The Girl He Pined (A Paige King FBI Suspense Thriller—Book 1)

T H E

G I R L

H E

P I N E D

(A Paige King Mystery—Book One)

B L A K E   P I E R C E

Blake Pierce

Blake Pierce is the USA Today bestselling author of the RILEY PAGE mystery series, which includes seventeen books. Blake Pierce is also the author of the MACKENZIE WHITE mystery series, comprising fourteen books; of the AVERY BLACK mystery series, comprising six books; of the KERI LOCKE mystery series, comprising five books; of the MAKING OF RILEY PAIGE mystery series, comprising six books; of the KATE WISE mystery series, comprising seven books; of the CHLOE FINE psychological suspense mystery, comprising six books; of the JESSE HUNT psychological suspense thriller series, comprising twenty four books; of the AU PAIR psychological suspense thriller series, comprising three books; of the ZOE PRIME mystery series, comprising six books; of the ADELE SHARP mystery series, comprising fifteen books, of the EUROPEAN VOYAGE cozy mystery series, comprising four books; of the new LAURA FROST FBI suspense thriller, comprising nine books (and counting); of the new ELLA DARK FBI suspense thriller, comprising eleven books (and counting); of the A YEAR IN EUROPE cozy mystery series, comprising nine books, of the AVA GOLD mystery series, comprising six books (and counting); of the RACHEL GIFT mystery series, comprising six books (and counting); of the VALERIE LAW mystery series, comprising three books (and counting); and of the PAIGE KING mystery series, comprising three books (and counting).

An avid reader and lifelong fan of the mystery and thriller genres, Blake loves to hear from you, so please feel free to visit www.blakepierceauthor.com to learn more and stay in touch.

Copyright © 2022 by Blake Pierce. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the author. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Jacket image Copyright Igor Vitkovskiy used under license from Shutterstock.com.

BOOKS BY BLAKE PIERCE

PAIGE KING MYSTERY SERIES

THE GIRL HE PINED (Book #1)

THE GIRL HE CHOSE (Book #2)

THE GIRL HE TOOK (Book #3)

VALERIE LAW MYSTERY SERIES

NO MERCY (Book #1)

NO PITY (Book #2)

NO FEAR (Book #3

RACHEL GIFT MYSTERY SERIES

HER LAST WISH (Book #1)

HER LAST CHANCE (Book #2)

HER LAST HOPE (Book #3)

HER LAST FEAR (Book #4)

HER LAST CHOICE (Book #5)

HER LAST BREATH (Book #6)

AVA GOLD MYSTERY SERIES

CITY OF PREY (Book #1)

CITY OF FEAR (Book #2)

CITY OF BONES (Book #3)

CITY OF GHOSTS (Book #4)

CITY OF DEATH (Book #5)

CITY OF VICE (Book #6)

A YEAR IN EUROPE

A MURDER IN PARIS (Book #1)

DEATH IN FLORENCE (Book #2)

VENGEANCE IN VIENNA (Book #3)

A FATALITY IN SPAIN (Book #4)

ELLA DARK FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

GIRL, ALONE (Book #1)

GIRL, TAKEN (Book #2)

GIRL, HUNTED (Book #3)

GIRL, SILENCED (Book #4)

GIRL, VANISHED (Book 5)

GIRL ERASED (Book #6)

GIRL, FORSAKEN (Book #7)

GIRL, TRAPPED (Book #8)

GIRL, EXPENDABLE (Book #9)

GIRL, ESCAPED (Book #10)

GIRL, HIS (Book #11)

LAURA FROST FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

ALREADY GONE (Book #1)

ALREADY SEEN (Book #2)

ALREADY TRAPPED (Book #3)

ALREADY MISSING (Book #4)

ALREADY DEAD (Book #5)

ALREADY TAKEN (Book #6)

ALREADY CHOSEN (Book #7)

ALREADY LOST (Book #8)

ALREADY HIS (Book #9)

EUROPEAN VOYAGE COZY MYSTERY SERIES

MURDER (AND BAKLAVA) (Book #1)

DEATH (AND APPLE STRUDEL) (Book #2)

CRIME (AND LAGER) (Book #3)

MISFORTUNE (AND GOUDA) (Book #4)

CALAMITY (AND A DANISH) (Book #5)

MAYHEM (AND HERRING) (Book #6)

ADELE SHARP MYSTERY SERIES

LEFT TO DIE (Book #1)

