eBookFirst Edition (First Edition)
Related collections and offers
Overview
FOLLOW ME: Overnight, Calypso "Cal" Morgan's sensual Greek summer abroad turns into a thrilling, high-stakes race to prove to the world (and herself) that her brand-new and very sexy boyfriend Daniel is not a murderer. On the run together, Cal and Daniel must outwit handsome Greek detective Nico Theseus and face their attraction to each other - amid the stress and growing suspicions unearthed by the investigation.
The stakes couldn't be higher when a killer is flushed into the open and another of the roommates is murdered. Greek police detective Nico Theseus is in a race against time to solve the case, save his career, and rescue the woman he loves. But as the pieces of the mystery fall into place, Nico realizes that no one is safe and no one is prepared for the final twist that shocks them all in in the final installment in Cara Lockwood's sexy and suspenseful e-serial Follow Me.
Don't miss all 5 stories in FOLLOW ME, available now: DEADLY GAME, ON THE RUN, IN TOO DEEP, CLOSING IN, and NO TURNING BACK.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781466836334 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | St. Martin's Publishing Group |
| Publication date: | 10/22/2013 |
| Series: | Follow Me , #5 |
| Sold by: | Macmillan |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 66 |
| File size: | 765 KB |
About the Author
Inspired to write Follow Me by the stunning events brought to light during the Amanda Knox case, Cara Lockwood is also the USA Today bestselling author of ten novels, including I Do (But I Don’t), which was made into a Lifetime Original Movie. Born in Texas, she currently lives with her two daughters near Chicago.
Read an Excerpt
Follow Me Episode 5, No Turning Back
By Cara Lockwood
St. Martin's Press
Copyright © 2013 Cara LockwoodAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4668-3633-4
CHAPTER 1
Thena stood on the docks at Naxos, clad in a lightweight dark poncho, the rain pelting her face as she looked at the choppy waves of the Aegean Sea.
"He's gone, Thena," shouted Makis from the driver's seat of his Mercedes, where he was waiting nearby. His voice nearly got lost in the beating rain.
Thena hesitated as the wild surf splashed against the dock, sending up arcs of white spray. She glanced for one second longer at the churning sea. An oversized wave broke near the edge of the dock, spilling water across the stone walkway, nearly hitting Thena's feet.
She ducked back into the car, shaking off raindrops onto his pristine tan leather interior. "I had to see for myself."
"You saw it on the monitor. His phone is either off, or at the bottom of the Aegean. There's no tracking him now." Makis straightened the dark tie of his standard Headquarters suit and leaned back in the driver's seat. "If Nico was on a ship, maybe he had a good reason to be. Maybe he followed Daniel and Cal on board. Maybe the captain will radio us."
"Maybe," Thena said, squinting as she wiped the rain from her eyes. "But I think he's compromised."
"Why?"
"He slept with Cal Morgan." Thena offered up the fact in an emotionless tone, as she glanced at the rain beating down on the windshield.
"He slept with the girl who might be an accomplice, or even our next murder suspect? Just when were you planning on telling me that bit of information?"
Thena glanced at Makis. "Only just found out myself."
Makis let out a disbelieving grunt. "Right. Just found out." Makis slid his car into reverse and backed away from the docks, his headlights slicing through the rain.
"Are you going to have him fired?" Thena asked Makis, who stared at the road through the rapid motion of his windshield wipers. They made slushing sounds as they swiped rain off the glass.
Makis gritted his teeth. "I should have him arrested." He let out a long, frustrated breath. "And maybe you, too. How long were you going to let him stay on the case?"
"I suspended him."
"You didn't tell me about that. I don't think the 'time-out' story counts, either."
"He said it was one time."
"And you believed him."
"No, I didn't. I didn't believe him."
"Well, then, that's something." Makis set his jaw as he drove down to the seaside road that made the circle around the island. Lightning flashed in the sky, sending a stark white shimmer across the clouds and over the singular large mountain, named after Zeus, which loomed large in front of them.
Thena said nothing, just looked out the passenger-side window. The tension thickened in the car; the only sound was the rain on the car roof.
Thena broke the silence first. "I think Cal killed Gia Cito and made it look like Daniel Ross did it."
"But why? What's her motive for slitting her roommate's throat?"
"Jealousy? Maybe she caught Gia Cito in bed with Daniel Ross. Maybe she waited until they were both passed out and took her life."
