Table of Contents

- DEED TO DEATH

- For Tim

- CHAPTER 1

- CHAPTER 2

- CHAPTER 3

- CHAPTER 4

- CHAPTER 5

- CHAPTER 6

- CHAPTER 7

- CHAPTER 8

- CHAPTER 9

- CHAPTER 10

- CHAPTER 11

- CHAPTER 12

- CHAPTER 13

- CHAPTER 14

- CHAPTER 15

- CHAPTER 16

- CHAPTER 17

- CHAPTER 18

- CHAPTER 19

- CHAPTER 20

- CHAPTER 21

- CHAPTER 22

- CHAPTER 23

- CHAPTER 24

- CHAPTER 25

- CHAPTER 26

- CHAPTER 27

- CHAPTER 28

- CHAPTER 29

- CHAPTER 30

- CHAPTER 31

- CHAPTER 32

- CHAPTER 33

- CHAPTER 34

- CHAPTER 35

- CHAPTER 36

- CHAPTER 37

- CHAPTER 38

- CHAPTER 39

- CHAPTER 40

- CHAPTER 41

- CHAPTER 42

- CHAPTER 43

- CHAPTER 44

- ABOUT THE AUTHOR

DEED TO DEATH

D. B. Henson

This book is a work of fiction.

Names, characters, places, businesses, organizations, events, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.  Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

First edition published as an eBook April 2010.

Copyright © 2010 by D. B. Henson

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the author.

For Tim

who always believes.

CHAPTER 1

Alvin Harney stretched his left arm out of the window and tapped the beat to an old Rolling Stones tune on the truck door.  He bobbed his head as he sang the song off-key.  There was no working radio in the truck, just a melody in his head and the crisp morning breeze in his face.

Except during a thunderstorm or hard downpour, he always drove with his window open.  Even in winter when frost coated the Tennessee hills and most people cranked their heat up as high as it would go, Alvin kept the driver’s side window of his white Ford pickup rolled down.  The cold never seemed to bother his fifty-year-old bones.

It made him feel alive.

This morning the air felt even fresher than normal.  A heavy spring rain had fallen during the night.  A cleansing deluge that hammered the grey dust from the surface of the gravel and forged deep puddles across the road leading to the construction site.

The pickup rocked as Alvin splashed through the pools, the spray coating his arm with a fine brown mist.  At the end of the road loomed a massive skeleton of steel and concrete, which under his guidance, would soon be transformed into the largest and most luxurious hotel in the posh Nashville suburb of Blanton Hills.

Alvin was usually the first to arrive at the site.  It gave him the opportunity to mentally review the progress from the previous day and then make adjustments to ensure the project remained on schedule.  Not the big wigs’ schedule, dreamed up in a board room somewhere.  His own schedule.  Honed into shape from years of hard work and experience.

He took pride in his ability to bring a project in well ahead of the expected completion date, a trait that had garnered him a sterling reputation in addition to fat bonus checks.

Today however, he was not the first to arrive.

Alvin wheeled his pickup into the parking area next to a black Dodge.  Nico Williams sat on the tailgate eating a biscuit sandwich, a Hardee’s sack in his lap.  He swung his legs in unison with each chew.

Nico was new on the job.  This was his third day.  At first glance, he was not what you would expect a construction worker to look like.  But for a man of around 250 pounds, he was extremely agile.

Agile and quiet.

On two separate occasions, Alvin had turned around to find Nico standing directly behind him, close enough to butt heads, never once having heard him approach.  Nico reminded him of a big yellow tomcat stalking its prey.

Alvin never liked cats.

He turned off the ignition, got out and slammed the pickup’s door.  The wet gravel crunched under his work boots.

As Alvin rounded the corner of the truck bed, he nodded at Nico.  “How’s it going?”

“Can’t complain.”

As Alvin passed, Nico stuffed the last of the biscuit into his mouth, wadded up the paper sack, and tossed it into the back of his truck.  Leaving his tailgate down, he followed Alvin to the double gates in the security fence.

Alvin removed the padlock and let the gates swing open.  “What got you here so early?”

“Just trying to make a good impression on the boss.”

Nico’s Cheshire grin revealed bits of what looked like either steak or sausage between his tobacco-stained teeth.

“Uh huh.  Well, here comes your chance.”  Alvin gestured toward the silver BMW X5 making its way down the access road.  “That’s Scott Chadwick, he owns all this.”

Alvin waved at the SUV as it crawled through the gates, but the hardhat-clad Chadwick stared straight ahead, a cell phone glued to his ear.

“Seems like a real nice guy.”

Alvin watched the BMW disappear around the corner of the hotel.  “I imagine he’s just got a lot on his mind.  He’s getting married in a few days.”

“You don’t say.”

“Yeah, that’s probably her on the phone.  Reciting her honey-do list.”

Nico pulled a red bandanna from his pocket and tied it around his blonde crew cut before slipping on his hardhat.  “You married, Harney?”

“I used to be.”

Alvin hooked the padlock onto the open gate and headed for the construction trailer.

The trailer was one of three at the site used for offices and meeting space.  The interior was small but adequate.  A metal desk, a blueprint cabinet and a bank of file drawers, topped with a copier and fax machine, filled the left side of the room.

On the right, a card table and four folding chairs were set up in front of a kitchenette complete with a coffee maker, microwave, and miniature fridge.  The plot plan and drawings of the front, rear, and side elevations of the hotel plastered the walls.

Alvin fired up the coffee pot and then settled at his desk.  Through the open door, he could see Nico standing near one of the portable toilets talking on his cell phone.

Probably getting his own honey-do list.

Alvin checked his watch.  He had about thirty minutes before the crews started trickling in.  He opened his notebook to the day’s agenda.  He was glad Scott Chadwick had arrived at the site early.  They needed to go over several changes in the lobby’s interior.

The hotel was being fast-tracked, Alvin’s favorite type of project.  He loved the challenge of coordinating all the phases of construction simultaneously.  Considered risky by some, the project began with a preliminary design, and then the builder made modifications as the construction was completed.

In order to fast-track a building, you had to have a first rate architect.  Otherwise, you could end up with the plumbing or electrical wiring in the wrong place.  In Alvin’s eyes, Scott Chadwick was the best.  Alvin had worked for a countless number of design/build firms before signing on with Chadwick & Shore, but none of the contractors had earned the level of respect he held for Chadwick.

The pungent aroma of the freshly brewed coffee permeated the trailer.  Alvin glanced up and saw Nico standing at the door.

“You think you could spare a cup?” Nico asked.

Alvin checked his watch again.  “Sure.  Just don’t make it a habit.”

He filled three Styrofoam cups with the brew and handed one to Nico.  He placed the other two on the trailer steps along with his notebook while he closed and locked the door, then he set out to find Scott Chadwick.

The hotel consisted of a twelve-story tower flanked by two five-story wings set at forty-five degree angles.  Designed to cater to an elite crowd, the rooms were mostly suites, each equipped with a working fireplace and elaborate baths.  The hotel would also house two gourmet restaurants and an upscale nightclub.

Alvin walked into the lobby area expecting to see the building’s owner, but he wasn’t there.

“Scott?”  Alvin’s voice echoed through the empty structure.

Maybe he was still outside.

Alvin crossed the lobby and peered out the doors that opened onto the rear courtyard and pool area.  He could see Chadwick’s car parked about a hundred feet away.

Still carrying the coffee, Alvin stepped onto the plank that served as a makeshift ramp from the door of the lobby to the ground.

He was halfway down when he saw Scott Chadwick.

The coffee cups slipped from his hands.

The scalding liquid soaked through the front of his jeans, but Alvin didn’t feel a thing.

CHAPTER 2

Toni Matthews dialed the number for the fifth time.

“This is Scott Chadwick; you’ve reached my voice mail.”

Why didn’t he answer his cell phone?  He wasn’t answering his private line at the office either.  She glanced at the clock on the bedside table.  Seven twenty-three.

Did he have an early meeting this morning?  She couldn’t remember.

“Hi, it’s me.  Guess what?  I left my briefcase in your car last night and the file for my nine o’clock closing is in there.  Call me as soon as you get this message.  Love you.”

There was no way she could show up for the Barton to Collins closing without that file.  Everything was in it – the termite inspection, the septic letter, even the keys to the house.  And this was one property transfer she really didn’t want to postpone.

The sale of the Bartons’ home was her final order of business for the next three weeks.  She wanted to get it over with as soon as possible so she could spend the rest of the afternoon concentrating on last minute wedding details.

It was hard to believe she would be married in less than seventy-two hours.

There was a time when Toni was certain she would remain single forever.  Not that she hadn’t had meaningful relationships before.  She’d had strong feelings for several different men during the course of her twenty-nine years.  But in the past, she had always managed to keep an invisible wall around her heart.  She cared for them, but never let them get too close.

Then she met Scott and everything changed.

Scott was the only man who had ever truly understood her.  He had never tried to change her or mold her into something he wanted her to be.  Instead of stifling her independence, he acknowledged her freedom.  She remained a whole person, never feeling like she was sacrificing a part of herself in order to be with him.

He never played games.  His love was solid.  Constant.  He loved her as she was, for who she was.  And when it came to loving him, for the first time in her life, she held nothing back.

Toni returned the phone to the nightstand and shifted her focus to the mahogany-framed photo on the left, taken the previous summer in Cozumel, Mexico.  Four faces smiled back.  Scott, deeply tanned with gold streaks in his sandy hair; Scott's business partner, Clint Shore, wearing sunglasses and holding up a Corona; Jill, Clint’s wife, lithe and blonde and beautiful as any runway model, and Toni sitting in the front.

The shot was definitely not her best picture.

No matter how plain she felt it made her look, oddly, it was one of Scott’s favorites.  He said it showed her natural beauty – though she wasn’t convinced she had any.  Still, he loved the look of her long auburn hair falling across her bare shoulders and the glow the sun had painted on her nose and cheeks.

But Toni liked the photo for a different reason.

It was a reminder of the best summer of her life.

Clint and Jill owned a house on the beach and they had all spent two perfect weeks snorkeling, sunning, and relaxing.  On the last night, after a quiet dinner for two, Scott had asked her to marry him.

The phone rang.

“Scott?”

“Toni?  It’s Eva Collins.”

“Hello, Eva.  How are you?”

“Exhausted.  We’ve been driving all night.  It’s a long trip from Savannah, especially with three kids and two U-hauls.”

Toni had met the Collins’ children.  They were aged two, four, and five years.  All boys.  “I can imagine.”

“We just wanted to check in and make sure that everything is still on schedule.”

“Everything’s fine.  The Bartons moved out over the weekend and I had the carpets cleaned yesterday.  You can move in right after closing.”

“I knew you would take care of everything.  You’re the best real estate agent we’ve ever worked with.  Thank you so much.”

Toni hung up the phone.

It was already seven-thirty.  She had to get that file.  Knowing Scott, he was probably out at the hotel site.  He’d practically been living there the past few weeks.

He must have left his cell phone in the car.  If that were true, he would have no way of knowing she was trying to reach him, and it could be hours before he checked his messages.

She would just have to take a chance and drive out there.

It was eight o’clock by the time Toni reached the construction site.  As she made the sharp turn onto the access street, a white van came barreling down the center of the road toward her.  She jerked the wheel and veered off the gravel, her right tires plowing into fresh mud.

“Idiot.  Stay on your side of the road.  You’re going to kill somebody.”

After the van had safely passed, Toni pulled back onto the gravel and continued down the road.  There were three police cars in front of the hotel and a uniformed officer at the gate.  The construction crews were huddled in groups a few feet away.

She left her car in the parking area and walked over to one of the workers.

“What’s going on?  Why are the police here?”

“A guy did a swan dive off the top floor.”

“You’re kidding me.”

The worker shook his head.  “I wish I was.”

No wonder Scott hadn’t answered his phone.  He had far more important things to deal with.  “When did it happen?”

“Early.  I got here around six.  The police were already here.  They won’t let anybody in.”

“Did you know him?”

“Not well, but yeah.  It was one of the guys that owns the construction company.”

Toni’s stomach lurched.  “What?”

“It was the Chadwick guy.”

Toni’s throat went dry.  She wanted to scream, but she couldn’t even speak.

She ran toward the gate.  The police officer on guard caught her before she could get through.

“I’m sorry miss.  You can’t go in there yet.”

“Let me go.  You don’t understand.”

She jerked her arm from his grip and tried to push past him, but he held her back.

“Just calm down –”

“No, dammit.  I said, let me go!”

“Toni!”  Clint called to her from the other side of the fence.

“Clint, they said it’s Scott.  It’s not true, it can’t be.”

Clint nodded at the officer.  “Let her in.”

“I’ll have to get her name.”

“This is Toni Matthews, Scott Chadwick’s fiancée.”

The officer stepped aside and Toni rushed through the gate.  Clint pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her.

“Sweetheart, I am so sorry.”

“No!”  She pushed him away.  “Scott is not dead.  I know he’s not.  It has to be some kind of mistake.  Tell me he’s not dead Clint.  Tell me!”

She searched Clint’s face.

Instead of reassurance, she found the truth she wasn’t ready to believe.

Hot tears spilled from her eyes, scorching her cheeks.  Her knees began to buckle.  Clint caught her and held her close, gently rocking her from side to side.  Violent sobs racked her body.

After what seemed like hours, she managed to catch her breath.  “I want to see him.”

“What?”

“I have to see him.”

“Toni, honey, he’s not here.”

The van.  It must have been the medical examiner.  “Then I’m going to the medical examiner’s office or wherever they took him.”

“No, not now.  Not yet.”

“I’m going.”

Toni had started to head back toward the gate when she caught sight of a familiar sandy-haired figure standing a few yards away, his back toward them.  Relief flooded through her.

She pushed past Clint and ran toward the man.  “Scott!”

Clint was right behind her.  “Toni, wait.”

She grabbed the man’s arm and he turned around.  It was Brian Chadwick, Scott’s younger brother.

“Toni, this is detective Lewis,” Clint said.  “He just wants to ask you a few questions about Scott.”

She was sitting at a small table in one of the construction trailers.  Someone, she wasn’t sure who, had put a glass of water in front of her.  She stared at the Styrofoam cup, but left it untouched.

Clint moved behind her chair and put his hands on her shoulders.  His fingers barely registered.  Her body was numb.  Nothing seemed real.  It all felt like a dream.

She wanted to shake herself.  Wake up from this nightmare.  Open her eyes and see Scott lying beside her.

“Miss Matthews?”

The detective stood expectantly before her.  He was a middle-aged man dressed in plain clothes with thinning hair and kind brown eyes.

“Yes.  Hello.”

She shook the detective’s hand without rising.  Her movements were mechanical, made without thought.  Her voice sounded hollow in her own ears.

The detective pulled out one of the metal chairs and sat down facing her.  “I’m very sorry for your loss.  I realize this is hard for you, but I need to ask you a few questions.  I’m trying to piece together what happened here today.”

Toni nodded.

“Now, I understand you had a party last night.”

“It wasn’t a party.  It was a rehearsal dinner.  We’re getting married on Friday.”  Toni noticed Detective Lewis and Clint exchange glances.  “I mean, we had planned to.”

The detective nodded and slid his chair closer to her.  He motioned for Clint to step back, as if somehow that would make her more comfortable.

“How did Mr. Chadwick behave at the dinner?  Did he do, or say anything out of the ordinary?”

Toni shook her head.  “No.  He was fine.”

“What about before the dinner?  The last few days?  Did he ever seem distant, preoccupied?”

Toni looked down at the tissue in her hand.  She twisted it around her index finger.

“Miss Matthews?”

She cleared her throat.  “Well, there were a few times when it seemed like something was on his mind, but this hotel is a major project.  It’s only natural he would be preoccupied with it.”

She watched the detective scribble something in his notebook.  She knew he was making a mental profile of Scott.  Trying to justify his death as a suicide.

“What happened after the rehearsal?  Did you go straight home?”

“Yes.”

“Did the two of you argue?”  The eyes that had previously held kindness were now full of accusations.

“What?  Just who in the hell do you think you are?”

This was all too much to take.  She needed some air.  Toni tried to push her chair away from the table, accidentally knocking over the cup of water.

Clint stepped between them.  “That’s enough.  You don’t have to do this now, Toni.  It can wait.”

She tried to stand, but the room began to spin.

Darkness gathered around the edges of her vision.  She sank back into the chair.  Cold sweat misted her forehead.  She was going to faint.

Toni closed her eyes, held onto the table, and took several deep breaths.  She felt Clint’s hand on her arm.  His grip steadied her.  Helped her hang onto consciousness.

She opened her eyes.  The room had stopped spinning.  For now anyway.

“Your face is paler than that wall,” Clint said.  “I’m taking you home.”

“No,” Toni said.  “I’m fine.  I can do this.”

She turned to the detective.  “As for your question – the answer is no.  We did not argue.  There’s nothing I could have said or done that would have caused Scott’s death.”

“I’m sorry,” Detective Lewis said.  “I’m not trying to imply that you did.”

Clint knelt beside Toni’s chair.  “Are you sure you want to continue with this?”

Toni studied the small puddle of water that had dripped from the table onto the dusty green floor.  She told herself the detective was just doing his job.  He didn’t know her.  He didn’t know Scott.  It was just the routine.  He had to ask certain questions, no matter how insulting they seemed.

She looked up at Clint and nodded, tears rolling down her cheeks.  “Yes.  I just want to get it over.”

Clint handed her a fresh tissue and she wiped her face.  “Go on with your questions, Detective,” she said.

The detective looked at Clint, as if daring him to speak, and then turned his attention back to Toni.  “We’re almost done.  Just take your time and try to remember.  Was there anything unusual about Mr. Chadwick’s behavior last night, anything at all?”

Toni took a deep breath.  She might as well be truthful, even though she knew the events of the previous night would only strengthen the detective’s case.

“I woke up around two in the morning.  I had a bad dream.  Scott wasn’t in bed, so I went looking for him.  I found him in the study.”

“What was he doing?

“He was sitting at his desk, staring at his computer.  He has a screensaver that’s a slide show.  Pictures we took in Mexico.”

“He was looking at the pictures?”

“Not really looking at them.  Kind of looking through them, if you know what I mean.  Like he was in another world.  I asked him what was wrong, and he told me it was nothing.”

“But you didn’t believe him.”

“No.  I asked him again, and he finally told me he was having some problems with the hotel.”

“What kind of problems?”

“He didn’t say.  I told him I wanted to help, but he said no.  That it was nothing serious.  That it would only take a few hours to sort out.  He told me to go back to bed.”

“What else did he say?”

“Nothing really.  I tried to get him to come back to bed with me, but he said he wanted to go over a few things first.  He got out his blueprints, and I went back upstairs.”

“What about this morning?”

“He was already gone when I woke up.”

“What time was that?”

“A little before six.”

The detective closed his notebook.  “Thank you, Miss Matthews.  I appreciate your talking with me.  I know it’s hard right now.”  He started to rise.

“Wait,” Toni said.  “There’s one thing I need to get straight.”

“What’s that?”

“I don’t care how things look right now, or what you think you know about Scott’s mental state.  There is no way he jumped off that building.”

The detective exchanged another glance with Clint.  “What makes you say that?”

“Because Scott would never take his own life, no matter what kind of problems he was having.  I don’t know how this happened to him, but there’s one thing I know for sure.  It had to be an accident.”

Brian Chadwick stood alone at the main entrance of the hotel, watching her.

She had emerged from the construction trailer with Clint at her side.  His arm was around her, supporting her.  Like he thought she wasn’t strong enough to stand on her own.

But Brian knew better.

He knew not to underestimate her.

He had definitely been unprepared when he met her the night before.  She was quite a bit different from what he had expected.  He remembered his brother as a guy who usually went for the blonde playmate types – all body and no brains.

Of course, his memories were from twelve years ago.  Scott had only been twenty-two then.  His tastes had apparently changed with age.

Not that Toni wasn’t attractive.  She was.  But more in a girl-next-door kind of way.  More Mary Ann and less Ginger.

It wasn’t only her looks that had surprised him.  She possessed a quick wit and an acute business sense.

But what concerned Brian most about Toni had nothing to do with her appearance or her intelligence.  It was her attitude.  She was a woman who knew exactly what she wanted and was determined to get it.

