasn't sure if she'd let him. He decided to follow his instincts.

  "Come here," he said, spreading his arms. Without hesitation she fell into his embrace. Gage hugged her against his chest. When he did, something inside him shifted.

  ~~~

  Abby let him surround her. His arms were a sheltering enclave of warm comfort that asked for nothing, only gave what she chose to take.

  She laid her head against Gage's chest, over his heart. The sturdy beat of it soothed her. She focused on it. The pace. The rhythm. The sure and steady strength of it. Lulled, she let her emotions fall in line with it, calming her.

  She could feel his mouth against her hair, trailing kisses, murmuring close to her ear. Words she couldn't make out. Better that way, at least for now.

  Gently she slipped out of his hold. "I'm sorry you were subjected to that. Dick had no right to accuse you of anything. Especially—" She closed her eyes. "Especially anything between the two of us."

  "Don't apologize. You're not responsible for his behavior."

  "I know." She sighed wearily. "But I'm still sorry you had to be exposed to our ugliness."

  "His," Gage said, lifting her chin. He looked like he might kiss her, and if not for the knock on the door at that moment, she thought she'd have willingly gone back into his arms and let him.

  "The pizza," she said with a shaky smile. And this time it was.

  They took the food into the kitchen to eat. Gage watched her patiently, as if waiting for her to talk more about what had happened. Instead, she dove into next steps for River Place One. He let her steer the conversation. She could see the questions in his eyes, but he didn't press.

  Silently, Abby thanked him for giving her the space she needed. She feared opening up their relationship to any more intimacy than she'd already allowed without risking a broken heart.

  A short while later they agreed to call it a night. Before opening the door to let him out, Abby put a hand on Gage's arm. "Thank you for being so understanding about what happened with Dick."

  "Nothing to understand. I'll talk to you in a couple of days."

  "Okay. And by the way, I think you were right. We're going to make a great team."

  "We already do, Abby." His mouth covered hers before she saw it coming and in under a minute, their tempered goodbye turned into a parting of fire. Strictly business became intimately personal.

  They might have stood there for hours if it had bee
n up to her, but almost as quickly as he'd pulled her to him, Gage broke the kiss and stepped back.

  "Goodnight, green eyes." He chucked her under the chin and opened the door. Abby stood in the doorway and watched him go. Gage looked over his shoulder and grinned. "Think about me," he said, then strolled down the sidewalk, his hands in his pockets.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  It took very little effort for Harold Billings to shove Abby right off the proverbial wagon. He was so naturally despicable, that despite earlier promises of abstinence, her murderous bent thrived. She'd killed him Monday. She'd killed him Tuesday, and Wednesday was shaping up to be a bloody day as well.

  She trailed a thumb nail back and forth over her mouth. All week she'd been out of sorts. She could no longer deny her feelings for Gage. She was falling in love with him all over again, and she didn't seem to have any choice in the matter.

  Only now he didn't chuck her chin, hand her a bag of taffy, and send her on her way with a wink. Oh, no. Now before he chucked her under the chin and sent her on her way, he dragged her hard up against his muscular chest, possessed her mouth, and gave her a very different kind of treat.

  She groaned, disgusted with herself for not being able to go twenty minutes without thinking of him. She'd better concentrate on recreating the ad outline she'd prepared to review with him.

  Misplacing her file on GFI only proved how distracted she'd become. She never lost things. Once again she tried to remember where she could have put it. The last she remembered seeing it had been Monday night. She'd taken a break to make tea and distinctly recalled setting it down on the trunk. She could see herself doing it in her head.

  Just like now, she'd been having trouble concentrating and had thought a diversion might help. She'd started reading her old diary and gotten carried away with it. Several hours later she'd jerked awake from some crazy dream to find she'd fallen asleep in the club chair. The next morning, running late as usual, she'd dashed off to work and forgotten her notes.

  Now they'd gone missing, along with the diary. She must have picked them up and put them somewhere that night, but where? She frowned. They'd show up sooner or later, but in the meantime she'd just have to make up a new outline.

  Abby heard Billings laugh and looked out into the hall. Fabulous, she thought, her two favorite people to dislike. Before she could look away and avoid eye contact, Dick stuck his head into her office.

  "You and I have some things to talk about," he said, his eyes cold as they flicked over her. "I'm coming by the townhouse tonight. Be alone when I do."

  Abby swallowed back a thread of apprehension before reminding herself he didn't have any power over her anymore. "Anything we had to settle was handled by our lawyers," she told him. "There's no reason for you to come over. There's nothing left for us to discuss, and I've already boxed up and mailed all your things back to you."

  If at all possible his eyes grew colder. "Oh, but we do have something to discuss. You held back on me, and I'm not at all pleased about that." He straightened away from the door. "Tonight," he said, "and don't do something stupid like call your boyfriend."

  Dick turned and left with Billings before she could object further. What could he possibly want now? And what did he mean she'd held back on him? She'd met all his demands just to get out of their excuse for a marriage, even giving him the Florida property.

  If he thought he could walk into her life anytime he felt like it and push her around, he had another think coming. She'd call him that afternoon and tell him if he didn't stay away from her, she'd slap a restraining order on him.

  She followed through and called Dick a couple of hours later, but he was in a meeting, so she asked to be put through to his voicemail and left a very clear message what she would do if he came by.

