Lethal Attraction: Against the Rules\Fatal Affair Read online

  “I’ve got some money put away, and there’s that money coming from John, too, so I’m not going to make any hasty decisions. In fact, it might be time for a change.”

  “What kind of change?”

  “I used to toy with the idea of going to law school. It’s probably too late now, but I still think about it.”

  “If it’s what you want, you should do it.”

  Nick chuckled as he tweaked her nose. “So you’d be willing to put up with a professional student for a couple of years?”

  “Whatever makes you happy makes me happy.”

  He shifted so he was on top of her. “You make me happy.”

  Sam’s arms curled around his neck to bring him in for a kiss full of love and promise. She wrapped her long legs around his hips and arched her back, seeking him.

  As Nick slid into her, he was so overwhelmed by love for her it took his breath away. Trying to get a hold of his emotions, he stayed still for a long moment until she began to wiggle under him, asking for more. What had earlier been frenetic was now slow and dreamy. He leaned in to kiss her, managing to hang on to his control until she gripped his ass to keep him inside her when she climaxed.

  “Sam,” he gasped as he pushed into her one last time, unable to believe they had managed to top perfection.

  CHAPTER 34

  Sam was trying to shake off the sex-induced stupor and open her eyes to go back to work when her phone rang. Checking the caller ID, she saw it was Gonzo. “What’ve you got?”

  “A bloodbath,” he said. “They’re both dead.”

  Giving herself a second to absorb the news, she said, “How?”

  “Noel was shot twice in the head at close range. Just like the other one, she was tied to the bed and tortured.”

  “I’m on my way.” Sam sat up and started pulling on clothes.

  “What’s wrong?” Nick mumbled, half asleep.

  “Noel and Natalie Jordan were murdered in their house.”

  He gasped. “Oh my God.”

  “I’ve got to get over there.”

  Reaching for his jeans, he said, “I’ll come with you.”

  “No! There’s no need. Peter’s locked up, and I have to work.”

  “I promise I’ll stay out of the way.”

  “You never stay out of the way.”

  “I knew these people, Sam. Don’t make me stay home.”

  He looked so uncharacteristically vulnerable that her heart went out to him. She understood all at once that more than anything he didn’t want to be alone just then. “Okay, but you will stay out of the way.”

  “I promise.”

  *

  On the way to Belle Haven, Sam arranged for surveillance on Elin Svendsen’s apartment building in case Patricia showed up there looking to make Elin her next victim. To Nick, she said, “Can you call Christina? I need the full list of every woman John dated during the years she worked for him.”

  “All of them?”

  “Every one. I want names, addresses and phone numbers. Patricia has been gathering the same info we have. She’s had someone digging into his past. I want to know what else she found—or rather who else.”

  “Christina might not have all that.”

  Sam shot him a withering look. “She was in love with him. You think she doesn’t have the full lowdown on all the women he dated? Give me a break. She’s probably got every detail down to their bra size in a spreadsheet. Tell her to e-mail the list to me.”

  While Nick made the call, Sam ordered first shift to be called in early. Rounding up all of John’s Barbies was going to take some serious manpower. Her cell phone rang, and Sam took the call from Detective Jeannie McBride.

  “We’ve checked every hotel in the city,” Jeannie said. “No hits for a Patricia Donaldson. Do you want me to start checking the burbs?”

  Sam thought about that for a moment. “Try Patricia O’Connor, and get some extra people on it. I need that info ASAP.”

  “You got it, Sergeant.”

  Sam ended the call, but clutched the phone as they sped toward the Jordans’ house. “I can’t believe I didn’t get to her sooner.”

  “She was the love of his life. Why would you think it was her?”

  “He was the love of her life. Not the other way around. If a guy loves a woman the way she told us he loved her, he’s not banging everything he can get his hands on when he’s not with her. I think maybe she was still caught up in their teenage Romeo and Juliet romance, but he’d moved on. I’d sure love to talk to their kid. Thomas.”

  “He must be somewhere local with the funeral the day after tomorrow.”

  “If he is, we’ll find him—and his mother. I just hope we get to her before she gets to another of John’s girlfriends.”

  By the time they arrived, the Jordans’ Belle Haven neighborhood was overrun with emergency vehicles.

  Gonzo met them, his usually calm demeanor rattled. “I got here as soon as I could after Cruz called to tell me you wanted her picked up. The door was open. I saw him lying in the foyer and immediately called it in. We’re getting some shit from Alexandria, so you’ll have to talk your way in.”

  Calling on every ounce of patience she could muster, Sam explained to the Alexandria Police that the Jordan murders were possibly tied to Senator O’Connor’s killing. After some territorial squabbling and just as she was about to get ugly with them, they agreed to let her view the crime scene. They made Nick wait outside.

  Noel had been taken quickly in the foyer. Sam deduced that he’d opened the door and was shot before he had time to even say hello to the caller.

  “He’s the number two guy at Justice,” she said with a smug smile for the cocky Alexandria detective who’d tried the hardest to keep her out. “You might want to let the attorney general know that his deputy’s been murdered.”

  Flustered, the young detective said, “Yes, of course.”

  Pleased to have defused some of his arrogance, she went upstairs to see what had been done to Natalie. She’d been bound in almost the exact same fashion as Tara. And like Tara, the blood between her open legs told the story of sadistic sexual torture. “Is that a hairbrush?” Sam asked, staring at the object that had been left in Natalie’s vagina.

  “I think so,” the medical examiner said.

  Sam grimaced. Judging from the ligature marks on Natalie’s neck, she too had been strangled after suffering through a prolonged attack.

  Patricia was exacting revenge, one woman at a time.

  The Alexandria Medical Examiner estimated time of death at about three hours prior. Sam’s gut clenched at the realization that Noel must’ve just gotten home from the polygraph when they were attacked. If she’d only pieced this together a little sooner, she might’ve been able to save them.

  Since it wasn’t her crime scene, she stepped outside after asking the detectives for a courtesy copy of their report.

  Nick was once again leaning against the car, waiting for her.

  “Same thing as Tara.”

  “Christ,” he whispered. “I didn’t like Natalie, but the thought of what she must’ve gone through…”

  Sam ran her fingers through her long hair, fighting off exhaustion that clung to her like a heavy blanket. “I know.”

  “I’ve been thinking…”

  She glanced up at him to find his face tight with tension and distress. “About?”

  “Graham and Laine.”

  The statement hung in the air between them, the implications almost too big to process.

  Sam tossed the keys to him. “You drive while I work.”

  As they flew across Northern Virginia, Nick’s big frame vibrated with tension. “You don’t really think…”

  “That she’d go after the people she blames for ruining her life? Yeah, I really think.”

  “God, Sam. If she hurts them…” His voice broke.

  She reached for his hand. “We may be way off.” But just in case they weren’t, she gave the Loudon County Po