And that just might prove to be a problem.

CHAPTER 3

The white hearse glided past the iron gates into the cemetery followed by a steady stream of cars, lights on.  Toni rode directly behind in a dark blue Mercedes driven by Scott’s attorney and best friend, Mark Ross.  He had both hands on the wheel, his attention on the hearse.

Although Toni had not seen him cry, his dark-brown eyes were bloodshot, and his face appeared older than his thirty-three years.  He reached over and took her hand.

“We’re going to get through this.  You know that, don’t you?”

She didn’t want to get through it.  She wanted to bolt from the car and run from the cemetery.  She wanted to scream to the heavens how unfair life was.  She wanted the rest of the world to shut up and leave her the hell alone.

She wanted Scott.

“Yes,” Toni said.

“We’ll lean on each other.”

Mark had already helped her a great deal.  He was the one who cancelled the wedding caterer and florist.  He had even notified all the people on the guest list.  And along with Jill, he had held her hand through all the funeral arrangements.

She was lucky to have someone who cared.  Someone who understood.

Mark and Scott had been friends since their early childhood.  Mark’s mother had worked for the Chadwick family.  They practically grew up in the same house together, just like brothers.

Mark loved Scott almost as much as Toni did.

Mark parked the car and led Toni up the slope toward the gravesite.  Her heels sank into the soft earth with each step, as if the tortured souls of the dead below were trying to pull her down into their rusty coffins.

The thought of Scott lying in a metal box in the cold ground sent a chill coursing through her.  Then she reminded herself that Scott was no longer in his body.  He had long since moved on to a better world.  A world where there were no more tears, where death could no longer sting.

Mark paused at the top of the rise to allow Clint and Jill to catch up with them.

Jill hugged Toni.

“I still can’t believe it,” Jill said.  “It’s such a tragedy losing him this way.”

Toni knew the rumors had already circulated around the town.  Starting small, and then growing larger, until they were light years away from the truth.  She had heard the whispers at the funeral home, snippets of conversation when no one thought she was listening, and the obvious silences when she walked into a room.

No matter what people were saying, she had expected more from her best friend.

“And exactly what way are you talking about?”  Toni asked.

Jill turned her head, unable to look Toni in the eye.

Although the medical examiner had listed Scott’s death as a suicide, Toni didn’t buy it for a minute.  She shifted her gaze to Clint and then Mark.  The realization of their feelings hit her full force.

“I don’t believe this,” Toni said.  “Am I the only one who sees the truth here?”

“She didn’t mean anything,” Mark said.

“Like hell she didn’t.  I’m beginning to wonder if any of you really knew Scott at all.”

Mark stepped toward her.  “Toni –”

“No.”  She put up her hands.  “Don’t.  Please.  Just leave me alone.”

She turned and headed toward the gravesite.

The casket, covered in white roses, rested beneath a green canopy tastelessly emblazoned with the name Blanton Hills Funeral Home in large white letters.  In front of the coffin, the director had arranged a couple dozen chairs, each of them now filled, in neat lines on top of a thin turf-type carpet.

Toni sat on the front row between Brian and Mark.  Clint and Jill occupied the seats behind them.  The rest of the large group stood to the rear and sides of the canopy.

When the last of the mourners had filtered in, the minister took his place behind the podium.  “We are gathered here today to pay our final respects …”

Toni wasn’t listening.

This was supposed to be her wedding day.  The day she and Scott had planned for months.  She closed her eyes and imagined herself in the bridal dressing room at the church, slipping into her custom-made gown, waiting to walk down the aisle.

Waiting to join Scott at the altar.

Waiting to stand before the very minister who was at the podium now.

The words he spoke were not the words she should be hearing.  Instead of death, he should be speaking of life, of new beginnings.

An involuntary sob escaped her lips.

Brian shifted in the seat beside her.

Toni brought her handkerchief to her face, avoiding his gaze.  Although she had not really had the chance to talk with him, he probably felt the same way as everyone else.  After all, he hadn’t seen or spoken to Scott in years.  If Scott’s closest friends didn’t believe his death was an accident, why should Brian?

Toni returned the handkerchief to her lap and chanced a glance in his direction.

Brian’s resemblance to Scott still unnerved her.  They had the same sandy hair, the same build.  But the eyes – the eyes were different.

Scott’s eyes had been a beautiful blue-green, full of laughter.  But there was something unsettling in Brian’s storm-gray eyes.  Something just below the surface.  Something she couldn’t quite fathom.

Hearing the minister speak her name, listing her as a survivor, Toni was once again aware of the service.

“Today, we thank our Heavenly Father for allowing Scott Chadwick to be a part of our lives,” the minister said.  “Though our hearts are heavy, Scott would want us to remember him, not with sadness, but with the joy that he brought to us while we were still together.”

CHAPTER 4

“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?”  Mark asked.

He was standing in Toni’s foyer, the door ajar behind him, acting more like her father than her friend.

At her request, the other funeral attendees had forgone the Southern tradition of gathering at the home of the widow.  So now, it was just the two of them, each lost in their own private grief.

“I’m sure.”

They had ridden home from the service in silence, an obvious tension between them.

“About before,” Toni said.  “I’m sorry.  I shouldn’t have lashed out at you that way.”

“It’s okay.”

“No it’s not.  You’re entitled to your opinion the same way that I’m entitled to mine.  I just somehow thought they’d be the same.”

Mark sighed and pushed the door closed.  “Whatever happened, the important thing is Scott loved you and you loved him.  Nothing else matters.  He will always be in your heart.  No one can change that.”

It wasn’t Scott’s love she was questioning.

“I understand that,” Toni said.  “But there’s one thing I don’t understand.  If you saw signs that led you to believe Scott was capable of hurting himself, why didn’t you say anything?”

“There were no signs.  None that I picked up.  I’ve gone over this in my head a thousand times.  If I could have changed what happened, I would have.  But it was out of my control.”

“Then how can you be so sure that it wasn’t an accident?  You know how dangerous construction sites can be.  He could have lost his balance and slipped.”

Mark looked down at the floor and then nodded.  “You’re right.  Maybe he did.”

Why did she get the feeling he was only humoring her?  He didn’t believe what he was saying.  He just didn’t want to upset her further.

Mark put his arms around her and kissed her forehead.  “I don’t feel right leaving.  We could hang out, maybe watch a movie.”

“There have been so many people around here the last few days, some people I don’t even know.  I really just need a little time to be alone.”

“Promise you’ll call me later.”

“I promise.”

Toni watched him pull his car around the circular driveway and then out onto the street.

How could Mark be so quick to believe the opinion of a medical examiner and a police detective who had never even met Scott?  Who never knew the kind of man he was?

Scott never would have left her of his own accord.  Not him.  She was certain of that.

Toni went upstairs and changed out of the black silk dress and into jeans and an Auburn University sweatshirt.  After hanging up the dress, she stood in the closet.  Just stood there, not wanting to move.

Staring at Scott’s clothes.

On the left, he had his polo shirts and jeans.  Khakis and casual slacks and shirts in the middle, suits and dress shirts on the right.  Next to his tie rack hung a group of suits meant for the cleaners.

She ran her hand down the sleeve of one of the jackets, and then slid it off the hanger.  The lining still held Scott’s scent.

She wrapped the jacket around her shoulders, closed her eyes and breathed in his cologne.  She imagined his arms around her.

If only she could feel them one last time.

Now, more than ever, she needed the comfort of his embrace.  But she would no longer feel the warmth of his caress or hear the melody of his voice.  The sound of his laughter would never be more than just a memory.

“No, no, nooo!”

She collapsed on the closet floor, weeping uncontrollably, hardly able to breathe.  The pain cut through her soul.  She felt like a madman had ripped her heart from her body, leaving her hollow and bleeding.

After lying on the floor for over an hour, sobbing until her eyes and throat ached, Toni pulled herself up, went into the bathroom and washed her face.

The best part of her life, the only part that mattered, was over.  She wasn’t willing to let it go without knowing what really happened.  She had to see for herself.

She combed the tangles from her hair and then went downstairs to the study.

The paper bag was still where she left it the day before, on top of the desk.  Amid the neatly arranged sketches of the hotel, it looked strangely out of place.  Like someone had packed a giant lunch and was counting the minutes until noon.

She sat down at the desk and stared at the bag.  Scott’s personal belongings were inside, everything he had with him when he died.

New tears slid down her face as she opened the bag.  She withdrew the gold watch she had given him for Christmas.  She could still see the look in his eyes when he opened the gift, like a child opening a long awaited toy.  Now, the crystal was broken and one of the hands was missing.  She removed his wallet and his cell phone.  And then his Italian leather loafers.  She was with him when he bought them, just a few weeks earlier.

In the bottom of the bag, along with some loose change, she found what she was looking for.  Scott’s keys.

Toni returned the other items to the bag and stowed it beneath the desk.  She grabbed her purse from the foyer table and headed out to the garage.

Scott’s SUV was parked next to her own red BMW sedan.  She got into the driver’s seat and fastened her seat belt.  She was pretty sure no one should be at the construction site today.  Because of the funeral, Clint had given all the workers the day off.

She drove toward the hotel in a fog.  When she reached the access road, she realized she’d been on autopilot.  She couldn’t actually remember the drive.

The empty structure loomed before her like Goliath before David.

Toni unlocked the security gate with Scott’s key and then pulled her car around behind the building.  She stopped where the gravel ended.  The same spot Scott had parked the day he died.

The ground at the end of the drive was still soft from a recent rain.  Toni carefully crossed from the gravel to the concrete slab poured for the courtyard.  When she reached the spot where Scott had fallen, she sank to her knees, fresh tears filling her eyes.  Although one of the construction crews had cleaned the concrete with muriatic acid, a faint brown stain still remained.

Scott’s blood.

Toni dried her tears on her sleeve and continued toward the rear entrance of the hotel.  The absence of workers, and the odd silence, made the building seem eerily solemn, like an ancient temple erected by slaves in honor of some long forgotten god.

She inched her way up the narrow plank propped against the foundation and stepped into the lobby.  The musty odors of tile grout and drywall mud hung in the air.  Tiny particles danced in the columns of sunlight streaming through the windows, fighting the shadows that lurked in the corners.

Tiled with marble, a fountain in the center, the lobby was nearly finished.  Toni sat down on the edge of the empty fountain.  It reminded her of the one outside the bank where her father used to have his account, years ago in their small hometown in Alabama.

Every Friday afternoon he would pick her up after school, and she would go with him to deposit his paycheck.  He always gave her a penny to toss into the fountain.  He told her that if she closed her eyes and made a wish, when the penny hit the water, it would come true.

She whispered the same secret wish every Friday for ten long years, hoping and praying that it would come true.  It never did.  Now she knew better than to believe in wishes.

Toni left the fountain and climbed inside the construction elevator, a metal cage in a shaft mounted to the outside of the building.  She held on as the rickety lift creaked and groaned its way to the twelfth floor.  When the elevator finally jerked to a halt, she pushed open the gate and emerged into the hallway connecting the four penthouse suites.

Each floor of the hotel was at a different stage of completion.  Here at the top, the rooms were little more than steel framework zigzagged by electrical wiring and plumbing pipes.

Toni entered the room on the back side of the hotel.  She knew from Scott’s drawings that this particular suite was the largest of the four.  When finished, it would contain over three thousand square feet of living area, three working fireplaces, a formal dining area, two bedrooms, and two lavish baths with jetted tubs.

She made her way through the main room and out onto the terrace.

The terrace, boasting a heated lap pool and hot tub, ran the entire length of the suite with additional doors opening to the two bedrooms.  She walked to the boundary of the terrace, a concrete wall.  It was roughly four feet high and over a foot thick.

The police had found Scott’s hardhat sitting on top of the wall, as if he had taken it off knowing it wouldn’t protect him from what was about to happen.

She stood on her tiptoes and leaned across the wall as far as she could.  Although Scott was half a foot taller than Toni, she couldn’t imagine him falling over a barrier of this height.  She knew he would never climb on top of the wall.  No one involved in the construction industry would be that careless.

Toni surveyed the ground below.  She could see Interstate 65, the Blanton Hills Mall, and in the far distance, the hills of Brentwood.  She wondered if anyone could see her.

She pulled away from the wall, turned and sank to the floor, her back against the cool concrete.

What happened here, Scott?

Unless they were sitting on top of the concrete wall, it would be next to impossible for anyone to accidentally fall from the terrace.  They would have to jump.

Or be pushed.

That was crazy.  Why would anyone want to kill Scott?

Still, it was no crazier than the notion that he could take his own life.  Why would he?  The hotel was a presale project just a few months from completion.  He was doing great financially, and he was about to get married.  Even if he didn’t believe in heaven and hell, which she knew he did, it just didn’t make sense.  He had too much to live for, had worked too hard to get where he was.

Of course, no matter how honest you were, you could never get as far as Scott had in the business world without making a few enemies.  Maybe he had made someone angry along the way.

Angry enough to commit murder.

Toni returned to the elevator and began the bumpy descent to the ground.  She glanced down at the floor and noticed the glint of gold metal in the far corner.  She steadied herself against the back wall of the elevator and slowly moved to the other side.

The object, wedged in a small gap between the floor and the steel frame, was all too familiar.  A gold pen engraved with the initials SAC.

Scott Aiden Chadwick.

How did Scott’s pen end up in the elevator?  She knew he had it with him the night before he died.  He had used it to sign the check at the restaurant.

He always kept the pen in the inside pocket of his jacket.  It would be hard for it to slip out.  And there was no way he would try to write while the elevator was moving.

Maybe he hadn’t been alone in the elevator.  Maybe he had struggled with someone.  Had fought hard enough to knock the pen out of his pocket.

Toni slid the pen into her purse as the elevator rumbled to a stop.  She wasn’t sure exactly what had taken place the day Scott died.  But one way or another, she was going to find out.

Toni returned to her car and drove toward home.

She never even noticed the dark green sedan following a short distance behind.

CHAPTER 5

Toni had just gone to the kitchen for some aspirin when the doorbell rang.

Her head ached.  Her thoughts were churning.  The imagined scene played repeatedly in her mind like a bad movie.  Scott fighting with a dark figure on the terrace, the figure pushing him over the wall.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t make it stop.

The last thing she needed right now was company.  She didn’t need to hear anybody else tell her how sorry they were.

She poured herself a glass of ice water and debated answering the door.  If she ignored them, pretended she wasn’t home, maybe they would go away.

The bell rang a second time.

Toni shook three pills from the bottle, popped them into her mouth and then washed them down with the water.  She hoped it was enough to stop the throbbing in her head.  She knew what she really needed was rest, but there was no way she could sleep.  Not now.  Not with her mind refusing to shut off.

The bell rang again.

Toni closed her eyes and pressed the cold glass against her forehead, then slowly wiped it across her brow.

The persistent ringing of the bell changed to pounding on the door.  Whoever it was, they were determined.  She put down the glass and walked into the foyer.

“Toni, I know you’re in there.”

Mark’s voice.  Toni opened the door half way.

“You didn’t call,” he said.  He was holding a grocery sack in one hand, another bag at his feet.

“You didn’t give me time.”

She remained in the doorway, blocking his entry.

“Well, are you going to let me in, or am I going to have to build a campfire on the front lawn?”

Toni didn’t answer, or move.

“I’ve got steaks and vegetables for a salad.  I even bought those little Roma tomatoes you like.  You have to eat.  I know you didn’t have lunch.”

“You shouldn’t have gone to all that trouble.  I’ll be fine.  There’s food in the fridge.  Somebody brought over a casserole.”

“Yeah, I saw it.  Congealed tuna.  Looked really good.”

Although Mark was making an attempt at humor, she could see the worry in his eyes.

She pulled the door the rest of the way open.  “Okay.  You win.”

Toni picked up the other grocery bag and led him into the kitchen.  She placed the bag on the island.

“I appreciate all that you’ve done for me,” she said.  “I really do.  But you didn’t have to come over.  I’m a big girl.  I can take care of myself.”

“I don’t doubt that for a minute.  But sometimes it can help to have someone else around.”

Mark slipped off his jacket and tie and draped them over a chair in the breakfast room.  After turning up his sleeves, he took a glass bowl from the cabinet next to the refrigerator and began mixing the ingredients for the steak marinade.

Maybe he was right.

Maybe it would help to have Mark stay for a few hours.  Maybe he could distract her from the movie playing in her head.  Not only that, she wasn’t used to the new house yet, and it felt so strange without Scott there.

Toni had spent the past two sleepless nights walking from room to room, remembering all the planning she and Scott had done.  Remembering how happy they were when they moved in just two and a half weeks earlier.  When they were starting their new life together.

Now she was alone.

Alone in a house more than four times the size of her former home.

Scott had designed the house with children in mind.  He had worked endless hours on the plans, going over every detail with her, pouring his soul into creating the perfect home.  Besides the master bedroom, there were five additional bedrooms and a playroom.  Scott had wanted a large family.  He often joked with her that he wanted his own baseball team.

At first, she had been terrified at the thought of having children.  She had no role model, no idea of how to be a good mother.  But Scott was persuasive; he convinced her that all she had to do was love them.  The rest would take care of itself.

Now, it no longer mattered.

She was sure her friends would advise her to sell the house.  It was far too big for one person.  But she couldn’t bear the thought of letting it go.  It was more than just wood and brick to her.  It was a monument of Scott’s love.

The only thing she had left.

Toni dug into one of the bags and pulled out a cucumber and the container of tomatoes.  “I guess I’ll make the salad.”

Mark smiled.  “Just go easy on the carrots.”

After dinner was over, with the dishes rinsed and piled into the dishwasher, Toni and Mark went into the family room and switched on the television.  One of the cable channels was rerunning the original Austin Powers movie.

Once they had settled on the sofa, Mark turned down the volume with the remote, his face somber.  “Dinner is not the only reason I came over tonight.  There’s something I have to tell you.”

Toni squeezed a throw pillow tight against her chest, bracing for more bad news.  “What is it?”

“I got a call from Brian’s attorney this afternoon.  He’s contesting Scott’s will.”

“You’re not serious.  Can he do that?”

“His attorney is focusing on the wording.  Scott left his estate to his wife, Toni Chadwick, not Toni Matthews.”

“What difference does that make?”

“Well, to a judge, it could make all the difference in the world.  You and Scott were never legally married.  Brian is Scott’s only living relative, and as such, he may have a claim on the estate.”

On the screen, Dr. Evil was soaring through space in the Big Boy.  Toni wished she could escape from her own problems as easily.  At least she knew how to resolve this one.

“It’s fine with me,” she said.  “If I were Scott, I’d want Brian to share in the inheritance.  Call his attorney in the morning and tell him I want to work out a settlement as soon as possible.  Brian can have half of everything.”

“I’m afraid it’s not that simple.”

“What do you mean?”

“Brian doesn’t want to share the estate.”

“You mean he wants it all?”

“Yes.”

Toni shook her head in disbelief.  “Is he insane?  He’s had no contact with Scott whatsoever the last twelve years.  Now he expects to just waltz in here and take everything?  What about this house?  It’s part of the estate.  Does he want it too?”

Mark leaned over and grasped her forearm in a reassuring motion.  “We’re going to fight this.  I’m almost certain you’ll get to keep the house.”

“Almost?”

Still clutching the pillow, Toni rose and walked to the French doors that opened onto the patio.  The sun had gone down two hours earlier, and with the outside lights off, all she could see was her own reflection.

Maybe she should just let Brian have the inheritance.  What real difference did it make?  She could sign over everything except the house.  After all, it had never been about money with Scott.  He could have been a pauper and she would have loved him the same.

She had a successful career, was financially secure on her own.

But what about Brian?

She had no idea what type of salary a magazine writer earned.  Whatever the amount, he had managed on his own up until now.  So why would he contest the will?  Was he in financial trouble?  Did he simply think that his blood entitled him to the money?

Or was it greed?

Scott’s estate was valued at twelve million, not including his interest in Chadwick & Shore.  She wasn’t sure what the business was worth, but it would probably add a substantial sum to the total.

Maybe that was it.

Maybe Brian had been the one in the elevator with Scott.  The one who pushed him off the terrace.

It made perfect sense.  If Scott had died just a few days later, he and Toni would have been married.  Brian would have had no claim on the estate.

