Obsessed (The Lizzy Gardner Series) by T.R. Ragan Page A

what type of panties you’re wearing.”
    Seth came to his feet so fast his carrots scattered across the floor.
    “Who is this?” Madeline said, her voice shot through with fear.
    “Cotton or lace?” the voice asked, insistent. “Thongs or bikini? What color? I have to know.”
    He could hear the man sniffing air. His skin prickled. The bastard was still alive.
    “What size bra cup do you wear, Madeline? Do your nipples harden when I call and talk dirty? Are you wet, Madeline?”
    Seth’s face burned. The silence was deafening. Why the hell hadn’t the caller been cut off? His fingers rolled into fists. His thoughts were jumbled. He couldn’t think clearly. Had he killed the wrong guy? Perhaps the radio show people had hired feds to tap her phone and were trying to catch the maniac. That was the only explanation.
    “I need you to spend one evening with me, Madeline. We’ll have dinner followed by a walk beneath the moonlight. We’ll go dancing . . . anything you want to do.” His breathing grew heavier. “Why won’t you go out with me? How many times are you going to make me ask? Don’t make me beg.” The caller was all bluster one moment and all spineless timidity the next.
    It hit Seth in an instant. He recognized the caller’s voice: deep and masculine, like Clooney’s.
    It was David Westlake, DLW ESQ.
    Lights flashed, adrenaline soared, knuckles popped and cracked. Apple pie. Homemade crust. His mother in the kitchen making his father’s favorite dessert. With absolute clarity, he was ten years old again and reaching into the bowl of delicious sweet apple slices after his mother had told him not to eat any. He popped a thin slice into his mouth, then looked up, a sugary smile on his face. That’s when he saw the five-pound maple-wood rolling pin in his mother’s right hand, her apron covered with flour. She had told him not to eat the apples and she meant it.
    It all happened so fast.
    The smile hung on his face as he turned and she swung the heavy cylinder through the air and hit him with incredible force right between his eyes. BAM. Lights out.

CHAPTER 14
    Kitally jumped into the passenger seat of Hayley’s Chevy. “So where are we off to now, Magnum P.I.?”
    “We’re going to the McBane house, the woman who hired Lizzy to find out who might be sneaking into her house while she’s at work. We’ll watch the house for a few hours and also decide where the cameras need to be placed.”
    Hayley drove while Kitally played with the radio. “You seriously need to get satellite radio.” Giving up with finding a station she liked, she hit the off button. “I’ve been thinking about this Brian dilemma of yours, and I have an idea.”
    Hayley waited.
    “Nobody’s talking, right?”
    Hayley shrugged. “Or nobody knows where Brian is hiding out.”
    “Someone always knows,” Kitally said. “They’re just not talking. But there is one thing that will make even the quietest in the bunch speak up, and that one thing is money.”
    “It would take a lot of money for someone to rat on a man like Brian. He has connections. Anyone who knows Brian knows what he’s capable of doing.”
    “Exactly. That’s why you need to offer a reward of ten thousand dollars.”
    “How would I get my hands on ten thousand dollars in cash?”
    “I’ll put up the money. Dad might not let me touch his fancy-ass car, but ten thousand dollars in cash? Not a problem.”
    Hayley thought of Tommy and his love for anything with an engine. “Men and their cars.”
    “These aren’t just any cars. Dad’s car collection includes a rare Ferrari GTO and a twelve-million-dollar Rolls-Royce convertible. Those aren’t even his favorites.”
    “That’s terrific. Can we get back to the part about offering a reward?”
    Kitally smiled. “Does this mean you’ll give it a try?”
    “If you’re willing to put up a ten-thousand-dollar reward, I’m not going to stop you.”
    “How do you suggest we get the word