When PI Jake Marshall fails to stop the abduction and subsequent murder of a client who was being stalked, he vows to do everything in his power to identify the man responsible. He'll need all the help he can get, including Kelly, his partner in the agency, and Russ Foster, a library security guard he met at a local bar ... with whom he's becoming personally involved.<br><br>Soon, it becomes even more imperative they find the stalker when a friend of Jake's also disappears and everything points to the stalker as his abductor.<br><br>Can Jake and Russ stop the stalker before he kills again? And how will their search affect their budding relationship, presuming the stalker doesn't target one of them next?

Stalker

Alan’s body was naked, posed, Russ was certain, with his feet together, his hands clasped over his chest as if in prayer. His hair was gone. There were lash marks on his torso and thighs as if he’d been whipped. The ME carefully unclenched Alan’s hands, revealing a blood-encrusted wound directly over his heart. He said, “At the moment I’d say the victim was stabbed in the heart and died instantly. He was transported here sometime after it happened.”


“He has a name. It’s Alan,” Alex whispered, dropping to his knees. He reached for him, only to be restrained by Detective Ogden. “Why?” Alex moaned. He looked up at Ogden, then past him to Jake. “Find the bastard who did this to my love.”


Russ expected Ogden to tell him to stay out of it, that it was police business. He was relieved when the detective had the grace, or presence of mind, not to—at least for the moment.


Chapter 24