Chapter 3
True hatred was hard to handle.
Raven glared at her computer screen, seething with…something. She wasn’t sure about the emotions roiling inside of her because they didn’t make sense. But hatred was a strong one. And easily identifiable.
“Just get this over with,” she muttered to herself, then flipped to the program she’d created for just this purpose.
After five hours of research, Raven had a list of character traits that Tim Armstrong seemed to prefer in his partners. However, none of the women Doc Armstrong had dated in the past were of the scientific leaning. Of the six women that he’d been with over the past two years, three were models, one actress – a very famous one at that, and two were business women.
So, now he wanted a woman he could talk to?
Raven snorted. “Even I can’t figure out what he does in that futuristic looking laboratory!” she mumbled. “Granted, I’ve never been any good at chemistry.” That was a reminder she didn’t need at the moment. Especially since it was irrelevant.
She continued to research Tim and his love interests until she’d finally found a pattern. It wasn’t easy to discover, but apparently, Doctor Timothy Armstrong preferred women who weren’t all that intelligent.
According to his dating record, Doctor Armstrong dated people who were the opposite of himself.
But…now that he might be serious about finding a significant other…was he changing his preferences? That was possible. Some people dated to have fun and enjoy life and their youth. Then when it came time to settle down, they reexamined their preferences and discovered that they preferred someone who was more similar to themselves.
Either was possible, but Raven’s instincts told her that Tim needed someone more similar to himself.
That definitely pushed her out of the running!
Raven’s fingers stilled on her keyboard as she ran that last thought through her mind again. After several moments, she chuckled at her silliness. “Just a random thought,” she told herself. “It didn’t mean anything. You’re not the woman for the good doc, so move on!”
Finally, she started working to find candidates. Why had this been so much easier when she’d done this for others? Even finding a mate for Sheik Zahir bin Aristi had been easier than finding someone for Doc Armstrong. Of course, Zahir’s soulmate had been right under his nose the entire time. So that had certainly helped make her job easier.
Pulling her focus back to the present, Raven started making calls. She didn’t define these phone calls as “interviews”, but that was essentially what they were. The women she spoke to were all highly intelligent ladies that worked in the scientific field in various capacities. They were all tall, with three of them being nearly six feet tall. Four of the ladies would be considered natural beauties while the fifth woman wasn’t classically pretty, but Raven knew that there was some indefinable quality about the woman that was alluring.
Just like Tim, she thought.
She didn’t mention Tim’s name because Tim was too well-known in the industry and his financial status was regularly mentioned in the news.
It was disgusting how many women were willing to explore a relationship with a man simply because he had money. Did they care that he might be a jerk? That the man might be a manipulative, abusive ass? Nope! They were too busy staring at dollar signs to properly evaluate the man’s personality and how he might compliment her own.
Thankfully, that was where Raven excelled. After the phone interviews, she’d arranged appointments with the ladies so she could meet with each woman face to face. She’d then spoken with their friends and co-workers, careful not to reveal the reasons why.
Now it was time to meet with Tim again, to show him the candidates and find out which ones he’d like to meet.
All five of the women wanted children, but not immediately. All of them were well established in their careers, and also understood chemistry and various sciences. One of the women was even a patent lawyer, which Raven hoped would be Tim’s first choice. She was a dark haired, tall beauty with green eyes and a sharp wit. Indra Clementi looked like an Italian goddess. Hell, if Raven was so inclined, she would have wanted to date Indra! Their conversations over the past week had revealed a person that Raven would like to call a friend.
However, she was a client, at the moment. And if Tim Armstrong was interested in Indra, Raven would never have a reason to speak with her again.
Picking up her phone, she dialed Tim’s number.
Tim hung up with a sigh and turned to his computer. Raven. She’d invaded his thoughts all week, distracting him from his work. He’d delegated more tasks this week than he ever had since…ever! And he resented that fact. But he’d been too distracted by thoughts of a blue-eyed temptress. And distractions in a laboratory were dangerous. He knew that and so he hadn’t tempted fate by mixing chemicals when he couldn’t pay attention.
