by Dawn Altieri
This was about as far from casual as it could get.
She took a deep breath, fighting to remain calm. She had a lot of anger pent up inside right now, and if she wasn’t careful, Jake’s little minion would end up taking the brunt of it. She bent forward in the chair to slip off her heels. “Just go, Adam.”
“I can’t,” he said firmly.
“Then go hang out with your buddies in the hall,” she snapped, waving one of her shoes toward the door. “Leave me alone.”
He hesitated, but at length he opened the locks and stepped into the hallway. At least someone respected her wishes.
She relocked the door, then sank deep into the chair, pulled the throw around herself, and stared through the window at the city skyline. The painful truth replayed over and over in her mind. None of the decisions she’d been forced into over the past few weeks had been her own. Tonight, the NYPD had outright used her. As a pawn, as a target, as a lure for a rapist and murderer. And Jake had gone right along with it, controlling the situation without giving her any say in the matter. Yes, there’d been cops all over the place. Yes, only an idiot would have tried to abduct her. But that’s what they had all been hoping for, counting on. They would have solved the case, gotten their suspect in custody, and had plenty of answers for the reporters swarming all over the place.
And through it all, Jake had made the decision not to tell her about any of it. Did he even realize what a betrayal that was?
The sense of trust and hope for their relationship that had previously settled in her chest now sank like a rock to the pit of her stomach. She’d ignored what he’d said about not having time for a relationship and thought she’d come to mean something to him beyond a quick, convenient fling. He’d told her he’d never be able to make her happy.
So why had she been so damned happy with him? Why had she felt like she had everything she wanted when she’d believed she could have him?
More than an hour passed before a knock came, followed by Jake’s voice. “Emma, it’s me.”
Reluctantly, she rose from the chair and unhooked the locks. Jake stood in the doorway, his bow tie hanging loose and the top buttons of his shirt undone. He spoke in hushed tones with Adam for a moment, then stepped inside the room and gently closed the door.
She pulled the throw blanket tighter around her and moved toward the windows, away from him. His footsteps came up slowly behind her, and he placed his hands on her arms, rubbing them gently.
“Emma…” he began, but his voice trailed off.
She turned to face him. “You were trying to lure him out. Bringing me here tonight, showing me off outside. You even had this room reserved, in case you needed to hide me. You were hoping he’d try to get to me. That’s why you put a tracking device on the earring.”
“I had no choice. I could have lost my job—”
“I could have lost my life!”
The color drained from his face, and a rush of air burst from his chest as if she’d punched him in the stomach. Good. He deserved to feel as sick over this as she did.
“I would never have let that happen,” he said, his voice low and tortured. “It was the lieutenant’s plan, not mine. I had orders to follow, but I never would’ve let anything happen to you.”
“Was he here? The man who’s trying to kill me?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. Someone paid one of the doormen to deliver that envelope. We don’t know if it was him, or how close he got. We searched all the common areas in the hotel and the surrounding streets, but we came up with nothing.”
The anguish in his eyes softened her fury but fell far short of eliminating it. “What was in the envelope?” She set her jaw in firm determination.
Her determination was no match for his. He stared back at her, unwavering, silent. He still wouldn’t give her an answer.
She spun toward the windows again, pinching her eyes shut to ward off the tears that threatened. “Take me home.”
“We’re not going home. I’m taking you to the Island.”
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Emma rose from the bed at the beach house, giving up on sleep. They’d left the hotel and driven out to Bayville in the middle of the night without stopping at the apartment. Once they arrived, Jake had given her a ton of safety instructions, including a basic firearms lesson to show her how to unlock and fire several guns he had stashed around the house. She begrudgingly followed along even though she couldn’t imagine using any of them. It did make her feel a bit safer, but not enough to get any rest.
She rummaged through the small dresser until she found one of Jake’s NYPD T-shirts and a pair of basketball shorts that were huge on her but would have to do since she had nothing with her but her evening gown. She grabbed the sapphire earrings off the dresser and headed downstairs. Jake would want them back to return to the precinct.
He and Adam were still sitting at the kitchen table, right where she’d left them, now over coffee cups and a box of breakfast pastries from a nearby bakery. A light breeze blew through the open windows, and the first beams of sunlight filled the room with a warm glow. Someone had clipped a few pale-pink roses from the climbers she’d chosen for the trellis outside and arranged them in a glass of water in the middle of the table.
Jake lifted his head but didn’t say a word as she walked up and reached past him to pick through the pastry box. She soon closed it. There was no way she could eat.
“Good morning, Adam,” she said.
Adam glanced at Jake, then back at Emma. “Morning,” Adam said.
Jake stood and handed her the last steaming cup. Her eyes met his, and for a fleeting moment she forgot all about the danger they were facing. He looked exhausted, with his hair an unruly mess, dark circles under his eyes, and an overgrowth of stubble on his face. She took the cup, noticing the English breakfast tea bag dangling off the side of it, and quietly cursed him for making it so damned hard to stay mad at him…until she remembered how he’d kept her in the dark as he risked her life.
