A Profiler's Case for Seduction

by Carla Cassidy

  He spied Richard standing at the edge of the people and beside him was a handcuffed Melinda. He fisted his hands at his sides as he stalked toward the woman who had nearly taken away Dora’s life.

  “I thought you might like to have a word with her,” Richard said as Mark approached.

  “Where’s Ben?”

  “On his way to the sheriff’s office in matching bracelets.”

  “It was Ben’s fault,” Melinda said, tears streaking mascara down her cheeks. “He killed those men. He put Dora on the stake. I didn’t know anything about it all. He’s crazy.”

  Mark raised his hands and clapped them together three times. “Stunning performance, Melinda. You should have majored in drama,” he said.

  “You have to believe me. I had nothing to do with any of this,” she exclaimed.

  “I’ve got your tin box.”

  Her eyes narrowed and glinted with a hard stare that reminded him of his nightmares of her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “The photos on the camera speak for themselves,” Mark replied. “Maybe you can teach some classes from the prison cell where you’ll spend the rest of your life.” He looked at Richard. “I’m done with her,” he said with obvious disgust. “She’s a complete failure.”

  As he walked away he heard Melinda raging behind him, telling him that Dora was the failure and calling him a loser. The last thing he cared about was what a sociopathic killer thought of him and Dora.

  All he wanted to do now was get to the hospital as quickly as possible and be there when Dora opened her eyes. He needed to assure himself that she was going to pull through and that the nightmare that had struck the small town of Vengeance, Texas, and her was finally over.

  * * *

  Dora awoke in a hospital bed alone in the room. The ache in her muscles competed with the pounding of her head. But she was safe. She was alive.

  She turned her head slightly toward the window in the room, noticing by the sun that it was apparently afternoon. She’d been unconscious for the entire night and most of the day.

  Flashes of memories of the night before played in her mind, the heaviness of the helmet on her head, the horror of finding herself on a stake in the center of the fire pit. Flames licking closer and the smoke choking and Mark appearing like an avenging wraith in the dark, it was all like a dream.

  But it hadn’t been a dream. It had been a nightmare orchestrated by the sister she’d admired and her assistant. Melinda had not only taught courses about sociopaths, she was one.

  Mark. Dora jerked up, a hand on the side of her pounding head as she searched for a button that would summon the nurse. Was Mark okay? He had been instrumental in saving her, but at what cost to himself? Was he here in this same hospital burned half to death by his heroic efforts?

  Before she could find the button to summon a nurse, a tall older man walked into the room and introduced himself as Special Agent Richard Sinclair. Dora knew he was not only Mark’s superior but also his friend.

  “Mark?” she asked before he could say anything else. “Is he okay?”

  “He’s fine.” Richard pulled up a chair next to her bed as she slumped back against the pillows. “He was here with you all night and I finally pulled him out of here and sent him back to Dallas to debrief and file his reports. I’m sure he’ll be in touch with you when he finishes up there.”

  Dora nodded, although she had a feeling she wouldn’t be hearing from Mark again. He was back in his space now, the place where he belonged. She remembered that he’d planned time for his daughter the next day and by then he’d recognize that there was nothing for him here in Vengeance.

  “If you’re feeling up to it, I’ve got some follow-up questions to ask you about what happened to you last night,” Richard said.

  She nodded and for the next half hour she and Richard went over everything she could remember from the moment Ben had stepped into her house the day before until she’d opened her eyes just before Richard had arrived.

  Their conversation was interrupted once by a doctor who stepped in to check on her and confirmed that she had been drugged with a heavy dose of tranquilizers administered through a needle. The doctor proclaimed her ready for release and Richard offered to take her home.

  An hour later Dora sat in Richard’s passenger seat as he drove her from the hospital to her house. Although the doctor had assured Dora that she’d slept off the effects of the drugs, a bone weariness made her want nothing more than to crawl into bed and sleep for hours...for days.

  Her sister had tried to kill her and Mark was gone. She looked at Richard and still tried to make sense of everything that had happened. “Melinda killed those three men?”

  Richard nodded. “Along with Ben’s help.”

  “But why?” Somehow she needed to make sense of this.

  Richard didn’t reply until he’d parked at her curb. He shut off the engine and turned to look at her, a hint of compassion in his eyes. “I believe she orchestrated her own kidnapping and then the murders because she could and for little other reason. She got a kick out of watching all of us scramble around like headless ants, unable to figure out the pieces to put the puzzle together.”

  “How did Mark know I was in the fire pit? That I was going to be burned to death?”

  A smile curved Richard’s lips. “Because he’s a special man and somehow he managed to get into Melinda’s head and anticipate what her next move might be.”

  Dora shifted her gaze out the front window. “She and Ben left cards on the other victims. Was there a card for me?” She turned back to look at Richard, who frowned. “There was, wasn’t there. What did it say?”

  “Melinda had a card in her pocket that said ‘failure.’ We believe she intended to place it on you sometime after the fire went out and before anyone realized that the effigy was a murder victim.”