His team leads were excited about this though. And that irritated him even more. His team leads were stepping up and taking on the additional responsibilities as if they’d been waiting for this to happen. Everyone in the lab seemed to be working with a bit more zeal and Tim had to wonder if he’d been holding back his team members’ successes.
That didn’t sit well with him. He worked hard to find the best candidates from the various colleges and universities all over the country. He prided himself on an egalitarian work environment, but obviously, he’d failed somewhere along the way.
Even Bailey and Matteo had mentioned that the teams seemed to be making more progress than expected.
So what had he been doing all this week? Besides waiting for one dark-haired, blue eyed vixen to call him, that is?
Tim looked down at his notes and snorted with disgust. Had he figured out the issues with the fabric softener? Nope. Had he explored the solvency problems with the fuel additive? Also nope! Had he helped the safety teams with the smoke problem? Nope again!
He’d been experimenting with scents, damn it! He’d done research on perfumes and was now mixing various components so that he could attempt to bottle that strawberry scent. So far, he’d failed miserably! No matter what combination of chemicals he tried, Tim couldn’t get that particular scent that Raven wore. As a scientist, he was energized by the challenge. As a man, Tim was frustrated that he couldn’t achieve his goal.
But now…now he had candidates that would distract him from his obsession with Ra..strawberry scents. Turning away from the window with disgust, Tim clicked on the email that Raven had sent.
As he’d finished flipping through the pictures of the candidates, Tim wanted to reject them all. They were too tall, too hard looking.
“Bad news?” a voice asked.
Turning, Tim watched as Matteo and his older brother, Antonio, walked into his office and sat down without waiting for an invitation.
“Not too bad,” he replied and clicked the message closed.
“Were those Raven’s candidates?” Matteo asked, never missing anything.
Instantly, Antonio’s eyes narrowed. “You’re looking for a wife?” he asked. Both men had that sexy, Spanish accent going for them and Tim would have hated them for it, if they weren’t two of his best friends.
“What makes you say that?”
“Because the women in those pictures are lovely. And one of them, Indra something or other, could be an excellent match for you,” Matteo explained.
“Indra Clementi?” Antonio asked.
“Si. The same,” his brother responded with a sharp nod.
Tim glared at the duo. “Aren’t you two supposed to hate each other?” Tim grumbled, standing up and moving towards the bar in his office where he poured three glasses of scotch.
He handed the glasses around, then sat down in his desk chair.
“Si,” Antonio replied solemnly. “I hate him,” the man said as the brothers clinked glasses.
Matteo chuckled, but took a sip of the excellent scotch. “Now that our father is rotting in prison for the rest of his life, we have talked. We are becoming friends.”
Tim knew this and agreed that both men were very good people. “And you decided to bring that obnoxious friendship into my office just to annoy me?” he replied, leaning back in his chair, propping his feet up on the desk.
Matteo did the same as he chuckled. “Actually, it’s because the ladies drank all of the scotch from my office. We knew that you had a secret stash that they didn’t know about.”
Tim rolled his eyes, accepting that his work was done for the day. “What brings you here today?”
Matteo was just about to reply when a man with glasses burst into the office. “Sir!” the kid exclaimed. “I think I’ve figured it out!”
A brown eyebrow lifted as Tim looked at Jonathan Meyers, one of the lab technicians. “I thought you were working on the Zylo formula,” he replied.
Zylo was the code word for one of the products they were developing. No one ever used the name of the product, or what it would be used for. Every detail of a development was kept in absolute secrecy until it was released into the marketplace.
Jonathan had obviously not realized that there were strangers in Tim’s office.
“No!” the boy replied, then straightened his glasses. “I mean, yes. I am. I was.” He shook his head. “I mean, Yes, sir. I am assigned to the Zylo team. But I noticed that you were working on a strawberry fragrance. And I followed your notes. I think I have what you’re looking for,” he explained, rushing around Tim’s desk and extending a test tube filled with an odd, puce looking liquid. “Obviously, the color needs to change,” he continued, his features flushing with embarrassment. But he extended the test tube for Tim’s approval. “What do you think? Is this right?”
