by Jennie Marts
She took a deep breath. “I’m fine. But I would be a lot better if you catch the real killer, and I stop getting these terrible texts.”
##
Several hours later, the doorbell rang again and Maggie hollered, “Come in!”
Her house felt like Grand Central Station lately. She sat at her office desk, trying and failing to concentrate on work. She had brought some case files home, but each time she tried to concentrate on reading one, her thoughts drifted to Jeremy. To the way he touched her and called her Beautiful. Or to the way he saved her from their terrifying ordeal.
Sunny poked her head in the office door. “Hey, it’s me. And Jake’s here too.” Jake leaned over Sunny’s blond head and waved.
Maggie motioned them in, turning her office chair to face them as they sat on the plaid loveseat in her office. “I told you I was okay. You didn’t need to check on me.”
Sunny leaned forward and took her hand. “I’m your friend. That’s what friends do.” She smiled, but Maggie could tell her whole heart wasn’t in it. She was holding something back.
“And…what else do friends do?”
Sunny sighed. “Deliver bad news in person, I guess. Jake wanted to see that most recent text message, and he also had something to show you.”
A new wave of fear slammed into Maggie. She knew she didn’t want to see anything Jake had to show her. From Sunny’s expression, she knew it was bad and that it must be about Jeremy.
She wanted to scream. To stand up and tell them to leave. To get out of her house. To just let her have one day to enjoy being happy. One freaking day.
But she didn’t. She didn’t stand up, and she didn’t scream or tell them to leave. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, bracing herself for the blow. “Go ahead. Tell me.”
Jake pulled a folded sheaf of papers from his hand. “Finney and I have been tracing all the electronic correspondence of Jeremy’s company. We found some emails that accuse Jim of selling digital secrets to SkyVision and outright threaten him with bodily harm if he doesn’t quit. One says that he’ll be sorry and another hints that his life could be in danger if he doesn’t stop dealing with SkyVision and return the codes that he stole. ”
Maggie let out the breath she was holding. This wasn’t so bad. In fact, it was good news. “That’s great. If we can show evidence of an actual death threat to the police, then that should point us to the killer.”
Jake looked at the floor. “Yeah. That’s the problem. The emails are from Jeremy.”
Chapter Nineteen
For the second time in two days, Maggie raced to Jeremy’s house. But this time, she was wearing a bra. She was fully clothed, and the stack of emails lay in the seat next to her.
This time, she was going straight to the source. She was going to face Jeremy and ask him to explain these messages. No fooling around, no spending a day spying on him while she followed him all over a comic book convention. She had the proof in her hands and she was determined to get answers.
She pulled up in front of Jeremy’s house and noticed a small red sports car in the driveway. Jeremy had told her he was meeting some guys to play basketball. One of them must have brought him home, since Jeremy’s car was currently drying out from its recent swim in the lake.
It might be a little more awkward to confront Jeremy in front of his friend, but oh well. She needed to know the truth.
Reaching for the doorbell, Maggie noticed the front door was open an inch, so she gently pushed against it. The door swung wide open, as if beckoning her to come inside. She poked her head in the door, but the house seemed empty. The living room was neatly picked up, and she flashed on the memory of her and Jeremy, naked on the rug in front of the fireplace.
If she was welcome to get naked in the living room, she guessed she could come in without knocking first. Maybe the guys were in the backyard, cooling off in the pool after their game. She stepped into the house and was met with silence.
Peeking into the kitchen, she could see the backyard through the sliding glass door. The swimming pool glittered in the late-afternoon sun, but there were no sweaty basketball-playing men immersed in it.
She could see the dog run. Chewie sat behind the fence, one paw raised and rested against the chain link. As if he recognized her, the dog gave a bark of greeting. If Jeremy was home, why hadn’t he let the dog inside?
Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. She could go home, try calling first. A sound from above her head caused her to jump. She laughed at herself. This was silly. She was here. And she wanted answers.