Toni felt Mark behind her.  She turned away from the French doors.

“Mark, do you have any idea what Scott and Brian fought about all those years ago?”

“Scott never told you?”

“No.  He mentioned he had a brother when we first met, and he said they weren’t on speaking terms, but he never told me any of the details.  Just that it was some family argument that didn’t seem to matter anymore.”

“It must not have mattered, since he invited Brian to the wedding.”

“Well, actually, he didn’t.  I did.  I had hoped they could patch things up, so without telling Scott, I sent Brian an invitation in care of the magazine where he works, and he accepted.  Scott didn’t know he was coming until a week before the wedding.”

“Did Scott ever mention Caitlin?”

“You mean his sister?”

“Yes.”

“Just that she died as a child.  During some kind of surgery, I think.”

“That’s not exactly true.”

“What do you mean?  What happened to her?”

Mark ushered Toni back to the sofa.  “Scott adored Caitlin, and she idolized him.  When she was sixteen, she found out she was pregnant.  She was too ashamed to tell Scott, so she went to Brian.”

“How old was Brian?”

“Eighteen.  Old enough to find a clinic down in Murfreesboro.  It was near the university there and had a reputation with the college crowd.  It was the kind of place where no questions would be asked, and no records would be kept.”

“An abortion clinic?”

Mark nodded.  “Brian had no way of knowing that the doctor operating the clinic was a drunk who had lost his medical license.  There were complications.  Caitlin died.”

“So, Scott blamed Brian.”

“Yes.  And that’s not all.  I think he blamed Brian for the death of their parents as well.”

“How can that be?  Scott told me his parents were killed in a car accident.”

“They were.  But Scott’s father was in bad health when Caitlin died.  He’d had heart surgery the year before.  It was just a few weeks after Caitlin’s death when they had the accident.  There was no apparent cause.  Mr. Chadwick just drove right off an embankment.  An autopsy was performed and it was determined that he had suffered another heart attack.”

“And that caused him to lose control of the car?”

“That’s the way it looks.  Scott thought that the stress of Caitlin’s death was just too much for his father to handle.”

“Were Scott and Brian close before Caitlin died?”

“As close as any two brothers could be.  But right after their parents’ funeral was over, they got into a huge fight.  I’m sure Scott said a lot of things he later regretted.  Brian left town the same day.  As far as I know, he never came back until the night of the rehearsal dinner.”

Toni let go of the pillow and drew her knees up to her chest.

The truth of Scott’s quarrel with Brian was far more complicated than she had expected.  In a way, she almost felt sorry for Brian.  If he was anything like his brother, he probably blamed himself as much or more than Scott ever had.  Carrying that kind of guilt all those years must have been virtually unbearable, a literal living hell.

Although the money alone seemed motive enough for Brian to want Scott dead, maybe there was more.  Maybe it went deeper.

In Brian’s mind, he had tried to help Caitlin the only way he knew how.  Not only did he feel responsible for her death, but for the loss of his parents as well.  And instead of receiving the understanding and forgiveness he must have sought, he felt exiled from the only home he had ever known.

A sentence handed down by his brother.

Over time, the wound of guilt he bore could have festered into resentment and hatred.  Hatred for Scott.  By inviting Brian to the wedding, Toni had unknowingly given him an opportunity for revenge.

Toni grabbed Mark’s hands.  “I don’t care what kind of legal maneuvering you have to do, I want you to convince that judge not to give Brian one cent of Scott’s money.”

“A few minutes ago, you were ready to split the estate.  What changed your mind?”

Should she tell him?  Should she let him know that she suspected Brian of murder?

Mark believed that Scott had taken his own life.  Before she started making accusations, tried to convince him otherwise, she needed some kind of proof.  Some solid evidence to back up her claims.

“I just have a bad feeling about the whole thing.”

“What do you mean?”

Toni let go of his hands and picked up the remote from the coffee table.  “I really don’t feel like talking anymore.  Let’s just try to forget about all this for tonight and watch the rest of the movie.  Okay?”

She could tell Mark wanted her to explain, wanted to press her on the subject, but he relented.

“Okay.”

To the north, in Belle Meade, Clint Shore sat on an antique sleigh bed, goose down pillows propped behind his back, an open computer on his lap.  He stopped typing for a moment and took a sip of pinot noir from the glass on the bedside table.

“Did you talk to Toni?” he asked, his question directed toward the master bathroom.

Jill appeared in the doorway wearing a teal silk robe, a silver hairbrush in her hand.  “I left about a dozen messages on her machine, but she never called me back.”

“Just give her some time.  She won’t stay mad forever.”

“I’m not so sure.  She’s convinced Scott didn’t jump.  She thinks he fell somehow.”

“Then maybe you should just go along with her.  Let her think it was an accident.  Whatever she needs to believe in order to put it behind her and move on.”

“Is there any chance she’s right?  Could he have just lost his balance or something?”

Clint returned his fingers to the keyboard.  “No.”

“You didn’t see anything at the hotel that might have caused him to fall?”

Clint’s forehead wrinkled.  “Look, the police checked all the angles.  They reconstructed every move Scott made.  I didn’t want to believe it any more than you do, but if they’re satisfied it was suicide, then so am I.  We just have to accept it and let it rest.”

Jill tilted her head to the left and slid the brush through her long blonde hair.  “I guess you’re right.”

“Good.  Now that we’ve got that settled, I need you to concentrate on writing up the contract to buy Scott’s share of the company.  We need to get it done as soon as possible.  I want everything in place before I approach Toni.”

After ten years of working with a partner, Clint would now be the sole owner of Chadwick & Shore.

He knew it was no secret that Scott’s absence would strike a major blow to the business.  It would take a while for it to recover.  Clint would have to make some adjustments, but he was up to the challenge.  He had long since wanted to take a more active role.

Even though the shift in power was under less than perfect circumstances, this was his chance to prove himself.  To show the world what he was capable of doing.

Although Scott had been the primary designer, Clint still had two architects on staff.  Now they would be working on his designs.  From now own, the visions created, the legacy built of brick and stone would be his.

And his alone.

Jill placed her brush on the table and took a long drink of Clint’s wine.  “I’ll start on it first thing Monday.”

Clint pointed toward the computer screen.  “I’m making a list.  Possible new names for the business.  What do you think about Clint Shore Enterprises?”

“I think,” Jill opened her robe and let it fall to the floor.  “That it’s time to turn off the computer.”

When the closing music began, and the credits started to roll, Mark realized he couldn’t remember exactly how the movie had ended.  Instead of paying attention, he had been going over legal strategies in his mind, trying to recall a precedent.

He had decided to consult with a probate expert on Monday.  It might be a difficult fight, but he was going to do everything in his power to ensure that Toni retained Scott’s estate.  Or at least the majority of it.

He stretched and looked over at Toni.  She had drifted off to sleep, her head on the throw pillow.  He was glad she was finally getting some rest.  He doubted she had slept at all during the past two days.

He inched his way up off the sofa, careful not to wake her.

She had a rough battle ahead.  Not just with Brian.  However grueling, that would be the easy part.  Toni had to battle the pain of losing Scott, a fight that had already left a permanent scar.  It would take time, but he knew she would win this war.  She was one of the strongest people he had ever known.

She was a survivor.

Mark found a quilt in the closet of the guest bedroom and draped it over Toni.  She looked so peaceful, like an angel.

“Sweet dreams,” he whispered.

The intruder watched the blue Mercedes pull around the drive and then speed down the street.  Luck was on his side.  Mark Ross was gone.  For a while, it had looked like the attorney might stay until morning.

It was one thing to do the job while she was at home.  The intruder had no choice in that.  He had to get it done tonight.  He had already wasted too much time.  But he didn’t feel comfortable with two people in the house.  The odds of him getting caught would have been doubled.

He slipped his night vision binoculars back in their case and checked his watch.  He would give her another hour.  By then, she would more than likely be asleep.

The house was a newly constructed brick Georgian located in an exclusive subdivision in Blanton Hills.  Situated on five landscaped acres, the home came complete with a pool, hot tub, and tennis court.

He had scoped out the property earlier, before nightfall.  Having determined the lights at the rear and side of the house were set to be motion activated, he had devised a route to avoid them.

In a house of this size, it was obvious there would be a security system.  And he had come prepared to deal with one, or so he thought.  He had brought along a small receiver specially designed to capture the electronic pulses transmitted through the air whenever someone entered in the alarm code.  After picking up the signal, the device would display the numbers.

But so far, the box hadn’t registered anything.  Either the system wasn’t armed, or the receiver had stopped working.  He figured he would find out when he reached the house.

After an hour had passed, he dropped the binoculars at the base of a tree and pulled on a black stocking cap.  He looked up at the sky.  The winds were coming in from the southwest, pushing a thick canopy of clouds across the full moon.  He hoped the clouds would block the moonlight long enough for him to reach the house.

Sliding the backpack containing his tools over his left shoulder, he emerged from his hiding place, a clump of mature evergreens at the edge of the property.

He paused for a moment, scanned the street for approaching cars, and then slipped across the lawn, going from tree to tree until he reached the garage.  The foundation shrubs pulled at his jeans as he picked his way between and then behind them.  He needed to stay as close to the walls of the house as he could, or he would set off the motion detectors.  Keeping his back to the brick, he rounded the corner of the garage and made his way along the rear wall of the house.

When he reached the first window, he turned around.  The blinds were open allowing him to see inside the kitchen.  The alarm keypad hung next to the door leading to the garage.  Again, he was lucky.

All the lights were green.  The system was off.

He hoisted himself up onto the patio and squatted beside the glass doors to the breakfast room.  The moon sliced through a break in the cloud cover, partially illuminating the patio.

He froze, crouched in the shadow of the roof overhang.

When the moon had safely hidden itself again, he unzipped his backpack and removed a penlight, a pair of latex gloves, and a small wooden box.  The box contained a metal object resembling a dentist’s tool.  But the device hadn’t been created for oral torture.  Instead, it was an electronic lock pick.

He pulled on the gloves, clasped the penlight between his teeth, and went to work.  He opened the deadbolt first, and then the knob lock.

With his tools tucked away again in the backpack, he eased open the door and crawled across the threshold.  He pushed the door closed and sat still on the tile floor of the breakfast room, listening.  The only audible noise was the low hum of the refrigerator.

It seemed his wait had paid off.

The first thing he had to do now was locate her.  He didn’t feel comfortable starting the job until he knew exactly where she was.  Until he could be reasonably sure she wouldn’t surprise him.

He removed the Beretta 9mm from the holster on his belt and then crept through the kitchen and up the back staircase.  He paused briefly at the top of the stairs, again listening for any movement.  Detecting none, he decided to turn left.

The first room he came to was a bedroom.  Obviously a guest room.  The bed was still made up, and there were no clothes in the closet.  The adjoining bath was empty.

The next room was huge, seeming to span the entire area of the four-car garage below.  There was no furniture here.  It was probably intended to be a recreation or media room.  He made his way back down the hall, past the stairs he had used, checking each room.

Once he cleared a room, he closed its door.

The last room he came to, at the end of the hallway, was the master bedroom.  The door was open, revealing a sitting area with a love seat and two chairs.  He stood still in the doorway, trying to pick up the sound of her breathing.

Silence.

He eased into the room.  To the right, a four-poster bed stood awash in moonlight.  The bed was empty.  The pillows and comforter undisturbed.  The door to the master bathroom was open as well, the lights off.

He checked the walk-in closet.  Nothing.  Where was she?  He knew she had to be in the house.  Mark Ross had driven off alone.

He returned to the first floor and checked the dining room and then the formal living room.  Just past a powder room on the left, he came to a set of closed double doors.  The only closed doors he had encountered so far were closets.

This didn’t look like a closet.

Keeping his pistol raised, he turned the knob with his left hand and nudged one of the doors open.  He slipped inside.  He noticed the silhouettes of several tall pieces of furniture as he turned to check behind the now open door.

Directly in front of him stood the shadow of a man.

He dropped to a crouch, ducking behind one of the pieces of furniture, the Beretta aimed toward the shadow.

The man was gone.

His eyes darted across the room.  Unlike the previous rooms he had visited, the blinds here were closed.  However, enough moonlight peeked through that the objects around him began to materialize into familiar forms.

He touched the piece of furniture beside him.  The metal was cool against his skin.  It was not a chair, as he had first thought.  It was a weight rack.  The kind that holds round iron plates.

He could now clearly make out a stationary bike, a treadmill, and several weight machines.  Mirrors paneled the side walls from the floor to just below the ceiling.

He realized the man he had seen was himself.

He left the exercise room and continued to comb the house.  He finally found her in the family room, asleep on the sofa.  He stood over her, studying her as she slept.  Her breathing was slow and methodical.  Her eyes flitted back and forth beneath her lids, lost in that deepest state where dreams become reality.

In the glow of the moon, she appeared almost childlike.

Alone.

Vulnerable.

The thought of killing her flashed through his mind.  He stifled his rage and pushed the thought away.  Now was not the time.

He returned the Beretta to its holster and backed out of the family room, easing the double doors closed.

Brian Chadwick had work to do.

CHAPTER 6

Morning sunlight streamed through the window, warming Toni’s face and waking her.  She opened her eyes, disoriented at first, unsure of why she was in the family room.  Then she remembered.  Mark had been there.  They had been watching a movie.

At least, she had pretended to watch.

Her eyes may have been on the screen, but her mind had been far away.  She had spent most of the night trying to come up with a way to gain some kind of evidence against Brian.  She knew so little about him.  She wasn’t sure exactly where or how to begin.

Toni yawned, stretched, and forced herself up off the sofa.  The stress of the past few days was finally catching up with her, weighing her down.  She was tempted to spend the entire day curled up under the quilt, staring at the television.  Feeling sorry for herself.  Being what her father used to call a poor-me-baby.  No one could blame her.  Wouldn’t most people do the same?  But she knew from experience, self-pity never solved anything.  It only made things worse.

Toni folded up the quilt and returned it to the guest room.  She went into the kitchen, dropped two slices of bread in the toaster, and grabbed a bottle of Coke from the refrigerator.  Her answering machine was on the counter and she noticed it was blinking.  She pressed the play button.

“Hi, it’s Jill.  I just wanted to make sure you were okay.  Call me when you get this.”

The machine beeped, and then played the next message.

“I’m really sorry for what happened at the funeral.  Won’t you please talk to me?”

And there was a third.

“Toni, it’s me again.  I’m worried about you.  Please call me.”

Toni hit the erase button.  The messages were from the day before, left while she was at the hotel.  Jill should be awake; she was usually up early on Saturday mornings.  Toni picked up the phone to call her back, dialed the first three numbers, and then put the phone back down.  She just wasn’t ready to talk to her yet.

Jill was her closest friend.  But somehow, she felt like a stranger now.

The bread popped up in the toaster.  Toni got a plate from the cabinet and coated the toast with a thick layer of blackberry preserves.  She took a bite.  The bread stuck in her throat, making her want to gag.  For some reason, the breakfast she ate nearly every day tasted like cardboard.

She threw the toast in the trash and went upstairs to shower.  She was starting to feel anxious.  There was no reason for her to hang around the house.  She might as well go in to the office.  She could do a little research on Brian while she was there.

McKay-Wynn Properties was located near Interstate 65 in the Magnolia Springs Office Park.  Toni parked her car in the spot reserved for the top producer and entered the large glass building.  Shannon, one of the weekend receptionists, was at the front desk.  When she saw Toni walk in, she stopped writing and put down her pen.

“Toni?  What are you doing here?”

Toni smiled.  “Well, the last time I checked, I worked here.”

“I meant –”  Shannon’s gaze fell to the floor.

“It’s okay.  I know what you meant.  I just need to keep busy right now.”

Shannon nodded.  Toni walked past her to the elevator and hit the call button, opening the doors.  She got on and pushed the button for the third floor.

Along with the reception area, the ground floor of the building housed the administrative offices, a full kitchen and six private conference rooms.  The second floor contained a training room where the managing broker held the weekly sales meetings, a computer room that allowed agents to access the multiple listing service, and a large bullpen area with agents’ desks arranged back to back.  The company reserved the third floor for the private offices of the top producers.

The elevator bell chimed and the doors slid open.  Toni’s office was at the end of the hallway, her name plastered on the wall just beside the door.  She slipped her key in the lock and then breezed through the outer office past the two vacant desks belonging to her assistants, Janet and Cheryl.  Then she unlocked the second door to her own private corner office.

She noticed a package from UPS perched on the side of her desk with a return address she didn’t recognize.  She put down her purse and briefcase and opened the box, spilling Styrofoam peanuts across the floor.  Inside was a package wrapped in white paper with a large cream-colored bow.  Obviously a wedding gift.  There was an envelope taped to the top.  Toni opened it and read the card.

Toni –

I saw your wedding announcement in The Tennessean.  You looked absolutely beautiful.  I am so happy for you.

We’re living in Memphis now.  Bob decided to open another restaurant.  His son is running the one in Nashville.  I would love to see you sometime.

Mom

She had scribbled her new address and phone number at the bottom.

“As usual, you’re too late, Mother.”

Toni tossed the unopened gift into the trash and turned on her laptop computer.  The office was equipped with Wi-Fi, so all she had to do was click on her browser icon and she was ready to search the web.  She pulled up her favorite search engine and typed in Brian’s name in quotes along with the name of the Washington, D.C. based news magazine he worked for, The World Revealed.  When she pressed enter, a sea of hits filled the screen.

The magazine kept extensive archives online.  There were articles written by Brian going back as many as five years.  It was a lot to wade through.  Stories on fraud in the meatpacking industry, political corruption, and organized crime, to name a few.  What really caught her eye was a seven-part exposé on a man named Edward Sheffield, a CIA assassin turned traitor.  The article went into great depth regarding Sheffield’s covert activities, including detailed information on his CIA training.

A chill prickled the tiny hairs on the back of her neck.  Maybe Brian had learned to kill from a professional.

Toni printed the entire article.  You never knew what might come in handy later.  She only wished she had access to Brian’s personal information.  She had come across a short biography listing his educational background and various awards he had earned, but could find nothing damaging.

She would love to call a loan officer and have them pull a credit report, but to do that, she needed Brian’s social security number.  For now, she would just have to keep digging on her own.

There was a knock at the door, and before Toni could answer, Dana Dawson pushed her way into the office.  Her mass of red hair was piled on top of her head with little tendrils streaming down the sides of her face.  She was wearing a navy blue suit, the skirt a bit too short, and was waving a sales contract.

“You have to call the sellers of Coldwater Court,” Dana said.  “The buyer is insisting they leave the dining room drapes, although I don’t know why she wants the tacky things.  Regardless, we have to hold this sale together, and I’m sure she’s going to walk if the sellers don’t give in.”

No hello.  No how are you holding up?  Is there anything I can do?  No concern at all that Toni had just lost the person closest to her.  Just, I need this.  It was typical Dana.

“I’m sure it won’t be a problem,” Toni said.

“Good, because I’ve already made the change on the contract.  I need you to get their initials by Monday.”  She shoved the contract under Toni’s nose.

Toni shot her a look that could freeze hell over, but nothing phased Dana.  She was used to it.

“What’s this?”  Dana asked as she pulled the wedding gift from the trash.

“It’s from someone who calls herself my mother.”

“What?”

“It’s a long story.”

Not interested in anyone’s life but her own, Dana dropped the gift on the edge of Toni’s desk.  “Don’t forget, initials by Monday.”

She didn’t bother to shut the door on her way out.

Toni stared at the package.  She might as well open it, even though she intended to return whatever was inside.  She slipped off the bow, pulled off the top of the box and lifted out a Baccarat Crystal vase.  No one could ever ask for a more beautiful gift.  It was exquisite.  And yet, to Toni, it was about as desirable as a plague of locusts.

Why doesn’t she get it?  She was never around when I needed her.  So, why does she think I would want her in my life now?

Her mother had left when Toni was only six years old.  She still remembered that morning in November.  It was the day after her birthday, two days after Thanksgiving.  She woke up early and went into the kitchen.  She planned to help her mother with breakfast by stirring the pancake batter, a Saturday morning tradition.  Instead, she found her father sitting at the table alone, his head cradled in his hands, sobbing.  It was the first and only time she had ever seen him cry.

