“Let me go, you asshole bastard!” she cried, tears stinging her eyes, fury mingling with her fear.
“Shut up!” he hissed against her ear. “Just shut up, you bitch. You’re about to get your just desserts. The Emmy of all time!”
“Let me—”
She broke off with a cry as he jerked her hair so hard that strands tore from her head.
“Hey! Liam!” he shouted out loudly. “You know, Liam, you were a buddy. I never wanted you hurt. Hell, I meant to help you. Jane was just a bitch, seducing men and discarding them in a single night. If she had died in the accident I suggested to Jinx—well, no big deal. But this one … the queen! Miss Serena McCormack! She makes you fall in love. She makes you see all the promise in the future. She’s kind, she’s nice—she gets you jobs as an extra in the movies. But that’s just it. You’re always an extra in her life. A bit player. I was there when you walked away. I was ready to be everything that she ever wanted. Except that she didn’t want me. You should have been grateful that I was getting her out of your world as well! And you!” He wrenched on Serena’s hair again so hard that involuntary tears stung her eyes. “I might have had you that night at your house when Jinxy made all those phone calls, thinking she was doing me a favor. Stupid girl. Without her, I could have gone back in. I had your key. She’d copied it for me. Slipped it right out of your purse and copied it for me. I could have gotten into your house without a soul knowing … and ended it all right there. But there you were, screaming your head off, running around. … Jinx was stupid that night. I had such an opportunity. But then, Ricardo was there, and Liam. Damn you, Liam!” he shouted suddenly and loudly. “You left the force, but hell, you’re just the conquering hero, huh? When the cops can’t find the answer, bring back Murphy. Hell, he’s the best we ever had! Well, now, you are leaving the force for good. Come out right now, or I swear, I’ll blow her brains out!”
His gun was suddenly against Serena’s temple. She could feel the cold steel. The circle of the muzzle, pressing into her flesh. Her mouth went dry. She could almost feel the heat of the bullet that could, at any second, tear through flesh and bone and end her life. …
He was trying to make Liam come out in the open. He had to kill Liam, and the others, to get away with this.
Despite her fear, she bit the hand over her mouth.
“No, Liam—”
Bill howled, but clamped his hand over her mouth again so swiftly he nearly smothered her then and there.
But Liam had already appeared. He came walking out from the tomb area—a casual stride, almost as if they were meeting for lunch.
“You missed Braden, Bill, you know. Jay is alive and well.”
“I won’t miss when I fire next time.”
“Jeff is out here, too.”
“He’ll be like hunting down a wounded doe.”
“How will you explain the fact that we’re all dead?”
“Easy. Everyone will believe that Jay, not Kyle Amesbury, was the man who goaded Jinx into her evil deeds. It all blew up out here tonight. I was trying to save Serena. Sadly, I failed, and you all died in the cross fire. Naturally, I’ll kill the others with your gun.”
“Who’s going to believe that kind of shit?”
“Hey, this is Hollywood. All kinds of shit happen here. But don’t worry. You won’t be around to find out if it did or didn’t work. You know, though, actually, I never wanted you in on this. Olsen insisted.”
“When the hell did you go so bad?”
“When? Gradually, Liam. Really gradually. A little money here for a little thing . … It’s not easy watching a bunch of assholes get rich because they’re pretty boys. Then, suddenly, you begin to realize just how much power you do have.”
“You’re a fool. Jinx was in love with you.”
“Oh, yeah, really in love. So much so that she lured me into Kyle’s great porno flicks! But I knew the cameras were there. He blackmailed me, of course, even though I didn’t think the tapes were that dangerous. But you knew, huh? You just found out recently, I assume, or you’d have been to Olsen or Rigger in a flash.”
“I’m here,” Liam said. “And you have to take me first. You know I won’t go down easy. Let Serena go.”
“Not on your life. Serena, you found what was left of that valentine I had sent Jane, didn’t you? That’s what little Jinx was whispering when she died. Funny thing—we never meant to kill Jane. But what the hell? She deserved it. But now, the paper … it could make me look bad. You see, Jinx wasn’t all there. Well, you all know that. She was so … desperate. I gave her the suggestion long before she carried it out. So I was just pissed as hell with Jane … and she winds up dead when it was Serena I wanted dead. Serena, who just wouldn’t take me seriously. I had to show her just where the real power was. The stupid paper! Jinx told me she’d gotten rid of it. But she hid it. She was crazy as a loon, but not stupid. So … where is the paper now? Um. I’m willing to bet Serena has it on her. She would give it to you first, Liam. But now … I’ll find it.”
“Bill, I’ll give you the paper,” Serena said quietly, watching Liam and desperately trying to remain as calm as he appeared to be. “You are surely hidden in the tapes. And if no one has the paper, you’re in the clear. You weren’t involved—” Serena said.
“Oh, no, I need to clean it all up. Jinx never meant to go down without me. Such a little fool. Who would have ever thought she’d be the one to get obsessed with me? She thought I should be there, just for her. I guess Jinx and I were both obsessed. We loved the movies … TV … fame. Look what’s it all come to? Well, I will be the only one around to watch the miniseries. No more explanations.”
