Deadly Desire (Carrington-Hill Investigations Book 2) (10 page)

Marco rubbed the stubble on his face. “We assumed we were dealing with a
n obsessed woman with tunnel vision, one that would make mistakes, but we were wrong.”

Marco clicked on the keyboard again and fast
-forwarded farther into the video. The black-haired woman pulled the door silently closed so that it didn’t make a sound. No wonder Sara had slept through the destruction of her room. She left via the other end of the corridor and pushed through the door to the stairwell, disappearing out of sight. After all of this, they’d come up with zilch. Marco turned in his chair as Sara retook her seat. What did she know? What had the tape proven?

“What does that video tell you?”

“We can mark Regina off the suspect list; I’d say her alibi is pretty tight.”

Marco gave her a slight nod. “What else?”

“The stalker is a female who knows what the hell she’s doing, although I don’t think she has black hair. She’s too smart to hand us that little detail on a silver platter.”

Marco grinned as he leaned back in his chair. “We also know the unidentified woman had a key
and, if we can find out who gave it to her, we might be able to get a description.”

As much as Sara wished it
was going to be that easy, she doubted it. “The key was probably stolen. I have a feeling, whoever she is, she wouldn’t have made such a rookie mistake.”

“I’ll check the videos of the other floors to see if we can figure out what room she came out of
, or where she returned to. Hopefully, we’ll be able to catch her with a room number and a copy of the hotel manifest.”

Chapter 11

Sara returned to Collin’s house after her meeting with Marco. Her mind raced with thoughts of everything she’d learned, everything they still didn’t know. Lexi and Catherine followed her out the French doors to the pool house with concern and determination in their eyes. They were her best friends. After years of working together in the FBI, they’d all bonded almost to the point of knowing what each one was thinking
, and right now, if she had to guess, they were concerned. And not the
what the hell are you doing with him
kind of concern, but the deep concern that expressed,
what the hell are you going to do now and your ass better stay alive
. She was surprised to find the house cleaned and everything put back in place, except for her prized possession. The coffee was unsalvageable.

“We both pitched in and knocked it out in no time flat.”
Catherine said as Lexi nodded in agreement.

And that was another reason she loved her friends. She smiled. “
I didn’t think you two knew how to clean.”

Catherine wav
ed her hand. “Bitch, please, we’ve both lived on our own for a long time.”

They plopped down on the couch as Sara grabbed a water bottle from the kitchen and returned moments later.

“What can we do to help you with the stalker?” Catherine’s brows dipped.

If Sara knew the answer to that, she wouldn’t be in this predicament. The three of them were smart, all graduating with honors. They should be able to figure out what step to take next, but right now
, Sara’s mind was drawing a big blank. “I have no idea. This woman moved with precision, almost as though she’s been trained, or maybe this isn’t her first time.”

Lexi and Catherine exchanged a
worried look before Catherine spoke up. “We’ll look into Collin’s history and check the backgrounds on all of his exes for prior arrests or restraining orders or even some type of specialized training.”

That was a start. Her stomach was in knots, not because the s
talker was now on to her but, because she’d let her guard down when she’d gone to sleep.

“So what’s your plan?” Lexi asked.

Sara shrugged. “Collin has the next few weeks filled with meetings and not much else. The next fundraiser is at the end of the month. I think I’m going to make myself an easy target while keeping him squirrelled away. After this weekend, I think it’s safe to say that the stalker has her eyes set on eliminating me from the equation.” Sara grinned as a plan started to form, one the stalker wouldn’t be able to resist. “Anyone up for a shopping trip?”

“Absolutely…” Catherine chimed in. “…I can always use more shoes.”

Sara chuckled. “I was thinking more like lingerie. That should drive any woman jealous enough to attack again. And it wouldn’t hurt having you two with me to watch my back.”

“How are you going to spring the trap? You’ve got to send her a message
, and not knowing who she is kind of makes that difficult.”

Sara grinned. “Let me deal with that.”

They made arrangements to meet the next day. She was going to make an event out of it: shopping for clothes, having lunch, and spending the afternoon out with her friends. After Lexi and Catherine left, she set her plans into motion. She picked up the phone and called in some favors. She glanced down at her watch and cursed. She only had an hour before her meeting.

