After She's Gone Read online

  Books by Lisa Jackson

  Stand-Alones

  SEE HOW SHE DIES

  FINAL SCREAM

  RUNNING SCARED

  WHISPERS

  TWICE KISSED

  UNSPOKEN

  MOST LIKELY TO DIE

  WICKED GAME

  WICKED LIES

  SOMETHING WICKED

  WICKED WAYS

  SINISTER

  WITHOUT MERCY

  YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW

  CLOSE TO HOME

  AFTER SHE’S GONE

  REVENGE

  Anthony Paterno/Cahill Family Novels

  IF SHE ONLY KNEW

  ALMOST DEAD

  Rick Bentz/Reuben Montoya Novels

  HOT BLOODED

  COLD BLOODED

  SHIVER

  ABSOLUTE FEAR

  LOST SOULS

  MALICE

  DEVIOUS

  NEVER DIE ALONE

  Pierce Reed/Nikki Gillette Novels

  THE NIGHT BEFORE

  THE MORNING AFTER

  TELL ME

  Selena Alvarez/Regan Pescoli Novels

  LEFT TO DIE

  CHOSEN TO DIE

  BORN TO DIE

  AFRAID TO DIE

  READY TO DIE

  DESERVES TO DIE

  Oregon Novels

  DEEP FREEZE

  FATAL BURN

  Published by Kensington Publishing Corporation

  LISA JACKSON

  AFTER SHE’S GONE

  KENSINGTON BOOKS

  www.kensingtonbooks.com

  All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.

  Table of Contents

  Also by

  Title Page

  Prologue

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  ACT I

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  ACT II

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  ACT III

  CHAPTER 25

  CHAPTER 26

  ACT IV

  CHAPTER 27

  CHAPTER 28

  CHAPTER 29

  CHAPTER 30

  ACT V

  CHAPTER 31

  CHAPTER 32

  CHAPTER 33

  CHAPTER 34

  CHAPTER 35

  CHAPTER 36

  ACT VI

  CHAPTER 37

  ACT VII

  CHAPTER 38

  CHAPTER 39

  Epilogue

  Copyright Page

  Prologue

  Portland, Oregon

  January

  He watched.

  Carefully.

  Paying attention to every detail as the rain sheeted from the night-dark sky and streetlights reflected on the wet pavement.

  Two women were running, faster and faster, and he smiled as the first passed into the lamp’s pool of illumination. Her face was twisted in terror, her beautiful features distorted by fear.

  Just as they should be.

  Good. Very good.

  The slower woman was a few steps behind and constantly looking over her shoulder, as if she were expecting something or someone with murderous intent to be hunting her down.

  Just as he’d planned.

  Come on, come on, keep running.

  As if they heard him, the women raced forward.

  Perfect.

  His throat tightened and his fists balled in nervous anticipation.

  Just a few more steps!

  Gasping, the slower woman paused, one hand splayed over her chest as she leaned over to catch her breath beneath the streetlamp. Rain poured down from the heavens. Her hair was wet, falling in dripping ringlets around her face, her white jacket soaked through. Again she glanced furtively behind her, past the empty sidewalks and storefronts of this forgotten part of the city. God, she was beautiful, as was the first one, each a fine female specimen that he’d picked precisely for this moment.

  His heart was pumping wildly, anticipation and adrenaline firing his blood as an anticipatory grin twisted his lips.

  Good. This is so good.

  Silently he watched as from the corner of his eye, the first woman raced past him just as he’d hoped. Eyes focused ahead, she was seemingly oblivious to his presence, but in his heart he knew she realized he was there, observing her every movement, catching each little nuance of fear. He saw determination and horror in the tense lines of her face, heard it in her quick, shallow breaths and the frenzied pounding of her footsteps as she flew past.

  And then she was gone.

  Safely down the street.

  He forced his full attention to the second woman, the target. She twisted her neck, turned to look his way, as if she felt him near, as if she divined him lurking in the deep umbra surrounding the street.

  His heart missed a beat.

  Don’t see me. Do not! Do not look at me!

  Her expression, at this distance, was a little blurry, but he sensed that she was scared to death. Terrified. Exactly what he wanted.

  Feel it. Experience the sheer terror of knowing you’re being stalked, that you are about to die.

  Her lower lip trembled.

  Yes! Finally.

  Satisfaction warmed his blood.

  As if she heard a sound, she stiffened, her head snapping to stare down the darkened alley.

  That’s it. Come on. Come on!

  Her eyes widened and suddenly she started running again, this time in a sheer panic. She slipped, lost a high heel, and she kicked off the other, never missing a step, her bare feet still slapping the wet pavement frantically.

  Now!

  He shifted slightly, giving himself a better view, making sure that he didn’t miss a thing.

  Perfect.

  She was running right on target.