She turned away, headed into the living room, and dropped onto the sofa with her head in her hands for a long moment before she lifted her eyes and noticed some papers on the coffee table.
Official-looking papers with her name on them.
She looked closer, realizing it was a sales contract for the flower shop Jake had shown her. She hadn’t had a chance to give it any thought since that day on the motorcycle, and she definitely hadn’t told him she wanted to buy it. Still he’d had the nerve to contact the realtor on his own and have a contract drawn up, without even asking her?
“How did you sleep?” he asked from the kitchen doorway.
She stood and spun back to him. “I didn’t. How about you?”
He shook his head.
She shoved a hand into the pocket of the basketball shorts she wore and held the sapphire earrings out to him. “I assume you need to give these back.”
His scowl hardened. “The earrings are yours. You don’t have to give them back.”
As if she’d ever be able to bring herself to wear them again. She dropped the earrings on the lamp table next to the staircase. “Yes, I do.”
“I’m sorry, Emma,” he said, his voice anguished and strained. “I never should’ve brought you there without telling you everything. Being under orders was no excuse. I just wanted to catch him so goddamned bad I went along with it. I wanted it all to be over.”
He’d said as much last night during the car ride, and again before she’d gone up to bed. Somehow, hearing his excuse once more didn’t make it any easier to accept. “You had to do it. I understand.”
But she didn’t understand. Didn’t understand how he’d brought her to that damned gala and put her life at risk without giving her any choice.
“I love you, Emma.”
Her mouth fell open as she shot a glance at him, and
she saw nothing but sincerity in his eyes. “Excuse me?”
“I don’t know why the hell I tried to fight it. I know it took me too long to figure it out, but after last night, the thought of losing you…” His voice trailed off and he ran his hand roughly through his hair. “I don’t want us to end, to just be some temporary thing that’s over once we lock this guy up. I’ve had enough temporary shit in my life. You make me want more.”
Stunned, she let her gaze fall to his chest, then to the floor. After weeks of telling herself they were a bad fit, that he was too controlling, that she couldn’t handle the uncertainty of his dangerous career…she wasn’t sure what to think. “You said you had no room in your life for a relationship. That you could never make me happy.”
“I was an idiot,” he said on a gust of air. “I’ll probably never make you as happy as you make me, but I want to try.” He took her hand in his, a promise he meant everything he said. “I want us to get past all this bullshit. I just want to be with you.”
She pulled her fingers from his. Her pent-up tears threatened to overflow, but they weren’t tears of happiness as they should’ve been after what he’d said. She rubbed her eyes to force them away.
Could she trust him? Could she trust anyone? She didn’t know. But she did know she couldn’t handle someone else controlling her life and keeping things from her.
He cleared his throat, likely taking her silence for rejection. “Anyway. I need to get back to the city,” he said. “Adam will stay with you. I’ve talked to the Bayville police department. They’ll be running extra patrols in the neighborhood.”
She gave him a quick nod and decided against arguing that no one could have followed them this far from the city without being spotted. She couldn’t know that for sure. Besides, the less she said about anything right now, the better.
He tossed his cup in the garbage and grabbed his keys off the lamp table. “Do not go anywhere without Adam.” He landed a quick kiss on her forehead. “I promise you, once this whole thing is over, everything will go back to the way it used to be.”
And there it was. Exactly what she was afraid of.
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Jake leaned back in the chair in the hotel’s security office, running his palm over his face and fighting to keep his thoughts straight. Al Marino had spent half the night with the security manager and the doorman in this room, reviewing video footage and trying to find the guy who’d had the envelope delivered to Jake, but they’d had no luck. Jake had scanned it all again, hoping to spot something unusual, something that didn’t fit, and he hadn’t fared any better. He was wasting his time. The killer probably hadn’t been caught on camera. More likely, he’d gotten someone else to deliver the envelope to the waiter who’d brought it to Jake—the envelope containing the killer’s promise that Emma would be his next victim.
Jake’s gut roiled again at the thought, just as it had when he’d unfolded the letter a mere foot away from her last night. What the hell had he been thinking, allowing her to be put in that kind of danger? He never should’ve gone along with the lieutenant’s plan. But he couldn’t risk having O’Shea take him off the case…not with Emma’s life on the line, and not with that damned promotion hanging over his head.
All Jake wanted was to end this untenable situation. So he’d caved and put solving the case first, and his career above Emma’s safety, even after he’d sworn he’d never make that mistake again. He deserved every ounce of her anger.
He thought back to that wall of photos at the beach house, back to a time when life was easy and carefree. Back when the thing that mattered most to him had been his family. That was still the case, only now his sense of family included Emma. He’d give anything to change the decisions he’d made. He didn’t care what happened with his job, didn’t care about all the bullshit that had been standing in his way with her. As soon as he could, he’d tell her again how he felt about her and what she meant to him, how the thought of spending even one day without her in his life ripped his heart to pieces.