It took hours for him to find the words to tell her that her mother was gone.  That she was not coming back.  But he was quick to explain that it was not Toni’s fault.  That she had done nothing wrong.

Beginning that day, her father had raised her on his own, the best he knew how.  Afraid of having his soul crushed again, he never remarried.  He made Toni the focus of his life.  He was the one who stayed all night by her bedside when she had the measles.  He worked twelve-hour days to put food on the table, clothes on her back, and make certain she had all the things a young girl needed.

He did everything imaginable to ensure her life was as happy and normal as it could possibly be, including putting some money away to help pay for her college education.  And when he became ill, Toni alone comforted him.

Against his protests, she took a semester off from college and cut a few hours from her job waiting tables in order to spend more time nursing him, willing him to live.  But the invading cancer had been merciless, quickly spreading throughout his body.  He succumbed to the disease the year before she graduated.

Her mother, however, had left her by choice.  She never said goodbye.  Never explained anything.  She just disappeared.  No matter how many wishes Toni made at that stupid fountain, she never came back.  She never called.  Not until the afternoon of Toni’s twenty-first birthday.  The day she miraculously reappeared at their front door.

But by then, it was too late.

For some reason, her mother didn’t seem to understand the concept of time.  She didn’t understand why Toni couldn’t welcome her back with open arms and allow her to pick up right where she had left off.  As if she had done nothing wrong.

Over the years, her mother had made a few feeble attempts to set things right.  When Toni had moved from Alabama to Tennessee, trying to make a fresh start, trying to leave the bad memories behind, her mother had followed.  But Toni wasn’t interested.

Not then and not now.

Her mother had sent a few birthday and Christmas cards and an occasional letter filled with the details of life with her second husband.  Each one made Toni cringe.  What had been so wrong with the life her mother had left?  Why hadn’t Toni and her father been good enough?

Tears of anger stung her eyes.  Anger at her mother.  Anger at her father’s cancer.  Anger at losing Scott.  With all the strength she could summon, she hurled the vase against the wall, shattering it into a million shimmering slivers.

The intercom buzzed.  It was Shannon.  Toni cleared her throat, took a deep breath and pressed the answer button.

“Yes?”

“Are you taking calls?”  Shannon asked.

“Who is it?”

“Someone wanting information about your listing on Red Oak.”

“Give it to the agent on floor duty.  Oh, and Shannon, could you send up a broom and a dustpan?  I’ve had a little accident.”

“Yeah.  I’ll have somebody bring it right up.”

“Thank you.”

Toni swept up the mess as best she could.  Only a vacuum would be able pick up all the tiny shards buried in the carpet.  Fortunately, the janitorial service scheduled their cleaning on Saturday nights.  They should have better luck.

She carried the broom and dustpan into the outer office, leaned them against the wall, and then walked back to her desk.  She gathered the pages of the exposé from the printer, opened her briefcase and started to shove them inside.  She stopped short when she saw a stack of listing paperwork she had completely forgotten about.

The house belonged to Josh Martin, a man she had once dated.  After a few months, it became obvious they weren’t romantically suited for each other, but they had managed to remain friends.  She had met with Josh the day before Scott died.  He wanted to take care of all the paperwork necessary to get his home on the market before Toni left on her honeymoon.  He had postdated the listing forms because he was leaving town on business and didn’t want the house shown until he returned.  With all that had happened, the new listing had been the farthest thing from her mind.

Toni pulled out the forms and the small brown envelope containing two keys to Josh’s house.  One of the keys she stashed inside a lock box.  The other she left in the envelope.  She flipped through the MLS information, property condition disclosure, advertising sheets, and various other forms making sure everything was completed and signed.  Then she paper clipped it all together and stuck it into a file folder with the key envelope.  She attached a sticky note to the outside of the folder informing Janet and Cheryl about the special circumstances of the listing.  Then she threw the lock box into her briefcase along with Brian’s article.

She turned back to the computer monitor and started to close Internet Explorer.  On the screen, she spotted an item she had somehow overlooked.  She clicked on the link.  Unlike the others, Brian had not written this article.  Instead, in this particular story, he was the subject.

Her pulse quickened as she read the headline.

CHAPTER 7

The phone rang twice.

“Hello?”

“Did you take care of it?”

“Everything’s clean.  I replaced the hard drive.”

“What about back ups?”

“I checked.  There were none.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

The line went dead.

Judgment Against Reporter For 2.1 Million

Toni quickly scanned the article printed in the Washington Times a few months earlier.  It chronicled a lawsuit between Brian and a Midwestern meatpacking company.  She remembered reading the story he had written accusing the management of bribing federal inspectors and knowingly shipping ground beef contaminated with Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes to fast food restaurants across the nation.  The company had sued, claiming Brian’s allegations were false.  They charged he had planted evidence while working undercover at the plant.  Based on the testimony of two employees who claimed they had witnessed Brian’s activities, a judge had ruled in the company’s favor, finding Brian guilty of slander and ordering him to pay damages.

Toni clicked the print icon.

The story was exactly the kind of information she was looking for.  Realtors were required to carry errors and omissions insurance, which would pay a portion of the damages if they ever found themselves on the losing end of a lawsuit.  She wondered if reporters had any type of coverage.  Either way, the article reinforced her suspicions.

Brian had a financial motive for murder.

Toni searched through her purse looking for the card the police detective had given her at the hotel.  It had somehow lodged itself between the pages of her check register.  She dialed the number for the Blanton Hills Police Department, printed below his name.

“I need to speak with Detective Russell Lewis please.”

“One moment,” a female voice said.

She put Toni on hold.  After two verses of a Muzak version of the Beatles’ Hard Day’s Night, the voice came back on the line.  “I’m sorry, Detective Lewis is not in.  Can I take a message?”

“Do you know when he’s expected back?”

“Just a minute.”  This time, instead of putting her on hold, Toni heard the woman cover the receiver with her hand, and then the sound of muffled voices in the background.  “He’s not due back on duty until Monday morning.  Would you like me to leave a note for him to call you?”

The day and a half she would have to wait seemed more like a century.  “No, that’s okay.  Thanks.”  She hung up the phone.

Toni knew the evidence was circumstantial, but she felt it was worth pursuing.  She only hoped the detective would agree.

Mark climbed on the treadmill and set the speed at four miles per hour.  He would walk at this pace for approximately three minutes before increasing to a slow jog and then finally to a six-mile per hour run.  He followed the routine every other day, Monday through Saturday.

On the days he didn’t run, he worked out with free weights.  Although muscular, he stopped short of the bulked up look common among the other male members at the gym.  His goal was to be fit, not a Schwarzenegger clone.

He twisted in his earbuds and then plugged them into his iPod.  He ran his thumb over the click wheel and scanned through the music.  He pushed play when he reached the album he had downloaded that morning, by the current band of the moment.

Something bordering on heavy metal blared in his ears.  He couldn’t quite make out the lyrics, but he didn’t care.  It was just background noise to him.  Something to keep his momentum up, help propel him into the endorphin zone.

As he picked up his pace to five miles an hour, a petite brunette, dressed in a sports bra and running shorts, passed in front of the treadmill.  She flashed him a smile and then a coy wave.  Mark nodded and threw up his hand.

She was a regular, usually in the company of a blonde bodybuilder who he had assumed was her boyfriend.  Today, she appeared to be alone.  He didn’t know her name, but her lithe form had occupied his mind more than once during his workouts.

His gaze followed her as she made her way to the drinking fountain.  She removed the lid from her sports bottle and began filling it with water.  She glanced up, made eye contact, and then quickly looked away.  Mark turned his attention to the treadmill controls, increasing his speed to a run.  When he looked up again, she was heading toward him.  She smiled, took a sip from her bottle, and then hopped on the treadmill next to his.

She raised the incline and began walking at a leisurely pace.  All the while, she kept glancing in his direction.  Mark fixed his eyes on the TV screen built into the treadmill.  It was funny watching the Darling clan mouth a hillbilly song on The Andy Griffith Show while listening to some wanna-be rocker murder a guitar.

Any other time, he would have pulled out his earbuds and initiated a conversation with the brunette.  It was obvious she was interested.  But aside from the fact that he didn’t enjoy talking while he was trying to run, he just didn’t feel like starting anything.  He wasn’t dating anyone seriously, and if he had seen her here alone a week ago, he would have been quick to ask her out.  Now, for some reason, the desire was gone.  It was strange.

Lately, the only person he could think about was Toni.

Mark had been married briefly.  Her name was Emily.  They met the first year of law school.  They were happy for a time, blissfully even.  Then he found out she was having an affair with one of her professors.  He had always been faithful, had taken his vows seriously.  When he found out she had strayed, he could no longer bear the sight of her.

He had met several interesting women since Emily, but none he wanted to grow old with.  None that could make him forget the past and dare to take another shot at marriage.  He preferred the single life.  He could see whomever he wanted, whenever he wanted, without any complications.

So why did he keep finding himself wanting to spend time with Toni?  No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t seem to get her out of his head.  He told himself it was because of Scott.  That he felt a responsibility to help her get through the pain.  But he knew that was a lie.  The truth was simple.  Toni was the kind of woman that could make him want to try again.  She was worth all the risks.

And that scared the hell out of him.

Brian sat low in the rental car, a blue Mustang convertible, the top up, his head covered by an Atlanta Braves baseball cap.  He kept his eyes trained on Toni’s car, parked in the lot across the street.  She had surprised him by going out so early.  He thought for sure she would sleep in.

He had arrived at her house around nine o’clock and found that she was already gone.  But he had no trouble locating her.  Thanks to the satellite tracking device he had installed on the underside of her car.  The instrument came equipped with mapping software, which allowed him to monitor her whereabouts using the internet.

Brian lifted the lid of the cooler on the floorboard of the passenger’s side and pulled out a Coke.  He ripped open a bag of Doritos.  He had been sitting in front of Toni’s office for nearly five hours.  It was well past lunch, and his stomach was letting him know it.  Not only was he hungry, his legs were getting stiff.  He had just turned thirty, but after hiding out in the trees the night before, and sitting nearly motionless in the car all day, he was starting to think he was getting too old to be doing surveillance.

This time though, he didn’t have a choice.  It wasn’t a story that was on the line.  It was his life.

Around four o’clock, Toni walked out of the building and got into her car.  Brian had hidden a listening device under her seat.  When she started the engine, music from her radio blared through the receiver.  Boston singing Don’t Look Back.  He hoped she would take the song’s advice.

He waited for her to pull out of the parking lot and onto the street before falling in behind.

Toni opened the refrigerator door and stared inside.  There wasn’t much to see.  The tuna casserole was still there, along with two tomatoes, a carrot, salad dressing, a jar of pickles, the blackberry preserves, and a few bottles of Coke.  In the freezer, she found a lone pint of chocolate ice cream.

Clad in one of Scott’s tee shirts that fell mid thigh, the cool air brought chill bumps to her bare legs as she stood and contemplated her choices.  She hadn’t been to the grocery store in over a week.  Not that she ever bought that much food.  With their busy schedules, she and Scott had pretty much lived on restaurant fare.

She grabbed a spoon from the cutlery drawer and opted for the ice cream.  She hadn’t eaten since the failed attempt at toast that morning and she was starting to feel a little sick.  She threw the lid in the trash and headed for the family room.  Before she could eat the first bite, the doorbell rang.  She peeked out the sidelight.  It was Mark.

Toni stuck her spoon into the ice cream container and opened the door.  “Back so soon?”

“Get dressed.  We’re going out,” Mark said.

“I don’t really feel up to going anywhere.”

“What’s that you’re eating?”

Toni smiled and hid the ice cream behind her back.

“Yeah, I know.  I looked in your refrigerator last night.  That’s why we’re going out.”

“You’re too smart for your own good.”

“That’s right.  And don’t you forget it.”

They drove to Santini’s, her favorite Italian restaurant, and ordered an extra-large pizza with spicy beef, mushrooms, and green peppers.  As she sipped her soda, Toni couldn’t help but remember the last time she had been there with Scott.  They had been so happy.  Neither of them knew that their time together would be so short.

“What was Scott like when he was growing up?” she asked.

“Let me see.  He was athletic.  Practically lived outdoors.  And popular.  He always had about a dozen girlfriends at any given time.  And he never could resist a challenge.  He excelled at everything he ever did.  Everything always came easy for Scott.”

“I wish I had known him then.”

Mark smiled.  “Me too.”

Toni picked at her pizza.  “What about Brian?  Were you friends with him?”

“Well, he was always around.  But he was three years younger.  He had his own group of friends.  Why do you ask?”

“I don’t know.  I guess I just want to be prepared.  Find out about the person I’m up against.”

“Don’t worry about that.  I’ll handle everything.  It doesn’t matter what Brian does.  We’re going to win.”

The inheritance was not what was on her mind.  She couldn’t care less about that.  The only thing that interested her was finding out what really happened to Scott.  And it seemed that Brian might be the only one who knew the answer.

“Was Brian anything like Scott?” Toni asked.

“In some ways, I guess.  But he was quieter.  He played sports the same as Scott, but he also liked to read.  He was always making up stories.  He had a great imagination.”

“Did he have a temper?”

“That’s a strange question.  What’s going on in that head of yours?”

“Well, if things go his way, Brian stands to gain a large profit from Scott’s death.  What if it wasn’t an accident?”

Mark reached across the table and took her hand.  “Toni, you have to let this go.  Brian had nothing to do with Scott’s death.  You can’t keep looking for someone to blame.  I know you don’t want to believe it, but Scott was the one and only person responsible.”

“That’s not true.”

“I’m sorry, but it is.”

Toni pulled her hand away.  “Excuse me.”

She got up from the table and headed for the restroom.  She didn’t care what Mark thought.  She would keep digging.  Brian had murdered Scott.  And she was going to prove it.

CHAPTER 8

On Monday morning, Toni went down to the Blanton Hills Police Department and asked for Detective Lewis.  The officer at the front desk picked up a phone and dialed the extension.

“There’s a Toni Matthews here to see Lewis,” he said into the receiver.  “Okay.  Yeah.”  He put the phone down.  “Detective Lewis is with somebody right now.  If you’ll have a seat, we’ll let you know when he’s through.”

The waiting area was empty.  Toni sat in the chair nearest to the front desk.  She pulled the Washington Times article from her purse and read it again.  If a judge had been convinced that Brian was capable of planting evidence just to get a story, then she should be able to convince the police that he might be capable of more.  She could get Detective Lewis to reopen the case and question Brian as a possible suspect.

Did they even ask his whereabouts at the time Scott died?  And why was Brian at the hotel that morning?  Clint hadn’t even had time to contact her before she arrived.  How did Brian know?  How did he manage to get there before she did?

“Miss Matthews?”  The officer at the desk motioned for her.  “Detective Lewis is free now.”

Another officer led her down a hallway to a pale green room filled with metal desks arranged in groups of four.  The detective’s desk was off by itself in the far right corner.

“Hello, Miss Matthews.”  Detective Lewis held out his hand.  Toni shook it and then sat down in the chair he offered.  “What can I do for you today?”

“I need to talk to you about Scott.”

“What’s on your mind?”

“His death wasn’t a suicide.”

The detective shook his head.  “Miss Matthews, I can assure you that we did a thorough investigation –”

“He was pushed.”

Detective Lewis sighed and scooted his chair back.  “Wait here.  I’ll go get the file.”

Toni looked around the office.  There were three other policemen in the room.  One was talking on the telephone; another was typing something into a computer.  The third man was wading through a stack of papers on his desk.  A female police officer came in and handed a message to the man on the phone.  She smiled at Toni and then left again.

After a few minutes, Detective Lewis returned with the file.  “Now, you were saying?”

“Scott’s death was not an accident.  He was pushed off that balcony.”

The detective leafed through the file.  “That’s impossible.  We have two witnesses who were there when Mr. Chadwick arrived at the scene.  He entered the building alone.”

“Someone could have been waiting for him.”

“Miss Matthews –”

“Did you know that Scott’s brother is contesting the will?  That he’s in financial trouble?”

The detective sat back and rubbed his right temple.  “I know that this is hard for you to accept.  But we’ve ruled out homicide.  There was nothing at the scene to indicate foul play.  Mr. Chadwick took his own life.”

“No.  He wouldn’t do that.”

“We have evidence to the contrary.  We have a statement from his business partner, a statement from his attorney, we spoke to –” he stopped short.

“Who did you speak to?”

The detective quickly closed the file as if there was something in it he didn’t want Toni to see.  “His business associates.  They all indicated the same thing.  Mr. Chadwick was very distraught over a business deal.  He even mentioned the possibility of suicide as a way out.  It’s unfortunate that no one took him seriously.”

“They’re wrong.  If Scott ever said anything about killing himself, then he was just joking.”

Detective Lewis moved the closed file from his lap and placed it on the desk.  “How long had you been acquainted with Mr. Chadwick?”

“A little over a year.  Why?”

The detective picked up a picture frame and turned it toward Toni.  Inside was a photo of an attractive woman, probably in her late forties, with short brown hair.  “This is my wife, Barbara.  We’ll be celebrating our twenty-ninth wedding anniversary next month.  I love her more now than I did the day we were married.  But no matter how close we are, or how much I love her, there are still things she doesn’t know about me.  Things she’ll never know.”

Tears of frustration threatened Toni’s eyes, but she managed to hold them back.  She realized that no matter what she said, Detective Lewis was not going to change his mind.  He thought she was a flake.  There would be no help from the police.  She was on her own.

“Can you at least give me the names of the two witnesses who saw Scott that morning?” she asked.

He peeked inside the file.  “The lead superintendent, Alvin Harney, and one of the workmen, Nico Williams.”  The detective started to rise indicating that their conversation was over.

“Can I borrow your pen?”  Toni reached across the desk knocking the file onto the floor.  She rushed to help the detective pick up the scattered papers.  She didn’t see much, only a name.  Gloria Keith.

Detective Lewis put the file under his arm and handed Toni his pen.  He shot her an accusing look.  He knew that spilling the file was no accident.

Toni jotted the names down on a sticky note and stuffed it into her purse.  She gave the detective back his pen.  “Thank you for your help.”

Or rather, lack of it.

“Do yourself a favor, Miss Matthews.  Go home.  Have a good cry.  And then, get on with your life.”

“I’ve cried enough, Detective.  Now it’s time I did something about it.”

Toni left the police station and drove north on interstate sixty-five, toward downtown Nashville and the offices of Chadwick & Shore.  She picked up her cell phone and dialed her assistant, Janet.

“How are things going this morning?” Toni asked.

“Well, Dana is on the rampage, as usual.”

“I was expecting that.  There’s a contract on my desk that needs to be initialed.”

“I found it, and I’ve already called the sellers.  They’ve agreed to the change.  Cheryl is going to run the contract out to them this afternoon.”

“Good.  I won’t be at the office today, but if you need me, you can reach me on my cell phone.”

“I think we’ve got things under control here.  And Toni –”

“Yes?”

“I just want you to know that if you need anything …”  Her voice started to break before trailing off.

“I know.  And I appreciate it.”

Detective Russell Lewis returned the Chadwick file to the proper cabinet.  Fortunately, he had thought to remove all the photos from the scene before going in to meet with Miss Matthews.  She had knocked the file off on purpose.  He was glad she hadn’t seen the shots of the deceased.  They weren’t the type of images you wanted etched into the mind of the bereaved.  She was having a hard enough time as it was.

He had seen the same type scenario played out a thousand times during his thirty-year career in law enforcement.  The details were always slightly different but the underlying theme remained the same.  A loved one was convinced that the defendant, or in this case the deceased, was beyond reproach.  That somehow, the police were wrong.  The person in question was merely misunderstood.

He remembered one woman in particular who had stood by her boyfriend, believing he was innocent, up until the very day of his execution.  It didn’t matter that he had confessed to raping and murdering seven teenage girls.  She claimed the police had framed him.  They had coerced him into giving a false confession.

Toni Matthews was suffering from the same blind faith.  He knew she wouldn’t be satisfied until she had conducted her own mini investigation.  She was an intelligent woman.  It shouldn’t take her long to gather all the facts.  He wished he could have gotten through to her.  That she had listened to him.  He only hoped she could handle the information she would uncover.

