Nothing Is What It Seems In Heather Graham’s ‘A Dangerous Game’ [EXCERPT]

Dear readers,

I’ve been a fan of Heather Graham’s for decades. She has a knack for writing nailbiting thrillers chock full of fascinating characters who find themselves in unfathomable predicaments. To say she’s given me more than a few sleepless nights over the years would be a huge understatement. Her forthcoming novel, A Dangerous Game, is yet another example of why she is still at the top of her game. I hope you enjoy the following excerpt from this breathlessly paced new book.

Happy reading!
Jathan

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She managed to make herself move, and she handed over the baby.

It was so hard to do!

“Miss Cleveland, can you tell me about how old she is?” Kieran asked.

“I think about six weeks based on her motor function. And, please, just call me Sandy,” the woman told her. “Her eyes are following you—and when you speak, that’s a real smile. It’s usually between about six weeks and three months when they really smile, and I think this is a lovely, smart girl. Don’t worry! I’ll get a smile from her, too, I promise.”

The baby did seem to be settling down in Sandy Cleve­land’s arms. Craig set an arm around Kieran’s shoulders.

“Sandy, I’m with the FBI. Craig Frasier. You won’t mind if we check in on this little one?”

“Of course not!” Sandy assured them. She shook her head sadly. “I hear that the woman who handed her to you was murdered. There’s no ID on her. I’m just hoping we can find out who this little one is. She’s in good shape, though. Some­one has been caring for her. Yes! You’re so sweet!” She said the last words to the baby, wrinkling her nose and making a face—and drawing a sound that wasn’t quite laughter, but darned close to it. “Hopefully, she has a mom or other relatives somewhere. And if not…” She hesitated, studying Kieran and Craig. “Well, if not—a precious little infant like this? People will be jockeying to adopt her. Anyway, let me get her out of here and away from…from what happened.” She held the baby adeptly while using her left hand to dig into her pocket and produce her business card. “Call me anytime,” she told them. “I may not answer, but I will get back to you if you leave me a message.”

Then she was gone. The cop who had been watching over Kieran went outside.

She and Craig were alone.

Kieran still felt shell-shocked.

“Kieran, hey!” Craig hunkered down by her again as she sank down into one of the comfortably upholstered chairs in the waiting room. He looked at her worriedly. “The cops are good—you know that.”

“Craig, you have to be in on this. That detective—”

“Lance. Lance Kendall. Kieran, really, he’s all right. He’s doing all the right things.”

“Yeah! All the right things—grilling me!”

“Okay, I will speak with Egan about it tomorrow, how’s that?”

She nodded. “Thank you. Get one of your joint task forces going—at least maybe you can participate?”

“Sure.” He hesitated. “I guess…um, well.”

There was a tap at the door. They both looked up. Craig stood.

A man walked in. It wasn’t the first officer who had arrived at the scene—it was the detective who had arrived while oth­ers were setting up crime scene tape, handling the rush hour crowd around the body, and urging her to get the baby back up to her offices and out of the street.

Detective Kendall was a well-built African American man. About six feet even, short brown hair, light brown eyes, and features put together pleasantly. He was around forty-five, she thought. He wasn’t warm and cuddly, but neither was he rude.

“Detective,” Craig said. “Have you wrapped up at the scene for the evening?”

“Yes—a few techs are still down there, but there’s nothing more I can accomplish here. Unless you can help, Miss Fra­sier? You can’t think of anything?”

“I have no idea why this lady chose me,” Kieran said. “None.”

“And you’ve never seen the woman before?” Kendall asked.

“Never.”

“Nor the baby?”

What? Did he think that the infant paid social calls on people, hung out at the pub, or requested help from psychiatrists or a psy­chologist?

“No,” she managed evenly. “I’ve never seen the infant be­fore. I’ve never seen the woman before.”

“All right, then.” He suddenly softened a little. “You must be really shaken. I understand that, and I’m sorry. For now… I don’t have anything else. But I’m sure you know we may need to question you again.”

“I’m not leaving town,” she said drily.

He wasn’t amused.

Kieran continued. “I’ve spoken with Dr. Fuller and Dr. Miro. I’ve told them all that I could, and they will be try­ing to ascertain if they can think of any reason—other than  who they are and what they do—that the woman might have come here.”

“I’ve spoken with the doctors, too,” Detective Kendall told her grimly. “And I’m sure we’ll speak again.”

“I’m sure,” Kieran muttered.

“Good night, Special Agent Frasier—Miss Finnegan,” the detective said. “You’re both, uh, free to go.”

He left them. Craig pulled Kieran around and into his arms, looking down into her eyes. “We are free. There’s nothing else to do tonight. You want to go home?”

“I know that we both really wanted to see the band play tonight,” she told him. “I’m sorry.”

“Kieran, it’s not your fault. I’m sure you didn’t plan for a woman to abandon a baby in your arms and then run down­stairs and find herself stabbed to death.”

“It’s driving me crazy, Craig! We don’t know who she was. We don’t have a name for her. We don’t know about the baby. I think she was too old to be the mom, but I’m not really sure. And if not…she was trying to save the baby, not hurt it. But who would hurt a baby?”

“I don’t know. Let’s get going, shall we?”

“We can still go to the pub. Maybe catch the last of the Danny Boys?” she said.

“You know you don’t want to go anywhere.”

Kieran hesitated. “Not true. I do want to go somewhere. I’m starving—and I’m not sure what we’ve got to eat at the apartment.”

“Yep. We’ve been staying at yours—if there is food at mine, I’m certain we don’t want to eat it.”

“Then we’ll go to the pub,” she said quietly.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Heather Graham is an award-winning New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than a hundred novels and novellas which have been published in approximately 20 languages.

A member of the Romance Writers of America and the International Thriller Writers, she majored in theater arts at the University of South Florida. She worked in dinner theater, sang back-up vocals and even tended bar before she sold her first book in 1982.

Her forthcoming novel, A Dangerous Game, will hit store shelves March 13. Her next Krewe of Hunters book, Fade to Black, will go on sale May 29.

Visit Heather online at theoriginalheathergraham.com, like her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter and YouTube.

A DANGEROUS GAME
By Heather Graham
336 pgs. Mira. $26.99

Pre-order A Dangerous Game at one of these fine online retailers: Amazon, Books-A-Million, or Barnes & Noble.

A Dangerous Game is brought to you in association with TLC Book Tours.