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Eben Foster, a seasoned FBI agent, is after a cruel and sadistic serial killer with a lust for torturing and murdering gay men. All of the victims are former patients of Dr. Randy McQuaide, a prominent psychologist practicing sex therapy on Anteros, and all had accused the doctor of sexual misconduct. Agent Foster goes undercover on JoyBoy Island. As the investigation progresses, Eben finds himself drawn to the handsome man and, against his better judgment, he begins to doubt the doctor's guilt. Caught in a battle between his heart and his mind, will Eben become the killer's next victim? Excerpt from Chapter 2… FBI Special Agent Eben Foster quietly hung up the telephone after leaving a message on Dr. Randy McQuaide’s voicemail… In his message, he’d hesitantly explained that the doctor had been highly recommended by the owner of the gym and that he needed some assistance with a problem of a very personal nature. He’d used his best unsure and confused voice so as to portray a rather innocent and insecure man suffering from a rather embarrassing condition. Eben himself didn’t need that sort of assistance from a sex therapist, even one as highly qualified as Randy McQuaide. He and his boyfriend, Petros, had been together for two years and had a fulfilling sex life despite Eben’s frequent work related absences. This time he was after a serial rapist and murderer. Eben had been with the FBI for nine years. He had a reputation for solving bizarre, complex, and difficult cases. In his spare time, he enjoyed working on cold cases. Currently, he had three fifteen year old murders that he was working on in his free time. He was confident that he’d have them resolved while working on the McQuaide case. He sighed, ran his fingers through his golden blond hair, and picked up the case folder. Case number K101769 had been assigned to him three weeks ago. A man named Kevyn Krzminsky had been brutally raped, sexually mutilated, and murdered with a straight razor. Every inch of the victim’s skin had been sliced and the evidence led the coroner to conclude that most of the wounds were inflicted while the man was still alive. Eben avoided cases involving sexual assaults because he didn’t like them. He’d been given this one because the murder was so horrific that Ellen Franco, the agent to whom it should have been assigned, had requested that it go specifically to him. His preliminary research had showed that Mr. Krzminsky was a well-liked individual with no enemies. He owned a gas station just outside Albany, New York, was involved in the local Chamber of Commerce, and taught basketball at the YMCA. There was nothing in the man’s history to warrant the way in which he’d been killed. Eben knew that this murder was not random… After spending five days researching every aspect and detail of the man’s life that he’d been able discover and not finding anything worthwhile, Eben had finally stumbled upon what he considered to be a potential lead. Mr. Krzminsky had spent two months on Anteros Island. That indicated to Eben that the man was gay and it reinforced the notion that the rape had not been incidental to the murder. During his stay, Mr. Krzminsky had visited a therapist, specifically a sex therapist named Randy McQuaide, and had subsequently accused the doctor of sexual harassment. The charges had been dropped after four days and Mr. Krzminsky had then left the island a week later never to return. The man’s telephone records showed that he had called Dr. McQuaide several times over a period of six months following the incident. After an extensive search of the FBI’s database, he’d discovered four sexual assaults that were linked to Dr. McQuaide’s former patients. That was enough for Eben to conclude that it couldn’t be just a coincidence and to deepen the investigation on the psychologist. After another week of agonizingly slow research and dealing with local authorities that resented the FBI’s intervention into their cases, he’d compiled a list of over twenty former patients that had been assaulted or killed. Due to the fact that no two crimes had occurred in overlapping jurisdictions, the serial nature of the crimes had gone undetected. “That’s just too much of a coincidence, Dr. McQuaide,” Eben murmured to himself. ‘You seem to have everyone fooled. They think you’re a great guy but there’s obviously something more sinister going on here.’
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