  ~~~

  The rain that accompanied her on her morning commute had clung to the day with tenacious tentacles, unwilling to loosen its hold. Rather than wait for a cab, which might be twenty or thirty minutes at this time of day, Abby decided to take the high-speed train line to Eighth and Market and walk the remaining blocks to Third and Delancey.

  Her new compact purse umbrella decorated with Monet's Water Lilies turned out to be a lot prettier than it was functional. By the time she got home she was drenched. After taking a hot shower, she put on some sweats, and not feeling very hungry, settled on a tuna sandwich for dinner.

  She'd tried to reach Gage that afternoon as he'd requested, but every time she phoned he was in a meeting. Finally, around six thirty, she left a message with Grace that she was leaving for the day and would call him Thursday morning.

  He called her at home around eight to say he'd just gotten out of a meeting that had been scheduled to end at six.

  "If you're not too tired, I could drive to your place and meet with you now. I didn't have lunch, though, so unless I get some food soon, I won't be in a very good mood. If you haven't eaten yet, I can pick up something for both of us."

  It had been three days since she'd seen him and she missed him, a clear warning she was getting in deep. She was also worried Dick might ignore her threat and come over anyway. It had been bad enough he'd showed up the last time Gage was there. She didn't want to risk the embarrassment of an encore.

  "Actually I am a little tired," she said, "and I already made myself dinner. In fact I just finished eating."

  "Oh yeah? I got the impression you couldn't cook. I think you mentioned something about that once."

  Abby frowned. "I can manage a few simple things."

  "How simple?" he asked, sounding amused.

  "Tuna on whole wheat. If I really feel like stretching my gourmet muscle, I'll add a slice of tomato. And if I'm shooting for the cover of Bon Appetit, I'll throw on a couple of spinach leaves and surround it with a bed of potato chips."

  His laughter made her smile. "Go ahead and laugh, Mr. Faraday," she said, pretending to be offended, "but I'll have you know one night last week I made myself rosemary roasted chicken with red bliss potatoes, green beans almandine, and cherry crumble for dessert."

  He was quiet a moment then said, "I'm impressed. Banquet?"

  "Stouffers," she admitted, "but the idea to grind fresh pepper on the chicken was entirely mine."

  "I miss you, green eyes." His voice had turned low and warm and undeniably sexy.

  Abby shook herself. "I don't have any appointments tomorrow afternoon. We could meet then if you're free," she said, trying to keep the conversation on business.

  "So tonight's out?"

  "If you don't mind. It's getting a little late."

  "No problem," his tone became brisk. "I'll be tied up part of the day but expect to be back in the afternoon. Why don't you come to my office at three?"

  "Let me just check something." She pulled her day planner out of her briefcase and flipped it open. "Actually, I do have a client coming in at one thirty, but that shouldn't take more than an hour. Why don't we say three thirty? I shouldn't have any trouble making it by then."

  "Three thirty then," he agreed. "I'll block off the rest of the afternoon."

  After hanging up, she sank into the chair and leaned her head against the cushion. She had thought life would get easier once her divorce went through. But then, she hadn't counted on Gage showing up to complicate things. She stretched her arms over her head and clasped her hands together.

  Standing up, she bent to the right, feeling the muscles pull along her side. She took a deep breath and then let it out as she came back up slowly and then bent left, stretching again.

  There was no use pretending she hadn't already gotten too involved with him. She gave her shoulders a roll then picked up her sandwich plate and carried it into the kitchen.

  Maybe she should just stop worrying about what might happen and go with the flow. Life would deal whatever cards it chose, and she'd have to figure out how to play them when it did. Even if she succeeded in keeping their relationship on a professional level, she knew she'd always wonder what it would h
ave been like to love and be loved by Gage.

  A stronger force than she seemed to be pulling them together, and she was tired of fighting it. She'd tried and failed. She wanted to experience what he offered, even if it couldn't last. Yes, it would suck when things ended, but it wasn't like her life had been much of a laugh fest lately anyway.

  She was miserable not giving in to her emotions, so how much worse could it be if she did? The answer didn't seem to justify giving up on a dream she'd had since she was fifteen, and in that moment the battle between her head and heart ended.

  When she crawled into bed later that night, Abby felt at peace. Go ahead life, she thought with a slight smile, deal me a new hand. I've decided to play. She closed her eyes and slept soundly. Her dreams were sweet.

  Two days later Dick was dead. Really dead.

  CHAPTER NINE

  "I realize this is difficult, Mrs. Carpenter." The detective leaned forward, pen in one hand, notepad in the other. "If you could answer the questions, though, we'll try not to keep you any longer than necessary."

  Abby stared at her joined fingers. Shock at the news of Dick's murder had begun to mix with guilt. She wished she could take back all the nasty things she'd said. Undo all the times she'd smugly killed him and smiled about it. Now that he was really dead, vengeance didn't feel so good anymore.

  "Mrs. Carpenter?"

  Abby looked up. "I'm sorry, what did you say your name was?"

  "Simms. Detective Eugene Simms, and my partner is Detective Baker. I asked if you can think of anyone who might have wanted to see your husband dead?" The man observed her closely, his intelligent looking brown eyes watchful, probing.

  "I don't know. I mean, he, Dick knew a lot of people. And, well, he wasn't. . .we were divorced. It was just recently finalized." She glanced at Simms, his scrutiny unnerving. He made her uncomfortable just sitting there, as if he were waiting for something more. For what, she wondered? She didn't know anything.