Some things she was better off not knowing.

Chadwick & Shore Construction was located on Commerce Street across from the AT&T building.  Toni pulled into the parking garage, below street level, and stopped at the guard station.  The attendant noticed the green and gold parking sticker on her windshield and raised the security arm letting her through.

She parked in Scott’s space, next to Clint’s Mercedes, and rode the elevator to the lobby.  The twenty-three story building housed several different companies.  The offices of Chadwick & Shore filled the top three floors.

Toni crossed the lobby and entered the second elevator along with a well-dressed woman and a small child with strawberry-blonde hair.  The little boy, not more than five years old, held a package wrapped in bright red paper.

“My daddy works here.  He’s a cow nut,” the boy said.  “Today’s his birthday.”

“An accountant,” his mother corrected.

Toni smiled.  “Is that so?  I bet you’ve got something really special for him in that box.”

“No, this is just a stupid ole shirt.  My mom picked it out.”

“Oh, I see.  What did you want to get him?” Toni asked.

The boy’s blue eyes sparkled.  “I think he needs a puppy.”

The elevator dinged, and the woman led the child out.  “Bye,” he called.

“Goodbye,” Toni said.

The image of the little boy tugged at her heart.  He looked exactly the way she had pictured her own son would look.  A perfect blending of herself and Scott.

When she reached the twenty-first floor, Toni stepped out into the reception area of the construction firm.  Five men, dressed in dark suits, occupied the twin leather sofas and one of the wing back chairs.  Each wore a grim look.  Bankers, Toni betted.  An administrative assistant was busy serving them coffee and pastries.

Toni nodded at the receptionist behind the front desk as she made her way to the final elevator that would take her to Clint’s office on the twenty-third floor.  She got on and pushed the button.  A young woman she didn’t recognize, her arms loaded with file folders, rushed toward the elevator.”

“Hold the door please!”

Toni stuck her hand out, and the doors slid back.

“Thanks,” the woman said.

“No problem.”

The woman bit her lip as if she was trying to think of something to say.  “I was really sorry to hear about Mr. Chadwick.  We all were.  He was a great person to work for.”

“Thank you.  I appreciate your saying so.”

When the doors opened at the top floor, the woman disappeared around the corner.  Toni continued on, toward Clint’s office.

His secretary was away from her desk and the door to his private office stood ajar.  Toni tapped on the door.  When she received no answer, she peeked inside.  The office was empty.  She returned to the secretary’s desk and scribbled a note for Clint to call her.  She marked it urgent and put it on the top of the other messages in his box.

As she was leaving his office, she met Jill in the hallway.  With a real estate broker’s license of her own, Jill handled all the sales contracts for the firm.  She also supervised the property management division.  Which was actually a separate company all together, a LLC.

“Toni, I’m so glad you’re here.  I’ve been worried about you,” Jill said.

“I know.  I’m sorry I didn’t call you back.”

“It’s okay.  I understand.”

“I was looking for Clint.  I need to speak with him about something.”

“He’s in a meeting.  He probably won’t be free for another couple of hours.”

Toni glanced at her watch.  It was almost eleven o’clock.

“Why don’t we go get some lunch,” Jill said.  “It will give us a chance to talk.”

They walked to Demos’, a restaurant at the corner of Commerce and Third Avenue.  Although the restaurant had just opened for lunch, it was already starting to fill up.  The hostess led them to a table by the window.  As soon as they were seated, their waiter appeared, recited the day’s specials, and took their drink order.

“I’m sorry about the other day,” Jill said.  “The last thing I wanted to do was upset you.  I hope you can forgive me.”

“Don’t worry about it.  It’s not important.”

“It is to me.  You’re the closest friend I have.  I don’t want that to change.”

Maybe she had been too hard on Jill.  Maybe once she explained about Brian, about her theory that Scott had been murdered, her friend would understand.  She was just about to open up to Jill, about to spill everything she’d been holding in when the waiter returned.

He carried a tray with two soft drinks and a basket of bread.  He placed them on the table.  “Are you ready to order?” he asked.

“I’ll have the medallions of sirloin,” Jill said.

When he had taken their orders, the waiter disappeared again.

Toni wondered if now was the right time to bring up Brian.  Maybe it would best if she waited until after they left the restaurant.

“Clint planned to call you,” Jill said.  “He was just waiting for the right time.  He didn’t think you’d be up to discussing business yet.”

“Business?”

“Scott’s half of the company.  That is what you wanted to speak to him about, isn’t it?”

“Well …”

“We know you have a full-time career of your own.  You don’t have time to worry about the company.  Clint will make sure you get full market value.  We’re working on an appraisal now.  As soon as it’s done, I’ll draw up the sales contract.”

“You want to buy Scott’s share?”

“We just assumed you’d want to sell.  You’ve never seemed that interested in the business.”

“I don’t know what I want to do.  I need some time to think it over.”

Jill sipped her soda.  “We can talk about it again when we get the appraisal back.”

“It may not be my decision to make.  There’s a possibility that Brian may inherit Scott’s estate.”

“Mark told us about that.  I don’t think you have to worry.  He’s consulting with the best probate attorney in the state.  Brian won’t get a dime.”

“I’m not completely convinced of that yet.”

The waiter interrupted with a salad for Toni and a cup of soup for Jill.  “Can I get you anything else right now?”

“No, thank you.  We’re fine,” Toni said.

“If you didn’t come to see Clint about the business,” Jill asked.  “Then what did you want to speak to him about?”

Toni poked at her salad with her fork.  What was she supposed to say — I came by to accuse your husband of lying to the police?

“Toni?  What is it?”

“I talked to Detective Lewis this morning.  He’s the police officer that was in charge of the investigation into Scott’s death.  He said he took a statement from Clint and from some of Scott’s business associates.  Someone told him that Scott mentioned suicide.”

“And you think it was Clint?”

“The thought did cross my mind.  The thing is, I don’t think Scott would ever say anything like that.  Not seriously anyway.”

Jill took a bite of her soup, and then patted her lips with her napkin.  “I don’t think Clint was the one who gave that statement.  But there is something you don’t know.”

“What?”

Jill hesitated, a worried look in her eyes.

“Tell me.  Whatever it is, I can handle it.  I need to know.”

Jill nodded.  “You’re right.  It’s time you found out.”  She glanced around the restaurant then lowered her voice.  “Scott was in trouble.”

“What do you mean?  What kind of trouble?”

CHAPTER 9

Clint adjusted his tie, took a deep breath, and walked into the conference room.

The group of men assembled around the table represented five different lending institutions.  Each held a note on at least one of the various projects currently under construction with Chadwick & Shore.  Projects that Scott had spearheaded.  With him gone, Clint knew the bankers were questioning the solidity of the company.  He had to do everything in his power to quell the lenders’ fears before they turned to panic.

Financing strategy was like playing with dominos.  If any one of the banks decided to call in their loans, the others would follow.  But if you could steady the shakiest, keep it from toppling, they would all stand.

“Gentlemen,” Clint said.  He shook each of their hands, taking note of the icy mood that pervaded the room.  “I’m glad you could all make the meeting.”

“We wouldn’t miss it, Clint.  It’s no secret that we’re all a bit nervous given the recent events.”  The man who spoke was Tyler Armstrong.  His bank held construction loans on a strip mall and a condominium complex just south of Nashville.

“I’m sure that once we’re finished here, your minds will be put at ease.”

The eldest of the group, Randall Clarke, shook his head.  “Rumor has it that Chadwick & Shore is in financial trouble,” he said.

“I’ve never put much stock in rumors,” Clint said.  “Neither should you.”

“When a partner commits suicide, it does make one wonder,” Randall said.

The other men gathered at the table nodded in agreement.

“I can assure you,” Clint said.  “Scott’s problems were his own.  The company is financially sound, as I will demonstrate.”

Clint dimmed the lights and then flipped the hidden switch that controlled the huge widescreen LCD monitor on the wall at the other end of the table, turning it on.  A cable running beneath the floor connected the monitor to his laptop computer.  He clicked the file icon on his desktop and the presentation began.

After a brief introduction, images of ongoing projects flashed across the screen.  Details such as estimated cost, sales price, and date of completion accompanied each.  Clint watched the men in the glow from the monitor.  Their faces remained solemn.

Pompous sons of bitches.  It was his business that paid their salaries and their mortgages, and sent their kids to college.  Not so long ago, they had competed viciously for the opportunity to work with Chadwick & Shore.  And they would again.  They would beg for the chance.  Clint would make sure of it.

Started right after college, with very little money, Chadwick & Shore had grown into a multi-million dollar company, surpassing everyone’s expectations.  Especially those of his father.

Clint’s parents owned a plumbing business.  While it had always somehow managed to pay the bills, Shore Plumbing had never amounted to much.  In Clint’s opinion, his father lacked the drive necessary to create a successful company.  He was satisfied just getting along, as he called it.  And Clint’s two older brothers seemed content to follow the tradition.

But since early childhood, Clint knew his life would consist of greater things.  He wasn’t about to spend his time snaking out toilets or pumping septic tanks.  He wanted nothing to do with the family business.  Instead, while in high school, he got a job at an electronics store in the mall.  He worked nights and weekends, earning commissions on each stereo and television he sold.  He became quite the salesman.  And instead of blowing his money on pizza and beer like his friends, he followed the advice of one of his father’s clients and had it invested in mutual funds.

He kept his grades up, graduating as valedictorian, and landed a scholarship to Vanderbilt.  It was there he met Scott.  He knew he had found the right person to help him build his own fortune.  And they had done just that.  Now, with Clint solo at the helm, free to explore his own ideas, the company would soar even higher.

Developments in the pipeline, under contract but not yet begun, filled the screen next.  Clint noticed Tyler Armstrong discretely entering something into his PDA.  The ice was thawing.  They would all be vying for the financing on the new projects before they even left the building.

Graphs and a detailed report showing the earnings and profit projections for the next two years marked the end of the presentation.  Clint turned up the lights and switched off the monitor.  He passed out bound material detailing the information from the presentation.  As he handed each man a folder, he noticed a change in their countenance.  Even Randall Clarke looked impressed.

“As you can see,” Clint said.  “Chadwick & Shore has a very bright future ahead.  Together, we will continue to profit from our endeavors.”

Tyler Armstrong stood up.  “We all know that Scott Chadwick was the driving force of this company.  Without him, what assurance do we have that the projects will be completed on time?”

Clint had all but won their loyalty.  He couldn’t let a seed of doubt slip in now.

“Scott Chadwick was the front man, that’s true,” Clint said.  “However, the real force, the gear that makes the clock tick, is on the inside, behind the scenes.  Let me make myself clear, gentlemen.  I am, and always have been, the heart and soul of this company.”

Jill stirred her soup.  “Scott didn’t want you to know,” she said.  “He didn’t want you to worry.”

“Worry about what?  Tell me what was going on,” Toni said.

Jill put down her spoon.  “Scott was about to lose everything.  We all were.”

“What?”

“When we originally met with AlquilaCorp, the company under contract to purchase the hotel, they had specific architectural elements in mind.  Scott was able to incorporate their ideas into his design.  They signed the contract based on the initial plans and specs.  But somewhere along the way, Scott decided to make changes.  Although the changes were structurally necessary, he didn’t consult with AlquilaCorp first.  When they found out, they were furious.  They decided to back out of the contract.”

So that’s what was on Scott’s mind the night before he died.  “That is bad news, but it’s only one deal.  I don’t see how that could cause Scott to lose everything.”

“When we signed the contract, we took out a sizable construction loan.  The bank agreed to the loan on the basis that we had already sold the hotel.  If they found out the buyer had cancelled the contract, they would call in the note.  If that happened, it would cripple the company.  We would have to sell off our assets, maybe even declare bankruptcy.”

“As long as you were making the interest payments, I don’t see why you couldn’t just wait it out and find another buyer.”

“It’s not that simple.  You’re used to dealing with the residential market.  There’s always another buyer ready to purchase a new home if the contract falls through.  Everyone needs a place to live.  Finding a buyer for a luxury hotel is a whole other ballgame.  The bank knows that.  They would foreclose, and when the word got out, the other banks we deal with would call in their loans as well.  They would all scramble to get out with as much of their money as possible, as fast as possible.”

“So you’re telling me that Clint wants to buy half of a company that’s on the verge of bankruptcy?”

“No.  The afternoon Scott died, we reached a compromise with AlquilaCorp.  The deal is back on.  I only wish Scott could have waited just a few more hours.”

The waiter returned with their entrees and a fresh basket of bread.  Toni hadn’t eaten one bite of her salad.

“Is something wrong with your food?” the waiter asked.

“No,” Toni said.  “It’s fine.”

“Then I’ll leave it with you,” he said.  He removed Jill’s soup bowl from the table.  “Enjoy.”  He headed back toward the kitchen.

Toni stared at her chicken.  The financial predicament Jill had described might be enough to send some people over the edge, but not Scott.  She had never known him to run away from his problems.  He always faced them head on.  “How many years did you know Scott?”

“We met before Clint and I were married.  Around five years, I guess.  Why?”

“Do you really think he could have killed himself?”

“When we applied for the construction loan on the hotel, we were required to sign personal guarantees.  If the bank had foreclosed, they could have taken all of Scott’s personal assets, including your house.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

Jill dropped her gaze, studied her plate for a moment, and then looked directly into Toni’s eyes.  “Yes.  I think he did.”

They finished their meal in silence.

Toni moved her food around her plate, barely eating anything.  Her conversation with Jill had destroyed her appetite.  After the waiter had cleared their dishes, Jill reached across the table and touched Toni’s arm.

“I know this is hard for you.  But I’ll help you get through it, if you’ll let me,” Jill said.

Toni nodded.

The waiter brought their check, and Jill insisted on paying.

They walked back to Chadwick & Shore.  The sidewalk bustled with hungry souls, all hurrying to get in and out of one of the nearby restaurants before their lunch hour was over.  The traffic crawled bumper to bumper beside them.

The temperature had climbed into the seventies, the sky clear.  The sun warmed the top of Toni’s head and she wished she had worn a lighter weight suit.  As they neared their building, Toni remembered a question she wanted to ask.

“Who is Gloria Keith?”

Jill slowed her pace.  “Gloria Keith?”  She shook her head.  “I don’t know.  The name doesn’t sound familiar.  Why?”

“She gave a statement to the police.  It’s in Scott’s file at the station.”

“What did the detective say about her?”

“Nothing.  I didn’t ask.  I wasn’t supposed to see it.”

“Maybe she was one of Scott’s secretaries, or a temp or something.  Our clerical staff changes so often, I can’t keep up.”

“Maybe.”

They reached the office building and Toni pulled open the door letting Jill enter first.

“Do you want to come up and see if Clint is out of his meeting?” Jill asked.

And hear the same story repeated?  What good would that do?  “No.  Just tell him I’ll talk to him later.”  Toni started to walk toward the garage elevator.

“Toni,” Jill stopped her.  “I hope I haven’t ruined our friendship.  I just wanted to be honest with you.”

“I know.  Don’t worry, everything’s okay.  I just need time to absorb all this.”

Jill’s lips formed a smile her eyes did not reflect.  “I’ll call you later.  Maybe you can come over for dinner one night this week.”

“Sounds good.”  Toni continued toward the elevator.

She had no desire to spend an evening with Clint and Jill.  It was funny how quickly things changed.  Just one short week ago, she, Scott, Clint and Jill had been the best of friends.  Now it felt as if those days never existed.

She rode the elevator to the garage and walked to her car.  She noticed Clint’s Mercedes was gone.  His meeting must be over.  She slid into the driver’s seat and buckled her safety belt.  Her cell phone rang.  A glance at the caller ID display revealed it was Mark.

“Hi Mark,” Toni said.

“Hey, where are you?  I hope you’re not working today.”

“No.  I’m just running some errands.”

“I thought you might want to meet for lunch.”

“Actually, I just ate.  I had lunch with Jill.”

“Really?  That’s good.  I’m glad you two have made up.”

“Uh huh.”

“Well, how about dinner later?”

She knew Mark had better things to do than baby-sit her.  She had already consumed a great deal of his free time since Scott died.  She couldn’t keep imposing on him.  She had to let him get back to living his own life.

“I’ve already made plans for tonight,” she lied.  “How about a rain check?”

“Oh.  Okay.  I’ll call you later then.”

Toni hung up the phone and drove out of the parking garage and onto Commerce Street.  She dug into her purse and pulled out the sticky note from the police station.  She read the names.

Alvin Harney.

She remembered Scott mentioning him, saying that he was the best lead superintendent in the business.  The other name she didn’t recognize.

She turned left on Forth Avenue and then merged onto interstate forty.  She opened her sunroof and turned on the radio.  Voices from the talk station filled the car.  A local financial advisor offered words of encouragement to a caller overwhelmed by credit card debt.  Too depressing.  Toni switched to the classic rock station.

American woman stay away from me…

She cranked up the volume.  Forcing all thoughts from her mind, she traveled down the highway toward the hotel, singing along with The Guess Who.

Two cars back, the green sedan followed.

CHAPTER 10

Toni paused inside the open gate to the construction site.

The last time she had been here, the hotel was deserted.  Now the building swarmed with workers.  Men streamed in and out of the building, carrying various tools and materials.  To her right, a man on a forklift unloaded a drywall truck.  Amid the hum of equipment, she could hear the steady beep—beep—beep as he backed up the vehicle.

Straight ahead, she watched as the mammoth tower crane hoisted windows to one of the upper floors.  She raised her hand to her brow and shielded her eyes from the sun, following the ascent of the glass.  A crew waited high above ready to receive the load.

She turned her attention back to ground level and scanned the sea of yellow hard hats searching for one in white, worn by those in management.  She spotted a man she assumed was the lead superintendent off to the left, talking on a cell phone.  She headed in his direction.

The air was heavy with dust from the naked soil.  It swirled around her feet as she walked leaving a light film on her emerald green pumps.  As she approached, the man flipped off his cell phone and returned it to the clip on his belt.

“Are you Alvin Harney?” she asked.

“That’s me.”  He took a rag from his pocket and dabbed at the sweat on the back of his neck.  “What can I do for you?”

“My name is Toni Matthews.  I was engaged to Scott Chadwick.  I was hoping I could have a few minutes of your time.”

“I recognize you from the funeral.  I’m really sorry about Mr. Chadwick.  He was a good man.”

“Thank you.”

“You really shouldn’t be out here without a hardhat.  Let’s go into my office.  We can talk there.”

Alvin ushered her to the construction trailer.  He unlocked the door and motioned for her to enter first.  Once inside, she sat down at the same table she had occupied the day Scott died.  She noticed the drawings of the hotel on the walls and the desk and filing cabinets on the left.  Funny, she hadn’t been aware of them on her last visit.  On that day, most everything around her had been a blur.

Alvin pulled out the chair across from her.  As he sat down, he removed his hardhat and placed it on the edge of the table.  Sweat had plastered his short salt and pepper hair flat to the sides of his head.

“Now, what did you want to talk to me about?” he asked.

“I was hoping you could tell me what happened the morning Scott died.”

“I can tell you what I know, but it’s not much.”

“Please.  Anything at all would be helpful.”

“I got here around five fifteen or so.  Scott arrived shortly after that.  He drove his car through the gate and around to the back side of the hotel.  I had some things to check on, so I came in here to my desk.  About fifteen or twenty minutes later, I went into the building looking for him.”  Alvin paused and his eyes watered slightly.  “I was the one who found him.”

Toni felt the wound inside her opening again and she fought back the rising tears.  She couldn’t let herself fall apart.  “So you never actually spoke to Scott that morning?”

“No.  I didn’t.”

“Are you sure he was alone?”

“Yes.  I couldn’t have been more than five feet from his car when he passed through the gate.  No one else was with him.”

“Is there any way someone could have been inside the hotel waiting for him?”

“I don’t know how.  When I arrived, the gate was locked.  If somebody got in, they would have had to climb over the razor wire.”

“You didn’t see anyone else around the site?”

“The only other person here was Nico Williams.  He never went into the building.  He was standing right outside my office the whole time.”

“How do you know?”

“I could see him.  I left the door open.  He was talking on his cell phone.”

Toni sighed in frustration.  She was getting nowhere.  “Could I speak with Mr. Williams?  Maybe he saw something.”

