Target (A prequel Story)

  Andrea sighed and hung up the phone. She found her dad’s number in her contact list and dialed.

  “Andrea?”

  “Hi, Dad.”

  “Thank goodness you’re okay. I was so worried.”

  Andrea felt her lips curl into a small smile. Despite the distance between them, she still felt closer to her father than anyone else in her family. Which wasn’t saying much. “Thanks, Dad.”

  “So it was all a mistake? You weren’t really abducted then.” He sighed. “That’s such a relief.”

  Andrea touched the window with her fingertips. “Actually, someone was abducted. She was at my apartment while I was away on business.”

  Silence stretched out into a full minute.

  “You told me you never saw her. You said you don’t have any part in her life, just like we decided.”

  “I never said that.” Andrea swallowed, feeling her throat close up. “I told you I couldn’t cut her out of my life like that. Not after what happened to Brad and the baby.”

  He scoffed. “If there even was a baby.”

  “Dad—”

  “You know what she put us through. We can’t just brush that off, Andrea. It doesn’t work that way. She has to earn our trust back.”

  “And how is she supposed to do that, when neither of you will even speak to her?”

  “I offered to get her into a program.”

  “She wasn’t ready.”

  “Then she won’t ever be. And if she’s not willing to change, there’s nothing I can do to help her.”

  Andrea’s eyes filled with tears and the city blurred in front of her. “There’s nothing any of us can do. Not now. Because Kiera—”

  He gasped. “I told you not to say her name to me!”

  “Kiera was at my house, Dad. She’s the one who was abducted instead of me, I’m sure of it. All because she looks like me and she was staying there while I was gone. And it wasn’t her fault. She didn’t ask for this.”

  “It’s for the best.”

  “How can you say that? That man is going to kill her, Dad.”

  “Then she’ll be at peace.”

  Andrea tried to speak, but could only choke.

  “She brought this on herself. It’s only fitting this happened, given the lifestyle she lives.”

  “Are you even listening?” Andrea gasped for air. “The FBI thinks he was after me. If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s mine.”

  “No, you didn’t do this. Darling, don’t worry. Everything is going to turn out like it’s supposed to. Isn’t that what you’re always saying? God’s will and all that?”

  “This isn’t His will. God wouldn’t do this. He wouldn’t want this for Kiera.”

  Tears streamed down Andrea’s face. She could hear her dad speaking, but the words were lost in the muddle of her own gasps and choking attempts to pull in air.

  Her sister was going to die and she was the only person in the world who cared. Kiera’s pain, and her attempts to cover the agony with her addictions, might have put strain on their relationship, but that didn’t mean Andrea didn’t love her.

  The phone was pulled from her fingers. Andrea spun around to Liam, his eyes shifting as he took in what was probably a pretty bedraggled appearance. He stepped forward, like he wanted to hug her again, but Andrea couldn’t handle it if he did that. She was barely holding it together as it was. If she was given someone to lean on, she would lose it completely.

  She put her hand out and the warmth of his chest hit her palm.

  “Andrea—”

  “Don’t.” She shook her head and let her hand drop back to her side. “Please. Don’t touch me.”

  She backed up, stumbling as she rounded the table and sat on the far end with her back to him. The door didn’t open or close. He was still there, listening to her cry broken, ugly sobs as she succumbed to the horrible reality that she was the only person in her family who had a heart; or a conscience. How was she going to do this all by herself?

  Kiera was gone. Kiera who loved with everything she possessed, so fiercely that when it ended she was destroyed. Andrea couldn’t fall into that trap. She sucked in a breath, knowing she couldn’t let herself end up that same way.

  She had to hold it together.

  Chapter 6

  LIAM SET HIS backpack down by the front door of Andrea’s apartment, got out his tablet and put it on the coffee table. Andrea had disappeared into her bedroom to unpack her suitcase.

  The quiet was eerie, so he flipped on the TV and found a news channel, but lowered the volume so it was just background noise while he got to work cleaning up the mess.