"She'd have to be certifiably crazy."
"Maybe she is. There's something that's not right about Cal."
"Other than she's sleeping with your partner?"
"Yeah," Thena said, mouth set in a humorless line. "Other than that. She spent some time in Crawford Hospital, a mental institution."
"For what?"
"The hospital wouldn't tell me. Patient confidentiality. I need to try Cal's sister again, though."
"Try her."
Thena pulled out her phone and dialed in a number she'd written on her small notepad.
A woman answered on the first ring.
"Hello? Is this Sarah Morgan?" Thena leaned forward in her seat, glancing over at Makis.
"Yes. Who is this?"
"Detective Costas from Naxos, Greece." A long pause ensued on the other end of the line. Thena continued on. "I'm calling about your sister, Cal Morgan?"
"You mean stepsister," Sarah corrected quickly. "We don't share parents. My dad married her mom when I was sixteen. What is this all about?"
"Your stepsister is wanted for questioning in a case I'm investigating. Her roommate was an Italian student we found murdered this week."
Sarah sighed. "But Cal's mom said she was all better."
Wind whipped rain against the windshield. The storm battered the trees furiously on the roadside by the car. The noise made it hard to hear Sarah and so Thena turned up the volume on the phone as loud as it would go. Thena clicked the phone on speaker so Makis could listen.
"What do you mean Cal's mother thought she was 'all better'?"
"About seven years ago, right when Cal and her mom moved in with us here in Boston, Cal didn't like the idea of our parents getting married, especially because she didn't like not being the only child anymore."
"Common enough feelings."
"Not with her it wasn't. She did bad stuff. It started small, like letting air out of my car's tires or ruining a load of my laundry by dropping a crayon in there. Her mother always had an excuse for Cal, always ready to cover up what was going on or make it out to be an accident. Then came the night she burned down the house. She snuck in when I was sleeping, doused my curtains in lighter fluid, and set them on fire."
"How old was she?"
"Eleven."
"I'm sorry ... did you say eleven?" Makis pulled the car to the side of the road so he could focus intently on the call. Thena went very still as she listened, the high beams of the headlights slicing through the rain to the bush in front of them.
"That's right." Sarah sighed on the other end of the line. "Her mom couldn't cover that up. Not when the fire marshal got there and told them it was arson. Not when Cal had lighter fluid stains on her shirt."
"Why do you think she did it?"
"Cal wants everyone to love her and only her. Her idea of sibling rivalry is to try to kill her sibling." Sarah let out a caustic laugh on the other end of the line.
"What happened after the fire?"
"My stepmom and dad put her in Crawford Hospital, the mental ward, and she stayed there for a year. Dad wanted to keep her in longer; my stepmom disagreed. They got divorced over it. I haven't seen Cal since, but her mom told my dad that Cal was fine, that she's all better, since she moved her to a new school near Chicago. Dad said she's supposed to be on medication now. It was too late for my dad, though. He wasn't going to reconcile with my stepmom."
"Have you seen Cal since she's been out of the hospital?" The storm outside whipped rain against the car windows and the wind howled.
"No. But Ella Banks's mom contacted me a few months ago, and that's when I knew Cal was just the same as she's always been. I told her about Cal's stay at Crawford, and Cal burning down our house. She had no idea. Nobody at Cal's new high school knew anything about it. Her mom kept it a secret."
"Is there anything else I should know about Cal?"
"Only that she's dangerous. And she's very, very deeply disturbed."
CHAPTER 2On the other side of the Aegean Sea at the Lavrion Villa near Athens, Nico reached for a spare key hidden beneath a stone under a pink flowering potted plant near the front entrance of the six-bedroom beach house. He found it, silver and gleaming in the moonlight, and showed it to Cal, whose face lit up.
"This belongs to you?" she asked, amazed, looking at the huge stone villa, set on two acres of its own private peninsula. His father's other sailboat — the big one — bobbed in the sea behind them, a gray shadow against the even darker night sky.
"The villa belongs to my father, but he wouldn't be using it now," Nico said as he slid the key in the lock. He opened the large wooden door to reveal dark slate tiles, crisp white furniture, and sleek lines of glass and darkened wood. A single purple orchid sat in the center of the modern, distressed driftwood coffee table in the center of the living room, and a formal dining room offered up six high-backed modern white chairs. Beyond that, huge floor-to-ceiling glass revealed the expansive private beach and the large edgeless swimming pool.
