Fair Chance Read online

  Fair Chance

  By Josh Lanyon

  Elliot Mills comes face-to-face with evil in this follow-up to Fair Game and Fair Play from bestselling author Josh Lanyon

  One final game of cat and mouse...

  Ex–FBI agent Elliot Mills thought he was done with the most brutal case of his career. The Sculptor, the serial killer he spent years hunting, is finally in jail. But Elliot’s hope dies when he learns the murderer wasn’t acting alone. Now everyone is at risk once again—thanks to a madman determined to finish his partner’s gruesome mission.

  When the lead agent on the case, Special Agent Tucker Lance, goes missing, Elliot knows it’s the killer at work. After all, abducting the love of his life is the quickest way to hurt him.

  The chances of finding Tucker are all but impossible without the help of the Sculptor—but the Sculptor is in no position to talk. Critically injured in a prison fight, he lies comatose and dying while the clock ticks down. Elliot has no choice but to play this killer’s twisted game and hope he can find Tucker in time.

  This book is approximately 71,000 words

  One-click with confidence. This title is part of the Carina Press Romance Promise: all the romance you’re looking for with an HEA/HFN. It’s a promise! Find out more at CarinaPress.com/RomancePromise

  Carina Press acknowledges the editorial services of Deborah Nemeth

  Dear Reader,

  Happy March! This month marks Carina Press’s return to publishing anthologies. This is something that I’ve always loved to do—put out a call for submissions for a certain theme and see what rolls in. This month, we’re starting with erotic romances and, specifically, taboos. In the coming months you’ll see anthologies for shifters, capers & heists, and a holiday-themed anthology. Then, in 2018, we have even more coming your way. Anthologies are a great way for readers to test new authors while getting a complete, satisfying romance, and I hope you love what we’ve got in store as much as I do.

  But first, let me tell you about a book that’s incredibly near to my heart. What It Takes: A Kowalski Reunion Novel is Shannon Stacey’s return to the contemporary world of the fabulous Kowalski family. This is a project I begged Shannon to do, because I wasn’t quite ready to let the Kowalskis go. To say I was thrilled she agreed would be a huge understatement. In this book, we get a new romance, along with cameos from all of our previous favorite heroes and heroines, including a secondary plot with Sean and Emma! Loved the Kowalskis since we first started publishing them in 2010? You are going to adore this book. Never read the Kowalskis before? No worries, this book was written to allow you to jump right in. What It Takes is available in print, in audio and in ebook format at your favorite online retailer.

  Josh Lanyon is back with another male/male romantic suspense, Fair Chance. Elliot Mills thought he was done with the most brutal case of his career, having finally put the serial killer in jail, but when the lead agent on the case goes missing, Elliot has to play this killer’s twisted game to save the love of his life. Find out more about Elliot and Tucker in Fair Game and Fair Play, both now available.

  Together, Maya Clery and Dean Sova have entered a decadent world of passion, pleasure and possibility—but while their love has grown stronger, and their play more intense, the intersection of fantasy and past will challenge their dynamic in the face of deeper, wilder desires. The Discipline by Jade A. Waters will get your senses steaming!

  If you love a good paranormal shifter romance, I hope you’ve been following along with Kerry Adrienne’s fantastic series Shifter Wars. In Taming the Lion, the battle between the lions and bears decimates Deep Creek, and one of the heirs to the lions’ throne is saved from death by a beautiful bear medic who’s torn between her allegiance to her den and her attraction and obligation to the wounded lion. Want more? Waking the Bear and Pursuing the Bear can be on your reading device in minutes!

  We’re pleased to welcome debut author Jules Court to the Carina Press team with a sultry new trilogy of contemporary romance novellas. Kicking off her trilogy is Hot in the City. Brian MacGregor busted his ass to make detective by age thirty. He doesn’t have time for a social life, not even for the pretty ER doc who sewed him up post run-in with a knife-wielding perp. He never expected that when he went looking for the witness to a gangland murder, the doc would be the best lead to his missing witness. Now if he can only keep his hands off her. Look for Enticing the Enemy and Tease Me Tonight coming this year!

  Layla had only wanted to give Sid one hot, sweaty night of her well-planned life, but when these werewolves realize that they’re mates, Layla must accept that she’ll be giving Sid a lot more than she planned in Alpha’s Challenge, the next in Lauren Dane’s Cascadia Wolves series!

  Too Taboo: An Erotic Romance Anthology contains three scorching-hot novellas. Purchase them together in the anthology or as individual ebooks:

  Debut author Morgaine Cameron bangs out of the gate with an indescribably hot story in Absolve Me. A handsome, celibate man wants a licensed sex surrogate to help him exorcise the wicked desires he’s struggling to overcome—because as a priest he needs to play out his immoral thoughts or forever be a holy sinner.

