As the meeting began to wind down, Michael chided himself for not warning Skylar about Reyna and Eric. While she seemed to be dealing with the surprise well enough, he knew she was a mess inside. Monty had always described his daughter as having a level head when it came to everything except for that boy. Read more »
I opened my eyes just before five that evening. Good thing, too, because I didn’t set my alarm. Part of me wished I had overslept, but I knew there was no turning back for me now. I knew that from the first moment I locked eyes with Parker Ramsey. Raptor would never expect me to come after him. I couldn’t let my feelings for Eric get in the way of that.
What were my feelings for him? With so much time between us, it was hard to say. Read more »
As though on cue, Parker returned to the living room. He shot me a look, but I pretended not to notice. I wasn’t in the mood to talk about the past anymore. I’d just vocalized the most painful detail of my father’s murder and I would have to relive another painful portion of the past in a few hours.
How many memories of pain could one person endure before they crumpled? I was just about there… Read more »
“Why does some guy I’ve never heard of want me to come to his party tomorrow night so he can kick my ass?”
Sara looked up from the mound of books she was using to research for a class project and tried to make sense of what Paul was doing in her history class. “Huh?”
The librarian gave them a stern look, so Paul Read more »
When the door opened, a pair of untrusting blue eyes greeted Jackson.
“Can I help you?”
“Are you Skylar Montgomery?”
“I am. What can I do for you?”
He flashed his badge. “I’m Special Agent Caldwell. Can I come in for a moment? There’s something I’d like to discuss with you.” Read more »
Parker needed a break from his planning so he went to Skylar’s just before one o’clock that afternoon. When he realized she wasn’t home, he let himself in to wait. It annoyed him that she was never home, even though she had no way to know when he was coming over. He needed to tell her the truth, but every minute that ticked by while he waited took away a piece of his nerve. Read more »
I left Yvette’s just after one o’clock that afternoon. I was grateful the committee meeting wasn’t until six-thirty. My mind was racing and I knew I would need every millisecond of the time to pull myself back together. It figured that the first time I chose to try and get my social life back that Eric would be somehow involved.
Pulling one over on Michael was hard enough, but no one on the planet knew me the way Eric did. Read more »
Raptor paced around his office restlessly. Two years was a long time to walk the straight and narrow. The First Alliance heist had been his largest take by far, but it still gnawed at him that it didn’t go exactly according to the plan. His plan.
Down to the last detail, everything was perfect. Read more »
Jackson waited for his partner to get off the phone. He’d spent the better part of the morning going over the details of the case until he felt like he had a good handle on the facts, but something about it was still bothering him. The file had to be incomplete. Read more »
Parker was glad his connections within the county were still intact; otherwise, he might have ended up spending hours standing in lines and flirting with lonely looking clerks to no avail. He set down the blueprints on the desk and retrieved a pad of paper from the drawer. From his first glance at the diagram, he knew this would not be an easy task.
His cell phone rang as he was detailing the security systems. Read more »
Against her will, Sara felt guilty about what she was doing. From the stack of bridal magazines, she looked like one of those women who’d secretly been planning her wedding even though she hadn’t found the groom yet. In reality, any thoughts of wedding planning – or even having some semblance of a normal life – flew out the window the night her mother died and the night Michael broke her heart.
Of course, both those things happened on the same night… Read more »
Thursday, March 18
I hadn’t slept well the previous night, probably because I was now paranoid about my security system. I gave up on sleep early that morning and headed to the gym around seven. After two and a half hours of cardio, yoga and weight training my lack of sleep finally caught up with me, but it was too late for a nap. I was the kind who could never just sleep for an hour when I was this exhausted.
And I couldn’t miss my lunch with Michael if I was going to ready for his idea of sharks… Read more »
The day was a long one for Jackson. After Dinsley gave him the quick overview on the Raptor case, he proceeded to produce every case file for Jackson to read. By six o’clock he’d read almost all of the material and decided that he had learned enough for one day. If Raptor hadn’t struck in over two years, one more night was definitely not going to make much of a difference.
Besides, he was still pissed off that his first assignment was a cold case… Read more »
I didn’t feel quite like myself after I left Michael’s office this afternoon, so I drove around until the sun started to fade behind the fluffy grey clouds scattered across the sky. Like that was a surprise. I hadn’t felt like myself in two years, but lying to Michael…it just felt wrong on so many levels. At the very least, my involvement should still take some of the details off his plate. The white lie about my true motives didn’t have to matter.
Did it? Read more »
Since the death of my father, I was reclusive to a fault. I’m self-aware enough to realize that. My self-imposed solitude never bothered me before, but it was a liability now that I had what I hoped would be a solid lead on Raptor. Did I know who was part of the elite local social scene? Even if I did, would I have any clue how to get cozy with them?
It’s a damn good thing I remembered to check the mail today because my bank statement – and a stroke of genius – was waiting for me. Read more »
