And, suddenly, Samantha was pulling Jill in for a tight hug. “I mean this in the nicest way,” Samantha murmured into Jill’s ear. “But you look like hell.”
A shocked laugh escaped Jill’s lips. “Thanks.” She hugged Samantha, reassured to have the other woman there. Samantha had been there for Jill after she was shot on that very first case. She’d been there on the slightly drunk nights when Jill had broken down and spilled about Hayden.
She’d always been there, a true-blue friend.
Samantha eased back. Her gaze swept over Jill’s face. Samantha was beautiful, but Jill had noticed that she always tried to downplay her looks. No makeup. No too-tight or low-cut clothes. Just business, that was Sam.
Most days, anyway. Jill had seen her friend cut loose a time or two.
“I read up on your abduction on the way here,” Samantha said, giving a slight nod. Her lips pursed. “But to be honest, I have to confess... I dug up your case file years ago.”
She’d done what?
“You carry a lot of pain, Jill,” Samantha murmured. “I’ve wanted to help you for a long time.”
“A girl is missing.” She backed toward the desk and handed Samantha the file she’d composed on Vanessa Gray. “He called me—the bastard who took her. I heard her scream.”
Samantha began to rifle through the file.
“We have a man in custody. Kurt Anderson.”
Samantha looked up. “Christy Anderson’s brother?”
Jill nodded. “You did do your research.” It was a bit unnerving to realize that—all along—Samantha had known all of the secrets that Jill carried about Hope. Samantha had known those secrets, but hadn’t said a word.
“Like I said—” Samantha inclined her head “—I wanted to help you. Sometimes, Jill, your pain was like a cloak around you. And there’s always a reason...”
“A reason?”
“Why we choose the paths that we take. You wanted to help children. That was your mission and burden. Your single focus. It only stood to reason there was a direct motivation for that desire.”
Ah, there she went...she’s profiling me. But two could play that game. “You only wanted to work with the serial killers, so what motivation do you have?”
Samantha’s thick lashes lowered. “Maybe I understand them too much because I understand their darkness a bit too well.” Then Samantha cleared her throat. “You think a serial is at work here, or you wouldn’t have called me. You would have gotten some of your CARD teammates down here right away.”
Jill bit her lower lip. “When I first talked to you, I did. Me, Christy Anderson...after the two of us, the killer seemed to just vanish. And that doesn’t usually happen, not with serials.”
“They have a cooling-off period,” Samantha allowed as she thumbed through the documents. “But they don’t usually go dormant for such an extended period.”
“Then the girl taken now, Vanessa, we’re all of similar ages at the times of our abductions. From the same town but...” This was driving her crazy. Jill started to pace. “But I searched the federal databases and no one else matches the victim profile. Just the three of us. There weren’t any abductions in nearby areas. It doesn’t make sense, not unless—” She broke off.
“Unless what?” Samantha prompted.
Jill turned to look at the map she’d tacked on the wall. Her eyes narrowed as she studied it. “Unless he went much farther away. Unless the killer left town and was hunting in another area all these years.” And maybe...just maybe those other girls hadn’t been labeled as victims. “Runaways,” Jill whispered as everything finally made sense for her. “It was staring me in the face the whole time, and I never even saw it.”
“Jill?”
She looked back at Samantha. “When Vanessa’s mother came in today, she didn’t report her daughter as missing. She said Vanessa was a runaway.” Her heart was pounding, her heart racing. “What if...what if everyone thought the others were runaways, too? What if that is his victim type? He’s picking girls that people—their own families—would think had run away. That would make the parents slower to report the crimes, especially if they thought the kids would be back.” Only they never came home. “And when the authorities were finally notified, the investigation process for a runaway is different than for a suspected child abduction. Time would be lost, clues never found...”
Victims just...gone.
Samantha stared at her in silence a moment, and then she said, “Would they have thought you were a runaway, too?”
Her hands had clenched into fists. “Both of my parents were dead. I’d been moved to a new town, a place that was totally foreign to me. I had no friends. No one close to me at all. My grandmother and I...things were strained between us at first. I was distant. Reserved.” She swallowed. “Yes, I could have gone down as a runaway.”
“And Christy Anderson?”
“Her family can tell us that for sure.” But her instincts screamed...yes.
“Her family,” Samantha repeated, her lips giving a wry twist. “That would be the brother currently in holding, right?”
Unfortunately, yes.
“I want to have a go at him,” Samantha said.
Jill nodded. “I knew you would.” Because the perps were Samantha’s specialty. She never seemed to mind the darkness that cloaked the killers. Sometimes, Jill wondered if Samantha was drawn to that darkness.
“Will your sheriff give me the all clear to go in?” Samantha asked.
As if on cue, a light knock rapped against the office door. A moment later, the door opened, and Hayden slipped inside. “Jill, I need to talk to—” But he broke off when he glimpsed Samantha.
Jill realized her body was still too tense, her hands angry fists. She shook her head and tried to make herself relax. I think I understand the perp now. I understand the victims. “Hayden, this is my friend Agent Samantha Dark. And, Samantha, this is Sheriff Hayden Black.”