“Oh, yeah, there will be explanations. Oz Davis has cleaned up one of those tapes, Bill. And your back … your clean-shaven back is in those tapes. You thought looking like a movie star could make you into one.”
“I’ll get that damned tape!” Bill swore. “You think you can always come out heads up, eh, Liam. Not this time. Conquering-hero type, it’s time to die.”
Hutchens removed the gun from Serena’s temple. He started to aim straight at Liam’s heart.
In raw panic, Serena slammed her elbow against his ribs, sobs escaping her.
Little good this can do! Serena thought.
But God knew, maybe it did help. It threw Bill’s aim off a hair.
Liam secured the gun he had tucked into the back of his waistband.
Both men fired simultaneously. Serena screamed.
Bill fell to the earth, the impetus of his weight bearing her down with him. She struggled against him; he was no longer holding her.
She stared into his face. His eyes were open.
There was a bullet hole dead center in his forehead.
She gaped at it, smelling the powder, horrified, yet marveling at the precision. She had never known that Liam was such a perfect shot.
Bill was dead. He was still staring at her. She choked, gasping, still desperate to get away from the entangling limbs of the man who had meant to kill them all.
Liam was there then, beside her, pulling her from the dead man’s hold and into his arms.
He had never held her more tightly—or thrust her away more quickly, black eyes searching her thoroughly. “Are you all right?”
“Yes, yes, and you—”
She was already crushed back against him. “Dammit, I love you, Serena,” he said softly.
They could hear the sound of sirens in the night. Jeff, coming around the back of the truck, pale as the sand, said, “The cops are coming!” He cried, “The good cops, I think.”
“Olsen or Rigger,” Liam murmured, still staring at Serena. “It took them long enough. But I was afraid if Oz didn’t reach one of them, Bill could have fooled the other officers.” He touched Serena’s cheek. “We have another night at the police station,” Bill said softly. “And I know how you feel about cops, and after this …”
“I love cops,” she said softly. “Especially the good co
ps. The conquering-hero types.” She tried to speak lightly. Her knees were buckling. Without his support, she would have fallen.
Many times, she realized.
Epilogue
THE PAPERS WERE ONCE again full of news about Valentine Valley.
And the cop who had wanted to soar to the heavens with stars and fallen to the earth like Icarus instead.
Once again, Liam was deeply troubled, as were many people Serena had come to love and trust. Serena told Olsen over and over again that she felt with all her heart that most policemen were wonderful public servants, risking their lives for civilians. It was only every once in a while when you came upon a …
Bill Hutchens.
At one point, she couldn’t help but tell Liam, “There are good people, and bad people, in every sex, race, religion—and every line of work out there. Bill doesn’t give a bad name to every cop, any more than Jinx … than Jinx’s life implies that every actor or movie worker is crazy.”
“I know that,” he told her. “It’s just … God! I trusted him not only with my own life, but with yours. And I should have known, I should have seen some kind of sign. …”
“You discovered the truth in time to save my life again,” she told him softly.
And he smiled at last, looking at her. “And you might have saved mine. You acted quickly enough. How did you know I had a gun?”
“I didn’t. I just knew that he was going to shoot you. And I love you.”
He nodded.
It was dawn. They didn’t talk any longer then. They went to his house, and showered, and made love, glad to be alive.
The next days were chaotic. Liam spent a number of them at the police station. So did Serena. Then she fielded a dozen calls and carefully granted interviews.
Days passed and Joe Penny rallied, and they filmed their Valentine’s Day segment. Hank Newton, as the Valentine family patriarch, was nearly murdered—the terrorist extra was killed instead, and it was David DeVille who saved him, deflecting the bullet, adding a layer to the story line now that a Valentine owed his life to the son of his greatest rival.
Valentine’s Day arrived for real.
The ratings had never been higher.
Liam told Serena that he wasn’t buying her flowers. He left early, once again going to the police station, finishing up some business. Serena sat down and watched her own soap. She liked the way it played.
In the early afternoon, she met Liam. He was grim, but ready to go.
“Are we really done with this yet?” she asked him.
“I think so. Come on. We have a great dinner reservation for tonight. It’s a very cozy little place. We can go and have some privacy in a dark booth.”
“It sounds great, except …” Serena was surprised herself when she said, “Liam, stop by the cemetery please.”
“The cemetery?”
“Yeah. I just want to see … Jinx.”
He thought she was crazy, she knew, but he stopped for her to buy flowers, and when they came to the famous old place, he helped her hop the small wall, since the gates had been closed earlier.
“If we get arrested …” he said. “Oh, what the hell.”
They came to Jinx’s grave. Serena knelt and said her little prayer. When she rose, Liam, still looking somewhat weary, his black hair tousled and his jacket thrown over his shoulder, was watching her. She walked over to him.
“You know, I really do love you.”
“I love you, too. You know that. I’ve always loved you.”
“But you left me.”
“I wanted to matter.”
“You always mattered.”
“Maybe I was a little jealous, too.”
“Maybe I should think before I do things,” she murmured. She touched his cheek with her knuckles.
“It is Valentine’s Day.”