LEFT TO RUN (Book #2)

LEFT TO HIDE (Book #3)

LEFT TO KILL (Book #4)

LEFT TO MURDER (Book #5)

LEFT TO ENVY (Book #6)

LEFT TO LAPSE (Book #7)

LEFT TO VANISH (Book #8)

LEFT TO HUNT (Book #9)

LEFT TO FEAR (Book #10)

LEFT TO PREY (Book #11)

LEFT TO LURE (Book #12)

LEFT TO CRAVE (Book #13)

LEFT TO LOATHE (Book #14)

LEFT TO HARM (Book #15)

THE AU PAIR SERIES

ALMOST GONE (Book#1)

ALMOST LOST (Book #2)

ALMOST DEAD (Book #3)

ZOE PRIME MYSTERY SERIES

FACE OF DEATH (Book#1)

FACE OF MURDER (Book #2)

FACE OF FEAR (Book #3)

FACE OF MADNESS (Book #4)

FACE OF FURY (Book #5)

FACE OF DARKNESS (Book #6)

A JESSIE HUNT PSYCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE SERIES

THE PERFECT WIFE (Book #1)

THE PERFECT BLOCK (Book #2)

THE PERFECT HOUSE (Book #3)

THE PERFECT SMILE (Book #4)

THE PERFECT LIE (Book #5)

THE PERFECT LOOK (Book #6)

THE PERFECT AFFAIR (Book #7)

THE PERFECT ALIBI (Book #8)

THE PERFECT NEIGHBOR (Book #9)

THE PERFECT DISGUISE (Book #10)

THE PERFECT SECRET (Book #11)

THE PERFECT FAÇADE (Book #12)

THE PERFECT IMPRESSION (Book #13)

THE PERFECT DECEIT (Book #14)

THE PERFECT MISTRESS (Book #15)

THE PERFECT IMAGE (Book #16)

THE PERFECT VEIL (Book #17)

THE PERFECT INDISCRETION (Book #18)

THE PERFECT RUMOR (Book #19)

THE PERFECT COUPLE (Book #20)

THE PERFECT MURDER (Book #21)

THE PERFECT HUSBAND (Book #22)

THE PERFECT SCANDAL (Book #23)

THE PERFECT MASK (Book #24)

CHLOE FINE PSYCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE SERIES

NEXT DOOR (Book #1)

A NEIGHBOR’S LIE (Book #2)

CUL DE SAC (Book #3)

SILENT NEIGHBOR (Book #4)

HOMECOMING (Book #5)

TINTED WINDOWS (Book #6)

KATE WISE MYSTERY SERIES

IF SHE KNEW (Book #1)

IF SHE SAW (Book #2)

IF SHE RAN (Book #3)

IF SHE HID (Book #4)

IF SHE FLED (Book #5)

IF SHE FEARED (Book #6)

IF SHE HEARD (Book #7)

THE MAKING OF RILEY PAIGE SERIES

WATCHING (Book #1)

WAITING (Book #2)

LURING (Book #3)

TAKING (Book #4)

STALKING (Book #5)

KILLING (Book #6)

RILEY PAIGE MYSTERY SERIES

ONCE GONE (Book #1)

ONCE TAKEN (Book #2)

ONCE CRAVED (Book #3)

ONCE LURED (Book #4)

ONCE HUNTED (Book #5)

ONCE PINED (Book #6)

ONCE FORSAKEN (Book #7)

ONCE COLD (Book #8)

ONCE STALKED (Book #9)

ONCE LOST (Book #10)

ONCE BURIED (Book #11)

ONCE BOUND (Book #12)

ONCE TRAPPED (Book #13)

ONCE DORMANT (Book #14)

ONCE SHUNNED (Book #15)

ONCE MISSED (Book #16)

ONCE CHOSEN (Book #17)

MACKENZIE WHITE MYSTERY SERIES

BEFORE HE KILLS (Book #1)

BEFORE HE SEES (Book #2)

BEFORE HE COVETS (Book #3)

BEFORE HE TAKES (Book #4)

BEFORE HE NEEDS (Book #5)

BEFORE HE FEELS (Book #6)

BEFORE HE SINS (Book #7)

BEFORE HE HUNTS (Book #8)

BEFORE HE PREYS (Book #9)

BEFORE HE LONGS (Book #10)

BEFORE HE LAPSES (Book #11)

BEFORE HE ENVIES (Book #12)

BEFORE HE STALKS (Book #13)