“It would be fine with me, if I knew where he was.”

“What do you mean?”

“I haven’t seen him since the day Scott died.”

“He quit?”

Alvin shrugged.  “It’s fairly common in the construction business.  Most of the workers here are family men with roots in the community.  But there’s also a lot that tend to move from place to place.  It’s not unusual for a man to come in and work a few days, collect a paycheck, and then you never see him again.”

“How long did Mr. Williams work here?”

“He had just started.  Last Monday was his first day.”

“You don’t have any idea where I could reach him?”

“No.  Your best bet is to try the personnel department.  They should have an address on file.”

“Right.”  Toni chewed her lip.  There had to be something she was missing.  “Is there any way at all that someone could have slipped into the hotel while you were at your desk?”

“I guess anything is possible.  But if they did, Nico Williams would have seen them come through the gate.”

“Did you talk to him about what happened?”

“No.  I called 911 from my cell phone and then I waited there with the—Mr. Chadwick until the police arrived.  They were here within minutes.  I don’t remember speaking to Nico after that, but I know the police took a statement from him.”

“Were you the one who called Clint?”

“I called him on his mobile phone, but I couldn’t get an answer.  I didn’t know his home number.  It’s not listed.  Someone from the police department finally reached him.”

“What about Brian?”

“Who?”

“Scott’s brother, Brian Chadwick.”

“To tell you the truth, until the funeral, I didn’t know he had a brother.  I knew you and Scott were getting married, so I wanted to call you.  But seeing him lying there, trying to comprehend how this had happened, my brain just went into a stall.  I couldn’t remember your name.  When the police asked me who they should contact, the only person I could think of was Clint Shore.”

Toni sighed again and then stood up from the table.  “I appreciate your taking the time to answer my questions.  I know you must think it’s odd.”

“Not at all.  I’d be doing the same thing if I were you.  I never would have believed it if I hadn’t been here myself.”

Toni nodded.  “I’ll let you get back to work now.”

His hat in his hand, Alvin started to open the trailer door, then paused.  “Miss Matthews, I understand what you’re going through.  I lost my own wife a few years back.  She was in a car accident.  I’m still not completely over it, I probably won’t ever be.  I try to concentrate on the good times we had together.  They were the happiest times of my life.  And even though it hurts now, I wouldn’t trade one minute with her for all the money in the world.  Knowing her was the greatest gift I ever received.  I remind myself of that every time I start to miss her.  Instead of dwelling on what I’ve lost, I think about how lucky I am to have had her in my life.”

“Scott always spoke very highly of you, and not just professionally.  Now I can see why.”

The water was returning to Alvin’s eyes.  “Thank you.  I thought the world of him.  Still do.”

They shook hands and Toni left the construction trailer.  She kept her head down as she walked.  She didn’t want anyone to see the silent tears rolling down her cheeks.

Toni unlocked her car and slid behind the wheel.  She leaned back against the headrest and sat there for a moment taking deep breaths.  She retrieved a box of tissue from the back seat, pulled down her sun visor and stared in the mirror.

She appeared to have aged ten years in the last few days.  She wiped her face with a tissue and then fished around in her purse for her compact.  The powder covered her tearstains, but the haunted look in her eyes remained.  That was something no makeup could fix.

Toni put away her compact and flipped up her sun visor.  She had reached a roadblock.  Alvin Harney hadn’t seen anything.  And who knew where Nico Williams was?  What if Alvin was right?  What if Nico was one of the transient workers?  He could be out of state by now.

And there was still the matter of tracking down Gloria Keith.  Toni wished she could just cut through all the bull, and confront Brian directly.  Tell him she knew what he had done.  She didn’t have all the pieces yet, but she knew he murdered Scott.  What would Brian say to that?

There was one way to find out.

Toni slipped off her shoes and cleaned them with a tissue.  Then she started her car, pulled out of the parking area and drove back down the access road.

Was she crazy?  Maybe.  But even if she changed her mind and decided not to accuse Brian of murder just yet, she still needed to talk with him.  She wanted to find out what he was doing at the hotel the morning Scott died.  She could also ask him point blank why he was contesting Scott’s will.  She could tell him she knew about the judgment against him.

Brian was staying at a hotel in downtown Nashville near Chadwick & Shore.  Toni pulled up to the port cochere, handed her car over to the parking valet and went inside.

The lobby was a mass of confusion.  What appeared to be about one hundred senior citizens, all decked out in cowboy hats and boots, were trying to arrange themselves in groups for a tour, without much success.  Toni squeezed through the crowd and stepped up to the concierge desk.  The pretty blonde behind the counter wore a smile painted on with bright melon lipstick.  Etched into the badge on her lapel was the name Sarah.

“Hi,” Toni said.  “I’m here to see one of your guests, Brian Chadwick.  He gave me his room number, but I seem to have lost it.  I was wondering if you could look it up for me.”

“I’m sorry.  I’m not allowed to give out that information, but I can ring his room and let him know you’re here.”

“That would be great.  Thanks.”

Sarah browsed through the computer records and then picked up the house phone.  Toni glanced at the keypad as she dialed.  1—1—2—4.  After a few seconds, Sarah shook her head and put down the receiver.  “There’s no answer.  Would you like to leave a message?”

“No, that’s okay.  I’ll just call him later.”

Toni cut back through the heard of seniors and ambled toward the door.

Then she stopped.

Maybe this was the break she’d been hoping for.  Her one chance to get some hard evidence against Brian.  It was risky.  She had no idea how long he would be away from his room.  What if he was still on the premises?  He could be in the bar or one of the restaurants.

Toni circled back around the lobby.  She knew Sarah had a clear view of the elevators.  Toni edged between two of the groups and peeked at the concierge desk.  Sarah was too busy helping a Johnny Cash look-alike to notice her.  Common sense was telling Toni to leave.  Go home.  Seek answers elsewhere.  But her heart was crying out, “Go for it!”

The elevator was filling fast.  Toni glanced back at Sarah.  She seemed to be wrapping up her conversation with Mr. Cash.  It was now or never.  Toni made a dash for the elevator and managed to slip in just before the doors closed.

Crowded between a lady carrying multiple shopping bags and a rather large woman in a pale pink pantsuit, Toni glanced at the elevator keypad.  The light for the eleventh floor was unlit.  She pushed the button.  At least she didn’t have to worry about any of the other riders getting off on her floor.

Toni watched the digital readout above the key pad as it counted upward.  2, 3, 4.  The elevator chimed at the fifth floor.  When the doors opened, the lady in the pink suit pushed past her.  She reminded Toni of a giant ball of cotton candy.  They made stops at three other floors, emptying all the passengers except for Toni and a young couple whispering and holding hands.  Probably on their honeymoon.

When they reached the eleventh floor, Toni stepped out of the elevator.  Black lettering on the wall indicated that rooms 1100 through 1129 were to the left.  She turned and headed for 1124.  When she reached Brian’s room, she stood staring at the door.  Okay.  Now what?

She decided to knock.  He might be back in his room by now, or he could have been in the shower when Sarah called.  Toni tapped on the door.  She waited a few seconds and tapped again.  Still no answer.  So far, so good.  But how was she supposed to get in?

Toni spotted a cart laden with towels and toiletries at the end of the hallway.  As she approached the cart, a middle-aged Hispanic woman in a blue housekeeping uniform came out of one of the rooms.  Toni read her nametag – Rosa.

“Excuse me, Rosa?” Toni said.  “I’m Mrs. Chadwick from room 1124.  I’ve done the silliest thing.  I was on my way to meet my husband – we’re going on a tour – and I accidentally left my camera and my key card inside the room.  I was wondering if you could open the door for me.”

Rosa put her hands on her hips and gave Toni a look of exasperation.  “What you say your name is?”

“Mrs. Brian Chadwick, room 1124.  If I don’t hurry, I’ll miss my tour.”

Rosa looked Toni over, and then laughed and shook her head.  “You need to slow down, be more careful.”

Toni followed Rosa to the room.  With a quick swipe of the housekeeping card, the door was open.

“Thank you so much,” Toni said.  She handed the housekeeper a tip.  Rosa shook her head again and tucked the money into her pocket.  Toni closed the door behind her.

The suite was small but comfortable, decorated in shades of taupe and hunter green with floral drapes and a matching sofa.  A dark wood armoire housed a television and mini bar.  The day’s newspaper lay neatly folded on the coffee table.  She didn’t see any of Brian’s personal items.

Toni entered the bedroom.  The bed was rumpled, but as in the sitting area, she didn’t see anything interesting lying around.  She dropped her purse on the bed, crossed the room and slid open the closet door.  Three suits hung inside along with several shirts, a couple of pairs of khaki pants, and a pair of jeans.  An empty suitcase and a garment bag lay on the floor.  She rifled through the pockets of Brian’s clothes, but only found some change and a parking receipt from the hotel.

She moved to the dresser on the opposite wall and pulled open the top drawer.  Nothing but underwear.  Boxer briefs.  Ralph Lauren.  The drawer below held several pairs of socks.  She poked through them, running her hand underneath.  Her fingers touched something that felt like a small magazine.  She pulled it out.  It was an envelope.  The kind you get at a one-hour photo shop.

Toni opened the envelope and took out the prints.  Her breath caught in her throat and she started to tremble.  She sank down on the corner of the bed.

The face in the photos was her own.

Brian drove the Mustang into the parking lot of his hotel, bypassing the valet.  He found an empty space and slid the gearshift into park, leaving the convertible top down.  Small white clouds billowed across the turquoise sky.  The mercury had risen to an unseasonable seventy-five degrees.  The day was far too beautiful to waste in an attorney’s office, which was where he had spent the last two hours.

He had learned that Toni now had a new attorney in her employ.  Mark Ross had brought in a probate specialist, famous for settling some of the largest estates in the south.  Whenever millions were on the line, family battles usually ensued.  Only in this case, Toni was hardly family.

Brian’s best chance at claiming the estate was to find out if Scott had any former wills.  There was a good possibility Brian had been named as the heir prior to Scott’s engagement.  Since Toni had never become a Chadwick, the judge might be convinced to revert to a prior will.

Brian switched off the ignition and scooped the case containing his laptop computer off the passenger seat.  He wondered where Toni was now.  He had tried to locate her earlier in the morning using the tracking website, but the server had been down.  He would try again when he got back to his room.

With shaky hands, Toni thumbed through the prints.  Brian had shot the film the day of the funeral.  Several of the pictures featured Toni alone, standing in her front doorway.  Others included Mark holding a grocery bag.  The photos that disturbed her the most were close-ups of her face.

Brian had been watching her.  But why?  Was he planning to kill her too?

Toni heard the door to the suite swing open.

He was back!

She jumped up, grabbed her purse and ran into the bathroom, the photos still clutched in her hand.  She was trapped.  She had to hide, and fast.  She hopped into the tub and pulled the shower curtain closed.

Beads of perspiration popped out on her forehead and upper lip.  If Brian decided to take a shower, there would be no way out.  If he found her, he would probably kill her right here.

Toni heard movement in the bedroom.  She had forgotten to close the sock drawer!  He would know someone had been in his room.  He would discover the pictures were missing.

She heard footsteps on the tile floor of the bathroom.  Toni had the sudden urge to scream, but she held her breath and willed herself to remain still and quiet.  She could hear glass tinkling, as if Brian was moving things around by the sink.

More footsteps, and then silence.  She could feel him standing on the other side of the curtain.  Could almost hear him breathing.  Her heart pounded in her chest.  The acid taste of bile rose in her throat.

Without warning, the curtain ripped open and Toni screamed.

CHAPTER 11

“It was awful, Mr. Ross.”  Nina, the private-duty nurse, shook her head, her pudgy cheeks flushed.  “Really bad.  The worst spell I’ve seen.”

Mark sat close to the bed, holding his mother’s hand.  Nina had sedated her, but she remained semiconscious, mumbling incoherently.  In her other hand, she clutched a rag doll with yellow yarn pigtails and a blue gingham dress.

“She was screaming and pulling at her hair,” Nina continued.  “She threw her water glass at me.  Nearly hit me in the head.”  Nina smoothed her own blonde hair and tucked in the strands that had slipped from her tight bun.  “She said I was trying to kill her.  That’s when I called you.”

“Thank you, Nina,” Mark said.  “You did the right thing.”

He let go of his mother’s hand and pulled the covers up around her.  At fifty-one, Arlene Ross had the appearance of a woman in her late sixties.  Her once lustrous chestnut hair was now dull and almost completely gray.  Countless lines etched the face men had not so long ago described as beautiful.  Her skin had grown sallow and her frame thin.  The disease that ravaged her brain was destroying the rest of her body as well.

The doctors all said the same thing.

Her dementia was the result of a head injury she had sustained eighteen years earlier while working for the Chadwicks.  She had accepted the position of housekeeper and nanny when Mark was only seven.  The job included room and board.  Mark and his mother had moved into a small cottage on the Chadwick property.  There was only one bedroom, so Mark slept on a pullout sofa bed in the living room.

The arrangement was fine for a boy of seven, but became awkward as Mark reached puberty.  When his discomfort became apparent, his mother had spoken to Mrs. Chadwick.  Shortly thereafter, the Chadwicks cleaned out the storage room above their garage and converted it into a bedroom.  The walls were painted.  Plush carpeting was installed over the worn hardwood.  New furniture and drapes were purchased.

When the renovations were complete, Mark moved into the main house.  He remembered lying awake that first night in his new room, pretending that he too was a Chadwick son.  Not the product of a housekeeper and a drunkard killed in a bar fight.

And the Chadwicks had made him feel like family.

The morning after his first night in the house, he came downstairs intending to join his mother for breakfast in the cottage only to find a place set for him at the Chadwicks’ table.  For the first time, he actually felt as though he belonged.  That he wasn’t just part of the hired help.  The line that divided him from Scott had begun to blur.  And his mother felt it too.

“Make sure you stay on your best behavior,” Arlene said.  “Mind your manners and don’t cause any trouble.  They’ve accepted you.  Don’t do anything to make them regret it.”

He had taken his mother’s advice.  Had done everything he could think of to remain in their good graces.  He and Scott grew as close as blood brothers.  But his newfound kinship was not destined to last.  Just before he turned sixteen, Arlene had her accident and things began to change again.

It was a Monday morning in July, the week after the fourth.  Though only around nine o’clock, the air was already thick with humidity.  Mark, Scott, and Brian found solace from the heat in the back-yard pool.  They were in the middle of a belly-flop contest when Caitlin came running out of the house screaming.  At first, they thought she was just playing.  Then they realized something was terribly wrong.

Scott was first inside the house with the other two boys close behind.  What they found would forever alter the course of Mark’s life.  On the floor at the bottom of the staircase, Arlene lay in a pool of blood, a deep gash at her temple.  A vacuum cleaner rested on the stairs a few steps above.

Arlene was in a coma for three days.  When she awoke, Mark assumed things would return to normal.  The doctors released her from the hospital and after a few days rest, she resumed her duties at the Chadwick home.  But something was different.

The symptoms were mild at first.  She would misplace things or forget to do the grocery shopping.  But as the months stretched on, Arlene grew worse.  One day she went to pick Caitlin up from ballet class and couldn’t remember how to get home.  That night Mr. Chadwick told Mark to move back into the cottage.  He needed to keep an eye on his mother.  Make sure she didn’t accidentally harm herself.  And although they let Arlene stay on, a few days later, a new nanny moved into Mark’s room in the main house.  The Chadwicks’ trust in Arlene had been broken.  The line dividing family and hired hand redrawn.

“She should be out for a least another hour,” Nina said.  “Can I get you something to drink?”

“Iced tea would be nice.”

“I’ll be right back.”

Nina left the room and Mark rose and walked to the window.  He peered through the blinds at the parking lot below.  He watched a young mother strap her child into his car seat and slam the rear door before taking her place behind the wheel of her Toyota.

Mark had purchased the two-bedroom condo for his mother several years earlier.  It was only a few miles from his own home in Blanton Hills.  Close enough in case of an emergency, but far enough away to allow him to forget her constant agony when he so chose.

He had hired three private-duty nurses, each working eight hour shifts during the week, and one nurse who lived in on the weekends.  He also employed two ladies who alternately cleaned and prepared his mother’s meals each day.  They all took excellent care of Arlene.  Much better than the care she had received in the nursing home.  And he had set up a trust that would continue that care if anything ever happened to him.

The door to the bedroom opened, and Nina entered with a glass of iced tea and a plate covered with a thick slab of coffee cake.

“I thought you might be hungry,” she said.

“Thank you.  I am a little.”  Mark glanced at his watch.  “You’ve had more than your share of drama for the day.  Why don’t you go ahead and take off?  I can stay here until Helen arrives for her shift.”

Nina placed the food on a table next to the window.  “Are you sure?”

“You said yourself she should be out at least an hour.  There’s less than two left on your shift.  Go on home.  You deserve it.”

“Well, I do have some shopping to take care of.  But if something else happens and you need me, my cell number is on the refrigerator.”

“Don’t worry.  We’ll be fine.”

Mark picked up the tea glass and returned to the window.  He heard Nina leave through the front door.  Sipping his tea, he watched her get into her Honda and pull out of the parking lot.  He wondered if she had baked the coffee cake herself.  Nina was a wonderful nurse, but her skills fell short in the cooking department.  However, she didn’t seem to be aware of that fact.  She habitually brought in desserts of one kind or another.  She had made some cookies once that were hard enough to scrape ice off his windshield.

Arlene moaned, startling him.  Mark left his glass on the table and sat down in the chair next to the bed.  His mother tossed her head and mouthed words only she could understand.  Then she began to whine.  A helpless cry like that of a lost puppy.

Mark stroked her cheek.  “Shhh, everything’s okay,” he said.  “I’m right here.”

But he knew his words were meaningless.  She had no idea who Mark was.  She didn’t even know she had a son.  The disease had robbed her of her memories.  Had stolen her intellect.  A mind that had once delighted in the poetry of Emily Dickinson now could not even comprehend the simplest rhymes of Dr. Seuss.  She had trouble feeding herself and had no control over her bowels.  Living had become a form of torture.  There was no joy, only pain and confusion.

Spittle slid down the corner of Arlene’s mouth.  Mark grabbed a tissue from the box on the nightstand and wiped her chin.  She seemed to be settling back down, the demons in her head receding.

He tossed the tissue in the wastebasket and ran his fingers over her forehead.  He brushed the hair back out of her face.  Then he slipped his hand underneath her head and removed one of her pillows.  Filled with down, the pillow weighed little more than a pound, but it would be enough.

Enough to quiet her sobs, to end her suffering, to bring her peace at last.

Toni’s cry echoed through the room, but she wasn’t the only one who had screamed.  Rosa stood before her trembling, the color drained from her face.

The housekeeper collapsed back against the sink and put her hand to her heart.  “¡Ay Dios mío!”

As relief washed over Toni, her legs turned to rubber.  She had to grab on to the side of the tub to keep from falling.

“I’m so sorry,” Toni said.  “I didn’t realize you were in here.  You scared me.”

“I scare you?  Why you in the shower?”

Toni shook her head and laughed, trying to think of an excuse.  “Well, I was just checking the soap.  I wanted to make sure we had enough.  My husband has this strange quirk.  He likes to have a new bar every time he takes a shower.”

Toni knew the explanation sounded ridiculous, but she was too rattled to come up with anything remotely plausible.  “So if you could just leave a few extras, we’d really appreciate it.”

Rosa nodded, an expression of bewilderment on her face.  “Sí.”

“Well, I have go now.  I’m going to be late.”

Toni stepped out of the tub and rushed past Rosa into the bedroom.  She stuffed the photo envelope back into the drawer under Brian’s socks and then took a second to study the room.  Satisfied she had left things as she found them, Toni hurried out of the suite and ran down the hallway toward the elevator.

Brian dodged the towel cart and stepped through the open door to his suite.  As he dropped his computer case on the sofa, a housekeeper walked out of the bedroom muttering to herself in Spanish.  When she glanced up and saw Brian, she stopped and shook her head.

“Your wife, she already gone,” Rosa said.

“What?”

“She scare me half to death.  I open the shower curtain, there she is.  She scream, I scream.  Enough to wake the dead.”