"Oh, Nico," she exclaimed, clapping her hands together in excitement. "It's beautiful." She walked quickly to the back door and slid it open. She breathed in salty sea air. The breeze ruffled her flowered skirt, which hit above her knee. Nico's eyes went to her knees as she walked out and hugged herself in the warm air, stopping near the edge of the large saltwater pool.
Out in the distance, Naxos rose up out of the sea as a small, dark rock almost completely obscured by storm clouds. Here, just far enough away, the storm had broken, and the moon and a few twinkling stars peeked through the clearing clouds. Nico stood apart from Cal, staring at her back, a slight frown on his features. She turned and smiled at him, walking up and putting her arm around him as she leaned into his chest. Their reflection shone from the full glass patio doors behind them: the young, pretty blonde in the flowered dress and sandals, and Nico, muscular and lean, his jet-black hair thick and wavy.
"We're going to be all right," Cal promised him, snuggling closer into Nico's chest. "Don't worry, Nico. We're together. That's all that matters."
"Yes." Absently, he kissed the top of her head. Doubt clouded Nico's face.
"You did what you had to do. Daniel wasn't a good person. He killed Gia. He was going to kill us, if you hadn't killed him first. You didn't have a choice."
Nico remained silent, pensive, as he stared at the dark sea, where somewhere, Daniel's body had sunk after he threw it over the railing of the cruise ship. No one could see it, but it was there, beneath the waves.
Nico dug around in his pocket and pulled out two silver thumb drives. "This is what Daniel had in his hand when I shot him."
Cal glanced at the second drive in Nico's hand, blue eyes wide. "Where did you get those?"
"I took one from Marco's office. The other I took off of Daniel." He didn't look at Cal, and she said nothing, staying very still beside him. "You told me it was just Daniel washing off blood. But there's more. And Daniel thought it proved him innocent. Why?"
Cal's bottom lip quivered.
Nico took a step closer to Cal. "I can't protect you, unless I know what I'm protecting you from. I know there's an explanation. I just want to hear it from you."
Cal hugged herself, looking away.
"The police might already have a copy of this, or Marco might be telling them right now what's on it. Level with me, Cal. You can trust me."
She stared at him. He nodded once.
"I put something in his drink," she admitted after a beat.
Nico nodded. "I know. I saw. Tell me what it was."
"I was pouring Kitro for all of us. Daniel was ... being Daniel. He was coming on to Gia hard, like he did anytime he was drunk. I was pissed off at him. I know it was stupid, but I ... I put some laxative in his drink. I was angry. It was dumb. But there it is. I wanted to get him back for being such an asshole. I have no idea why he thought that could clear him, but he kept going on about it. About how that meant I was going to jail."
Nico rubbed his chin, deep in thought.
"Oh. Now I see. You handed him the perfect out. We know he spiked your drink with roofies. But this video makes it look like you drugged him. We don't have labs to prove it, so it would be his word and this video against yours."
"He was going to frame me?"
"He was going to try."
"I can't believe I ever trusted him," Cal sighed, sounding frustrated. "I wish I'd put more than laxatives in that asshole's drink."
Nico drew her to him. "It's okay," he said. He kissed her absently on the top of her head. "But now we have a problem."
"The video?"
Nico nodded once.
"We can take care of it, though, can't we?"
Nico said nothing, just stared out to the darkened sea, pensive. Cal stood on her tiptoes and kissed him lightly on the lips. Nico deepened the kiss, pulling her to him, squeezing her tight. She responded with her full body, pressing her curves into him, as her tongue gently probed his. Cal pulled away first, and glanced over at the pool, as if seeing it for the first time. Her eyes lit up, like a child's.
"Let's go for a swim!" she cried, and giggled.
"Now?" Nico asked, skeptical.
She backed away from Nico, a wicked grin on her face, as she slipped a strap of her sundress seductively from her shoulder. She let the dress fall to the stone tile patio, eyes on Nico, and he saw she was wearing nothing but her lace underwear and matching bra. She shimmied out of those, too, and lingered there on the edge of the pool, kicking water with one pointed toe, letting Nico's dark eyes sweep over her body, the want evident in his face. She let him take in the full view of her skin in the moonlight, and then she turned and dove into the saltwater pool with a tiny splash. She came to the surface, blond hair flattened and wet, water glistening on her eyelashes. "The water feels great," she said. "Aren't you going to come in?"
