A Murderous Game (36 page)

"I'm afraid you've lost me.
This is starting to sound like a conversation I don't want to have, and if it
is, I'd like to know how the hell we got here?"

She hated the confusion she saw in
his eyes. Hated knowing no matter what she wanted, it wouldn't go that way.
"The press isn't going to let this die. They're going to bleed it dry, and
we won't be able to pick up a paper that doesn't depict one of us in an
unflattering light."

"Then we'll ride it out.

"No." She hugged her
waist, but it did nothing to chase away the emptiness she felt inside. "I
can't."

She had to convince him she was
unwilling to expose herself to anymore speculation. That it was all about her.
The only way he'd leave and agree not to see her again was if he believed she
didn't love him.

"What can't you do?" Gage
asked, following her with hooded eyes.

Abby lifted her chin. "I can't
face another public scandal. Do you have any idea how bad this will get if we
don't put a stop to it now?"

"And how do we do that, short
of hiring a hit man?"

"Please don't joke about
this."

Shaking his head, he blew out a
frustrated breath and said, "I'm sorry. I rely on jokes sometimes when I'm
upset."

"I knew I should never have
gotten involved with you." She saw him flinch and knew she'd made a direct
hit. "It's true," she said before she lost her nerve. "If I'd
kept things professional the way I'd intended, none of this would have
happened."

She looked away from the hurt in
his eyes. "I never wanted an intimate relationship," she lied, her
heart tearing in two. "If I'd stuck to my guns, I wouldn't be embroiled in
another humiliating exp
osé
right
now."

"The press had a field day
when Dick and I separated and his affairs came to light." She rushed to
get everything she'd rehearsed out before he could stop her. "I felt like
I was living under a microscope, every element of my life served up with the
morning's bagel and coffee. It was horrible."

"I'm sure it was," he
said tonelessly.

"I won't go through it again,
Gage. I don't want to be the name on everyone's lips. I can't face it again. I
can't. If I was just a murder suspect, I might be able to handle it, but I
won't be able to stand being portrayed as an
adulteress,
and a whore as well."

"Where are you going with
this?" he asked, his mouth tightening.

She'd been hoping he wouldn't make
her say the actual words, but he wasn't going to let her off that easy.

Abby lifted her gaze to meet his.
"I'm ending our affair," she said evenly and with as much conviction
as she could manage considering her heart was breaking. "We never should
have gotten involved in the first place. I'm sorry I let it happen. And I'm
sorry I've caused so many problems for you because of it."

She was dying inside. He was just
looking at her. She took in the rigid set of his jaw, his unblinking appraisal,
and his unbending stance. She felt as if he'd already started to withdraw, and
something inside her screamed out in revolt.

"I was hoping we could still
be friends," she said weakly, grasping for a way to move them beyond this
awful place she'd led them to. The few feet she'd put between them stretched a
universe.

"D-don't you have anything to
say?" she asked, feeling stupid and vulnerable. What had she expected?
That he'd tell her it had been fun and leave. Even if he didn't love her the
way she did him, no one liked getting dumped, and basically she was dumping him.

"Would it matter? I got the
impression you were communicating a decision, not inviting a discussion."
He raked a hand through his hair and shook his head. She no longer felt she
could read him, couldn't tell if he was hurt, angry, in denial, or what.

Abby looked away, more affected by
the coolness of his tone than she wanted him to know. This was the hardest
part, not breaking down and telling him she didn't mean any of it.

"Answer me something," he
said, his eyes roaming over her face. "Did you mean it when you said you
loved me? Or were they just words that sounded good in the moment?"

I'll always love you
.
"I, I thought I meant it when I said it."

"And
now?"

More than ever
, she wanted
to scream. She bit her lip. "I realize I made a mistake. I, well, I
enjoyed our physical relationship. It was exciting and new, and I think I got
confused by it. I like you, but I, I don't love you. I'm sorry."

He lifted her chin and forced her
to look at him. "You're lying."