Ignoring privacy protocols, Tim leaned forward, eager to smell the newest scent. It took him a moment, then he shook his head, his disappointment evident. He paused to push his glasses higher onto his nose. “No. That’s not quite right.”
Jonathan’s features fell with disappointment. “I’m sorry, sir,” he said, even his shoulders drooping with his defeat. “I’ll keep trying.”
“No need,” Tim called out. “This is a private project I’m working on. But I appreciate your assistance.”
Jonathan turned his head, paused for a moment, then nodded slowly and continued out the door.
Tim waited until the office door was closed before he turned to his friends.
“I didn’t know we were getting into the perfume business,” Matteo commented, then took a long sip of his scotch, keeping his eyes on Tim over the rim of the glass.
“We’re not,” Tim snapped. “As I said, it’s a private challenge. I’m working on it on my own time.”
Antonio eyed Tim carefully as well. He swirled the scotch in his glass, then said, “I remember a strawberry scented woman recently. But I can’t quite remember where.”
Thankfully, Matteo turned to look at his brother so he didn’t notice Tim’s features darken with irritation. But Tim didn’t reply. Instead, he looked into his scotch. “How’s business in Spain?” he asked, changing the subject. “I’ve read several articles that rave about the changes in your village. And I’ve also heard rumors about some of the investments you’ve made.”
Antonio smiled triumphantly and Tim wondered if the other man knew who wore the strawberry scent. Thankfully, he didn’t go down that road. He simply nodded and accepted the conversation change. For the next hour, they discussed business issues, brainstorming on obstacles both sides of “the pond” experienced.
They even continued their conversation after a box of Thai food was delivered, compliments of Tim’s efficient assistant, who brought in the box just as she informed Tim that she was heading out for the night.
And the whole time, Tim kept wondering what types of food Raven preferred.
Raven sighed as she pushed through the door to her apartment, dumping her bag beside the door.
“Hello, Bean,” she whispered as her neighbor’s dog rushed down the hallway to greet her. “How are you tonight? Is Ms. Stacey taking good care of you? Because if she isn’t, then you know that you always have a home here with me,” she cooed, rubbing the fluffy dog’s ears.
Tossing her keys onto the counter, she trudged over to her fridge to see if there was anything to eat. Bean followed her into her apartment, his tail wagging happily. “Did you happen to go grocery shopping for me while I was away?”
Bean plunked down in the open doorway, his pink tongue hanging out the side of his mouth and his tail still wagging. Raven opened the door to her fridge, then sighed with disappointment. Nope!
A cup of yogurt and a half empty bottle of wine were the only items in her fridge. With a groan, she closed the fridge, not even interested in the wine and she knew that the cup of yogurt had expired two months ago. Yep, it had been that long since she’d last gone grocery shopping.
Staring down at Bean, she glared at the canine. “You didn’t get me any food, you traitor!”
Bean didn’t respond. Instead, he jumped onto a chair, a wary look in his eyes since he knew he wasn’t supposed to be there.
She could order some food to be delivered, Raven thought, scratching behind Bean’s ears again. “You’re a bad boy,” she whispered, then snuggled her face into Bean’s fur. “And as soon as your momma gets home, I’m going to tell her that you snuck out again.” The adorable dog reciprocated the affection by head butting her hand, his silent plea for more snuggles.
“Do you want some Thai food?” she asked. Bean didn’t have an opinion, but Raven knew that the little guy would try to steal something, regardless of what was ordered. He simply danced slightly, then jumped down off of the chair to twirl in a circle by her feet. “By unanimous opinion, Thai it is!”
With renewed energy at the thought, Raven lifted her phone and flipped over to her favorite delivery app. She called her neighbor at work, letting her know that Bean was at Raven’s apartment. Then she called her favorite delivery restaurant. Moments later, she had delicious drunken noodles and panang gui with chicken on the way. It would arrive in twenty minutes, just enough time to shower off the stink of her day. She walked over to her neighbor’s apartment and grabbed some dog food, bringing it back to her place. She’d return the canine later, once her friend got home from work. For now, it was nice to have the company.