Nico watched Cal as she glided through the pool, lit by a large blue light beneath the water, and then he undressed, too, and dove in, swimming straight for her, scissoring the water with long-legged kicks. He grabbed Cal and she giggled, laughing, as he buoyed her up in the water. He held her up, her full top half out of the water, and twirled her around. She looked down at him, hands on his shoulders, and joy on her face. He moved her over to the side of the pool, still holding her up, his mouth laying kisses down the center of her chest, between her breasts. She moaned as he took one nipple in his mouth and then the other, teasing her with his tongue. Cal arched her back, pleasure rippling across her face.
"You're so beautiful, Cal," he murmured in her ear.
"I just want to make you happy," Cal said, her big blue eyes wide with earnestness as she reached for him. She handled him in a way that made him groan.
"You do. Oh — oh, God, you do," Nico murmured, and then he moved her hands away and pulled her to him. Cal wrapped her legs around his waist, and as Nico dove into her, Cal bit back a shout. He came at her again and again, pressing her against the stone wall of the pool. Cal met him, thrust for thrust, and after a while, came in an urgent cascade of moans and high-pitched gasps. Her climax only made Nico move faster and harder, until he, too, came in a guttural grunt, the two of them panting against one another in the warm pool beneath the bright constellations of stars circling above their heads.
"I wish we could stay," Cal murmured, content.
Nico sighed, leaning his head back against the concrete ledge. "I'm going to have to go back to Naxos."
"Marco's video?"
"I'll need to find out if there are other copies, and destroy them. Or they'll come for you." Nico set his mouth in a firm line.
"What about Marco? Can he testify?"
"If he doesn't have the video, his testimony will be weak at best. Might not even be admissible. And he tried to rape you. Any defense attorney would pounce on that." Nico hugged her. "Why didn't you tell me that Marco attacked you?"
"I was ... ashamed." Cal looked down.
"No reason to be."
"Let me come with you."
"No. Too risky."
"I'm not going to leave you." Cal pressed her bare body against his beneath the surface of the pool. "Besides, this is my problem. If I hadn't been mad at Daniel ... if I hadn't put that crap in his drink ..."
"You had no idea what Daniel was going to do."
Cal glanced up at Nico's face and stroked it gently. She wrapped her arms around herself. "I'm getting cold," she said, shivering.
"Let's go inside." Nico leapt out of the pool and then bounded over to the wicker basket sitting under the patio. He pulled out a plush towel and walked over to Cal, wrapping her up in it. She smiled at him shyly. Her blond hair dripped onto the gray stone tiles beneath her bare feet. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her again.
Cal's phone chirped in her bag, and she slid away from his chest and reached over for the phone. Nico's eyes roamed down her back, resting on the soft curve of her hips.
Cal read the face of her phone. "It's a news alert," she said. "From CNN."
"What?"
"Let's turn on the TV inside."
Nico walked into the living room and grabbed the remote for the large flat screen hanging on the stone facade inside. He flicked on the TV, and the news channel came to life, mid-story. Nico saw the cameras pointed toward the outside of the Naxos Police station. It was a full-on media frenzy now, with dozens of cameras jockeying for position in front of the doors. The CNN reporter stood with a microphone and was giving a live report.
"We've heard that in just moments, the latest suspect in the Cito case will be released," she said, a somber expression on her face. "As we reported earlier, Carlos Martin was cleared earlier for any alleged involvement in the crime. Apparently, his DNA was not found on the body. Also, another person of interest in the case, Marco Anastos, a teaching assistant at a nearby university, will be released shortly." Footage played of Marco earlier in the evening, squinting and holding his hand up to shield his eyes from the glare of camera lights as he jogged out of the station and into a waiting silver Renault. The video flipped back to the reporter on scene. "Anastos is currently not a suspect in this case. As of now, police are still hunting for Americans Daniel Ross and Cal Morgan, who are at large. Police are telling us that they are officially suspects in this case."
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Follow Me Episode 5, No Turning Back by Cara Lockwood. Copyright © 2013 Cara Lockwood. Excerpted by permission of St. Martin's Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.