She climbed the steps, calling out Jeremy’s name. “Hello. Anybody home?”
Her heart was racing as she progressed up the stairs. The threatening text message came to mind, and an ominous feeling of dread filled her. What if the killer had come here to take care of Jeremy? What if she was too late? Or worse, what if the killer was still in the house?
She looked around for a weapon to arm herself with. All she carried was her purse—a new one she had in the closet, not the soggy one that Mac had dropped off this morning—and a handful of emails. Was she going to defend herself by threatening them with paper cuts?
A heavy iron statue of an elephant sat on a table on the landing with a stack of antique books leaning against it. Maggie hefted the elephant against her shoulder. At best, she could whack someone on the head with it. At the very least, she could throw it at someone.
She slowly approached Jeremy’s bedroom, her footsteps muffled by the thick carpet. His door was partially open, and she could hear the shower running in the master bathroom. As she got closer, she heard him singing, the lyrics to an old Eagles song carrying over the sound of the shower.
She let out her breath. Oh, brother. She had freaked out for nothing. He was just in the shower. She heard the water turn off, and his singing stopped.
Maybe that wasn’t a friend’s car. Maybe he had already gotten a rental. Maggie pushed open the door of the bedroom.
Jeremy and his mom had decorated his house, and Maggie particularly liked what they had done in the master bedroom. She loved the masculine feel of the gold and deep reds and the heavy dark wood of the furniture. But the one decorative feature that she wasn’t expecting in the room was the naked blonde lying seductively in Jeremy’s bed.
Clad only in a towel and shaking his wet head, Jeremy stepped out of the bathroom and froze. He looked at Maggie, then at Charlotte lying in his bed and then back at Maggie again, his head doing a confused ping-pong action between the two women. “What are you doing here? And what are you doing with that elephant?”
The statue slipped from Maggie’s hands and hit the floor with a heavy thud. The stack of emails floated to the floor like a white flurry of snowflakes. The sight of Jeremy coming out of the shower to a naked younger woman in his bed was more than she could bear. She choked on a sob and backed out of the room, turning and fleeing down the stairs. She heard Jeremy call her name, but she was out the door and running for her car.
She threw the car in gear and peeled out. She saw Jeremy standing in his front yard, the white towel around his waist, waving at her, but she couldn’t get out of there fast enough. Screw it if she got a ticket. She needed to get as far away from him as fast as possible.
How could she have let herself get sucked into his lies? He was one more man who had chosen a younger woman over her. When would she learn? How had she let her guard down? Let herself trust again? Somehow this betrayal felt worse than it had with Chad, because she should have known better. She let herself get tricked into believing that Jeremy cared for her. Loved her.
She should have known. The man created video games for a living. She must have been just another game to him. The ultimate game of cat and mouse. He was the predator, and she was the prey.
And now she had been caught. And slain. Her heart lay open and bleeding, torn to shreds by the man she thought she loved.
Her cell phone began to ring in her purse, and she threw the bag to th
e floor of the car. She turned the radio up full blast and ignored the incessant ringing. Her heart-wrenching sobs were drowned out by the loud music as she beat the steering wheel in frustration.
How could he have done this to her? How could she have fallen for his lies? Never again would she let herself trust. Never again would she allow herself to be hurt like this. To bear the physical pain of loss and betrayal. The anguish in her chest threatened to choke her, and the sorrow lay like a heavy brick in her stomach. She would never give another man a chance to hurt her like this. She would never suffer this pain again. Never again.
Chapter Twenty
Maggie slogged through the next week, wading through her days as if they were filled with molasses. She buried herself in her work, ignoring calls and visits from her friends. And from Jeremy.
She had told the kids that she needed time to be alone and not to bother her. And if anyone stopped by, they were instructed to tell them to go away.
Jeremy had tried repeatedly to call her. She let all of his calls go to voicemail and deleted the messages without listening to them. She had heard enough lies.