BEFORE HE HARMS (Book #14)

AVERY BLACK MYSTERY SERIES

CAUSE TO KILL (Book #1)

CAUSE TO RUN (Book #2)

CAUSE TO HIDE (Book #3)

CAUSE TO FEAR (Book #4)

CAUSE TO SAVE (Book #5)

CAUSE TO DREAD (Book #6)

KERI LOCKE MYSTERY SERIES

A TRACE OF DEATH (Book #1)

A TRACE OF MURDER (Book #2)

A TRACE OF VICE (Book #3)

A TRACE OF CRIME (Book #4)

A TRACE OF HOPE (Book #5)

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

CHAPTER ONE

Paige stood outside the interview room, taking deep breaths to steady herself as she tried to prepare for a conversation with a serial killer.

One more conversation, one more session, and she was done. Today was the last day of her residency at the St Just Institute, and the last chance that she would have to collect data for her case study. A few weeks from now, and she would have finished writing up the case studies in her PhD thesis at Georgetown.

Today, though, she had to have one more conversation with a man who had killed… well, he’d been convicted of ten murders, but no one really knew quite how many people he’d killed. Not even her, and she’d been interviewing him for months, slowly prying information out of him, even as he tried to obfuscate and stall.

Paige needed this. She needed one more piece, one more connection.

It felt as though she had all the strands for her PhD, but they didn’t quite tie together properly. She still needed that last element, that last understanding of why Adam Riker had chosen to kill his victims. She needed to know what had made him choose them rather than anyone else, and what had made him step over the line from a troubled man to a murderer.

Paige needed to know that, and she needed to know why he’d chosen to kill in the particular way he had, stringing his victims up like puppets while they were still alive and leaving them until they died from slow positional asphyxia. She didn’t even understand why he’d tortured some and left others, just watching them until they died.

Without that understanding, her work would all feel hollow. She might have enough with her case study to get her doctorate, but it wouldn’t be enough, wouldn’t feel complete. With that information… well, with it, she might actually be able to contribute something that led to a better understanding of the criminal mind. Her work might make it easier to catch killers, or even stop them at a point before they hurt anyone, by spotting the signs that they were about to step over the line and kill.

Paige carefully checked her appearance before she went in, wanting to make sure that everything was neutral, nothing would spark too much of a reaction from Adam in ways that she didn’t want. Her red hair was tied back away from her slightly rounded, youthful features and green eyes, her makeup deliberately stark and simple. Paige was twenty-five, but because she was short and slightly built, she found that she had to aim for a severe look just to make people take her seriously.

Especially here, surrounded by killers. In the outside world, the wrong look or word might get a comment or two, or a disapproving expression. Here, it might cost Paige her life.

Today, she was wearing a dark suit with a skirt and a cream blouse. A ring that had been her father’s sat on the smallest finger of her left hand. An enameled butterfly hairclip helped to hold her hair in place. Other than that, though, Paige wore no jewelry. Nothing that could give away too much about her.

From where she stood in front of the door, Paige could see into the interview room. Because this was a secure mental hospital rather than a normal prison, the place was decorated in calming, pastel colors of blues and greens, with soft edges to all the furniture. If Paige didn’t know exactly where to look, if she hadn’t been in there a hundred times before, she might not have seen the bolts keeping the table securely fastened to the floor.

Today, Adam Riker sat on one side of that table, dressed in the gray sweats that were standard wear for the hospital inmates, with his hands cuffed in front of him, secured to the table so that he wouldn’t be able to lunge at Paige. He was tall and broad shouldered, in his mid-thirties, with dark hair cropped short and square jawed features that Paige guessed people found handsome. In fact, she knew that they did, because he’d been only too ready to boast about the people he’d talked into the spots he wanted them, using nothing more than the promise of those looks.

She had a harder time seeing him as handsome or attractive, because she knew all the things he’d done.

He was alone, because that was the only way he agreed to these sessions. There were guards waiting nearby, and he was cuffed to the table, but for this, it was just the two of them. He was staring her way, as if he were looking straight at Paige. There was no way that he could see her through the one-way glass of the door’s window, yet those icy blue eyes were fixed on the door, staring evenly, not betraying any emotions.

Paige took another deep breath, steeling herself for the session to come. Thanks to her residency, she spent her days assessing the worst criminals, trying to diagnose those with genuine conditions, and establish which were competent to stand trial. She’d met deeply insane criminals, and evil men who were merely pretending insanity to try to avoid paying for their crimes. With all of them, there was a small thread of fear that went alongside her fascination.