Sara pulled up to the empty mall parking garage and parked right next to the door leading inside the three
-story mall. She quickly walked to the lingerie store where her stage was set, spotting the blogger right where she’d told him to set the stage. The lingerie store lights were on. A few women lingered inside, not patrons, but the owner and another employee. Each was going to play a part in Sara’s ruse. Sara grinned as she walked in the store. The manager handed her a fistful of lingerie pieces on hangers as she led the way back to the dressing room. “We’re ready whenever you are.”

Sara shimmied into the most respectful one. If you could call it that. It was black and sheer everywhere that didn’t provide essential coverage. It was something that Sara wouldn’t normally purchase, not that she’d have anyone to model it for. Her face flushed as she studied her reflection in the mirror. She stepped out of the changing room
, thinking that maybe just this once her idea hadn’t been thought all the way through.

The manager reached up and pulled the ponytail out of Sara’s hair and gestured for Sara to follow her. They moved to the middle of the store where the manager looked out to the front of the store and nodded before she moved to pretend to be adjusting the loose straps of the camisole.

“Action,” the manager said enthusiastically as if she were directing the next big box office hit. Sara couldn’t help but grin.

Within seconds
, Sanchez stood in the doorway with his high zoom lens in his hand. “I got it.”

Sanchez let his gaze lower to her bare legs. He whistled long and low. “Damn
, sugar, you’re really trying to piss her off.”

Sara straightened
, crossing her arms over her chest. “I want it on your blog by nine in the morning, and I want you to make it a big to-do that I’m buying new lingerie to spice up Collin’s and my sex life. I also want you to mention that you just took the picture and uploaded it.”

Sanchez tilted his head to the side. “You don’t ask for much, do you, sugar? Why tomorrow?”

Sara spun on her bare feet. “Because she needs to know where she can find me.”

“You think it’s smart to call her out?”

Sara glanced over her shoulder. “I’ve got to get a message to her somehow and, right now, I think you’re the key.”

She purchased the sexy little lingerie and walked with Sanchez out to the parking garage. She pushed through the steel door and threw her hand across Sanchez’s chest, effectively stopping him in his tracks. “Stay here.”

She reached down, slid her gun out of her ankle holster, and dropped her bag and purse on the ground. She checked the area before moving around her car.

“Son of a bitch slashed all four tires
,” she said to Sanchez as she reached for her phone to call Marco. She spotted a note stuck beneath her wiper blades. “Next time, it’s your throat.”

She pocketed the paper and spun around with her weapon pointed in one hand and the ringing phone pressed against her ear
, hyper aware of every sound and movement in the darkened shadows. She gritted her teeth as Marco’s phone rolled over to voice mail.

She returned back to Sanchez
. His face was pale, but he hadn’t moved. “Did you drive?”

He didn’t answer.

She snapped her fingers in front of his face. “Focus….did you drive?”

He nodded. She slipped the keys from his hand
, grabbed him by the elbow and started walking farther into the darkened garage. “Which vehicle?”

He pointed to a four
-door sedan.

She clicked the unlock button and slid into the driver’s seat as he shoved his gear in the back and hopped in the passenger’s side.

“What the hell was that back there?” Sanchez looked out of the back window before he turned toward her. “Does that mean the killer already knows about you?” His hand came up to cover his mouth. “And what does that mean for me?”

Sara rolled her eyes. “I’m not sure if it was the killer
or not. There are a lot of people who don’t particularly care for me.”

“Imagine that.” He mumbled beneath his breath.
Sanchez crossed his arms over his chest and turned to look out the side window.

When she arrived at Collin’s, the house was dark from the outside. Only the lights on the porch shined her way. Assuming he was asleep, she treaded quietly through the house, toward the kitchen, hoping to grab a drink on her way out of the back door. The kitchen was as dark as most of the rest of the house. The only light that illuminated the immediate counter space was the light from the moon shining in. She dropped her bag on the table and pulled a bottle of water out of the fridge. She kept her back to the shadow she’d noticed at the table. “What are you still doing up? I thought you’d be in bed by now.”

Sara
turned and leaned against the counter.