  Hopefully Andrea would do more than just unpack. If he thought she would do it, he would have told her to take a bath and a nap. After the crying jag she had in the conference room she’d looked like she needed about a week’s worth of sleep. He knew how that felt, but everyone had their own way of dealing with trauma. Sometimes you retreated into solitude, and sometimes you went out and partied too hard, drinking your way into oblivion because nothing else erased the image of your sister lying in the bathtub in a pool of blood.

  There was an electric kettle in the kitchen, so Liam filled it and found the tea Andrea kept, which supposedly helped you sleep. He grabbed a wash cloth from the sink and wiped down the kitchen and was almost done when Andrea brushed past him in her slippers. Her hair was down and wet and she’d changed into sweatpants and an oversized Denver University sweatshirt.

  He stood, completely still.

  Andrea put the tea bag in the cup and poured water over it before she turned around. “Thanks.” She gave him a small smile. “I didn’t realize I wanted tea until I heard the kettle boiling.” Her smile faltered. “What?”

  Liam didn’t say anything. How did he tell her that her presence felt so comfortable it was like they’d been sharing a kitchen for years?

  When she brushed past him, he’d actually relaxed for the first time in what would be twenty years next month. Was it the sweats? It couldn’t be simply being with Andrea in her kitchen.

  Liam cleared his throat. “Caisey should be here soon with the food.”

  Andrea turned back to her tea and Liam felt a rush of disappointment. Did she really expect him to open up the first time they were really alone? Maybe Andrea was the kind of honest person who simply expected everyone else to be completely honest also. He didn’t mind that, but sometimes it paid to wait until later.

  Liam slipped back into the living room for his tablet, not just because her tea smelled weird. He unlocked the screen and opened the file of his notes. Andrea was at her little circular dining table so he sat on the other chair. “You feel up to going over some things?”

  She shrugged one shoulder.

  “Tell me about the emails.”

  Andrea got up and came back with her phone, which she switched back on. “You had it turned off?”

  “I didn’t want work to call, or anyone else. I like quiet while I’m at home.”

  “Sorry.”

  “It’s fine.” She glanced up at him for a second, enough time for him to ascertain it wasn’t fine. “I’ll just do the, “do not disturb” thing.” She tapped and scrolled through her email and then slid the phone around so he could see. “This is the only one I hadn’t deleted yet.”

  There was no subject and no text, just a generic email address and a photo of Andrea getting gas. “I thought the FBI was looking into my email. Isn’t that why they have my computer?”

  Liam looked up, his jaw locked. “It is, but I like to get as much information as I can also. Computers can tell us a lot, but I’d rather get your impression.”

  She looked much younger than early thirties, with no makeup on and both hands around her mug like she was cold. He wanted to set up a barricade on her doorstep and be the line of defense between her and all the ugly, painful things in the world. If she would let him.

  “For example, what does this email say to you?”

  “I’m watching y
ou.” She paused a moment. “A hello from someone who ordinarily wouldn’t speak to you.”

  Liam wasn’t surprised often, but he liked that Andrea had the power to do that. “Did you think about reporting it to the police?”

  “I told the IT guy at work, like I said, since it’s my work email. He tried to look into it, but couldn’t find out anything about who sent it. He recommended I make a report with the police.”

  “So why didn’t you?”

  She sipped her tea and set the mug back down. “Work sort of blew up, I got really busy and there just wasn’t time to go into a police station and fill out a bunch of paperwork for something that could turn out to be harmless.” She sighed. “I was going to go for sure if it got worse. I didn’t know he would try and abduct me.”

  Liam wanted to tell her that her sister would be fine. It was on the tip of his tongue to say it, but he’d known it was false hope when he was sure Andrea had been taken. Was it so wrong to be glad she was okay? She probably wouldn’t think so, given it was her sister who was missing, but Liam couldn’t help being relieved she was here to sit with him, even if he was working and she was distraught.