“I know that. And I told you, I didn’t think that it was the right year for flowers—”
“I don’t want flowers. I … I don’t understand why you just won’t marry me,” she told him.
He studied her gravely.
“I thought you’d never ask,” he told her.
She frowned.
“Does that mean that you are asking me to marry you?” she inquired.
“I thought you just asked me?”
“You’re supposed to do the asking.”
“Oh. Well, then … will you marry me?”
“Since you’re so eloquent …”
She was startled when he took her hand and fell on a knee, a wry smile on his features. “Miss McCormack, will you marry me? We’re opposites in a hundred thousand ways, but I’ve discovered that what’s good in life is only good when you’re a part of it, and that what’s difficult is easier just because you’re beside me. I’d rather face any misery in life—”
“Are you calling me a misery?”
“Will you please shut up for just a moment? I’m doing my very best to be eloquent. Where was I? Yes, I’d rather face anything in life with you. I want to wake up every morning with you by my side, to see your face again and again—”
“That is eloquent,” she said softly.
“Can I get off my knees now?”
“I don’t know. I rather like you there.”
He rose, smiling. He cupped her cheeks, kissed her lips. “It’s a very beautiful face.”
“I’m older than you, you know.”
“Serena, if you were eighty, I’d love you.”
“What a liar!”
“All right, well, eighty might be pushing it.”
She smiled thoughtfully, feeling the sun and his touch upon her.
“You didn’t answer me, you know,” he told her.
“Well, I didn’t know it was necessary, since I rather prodded you into asking the question.”
“I asked the question. I had intended to talk seriously about our lives and ask you to marry me at dinner. We didn’t make dinner. So now you’re supposed to say ‘Yes, oh yes, I’ll marry you, Liam, because I can’t live without you.’“
“Yes, I will marry you, because I can’t imagine life without you again. I don’t ever want to face life without you again. I love you with my whole heart. And besides, I want our child to have his father.”
He paled at that. A little hopefully, she thought. “We’re … having a child?”
“Well, not at this moment, no, but we can’t mess around too long. You are marrying an older woman. I mean, you don’t mind, do you? I rather got the impression you liked children—”
“Serena, we’ll have a dozen if you want.”
“Two was the actual number I had in mind.”
“Two,” he agreed. “We should go to the restaurant. I mean, I’d never actually envisioned proposing in a cemetery.”
“We’ve let the past rest,” she told him, “and made a new beginning.”
He nodded. “But it’s time to leave the dead and start with living. Let’s go to dinner.”
“Liam, tonight I’d rather go to your house.”
“My house?”
“I was thinking about … well, if we’re going to have two children, perhaps this might be the time to start practicing for the first …”
“Practicing?” he inquired politely.
“Well, you know, working toward such a goal.”
“My house it is,” he said softly.
“One moment,” she murmured, and she paused, kneeling down to arrange the flowers she had stopped to buy on Jinx’s grave.
None of them would live forever. Jinx had taught her to be grateful for every moment she had ahead.
The roses lay prettily arranged upon the earth. Oddly enough, Serena knew that Jinx would have liked them there.
Liam helped her to her feet.
And hand in hand, they walked from the graveyard and back to the streets of the city that was teeming with life.
A Biography of Heather Graham
Heather Graham (b. 1953) is one of the country’s most prominent a
uthors of romance, suspense, and historical fiction. She has been writing bestselling books for nearly three decades, publishing more than 150 novels and selling more than seventy-five million copies worldwide.
Born in Florida to an Irish mother and a Scottish father, Graham attended college at the University of South Florida, where she majored in theater arts. She spent a few years making a living onstage as a back-up vocalist and dinner theater actor, but after the birth of her third child decided to seek work that would allow her to spend more time with her family.
After early efforts writing romance and horror stories, Graham sold her first novel, When Next We Love (1982). She went on to write nearly two dozen contemporary romance novels.
In 1989 Graham published Sweet Savage Eden, which initiated the Cameron family saga, an epic six-book series that sets romantic drama amid turbulent periods of American history, such as the Civil War. She revisited the nineteenth century in Runaway (1994), a story of passion, deception, and murder in Florida, which spawned five sequels of its own.
In the past decade, Graham has written romantic suspense novels such as Tall, Dark, and Deadly (1999), Long, Lean, and Lethal (2000), and Dying to Have Her (2001), as well as supernatural fiction. In 2003’s Haunted she created the Harrison Investigation service, a paranormal detective organization that she spun off into four Krewe of Hunters novels in 2011.
Graham lives in Florida, where she writes, scuba dives, and spends time with her husband and five children.
Graham (left) with her sister.
Graham with her family in New Orleans. Pictured left to right: Dennis Pozzessere; Zhenia Yeretskaya Pozzessere; Derek, Shayne, and Chynna Pozzessere; Heather Graham; Jason and Bryee-Annon Pozzessere; and Jeremy Gonzalez.
Graham at a photo shoot in Key West for the promotion of the Flynn Brothers trilogy.
Graham at the haunted Myrtles plantation, Francisville, Louisiana.
Graham and the Slushpile Band playing the Memnoch the Devil Ball at the Undead Con in New Orleans, 2010.