Dead Ringers 1: Illusion (12 page)

“Adair? What are you talking about?”

“She’s chasing me.” I check the dark expanse of sidewalk and street behind us. There’s no sign of Adair, no sign of a shadowy figure, no sign of life.

“She can’t be. I dropped her off at her house five minutes ago, and that’s miles from here.” He sounds like the epitome of reason. Like Becky. And Roxy. And everybody else who doesn’t believe I vanished back in February.

“If you’re trying to make me think I’m crazy, it won’t work.” My breaths are ragged. “Somebody was chasing me!”

“Calm down.” Max waves the air with his palm. “I believe you.”

He’s trying to win my trust by agreeing with me. But I can’t trust him. I can’t trust anybody. My heart feels like it’s going to pound through my rib cage. “Don’t pretend you’re my friend.”

“Friendship has never been what I want from you.” He quirks an eyebrow and takes a step forward.

Really? He’s flirting with me
now
? I back up as heat that I want to attribute to anger flashes through me. “Stay away from me.”

“Relax. I’m on your side.”

“You’re a liar.” It’s probably not the smartest thing to say, considering the street remains dark and empty of life, but I won’t continue playing this game with him. If he tries anything, I’ll put my keys through his eyes. Reaching into the back pocket of my shorts with my left hand, I take out the missing person flyer, unfold it and extend it to him. “Here. Explain this.”

He takes the paper and gazes down at it, lines creasing his forehead. I can’t tell for sure under the artificial light, but it seems like his face turns even paler than usual.

“So you’re the one who was snooping through my backpack,” he says.

“It doesn’t matter where I got the flyer. What matters is you’ve been lying to me.”

The moon peeks out from behind a cloud. Max looks almost inhuman with his midnight black hair and alabaster skin, like one of those impossibly good-looking mannequins in a clothing store. He indicates the duplex with a nod. “I’m renting a place right over there. There are some things I should tell you, and I’d rather not do it in the middle of the street.”

“You’re crazy if you think I’m going anywhere with you.”

“Suit yourself.” Max walks toward his duplex, taking the flyer with him. The message is clear that I need to follow if I want answers. I hesitate for the space of a few second before I head after him, clutching the keys tightly in my hand. The right side of the dwelling has a porch light on. Max heads for the left unit, which is mostly in darkness. He lowers himself onto a bench spacious enough for two.

The duplex isn’t spooky at all, unlike the funhouse or the cabin in the woods. But there are no homey touches. No doormat imprinted with the word
Welcome
. No flowers in a hanging basket. No sun catchers on the windows. No nefarious clown lurking in the darkness.

I join him on the bench, careful that our bodies don’t touch. “What do you need to tell me?”

“I didn’t decide to try to get a job in Midway Beach until I’d played tourist for a few days.” His gaze zeroes in on me with that narrow focus. “Until I heard about what happened to you.”

“Why would anybody in town tell you about me?”

He stretches his long legs in front of him, as though we’re discussing nothing more serious than the weather. “I talked to people, asked questions. You of all people should know how gossip spreads in Midway Beach. When I found out about you, I started to think I was on the right track.”

My head was starting to hurt. “You’re not making sense.”

My heart beats three times before he answers.

“You’re not the only one who went missing and lost hours.” He pauses for long moments before he continues. “I think what happened to you happened to me, too.”

###

Thank you for reading the first volume of the Dead Ringers serial, an exciting new venture for me. The idea of a teenager who knew she’d been abducted but had no memory of what happened gripped me and wouldn’t let go. The serial contains romance, of course, but is heavy on mystery and strange happenings. I felt passionate enough about Jade Greene, my central character, to launch this nine-volume serial for the indie market. The first three 25,000-word volumes are available now. I have plans to publish the next six 25,000-word volumes one at a time every four to six weeks. And so the adventure has begun!

If you enjoyed Illusion, it would be a great help to me if you went back to
Amazon.com
and left an honest review. Thanks again for letting my world be a part of yours.

INVERTIGO

Volume Two of the Dead Ringers serial

Do you know who you can trust?

Max insists Jade’s best chance to find out why she remembers so little of her abduction is to team up with him. But can she trust him?

Volume Three of the Dead Ringers serial

Do you know where the Black Widow is?

Someone in Midway Beach isn’t who they seem and unless Jade and Max can figure out what’s going on, they could become the next victims.

SHELL GAME

Volume four of the Dead Ringers Serial

Should you listen to your heart
—
or your head?

If Max is playing a shell game, Jade needs to figure out what he’s hiding and why he’s in Midway Beach.

Sound of Secrets (A Single-Title Romantic Mystery)

Is he reaching out from the grave to ask her to solve the mystery of his death? A romantic mystery with ghostly overtones
.

An Innocent Man (A Romantic Mystery)

When evil invades her town for a second time and a little girl is missing, she needs to team up with the man she loved and betrayed to find the truth.

The Misconception (A
Single-Title Romantic Comedy)

The sperm donor she hired has gone AWOL, so who's the man in her bed? A misunderstanding of biological proportions.

Snoops in the City (A Single-Title Romantic Comedy)

What’s an amateur PI to do when she falls for the man she’s investigating?

Bait & Switch
(A Single-title Romantic Comedy)

After switching places with his identical twin to catch a criminal, Mitch is the one who's hooked - on his brother's girl!

Baby It’s You
(A Short and Sweet Romantic Comedy)

If she won’t entertain the notion that love is in the air, how can she possibly believe it started in the crib?

Clash of Hearts (A Short and Sweet Romantic Comedy)

She can’t decide whether to kiss him or slug him.

Darlene Gardner left her life as a newspaper sportswriter behind for love, romance and mystery. She has written more than 35 books, from this New Adult serial for the indie market to single-title romantic comedies and emotionally charged family dramas for traditional publishing. Visit Darlene on the web at
http://www.darlenegardner.com