Serial Games (Virginia Justice Book One) by K. Victoria Chase Page B

Hearing her rapid breath, he could almost swear her heart beat at two hundred times a minute. “You’re terrified,” he said softly. He gently eased the seatbelt latch from her fingers.
    “I’m fine.”
    Brandon shook his head slowly. “No, you’re not. What has you so spooked? Is it this house?” He pointed over his shoulder. She didn’t respond immediately, just stared at him. She searched his eyes for something and, if he knew what it was, he’d give it to her. Instead, he remained quiet, not knowing what to say to ease whatever panic had suddenly stolen over her.
    Maggie finally broke her gaze. She sat back in the seat and shook her head. “It’s not the house.”
    Brandon reached up to cradle the back of her head in his hand and turned her slowly toward him. “Then what?” he whispered. “Did you see something? A clue about his next move?”
    Brandon struggled to recall whether he had missed anything as he waited for her to answer. He was no profiler, but he possessed basic investigative sense. He noticed nothing out of the ordinary, except for the Hannibal Lector-type dungeon. Yet, he might have overlooked something she’d notice.
    “Did you know her body is also missing?”
    Brandon was taken aback by the steadiness of her voice. Earlier in the hotel, she displayed a level of insecurity. Now, here in the car, the tiny flecks of gold in her chocolate eyes glowed with fear, yet she squared her shoulders, and took a deep breath. She possessed a sweet mix of vulnerability and strength he wasn’t used to in a woman.
    Emily had been the complete opposite. Her strength was one of the characteristics that had attracted him. She never backed down from a fight, and in half the cases, started it herself. She was bold, brazen, and demanding. The word “fear” didn’t exist in her vocabulary. He never had to worry about her until the end. Brandon gripped the cross at his chest. He didn’t understand why he thought of Emily now. Furthermore, why did he compare her to Maggie?
    But as he studied the woman beside him, he could sense her own strength. Her gaze dropped to the hand that clutched the necklace. When she raised her eyes to his, she immediately retreated behind some armor that randomly came off in his presence. This not only intrigued him, but touched him somewhere deep inside…a place he had thought died five years ago.
    He buried those thoughts. What had she asked him? About a missing body? “The women? Yeah, I know.”
    “No, I mean the mother.”
    Brandon’s forehead crinkled. “What?”
    “Right before the wake, the funeral home reported her body missing.” Maggie kept her eyes straight ahead.
    “Was it Burrows?”
    Maggie shrugged her shoulders once. “Who else could it have been? When agents asked about it during an investigative interview, he just laughed. Laughed! Like it was some cruel joke only he knew the punch line to. This is all just some game to him. Those women he killed…just pawns in a game. But his mother…” Maggie’s eyes scanned the nearby tree line leading into the woods.
    Brandon waited as she processed her thoughts. Her intensity kept him on his toes.
    “She’s everywhere in that house — in the faded curtains, the upholstery, the chipped feminine wallpaper, and the polished china in the cabinets.” Maggie sighed and ran her hands through her loose, dark brown hair. Sun from the windshield streamed on it and for the first time, Brandon noticed slight auburn streaks that testified to her time spent in the summer sun. He had been so busy with work, he barely noticed the time moving anymore.
    Maggie shook her head again and crossed her arms. “She’s even in those books down in the basement. If only I knew what Burrows thought of her, then I would know why all of this is happening, or did happen.” Maggie cleared her throat. “Everything is how we left it, of course. Nothing’s changed, and that means we have nothing.” She turned her discouraged eyes on