  Returning author Amber Bardan indulges us in some wicked ménage fantasies when an innocent trespassing turns into a lesson in obedience as the two property owners show their trespasser just how right punishment can feel. Twice as Hard is not to be missed.

  When the most skilled operative in the secret organization known as the Seduction Squad is captured, her only hope of escape is to use her body to drive her sexy abductor wild...but, having unleashed his darkest fantasies, does Inge really want to get away from Jake? Amanda Stewart’s Seduction Squad: Captured teases us with the dark taboos of forced seduction and capture fantasies.

  That’s all for this month, but whew, I think that’s more than enough. This is such a powerful lineup, I’m jealous of all of you getting to read these books for the first time. They are unputdownable (that’s totally a word only avid readers understand)!

  Coming next month we have another full-length novel from the amazing author duo Alexa Riley; Rhenna Morgan is back with another to-die-for hero; and two male/male authors give us two amazing romances.

  As always, until next month, my fellow book lovers, here’s wishing you a wonderful month of books you love, remember and recommend.

  Happy reading!

  Angela James

  Editorial Director, Carina Press

  Dedication

  To Marilyn.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Excerpt from Murder Takes the High Road by Josh Lanyon

  Author’s Note
>
  Acknowledgments

  Also by Josh Lanyon

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  “I knew you’d come.”

  Andrew Corian, dubbed “The Sculptor” by the national press, was smiling that same old smile. Supremely confident and a little scornful. For a moment it was almost as if he were seated at his desk in his office at Puget Sound University and not in this sterile interview room at the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac.

  “Sure you did,” Elliot said.

  Corian’s powerful hands, thick wrists handcuffed, rested on the resin table. He spread his fingers, palms up in a “be my guest” gesture as Elliot took the plastic chair across the table.

  He had been second-guessing the decision to meet with Corian from the minute he’d acceded to SAC Montgomery’s request, and Corian’s supercilious attitude just confirmed his doubts. They were not going to get anything useful out of the Sculptor.

  “How could you resist?” Corian was saying. “A chance to play hero one last time. A chance to convince yourself you got the better of me.”

  “Sounds like you’ve been hitting the library psych shelves pretty hard.” Elliot folded his arms on the tabletop, glanced casually around the room.

  He’d been in plenty of these interview cells back when he’d been with the FBI. Neutral colors. Durable furniture. Stainless-steel mesh over the bulletproof frosted windows. A guard outside the door. Generic right down to the two-way mirror, behind which stood Detective Pine of Tacoma Homicide and FBI special agent Kelli Yamiguchi.

  Just in case Pine and Yamiguchi missed anything, cameras overhead were recording the interview.

  Corian’s eyes, a weird shade of hazel that looked almost yellow in the harsh institutional light, narrowed at Elliot’s gibe, but his broad smile never faltered. He seemed to be in a great mood for a guy looking at multiple life sentences.

  “I don’t need to read a psychology book to understand you, Mills. There’s nothing complicated about your psyche.”

  “But enough about me,” Elliot said. “Let’s talk about your favorite subject. You. Or more exactly, why you wanted to see me.”

  The rough material of Corian’s prison khakis rustled as he sat back in his chair. He looked a bit like a cartoonist’s idea of the devil. Gleaming bald head and immaculately trimmed Vandyke. He was a big man and prison had made him bigger. Leaner. Harder. He looked like he ate steroids with every meal and spent all his free time bodybuilding. Maybe the bodybuilding wasn’t far from the truth. There wasn’t a hell of a lot to do while sitting around waiting for trial. Not when you’d been caught red-handed, as it were, in a series of brutal slayings and mutilations spanning more than fifteen years.

  He said, “I didn’t want to see you. I gave you permission to visit. That’s all.”

  “Two letters in two months? We’re practically pen pals. Come off it, Corian. You want me to sit here and listen to you explain in detail how brilliant you were. How brilliant you still are compared to the rest of us.”

  Corian’s smile widened. “That wouldn’t be the only reason.”

  “It’ll be the main reason. You’re sure as hell not interested in bringing closure to the families of the victims.”

  It was quiet in the interview room. On the other side of the heavy soundproof door a symphony of discordant sounds were reaching crescendo level: guards yelling, televisions blasting, prisoners shouting, the incessant thunder of an industrial-strength plumbing system, the chatter and buzz of walkie-talkies, the jangle of keys and slamming of steel doors.

  “You’ve never understood me, Mills.”

  “You’re right about that.”

  “But you’re afraid of me.”

  Elliot sighed. “No, Andrew. I’m not.”

  They had never been on first-name terms. Corian replied, “You should be, Elliot.”

  “This is bullshit.” Elliot made sure to keep his tone bored, indifferent. The last thing he wanted was for Corian to know just how tense he really was. “If the idea was to get me here so you could practice your bogeyman routine, you’re wasting both our time.” He pushed his chair back as though to rise.

  Corian sat back and expelled an exasperated sigh. “Goddamn. Can’t you at least buy me a drink before you screw me over?”

