Target (A prequel Story)

  “Nothing.” Andrea shook her head. “Never mind.”

  His eyes were shadowed in the harsh light of her kitchen. “You sleep okay?”

  Andrea hadn’t particularly, but she said, “Sure.”

  Liam frowned, but Andrea didn’t want to know if he didn’t believe her because she looked awful or she had a crease down her cheek or something else equally embarrassing. Being caught up in this with these two FBI agents, she’d realized at two a.m. that they carried the weight of what they did.

  They actually felt Andrea’s grief. Not the same way she did, but they felt it all the same.

  Realizing that had led to a division of her fear over what was happening to Kiera, and the relief that she didn’t have to go through this alone.

  In the end, she’d lain in bed with the notes app on her phone open. Trying to quantify precisely how their presence lessened her anguish should have been a whole lot easier. Solvable. It hadn’t worked. It never did, even though she’d tried many times to calculate as an equation what was only human. That was always the point where Andrea dug out her Bible—when life got so confusing she couldn’t reason her way out of it.

  She’d slept better after reading for a while.

  Liam’s suit was neat, his hair damp and his cologne made her want to lean closer and get a big whiff. But...that would be weird, so Andrea said, “How about you? Did you sleep okay?”

  Their evening had been fun, sitting close on the couch and sharing ice cream grins in the awkward moments of the movie. She’d almost managed to forget that a serial killer might come after her again. And if Kiera was really gone, Andrea didn’t know if she could survive if Liam disappeared from her life too. That was why she couldn’t let him in beyond protecting her.

  So when he just nodded, she headed for her bedroom to get dressed. When she came back out in a skirt suit, heels, straightened hair and light makeup, there were two FBI agents in the kitchen. Both older, one had gray hair and a belly and the other was a lean, Asian female.

  Liam motioned to the gray-haired guy first. “This is Agent Stern and Agent Wing.

  They’ll escort you to work.”

  “Sounds good.” Andrea grabbed her briefcase from the hall closet. How was she going to explain the presence of two FBI agents to her co-workers? At least she had the car ride to work to figure that out. She slipped her coat on.

  “You’re not going to eat breakfast?”

  Andrea straightened. “I usually grab a bagel on the way.”

  Liam shook his head. “No extra stops. Go straight to work and if you need lunch then order it in. Better yet, Caisey and I should be done by then. We’ll bring lunch with us.”

  Because she needed a side of fries with the news her sister was dead? Liam must have read something on her face, because he took her elbow and steered her into the living room. Andrea set her briefcase down and folded her arms.

  “As much as possible, you need to make it as hard as you can for this guy to catch you alone. If he’s going to come after you we’ll have the chance to stop him then, but not if he gets to you before we even know. So you don’t go anywhere without Stern and Wing, you don’t change from your most basic itinerary. No trips or stop-offs.” Liam pushed out a breath.

  Was he as worried about the Chloroform Killer coming back as she was? He seemed almost scared at the idea she might be the next victim.

  “Did you get all that, or do you need me to go over it again?”

  Andrea sighed. He’d been waiting for her to respond. “I’m not an idiot. I understand what protection means, and I’m not going to jeopardize your investigation.” Her thoughts lit on something else he’d said and she lifted her chin. “I won’t ruin your chance to catch this guy.”

  Liam’s eyes narrowed. “That’s not what this is about.”

  “It is some, isn’t it? I’m not naïve, I know the chance to maybe catch him is worth you sticking around here.”

  “I would still be here, even if you weren’t in danger.”

  “Why?”

  Liam’s mouth opened, but he didn’t say anything.

  “Never mind.” Andrea grabbed her briefcase, but Liam stalled her with a hand on hers, over the handle.

  “There are rules.”

  “Okay.”

  “But when this is wrapped up, I’m not going to disappear. I was...hoping we could be friends, at least. Then after you’re in the clear, maybe we could go out for dinner?”

  Andrea liked the idea of a reprieve—at least until the killer was caught, or she wasn’t in danger anymore. But she didn’t want to lead him on. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

  “Why not?”