  He needed to keep his distance. This was work, and he needed to treat it as such. At least until the investigation was over and Andrea was in the clear. Then, who knew what could happen? Liam wanted her in his life. If nothing else, thinking she’d been abducted by the Chloroform Killer made him realize how much time he’d wasted so far.

  His cell vibrated. Liam pulled it from his pocket and saw it was Caisey. “Conners.”

  “I’m outside. Get the door, I don’t have a free hand.”

  He was up and moving toward the front door. “What all did you get?”

  “Just a couple of bits since you guys will be stuck indoors in the evenings for a few days at least.”

  He opened the door and she handed him two grocery sacks, clicked her Bluetooth and took it off her ear. “You always go all British when you’re trying to explain your way out of something you did.”

  Caisey’s eyes widened, but she tried to look innocent. “Who me?”

  Liam followed her to the kitchen, laughing.

  “Hey, Andrea. How are you doing?” Caisey set the bags on the counter and started unpacking.

  Andrea got up to help. “I’m holding on.”

  “Liam is good for that.”

  Andrea blinked, but recovered fast and said, “Did Liam just say you were British a minute ago?”

  “Only a quarter. My Grams was a nurse during World War Two and she met my Grandfather in France. He was an American soldier. She’s lived with us since I was tiny and we still live in the same house now. My dad was an FBI agent too, so she pretty much raised me. I went to kindergarten calling a sweater a jumper and chips, crisps.” Caisey grinned. “Some of it still pops out every now and again.”

  “That’s cool.” The first smile he’d ever seen from Andrea, and she gave it to his partner.

  Liam didn’t want to be mad, but that was what happened. Plus it took him six months to learn all that about Caisey and Andrea had just found it out in thirty seconds. What was it with women that they just shared like that?

  Caisey went back to pulling stuff out of the bags. White paper sacks, cardboard cartons, little tubs and finally two pints of ice cream and a bottle of Liam’s favorite soda he never bought because it had way too much sugar and caffeine in it.

  His stomach rumbled.

  Caisey shot him a grin. “Fried chicken, potato wedges, coleslaw. I got you a bag of salad too.”

  Then he realized she hadn’t taken her coat off yet. “You’re not staying?”

  “There’s a football game at the high school. So I’m going to go watch Jake do his trumpet thing in the marching band. I’ll be back later. A lot later.”

  “Oh, okay.”

  “Plus they do this hotdog with grilled onions that’s really good.”

  Andrea turned away to get out plates, so Liam followed Caisey back to the front door. When they got out of earshot, he said, “I can’t believe you’d stoop so low as to use your godson as an excuse and leave me here.”

  “You don’t need me being a third wheel.” She grinned. “I’m giving you alone time, and the chance that maybe one of us could be something other than desperate and single. You should be thanking me.”

  “It’s not appropriate. And I was never desperate.”

  “You won’t be, if you get in there.”

  She wasn’t even going to respond to the question of it being appropriate? “I can’t believe you just said that.”

  “There’s a sappy movie in the bag too, maybe she’ll let you comfort her.”

  “You need to stop talking.”

  “I’m going to do one better, I’m going to go.” She opened the front door, a satisfied smile on her face like the time she’d spent all morning calling in to a radio station and finally won rodeo tickets. “I’ll be back at bedtime with my PJ’s to relieve you.”

  “Okay.”

  “Be nice, yeah?” Caisey glanced down the hall behind him. “I know you don’t want to mislead her, but you can’t just be silent. If she’s looking at you, but she’s not saying anything, that means you need to talk. Got it?”

  “I can’t believe you’re giving me advice.” Liam pushed the door, but she held it open. “Go already. You’ll miss the game.”

  “There isn’t a game, it’s not until tomorrow. I’m going back to the office to look over the files and see if I can figure out where he might dump Kiera’s body. I just didn’t want to bring all that here.”

  Liam nodded. “Okay, good. Andrea doesn’t need to see the photos.”

  Caisey waved him away. “Now go, before your dinner gets cold.”

  “Sure, mom.”