  The indignation was almost funny.

  “Look, you wrote me. I’m not looking to continue our relationship—if you want to call it that. I don’t need closure. I got my closure when they slammed the cell door on you.”

  That wasn’t completely true. Like everyone else involved in the case, Elliot wasn’t going to truly breathe a sigh of relief until Corian was tried and convicted. He wanted the reassurance of knowing Corian was locked up in a maximum facility until the end of time. The numerous court date postponements were wearing on everyone’s nerves.

  Corian had the gall to look wounded. It was only partly an act. Being a psychopath, his own pain and his own frustrations were very real to him. It was the suffering of other people he was indifferent to.

  “You want something from me. So be it. I’d appreciate a little courtesy. A few minutes of intelligent conversation. Or as close as you can manage.”

  Elliot eyed him without emotion. “All right. But we don’t have all day. If you’ve got something to say, you’d better spit it out.”

  Corian leaned back in his chair, smiling. “How’s the fall session shaping up? Have they hired someone to replace me yet?”

  “Oh, no one could replace you.”

  “True.” Corian merely grinned at the sarcasm. “How’s Rollie? I read his book. When you think about it, it’s pretty ironic. The only child of a celebrity sixties’ radical joining the FBI.”

  “Yep. Ironic. Are we done with the chitchat?”

  Corian’s smile faded. “All right. Ask your questions.”

  “As of this date, sixteen bodies have been removed from the cellar of your property in Black Diamond, bringing the number of victims to twenty-three. Is that it? Is that an accurate head count? Or are there more?”

  “Head count.” Corian’s smile was pure Mephistophelian. Partly he was acting. Partly he was simply...evil.

  An old-fashioned concept, but what else did you call someone who was technically—well, legally—sane and yet a ruthless, remorseless predator? Maybe the problem was with the way the legal system defined insanity, but mostly the problem was how society dealt with monsters like Corian once they were identified and captured. Elliot had grown up believing the death penalty was barbaric, an anathema in a civilized society. But was warehousing monsters really a better plan?

  “If you want to go there,” Elliot said. “What did you do with the heads of your victims?”

  “That’s an interesting question. Why do you think some of the bodies were buried and some were used in sculptures?” Corian was equally aware that they had an audience, both human and mechanical.

  “No clue. Like you said, I’ve never understood you. Why did you only target young men? You’re not gay. Why did you never target women?”

  “Where’s the sport in that? Besides, I like women.” Corian didn’t wait for Elliot’s response. “My turn. Why do you think all the bodies were headless?”

  A game. That’s all this was to Corian. Another game. “To make it harder to identify the victims.”

  Corian tipped his head as though considering this. “I wonder. Maybe. Partly, no doubt. But you’re a student of history. You understand the possibilities and precedents.”

  The theory of ritualized cannibalism had certainly occurred to Elliot before that moment, but his stomach still gave a queasy roll of revulsion.

  Watching him, Corian said, “You’re horrified, yes, but you’re fascinated too.”

  “Mostly I’m troubled. My concern is for the families w
ho deserve to know whether their missing child is one of your victims.”

  “I don’t know that they deserve anything. After all, their children wouldn’t be missing if they hadn’t failed as parents.”

  “Yeah, that’s right,” Elliot said. “It’s the fault of the parents that these young men were captured and butchered for your...art. Did you have some method, some system of record-keeping that would make it possible for you at this late date to identify the remains?”

  “What remains? Who says there were any remains?” Corian was grinning. “Waste not, want not.”

  It wasn’t easy, but Elliot kept his gaze level, his expression emotionless. “I’m speaking now of the sixteen previously mentioned bodies recovered from your cellar. Do you have any means of identifying them?”

  “This is deal-making territory,” Corian said. “We both know you’re not in a position to offer me any deals.”

  “Then why am I here?” Elliot gestured at the mesh-covered window. “What’s the point of this?”

  Corian pretended to give this serious thought. “Several reasons. First and foremost, your being here annoys the hell out of your boyfriend. Special agent Tucker Lance.”

  The bastard was right about that.

  “Okay,” Elliot said evenly. “You’re having your laugh now. But the joke will be on you after the jury listens to all that evidence. It’ll be too late for making deals then.”

  Corian’s eyes gleamed. “Don’t you want to ask me why? Why I did it? Why I killed them?”

  “I know why. You’re a sick sonofabitch.”

  That was the truth. As far as it went. But even Elliot, who knew there was no possibility of understanding a brain like Corian’s, sometimes found himself questioning, puzzling over why. Certainly the families wanted to know, wanted some explanation, wanted to be able to make sense of these multiple tragedies.

  How could such things happen?

  Was there anything worse than losing a loved one to a random act of violence?

  Probably not. But even if you could understand the pathology of one serial killer, you were essentially starting from scratch with the next. At least as far as prevention went.