  Andrea tugged her hand from his fingers and took a step back. “It just isn’t.”

  She wouldn’t mind the friends-thing, but if Liam really liked her then he would always be wondering why they couldn’t be more than that. And if life had taught Andrea anything, it was that she had to keep everything straight and un-emotional, because there was nothing worse than drowning in your own emotion.

  Her worry over Kiera was strong enough it was taking every ounce of determination to hold on and keep everything together. If she took on Liam’s emotion too, she would crumple under the weight of it.

  **

  “Maybe it was just that your timing was off?”

  Liam’s lip curled at his partner’s words, but he kept walking. Eyes on the ground he searched for anything the killer might have dropped, stepped on…sneezed on. He hadn’t even looked at the body yet, that was a job for the Medical Examiner.

  “I don’t want to talk about this.” His voice was gruff, but it was more because he couldn’t seem to get over his reaction to seeing a girl, dead. Any girl; it didn’t matter. They all looked the same in his head, only he’d see them lying in the bathtub instead of on the ground in a copse of pine trees behind an upscale neighborhood.

  “Just give her some time, that’s all I’m saying.” Caisey’s voice tracked with him, but in a wider circle. “Andrea’s going through a lot, and she’s doing great. But if you come on all strong—”

  “That isn’t what happened.”

  “Maybe she thought it was. You don’t know, maybe your dinner and movie last night was the highlight of her dating life for the last five years.”

  Liam nearly rolled his eyes. “It wasn’t a date. And just because you haven’t gone on one in five years either, doesn’t mean Andrea has a scant love life.”

  “Yeah, but we’re not all Mr. Sociable like you.”

  He snorted. “I haven’t been on a date in six months.”

  “Six months, ooh. I’m surprised you haven’t shriveled up from a lack of perky conversation with co-eds trying to convince you they’re twenty six so you’ll give them a shot at your lusciousness.”

  Liam stopped and looked up at her. The woman was nuts. “Did you hit your head?”

  “Are you thinking about your sister?”

  “No, I’m—” She was trying to distract him. Right. “Next time pick a different topic other than my lusciousness.”

  The ME’s aid barked a laugh. Liam shot the guy a look and he shut up pretty quick, and then he turned back to his pain-in-the-rear partner. “Let’s just get on with this so we can figure out how to soften the blow for Andrea, okay?”

  Caisey looked over his shoulder to where Kiera James was sprawled out on dirt and pine needles behind him. The Chloroform Killer had not been kind, Liam had seen enough to know that much. This kill lacked any semblance of his usual control. Her eyes darkened. “I’d suggest telling her and her parents at the same time, but I think that’ll make it worse.”

  Liam agreed. “We should wrap this up and get over to her office. I don’t like leaving her for this long, even if she is with Stern and Wing.”

  Caisey nodded slowly. “Yeah, plus if you’re gone too long she might forget about your lusciousness.”

  Liam reeled back with this cell phone in his hand and pretended to throw it at her. When
she flinched like he might actually do it, he smiled. “You know nothing can happen while she’s under our protection. It’s not appropriate.”

  “Yeah, but where’s the fun in that?”

  Liam frowned. “Not everything has to be fun. Some things are just…stuff. Life, you know?”

  Caisey’s lip curled. “Sounds boring.”

  “Good point,” Liam said. “I’ve seen you bored and it isn’t pretty.”

  Chapter 8

  LIAM WANTED TO hold her hand, but he held himself back. “It’s not going to look like her, so don’t expect that. All I need is for you to tell me, yes or no, if it’s Kiera.”

  Andrea nodded, a jerky motion that he’d seen before when a person was barely hanging on.

  “Ready?”

  It was a stupid question, but no one wanted to be bombarded with the visual of their dead loved one. When she’d taken a full breath in and let it out, Andrea said, “I’m ready.”

  The Medical Examiner pulled back the white sheet. Kiera’s hair had been cleaned, her face now free of the blood and dirt that had been there when she was found. Her skin was pale white, showcasing the cloud of freckles across the bridge of her nose and her cheekbones.