He had come to the house several times and she told her family not to answer the door. The boys had been gone the last time he had come by and Maggie had curled into the corner of the sofa, her arms wrapped around her knees, sobbing as she listened to him pound on the door and call her name. She had pulled herself into a tight ball of despair, rocking against the sofa cushion, as she waited for him to give up and walk away.
Thank goodness Chad had moved out. That would have been one more reminder of how gullible she had been. Believing in another man and giving him the chance to rip her heart out.
A knock on her office door had her looking up from the case files she was working on. What the heck was he doing here? “Hey, Mac.”
The police officer stood in her doorway, his expression grim. “Hey, Maggie. Sorry to bother you at work.”
Maggie closed the file. A feeling of dread filled her as she waited for the next piece of news that Mac was here to share. “It’s okay. You don’t typically show up bearing good news.”
“I know. And I’m afraid today is no exception.”
She sighed and gestured to the chairs in front of her desk. “Have a seat. I’m already having a shitty week, so you probably can’t make it worse.” Oh, please, do not make it worse.
Mac sat on the chair, his tall body filling the seat. He leaned forward, his forearms resting on his muscular thighs.
Why was she even looking at his muscles? She had sworn off men. A wave of fresh pain shot through her as she thought of Jeremy and the image of Charlotte wrapped in the crisp sheets of his bed. The same sheets that Jeremy had laid her back against and made love to her on.
How could she move on? Anger and bitterness swirled inside of her, mixed with hurt and confusion as to how he could have done this to her. How he could have fooled her like this.
And one thing Maggie Hayes knew: she hated being made a fool of. She had to put Jeremy behind her. Stop obsessing about him and how he had hurt her.
She turned her attention back to Mr. Cute Cop and tried to focus on his news and not how well he filled out his uniform. Might as well get the bad news out of the way. Rip it off like a Band-Aid. “So, what do you know?”
Mac shook his head. “I know that it stinks that I’m the one who has to tell you these things. I hate causing you pain. I would much rather be the guy that makes you smile.”
Was he actually flirting with her? She knew there was some attraction between them, but it sounded like a few compliments weren’t going to be enough to soften the blow of what was coming. “Just tell me. What’s going on?”
The policeman sighed. “Some new evidence has come to light that puts Jeremy at the scene of the crime.”
“What kind of evidence?”
“Video showing him going into the office.”
“Of course there is video of him going into his office. He works there. He has to go there.”
“The video is time-stamped with the date and time. It shows Jeremy in the office early on the morning of the murder. He claims he left on Friday night and didn’t return to the office until we called him down on Saturday.”
Another lie. It seemed Jeremy was not the man she thought he was at all. “How are you just figuring this out now? Why haven’t you looked at the video before?”
“We did. That’s why this was a little odd. One of Jeremy’s employees brought the video to us. He claims he had it but didn’t want to get Jeremy in trouble.”
Maggie tapped the files in front of her with a pen. “Who is this employee who just happened to be withholding evidence?” She tried to keep the sneer out of her voice, but she imagined a tearful Charlotte showing up at the police station, holding the evidence against her substantial bosom. The same ones that rested against Jeremy’s sheets.
Mac pulled a notepad from his pocket and flipped to an ear-marked page. “It was that squirrely guy. Leonard.”
“Leonard?” Why would Leonard give incriminating evidence to the police?
“Yeah. He came in this morning and said he had something to show us. I guess the guy is really paranoid and has some sort of security device on his desktop at work that records movement around his desk. He claims it took him awhile to remember and when he ran back through the recording, it was a little blurred so he wasn’t sure if it was Jeremy. I guess he designed some type of image-sharpening software and ran the recording through it, and it very clearly shows Jeremy walking by his desk.”
Maggie’s heart sank. “Are you sure it was him?”
