Games We Play (17 page)

“What is it?” it was pure torture but he forced himself to move his hands and give her room.

“I can’t do this.”

“Can’t and don’t want are two very different things, which one is it?”

“Can’t. I wanted to tell you this in a calmer setting when we got back home but me and sex don’t really work.
I’ve only done it one time.”

Nick’s eyes grew wide and betrayed his thoughts. He was surprised to say the least and very, very confused. “I don’t understand what that means.”

“It wasn’t the best of experiences.”

“You’re scared if we have sex it’ll be equally as bad or do you think it’d change something between us?” Sasha had no idea what she was doing to him, none at all. There wasn’t anything she could reveal that could change what he felt for her and what he wanted.

“I think we should wait.”

“And we can wait as along as you need but I want to understand this.”

Her eyes darkened as they drifted from his face and over his chest. “We can talk after we put clothes on.” With speed he had never seen her use before she crawled out from under him and grabbed the dress off the floor.

At a slower pace Nick got off the bed and grabbed his same t-shirt from the floor. Sasha was shying away from him again, her face red with embarrassment as she turned away and pretended to be interested in something on the nightstand.

“I’ll go start the coffee.” Nick knew when it was time to giving her breathing room and now was one of those times. After pouring the water and measuring the c
offee beans he moved over to the
fridge to find something easy to go along with it.

He was in the middle of searching when Sasha came marching into the kitchen. “Just let me say this all in one shot. I was nineteen in college dating what I thought was a great guy for a few months before going all the way. It hurt and after he got what he wanted he pretended not to know me. I swore off guys and made up my mind to keep focused on school and what I wanted from my career. It’s always been easier to blend in as one of the guys and ignore wanting anything romantic. It’s been working really good too until this trip and you. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing and I am scared this is all too good to be true and you’ll bail.”

Nick wanted to ask her if she knew where her ex was now so he could go kick his ass but that wasn’t the point of her revelation. “I can say all the right things but I know that won’t be enough. You need me to prove this is real and until then we can wait. I’m fine with waiting because I haven’t been trying to gain your trust to get in your pants. If all I wanted was sex I couldn’t gotten that far easier from someone else.” It was the truth and that’s what she needed more than anything.

“You want a real functioning relationship? With me?” she started to bite on her lower lip and he smiled.

“Yes, you.”

“I think you need to have a session with Pete because you’re crazy.”

Nick moved to where she stood by the opening of the kitchen and kissed her. “Let’s have breakfast now.”

Sasha was willing to drop the conversation only if he cooked something. That was going to be a requirement in their relationship and it was best he accept it now. She was giving him all the opportunities to pull out of their newfound arrangement but like a lunatic he wanted to stay, he still wanted her. As nice as if felt to be wanted she still couldn’t
stop
fearing the worse.

And an hour later as they sat eating scrambled eggs and bacon the worse came but her fear had been directed at the wrong place. The earth shattering news had nothing to do with Nicholas. 

It started with a phone call from the 7Xs killer himself.

Chapter 22

Sasha knew as she reached for the phone it was him, he was the only person to call the landline in all these days they had been in Maple Oaks. “Hello, Maggie speaking.”

“Now we both know that’s a lie, isn’t it Sasha?”

Her body turned cold and it was as if time stopped moving. “Excuse me?”

“Sas
ha Madden of the FBI.
Sasha who used to walk around this town like a rapid dog begging to be loved. Did you really think I wouldn’t find out? I told you not to try and fool me.” His voice was emotionless, not even anger inside his flat tone, and that made him al
l
the more scarier.

Sasha wasn’t prepared for this and didn’t know what she was supposed to do next. She looked at Nick and saw he was on his cellphone calling Pete or maybe the rest of their team for immediate back up. There was no telling what 7
Xs
was up to. He sounded very confidant in the information he had and she refused to waste time trying to change his impossible mind. “How did you figure it out?”

“Ah, now you admit it. I’m a lot closer than you think Sasha and I know every step before you make it. You’re going to live long enough to regret this mistake of yours and mourn down to your very morrow.”

Sudden tears leaked from her eyes as her emotions made the connection before her thoughts could. “Mourn?” there was only one person left in her life to take taken away, only one person…

“Carolyn says hello.”

Sasha jumped from her seat as he hung up on her. “No!”

Nicholas was there grabbing her before her knees reached the floor. “We’re going to find her.” He repeated the words over and over as she cried in his arms and they both ended up on the floor.

Carolyn’s face flashed through her mind’s eye and Sasha knew crying wasn’t going to do a lick of good. She pulled out of Nick’s arms and stood. “We need to figure out how he learned about me and my sister. He said he’s a lot closer than I thought.” Those words kept echoing and she knew they would be the key to finally nailing him to the wall. She picked up the phone and dialed the sheriff’s dire
ct number. “Is there anything f
r
o
m those DNA samples yet?”

“Wayne just filled me in on the way out to your place. I am so sorry about Carolyn.”

“She’s not dead and we have some time before that changes. Is there anything from the samples? We have to ID him now.” Staying on automatic was the only way she could see surviving the day.

“Katy spent the whole night preparing the sample and now we’re waiting for a hit. Your boss and I have called in every favor possible to rush it and as soon as there is a hint you’ll be the first to know. Is there anything I can do?” ever the gentleman Deacon was trying to offer his support and remorse at the same time.

Deacon’s tender raspy tone brought fresh tears to her eyes and she was reminded again of all the good he and his wife had done for her. “We have to find him. I want to go to Caro’s place and search for any clues left behind.”