  Failure. She waited for the word to find purchase in her heart, for her to embrace what her sister had apparently believed about her. She waited for the fracture of self-confidence to occur, and when it didn’t, she knew that she had truly moved away from her past.

  “Thank you, Agent Sinclair,” she said as she opened the passenger car door.

  “Dora, you’ve been very brave through all of this. You should be proud of yourself,” Richard said.

  She got out of the car and leaned down to smile at him. “I am,” she replied.

  Richard had told her that her house had been locked up by officers who had been there to process the scene for evidence. She had been taken from the house without her purse or keys but had told Richard she had a key hidden outside that she could use to get back in.

  As she approached her front door, she tried to blank her mind. Monday morning, life would return to whatever the new normal would be. All she had to do was get through the rest of today and tomorrow and then it would be back to business as usual.

  While digging into the bottom of a planter on her porch for her spare key, she wondered who would be teaching Melinda’s courses. Would they bring somebody in from another college to cover for the professor killer?

  Her sister, the killer.

  As she stepped into her house, the silence surrounded her, threatened to consume her. Her thoughts continued to play in her head.

  Samuel and Melinda had obviously been cut from the same cloth, choosing to walk the path of monsters while Dora and Micah had made the decision to navigate through the murky waters of life with a conscience.

  She thought about calling Micah to tell him everything that had happened, but instead she sank down on her sofa with memories of Mark filling her head. She hated that she hadn’t had an opportunity to thank him for being smart enough, special enough to save her life. She hated that she hadn’t had a chance to tell him goodbye.

  He was a special man who
deserved a special woman, and she wasn’t that woman. Yes, he was back in Dallas where he belonged, hopefully being a father to his little girl, and where he would eventually find the woman who could keep the darkness away from him, who could be his safe place to fall.

  Wearily she closed her eyes and fell asleep and dreamed of a life with Mark, and when she finally awoke it was with the trace of tears on her face.

  * * *

  Sunday might have been a long day if not for the surprising support that came from faculty and students for Dora. Her doorbell rang at a steady pace as people stopped by to bring her casseroles and flowers.

  She hadn’t realized how many lives she had touched working in the bookstore and attending classes; she hadn’t realized how many friends she’d made on campus.

  By the time five o’clock came she was tired, but it was an exhaustion brought on by pleasant conversation and interaction with sympathetic and supportive people.

  Just after five her doorbell rang again and she looked out her window to see Amanda Burns standing on her porch. Dora opened the door and Amanda nearly fell into her arms, crying about how sorry she was for what Dora had suffered.

  Dora led the weeping young woman to the sofa where they sat down side by side. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I didn’t tell somebody my suspicions earlier,” Amanda said as she grabbed hold of Dora’s hands. “I should have told Mark everything I felt, everything I feared before he came to me last night and you were in trouble, but I was so afraid.”

  Dora squeezed her hands to comfort her. “It’s okay, Amanda. I know what it’s like to be afraid.” She thought of those days when she’d believed she was being stalked, although Mark had assumed the stalker had been his. Dora realized now it had been Ben who had been watching her, checking her schedule and assessing when she would be vulnerable.

  She released Amanda’s hands and sat back against the cushion. “At least you gave Mark the information you did in time for him to help me.”

  “I just admire you so much,” Amanda said, the words surprising Dora.

  “Admire me? Why?”

  “Because you’re such a nice person and you’re so smart. I admire that you’re obviously here to better yourself, to better your life by getting a degree.” Amanda frowned. “I thought I wanted to be just like Melinda, so powerful and so in control. But I’d much rather be like you.”

  A lump formed in Dora’s throat. “You’ll never know how much that means to me,” she replied. “You know, I admired her, too. I wanted to be just like her...smart and cool and able to command respect from others. But we’re okay, Amanda. You’re a smart woman who has her whole future ahead of her and you don’t have to look up to anyone. Just look inside.”

  As Dora spoke the words, she realized that she had reached a place of peace inside herself. She didn’t have to prove a thing to anyone. She had become the woman she was meant to be...strong enough to survive a horrible attack by her sister, the loss of a man she loved, and smart enough to continue her path to her own great future.

  Minutes after Amanda left, Dora had just made it back to the sofa when a knock fell on the door. She assumed Amanda had forgotten something. She pulled open the door and her breath caught in her chest.

  There he stood, with that darned sexy smile curling his lips and a simmer of something magic in his eyes. “Mark,” she said, half-breathless. “You were the last person I expected to see this evening.”

  “And why is that?” He swept past her, his clean male scent eddying in the air around her. She quickly closed the door and hurried after him.

  He sat down on the sofa and stretched an arm across the back, looking as if he belonged there. “I just assumed your work was done here,” she said, trying to halt the desperate stuttering of her heart.

  “Dora, my work here is far from done,” he replied, and patted the sofa next to him.

