Fade to Black
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Amanda Stevens
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Prologue
“And if it’s a boy, I think we should name him Max.”
“You know I hate that name,” Jessica Kincaid complained as she pressed down a loose corner of the circus-motif wallpaper in the newly redecorated nursery. “Besides, what makes you so sure it’s a boy?”
“Well, Maxine then,” Pierce teased her, stretching to paste the last of the glittering stars to the ceiling. Suddenly the ladder he stood on teetered, and Pierce grabbed for a handhold. His arms flailed wide as the ladder toppled and crashed to the floor. Jessica cried out in alarm, but as usual Pierce landed on his feet.
Jessica’s hand went to her heart. “Are you all right?”
“Right as rain, sweetheart.” Pierce bent to drop a light kiss on the top of her head. “Don’t you know by now I have nine lives?”
“By my count, you’re getting dangerously close to the last one,” Jessica remarked dryly, referring to her husband’s penchant for adventure and excitement. Whether it was snow skiing or parasailing, driving a car or riding a motorcycle, nothing ever seemed quite fast enough for Pierce Kincaid. He seemed to relish living on the edge, and he often left Jessica breathless in more ways than one.
Why he had ever been attracted to someone as shy and hopelessly introverted as she, Jessica still couldn’t understand, but their marriage had already survived two wonderful years. Not only survived, but flourished. And now with the baby on the way, everything in her life seemed like a dream come true. A dream she prayed would never end.
She reached up and caressed Pierce’s cheek with her fingertips. “I wouldn’t be able to bear it if anything ever happened to you. You’re my whole life, Pierce. I love you so much.”
He touched the teardrop on her cheek in wonder. “What’s this?” he asked gently. “Why the tears?”
“Hormones,” she whispered, but it was more than that. Sometimes when Jessica looked at Pierce, she still couldn’t believe how happy they were. Sometimes in the dead of night, with Pierce sleeping peacefully beside her, she would wake up, certain that something would happen to take it all away from her. Just like it had when she was a little girl.
Sensing her need, Pierce took her in his arms. “I’ll always be here, Jesse. For you and the baby. We’re a real family now. Nothing can change that.”
He kissed her again, then turned and, in typical fashion, quickly changed the mood and the subject. But he kept one arm protectively around her shoulders. “I think a celebration is definitely in order here. We’ve finally remodeled one room in this monstrosity we optimistically call a house, business is picking up at the shop, and Max here will be making his debut in another couple of months. So what do you say, my love? Dinner and dancing tonight? A movie? Or shall we turn in early and celebrate in bed? And I might add that I’m particularly fond of the third choice.” His dark eyes teased her as his head lowered to kiss her again, but the phone in the hallway rang, interrupting them. He nuzzled her neck. “Hold that thought,” he murmured, then turned and left the room.
Moments later when he came back, his smile was missing. The glint in his eyes had disappeared. It wasn’t the first time Jessica had noticed his troubled look, but he would never let on to her that anything was wrong. In spite of what he’d said earlier, she couldn’t help wondering if he might be having problems with the business.
“Pierce, is something wrong?” she asked anxiously, touching his arm.
His expression instantly altered as he smiled down at her. “Everything’s fine. Now, where were we?” He reached for her, pulling her into his arms and holding her close, as if he could somehow protect her from the outside world. Or, from whatever might be troubling him. “Have you decided what you’re in the mood for tonight?”
“Actually…” Jessica trailed off, trying to shake the dark premonition stealing over her. Her own expression turned coy as she skimmed one finger down the front of his shirt. “I have this irresistible urge for…”
Pierce’s voice deepened. “For what? For once, tell me exactly what you want, Jesse.”
“I want…some ice cream,” she admitted. “I’m dying for butter pecan ice cream.”
He groaned. “That’s all?”
“Well…for starters.”
“In that case, I’d better get to the store.” He paused at the door and looked back, lifting his brows suggestively. “Need anything else? Whipped cream? Jell-O?”
“I’m seven months pregnant, Pierce,” Jessica reminded him, but the look he gave her had her heart racing just the same.
“And sexier than ever,” he added with a wink. “I’ll be back in a flash.”
By Jessica’s calculations, it should have taken Pierce no more than ten minutes to walk to the store, no more than ten minutes inside, no more than ten minutes to get back home.
When he’d been gone an hour, she started to worry.
When he’d been gone two hours, she drove to the store and looked for him, but no one remembered seeing him.
When he’d been gone three hours, she called her brother, Jay Greene, who was a naval officer at the Pentagon in nearby Washington, D.C.
When Pierce had been gone four hours, she called the area hospitals while Jay searched the streets.
At midnight, when he’d been gone ten hours, Jessica sat in the darkened nursery, hugging a teddy bear to her chest as she rocked back and forth, her dry eyes burning with grief. A star had fallen from the ceiling and lay shimmering on the floor near her feet.
It seemed like an omen to Jessica, that fallen star. Like a symbol of all her lost dreams, her hopeless prayers, her unshed tears.
Because Pierce Kincaid, her beloved husband, had vanished in broad daylight without a trace.