Mac nodded. “You can see his dark hair and his face, and evidently he was wearing some custom-made jacket that’s easily recognizable in the video. I’m sorry, Maggie.”
As mad as she was at him for cheating on her, she still never believed he was capable of hurting anyone. Although he had hurt her. She felt a pain inside of her, as if her heart were being ripped in half. A lone tear rolled down her cheek.
“Ah, come on now. Don’t do that.” Mac stood up and came around the desk. He pulled Maggie from her chair and into his arms. “I can’t stand to see you cry.”
Something about the way he held her gently against his shoulder and caressed her hair completely did Maggie in. The floodgates loosened, and she cried against his shoulder. Big, soul-shaking sobs of pain. Her hands came around his waist, and she gripped his crisp uniform shirt in her hands. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
“I know. This one surprised me too. I thought the guy was all right.” He pulled her head back, wiping her tears away with his thumb. “But it’s unacceptable that he hurt you and made you cry.”
Maggie nodded and wiped at his shoulder. “Thanks, Mac. Sorry I got tears on your shoulder.”
“I don’t mind.” Mac looked down at her, a serious look on his face. His arms were still wrapped around her and he pulled her a little tighter against him. “Maggie, I know this isn’t the best timing, but it’s no secret that I’m interested in you.”
Uh oh. Another man interested in her was not what she needed right now. She needed her dog and some tea and a good book and warm socks. And macaroni and cheese. She did not need a sexy cop looking at her with desire in his eyes. Especially one that rode a motorcycle and looked amazing in jeans and a leather jacket.
Mac dipped his head and softly kissed her.
Maggie pulled back, shaking her head. “I’m sorry, Mac. I’m not ready.”
He sighed. “No, I’m the one who’s sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I’ve just been thinking about you, and you look so beautiful. I was out of line.”
She noticed he hadn’t let go of her yet, though. She reached up and laid a hand against his cheek. He was a good guy and she didn’t want to hurt him. “It’s okay. I’m just reeling from the break-up with Jeremy and can’t even think about anyone else right now. I am attracted to you.” She smiled up at him, trying for a joke to lighten the mood. “I mean, who
wouldn’t be? Look at these muscles.”
He laughed as she playfully squeezed his biceps. He hugged her tight against him for a second, then let her go. “Well, you know how to find me when you’re ready.”
“Thank you,” she whispered softly.
He headed for the door. “I’ll let you know if I hear anything more on the case.”
“Hey, Mac.” Maggie called to him, and he turned back to her. Though her heart was still reeling from the pain of Jeremy’s betrayal, she knew what it was like to put yourself out there and get rejected. Mac had only been good to her and she didn’t want him to walk out the door on a bad note. “Just so you know, you’re a pretty great kisser.”
A sexy grin crossed his face. “Thanks. But I am a detective. I know you’re just giving me one last boost to my ego.” He shook his head. “Like it’s not bad enough that I lose out to a total nerd. I mean, seriously, what grown man wears an emblem of his favorite video game on his jacket? Who even knows what Warcraft World is anyway?”
“World of Warcraft.” She absently corrected him, feeling another wave of sadness that she wouldn’t be able to play the online game with her favorite player anymore. One more loss in her life. She waved at Mac. “See you later.”
“Take care, Maggie. And remember, I’m here if you need me.” He pulled her office door shut behind him.
She sank into her chair and opened a file. She took a sip of cold coffee from the cup on her desk and tried to concentrate on the case in front of her.
Her mind swirled with images of Jeremy and how they met. How they had known each other’s alter egos in their favorite online game and the time they had actually played together before meeting in person.
Since they had started dating, they’d had so much fun together, spending hours playing online, staying up too late, and flirting between their characters in the chat boxes. Geez, maybe she was as nerdy as he was.
Something niggled at the edge of her mind as she read the same paragraph in the file for the third time. Something Mac had said. She took another sip of coffee and reached for the phone, ready to call her assistant to get her a fresh cup.
