by JANIE CROUGH
She was here with him now, safe in his arms. Eventually he loosened his grasp to a more reasonable level. He studied her face intently then reached down and touched her just over her lip.
“Simon was here.”
Startled, Adrienne peeked up at him. “Yes, he was. How did you know?”
“Your nose was bleeding.”
Out of habit Adrienne tried to wipe it with the back of her hand. She was sure that just got more soot on her face.
“I saw him, Conner. He was sitting on the other side of the house on the front porch. He was in a rocking chair watching us get the horses out.”
“Could you see him well enough to make out any features?” Conner asked.
“No, it was too dark. I guess I could probably feel him there more than I could actually see him.”
She couldn’t make out features, but she knew she had seen someone in one of the rocking chairs.
“But he didn’t try to hurt you?”
“No. Clocked Seth cold, though,” Adrienne told him.
Conner looked over at Seth, who nodded his head gingerly. “Yeah, I thought I saw a light in the barn and I went to check it out. Stupid. Didn’t find anything so was on my way back inside when he caught me on the steps. Dragged me back to the barn.”
Adrienne sighed. “That must be what woke me up. I thought I heard something, but maybe I just felt Simon when he was that close to the house.”
Seth grimaced. “Maybe. Whatever it was, I’m glad you woke up when you did. He definitely intended for me to die in that barn. If Vince hadn’t gotten there when he did...”
Seth trailed off. Adrienne didn’t blame him.
“Could you feel Simon Says while you were getting the horses out of the barn?” Conner asked.
“Yeah. But everything was loud and chaotic and painful, so I didn’t let it stop me.”
Two uniformed police officers walked around the side of the house. Conner set Adrienne down on the step beside him and stood up to talk to them. Seth joined them. She saw them both show the officers their FBI credentials.
Vince looked over at her. “Guess you and that FBI officer don’t hate each other so much now.”
Adrienne was not so exhausted that she couldn’t flush. Hopefully the soot hid it. “Yeah. He ended up not being so bad after all.”
Vince chuckled. It was the first time Adrienne remembered the sound coming from the older man. “I’ve decided to like him,” Vince finally said.
Adrienne was shocked. She didn’t think Vince would like an agent for any reason. “Oh, yeah? Why?”
“He just picked you up and plopped you down right on top of him—and no offense, girly, but you look and smell terrible—without any concern for his clothes whatsoever. That’s a man who’s got his priorities straight.”
Adrienne smiled. She thought so, too.
After a few minutes of talking to the officers, Conner and Seth made their way back to the steps where Vince and Adrienne waited, still too tired to move. Both Seth and Conner looked grim. Conner had some sort of paper in his hand.
Conner sat back down next to Adrienne. “It was definitely Simon you saw on the porch.”
Adrienne didn’t have any doubt of that. “Did you find something?”
Conner held up an envelope. Adrienne immediately recognized it. She had seen ones just like it multiple times. Simon’s literal calling card.
Conner opened it and read the note.
Simon says, thanks for the show!
So Adrienne had been right. He had been there, watching, reveling in their frantic attempts to save the livestock. Maybe his initial intent had been to harm Adrienne, but he had gotten caught up in watching their efforts in the chaos he had created.
Nobody said anything for a long while. It was finally Vince who broke the silence as he stood up. “I don’t know who this ‘Simon’ character is, but I don’t care for him much. He and I are going to have words if he ever sets foot on this property again. But right now I’m going to see if I can get some of this burnt barn smell off me, before it drives the womenfolk mad with desire.”
Both men chuckled, and Adrienne grinned.
Conner bent his head and kissed her. “You did a good job, you know.”
Adrienne slumped exhaustedly against his arm. “We all did. All the horses survived. We all survived. Simon didn’t win this time.”
But they knew Simon wouldn’t stop trying until he had.
Chapter Fourteen
It took days before Adrienne was able to get back to San Francisco. She had to find temporary boarding situations for all the horses, complete an endless number of insurance forms and find contractors to begin rebuilding the barn. It was tedious work.
Conner stayed by her side the entire time.
Seth headed back to San Francisco the day after the fire, once he and Conner had finished processing the scene—what was left of it, anyway.
Simon Says had very definitely started the barn fire. He’d made no attempt to hide where his arson was initiated—in one of the far stalls where no horses were housed, thank God—or his use of accelerants to help the flames along.
All in all, the arson detective said it was a miracle no people or animals had been killed.
Having her own FBI agent able to explain the nature of the foul play to the insurance inspectors made the process much more streamlined. Adrienne was thankful to have Conner around every day. And every night.
Conner was always by her side. Always watchful in case Simon struck again. Somehow Simon had made it through Adrienne’s mental warning system before, although Adrienne blamed it on sleep rather than on Simon being far away in the barn. But Conner was still very vigilant.
Four days after the fire, Adrienne was finally able to get the ranch and rebuilding of the barn to a state where she could leave. Vince was overseeing the construction, and the horses were all gone—there wasn’t much at the ranch she was needed for. So she and Conner decided to return to the city.
