Clay Richardson is a well-known artist who owns his own gallery. Quint Hawk, a police detective, makes contact with Clay when he sees a portrait Clay has painted in the window of the gallery -- a portrait of a homeless young man who was murdered just days before. Unfortunately, Clay has no idea who the subject was. Several months later, Quint contacts Clay to again ask about one of Clay's paintings. The subject has been murdered, as has a third man in another of his paintings. The reclusive artist and the handsome detective are drawn to each other as they try to determine what is happening and why. They come up with a plan to catch the killer -- a plan that could end up in their deaths before they can decide if there is more to their feelings than a couple of very good nights in Clay's bed.

The Element Case

“It’s one possible explanation for your not hearing from him after your fight. Speaking from personal experience, when someone’s kicked out of another person’s life like that, they tend to keep trying to stay in contact so they can convince the guy to let them back in.”


“Pissed off girlfriend?” Clay said, lifting an eyebrow in question.


“Now who would have guessed that?” Clay commented, looking at the tall, muscular detective.


“Stereotyping, Clay?” Quint grinned.


“You’d think you’d know better, considering you told me you purposely went to clubs to look for subjects because of the variety of men you find there.”


“Touché.” Clay waited until Quint had taken several shots of Travis’s portrait then put it back in the closet. “You will let me know if…if your detective finds out Travis is one of his cold cases.”


Chapter 8