Seductive Suspect - Page 24

“I won’t be long.” She left for the kitchen, and again, I anticipated some sort of fatal disaster. Within minutes, she came back holding a mug, and the tedium continued.

Eventually the orange juice and coffee I’d consumed at breakfast flowed through my system and took their toll on my bladder. I didn’t want to move, but I had to leave the room. Pushing aside my fear, I hopped off the couch and hurried toward the door. “I’ll be right back,” I mumbled on my way.

My imagination convinced me at least one floorboard between the library and the restroom had to be booby trapped, but I arrived at my destination in one piece. Flushing the toilet didn’t set off any explosives, and nothing but cool, clean water flowed out of the faucet. I wiped my trembling hands on a towel and took a few deep breaths. Despite how much I yearned to be safe, paranoia made me want to crawl out of my skin. If a better balance existed, I needed to find it.

Upon my return to the library, I nearly collided with Adam, who had been waiting by the door. All attempts to calm my rattled nerves vanished, and I jumped back, my pulse racing. “What are you doing?” I snapped. “You scared the hell out of me!”

“Sorry. I was just keeping an ear out.” He raised his hands in a gesture of apology, but then determination hardened his gaze. “I meant what I said last night,” he said, his voice low. “I’m not going to let anyone hurt you. Not if I can help it.”

I exhaled and tugged at the collar of my shirt. The surprise encounter, along with his attention, had sent a wave of heatthrough me. “Well, giving me a heart attack isn’t the way to go.”

“You’re right. Again, I’m sorry.” Adam beckoned for me to enter the room. “Come on, let’s do something. We can’t sit around staring at the walls all day.”

Crossing my arms, I raised an eyebrow. “What did you have in mind?”

He scanned the library and pointed at the small table near the windows. “How about a game of chess?”

“I’m terrible at chess.”

A tiny smile crept across his face. “So am I. It’ll be perfect.”

Plopping on the sofa and waiting for another tragedy to befall us didn’t sound like the better option anymore. “Fine,” I said, sighing.

Adam pulled out one of the chairs and waited for me to sit before taking the seat across from me. I watched him set up the board. “Aren’t you afraid the others will think we’re conspiring or something?” I asked.

“I don’t care what they think.” He placed a row of pawns along the black and white squares. “You’re the only one I care about in this room.”

I propped my elbows on the edge of the table and stared down at the board. “I suppose I should be flattered.”

“If you’d like. But you don’t belong here with the rest of us, so if anyone’s leaving this place alive, it should be you.”

My eyebrow shot up again. “What do you mean?”

Adam positioned the last piece on my side and leaned back in his chair. “I’m still trying to figure out what we all have in common, why we were brought here. Obviously, it was all a ruse—my invitation and ticket didn’t really come from a former client, Paul didn’t win a contest, and so on. But your appearance here is an accident, we’ve established.”

I thought of my sister and wondered what she could have done to make anyone want to hurt her. The same thoughtsregarding the charming man sitting across from me flitted through my mind. “So, what did you deduce?”

“Not much.” He picked up a pawn and moved it forward two spaces. “I won’t say I’ve lived a perfect life, but I can’t think of a reason why someone would want to kill me. Especially in such a bizarre, twisted way like we’ve seen.”

I decided on my first play, sliding out a pawn of my own. “Perhaps it’s another case of mistaken identity, like with me.”

“It’s possible.” Shrugging, he moved his knight in an L-shape. “Or I might be way off base, and some psychopath picked us all at random.”

“Also possible.” I sent a bishop diagonally to the edge of the board. “But maybe we shouldn’t be worried about a motive right now. I’ve been thinking more about the means for these murders.”

One side of Adam’s mouth curled up in a half-smile. “Oh, really? What are your findings, Detective?”

I snorted, the closest I could get to a laugh in our dire circumstances. “Like you, not a whole lot. Yet, after this morning in particular, something’s been nagging at me.” Leaning forward over the board, I dropped my voice to a whisper. “Whoever the murderer is, he or she has been moving around unnoticed. The trap Paul walked into must have taken some time to set up.”

“Done at night, I assume.”

“Right. But even Victor’s death had me thinking…was the killer really brazen enough to waltz past all our rooms while we were showering and changing, go downstairs to whack him over the head, and come back up the staircase and risk being caught by someone else?” I rubbed my arms, the chilling thoughts causing discomfort. Even sitting in this secluded corner of the room, I squirmed as if someone watched me, waiting to plan their next attack. “We’re missing something.”

“Hmm.” He tapped his fingers on top of one of his rooks.“What’s your theory, a secret passage?”

I shook my head. “Don’t be ridiculous. I doubt those exist in a newer building like this.”

His face took on a more serious expression, and he moved the rook. “I know, I know. You have a good point, though. It is rather curious that the killer’s been moving around so freely.” He gestured toward the others. “Too bad we were the ones outside and not searching the house. I don’t know if they’d share their findings.”