  At that moment a dark figure stepped from a shadowed doorway to stand right in front of the woman.

  Screaming, she veered a bit, slipped, and nearly lost her balance, only to keep on running, angling away from the man.

  Too late!

  The assassin raised his gun.

  Blam! Blam! Blam!

  Three shots rang out, echoing along the empty street, fire spitting from the gun’s muzzle.

  She stumbled and reeled, her face a mask of fear as she twisted and fell onto the pavement. Her eyes rolled upward, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. Another spreading red stain bloomed darkly through her white jacket.

  Perfect, he thought, satisfied at last as he viewed her unmoving body.

  Finally, after years of planning, he’d pulled it off.

  Shondie Kent looked dead.

  As she lay in the street he waited, focusing on the body, noticing how it neither twitched nor moved in any way.

  Exquisite.

  From years of experience he counted silently. Five, four, three, two, one. Still no movement, the “corpse” in place, the street empty, rain and a bit of fog visible. The camera had zoomed in on the open mouth, glazed eyes, and dark blood on the white blouse.

  Satisfied that the shot was flawless, he yelled, “Cut!” and punched the air from his director’s chair. He felt ridiculously triumphant that the death scene had finally worked. Man, what a relief! They’d shot the scene over and over the day before, never getting the act
ion and ambience to meld to his satisfaction. Something had always been missing. But today after several failed attempts, finally everything had worked like clockwork, the actors and crew were spot-on, the energy on the set was right for this, the climax to the end of the scene. “That’s it!” he yelled, then added under his breath, “Thank God,” because truth to tell, the scene had been a bitch.

  As he climbed out of his chair, the lights came up and the darkened Portland street was suddenly illuminated, its asphalt still shining from the mist provided by the sprinklers used to simulate the gloomy Northwest rain. The quiet that had been the set was replaced by a cacophony of voices and sounds. Crew members were spurred into action, hustling to break down the facades and get them moving so that the street could be reopened. In the bright lights, the sidewalks and storefronts appeared less ominous than they had.

  Sig Masters, the actor who played the assassin, tore off his ski mask and headed off set for a smoke. The fake rain pouring from hidden, overhead sprinklers was turned off, only a bit of drizzle remaining as the lines emptied. Everyone was going about their business, already breaking down the pieces of the set that had been added to the cordoned-off street, everyone but Lucinda Rinaldi, the body double who still lay unmoving on the pavement.

  Dean Arnette, the director of Dead Heat, a movie he already believed would become a blockbuster once it was released, smiled to himself. The script was cutting-edge, moody, the dialogue razor-sharp, the emotions raw, and his star, Allie Kramer, was rapidly becoming a household name. Her on-screen portrayals were mesmerizing and her offscreen life the stuff of tabloid fodder. She had a famous mother, a tragic, complicated past, an intense love life, and a hint of the bad-girl image she didn’t try to erase. It all kept her fans guessing and her public interested. Allie Kramer had no trouble trending on the Internet.

  More perfection.

  A sense of relief ran through him as he absently reached into the empty pocket of his shirt for a nonexistent pack of cigarettes. God, he still missed smoking every damned day, especially after sex, a meal, or like now, a satisfying final take on a particularly difficult movie.

  “Something’s wrong,” his assistant whispered as Arnette climbed down from his director’s chair.

  “The scene was perfect.”

  “I know . . . but . . .”

  “But what?” He didn’t bother hiding his irritation. Beatrice Little was always finding something wrong. Barely five-two, she couldn’t weigh a hundred pounds soaking wet and wasn’t quite thirty. Still, she took “anal-retentive” to a new level. She was shaking her head, a dark ponytail fanning the back of her T-shirt with the movement.

  “It’s Lucinda.”

  Arnette figured if he was satisfied, the whole damned film crew should be, including Little Bea as she was often called. “What about her?” Arnette glanced at the still unmoving actress. “She was great.”

  “I know, but—”

  “Hey!” a sharp female voice cut in. “That’s it. Let’s go,” Sybil Jones, one of the associate producers, yelled in Lucinda’s direction. She clapped twice. When Sybil didn’t get a response, she rolled her expressive eyes beneath the brim of her cap as she turned to Arnette. “Maybe you should talk to her, Dean. She’s not paying attention to me. Big surprise.”

  Lucinda, B-list on a good day, was always working to be noticed, hoping to overachieve her way up the stardom ladder, even though in this film she was used only as a body double. No matter how small the role, though, Lucinda was known for staying in character long after a scene had wrapped. “Come on,” he said, walking briskly in her direction. “That’s it, Lucy!”

  Still she didn’t so much as turn her head toward him. His skin crawled a bit. There was something off about her and it bothered him, a niggling worry that burrowed deep in his brain. This production had been a bitch from the get-go. The stars were always at each other, there was that sibling rivalry crap on the set between the Kramer girls and now they were here, reshooting this scene at the very last minute. “Hey! Time to get a move on,” he said, and then a little more loudly, “Come on, Lucinda, that was great. It’s a wrap!”