  “What can I say? Jenna’s parenting rubs off on me. Besides, you should try it.

  Sometimes it even works.”

  Liam laughed. Caisey’s best friend and her son didn’t just live with her and her Grams, they kept her grounded. “Goodbye, Caisey.”

  “Remember, be nice.”

  He shut the door. Caisey had some crazy ideas, thinking she needed to remind him to be nice of all things. He was a perfectly nice person; he just didn’t know why women couldn’t tell you what they needed. They just figured you’d understand intuitively why they were shutting you out.

  It was why he’d given up on second dates a while back. Meeting people was easy enough, but Liam didn’t have time for a heavy relationship that he’d have to give a ton of time and attention to. Not in the middle of a serial killer investigation.

  The microwave beeped, and Andrea pulled out a steaming plate. She handed it to him.

  Liam smiled. “Smells good.”

  “You want to eat on the couch? There was a movie in the bag.”

  “Sure. What movie is it?”

  “Dirty Dancing.”

  Liam got a look at her, wide eyed with her lips twitching. “We don’t have to watch it.”

  Andrea smiled. “I’m game if you are.”

  Chapter 7

  CAISEY GRASPED AROUND in the direction of the coffee table and found her phone. She swiped to take the call and put it to her ear, all without opening her eyes. “Yeah.” Her voice was like Barry White, so she cleared her throat. “Lyons.”

  “It’s Burkot. We got a body, found an hour ago. Preliminaries indicate its Kiera James.”

  Caisey rubbed the grit from her eyes and tried to focus on Andrea’s living room. “Text me the address.”

  “Stern and Wing are on their way to relieve you. They’ll cover Ms. James until you and Liam are done at the scene.”

  Which meant they would also be the ones drafted to tell Andrea her sister was dead for sure. Was it wrong to want the body to be some nameless, faceless person? Anonymity didn’t make it better that someone was dead, but it would hurt Andrea less. Caisey hung up and sat up. Life was like a runaway freight train sometimes. It didn’t matter how fast you ran down the tra
ck, trying to get ahead of it. Eventually it hit you.

  “Is something wrong?”

  Caisey shifted and looked over the back of the couch. “Liam and I have something to do this morning. Two other agents are coming to take you to work.”

  Andrea cinched her robe tighter around her. “Is it Kiera?”

  “As soon as I know for sure, I’ll tell you.”

  “I’ll make the coffee. You’ll want a cup to take with you, its cold out.”

  Caisey watched her head for the kitchen. It was either deep denial or unrelenting strength that allowed Andrea to focus on what Caisey needed when Kiera might be dead. Between Andrea and Caisey’s Grams it felt like everyone had overcome something in their lives. How had they managed to hold on to hope? And their sanity. Even Jenna, who lived with Caisey along with her son—Caisey’s godson—held down a great job at a spa and raised her son alone. Support system or no, Jenna was still a single mom and yet she’d never once complained.

  How did they all do it?

  Caisey hit the bathroom to change into fresh clothes and just got done brushing her teeth when the doorbell rang.

  Andrea moved to answer it, so Caisey tugged on her arm. “Let me get it.” She stopped two feet back from the door, hand on her weapon. “Who is it?”

  “Who do you think it is?”

  She rolled her eyes and opened the door to Liam, who handed her a half-gallon of chocolate milk on his way in. “Andrea only has half and half.”

  Caisey shuddered and shut the door. Coffee wasn’t coffee without chocolate in it.

  **

  Andrea held her coffee to her lips, her cheeks warm. Liam stared at her a lot, like he was doing right now, in the kitchen. As though she didn’t all the way make sense to him. And why was that? Not that she was complaining, he wasn’t hard to look at.

  “Have you ever taken a yoga class?”

  He did read women’s fiction. She’d found that out last night. Now she wanted to know if she was right about his on-again-off-again thing with a yoga instructor. It had happened way too many times for her to assume he wasn’t already involved with someone way more interesting—and flexible—than her.

  His lips twitched. “Uh, no. Why?”