By
USA Today Bestselling Author
Dale Mayer

Detective Kate Morgan isn’t impressed with her latest case. A terrorized woman walks into the police station, with a message for Kate. Actually a message that drags Simon into the middle of it—no, make that front and center. A challenge has been issued, one that Kate is determined to solve, hopefully keeping Simon on the sidelines.

Blindsided, Simon doesn’t understand the message or the hate being directed his way. And the last thing he wants to do is revisit his past. Yet being in the middle of one of Kate’s cases doesn’t give him an option. If he can’t get to the bottom of this, his life will be, once again, torn apart—all to appease a madman’s new game.

But the answer, … when it comes, is closer to home than anyone realizes.

If you’ve been following this series, you know how instrumental Simon has been in Kate’s cases. He has no real control over his visions, but they have proven helpful at just the right time.

In this book Kate has to call Simon in from the start after a woman comes in to report a kidnapping and has a note addressed to Kate but with a message to Simon inside.

Kate reluctantly calls Simon to come and when he gets there brings him to an interrogation room. She starts and then Rodney joins them, as they try to puzzle this out.

This is a favorite scene.

She explained a little bit of the game, and Simon felt the sickness in his stomach as he realized they had yet another crazy person out there He nodded. “I’m sure you’ll get to the point as to why I’m here sooner rather than later, right?”

She sighed and then placed the note before him. “This is the note that she was instructed to bring to the police station.”

He picked it up and read it, the few short lines, his eyebrows shooting straight up when he saw both his name and hers. “What the hell?” he muttered out loud.

She nodded. “Yeah, the hell is why you’re here.” She carefully studied him. “I’m sorry because, if there was any way to keep you out of it, believe me. I would have. More so if  … there was any way to keep me out of it,” she added, with an eye roll, “I would have. But we have both been drawn into this because of this woman, who’s already been victimized once. She’s absolutely terrified to go home and have this asshole victimize her a second time.”

“Has she moved?”

“I don’t know if she’s even capable of moving. She was released from the hospital, probably too early, but our medical system hospitals are pretty overwhelmed these days. Therefore, if she’s capable of going home, then that’s where she goes,” Kate relayed abruptly. “Under these circumstances, I don’t know. I’m not sure that staying home for her is a good idea, but, if he found her once,  … there’s a good chance that he would find her again. Plus, if she deliberately tried to leave, there is another good chance that he would punish her for it.”

Simon nodded absentmindedly, as he studied the note. “So now you want to know who would do this, who do I know who would do this, and did I have anything to do with it?”

She stared at him, and her lips cracked in a parody of a smile. Then the door opened. He looked up to see Rodney move in. Simon nodded a greeting. “Fun times.”

“No, not really,” Kate disagreed. “I was in the interview with this woman when she came in, and she was terrified.”

Simon nodded. “And, having seen the note, I have to tell you  …” He shook his head. “Absolutely nobody comes to mind. It’s not as if I live in the world of psychos.” And then he laughed. “Although I’m pretty sure you would say that you don’t either.”

“Well, it’s not where we would choose to live,” Rodney admitted, with a half smile, as he took a chair. He quickly held out the recorder and put it on the table. “We’ll make this official, so that we all have something to listen to afterward.”

Simon nodded and waited, and, when they did their official disclaimer bit, Simon waved his hand. “Okay, so how long was she held? Do we know where she was held, and  …” He picked up the note again, closed his eyes, but absolutely nothing came through. When he opened his eyes, both watched him expectantly. He shook his head. “Nothing is left on this note,” he shared in a confused tone. “Whether he ever held it himself,  … I don’t know. Whether he ever held it with his own hands or with, say, gloves, I don’t know.” He shook his head. “I’m not getting anything off it.”

“Of course not,” she muttered. “That would be way too easy. So, given the fact that you don’t have a clue who would have done this, do you happen to know the victim?”

He asked, “What was her name again?”

“Patricia Blinker,” she stated.

Simon frowned and shook his head. “I’ve never heard of her.”

“I do have a photo. Matter of fact, we took several photos while she was here. Unfortunately forensically there isn’t anything on her because she spent several days in the hospital, showered several times, and at no point in time saw her attacker. However, we do have these photos.” And, with that, she held up her phone and showed them to Simon.

He winced when he saw the abrasions on the poor woman’s hands and face. “Wow, this asshole really did try to hurt her.”

“And yet,” Kate added, “he could have hurt her so much worse.”

He nodded, a lot of truth to that. “The damage will be psychological in the long term,” he replied, his voice quiet.

Rodney immediately nodded. “I suspect that was his purpose, psychological damage being so much harder for a victim to get over.”

Simon knew all about that. He felt that slow burn inside, even after all these years, and then swore heavily and fluently for several minutes.

When he looked up, Kate grinned at him and said, “I hope that made you feel as good as it made me feel.”

His eyebrows raised, he studied the woman who both fascinated, intrigued, and warmed his heart at the same time. “Now how the hell would my swearing make you feel better?”

