The Dying Game Read Free Page B

sturdy floor mat.
    Lindsay paused on the bottom step as her gaze zipped from Sanders to Griff. A silent understanding passed between her and her boss. They were both thinking the same thing— how will this affect Judd?
    “Do you want me to call him?” she asked.
    Griff shook his head. “I’ve already tried. Both his home phone and cell phone are no longer in service.”
    Lindsay groaned. “I’m not surprised.”
    “Neither am I.” Griff shook the snow from his short, platinum-blond hair, then removed his overcoat and tossed it over a nearby kitchen chair. “The last time I saw him, he was just one step away from being a mad hermit.”
    “Will you try again to contact him or—?”
    “Why don’t you drive down there this morning and see what you find,” Griff said. “If he’s even halfway sane, tell him what’s happened, stay with him and try to keep him in line as much as possible.”
    The thought of seeing Judd again—how long had it been, six months?—rattled Lindsay’s nerves. When the Beauty Queen Killer struck three months ago, right before Thanksgiving, she had begged off working with Judd. And knowing their past history, Griff had allowed her one free pass. Apparently she wasn’t due another.
    “And if I’d prefer not to work with Judd, not to see him  …?”
    Sanders cleared his throat. “Either of you want breakfast?”
    “No,” they both said simultaneously.
    Sanders placed the coffeepot back on the hot plate, then without saying a word, walked out of the kitchen.
    “You can’t avoid him forever,” Griff said. “Your life has been Judd Walker-free for six months. You’ve been dating that hotshot young doctor, so I thought maybe you might have finally worked through your personal demons.”
    “Getting rid of those personal demons is a work-in-progress.” Lindsay went over to the coffeemaker, lifted the pot from the hot plate, and poured coffee into the two mugs Sanders had placed on the counter.
    With filled mugs in hand, she walked across the room and offered one to Griff. He accepted the mug, took a sip of the hot brew and locked his gaze to hers.
    “Judd has been one of my best friends for a long time,” Griff said. “If I thought we could save him, I’d move heaven and earth to do it. But Lindsay, honey, you can’t save a man who doesn’t want to be saved. He may be too far gone now. He lives for nothing but revenge. Not justice. Not salvation. Not peace. Just revenge.”
    “Then why send me down there to help him, if he can’t be helped?”
    “Even if neither of us can save Judd, we’re the only two people left who give a damn about him. No matter what, we need to see this thing through to the end with him. It’s what we both have to do.” He hesitated for a millisecond, then added, “And it’s the only way you’ll ever be completely free.”
    Emotion welled up inside Lindsay, feelings she had tried so very hard to keep deeply buried, after she had realized she couldn’t vanquish them altogether. “What if he wants to go to Kentucky and see Gale Ann Cain?”
    “I’m flying up to Williamstown later this morning,” Griff said. “I’ll keep you posted on Ms. Cain’s condition. And if Judd is acting like himself enough actually to give a shit about Ms. Cain, then don’t try to stop him from coming to see her. As a matter of fact, drive him straight to the hospital yourself.”

Chapter 2
     
     
    Last night’s snow had turned into a cold, relentless rain. The windshield wipers on Lindsay’s two-year-old Trailblazer LT swished back and forth at high speed, barely able to keep one step ahead of the heavy downpour. She was at the halfway point between Griff’s home in Knox County and the old hunting lodge in Marion County that had belonged to the Walker family for several generations. She had headed out at nine-thirty this morning, shortly after dropping Griff off at the private airstrip where he kept his personal jet. Actually, it was the company’s