Somehow though, stepping into this room was harder than her conversations with any of the others.

Paige made herself do it though, stepping inside while trying to hide the note of disquiet she always felt while approaching Riker behind a mask of friendly professionalism. She made herself smile Adam’s way. He always told her more when she smiled.

Paige, so good to see you again, he said, as if he were Prof. Thornton, her tutor back in Georgetown, and not a killer sitting in handcuffs. Please, sit down.

Paige knew that for the psychological game it was. If she sat, she was doing what he wanted. If she didn’t, then she was reacting to him out of fear. Either way, he won, exactly the way he wanted. Adam liked to win.

The only thing to do was to ignore the game completely, and sit anyway, since it was what Paige had been planning to do all along. The first thing Paige did was to take out a small recording device and set it on the table, halfway between the two of them. She set it running, making sure that it was working before she continued. It was easier than trying to take notes, and safer, too. It meant that she could keep her eyes on him at all times.

How are you feeling today, Adam? Paige asked, being careful to betray none of the unease that she felt.

She saw him cock his head to one side, almost mockingly. Are we really still discussing feelings, Paige? Very well, today, I’m feeling quite happy. There, does that satisfy you?

"Can you feel happiness?" Paige asked, more interested in that than the answer to her first question.

It should have been a simple question, but there was nothing simple when it came to a man like this. It was one of the reasons why she’d come back to talk to him again and again. She’d started her thesis thinking that it would involve case studies on a dozen different killers, but instead, Adam Riker had come to fill it.

The serial killer smiled faintly at that question. Do I feel it the way you do, you mean? How would I know, Paige? How would I know what you feel?

Empathy, perhaps? Paige suggested, leaning in very slightly as she said the words. Even so, she was careful about the distance between them, judging just how far he could reach in his cuffs.

Adam gave her a disappointed look. Empathy? Remind me of my diagnosis, please.

Anti-social personality disorder, scoring highly on Hare’s psychopathy scale. It wasn’t as if Paige was likely to forget any of that. She’d been over his notes enough times. The only reason that she didn’t simply call him a psychopath and have done with it was that the American Psychological Association didn’t formally recognize it as a diagnosis.

"One of the defining qualities of which is a lack of empathy, Adam pointed out, bringing his hands together and steepling his fingers. Although I have always considered it a lie in any case."

What do you think is a lie? Paige asked.

Empathy. I am supposed to look at you and know how you might feel, feel what you feel, but honestly, what does any of us get except a reflection of our own thoughts and feelings?

This was what it could be like, sometimes, with Adam. Him challenging her the way Prof. Thornton might have, treating her more like a student to bring on than the psychiatrist there to work with him. As if he could help to mold her and shape her into something more.

Paige decided to follow the thread at least a little way. Sometimes, it was better to go along with Adam, to let him talk about what he wanted.

And do you not think that the things I think and feel might be similar to the ones you do? That another person might not feel the same way?

This look was as cold as the icy depths of a lake, all warmth and humanity draining out of Adam’s face, in a reminder that both were little more than an act to him. A reminder of exactly what he was, underneath. Paige felt her heart beating faster at the sight of it, the urge to get up from her chair and run for the door almost overwhelming, in spite of the knowledge that she should be perfectly safe with Adam restrained.

It was a look that reminded Paige of all the violence Adam Riker was capable of, the men and women who had been found bound and tortured, left to die. Of the two inmates he had killed in his time here, when they’d tried to attack him. It was a look that made her want to shrink back.

"There is no one else like me," Adam said.

Paige decided to placate him. That’s true. You’re very special, Adam. It’s why I’m focusing so much of my research on you.

Just like that, the coldness drifted away, replaced once again by a warm, almost friendly, smile. The speed of the change was almost as disconcerting as the empty hostility that had preceded it.

Although I must say, I feel a particular connection towards you, Paige.

That’s… very flattering, Paige managed, even though it was just about the most disconcerting thing she could hear from a serial killer. Does that connection extend to helping me with my research today?

Yes, your research, he said. "What do you have for me this time, Paige? A few more Likert scales to test my responses? Perhaps you’d like to talk about my family again? My abusive father and uncle. My absent mother? Maybe you’d like to know where I see myself on the whole ‘primary, secondary, egocentric, charismatic, distempered’ psychopath spectrum? Where have