She burst out laughing. “Because you swear in French, and it sounds so very different. Kinda hot, and I know that sounds so cheesy.”

She looked over to see a grinning Rodney, who was nodding his head.

“Yep, definitely doesn’t sound the same,” he noted. “Very poetic, very musical.”

Simon shook his head. “BS, I can swear in English just as well, but, for whatever reason, this one triggered my French version.”

“And yet,” she asked him, “you don’t use French very much, do you?”

He shrugged. “No, but it is something that I have worked hard to maintain for business.” He tapped the note. “So what will we do about this?”

“That’s the next challenge,” she admitted. “In order to do something with this, we have to understand who is behind this, and that’s a bit challenging.  … That’s why you’re here. We need a list of people who hate you, a list of people who would want to do this to you, a list of people who would play a sick game such as this.”

“I think the game is what’s important,” Rodney shared.

“For some reason, whatever you have said or done to somebody, potentially in business,” Kate pointed out, “where somebody didn’t get what he wanted, it may have led to this. So maybe you stopped a deal from going through, and it caused somebody else financial hardship,” she suggested, tiptoeing around him. “I’m throwing ideas out there because I really have no way of knowing any relation you might have to this psycho.”

Simon nodded, as he again stared down at the note. “It’s not a game I would have ever played,” he admitted.

“And yet as a child?” Rodney poked.

“As a child possibly, but who can remember a childhood game?” He stared at the note again, his mind scrambling to make sense of this. “I don’t particularly like being somebody in a position of power, somebody who has the ability to hurt and to damage somebody else’s life,” he told them, with a shrug. “Would I have squashed a deal if it was unfair or if somebody was lying, cheating, something along that line?  … Absolutely.” He took a moment to add, “I refuse to do shady deals, and I prefer to stay on the straight-and-narrow.”

She nodded. “Of course. That was an element of your grandmother too, wasn’t it?”

He nodded. “It’s an element of my gift. If I lie, cheat, steal, anything along that line, it’ll come back and haunt me. You might laugh about Karma,  … but, when it comes to something in my world, Karma can be quite a bitch. So I cannot ignore that aspect in my business or my personal life.” He shrugged. “Now, if somebody were cheating someone or being a rank asshole and hurting someone, and I could do something to stop it, then I would.”

“So, more likely you would be obliged to act?” Rodney asked Simon.

Simon nodded. “Would that be the case here? I have no idea.” He frowned. “I can’t remember any time where that may have happened, but  …” Then he kicked back his chair and stared at the note, his mind tumbling with ideas, and yet nothing really to lock on. Shaking his head, he looked over at the two of them. “I’m sorry, but I’ve got nothing.”

Rodney’s shoulders sagged, and he nodded. “We half expected that, but, of course,  … we had to bring you in and ask.”

“Of course,” he agreed, “and because my name is right there in black-and-white, along with Kate’s, that will make me an integral part of this.”

“So maybe that’s what he wanted. Attention,” Kate said suddenly. “Maybe it’s not so much about hating something you did but hating you, hating your success, hating that you have a good name.” She hesitated. “Because, if this becomes public, that could certainly affect your life, wouldn’t it?”

He stared at her and down at the note, thought about the implications, and shrugged. “Maybe, but my world isn’t built on public opinion, and it’s not built on any of these assholes. So I’m not sure that that theory applies, but it is something to consider.” He frowned again at the note. “I just,  … that whole bit, Simon can do this,” he muttered out loud. “That’s got a competitive edge, as if this guy’s lost beside me in some way. That other part, Simon thinks he’s so fucking good, but I don’t think he’s got answers for this,” he read out loud. “I can’t imagine the mentality of somebody who would be setting me up to fail.”
Dale Mayer. Simon-Says-W-Dale-Mayers-re (Kindle Locations 271-343). Kindle Edition.

Simon can offer no insight. Kate and Rodney proceed on the case, locating the victim and that opens a whole new can of worms.

Simon has issues with one of his sights and losing workers, that has an interesting tie in to this tale.

With every book the relationship between Simon and Kate grows as well, I love the way they take care of each other.

There are many twists in this one especially when Simon finally connects with a victim.

I love the way these books keep you on your toes wondering what’s going to happen next. I certainly couldn’t figure this one out until the end.

5 Contented Purrs for Dale!

Dale Mayer

Dale Mayer is a USA Today bestselling author best known for her Psychic Visions and Family Blood Ties series. Her contemporary romances are raw and full of passion and emotion (Second Chances, SKIN), her thrillers will keep you guessing (By Death series), and her romantic comedies will keep you giggling (It’s a Dog’s Life and Charmin Marvin Romantic Comedy series).

She honors the stories that come to her – and some of them are crazy and break all the rules and cross multiple genres!

To go with her fiction, she also writes nonfiction in many different fields with books available on resume writing, companion gardening and the US mortgage system. She has recently published her Career Essentials Series. All her books are available in print and ebook format.