At least he had her safely out of the city now. He couldn’t afford to be careless again. He’d been in touch with his high school buddies who were now on the force in Bayville. The local PD was on high alert, and he’d make sure she was not left alone until this bastard was caught.
But what if that wasn’t enough? The local guys weren’t experienced dealing with psychotic serial killers. The weight of it all bore down hard.
His cell phone buzzed in his pocket. “Quinn,” he announced sharply.
“Jake, it’s Al. I’m back at the precinct. I just sent you some info on Matt Sommers.”
Jake paused the video he’d been reviewing and gave Marino his full attention.
After waiting weeks to talk to Emma’s “friend” who claimed to want to do whatever he could to help, Jake had decided to get some answers on his own. Hell, he’d already screwed up royally at the gala, betraying her trust to the point he might never earn it back. Poking around and scoping out her closest friend—even if he was the only one who hadn’t yet given a statement—couldn’t make things between them any worse.
He swiveled his chair toward his laptop and refreshed the email screen. “What did you find?”
“I’ve been screwing around with that Lovematch site. Just going off this picture of him you sent me, I’m pretty sure I’ve got his profile. Just sent you the link.”
“Got it,” Jake said, waiting for the webpage to open.
He’d tracked down a photo of Sommers through Emma’s Facebook page earlier that morning when he’d first decided to take a closer look at the guy, and he’d passed it along to Marino. He clicked the link now, and there he was, although the profile identified Sommers only by his initials.
“That’s him.” Why the hell had Jake waited so long to do this?
“Good. I just got off the line with forensics,” Al said. “I’m gonna try to trace any hits between his account and the three vics. Also, I made a few phone calls. Human resources at Liberty Tech has no record of an employment application from him.”
Jake’s breath came heavier in his chest as the implications pieced themselves together in his mind. At best, Sommers was a lying son-of-a-bitch. At worst, he was hiding something Jake desperately didn’t want to believe could be true. Maybe it was a good thing Jake had never gotten his phone number and had no idea where he lived. He couldn’t swear he’d be able to control himself if he got his hands on the bastard right now.
“Came up with two addresses,” Marino went on. “First one looks like a lake cottage in his name up in Westchester, and the other one’s a full-time residence in NJ that I assume is his parents’ house. You want me to send anyone out?”
Jake stared at Matt Sommers’s dating profile and tapped his fingers on the desk, trying to decide what to do next, and cursing himself for not doing something sooner.
“You head out to Jersey,” he told Al. “Give me the upstate address. I’m going to check it out myself.”
Chapter Sixty
Emma gave up on the book she’d been struggling to read in the upstairs bedroom. She couldn’t concentrate for more than a few minutes at a time, and she’d already grown restless at the thought of being stuck inside the beach house indefinitely. She decided to go down to the kitchen to try to get some information out of Adam.
Pausing at the top of the stairs, she went into the smaller bedroom where her sapphire gown and Jake’s tuxedo both lay in a twisted pile on one of the twin beds. The outdoorsy scent of Jake’s cologne wafted up from his jacket as she lifted it and reached into the inside pocket. She’d only half expected to find the white envelope he’d received at the dinner, but there it was. Strange. He hadn’t handed it over as evidence. Maybe he’d forgotten about it? In which case, how important could it be?
She peered over her shoulder toward the stairs for a moment. Jake had left for the city, and Adam would
n’t bother her up here. She glanced at the envelope again, lifted the flap cautiously, and unfolded the paper inside.
So beautiful in blue. Soon, she will be mine.
Her free hand went over her mouth and she gasped. No wonder Jake had wanted her out of there so quickly. Once again, the killer had been watching her—at the gala, and probably countless other times.
She dropped her head back and closed her eyes, caught once again between the urge to scream in anger that Jake had put her in danger and the urge to cry in fear at how close the killer had come.
And now Jake had the nerve to tell her he loved her? How the hell was she supposed to process that?
She stuffed the paper back into the envelope and replaced it in the jacket pocket just as her cell phone rang from the bedroom across the hall. She went over and sat on the edge of the bed, cleared her throat, and swiped to answer. “Hey, Matt.”
“Hey, yourself, Em. How’d it go last night?”
She tried to keep it together. Swallowed past the lump in her throat and took a deep breath. But when she began to speak, there were nothing but sobs.
“Em? Oh, Em. Shit. Where are you?”
Chapter Sixty-One
Jake parked on the opposite side of the road, some distance away from Sommers’s small two-story lake house. Mack was in the passenger seat next to him. The cottage stood at the end of a mile-and-a-half-long wooded lane with only a couple of other homes on it.
They sat for a few minutes, watching in silence. No sign of movement in the windows, no smoke drifting up from the chimney. Last fall’s leaves had never been cleared, and legal notices clung to the glass window in the front door.