Samantha offered Hayden her hand. “I have heard your name before...” she announced as her assessing gaze slid over him.
Hayden looked surprised. “You have?”
“Um.” Samantha’s face was expressionless, but her gaze had gone hard. “You’re the man who—”
“I didn’t save her,” Hayden broke in quickly. “Look, if that’s the story you heard. It’s all wrong, okay? You want the truth? The truth is that Jill saved me that day. She pulled me back from a brink that no one else saw.”
Samantha’s head cocked to the right as her gaze slid over him, then slipped toward Jill. “Interesting. I was going to say...you were the man who broke Jill’s heart.”
Hayden’s lips parted. His eyes jumped to Jill.
“But now...” Samantha nodded. “I see things are a lot more complex than I realized. Good. I like a nice mystery. Puzzles are my thing.”
Hayden took a step toward Jill.
“I think I’ll review these case files a bit.” Samantha lifted the files. “I should also get a hotel room in town. Maybe something with an ocean view. Love the water...always reminds me of home.” She headed for the door, and then she paused, glancing back. “Will I be able to talk to the prisoner?”
Hayden’s gaze had narrowed as he glanced back her way.
“Jill can vouch for me,” Samantha added, voice soft. “I assure you, I am very, very good at what I do. And if you want me to discover Kurt Anderson’s secrets, then you’ll let me have thirty minutes alone with him.”
Then she was gone, easing from the room and shutting the door softly behind her.
Jill released a low breath. Way to keep a confidence, Sam. I tell you one lousy truth during one drunken girls’ night and this is the thanks I get—
“Is she right?”
Jill turned away and raked a hand through her hair, being very, ver
y careful not to touch her stitches. Her head was still throbbing. “She’s the best profiler I know.” Though to be honest, that wasn’t Samantha’s technical title at the FBI. She was on the fast track to be the lead agent in the Behavioral Analysis Unit. “Samantha knows how to slip into anyone’s mind. It’s a talent she—”
“Did I break your heart, Jill?” He’d closed the distance between them, and when he asked that question, his hand lifted and his fingers stroked her shoulder.
She tensed at his touch, and Jill thought about lying. But what would be the point? “Yes, but you knew that already.” She turned to face him, tipping back her head as she stared up at him. “You were the center of my world back then. The person I loved far more than anyone else. And you—”
“I wasn’t good enough for you.”
“That is such utter bull, Hayden.”
“Whispers had followed me my whole life. Would I be like my old man? When would I get thrown in jail? I’d never amount to anything, then you met me on a pier. And after that day, everyone looked at me differently.”
“Hayden...”
“People said I was a hero, but they were wrong.”
No, he had—
“I followed that vehicle because I couldn’t let you go. You looked at me in a way no one ever had before. You looked at me...” He swallowed. “And I changed. I liked the way I looked in your eyes. But I was holding you too tightly. I could see it. Hell, most people in the town did. You were becoming my obsession, and that wasn’t right. You needed more.”
“You dreamed of joining the FBI. Of making a difference. I wanted you to have that dream, Jill. I wanted to prove that I could be more than a selfish bastard with you. So I stepped back. I wasn’t going to hold you back. I gave up the thing that was the most important in my life. Then I joined the military. I wanted to prove that I could be someone you’d be proud of. That I could protect and defend and that I could—”
“Stop.” The word emerged, low, angry. “Just...stop.”
He stared down at her. Jill’s breath sawed from her lungs. “I was always proud of you. You should have seen that. I always wanted to be with you. You should have seen that, too.” She pressed her lips together and felt the pain of the past once more. Only once...because I don’t want the past any longer. “But we were two kids, Hayden. Two kids who’d clung too tightly to each other for so long. We were both making mistakes. Both stumbling along. That was then. We aren’t those kids any longer.”
“You’re right.” He nodded. “We’re not. And I’ll be damned if I make the same mistake again.”
“Hayden?”
He pulled her even closer. “I love you.”
Jill shook her head.
“I love you. If you hadn’t come to Hope, I was coming to Atlanta to find you. I wanted another chance with you. I wanted to be with you. Taking the job as sheriff, joining the navy, damn it, don’t you see? It was all for you. To show you that I could be the man you needed. That I am better. I am—”
Jill fisted her hand in his shirt and jerked him down toward her. She kissed him. Deep and wild and crazy. She didn’t hold back her desire or the emotions that seemed to be ripping her apart. She just let go...the way she’d always wanted.
His arms closed around her. The heat of his body surrounded her. So close. So strong. So very Hayden.
His mouth lifted, just a bit and he growled, “When this case is over, I want another chance with you.”
Her eyes were closed. She wanted to sink into him and escape the pain all around, but that wasn’t an option. Christy needed them. “When this case is over...”
She made her eyes open. She stared at him.
His hard, determined face. So handsome.
“I want another chance with you, too,” Jill whispered. Because she wouldn’t be afraid. And she wouldn’t let doubts hold her back. Hayden was the man she wanted.
Hayden was the man she’d have.