  Still she didn’t flinch, her eyes staring upward, even when one of the booms was moved, swinging only a foot from her face.

  His stomach knotted.

  As he reached her side he noticed that the bloodstain on her coat was far more than the bag of red dye would release. Oh, crap! “Lucinda?” he said, bending down on a knee, his heart beginning to drum. “Hey.” Anxiety mounting, he stared into eyes fixed on the middle distance. What the hell?

  “Lucinda, come on, it’s over,” he said, and leaned closer, hoping to feel her breath against his face or see her blink, silently wishing this was her ploy.

  No movement. None.

  Shit!

  He touched her neck, felt no pulse, and his fears escalated.

  Sybil and Beatrice had followed him across the street. He looked up, over his shoulder, to meet Sybil’s eyes, which were still guarded by her baseball cap. “Get the medic,” he ordered, “and get him now.”

  She nodded sharply, didn’t wait for another command, then turned and started yelling for help. “We need a medic,” she yelled, turning back. “ASAP! Where the hell’s Jimmy?”

  “Oh, Jesus,” Bea whispered as Dean turned back to the woman lying on the street. His fingertips pressed a little harder, hoping to find even the faintest tremor of a pulse.

  “Oh, God,” another female voice choked out. He looked up to spy Holly Dennison, a set designer, for Christ’s sake. Hand clapped over her mouth, she was backing up. Her huge eyes were round with sheer horror. “Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God.”

  He ignored her; turned back to the actress lying on the wet street. What the hell had happened? No one was supposed to get hurt on the set of Dead Heat. Other movie-set tragedies slid through his mind as he heard the sound of footsteps and conversation buzzing around him. “For fuck’s sake, someone call nine-one-one!”

  “On their way,” the producer said as the medic, talking rapidly into a cell phone and carrying a bag, finally hurried to Lucinda’s side.

  “Back off,” the man, all of twenty-two, nearly shouted.

  Gratefully Arnette gave up his post, climbing to his feet and stepping backward, knowing in his heart that it was too late. The harsh klieg lights illuminated her beautiful, motionless face. And just like Shondie Kent, the character she’d been so feverishly portraying, it appeared Lucinda Rinaldi was dead.

  CHAPTER 1

  Mercy Hospital

  April

  The nightmare was relentless.

  Like a vaporous shadow it seemed to slip under her door and through the window casings, shifting and swirling through the hospital room before steadfastly pushing into Cassie’s brain, infiltrating her dreams as she desperately tried to sleep.

  No amount of medications or willpower could stop the nightmare from sliding a kaleidoscope of painful pictures through her subconscious. Tonight, in her mind’s eye she saw it all again. Lightning sizzled across the sky. Thunder clapped. Rain poured from the heavens.

  She and Allie, her little sister, were running frantically for their very lives.

  Bam!

  The crack of a rifle exploded and she jumped, startled, the noises and visions racing through her head so real, so damned real. “No more,” she whispered, and let out the breath she hadn’t been aware she’d been holding.

  Slowly she opened her eyes and saw the digital readout of her clock. Three AM. Again. Every damned night. Jittery as always from the nightmare, she slid off her hospital bed and walked to the window where rain ran in jagged rivulets against the glass. Her room was located on the fourth floor of this wing, part of the original building built over a century earlier. She peered into the darkness, past the parking lot flanked by hundred-year-old rhododendrons. Farther down the hillside the city of Portland stretched in myriad lights that pulsed along the snaky blackness that was the Willamette River. Bridges linked the river’s sh
ores and streams of lights blurred as cars and trucks sped across the concrete and steel spans connecting the city’s sprawling east side to its hilly west. Atop this hill, Mercy Hospital was afforded a breathtaking view of the city. If one chose to be inspired.

  With her index finger, Cassie traced the path of a raindrop on the pane, the glass cool to her touch. Slowly, as it always did, her heartbeat returned to normal and the nightmare thankfully withered into the hidden corners of her subconscious again. “Just leave me alone,” she muttered as if the dream could hear. “Go away!” She was sick of being trapped here in this damned hospital, plagued by the nightmare and exhausted from lack of sleep.

  Angry at herself and the whole damned situation, she made her way to the bed, slid between the sheets, and drew the thin blanket to her neck. Sleep would prove elusive, she knew, and she considered picking up the book she’d tried to read, a mystery novel that was lying on the table beside her plastic water container and a phone that looked like it had come straight out of the eighties, or maybe even an earlier decade. But her gaze wandered back to the window where, in the glass, she spied a watery reflection, a dark figure backlit by the illumination slicing into the room from the doorway.