She thought about how Tim had been so adamant about not having pets. When she found her “special” someone, that person had to want pets. Was there anything better than coming home to a sweet dog with a wagging tail at the end of a long day? Raven couldn’t keep a pet herself because of how often she traveled, but…she stared down at Bean who was exploring her bedroom. “You’re so cute,” she whispered, smiling when the dog’s ears twitched.
Fifteen minutes later, dressed in flannel pajama bottoms and an overly large sweatshirt with her hair pulled up into a wet, messy bun, Raven walked back down the hallway to her family room, dodging Bean as she went. He raced ahead of her, dodging between her legs when Raven didn’t walk fast enough.
“Maybe that’s why I like you, Bean,” she teased as the dog jumped up onto the couch while Raven sifted through her mail. She’d been gone for three days this time and had miraculously connected two powerful attorneys. Clients never, ever, connected that quickly, but Raven was taking the win. And the fee!
Bills. Bills. A wedding invitation from a previous client, which made Raven grin, and a letter. “What’s this?” she asked.
Bean had no idea and his eyes narrowed as his impatient dancing increased.
The doorbell rang and Raven tucked the letter under her arm as she reached for her purse, grabbing some cash for a tip. “Dinner is here!” she sing-songed. Again, Bean wiggled with excitement. “Easy crowd,” she muttered, then walked over to the door. Checking through the peep hole, she saw the delivery guy from the right restaurant standing outside her doorway.
She pulled open the door and smiled at the delivery guy. “Hey Joe,” she greeted him, having ordered from this place several times before. She extended her hand with the cash, and took the bag of delicious smelling dinner.
“Evening, Ms. Markley,” Joe replied, smiling as he accepted the tip. “Have a good one!”
And he was gone, hurrying off to deliver the next meal.
Raven loved Joe. No idle chit-chat. No bothersome greetings. Just a quick, efficient hand-off.
Raven turned and locked the door again, then carried the food to the kitchen. Immediately, Bean appeared underfoot. “Down,” Raven said with an unyielding tone. “See? I can be firm,” she told the dog who quickly sat down, then jumped up again and came around to stand at Raven’s feet, gazing up at her. “You’re going to cover me with fur, aren’t you?” Raven admonished, taking down a plate so she could dish out some of the food. “That’s your evil plan. To cover everyone in your fur so that you can use us as camouflage.”
Bean neither confirmed nor denied this plan. He simply spun around, then stared hopefully up at her, waiting for his prize.
“Fine, keep your secrets,” she said and pressed the tops back onto the food containers and put them into the fridge. There was a reproachful whine and Raven chuckled. “You thought that I’d forget and leave the food out again, didn’t you?” she said, glancing down at the dog who was staring up at her. “Well, I know you better now. It might have taken me twenty or thirty times to remember to put the food away, but I finally figured you out.”
Bean ignored the tone and rushed to the kitchen doorway, then paused to glance over his shoulder to ensure himself that his minion was following. “On my way, you cutie,” Raven replied and picked up her plate, carrying it over to the sofa. She also grabbed the bowl of dog food. She’d give Bean a few treats, but it wasn’t healthy for dogs to eat human food. Especially Thai!
Once she was settled on the sofa, she extended her legs and pushed several pillows behind her back. Bean immediately jumped onto the sofa and waited not-so-patiently.
“Here you go,” Raven said and stabbed a piece of beef, handing it over. Immediately, Bean took the meat and rushed off with it. He carried it to his food bowl and started to devour the treat. Because it was nearly eight o’clock in the evening and Raven hadn’t eaten since breakfast, she did the same, closing her eyes as the spicy noodles and coconut goodness hit her aching stomach.
When her hunger subsided, she reached over and picked up the envelope of the mysterious letter. “This was mailed to my previous address, Bean,” she told the dog who was now sitting on the floor, happily licking his paws clean. The canine wasn’t impressed by the significance of the statement. “Who sent me something and doesn’t have my new address?”
Obviously, Bean didn’t know and he started circling a spot on the rug before settling down for his twentieth nap of the day.
Raven set her now-empty plate on the side table, well away from Bean’s reach, and tore open the envelope. But two seconds into reading the letter, she gasped and dropped the letter. “No!”
