Page 41 of Counter Attack

“Probably white, and probably male.”

He frowned. “Probably male?”

She shrugged. “The world is changing. There’re a lot of angry women out there.”

“Maybe so, but chess is a male-dominated sport, and the killer has chosen it to taunt us.”

“Either way, we’re dealing with a real sicko, for sure,” Alexis said.

Nathan opened the box labeled “George Smith” and took out the baggie with the pawn in it. It appeared to be the same style. “Has your crime lab been able to tell if it’s from the same set?”

“They’re still working on it, but they were able to determine it’s like the others and a Staunton pawn. It’s why they thought he was the killer.”

“But considering Gina Norman’s pawn and the note, he can’t be.”

She took the chess piece from him and returned it to the box. “Which means George Smith was trying to execute a copycat crime. Either that or he was an accomplice.”

Was George an accomplice? And why had the killer moved to Pearl Springs? If they could discover those two things, they would be two steps closer to the killer.

22

At 4:45 Alex received a text from Marge that reporters were hounding the office for information. She turned to Nathan. “I need to call Marge. Be back in a minute.”

He nodded, and she slipped out the door and called the office manager. “What’s going on?”

“We’ve had a deluge of calls from as far away as Memphis and Cincinnati, asking for information on the murder.”

“How’d it get out so fast?”

Marge huffed. “You know how quickly bad news travels. Evidently Mary Beth posted about it on TikTok, and one of the news media picked it up. You’ll have to hold a press conference. Want me to set it up for tomorrow morning?”

“Make it tomorrow afternoon at four.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

Alex stared at the phone briefly after she ended the call. She’d never held a press conference—just what she needed her second day on the job. Talk about being thrown into the deep end to learn how to swim.

Her captain always managed to keep his cool when he went before reporters. She could ask him for advice. No. While he’d given her his blessing, he hadn’t been over the moon that shewas leaving, and she didn’t want him to see that she might already be in trouble.

Her grandfather—he’d held his share of press conferences in the past. But he wasn’t fond of them either, and she didn’t want to stress him out. That left Nathan.

As she turned to reenter the property room, another text popped up on her phone. She read it and grinned. Gram telling her to invite Nathan for supper, that she was cooking his favorites. Perfect. She popped back into the property room and joined him where he was busy making notes on his iPad.

A lock of his dark blond hair had dropped over his forehead, reminding her of a much younger Nathan. The impulse to brush it back like she had in the past startled her. He looked up, and their gazes locked, his blue eyes holding her captive. Alex swallowed hard, breaking the spell. “Uh, are you ready to leave?”

“Yeah.”

His husky voice let her know he’d been under the spell as well, and it surprised her how much that pleased her.

23

As they walked out the door, Nathan nodded to the property clerk. “I think we’re done here. Thanks for your help.”

“Anytime. Did I hear right that there was a murder like these in Pearl Springs today?”

“Unfortunately,” Alexis said.

“I hope you catch him.”

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