Danielle Girard [Girard - Expire

ALSO BY DANIELLE GIRARD

DR. SCHWARTZMAN SERIES

Exhume

Excise

Expose

OTHER WORKS

Savage Art

Ruthless Game

Chasing Darkness

Cold Silence

ROOKIE CLUB SERIES

Dead Center

One Clean Shot

Dark Passage

Interference

Everything to Lose

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Text copyright 2019 by Danielle Girard

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Published by Thomas & Mercer, Seattle

www.apub.com

Amazon, the Amazon logo, and Thomas & Mercer are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates.

ISBN-13: 9781542040259

ISBN-10: 1542040256

Cover design by Kirk DouPonce, DogEared Design

For Jessicafor your brilliant guidance in Annas journey and for always finding the best damn eatery wherever we are!

CONTENTS

One week earlier

Spencer tucked the cell phone jammer behind the pot on the front porch and took another look at the street. All quiet. Mistress Keres would have chosen this area of town for exactly that reason. The houses were small, the yards well kept. These were not wealthy people who could afford to sit around and watch out their windows. People in this area worked, and at 10:30 a.m. on a Monday, there wasnt another body in sight. He looked up at the front door and let himself relish what was about to happen, holding the excitement in his chest.

The plan was in motion. It was earlier than hed anticipated by at least a few weeks. But Bryce Scala had made that happen. Anger burned in his nose at the thought of Scalaa man who had been unknown to him until a week ago. A few more weeks, and Spencer might never have known him.

Had Spencer been successful in convincing Scala that hed had nothing to do with his own mothers death? Hopefully, the conversation had allayed some of Scalas suspicions. Only time would tell. While Spencer had someone keeping an eye on Scala, he was not willing to risk everything to wait around and see.

And when Scala discovered Spencer had disappeared... What then?

Would Scala turn over to the police the letters from Spencers mother when Spencer was gone? Would the police bother to look into her death now? Spencer had weighed the option of making Scala and the letters disappear rather than expediting his plan, but how could he be certain that Scala didnt have copies somewhere? That the letters wouldnt still make their way to the hands of the police?

He drew a long, deep breath and filled his mind with images of the pleasure the next hour would bring. He would be gone, and it wouldnt be his problem, he thought, using his knuckle to ring the doorbell. Gloves would have been too obvious. Above all else, Mistress Keres was a student of human nature. The electricity of warning ran up his spine. He shouldnt have been here. This was an unnecessary risk.

But if he didnt have this outlet, hed blow.

She was the one safe venue for his rage. How many times had he come here for her beatings? Mistress Keres. After the Greek goddess of violent death. Perhaps this final meeting of theirs was predestined.

A tingling spread through his groin. Hed always felt it there, though hed never had sex with Keres. His needs were not so easily satisfied.

Behind the door, the clack of heels echoed on her wood floor.

He took a last glance at the street, though he knew he had not been followed. He had taken every necessary step to ensure his anonymitybooking the appointment under the name of a different client, taking an Uber under a false account, getting dropped off a half mile away. She had a security system, but he had cut the landline, and the cell phone jammer would eliminate the possibility of accessing help with her mobile.

Managing money for a hacker had its benefits. If you were good. And Spencer was. On the other side of the door, the sound of her footsteps grew louder. The peephole darkened. He kept his head down, though there was no way of disguising himself. Not if he wanted her to let him in.

And he did.

Desperately.

Spencer drew his breath, shutting out the sound of Bryce Scalas voice rattling in his skull. The mans visit had rocked him. And he wasnt used to being rocked. It wasnt the man himselfSpencer could have broken that man in two. It was the lingering idea that his parents could still haunt him, even though his father had died ages ago and his mother last November. He thought he had rid himself of their judgments.

But he hadnt.

Because his mother had recorded them, shared them. Her concerns about him. Her fears.

The door opened slowly. Mistress Keres wore an expression of surprise, curiosity tinged with suspicion. There had been a flash of alarm in her eyes, quickly hidden. With a subtle shift of her head, chin, and shoulders, she regained control.

Spencer kept his head down, his hands clasped in front of himthe same way he always staged himself in his church. Demurring, deferential.

He didnt stare at her, though hed caught a glimpse of her outfitthe black leather shorts that barely covered the swell of her ass. Her short top showed both cleavage and a band of toned belly. She was disgusting. Nothing like Bella.

Anger raged in him again.

I dont have you on my calendar today.

Actually, she didnt have him down at all, not again. Hed told himself he was through with her. It was time to move on. But then hed read those letters. And hed known he had to see her.

I thought I had it right, he said. I know its not our normal time... He forced his eyes to widen and plead. Bit his lower lip. Please dont reject me.

She put up a red-tipped finger and crossed the foyer, lifting her iPhone off the front table. The nails were too long. Obviously fake. Not the way she dressed for him. She knew he preferred proper clothes, a wholesome-looking woman. Hed known all the subtleties of her costumes werent real, but suddenly, the act was garish.

From the corner of his eye, he saw her trying to get her calendar to refresh. Of course, it wouldnt. The jammer would make sure of that.

Do you have someone else? I could just come back with this, he said, pulling out the red Cartier box. He had never brought her a gift before.

She had another johnor maybe johnswho bought her gifts. Expensive ones hed seen on her when hed followed her out on the town with one man or the other. Most of her johns liked to take her out. He was the anomaly.

A flash of surprise crossed her face, a flush of pleasure. He was right. The gift had been a good idea. She eyed the box, then her calendar. He already knew she had a john coming in an hour. I dont have much time, but you look like you need me today.

He nodded. Did he ever. At home, left with the letters, Spencer had felt Scalas words batter against his mind like the waves against a ship in a storm. Your mother and my wife were like sisters, hed said. They shared everything. And Im a minister like your father. We shared a lot over the years.