Although he had never said anything outright, Adrienne could tell Conner was anxious to get back to the office where he could work. He wanted to protect her. She knew the best way he could do that was to catch Simon Says. Conner’s very personality demanded he be more active in that pursuit, not reactive, waiting with her.
Adrienne knew as soon as they entered the ViCAP office areas later that morning that something had happened. She and Conner headed directly for Conner’s and Seth’s desks amid the buzz.
“What’s going on?” Conner asked.
“Another package from Simon arrived a little bit ago,” Seth said. “I was waiting for you guys to get here to open it.”
Conner grimaced. “Okay, I’ll get out of here.”
“You’re not going to stay and open it?” Adrienne touched Conner lightly on the arm.
“No. I might as well just let you do your thing from the get-go. Seth will catch anything I would see.” Conner shifted away from Adrienne, not overtly rejecting her touch, but definitely not welcoming it. Adrienne understood his frustration but was still hurt.
“Conner, I’m sorry.” Adrienne couldn’t stand the distance between them, the tension.
“No, don’t you apologize.” Conner didn’t move any closer to her, but his eyes warmed. “This is me—my problem. I have to learn to deal with it.”
“I’m still sorry.” Adrienne ached for him.
Now Conner did move closer to her. “You’re too tenderhearted to do this.” He ran a finger down her cheek. “I don’t know how you’ve survived this long with all your emotions still functional.”
Adrienne smiled, but the truth was, sometimes neither did she.
Conner stepped back, putting a more appropriate workplace distance between them. “I’ll just be a few blocks down. Seth’s go
ing to stream it live to my phone again.”
Seth called from the conference room. They were ready to open the package. Adrienne turned toward the room, but Conner caught her waist and jerked her back to him.
His lips fell heavily on hers, stealing her breath. Before she could say or do anything, he moved away, pushing her gently toward the conference room. “Go do your thing, sweetheart. Let’s catch this guy.” Conner grabbed his jacket.
Adrienne started walking but turned back. Being back in the office had reminded her. “After this, make sure I show you what I found before the fire. It’s in the file. I might have some details about Simon’s hideout, although right now they’re pretty useless.”
Conner smiled. “I’ll look it over with you when I get back.”
It made Adrienne feel better knowing Conner was watching from his phone. It wouldn’t stop her physical discomfort, but emotionally it helped her gear up. It was good having Conner as close as possible.
Adrienne stood in the corner of the conference room as Seth opened the outer package. She could hear the buzzing getting louder, so she knew Conner was out of the building. One of the other agents—Adrienne vaguely remembered seeing him around—was holding the camera so Conner would be able to see what was going on.
It was the same as all the others. A lock of hair and a note.
Simon says, hurry.
Decidedly less mocking than the other notes Simon had sent. But yet, not helpful in any way. All the people in the room—mostly agents, but a couple photographers and even an analyst—looked disappointed at the content of the box. What were they expecting exactly? Adrienne had no idea.
Seth wasted no time shooing them out of the conference room so Adrienne wouldn’t have an audience while she worked. After last time, that was important to her. The less noise and distractions around, the better.
“Ready?” Seth asked. Only he and the agent holding the camera remained. Adrienne nodded and took a deep breath.
Knowing that touching the lock of hair would show her the murder and wanting to put that off for as long as possible, Adrienne reached out for the note. The notes always told her more about Simon anyway. The hair was too enmeshed with the victim—her fears and feelings. The note was solely Simon.
Unlike before, this time Adrienne immediately could envision a place. A theater, complete with a stage and props and lighting.
All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts...
Simon standing on this stage quoting Shakespeare to an invisible audience. So sure of his own importance and intellect. Adrienne couldn’t see his face but could hear his voice.
His voice didn’t match what he thought of himself in his head. He believed himself to be powerful and potent, but his voice was high and whiny, and would never demand respect.
Adrienne wished she could tell him this to his face. But she knew he’d kill her for it. An image—memory—flashed through the killer’s mind and Adrienne understood why he had picked the women he had.
Not because of their appearance or because they’d all shopped or visited the same locations. He had picked them because they reminded him of a woman from his past, from his childhood. Simon just thought of the woman as “her.”
Adrienne didn’t know exactly who this woman was to Simon, but she had made him feel weak and powerless. She had mocked and ridiculed him. Especially his voice—so high-pitched, as if he had never become a man. Would never become a man. A whiny little girl, she had called him. He hated her. His hatred of her overshadowed everything about him.
It wasn’t their looks that caused him to choose his victims. It was their voices.
His memory of her was soon pushed away by Simon. He took a bow before his invisible audience, then looked up toward the spotlight and waved. He jumped down from the stage and walked straight down the aisle out the front entrance to the street outside.
Then, in an almost deliberate motion, he turned and looked up at the sign.
“The Eureka Theater.” Adrienne said the name out loud. She let go of the letter and looked over at Seth. “Did you get that?”