  Andrea’s whole body shuddered. Liam caught her and she fell against him, but not with all of her weight. Even now she held herself up, self-contained in a way he didn’t know whether to be proud of, or fear for when she was going to break.

  “It’s her.”

  **

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” Andrea was in the backseat of Liam’s car instead of the front seat, where both Liam and Caisey were waiting for her to decide. How was it they were so finely tuned to her emotional state?

  She didn’t want to do this, but she was going to.

  Her phone, tucked away in her briefcase, beeped twice. But emails could wait. As could the two voicemails she’d gotten from missed calls while she was identifying Kiera’s body.

  She blinked away that mental picture, hoping she would never see it again and stared out the window. The house she and Kiera had grown up in looked the same. Why had she expected it to look different? Kiera was dead, and yet the impact would barely make a ripple in any of their lives. That was what got to Andrea the most—that Sunny could move on, for all intents and purposes, unchanged.

  While she was...stuck.

  “Andrea?”

  “I’m sure.”

  She got out of Liam’s expensive SUV. She’d overheard two of the HR guys at work talking about that model once, so she knew it wasn’t quite her annual income, but it was pretty close. She preferred her little two-seater car. At least until she picked up Kiera from a club about a month ago when she needed a ride and Kiera puked in it. Now there was the faint odor of up-chuck every time the heater warmed up.

  Andrea stopped on the concrete step that was flanked by two bushes. The door was within reach, but she didn’t knock. She stared at the door handle and sucked in deep breaths, not naïve enough to think her parents were going to be overwhelmed by grief. There would be some kind of reaction; she just had no idea what it was going to be.

  Caisey laid a hand on her shoulder. “You don’t have to do this today.”

  “If I don’t, I won’t want to come tomorrow.”

  “Ah, I see you’re a, “rip the Band-Aid off”, kind of girl.”

  Andrea didn’t get the chance to knock before the door opened and Morton stood there, skinny as always in a suit that would put most male models to shame except that his thinning hair was combed over and his cheeks were permanently flushed.

  “Andrea.” The butler’s smile shone in his eyes.

  “Hello, Morton.” If it was anyone else, Andrea would have hugged him and he’d have hugged her back, but as it was, neither of them was big on touching. Instead, Andrea held out her hand they settled on a long grasp. Why did that mean more to her than any familial embrace she’d ever had?

  Kiera had hugged him, once, back when her head barely reached his chest. He’d been so caught off guard he fell back and they both landed sprawled on the carpet. The memory brought a smile to Andrea’s face.

  “You should come in.” Morton stepped back and held the door open.

  “How are things?” He knew she meant her parents.

  “As per usual.”

  Great.

  Andrea strode through the lobby to the reception room where her mother kept the largest supply of spirits in the house. She heard Morton greet Liam and Caisey, and a low whisper she took to mean they were telling Morton about Kiera. Morton sucked in a breath which broke in the middle, and then his dress shoes clipped the tile floor as he retreated to his wing.

  The curtains were drawn in the reception room. Andrea strode to the windows and pulled the heavy drapes back.

  Liam and Caisey stopped just inside the doorway, but Andrea knew the moment they saw her mother draped across the settee with a bottle hanging from one hand. Caisey apparently didn’t feel the need to hide her wince.

  “Mom.” Andrea crossed to her, set the bottle on the table and tugged her mom upright. “Mom.”

  She didn’t wonder that her voice was stern. Andrea was past being concerned about how people would view her because of her family. Her only sister was dead. And after the morning she’d had, she didn’t feel the need to be the bandage that held them all together.

  Andrea sat on the coffee table, while her mom blinked and struggled to focus.

  Finally her gaze settled on Andrea. “What is it?”

  The slur in her mom’s voice made her want to cringe, but Andrea kept herself straight and emotionless. “They found Kiera.”

  Something flashed in her mother’s eyes, the last vestiges of a mother’s love for her wayward daughter. “And?”

