Catastrophe. She thought he'd said he didn't know anything about the game-including its name.

"So did you get a piece of the game?" Bebe asked Sam, as she came back into the room, holding an open can of beer.

"No," Sam said. Or Andy, her a.s.sociate at the office, would have called to tell her. No, Lucas hadn't sent her a piece. He'd just left her a message on her answering machine telling her to take care of-something. Someone. Zack, obviously. "How about you?"

"Me?" Bebe cried. "Lucas wouldn't give me the time of day!"

"Who do you think does have a piece of it?" Sam asked, watching Bebe.

Bebe shrugged as she handed Eric the beer and sloshed some of the brew onto the carpet. He gave her a dirty look as she rubbed the spilled liquid into the rug with her bare foot.

"So what's in it for you?" Bebe asked her pointedly.

"I just want to find out who killed Lucas and why," Sam said.

"Got any ideas?" Bebe asked.

Sam shook her head and looked over at Will. They'd hit another wall. Then she remembered the credit card she'd found in Zack's backpack. "Do you know anyone named Robert Walker?"

"Bobby?" Bebe cried. "Sure, he invested in Lucas's game. Wouldn't invest in any of Eric's though."

"Shut up, Bebe," Eric snapped, this time more forcefully. "How do you know Bob?" he asked Sam.

"I just heard his name somewhere," she said vaguely, and shrugged as if it didn't matter, but she watched Bebe's face. The girl's gaze flicked nervously to Eric, but she said nothing as Sam reluctantly followed Will out the door.

"You think she'll be all right?" Will asked, obviously referring to Bebe.

Sam glanced back to see Bebe trying to make up to Eric, cuddling against him and talking fast. "I hope so. What bothers me is why Eric was lying about having a piece of the game," she said as Will opened her side of the pickup and she slipped in. "Charley told me that the cops didn't mention the name of the game or that there were five pieces mailed out. The only way Eric could have known that was if he got one-and the note with it."

ROBERT WALKER was playing tennis under a large white bubble in his impressive backyard. He wiped his face with a towel before coming over. He was a handsome, athletic man in obviously good shape.

"You must be Samantha Murphy," he said congenially as he offered a hand. His handshake was firm, his gaze steady and strong. He didn't look like the kind of man who would know Eric, let alone Bebe. Nor did he look like a man who went by "Bobby." "My secretary said you'd be dropping by."

"This is my a.s.sociate, Will Sheridan."

If Eric or Bebe had called to warn him, he didn't show it.

He shook Will's hand. "Can I offer you something to drink? Juice? Or something stronger?"

"No, thanks," she said, and Will declined, as well. "I just wanted to ask you some questions about Whiz Kidz, the computer game company you invested in."

Bobby frowned but motioned to the lounge chairs along the edge of the covered court. A sleek, lean woman continued to hit b.a.l.l.s from a machine at the other end of the huge building.

"Whiz Kidz? The name doesn't mean anything to me. I've invested in a lot of companies. I don't have much firsthand knowledge of their day-to-day operations," Bobby said.

"I'm mostly interested in Lucas...o...b..ien, a computer game designer and one of the partners in Whiz Kidz."

She could tell the name rang a bell.

"Oh. Lucas. Sure." He turned to watch the woman on the court smack a few b.a.l.l.s before he looked at the two of them again. "I really don't understand why you'd be interested in my investments."

"Lucas was in partnership with Whiz Kidz. It was in financial trouble. So was Lucas."

Bobby smiled. "A lot of small computer businesses in Seattle are just getting on their feet. It takes a while in the game business. The average computer game sells twenty thousand copies-the successful game, one-hundred thousand. Less than one percent of the games written sell more than one-hundred thousand copies." He held up his hands. "It's a tough industry. You have to be very clever to survive."

"And Lucas was clever?"

Bobby grinned.

"How much can a successful game make?" Will asked.

"A megahit? Three-hundred thousand dollars a month for a year, maybe more."

"Wow, I didn't realize there was that kind of money in games," Will said.

"You'd be surprised. It's just a matter of finding the right game at the right time. The game market is incredible," Bobby said enthusiastically.

"I guess I'm surprised you'd invest in a company that hadn't had a hit game in five years," Sam said.

He smiled. "I didn't invest in Whiz Kidz. I invested in Lucas...o...b..ien. The top games are being designed by guys with about seven years of experience. That's what it takes to know if you have a game that's going to work. Lucas was at that point. Plus, he had something he was working on that interested me."

"Really?" she said. "This game he was working on was separate from his partnership with Whiz Kidz?" She wondered if Buzz knew this.

Bobby nodded. "He wanted to do something different, something on his own."

"He told you about the game?"

"Not a lot-just that he thought he had something. That was good enough for me. I usually go on my gut feelings with these things." He glanced around the tennis court. "So far, it's paid off."

She was sure now that neither Eric nor Bebe had called to warn Bobby about her. Probably didn't want to admit that they'd been the ones who'd told her about him.

"How did you find out about Lucas and his game, to invest in the project?" she asked.

Bobby looked surprised.

"I mean," she continued, "it sounds like Lucas was pretty hush-hush about the game."

He nodded and seemed to be searching for the answer. "I don't remember. Probably a mutual friend."

That didn't seem likely, and they both knew it.

"You didn't happen to lose a credit card recently, did you?" she asked.

He looked startled. "As a matter of fact, one of mine was stolen-"

She pulled the card from her purse and handed it to him. "I just happened to find it on the ground." A whopper of a lie, but no telling where Zack-or Ralph-had picked it up.