“
I was coming downstairs for a drink and saw the car lights,” Collin said, his voice breaking through the darkness. He stood and flicked on the light. “Was that Sanchez that dropped you off?”

She sipped her water, watching
the play of emotions on his face. His brows dipped, he clenched his jaw, if she looked close enough she might just see steam rising from his head. Was that a bit of jealousy rearing its ugly head? Jealousy of the overweight balding blogger?

She held in her snicker.
“I had to leave my car in the parking garage at the mall. My tires were slashed.”

His face turned a deep shade of red. The steam was about to blow. She could tell that he was making great strides to keep his anger and worry contained
. One day he’d figure out that crap like this happened to her just about every day. It was a way of life she’d become accustomed to.

“Do you think it was the stalker?”

She shook her head. “Nope, I think it was the senator.” She shrugged. “Or at least one of his goons. Or, heck, it could have been some juvenile delinquents out looking for a good time.”

His body went rigid. She wasn’t about to tell him
about the note in her back pocket. No, it would just worry him more. He moved to the other side of the table and picked up her bag. “Isn’t it a little late for you to go shopping?”

Sara tried to choose her words carefully. She didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to know Collin wasn’t going to approve of what she’d done but
, still, she owed him an explanation. It wasn’t as though he wouldn’t figure it out tomorrow when he saw it on Sanchez’s website. She couldn’t run the risk that he’d do anything brash, like showing up at the mall and ruining her plan.

Sara took a deep breath. “I came up with a plan.”

He motioned toward the bag. “If it includes seeing you in the lingerie you bought, you can count me in.”

He might not be getting an eyeful in person, but by nine a.m.
, he and the entire world would be getting a glimpse through the Internet. When she thought of it like that, Sara started doubting the plan she’d set in motion. Her semi-nude picture, flaws and all, would be bared for all to see, not just the stalker. “I let Sanchez snap a picture of me wearing the lingerie inside the store, so he could post in on his blog.”

Collin’s mouth parted as he continued to stare at her. He motioned toward the bag. “May I see?”

She nodded, and Collin reached for the bag and pulled out the black lingerie, holding the sliver of material up with the tips of his fingers. “You were in this, and you let him take your picture… to post on the freakin’ Internet?” His once steady voice grew louder and much deeper. “Have you lost your mind! Are you looking for a stalker of your own…because this...” He wiggled the fabric. “…is going to draw a whole hell of a lot more attention than you want.”

“I don’t need your approval, Collin. If I wanted to do a damn striptease
, I would.”

“Like hell.” He stepped toward her and stopped. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
Sara leaned against the counter, grasping the countertop behind her. If he implied just one more time that her actions were stupid, he was going to land flat on his ass, and then Marco would be really pissed at her for assaulting the client. “I’m drawing out your stalker, and I’ll have Lexi and Catherine with me when I go to the mall tomorrow. I’ve got everything covered.”

He tossed the lingerie on the table. “I’d hardly say you’ve got
everything
covered.”

Sara marched over to the French doors. “Grow up
, Collin. It’s not your body on display, and it’s no worse than having a picture taken in my bikini.” She yanked the French doors open and turned. “I know this will piss her off. She’s going to make a mistake and come after me, and I plan on nailing the bitch to the wall. When everything is said and done, the picture comes down. It’s as simple as that.”

Sara left Collin standing in the kitchen, refusing to listen to any more of his tantrum. Who the hell did he think he was? It was her decision to make and there was no talking her out of it. She stomped into the pool house, threw on her bathing suit
, and let out her frustrations the only way she knew how. She dove into the deep end of the pool. There was no pussyfooting around, no sticking her toes in to test that the temperature hadn’t changed because whether she froze her ass off or not, she needed this workout. No, she dove in without giving it a second thought, the same way she handled most everything in her life.

Sara s
ank underwater. It was the only peaceful place she’d found growing up. The surrounding silence always helped her think. Once she’d thought about investing in scuba gear, just so she could stay underwater longer. Her mind replayed the shock of finding her tires slashed and the disagreement with Collin as she swam to the other side of the pool, holding herself and her breath underwater until all of the air swooshed from her lungs. She pushed up from the bottom and reached for the side of the pool, gasping in large amounts of air when she broke the surface.