Murder Stalks by Sara York

of his pants. She was torturing him, and he loved it.
The vibrating pulse of his pager brought her head up.
Disappointment clouded her eyes. They both knew he would answer the
page.
    Tony grabbed his cell phone and punched in
the call back number. “Santos here.” He watched as Marissa
straightened her clothes and reached for her shirt. Energy drained
from him. His hope faded. They would have to wait for any
reconciliation.
    He was tired of waiting. Marissa would be
gone before he got off this call if he didn’t act fast.
    “ I’ll call you back,” Tony
said before he flipped his phone shut.
    “ Who was that?”
    The accusatory look in Marissa’s eyes irked
him. Trust had always been a big issue for her. Tony shut his eyes
and shook his head. Anger wouldn’t win her back.
    “ Marissa, I’m sorry about
that call, but I’m on duty.”
    “ Who?” Her voice was edged
with a steely resolve she hadn’t shown the first seven years of
their marriage. Then Ashley was gone and everything changed for
both of them.
    “ It was Sekorski. He wants
to talk.”
    The lines of tension relaxed on Marissa’s
face. She still didn’t trust him, but did he blame her? Deep
inside, Tony knew he was a big part of their problem. If only he
had given more when they’d lost Ashley. After her death, his
analytical cop mind had taken over. The softer parts of his inner
man shifted and became harder. Sex was just sex. Without the caring
behind the act, it had meant nothing to either of them.
    “ Marissa, I didn’t intend
to bring you back here today.”
    “ Really?”
    “ Go look in the bathroom.
The mess ought to prove I wasn’t planning to bring you
home.”
    “ Home? This isn’t home
anymore,” Marissa spat the words out. Her face was flushed with
anger.
    “ No it isn’t, because
you’re not here,” Tony yelled. He paced around the living room,
searching for something that would fix this situation.
    “ Don’t start with
me.”
    The indignant slant of her chin ripped at
Tony’s heart. He wanted to push harder to get her back. Win at all
cost, never back down, had been his motto. Now he knew better. She
had a choice, and he didn’t want to force the issue. His shoulders
slumped in defeat. “I’m trying, Marissa. I’m honestly trying to
change.”
    “ When is the
funeral?”
    Tony sighed. He wanted to force her back to
the subject of their future. Instead, he answered her, careful to
keep irritation out of his voice. “It’s not here. Danny took her
back to Oklahoma. Chief Scott doesn’t think he’ll be coming
back.”
    “ That bad?”
    Looking at Marissa, Tony weighed the risk of
telling her about the murders. Before the big blow up, Marissa had
been solid, but now she was gone. What if she slipped up? He
wouldn’t know about it for weeks, or months, based on how
infrequently they talked.
    Tony closed his eyes for a moment. His heart
ached to trust her with this information. He longed for the days
when she would open her arms and draw him to her. Would telling her
how much he wanted her make it easier for her to accept him back in
her life, or would she see it as a ploy to get her into bed?
    Tony spoke, trusting her with this case
before he could change his mind. “Worse than bad. Don’t leave your
doors unlocked for a minute. It’s not only unlocked doors that are
a problem. This guy is smooth.” Tony walked over to her, taking her
hands in his, wanting to feel a connection while he talked. “Both
women opened their doors for this killer.”
    “ How do you know
that?”
    Tony blinked. He’d said too much. He stepped
away from her as self-disgust soured the words in his mouth. He was
using this case to draw his wife closer. Fear about this case
shouldn’t be the reason he won her back.
    Tony pinched the bridge of his nose before
he continued. “Marissa, you’re tearing me apart. I want to tell you
everything, but this case, it’s different than others. If I told
you what we know and it ever got