Bean’s head jerked up and he stared at Raven with mild curiosity. But since nothing else happened, Bean settled his snout back onto his front paws.
“You didn’t catch me.” Four words. That’s all there was. Not even hand written. The letter had been typed.
Standing up, she carefully carried the letter and envelope over to her kitchen and grabbed a plastic food storage bag, dropped the letter in and sealed it up. Then Raven grabbed her phone and dialed her contact at the FBI.
“Hey Brock,” she greeted her former boss as soon as he answered his phone.
“Raven?” he asked, surprise in his voice. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
She laughed, then stared at the letter. “I’m fine. I think.”
“Tell me,” he snapped. “What’s going on?”
“I got a letter from someone, I don’t know who. But I’m pretty sure that it’s from one of the people that we went after while working together.”
There was a long, tense pause as Brock absorbed that announcement. “What does the letter say?” the big, bad FBI agent demanded.
Raven smiled, feeling a sense of relief now that Brock would take care of the problem. The man was an amazing FBI agent and loved nothing more than solving mysteries. It was one of the reasons he was such an outstanding agent.
“Not much. It just says, ‘You didn’t catch me.’”
“What’s the return address?” he asked, and she smiled, knowing that Brock was writing everything down. Everything both spoken and not-spoken.
She flipped the plastic bag containing the envelope and letter, then shook her head. “No return address. But the postal cancelation stamp says that the letter was mailed from Wyoming.”
There was a heavy sigh. “Not much to go on,” he grumbled and Raven pictured another grumbly man in her mind.
Shaking her head, she forced herself to concentrate. “Big state and lots of open space,” she commented.
“Exactly.” There was a silence, but Raven knew that Brock was still on the line. She could “hear” him thinking. “Okay, I’m going to stop by your place to pick it up,” he warned her.
“I can stop by your office and drop it off tomorrow, if you’re around.”
“I will be and that would be great. Thanks.”
“Any idea who I might have missed?” she asked, voicing the question she knew they were both thinking.
There was another long silence and Raven could picture him rubbing his head. “Not a clue. Every case you worked on, we caught the guy.”
She tapped her fingers against her thigh, still mentally sifting through their cases. “Maybe there was an accomplice that I missed,” she offered.
“I’ll go through the case files and see if anything pops up. Until then, will you be okay?”
“Yeah,” she replied, trying to sound confident. “Whoever sent this, doesn’t know where I live. They sent the letter to my old address so I’m pretty safe.”
“And you live in a secure building now?”
She hesitated, glancing out through the window to the parking lot below. “Sort of,” she cautioned.
“Raven, please tell me that you learned something from your years on my team.”
She grinned, relieved to hear Brock’s commander voice again. “I have security, but there’s no doorman in my building.”
Another sigh, this one irritated. “Raven, how many times did we–”
“I know, Brock,” she said, interrupting him. “And how many times did someone get hurt even with a doorman and excellent security?” she replied. “Trust me, I have several security precautions in place.”
There was another heavy sigh. “Maybe I should come over and check out your apartment, just to see if there’s something more that should be done.”
“Brock, you already work twenty hour days. I’m not allowing you to add another task onto your already long list of things to accomplish.”
“Raven, you understand that the letter was a threat, right? And as a former member of my team, you might be in danger. Just because you’re not on my team anymore, doesn’t mean I’m not going to do everything within my power to keep you safe.”
Her heart warmed at his words. “I appreciate your perspective, but I really think that I’m okay. It’s just one letter and it went to the wrong address. So whoever is doing this doesn’t know where I live. My physical address isn’t listed on the internet; you made sure of that.”
“I’ll have Josephine’s team run a check online just to make sure that no one can find your address. And that’s not an option, Raven.”
Raven appreciated the offer. “Josephine is amazing, so I will take you up on your offer. Let me know if she finds anything.” she replied. “I gotta go. My neighbor’s dog is curious. Gotta tell him everything or he’ll never be satisfied.”
“You’re taking care of your neighbor’s dog?” he demanded. “When did that start?”