“My wife?”

“Sí.  She hurry out.  Said you are late for your tour.”  Rosa gestured toward the door.  “You should go, catch her.”

“Right, I will.”

It had to be Toni.  But what was she doing in his room?  And, more importantly, how much did she know?  “My wife – she’s about five feet six with dark red hair?”

A look of confusion crossed Rosa’s face.  “Sí.”

“How long ago did she leave?”

“Five minutes, maybe less.”

CHAPTER 12

Mark turned the pillow over in his hands.

It would be so easy.  All he had to do was cover her face.  The drugs in her system would prevent any struggle.  She wouldn’t experience any pain.  Just the slightest amount of pressure and Arlene would be set free.

Free from the shell that imprisoned her in this world.

There would be no questions asked.  The doctors had not expected her to live this long.  And who could blame him anyway?  Who would want such an existence?  Days spent in torment, surrounded by strangers.  Your own identity a mystery.  Your only comfort found in the companionship of an aging rag doll.

If he ever succumbed to a similar fate, he hoped someone would have the courage to take mercy on him.  Release him from his bonds.

Mark had debated the matter a hundred times.  Had asked himself the same questions.  And he always reached the same conclusion.  She would be much better off when her life here ended.  Still, he had never been able to go through with it.

Something always held him back.

It was the same today.  Still holding him back.  And it would continue to hold him back, right up until the day Arlene’s body decided to surrender to death on its own.

He gently lifted his mother’s head and slipped the pillow back beneath her.

She slept peacefully now, her breathing a steady rhythm.  The sedative had worked its magic yet again.  Her face was relaxed, her lips curved almost into a smile.  He hadn’t seen her smile in such a long time.

Even when he brought her gifts, she would stare at them blankly.  The only time she showed any emotion was during one of her spells.  And then, it was usually fear or anger, or a combination of both.  Like today.  The times his mother was most alive were when she was in the throes of despair.  In her own private hell.  He longed for the day when it would all be over.  When she could escape the anguish and be happy again.

Mark leaned down, kissed Arlene’s cheek, and then returned to the window.

Toni worked her way through the house closing all the slats on the plantation shutters and checking the doors and windows, making sure they were locked.  Even though the sun was still bright, she turned on all the lights, both inside and out.  When she was done, she went back downstairs and double-checked the security system.

Brian was out there somewhere.  He could be watching her at this very moment.  He might even be standing on the other side of the kitchen window, his face against the glass, peering through the minute cracks between the slats.  She could almost feel his eyes on her, sense him studying her every move.  The thought made the tiny hairs along the back of her neck bristle.

Stop it.  This is crazy.

What she needed was something to steady her nerves.  She opened her now semi-stocked refrigerator and took out a bottle of merlot.  Even though the kitchen was pleasantly warm, her hands were like ice.  They trembled as she poured the wine.  It splashed over the rim of her glass onto the granite counter top.

Calm down.  You’re safe.  Everything will be fine.

She grabbed a paper towel, wiped up the merlot, and then carried her glass into the family room.  She sat down on the sofa and curled her legs up under her.  She took a long swallow of the wine.  The liquid seeped through her body, spreading a comforting warmth.  After a few more sips, she began to relax.

Her thoughts returned to Brian’s hotel room.  Why had he taken her picture?

She wished she’d had the time to search the remaining drawers.  She may have found the answer.  From what she had uncovered so far, it didn’t really make sense.  If he believed she was an obstacle, could keep him from gaining control of Scott’s money, why didn’t he just go ahead and kill her?  He knew what she looked like.  He didn’t need a photo.  And then the realization hit.

The pictures were for someone else.

For someone he had hired to kill her.

She remembered the article Brian had written about the CIA assassin.  Although the former agent was still in prison, Brian could have other contacts like him.  Professional killers.  By hiring someone else to commit the murder, he would be free to establish an alibi for himself.

Brian probably knew she had been to see Detective Lewis.  He might even know that she suspected him of Scott’s murder.  This way he could cover his tracks.  Anyone with CIA training was sure to be an expert.  Someone who would never be caught.  With a solid alibi and no amateur trigger man to rat him out, Brian would walk away free.

Free and a multi-millionaire.

Despite the warming effects of the wine, a cold chill rushed through her.

The contract killer could be anyone.  He could get himself hired at her office.  Pretend to be a client or another agent.  He could be a waiter at a restaurant or a clerk at the grocery store.  Or he might pose as a deliveryman or even a police officer.  At least with Brian, she knew who the enemy was.  Now she wasn’t sure who to be afraid of.

For the first time in her life, Toni wished she owned a gun.  Her father had kept a shotgun around the house when she was growing up.  As far as she knew, he never did any hunting with it.  The gun stayed locked in a cabinet in the basement.  He had only taken it out a few times that she could remember.  And then, he used it to shoot soda cans off a fence at his friend’s farm.

He had let her fire it once.  She was around ten years old.  She still remembered the recoil and the bruise it left on her arm, the echo of the blast, and the burnt-sweet scent of the gunpowder.  She didn’t even come close to hitting one of the cans.  After her father died, she sold the gun along with several of his other belongings, most of his furniture, and the house where she grew up.  Besides the shotgun, she’d had no other contact with a firearm.

Still, she felt as though she needed some sort of protection.  Something small that she could carry with her.  She could purchase a handgun, but she knew there would be a waiting period.  It could be several days.  She might not have that much time.

She could be dead by then.

She had a can of pepper spray in her purse, but she didn’t really think it would do much good.  Then she remembered something.  She had seen a hunting knife in one of the boxes Scott had brought over from his condo.  She drained the last of the wine from her glass and went into the study.

There were several cardboard boxes stacked in one corner of the room.  During the two weeks they had lived in the house, Scott had been busy with work and the wedding.  He planned to finish unpacking when they retuned from their honeymoon.  Now the task was hers.  Toni opened the closest box on top.  Inside, she found several hardback books and some old copies of Architectural Digest.

Too heavy to lift, she pulled the box trying to slide it off the one beneath.  The bottom caught on something in the box below.  It refused to move further.  Toni gave the box a hard jerk.  It came free easier than she expected, landing with a thud on the hardwood floor.

The momentum hurled Toni backward and she lost her balance.  As she tumbled to the floor, her left shoulder bumped a small table next to a leather wing chair.  The table rocked, almost tipping over.  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a black statue falling over the edge.  She put out her hands as her backside hit the floor, catching the statue before it crashed on the hardwood.

Carved from onyx, the image was of a rearing stallion.  She had purchased the statue in Cozumel, in the small town of San Miguel, at a shop on the waterfront near the Plaza del Sol.  The onyx felt cool against her skin.

She sat on the floor with her legs crossed, tracing the lines of the carving with her index finger.  Scenes of the previous summer flashed through her mind like slides in a projector.  She and Scott, hand in hand, strolling down the malecon, exploring the various shops along the way, and then stopping for lunch at a sidewalk café.  Sweet memories she would treasure for the rest of her life.

Alvin Harney was right.  She was the luckiest woman on earth.  Scott had given her his love.  She would feel it in this house for as long as she lived.  It was a love that transcended death.

Toni got up from the floor and placed the statue back on the table.  She scooted the box of books out of the way and pulled open the box that had been underneath.

Just more books.

But the one on top seemed unusual.  Thick and leather bound, it appeared to be a photo album.  She lifted the book out and took it to the wing chair.  She sat down and opened the cover expecting to see pictures of Scott and his family.  But it wasn’t a photo album.  It was a scrapbook.

She flipped through the pages one by one, scanning every item.

Brian’s entire career fanned out before her, starting with the very first article he had ever published.  A puff piece for a newspaper in Virginia.  All the articles she had found on the internet were there as well.  There were clippings documenting the various awards he had won, including a John Hancock award and a George Polk award.  Not being familiar with journalism, she had no real idea of the significance of the awards.  But there was one name she did recognize – Pulitzer.  She was surprised to read that Brian had been a finalist for the prize the prior year.

The last item in the book was an article he had written just a few weeks before Scott’s death.  There was no mention of the lawsuit against Brian or the resulting judgment.

Toni closed the scrapbook.  Scott had kept tabs on Brian all those years, saving every article he could find.  Chronicling his achievements.  Just like a parent would preserve their child’s report cards.  Scott was proud of Brian.  Had loved him dearly despite their differences.

If only Brian had known.  It may have softened his heart.  If he needed money, he could have asked for a loan.  Scott might still be alive.

She had a sudden urge to destroy the book.  Burn its contents.  Obliterate everything pertaining to Brian.  But what good would it do?  Scott had obviously cherished the clippings.  The old adage was true.  Love could be blind.  Scott had no inkling of the monster Brian had become.

Toni placed the scrapbook on the corner of Scott’s desk and began to rummage through the remaining boxes.  Finally, in the next to the last box, packed with a dartboard and a set of wrenches, she found the hunting knife.

A black leather sheath housed the weapon.  She unsnapped the top flap and the knife slid out.  The handle was black with a metal butt and guard.  At four inches long, the stainless steel blade reflected the overhead lighting like a mirror.

Although better than no defense at all, there was a distinct disadvantage of having a knife versus a gun.  Whoever wanted to kill her would have to get really close before she could use it.

The thought of cutting someone made Toni’s stomach churn.  But if faced with death, she would do whatever was necessary to survive.

She slipped the knife back into its holster.  She noticed the loop on the back of the sheath designed to slip over a belt.  If she wore it under a jacket or sweater, it would be completely concealed.  She would be able to take it with her wherever she went.

The question was, if she did find herself in trouble, would she be able to get it out in time?

She went to the window and peeked out the shutters at the front lawn.  She was surprised to see that it was already dark outside.  Going through the boxes had taken longer than she realized.

The phone rang and Toni jumped.

She glanced at the caller ID on Scott’s desk phone and saw that it was Jill.  She decided to let the machine get it.  Still clutching the hunting knife, she walked to the kitchen and stood in the doorway, listening.  On the fifth ring, the machine picked up.

“Toni, it’s Jill.  I was just wondering if you wanted to come over Friday night.  Clint suggested that we grill out.  Call me and let me know.”  The line went dead and the machine beeped signaling the end of the call.

Maybe she should go.  It would give her a chance to question Clint about his statement to the police.  And if they pressed her to sell Scott’s share of the company, which was probably the true motive of the dinner, she would just tell them that she couldn’t do anything until she settled the lawsuit with Brian.

Toni placed the knife on the counter and erased the message.

She set up her laptop computer on the breakfast table, and then went to the refrigerator and took out a plastic container filled with fresh tuna salad.  She carried her sandwich and a Coke back to the table along with a pad of paper and a pencil.

Nico Williams still seemed her best lead to finding out what really happened to Scott.  If anyone else had entered the construction site that morning, it was very likely he had seen them.  Even if his phone call had distracted him and someone had managed to slip by, it was still possible he possessed some valuable information.

Information he may not even be aware of.

Toni clicked open her internet browser and started a phone directory search.  Although she knew Williams was a very common name, she was surprised at the number of entries in the area that were a possible match.  There was no actual Nico listed, however there were four entries for Nicolas and close to a dozen more with the initial N.

She took a bite of her sandwich and then dialed the first number.  It was no longer in service.  She hoped that wasn’t a portent of things to come.  She mentally crossed off the entry and dialed Nicolas number two.  An elderly woman answered on the third ring.

“May I speak with Nico Williams?” Toni asked.

“Who?”

“Nicolas Williams.”

“Honey, he’s been dead for more than four years now.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know.  He’s obviously not the Mr. Williams I’m looking for.  But maybe you can still help me.  Do you know if he has a relative that goes by the name of Nico?”

There was a moment’s hesitation and then, “Who is this?”

There was something strange in the woman’s tone of voice.  Something more than just the normal annoyance you’d expect to hear when asking such a benign question.  Did she know Nico?  Toni had a feeling she did.  She had to come up with an explanation that would put the woman at ease.

“My name is Toni Matthews.  I’m with Chadwick & Shore Construction.  I’m trying to locate the Nico Williams who did some subcontract work for us.  Our records show that we owe him a paycheck, but somehow we got his address mixed up and we don’t know where to send it.”

“I see.  Well, I’m sorry.  I can’t help you.  I don’t know any Nico.”

So much for gut feelings.  Toni had thought for sure the woman was a relative.  “Thanks anyway.  I’m sorry I bothered you.”

She hung up the phone and twisted off the cap of her Coke.  There were still several more listings left to try.  Surely, one of them would be the right man.

Almost an hour later, Toni dialed the last possible listing in the bunch.  N.V. Williams, who turned out to be Natalie.  She was no closer to finding Nico than she was when she first started.  Either he had an unlisted number, or it was in someone else’s name.  Or maybe he only had his cell phone.  There was no way she could think of to find that number.

After doing a regular search on Nico’s name and finding no hits that matched, Toni realized she had only one final chance of locating him tonight.  The tax records.  Part of her monthly real estate dues paid for a subscription to the state’s database.  She could search all the tax records online.  If Nico owned a home, she would find him.

Keeping the window with the phone directory list open, she cross-checked all the properties in the neighboring counties owned by anyone with the name Nicolas or the single initial N with the numbers she’d already called.

Some of the property owners that were a potential match had mailing addresses in other areas of the state.  She ran another directory search for their phone numbers.  It took over an hour to call all the owners on the list.  Not one admitted to knowing Nico.

She shut the laptop computer and rubbed her eyes.  First thing in the morning she would go down to Chadwick & Shore and get his record from the personnel department.  She wished she had thought to do it earlier when she was there.

Toni rinsed off her plate, stuck it in the dishwasher, and then tossed the plastic soda bottle in the trash.  Leaving all the lights on, she carried the hunting knife up the stairs.

CHAPTER 13

Toni had lain awake most of the night, the hunting knife tucked beneath her pillow, listening to every creak and pop the new house uttered as it settled.  She kept the lamp on her bedside table turned on.  She knew she was being paranoid, but she couldn’t help it.  Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Brian’s face.

After finally getting a few restless hours of sleep, she got up at dawn, showered, and then searched for an outfit that would hide the knife without leaving an obvious bulge on her side.  She finally decided on a pair of charcoal gray slacks with a matching jacket that wasn’t too fitted.

She stared at her reflection in the mirror.  Checking from different angles, wondering if anyone would be able to tell.  The weapon felt strange on her side, yet at the same time, comforting.

Downstairs, she ate a quick breakfast of buttered toast and orange juice.  With all the lights still on, she set the security system, and then left the house and drove to Chadwick & Shore.

She wheeled into the parking garage at seven thirty-five and nudged her car up to the guard station.  The man inside immediately drew her attention.  He didn’t look right.  He was hunched down in the booth.  She could see something small and black in his hand.

Could it be a gun?

A sudden jolt of fear ran through her.  Was he the regular parking attendant?  There was the slightest hint of familiarity, but that might just be from his uniform.  She couldn’t be sure.  He had his cap pulled down, hiding his eyes.

What if he was the one?

The attendant looked up, meeting her gaze.  Her face grew warm and she could hear the sound of her own heart pounding in her ears.  Then the security arm started to rise, and the attendant turned away.  Now she could clearly see the paperback novel open in his hand.  He had been reading.

The pounding in her ears subsided.  This had to stop.  It was one thing to be cautious, but she couldn’t let her imagination run wild.  Otherwise, she was going to drive herself crazy.

Toni drove through the gate to the Chadwick & Shore parking area.  The office didn’t officially open until eight o’clock, and she noticed that neither Clint’s nor Jill’s car was in the garage.  One less thing to worry about.  She wanted to get into the office and get the information on Nico without running into either of them.  She didn’t want to have to explain her reasons for being there.

Instead of parking in Scott’s space, she circled around and pulled into a space two rows away.  Wedged between an SUV and a minivan, no one would ever notice her car.  Hoping that Clint and Jill wouldn’t arrive until she was safely inside, she hurried across the parking garage and boarded the elevator.

When she reached the office lobby, she walked past the empty reception desk and read the directory posted near the elevator.  The human resources department was located on the same floor.  She turned left and then right, following the arrows to an office near the end of the hallway.

She tried the door, but it was locked.

She checked her watch.  Fifteen minutes till eight.  She had hoped the personnel employees would arrive early.  The clerical staff at her own office usually did, giving themselves time to make coffee, have a doughnut or muffin, and chat a little before settling in for the day.  She would just have to wait.

She had noticed a ladies’ room a few doors back.  If she hung out there, she might be able to lower the chances of someone seeing her.  She could call her office and check on her listings while she waited.

As she headed for the restroom, a young woman with chestnut hair pulled up in a ponytail walked down the hall past her.  The girl looked barely old enough to be out of high school.  Toni turned and watched as the girl unlocked the door to the human resources office and went inside.

It seemed her wait was over.  She followed the girl into the office and stopped at the reception counter.  The personnel employee was a few yards away on the other side, her back to Toni.  The girl’s ponytail bobbed up and down as she fidgeted with something on her desk.

“Good morning,” Toni said.

“If you’re here to fill out an application,” the girl said without turning around, “they’re on the table in the corner.  Just help yourself.”

“I don’t need an application, just some information.”

The girl turned and saw Toni, a look of recognition filling her eyes.  She walked up to the counter.  “Miss Matthews, I’m so sorry about Mr. Chadwick.”

“Thank you.”  Toni searched her memory, but she had no recollection of the young woman.  “Have we met?”

“No, we haven’t.  But I’ve seen your picture in all the real estate magazines.  And I saw you at the funeral.  I’m Marcie.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Marcie.”

“The same here.”  The smile Marcie flashed revealed her obvious love of teeth whitener.  “I’ve been thinking about getting a real estate license myself.  Is it hard work selling all those houses?”

“At times it can be.  It all depends on the property.”

“Yeah, I guess so.  You said you needed some kind of information?”

“Yes.  I need the personnel file for a subcontractor named Nico Williams.”

Marcie’s smile faded.  “I’m sorry, but I can’t help you with that.”

“Why not?”

“Mrs. Duvall is our human resources manager.  She’s the only one who can give you access to the personnel files.”

“Okay then, I’ll just wait for her.  When will she be in?”

“Not for a few hours.  She has a doctor’s appointment this morning.  Maybe you could come back.”

“No, I can’t.  I’m too pushed for time today.  All I need is his address and phone number.  It’s really important.  Do you know where the files are kept?”

“Well,” she hesitated.  “Yes, but I still can’t help you.  Mrs. Duvall has very strict rules about who’s allowed in the files.  She’s the one you need to talk to.”

Toni was losing her patience.  She realized that Marcie wasn’t being difficult on purpose; she was just trying to do her job.  Toni smiled and forced a pleasant tone into her voice.  “Did you know that I own one-half of Chadwick & Shore now?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“It’s true.  I’m going to be working here,” she lied.  “I’ll be buying land and developing subdivisions.  Chadwick & Shore has been wanting to break into the residential market for quite a while.  So now, I’m heading up that department.  I’m moving into Scott’s old office.  And when I do, I’ll need to hire a complete staff to help me.  It would be nice if I could find a really good personal assistant.  Preferably someone from inside the company.  Someone I could trust.  Someone who would be loyal to me.”

She saw a light come on in Marcie’s eyes.  Toni felt a little bad about the deception, but she was glad the ploy was working.

“Well, since I do know where the files are, and since you actually own part of the company now, maybe it wouldn’t hurt just to let you have a quick look at it.  So long as you didn’t take it out of the office.”

“That would be great.  I really appreciate it.”

“What was the subcontractor’s name?”

“Nico Williams.  It might be listed under Nicolas.”

“I’ll be right back.”

Marcie smiled again and then disappeared down a hallway.  Only a few more minutes and Toni would know how to contact Nico.  She hoped he would be free to meet with her today.  Whatever information he might have, she didn’t want to discuss over the phone.  She wanted to meet him face to face.  Explain just how important his memories of that morning could be.

But Nico wasn’t the only person she needed to speak with.

Toni leaned across the counter and picked up a pen and a sticky note.  She wrote down Gloria Keith’s name.  She might as well have Marcie check for a file on her while she was at it.

A few minutes later, Marcie returned, the file in her hand.  “There’s not much in it,” she said.  “He wasn’t really a subcontractor, per se.  He was hired by the drywall company, so he was actually an employee of that subcontractor, if that makes any sense.”