Deacon rattled off the address of her sister’s new home. “I’ll have a deputy waiting there for assist you.”

“Thank you.” Sasha hung up just as Nick went for the front door to let the guys in.

Gage came and scooped her up into his arms. “It’s going to be ok.”

Sasha knew she had to stay focused and wavering that focus for even a second was going to take her down the dark path she wouldn’t be able to turn away from easily. “I’m meeting a deputy at Caro’s place to find out what might’ve happened.” She was halfway out the door as she spoke and along the way she made sure to grab her gun from the coffee table.

Nick was quick to follow and offering to drive. Inside the car he grabbed ahold of her hand and didn’t let go until they reached the address and he had to. There were words he wanted to say, along the drive he kept glancing at her but whatever those words were he kept them to himself and remained silent.

Deputy Benson was waiting by his squad car when they pulled up.

The first thing Sasha noticed as the lack of cars in the driveway. Where was Caro’s husband
,
Jim? She took the lead and went up the porch first and knocked. If Jim was inside it’d be better to alert him instead of walking in and catching him off guard. Sasha didn’t care much for the guy but he was still Carolyn’s husband and for better or worse she loved him for many years.

Jim Carson opened the door looking like he had just been woken from a deep slumber. “Sasha?” he wasn’t sure if he was guessing right as he noticed her outfit was a dress and like her sister he knew how she avoided them.

“Yeah. Can we come in?”

“Sure.” Jim stepped aside. “What’s going on?”

“When was the last time you saw Caro?” Sasha wasn’t
beating around the bush to spare
his feelings. He might be Caro’s husband but she was her sister and if she had to face the prospect of losing her then everyone else be damned and suffer too.

“Before she went to work, she did call around ten and say she was staying late to help Deacon with all the calls coming in abut that serial killer guy. What’s going on?” Jim was starting to panic as it became clear this wasn’t a social visit and something was wrong. “Is Caro ok?”

“We don’t know.” Sasha whispered, looking behind Jim’s shoulder to the simple living room her sister designed. “It looks like she was taken from the parking lot of the station house. Have you noticed anyone odd hanging around the house or anyone asking you questions about her or me?”

“No, but I haven’t been home much either. I’m working long hours at the firm and last night was the first time I got home before midnight. After I talked to Carolyn I took some pills and clocked out.” As he spoke Sasha did notice his haggard appearance, there were dark circles under his brown eyes and his brown hair was standing up on end. He wore a pair of grey sweat pants and a heavy sweater as pajamas. Jim was in his late forties but Sasha still remembered him as a young guy in his twenties wooing her sister.

Carolyn and Jim have only been married barely five years but they began dating on and off for the last twenty. Carolyn had been eighteen at the time dealing with their parents death and her young sister but Jim still managed to find a way inside her heart and never found a way out.

In some ways he was a good guy but he cheated one too many times for Sasha to ever forgive him even if Carolyn could.

Sasha asked, “Do you mind if we take a look around? With the house being empty most of the day there’s no telling is something might’ve been left behind.”

Jim nodded eagerly. “Sure, go ahead if it helps Caro. Are you sure someone took her?” denial was a powerful emotion and he was swimming in it.

Sasha stayed behind to speak with Jim as Nick and the deputy went to search the rest of the two story house. “The killer made contact with me.” She answered.

“Carolyn told me you were in town working.”

“Of course she did. The less people who know that the better.”

Jim held up his hands. “I haven’t said a word to anyone. I know as an FBI agent anything you work must be pretty serious but I never thought it’d come back to those killings.”

“It was close to the time mom and dad died so I didn’t pay much attention to the news about it. What about you? Did you have any ideas on why those seven people?”

“I’m not the detective of the family but I do remember thinking I had seen them all in the diner.”

“The diner, the same one Candice worked at?”

“Yeah, I used to bartend there for extra cash when I first started dating Caro and we used to meet there after my shift every night.”

Sasha remembered her sister leaving every night and how bitter she had been that her sister would rather be with a boy than spending time with her. It was one of the sources of their long arguments. “Was it all seven you saw?”

“It was twenty years ago, Sasha.”

“Twenty one but I understand it’s a long time to remember back but if you’re right and each victim was spotted at the diner just before their murder it gives us a pattern to follow and right now we have nothing on this guy. Has Caro been by the diner recently?” Sasha knew her sister was taken because of their connection but it couldn’t hurt to ask. It was possible 7
Xs
grabbed Carolyn and forced the truth about her FBI agent sister out of her instead o
f
the other way around.

“We had a lunch date on Wednesday.” It was now Friday. “What happens now? You have to find her.”

“We’re doing everything we can. She’s my sister.”

Jim scoffed, his arms crossing tight over his chest. “You have a special way of showing it.”

And this is why Sasha avoided speaking with her brother in law as much as possible in the past. “What the fuck does that mean?”

“You send her an e-mail every few weeks to let her know you’re alive and any time she tries to connect with you, you bail.”

“When I needed her the most she was too busy to care and now that I’m trying to make a life for myself I’m the bad sister? Screw you, Jim. Fine, we’re not the most vocal family but she is my sister and flaws and all I love her. This guy is serious and he is going to kill her if she isn’t found soon so why don’t you focus on that and get off my ass because you don’t want to make a list about who’s hurt her the most.” Sasha refused to be his whipping bag ever again. When she was younger he’d yell and push her around but the times have certainly changed, she was older now and carried a gun. Silently she dared him to push her now.