She laughed even as she bent down to ruffle his fur. “It’s not an official arrangement. The dog is just extremely smart and sneaks out of my next door neighbor’s apartment whenever he needs a challenge.”
“Sounds like my kinda dog,” he grumbled. “See you tomorrow.”
He ended the call in his usual gruff way – by hanging up. Raven smiled, running her hand over Bean’s back and all the way down his tail, chuckling at the way the dog’s tail tapped against the floor in encouragement. The soothing strokes brought her worries into perspective. Her apartment was small, smaller than what she’d rented while working for the FBI.
With her new career as a commercial behavioral analyst, she earned more money, but her income wasn’t guaranteed. She felt better with a smaller apartment where she knew she could afford the rent if something happened to her and she wasn’t able to work for a long period of time.
“Okay Bean, is your tummy full? You know that your momma is going to be here any–” Before she could finish the sentence, her doorbell rang. “I bet that’s her now!”
Bean immediately jumped up, the entire back end of his body wagging as he waited for Raven to open the door.
With a sigh of disappointment, Raven pulled open the door, smiling at Nancy. “Hey there. He’s ready for you.”
Nancy’s exhausted features smiled weakly. “I’m so sorry that he snuck out again.”
Raven crossed her arms over her chest and leaned a shoulder against the doorjamb. “Bean is never a problem. I’ve already fed him, so don’t let him convince you that he’s hungry.”
Nancy laughed. “I’ll get him out of your hair,” she said. “Come on, Bean,” she said, patting her thigh. Bean immediately started running towards his home, glancing behind him once as if to say, “See ya soon!”
“You are so spoiled!” she muttered with a chuckle before stepping back into her apartment and closing the door. She checked the locks, adding the extra clamp lock at the bottom, just as a precaution. She wasn’t really spooked about the letter, but Raven admitted, if only to herself, that it had been nice to have the dog with her tonight. His lively companionship soothed the tension caused by that letter.
That brought her handsome doctor back to mind. The doc that didn’t want pets.
“Not the man for me!” she reminded herself for perhaps the millionth time.
With a mental groan, Raven walked into her bathroom to brush her teeth. The whole time, she wondered what it would be like to have a partner. Someone to share the days’ burdens and triumphs. Someone who communicated with words instead of just a tail wag.
Why did Tim Armstrong’ face pop into her mind? He definitely wasn’t the kind of man who would be a good partner. Not for her anyway. He didn’t want pets, wanted a tall partner who understood chemistry and…and the man didn’t even believe in her field of expertise!
Besides, Raven wasn’t ready to settle down yet. She was only twenty-nine years old. Her career was taking off. Because of her success with Zahir and helping him hire more people for his staff, other corporations were contacting her, asking for her analysis of their top level candidates.
Still, she loved her niche and was gaining a good reputation for matching people up.
Pulling on a satin nightshirt, she padded barefoot into her bedroom. But at the last minute, she walked back to the main area and double-checked the lock on her front door and the balcony door. Both were attached and secure. Chuckling at herself for being paranoid, she slipped between the sheets.
Her last thought before sleep took over was that a tall, strong man pressing against her back would be pretty darn nice on a cold night.
Mike popped another chip into his mouth, smiling when he saw the bitch through the balcony door. It would have been better if the lights in her apartment had been on, but seeing her nervous like that, checking and double-checking the locks…that was good enough for now.
The letter had been ingenious. He’d have to send a few more, just for entertainment value. It was nice that the bitch was still single. Being on the smaller, lighter side of the male average, Mike didn’t like the thought of his prize being with someone else. It gave him the advantage.
Not that he worked with his hands. No, Mike preferred needles and other sharp objects. Poking at his victims, seeing how much pain they could endure before they broke was more enjoyable.
When the light in the bedroom went out, Mike contemplated his plans for the night. He could break into the bitch’s apartment and have his fun tonight.
When his hand moved into the chip bag, his fingers didn’t find another chip. Staring into the foil package, Mike cursed out loud. How had he eaten all of the chips already?
With a sigh, he started the engine and drove out of the parking lot. Not tonight, my dear. Not tonight.