  She didn’t want to sit next to him. She didn’t want to feel his warmth and smell his familiar scent and know that when he’d tied up all his loose ends he’d be gone. Yet, despite her reluctance, her feet moved her across the room and she sank down on the sofa next to him.

  Instantly he leaned toward her and placed his hands on each of her cheeks. He held her gaze with the crazy intensity that made her feel like he was looking inside her very soul.

  “Did you really believe I would just leave without seeing you again? Without assuring myself that you were really and truly okay? Did you really believe I would just go and not tell you goodbye?”

  Before she realized what he intended, he took her lips with his and she could do nothing but respond to the kiss that fired a thousand emotions inside her.

  When he’d finished kissing her soundly, he leaned back slightly, but still held his hands on the sides of her face. “Did you really believe I was just going to leave without a plan for our future together?”

  “Future together?” Her heart began to beat like the wings of a hummingbird, fast and frantic to keep her hovering in the air.

  He finally dropped his hands from her face and instead grabbed her hands with his, entwining their fingers as if to keep her captive. “You know we belong together, Dora. I love you and I can’t imagine going forward with my life without you in it.”

  An automatic protest rose to Dora’s lips and she started to voice it and then stopped. She saw the light shining from Mark’s eyes, a light that didn’t lie. He loved her and she deserved to be loved.

  “I love you, Mark.” She said the words tremulously. “But, I don’t know how we go forward from here.”

  He stood and pulled her up and into an embrace. “One day at a time. You finish your schooling and I go back to work in Dallas. That’s only a short drive away and every spare minute that we have we can spend together, building something amazing, something that will last forever.”

  She believed him. She knew that if they wanted it badly enough they could make it work, and she wanted it...him...badly. “When I graduate I could probably find a job in Dallas,” she said as she gazed up into his beautiful eyes.

  He tightened his arms around her. “I’m counting on it, and you can count on me, Dora. If you give me your heart, I vow that I will take good care of it.”

  “I never doubted it,” she said just before he claimed her lips once again in a kiss that stole her breath and replaced it with hopes and dreams she’d never thought possible.

  She knew that Mark would take good care of her heart, because he was a special man...and because she was his special woman.

  Epilogue

  Dora checked the Christmas tree lights to make sure every single one sparkled brightly and then raced into the kitchen to pull the gingerbread cookies out of the oven.

  It was late Christmas day and she had special guests due any minute. Her heart sang with joy as she removed the cookies from the baking sheet and placed them on a red-and-green platter with racing reindeers around the rim.

  The past two months had been beyond her wildest imaginings. She had her days in class and at the bookstore and her nights whenever possible with Mark. Their relationship had grown stronger with every day that passed.

  She’d known love broken and abused; she’d known the despair of wasted time; and now she knew the beauty of healthy, nurturing love.

  Mark’s daughter, Grace, had been a charming addition to her life. She’d met the little girl at Thanksgiving and it had been an instant mutual love. She’d also met Mark’s ex-wife, Sarah, for coffee one afternoon. She’d found Sarah a warm woman who only wanted happiness for Mark. Dora suspected Sarah had wanted to check her out, knowing that it was possible Dora would be a part of Grace’s life.

  Melinda and Ben were in jail awaiting their trials for multiple crimes including the murder of the three men. Life in Vengeance had return
ed to normal, with students scurrying from class to class, and most days nobody even mentioned the horror of the homecoming bonfire. Melinda would hate that with each day that passed people were forgetting all about her.

  The knock on the door sent Dora’s heart racing with happiness. She opened the door and Grace marched in first, her cheeks pink and her smile bright. She held a bright red-wrapped package in her arms and paused to give Dora a kiss before she ran over and placed it beneath the tree.

  “Do you like pretty pink scarves?” Grace asked as her father entered through the front door.

  As always, Dora’s heart leaped at the sight of him. “I love scarves,” Dora said with a laugh to Grace. She smiled at Mark, who kissed her on the cheek. “And do you like gingerbread cookies? Because I just made some especially for you,” she said to Grace.

  Grace threw her arms around Dora’s legs and smiled up at her. “I love gingerbread cookies!” she exclaimed.

  “Then shall we go have some cookies and milk before we open presents?” Dora suggested.

  “Sounds like a plan to me,” Mark replied as he grabbed Grace and tossed her up on his back piggy fashion to head to the kitchen.

  As they ate the still-warm cookies, Grace told Dora everything that Santa had brought her that morning and Mark alternated adoring looks from his child to Dora.

  Dora wanted to capture this moment of father and daughter and Christmas cookies and milk mustaches and burn it into her heart forever.

  Once they were finished with their treat, they moved back into the living room for the exchange of gifts. “Daddy bought you a ring,” Grace said as she settled into a sitting position at the foot of the tree.

  “Grace!” Mark gave his daughter a mock stern look. “That was supposed to be our secret.”

  “I wanted to share our secret with Dora because I love her,” Grace replied.