"Thanks for returning it," Bobby said, and laid it on the table between them. "But I'd already called it in and canceled it."

If he was lying, he was better than she was.

She wasn't sure how to give him the news. But his arrogance made it a little easier. "I just spoke with the police. Lucas...o...b..ien was found murdered. He'd been floating in the Sound since Friday when his office was broken into."

Bobby blanched. "He's dead?"

She nodded and waited for him to ask about the game. He didn't.

"Lucas didn't happen to send you a piece of the game he was working on, did he?" she asked.

"No, why?" He looked to Will.

"It's missing," Will said.

Bobby didn't say anything, but he didn't look quite as tanned as before. She and Will got to their feet. Bobby Walker seemed relieved they were leaving. Maybe he really was only upset over Lucas's death and not worried about his investment. Or maybe he had a piece of the game and planned to get the others.

"I hope you didn't invest too much," she said conversationally.

Bobby smiled and shook his head as he picked up his racket. "Not all investments pay off. You have to just take the bad with the good."

"I guess so," she said, and she and Will left.

Behind them, inside the bubble, the bouncing b.a.l.l.s stopped and there was loud cursing, followed by what sounded like a tennis racket shattering on a hard surface.

It wasn't until Will was driving away that Sam remembered where she'd heard the name Bebe before. Bradley Guess, aka Buzz Zingler, had been talking to someone on the phone he called Bebe.

Chapter Thirteen.

It was growing dark by the time he and Samantha caught the ferry to Vashon Island. A cold wet wind whipped the top of the water, sending spray into the air like driving rain. Will was glad they'd stayed in the pickup. The Sound seemed dark and treacherous.

Samantha looked exhausted from lack of sleep, he noticed.

When her cell phone rang, he started, suddenly struck with an irrational fear. "Don't answer it."

She jerked her head up in surprise. "It might be Charley." She snapped on the phone and put it to her ear, her gaze never leaving his face, as if she didn't know what to make of him.

He watched her eyes widen, then fill with tears. "I know" was all she said before she clicked off again.

He closed his eyes, not wanting to hear.

"It was was Charley. Ca.s.sie got a court order. She's taken custody of Zack." Charley. Ca.s.sie got a court order. She's taken custody of Zack."

"This quickly? How is that possible?" Will demanded.

"Her father is rather influential in the state of Washington, it seems," Sam said.

"I'm so sorry." Sorrier than she could ever know. He felt sick inside. And mad.

"Oh, Will," she moaned, her eyes fresh with tears. "Charley says there is nothing we can do without proof that Ca.s.sie was involved in Al's death. And even that will take time."

He leaned toward her, desperately wanting to take her in his arms and kiss away the hurt. He searched for words to rea.s.sure her. They were still missing two copies of Lucas's d.a.m.n game. But they had a h.e.l.l of a lot of suspects. "She can't do anything without all of the game pieces," he said. "She still needs you to find the rest of them. And eventually, she will need the one Mercedes gave you."

Samantha swallowed and sleeved away the tears shimmering on her lashes. "You're right. Ca.s.sie wants the game. That's why she's taken Zack. She'll take good care of him."

Until she gets what she wants.

He brushed back a strand of hair from her face. She was so beautiful, her eyes glowing with tears and determination. d.a.m.n but he wanted to make love to her-as if that would make everything better.

His gaze moved over her face, lighting on her mouth, her luscious mouth, the memory of their kisses still fresh in his mind.

She shifted on the seat, her lips a whisper away from his. He could feel her breath, hear her sudden rapid breathing, see the pulse in her temple throbbing. Her eyes widened and darkened.

Someone moved past the pickup. She jerked back. "Sorry," she whispered.

Not half as sorry as he was. He took a breath and let it out slowly. "Yeah," he said, and cracked his window a little. It felt too hot in the pickup, her nearness unnerving, his body on overload. He'd hoped in the days he'd spent with her that the attraction would lessen. It hadn't. If anything, he wanted her more with each pa.s.sing hour. His body ached with a need he knew only she could satisfy. He wanted her in his arms. To feel the warmth of her body pressed against his. To touch his lips to the throbbing pulse at her temple. To cup her cheek in his hand. To kiss her and taste her and ultimately make love to her, slowly and gently- "Will?"

He fought off the image of Samantha naked in his arms and sat up straighter. "Yeah?"

"It sounds like we're almost there," she said. "I'll be right back. I just need a little fresh air."

He wanted to warn her to be careful, but she was already out of the pickup and gone. As if he had to warn her.

He sat for a moment, cursing to himself. How had he let himself get into such an impossible situation? If Sam were anything but a private investigator- He got out of the pickup and went after her.

SHE STUMBLED up to the deck, needing the air and the cold and darkness to hide her tears, to sort out her thoughts. She'd almost kissed him. Again. Only this time would have been different. This time there would have been no holding back. Her heart raced with the thought of being in his arms.

You know it would only be temporary.

I know. But I don't care. I want him. I need him.

I thought you weren't going to let yourself need any man after Lucas?

The ferry slowed. Ahead, the lights of the island glittered like jewels along the sh.o.r.eline. She worked her way to the back where the deck was empty. Standing at the railing, she looked out across the water. Mist rolled up out of the darkness and a breeze whipped the inky surface of the water. Will. Will. Her mind wrapped about his name the way she wanted to wrap her arms around him; her body ached for him with a desire like none she had ever known. Her mind wrapped about his name the way she wanted to wrap her arms around him; her body ached for him with a desire like none she had ever known.

Even for Lucas. Not like this.