"No, I'm not." She
averted her gaze, afraid he'd see the truth in her eyes. He was hurt. She could
see it now, and it tore her apart. She couldn't capitulate though. If she did,
there'd be no way to keep the scandal away from his door.

"You're lying, and you're
making a mistake."

"I'm not. Please, Gage, please
don't make this harder than it has to be. It's important we stay on good terms
for the sake of
Riv
One."

He gave a short, derisive laugh.

"I, I hope we can continue
working together." She hadn't wanted to believe he'd remove her from the
account if she ended their affair. "We're both professionals. I wouldn't
let what happened between us impact the project. You don't have to worry
I'll—"

"Shut up, Abby," he said
with deceptive softness. He pinned her with a stony gaze. "I know what's
best for
Riv
One."

"Please don't hate me,"
she said, reacting to his chilling tone.

"I don't hate you." He
turned away and walked to the couch where he'd tossed his suit jacket and
plucked it off the cushion with a quick, angry jerk.

He was mad now, and leaving. She'd
hurt him, probably his pride more than his heart, but no matter, hurt was hurt.
She raised her hand in a helpless gesture then let it fall back to her side.

Instead of walking to the door as
she expected, he came back to her, stopping only inches away. His broad
shoulders filled her view. She could smell him, the clean spicy scent she'd
come to recognize as his.

He touched the side of her face
with his open hand, his little finger hooking the underside of her jaw.

Abby froze, wanting to turn her
face into it and bury her lips against his palm. Lord, why did it have to hurt
so much? His fingers were gentle as he tilted her face up to his, belying the
expression on his precious face.

"We belong together. No matter
what happens with the murder investigation or with the press, I believe the
best way to face it is together. Ending our relationship is a mistake for both
of us. That said, I'm not going to argue with you or try to force your will to
suit mine. I love you, Abby, but I won't beg you to stay with me. You need to
decide what you want. If it's me, if it's us, you'll have to let me know."

"I've already decided. I'm
doing what's best for me," she said. "I'm sorry."

He dropped his hand. She didn't
move as he turned and walked to the door. She held her breath, waiting for him
to say something else, but there were no more words. The next thing she heard
was the sound of the door closing behind him.