  “She’s dead mom. The killer should have taken me, but he got Kiera by mistake and now she’s gone.”

  Andrea had to say it out loud. Not that it was her mistake, or that she’d asked for it, but she was an integral part of what had happened. Kiera was dead because of her and it was important that she acknowledge her culpability.

  Her mom slumped back on the couch. “Well.”

  The news washed over her mom, but there was nothing Andrea could do to help. It wasn’t worth trying to comfort her with a touch, or even a hug, so Andrea just sat there beside her.

  When her mom’s eyes fluttered closed, Andrea wondered if the period of lucidity had been real. When she woke up later, would she even remember? Andrea never felt the need to escape to the point she was unaware, but both her mom and her sister had. What flaw did they share that they succumbed to it? Andrea simply closed herself off to the pain and buried herself in work, like her father.

  The study door was closed, but she didn’t bother knocking. Her father spun from the window, an empty glass in his hand. Maybe there wasn’t such a big difference after all. How long would it be before Andrea was tempted to drown her sorrows in a bottle? Would she be strong enough to stand on her own? Her steps faltered and she stopped two feet from her father.

  His eyes were dark, almost hard. “She’s gone?”

  “Kiera has been gone for a long time, Dad. But yes, Sunny is dead.” It felt better to say it like that, to acknowledge that the person Kiera had made herself into was the person who had passed away.

  His lip curled at the mention of Sunny, but they’d never even seen her since they severed all contact. Kiera had cut and streaked her hair and the short, sleek look resembled Andrea’s hair more than her former style. She’d been flattered at first, especially when Kiera told her she’d done it to try and borrow confidence from Andrea. Now that she knew it contributed to Kiera’s death, Andrea had to bite her lip because her eyes started to burn.

  She sucked in a breath. “I wanted to be here, to be the one to tell you both. I’ve done that now.”

  Her dad stepped forward, sweeping her into a hug. “I’m so glad it was all a mistake. When the agents told us you’d been abducted, I didn’t want to believe it.
” He gave her a squeeze that was a little too tight and then released her. “I’m glad you’re okay, Andrea.”

  He looked happy, as though released from what had weighed him down. Andrea opened her mouth, but bit back the words. What good would it do? They had considered Kiera dead for a long time. But still…

  “I’m not okay, Dad. Kiera’s dead, and not because she put herself in a bad situation. She was safe at my apartment eating pizza, for goodness sake. She should have been fine, not the victim of a—”

  Her voice broke. She turned from her dad to Liam, who had crossed the room. He didn’t say anything, just put a hand on the small of her back and led her out while she struggled to breathe. Her face itched and when she scratched at it, she was crying.

  In the hall, Andrea bent forward with her hands on her thighs and sucked in air. Liam rubbed up and down her back, but she didn’t think anything would cut through the chill of the fact that she was alone.

  Her parents were too wrapped up in themselves to worry about growing their relationship as a family. Kiera might have been self-destructive and generally a wreck, but Andrea had needed her sister almost as much as Kiera needed her.

  And now Sunny was gone.

  A tissue was pressed into her hand. Andrea wiped her face and straightened. Both Liam and Caisey stood in front of her, but it was Liam who motioned to the front door. “Let’s get some air.”

  “We should just leave.” Andrea took a breath. “I’ve said what I came here to say. It’s done now.”

  His eyes softened, where Caisey looked like she wanted to punch someone. They made a good pair, opposites working together and balancing each other out.

  Andrea wondered if they’d ever been more than partners, but figured if they had there was no way it would have ended without completely destroying their working relationship. They were both way too strong-willed to part amicably.

  When she was settled in the back of the car, Caisey looked back from the front seat. She’d argued, wanting Andrea to sit up there. But being by Liam would be a bad idea when her emotions were this close to the surface.

  Caisey’s eyes were soft. “You need anything?”

  Andrea thought for a moment. Was it too early to ask?

  “Just say it.” Caisey smiled. “How bad could it be?”