“Yes. Eureka Theater. It’s across town. We’re calling locals now. Conner’s on his way back.”
“No. Tell him to wait a minute. Seth, there’s something not right here.”
“What?”
“I don’t know. Let me touch the hair. Something’s different.”
Seth relayed the message to Conner over the phone. Adrienne could hear Conner’s curses even from where she stood. But she knew she had to do this to figure out what was going on.
Taking a deep breath again, she reached her fingers out and touched just the tiniest part. She braced herself, prepared for the worst.
But she had not prepared herself for this. She reached down and clutched the entire lock of hair in her fist, to be sure.
Adrienne couldn’t help herself, she began sobbing. Seth tried to talk to her, but she couldn’t stop. Seth put his phone up to Adrienne’s ear, so she could hear Conner.
“Adrienne, baby, I know it’s hard. But I need you to tell us what you see.”
“Conner...she’s alive. She’s still alive!”
Everything was a blur after that moment. Conner was back in the building within two minutes. He and Seth wanted to know every detail of what she had seen. Was Adrienne sure the woman was still alive? Yes. Was Adrienne sure she was at the Eureka Theater? Yes.
Was Adrienne sure this was a trap? Yes.
She couldn’t seem to make them understand. Conner rushed past her to get to his desk and Adrienne followed. “Conner, there’s something else. I can’t quite figure it out. Everything about this screams ‘trap.’ You have to be careful.”
Conner put his hands on either side of Adrienne’s neck and rubbed her cheeks with his thumbs. “We will be careful. I promise.”
Adrienne grasped his wrists. “I want to come with you.”
She could feel him stiffen. “No. No way in hell. You just said this was a trap. You’re not a trained agent. And after the fire— You being at the crime scene unprotected? No, that’s just what he wants. Stay here where you’re safe.”
“I want to help.”
“It helps me knowing you’re here, safe.”
“What if you need me? My abilities?”
Conner reached down and kissed her lightly. “We’ll get someone to bring you if we need you. I promise. Just stay here and be safe.”
He was out of her arms and running down the hall with Seth before she could even respond.
* * *
THIS WAS THE break they had been waiting for. The excitement was palpable in the area outside the Eureka Theater. The local police had been the first to arrive but had waited—as ordered—for the FBI. They had secured all entrances and exits, making sure no one had come in or out.
Conner had no idea why the girl was still alive—if the package had just arrived earlier than Simon expected or if something had gone wrong. Regardless he did not take Adrienne’s warning lightly. If she suspected this may be a trap, they would treat it as such.
The bomb squad had pulled in just ahead of Seth and Conner, and were now inspecting the doors for explosives. Conner watched with barely restrained anxiety. Was there a woman in there suffering while they were taking so long out here? Could she possibly be bleeding out even now, and they would be too late to help her?
Could Simon still be inside the building?
They had to be cautious, Conner understood, but everything in him screamed to get inside that theater as soon as possible. The minutes it took for the bomb squad to determine the front door safe seemed like hours. Once the front door was opened, the bomb dogs were allowed inside to sniff out any explosives.
It wasn’t long before they found something.
In a breakaway door, just under the stage, a grouping of explosives had been set. Some sort of remote detonation device was attached to it. The bomb squad was able to disarm and remove it without anyone being harmed.
Adrienne had been right—it had been a trap. If the local police or FBI had rushed into the theater without the bomb squad, many more lives would’ve been lost. Her gift had saved untold lives today.
After another thorough sweep of the building by the dogs, it was deemed safe—at least from explosives—to enter. Conner and Seth were the first inside, weapons drawn. Certainly bombs weren’t the only danger Simon Says could’ve laid out for them.
They cautiously made their way through the theater, calling out for anyone who might be in there, but received no response. Conner and Seth, along with the other officers, began systematically checking through the aisles for anyone who might be on the ground, out of sight. They checked the stage with even more caution but found nothing. Discouragement began to sink in. Perhaps the woman wasn’t really here at all.
Conner stood on the stage looking out where law enforcement of all different types were searching through all the seats of the theater for anything—or anybody—who may be hidden there. There were others behind him, searching through the stage and the backstage area, but so far had come up empty.
Seth came over to Conner. “Think this is a bust?”
“I don’t want to think so, but...” Conner shrugged. The frustration in both of them was close to boiling over. And standing in the damn spotlights aimed at the stage was causing them to sweat.
“‘All the world’s a stage...’” Conner said it out loud, remembering watching from his phone as the words had come out of Adrienne’s mouth an hour ago. Not her words, but Simon’s. Well, actually Shakespeare’s, from As You Like It, if Conner remembered his college literature class correctly.
“Yeah, Simon obviously thinks of himself as the playwright in this ridiculous scene.” Seth grimaced.
Conner went over everything Adrienne had said in his head. Then looked up at the spotlight. Although all the house lights had been turned on when they had entered the building, none of the other stage lights were burning. Why were these?