* * *
“THIRTY MINUTES.”
Samantha nodded as she stared up at Hayden Black. He certainly wasn’t the guy she’d anticipated. When Jill had talked about Hayden, well, Samantha had pictured a stuffy guy, reserved, strong but...controlled.
This man wasn’t controlled. His emotions seemed to spill from him, and, every single time that he glanced at Jill...
Jill wasn’t the only one with a broken heart.
Hayden Black was strong, dangerous and, judging by the way he walked, that careful stride of his—
“You’re profiling me, aren’t you?” Hayden asked as he stilled in front of the heavy door that would take them back to the holding cell.
Samantha gave a quick, slightly nervous laugh. “Sorry. I tend to have trouble turning that off.” And she knew it unnerved people. “My bad. Occupational hazard.”
He faced her, crossed his arms over his chest and waited.
He was a sexy guy, she could see where Jill would have been attracted to the man but—
“Are you going to fill me in?” Hayden prompted.
“Excuse me?”
“I want to know what you think. Who am I?”
Uh... “Here? Now?” She wanted to get back into holding and take a go at Anderson. But, fine, if this was the price of admission. “I already knew you were ex-military, but I’m betting you were the leader of your team. You’re too used to giving orders otherwise. You walk into a room and immediately access every threat, every weakness there. You thrive on risk, you love the rush of adrenaline. You’re dangerous—”
His jaw hardened. “Dangerous?”
“Oh, yes.” She believed that completely. She was staring into the eyes of a man who wouldn’t hesitate to kill. Who probably hadn’t. When you took a life, it left a mark on you, not outside, but deep within. Hayden carried that mark.
So did she.
“You think I’m dangerous to Jill?” His eyes had gone cold and hard.
But Samantha shook her head. “Not to her. I think she’s probably the safest woman on the planet when you’re near.” Kind of like Lois Lane. “I think you’d do anything for her, but if some fool tries to take her from you again—”
“That won’t happen.”
She saw plenty when she looked at him. “Tried to live without her, huh? Tried to do the right thing?”
He lifted one blond brow.
“Bet that sucked.” Samantha smiled. “Guess you won’t be making that same mistake again.”
“I’m surprised you’re not telling me to stay the hell away from her.”
“Why? Because you’re so big and bad?” She laughed. “Jill can handle big and bad. What she can’t handle is losing you again. Maybe you should ask her about her contacts at the CIA. Ask what she found so very fascinating about a certain SEAL team. Even when you weren’t with her, trust me, she kept you close.”
His eyes widened the faintest bit. Nice eyes. Dark. Deep. And the way he looked at Jill with those eyes...as if she were the center of his world.
Because she is.
For an instant, Samantha felt a brush of sadness. It would be nice to be looked at that way. To be cared about, in that way.
She cleared her throat. “So, look, as fun as profiling you is...you aren’t the killer I’m after.” And she chose her words with deliberate care. “So if you’re still up to giving me that thirty minutes with Anderson...”
“I am.” He motioned toward the door. “My deputy Finn Patrick will stay with you during the session. Jill and I are going to conduct some more sweeps of the beaches.”
“Jill should call it a night,” Samantha muttered. The woman had looked dead on her feet. An up-close brush with a bomb would do that.
“She doesn’t want to leave Vanessa out there alone. Jill thinks we’re working against a clock. Twenty-four hours and then, w
ell, that then part can’t happen.”
No, it couldn’t.
He opened the door that led back to holding. She brushed by him and saw that a deputy was already back there, waiting on her. Deputy Finn, I presume. But she hesitated and glanced back at Hayden. “Stay close to Jill.” Because while she’d been reading the files, alarm bells had gone off in her head. She was missing something with this case. They all were. She knew it...
What?
“Always.” He gave her a little salute and turned away.
She marched deeper into the holding area. A man sat with hunched shoulders on a cot inside that cell. He glanced up at her. “My lawyer said for me not to speak with another soul here, so, lady, you should just turn around and keep walking right back out.”
She did keep walking. Not out, though, but all the way up to his cell. Her high heels clicked on the floor.
His frown deepened. “Lady...”
“We can get your lawyer in here,” Samantha said because she knew just how this game worked. “He can listen to my interview with you. He can tell you what to say or what not to say. We can do all of that.”
His gaze slid over her. “Who are you?”
“Samantha Dark.” The name would mean nothing to him. She had her FBI badge clipped to her hip but he wasn’t looking away from her face. He was staring directly at her, gazing into her eyes as if he had nothing to hide.
Such a lie. We all have plenty to hide. Too much.
“We can certainly go that route,” Samantha continued. “But then, another girl will probably die. A girl just like Christy.”
He flinched.
“Do you really want that to happen? Do you want another death on you?”
“I didn’t kill my sister!”
And that was why he would talk to her. He couldn’t talk to Jillian...when he looked at her, Samantha knew the past overwhelmed Kurt Anderson. Guilt tore at his insides. When he looked at Hayden Black, shame filled him. Because Hayden saved Jill but you couldn’t save your sister.