LOVE ON THE RUN - Sample Chapters

Chapter 17 - Part 1

Now that they were finally back at the NYC precinct, Sam surveyed Kerry's crew. The agents looked beat and demoralized. From the unshaven faces and rumpled clothes, it was clear no one had slept in days. Gone was the frenetic but focused beehive of activity; in its place was aimless wandering, some of the wanderers failing to blink or look where they were going, bumping into one another, into desks, or into walls. They had to spill hot coffee on each other when bumping into one another other to break the trance and return to full waking consciousness, if just for a moment.  

"Don't tell me we didn't get anything off the satellite cameras?" Sam said, leaning over from his swivel chair in Kerry's direction. 

Kerry scooched the large brown paper grocery bag on the floor toward him with her foot. It was overflowing with pictures. Sam thumbed through the ones at the top. "These are all the young, sexy couples in champagne Boxsters in and around or leaving the Las Vegas area?" 

She nodded without looking up from her knitting. 

"There's got to be a way to narrow these down." 

"I'm guessing the first one to hit densely tree lined roads that go on forever, say Mendocino country, or rural Tennessee is our couple. They can remove their needle from one haystack and insert it in another." 

Sam sighed. Seeing his coffee cup was empty, and realizing it was time for a refill, he glanced over at the coffeemaker. One of the team members at the coffee machine had come up empty; he stared at his cup as if he didn't know what to do. He was distracted from his grief by the mad laughter emanating from Ms. Pierce.  

Turning to take in the reason for the disruption, Sam noticed she was still knitting-the quilt now the size of Kansas. Her laughter just built and built until she was finally up and out of her chair.  

All eyes held on her as she exited into the hall. 

Sam and Carter followed behind her, watched her sashay down the hall, laughing madly. 

"Sometimes I think that lady isn't wound nearly as tightly on the inside," Carter said, his head tilted sideways to get a better picture of Ms. Pierce's ass and legs. 

"Where were you during the Casino business?" 

"Working my way through Dead Man Walking's data files. Figured while he was away from his desk..." 

"Anything?" 

Carter shook his head. "Not yet anyway. I'm going to have to take my weaseling to whole new levels to keep up with these government payroll scum bags." 

Sam ran after Kerry, grabbed her arm. "Clue us." 

She freed her arm and continued her mad cackling as she strolled down the hall. Finally, she shouted, "He's using the wife for cover. It's her m.o. we have to decipher." 

"How long will that take?" Sam shouted after her. "We can't afford to keep this many men tied up another..." 

"Already done. There is no pattern to her crimes. That's her m.o."  

She disappeared around the corner. 

Sam mumbled, "Well then, our job's nearly done!" He slapped his thigh with a rolled up magazine-then stomped back into the room full of agents. 

He grabbed a chair, put his feet up on the desk, and unfolded his Playboy magazine. "If she thinks she's just going to tease me all day and night without any kind of outlet, she's sadly mistaken." 

* * *

They were still trying to get used to the extremely ritzy home in the deeply forested mountains with a spectacular view of the valley and hills beyond. The floor-to-ceiling windows had clearly been built to appreciate every drop of the scenery.