Abby shut her eyes. She loved him
so much. So much she'd sent him away. She'd thought telling him would be the
difficult part, but as she stood alone in the drowning silence, she knew the
hardest thing she would ever have to do would be to live without him.

~~~

Gage didn't buy Abby's story. Not
for a minute. Something had happened after she'd left his office that had her
running scared.

She loved him. No matter what she
said, Abby loved him. He was as sure of it as he was the night would follow the
day and then it would be night again. If he wasn't so confident, he never would
have been able to walk away from her.

His initial reaction had been anger
because she was rejecting him. It had hurt. He'd been ready to fight, ready to
lash out. Fortunately, he'd recognized his feelings for what they were before
he'd said things he'd have regretted and hurt her, too. He never wanted to hurt
her.

All she needed was a little time to
realize whatever demons had reared their heads and sent her running from him
could only be defeated head-on. He loved her, and she loved him, and if she
would trust their love, no one could beat them down.

Gage unlocked his car and slid into
the driver's seat. He couldn't force the truth on her, though. She had to see
it on her own. He'd give her time, time to think, and feel, and miss who they
were together.

He turned the ignition key. She'd
come back to him. He was gambling his future happiness on it. But if he was
wrong, leaving her tonight could be the biggest mistake of his life.

CHAPTER
TWENTY

A
n anxious Detective Simms
didn't hear back from Carlton
Eldress
, the developer
who'd bought the property in Florida
from Dick Carpenter, until eleven o'clock Monday morning.

"Sorry I didn't get back to
you sooner,"
Eldress
said. "The wife and I
drove to the Keys for a few days, and I just picked up my messages. What can I
do for you, Detective?"

"If I send you some pictures
of Richard Carpenter, would you be able to verify if it was the same person you
made the offer to in Florida?"

"Yeah, I think I'd recognize
him. Why, do you think maybe the man I saw wasn't your dead guy?"

"Just procedure," Gene
said, not wanting to influence
Eldress
in any way.
"Want to cover all our bases. Can you receive images on your
computer?"

After confirming the information he
needed, Gene told
Eldress
he'd be uploading the
photos as soon as they hung up and asked the man to call back when he got them.

The call came fifteen minutes
later.

"I don't know what you're
looking to verify, but the guy in these pictures isn't the one who was down
here. This guy's darker, bigger. My guy was blond, kind of a Brad Pitt look
about him. Make Pitt preppy, you know sort of country
club,
and that would be my guy."

Gene felt a rush of blood.
"Are you positive?" he asked, his mind already racing through a
catalogue of faces.

"Yep.
Blond, blue eyes.
So are these pictures Carpenter, or
are you trying to see if my story's legit?"

"The man in the pictures is
Carpenter, which raises the questions of who you spoke to in Florida and why he tried to pass himself off
as someone else."

"Well, I can't help you there,
but in case you're wondering, our proxy did everything aboveboard when we
bought the property. I'm not sure what Carpenter and this other guy were trying
to pull, but my company didn't have anything to do with it. We run a legitimate
operation."

"I'm sure you do," Gene
assured him, used to people getting defensive when questioned by the police.
"You've been a big help. And if I could just ask you a couple of more
questions, it might help me figure out who was impersonating our
vic
and if it had anything to do
with his murder."

Gene spent the next several hours
eliminating any of the people he'd questioned in the Carpenter case who weren't
male, weren't blond, didn't have a preppy bone in their body, and couldn't pass
for Brad Pitt without a face transplant. He wasn't eliminating suspects in the
case, only known associates of Carpenter who in some way fit
Eldress's
description of the man he'd encountered in Florida.

There was a chance the man they
wanted to talk to hadn't crossed their radar yet. For the moment, he could only
work with what he had.

When he'd narrowed the list down to
three, one name stood out. He sat back and linked his hands behind his neck.
He'd check them all out, but his gut told him he'd found his imposter.

~~~

Harold Billings had scheduled four
client visits for Tuesday, so it was
midafternoon
before he got to the office, checked his voicemail, and retrieved two new
messages from Detective Simms requesting a return call. He had received another
call from the detective late Monday afternoon as well that he hadn't returned
yet.

"Son of a bitch," he
muttered under his breath. What did the cops want with him now? He'd already
talked to them twice. He glanced at the phone and sneered.

He looked up and saw Abby walk past
his office. He got up and went to the door where he could overhear her talking
to Madeline.

"Your friend Rachael called to
say she'd be about fifteen minutes late getting to the restaurant this
evening," Madeline said.

"Okay, thanks. Did she want me
to call her back?"

"Not necessary. She said just
have a glass of wine until she gets there."

Abby murmured something too low for
him to hear and turned. He watched her flip through her appointment book as she
approached him on the way to her office, unaware he observed her. She didn't
look like someone who'd murdered his best friend.

He'd expected her to crack by now.
She wore that damned calm the same way she always did. Calm and aloof, like
some fucking high queen. Harold narrowed his eyes.

Abby closed her book and glanced
up. "Oh," she gasped softly, her eyes widened for an instant as if
she'd been startled.

Harold smiled and glanced at her
breasts. "Nice blouse."

She kept walking, her eyes spearing
him as she passed by—green ice. She could make the temperature in a room drop
ten degrees with one of those looks.

He closed the door. She'd warmed up
for Faraday, though. He snorted. Yeah, she could turn into a hot little piece
if it suited her purpose. And it had suited her purpose to steal the firm's
biggest account out from under him by spreading her legs for the guy. She owed
him for that. She'd pay. He'd make sure she paid. Once the police arrested her
for Dick's murder she'd get exactly what she had coming to her.