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

“What? Oh, no. I was umm…trying to figure out who the caller is. No one has my home number other than you and Amanda.” As he spoke, he dished some noodles onto his plate, passed the bowl to Quint, then topped his with the stroganoff.


“No one?” Quint asked, obviously surprised as he, too, filled his plate, adding salad on the side.


“Well, my brother does, of course, but he’d have shown up on the ID. Other than that, though, when someone wants my number, I give them the one for the gallery since Amanda handles the business end of things.”


“I never give out my number to men I meet at the clubs.”


“That’s good to know. Safer that way. Although anyone who came home with you, like Rivera, could get the number off the phone.”


“I suppose.” Clay finally took a bite of his dinner, wanting to get off the subject of the phone calls for now. “This didn’t turn out too bad.”


Chapter 20