“Well, it sort of does, I guess.”

“I had to search the computer to find out who he was.  We file all the information under the main subcontractors’ names.  When we contract subs to do a job, they have their own people who do the work.  We pay the subcontractors and then they pay their crew.  If the company we hire has their own workmen’s comp policy, then we have no idea who their employees are.  If they don’t have their own policy, then we have to cover their employees under ours.  Luckily, that’s the case with Mr. Williams.  Otherwise, we wouldn’t have a file on him at all.”  She handed the folder to Toni.

Marcie was right; there were only two sheets of paper inside.  All the information Toni needed was on the first.  She was disappointed to find that Nico had listed his address as a post office box.  She went ahead and jotted it down anyway along with his phone number.  As an afterthought, she copied down his driver’s license and social security numbers as well.  You never knew what you might need.

Toni closed the file and gave it back to Marcie.  “Oh, and if you don’t mind, there’s one more person I need to check.”

Marcie took the sticky note.  “Gloria Keith.  Is she a subcontractor too?”

“No, I think she would be one of the clerical staff.  Maybe even a temp.”

Marcie left the note on the counter and walked over to her desk.  “Do you just need her address and phone number, or do you need to see her file?”

“Just address and phone number would be fine.”

“I can pull that information up on the computer.”  Marcie sat down at her desk and began typing on the keyboard.  She waited a second and then her nose wrinkled into a frown.  She began typing again.  A few seconds later, she shook her head.  “No, there’s no record of her.  She’s not clerical, not a temp, and not a sub.”

So much for that idea.  “Thanks anyway for trying.  I wasn’t really sure if she worked here or not.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help.”

“But you did help.  You got me the information on Nico Williams, and that’s something I won’t forget.”

Marcie’s perfect, over-whitened smile returned.

Jill stepped off the elevator, crossed the lobby, and headed down the hallway toward the accounting department.  Clint was running late again, so she had agreed to pick up some cost reports for him.  He’d been up most of the night studying the specs for the different projects Scott had been working on.  It was a lot to digest.  The project managers were all looking to him for guidance, asking questions he didn’t know the answers to.  Until now, he hadn’t realized the magnitude of the load Scott had carried.

And then this morning, he had gotten a call regarding an apartment complex in Antioch that was nearing completion.  Somehow, they had installed the wrong cabinets in forty of the units.  Cabinets that were double the price of those originally quoted.  The supplier refused to accept the blame, claiming to have shipped the right order.

They could pull the cabinets out, send them back and reorder, but that would extend the completion date by at least four weeks and there would be additional labor costs.  Or, they could just keep the higher priced cabinets.  Either way, Chadwick & Shore would lose money.  They needed to figure out which option would be the least expensive in order to make a decision.

Jill pushed open the door to accounting, walked past the desks belonging to the various clerks and then down the hallway to the senior accountant’s office.  She knocked once and then went in without waiting for a reply.

Mitchell Phillips sat at his desk, a coffee cup in his hand.  The rising steam clouded the glasses perched on the end of his nose.  “Hello, Jill,” he said.  “Can I get you some coffee?”

“Who has the time?”

Obviously perplexed by the remark, Mitchell put down his cup.  “What can I do for you this morning?”

“We have a small crisis at the apartments in Antioch.  I need to get the detailed cost reports to date as well as the original cost estimates.  I have to meet Clint at the site.”

“No problem.”  Mitchell leaned across his desk and pushed a button on the intercom.  A female voice answered.  “Bring me the files on the Wind Song Terrace Apartments,” he said.

In a matter of moments, a woman appeared with the files.  Mitchell rifled through the contents pulling out several of the documents.  He handed them to the clerk.  “Make copies of all these, please.”

Jill took a seat next to Mitchell’s desk and forced herself to engage in small talk while they waited.  When the clerk returned with the copies, Mitchell checked to make sure they were all there before placing them inside a file folder.  He handed the file to Jill.  “I think you’ll find everything you need here.”

Jill stood, dropping her purse on the chair.  She thumbed through the reports.  Satisfied, she closed the file.  “This should do it.”

“Let me know if you need anything else.”

Jill left Mitchell’s office, nodded at the clerks as she passed their desks and pulled open the accounting department door.  Across the hallway, one door down, she spotted Toni leaving human resources.  She started to call out to her, but stopped when she heard someone calling her own name.  She turned around.  Mitchell was walking toward her.

“You forgot your purse,” he said.

Jill let go of the door, letting it close.  She took her purse from Mitchell.  “I’m glad you noticed.  I don’t think I could have gotten very far without it.”

“I figured as much.  Call me if you need more information on the apartments.”

“I will.”

Jill opened the door again and walked out into the hallway.  Toni had disappeared.  What had she wanted from the human resources department?  Jill decided to find out.  She went inside and walked up to the reception counter.

“Marcie, was that Toni Matthews I just saw leaving?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Why was she here?”

Marcie picked a file up off the counter.  “Um, real estate.  My mother has decided to sell her house.  Miss Matthews is going to put it on the market for her.  She was just picking up the key.”

“I see.”

Jill glanced down.  She saw a sticky note on the other side of the counter with the name Gloria Keith in Toni’s handwriting.  So that was it.  Toni was trying to find the mysterious Gloria.  And she had told Marcie not to mention it to anyone.

Jill wished Toni could just forget about the circumstances surrounding Scott’s death.  The longer she tried to make sense of it, the longer she put off mourning.  Maybe that was the whole idea.  Jill knew all too well how difficult it was to lose someone you truly loved.  She had been down that road once herself.

She had been seventeen when she met Richard.  He was tall and handsome with huge brown eyes.  A private in the army, stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.  He promised to give her a better life.  Take her out of the squalor she had known.

As a benefit of being in the military, they would travel the world.  Far away from her mother who drank too much.  And more importantly, away from her mother’s steady parade of boyfriends.  Each one slimier than the one before.

Finally, she had someone who really cared about her.  Not someone who just wanted to use her for sex.  Jill quit high school and married Richard in a little chapel in Clarksville.  They moved into married housing on the base, and for nearly a year, her life was like a fairy tale.  But then it all ended.

Richard was killed during a training exercise.  For a long while, she thought she would die too.

After Richard’s funeral, there was no way she was going to return to her mother’s house.  Seventeen years of that hell had been enough.  She took Richard’s death benefits, moved to Nashville and got her GED.  And then her real estate license.

Things had changed a lot since then.  She had changed.  All that was a part of her old life.  The life she kept buried.  Shared with no one.  Tried to forget.  But losing Richard was one pain she would always remember.

CHAPTER 14

Toni got into her car and pulled her mobile phone out of her purse.  She punched in the number listed in Nico’s personnel file.  She recognized the exchange issued by a local cellular company.  Her own number began with the same three digits.

After one ring, a mechanical voice answered.  “The number you have reached is no longer in service.”

“Uuuhhhh!”  She banged her palm against the steering wheel.

Great.  Now what?  Nico had most likely moved on to another city.  She would probably never find him.

She crumpled up the sticky note and tossed it into the trashcan hanging on the rear of the passenger seat.  She had been so sure he had seen something.  Had some sliver of information, the missing puzzle piece that would tie Brian to Scott’s death.  Now, it looked like she would never know.

There had to be some way.  Something she hadn’t thought of.  She just couldn’t give up on Nico yet.  She had to figure out a way to locate him.

She climbed between the two front seats and fished through the trash until she found the sticky note.  As she was returning to her seat, she glanced through the windshield and saw Jill walking across the parking garage.

Toni ducked.

She watched Jill get into her car and speed away.  Clint’s car was still missing.  She needed to leave before he arrived.  She didn’t want to pass him on the way out.

Toni drove out of the garage and headed toward interstate sixty-five.  She picked up her phone again and dialed her office.  Janet answered.

“Hi, it’s me,” Toni said.  “I need you to do something for me.”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“Based on the number of sales I’ve had the last two quarters, I was thinking of hiring some help for you and Cheryl.  I know you could use it.”

“Really?  We have been spread pretty thin lately, not that I’m complaining or anything.”

“I know.  Anyway, there’s a girl named Marcie.  She works in the human resources department at Chadwick & Shore.  I need you to call her and ask her to bring her résumé by the office.  Have her fill out an application while she’s there.  And make sure she understands she’ll have to take classes and get her real estate license.”

“I’ll do it as soon as we hang up.  Anything else?”

“That’s it.  How are things on your end?  Any problems?”

“Not so far.”

“I’ll knock on wood.”

“Oh, before you go, you do have a message here.  Townsend Mortgage called.  They approved the loan on Rachel Court.  They set the closing for two o’clock tomorrow.  Do you still want me to cover it for you?”

“Yes, if you don’t mind.  I’m not really up to it yet.”

“Don’t worry.  I’ll hold the sellers’ hands for you.  They won’t even realize you’re not there.”

“Thanks.”

Toni hung up the phone.  She was glad to hear the mortgage company had approved the loan.  It was touch and go there for a while.  A few problems had surfaced regarding the buyer’s recent divorce.  His ex-wife had failed to make payments on a car still in his name.  Luckily, he had managed to clear things up.

That was it!

Why didn’t she think of it sooner?  She had all the required information.

She dialed the number for the loan officer at Townsend.

“Helen Dove.”

“Helen, it’s Toni.”

“How are you, sweetie?”

“I’m holding up.”

“I’m glad to hear it.  I’ve been thinking about you.  Saying a few prayers too.”

“Thanks.  I need all the prayers I can get.”

“Did Janet tell you about Rachel Court?”

“Yes she did, but that’s not why I’m calling.  I have a buyer I need you to pre-qualify.”

“Okay, go ahead.”

“He recently did some work for Chadwick & Shore.  I’m not real sure about his credit history.  He was a little sketchy with the details.  I’d like to get a credit report pulled before I spend a lot of time showing him houses.”

“Smart girl.  What’s his name?”

“Nico Williams.”

“Address?”

“Umm, well, I didn’t realize it until now, but he has it listed as a post office box.  Is that a problem?”

“No.  It won’t matter.  His physical address will come back on the report.”

“That’s what I thought.”  Toni gave Helen Nico’s social security and driver’s license numbers.

“Okay.  I’ll go ahead and pull the report.”

“Thanks.  Oh, and Helen, could you give me his correct address when it comes back?  I like to have my files complete.”

“Will do.”

“Great.  One more thing, I don’t know when I’ll be back in the office, so phone me either on my cell or at home with the information.”

“You got it.  Take care, sweetie.”

Toni smiled as she ended the call.  Maybe she would be able to find Nico after all.  Even if he had moved, it was possible that he had left a forwarding address with his neighbors.  Or they might know his relatives or a girlfriend.  Anything that could help her track him down.

Now, if she could only get a lead on Gloria Keith.  Who was she?  What was her connection to Scott?

Toni drummed her fingers on the steering wheel.  If she were Detective Lewis and she wanted to find out about someone who had died, who would she talk to?  Who would she take a statement from?  The obvious choices were the deceased’s close friends, relatives, and co-workers.

Where did Gloria fit in?  She had to be a business associate.  That would be the only way to explain why Toni had never heard of her.  Maybe she had met with Scott the day before he died.  Maybe that’s why Lewis decided to question her.

Toni scanned her memory, trying to recall anything Scott might have said about his schedule that day.  The only thing she could remember him talking about was the hotel.  But if Gloria had been involved with the project, Jill would have known her.

Then Toni realized something.  She had spent the previous night scouring phone listings for Nico’s number, but she had never once thought to search for Gloria’s.

The next exit was less than half a mile down the road.  She glanced at the car beside her and then checked her rearview mirror.  A steady line of cars filled the right hand lane.  Toni stomped on the gas and swerved over, inciting a riot of honking horns.  She threw up her hand in apology and pulled off the interstate.  She drove into a gas station near the exit.

Toni parked her car and pulled her laptop computer out of the case on the back seat.  Luckily, she had a strong wireless signal.  After connecting, she ran a phone directory search.  Two listings were possible matches.  G.A. Keith and G.S. Keith.  Toni dialed the first number.  A man answered.

“May I speak to Gloria?” Toni asked.

“You’ve got the wrong number.”  The man slammed down the phone.

Strike one.

Toni punched in the second number.  After the third ring, an answering machine picked up.

“Hi, this is Gloria.  You know what to do.”

The machine beeped and Toni hung up the phone.  It had to be her.  How many Gloria Keiths could there be in the Nashville area?  She wrote down the address then pulled up the map on her car’s navigation system.  Gloria lived on a small street off West End Avenue, near Vanderbilt University.

Toni checked her watch.  It was only eight forty-five.  How long before Gloria would be home?  Did she come home for lunch?  Or would it be after five before she returned?  Finding her address had been easy.  Waiting was the hard part.

Toni packed up her laptop computer and then pulled out of the gas station.  She drove along a side street, lost in thought.  What information did Gloria have?  Did she know Brian?

Toni ran through several different scenarios in her mind, driving on autopilot again.  The next thing she knew, she was at the cemetery.  And like the day of the funeral when she had driven to the hotel, she couldn’t remember exactly how she got there.  The feeling was even stranger today.  Like an unseen force had called silently to her, had drawn her to the place where she last said goodbye to Scott.

She rolled through the gates and stopped near the same spot she and Mark had parked for the funeral.  There were dozens of other cars lining the lane up ahead, and she could see a memorial service in progress down the slope.  The same funeral home that conducted Scott’s service, the same green awning.

Toni switched off the ignition and got out.  Unconsciously, her hand slid to the knife holstered on her side.  She scanned the cemetery, looking for anyone who seemed out of place.  Seeing no one of interest, she locked her car door and headed up the slope to Scott’s grave.

Brian parked the mustang just outside the gates of the cemetery and watched her through his binoculars.  He half believed she was on to him.  Why else would she have conned her way into his hotel room?

And today, she had been overly cautious.  Almost as if she knew he was following her.  He had noticed her constantly checking her rearview mirror, and then she made the sudden exit from the interstate.  Now the trip to the cemetery.  Although he didn’t think she had actually spotted him, he knew she was suspicious.

At least one thing was certain.  She hadn’t yet found the tap on her phone line.  He had camped outside her home the night before, hidden in the clump of evergreens, listening to her make call after call, desperately trying to locate Nico Williams.

He guessed that was the reason she had driven to Chadwick & Shore the first thing this morning.  He considered following her inside just to make sure, but decided against it.  He wondered where she would go next.  It didn’t really matter.  With the tracking system installed, she wouldn’t be able to lose him.  He would stay out of sight.  Make her feel at ease.

But wherever she went, whatever she did, he would be right behind her.

CHAPTER 15

Toni knocked on the door of apartment G-101.

It was only eleven thirty, but she hoped by some chance Gloria might be home.  When there was no answer, she knocked again.  She leaned toward the door and listened for any sounds coming from inside the apartment.  Not able to hear anything, she decided to leave.  She had already started to walk away when the door swung open.

A woman with short honey-colored hair and the body of a centerfold model stood in the doorway.  She looked to be in her early twenties and was wearing a turquoise tank top and low-rise jeans.  A pair of oversized gold hoops dangled from her ears.

“Are you Gloria Keith?”

“That’s me.”

“My name is Toni Matthews.  I was hoping –”

“I know who you are.  I’ve been expecting you.  Come on in.”

Gloria led her into the small living room, stuffed with large antiques.  “Have a seat,” she said.

Toni sat down on a Victorian sofa in mint condition.  She glanced around the room.  A matching side table held pictures of Gloria and a man in his mid-thirties, along with pictures of a thin older woman, probably her mother.  Most of the other furnishings were from the same period.  Each as perfectly preserved as the sofa.  Whoever Gloria was, she had expensive tastes.

Gloria sat next to Toni.  “I see you like the furniture.”

Although Toni had never been fond of the Victorian style, she smiled.  “You have some very nice pieces.”

“They belonged to my grandmother.  She died a few months ago.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It happens.  But little miss real estate agent knows that.  Don’t you?”

Surprised by Gloria’s rudeness, Toni hesitated, then nodded.  “Yes, I do.”

“Which is why you’re here, right?”

Toni wondered why a woman she had only just met would regard her with such veiled hostility.  “I wanted to talk to you about Scott Chadwick.  You gave a statement to Detective Lewis after he died.”

“And you want to know why.”

“Yes.”

“I thought you would have figured it out by now.”

“Figured what out?”

“They say the wife is always the last to know.  I guess it’s true.”  Gloria smiled.  “Scott and I were lovers.”

Toni felt like someone had just punched her in the stomach.  “What do you mean, you were lovers?  You mean before I met him?”

“No.  I mean exactly what I said.  We met a couple of years ago at Vanderbilt.  He was a guest lecturer for my design class.  We started seeing each other back then, and we never stopped.  We were together right up until the very end.”

Toni felt her intestines knot.  “I don’t believe you.”

“Believe it.  It’s true.  I have no reason to lie.”

Toni just sat there staring at the blonde.  It couldn’t be true.  There was no way.  “Why are you doing this?”

Gloria grinned like she’d just won a prize.  “Face it.  Scott needed something more than you could ever give him.  He wasn’t satisfied sharing his bed with a boring, uptight businesswoman.”

Toni slapped Gloria hard across the face.

“You, bitch!”  Gloria jumped up from the sofa.  “You have no right to come into my house and think you can knock me around.”

“You’re right, I don’t.  Just like you have no right to lie about your relationship with Scott.”

“I’m not lying.”  Gloria rubbed her left cheek.  “He was here, in this apartment, the day before he died.  We had sex on this very rug.  And afterward, we had a long talk.  He was upset.  I don’t know all the details, but his business was going belly up and it was his fault.  He said he was losing everything.  His money, his properties and you too.  He knew you would call off the wedding once you found out he was going broke.

"That's insane.  His money never mattered to me."

"He didn't believe that.  And he said there was no way to start his business back up again.  That no banks would ever lend to him once he declared bankruptcy.  Scott felt like his life was already over.  Rather than go through the humiliation, he just wanted to end it.  To kill himself.  And he wanted me to help him.  I'd had some problems with an ex-boyfriend a while back.  He had threatened me, so I bought a handgun for protection.  Scott asked me for it.  I lied and told him I didn't have the gun anymore."

"Do you realize how ridiculous all this sounds?  Scott would never want to die just because he lost his business.  He knew I would always be there for him, that I'd love him the same rich or poor.  If he had been upset enough to even think about shooting himself, he would have come to me first.  He would have talked to me about it."

"Newsflash – Scott didn't tell you everything.  You didn't know him half as well as you think.  He was a totally different person when he was away from you."

Toni stared Gloria straight in the eyes, challenging her words.  The man she was describing didn't even remotely resemble Scott.

Unable to hold her gaze, Gloria looked away.  “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get some ice for my face.”  She started toward the kitchen.

Even though she didn’t believe a word of what Gloria had said, Toni felt like she might puke.  “Do you mind if I use your bathroom?”

“Go ahead.  It’s at the end of the hall.”

Toni let the cold water run over her hands and then splashed some on her face.  How could this be happening?  Why would Gloria make up such a crazy story?  What did she have to gain?

Toni opened the medicine cabinet.  She found all the usual things a woman would keep in her bathroom.  She noticed there was only one toothbrush.  There weren’t any men’s toiletries at all.  Under the vanity, Gloria had stowed several rolls of toilet paper and some cleaning products.  Toni checked the tub.  Shampoo, conditioner and some lavender bubble bath.  There was nothing in the room to indicate Scott, or any other man for that matter, had ever showered there.

Toni eased open the bathroom door and glanced down the hallway.  She could hear Gloria still in the kitchen.  Leaving the bathroom light on, she pushed the door closed and then slipped into one of the bedrooms.

An elegantly carved bed stood against one wall.  A chest of drawers, a dresser, and an armoire crowded the remainder of the room.  There were several photos on display featuring the same three subjects as those in the living room.

Toni closed her eyes and tried to sense Scott’s presence, to smell a hint of his cologne.  Anything that would lead her to believe he had been there.  She felt nothing.

She slid open the door to the closet.  The trendiest of women’s fashions hung inside along with several designer gowns and a full-length sable coat.  Toni wondered what Gloria did for a living.  Her wardrobe was worth a fortune.  Maybe Grandma had left her the money to pay for the clothes.  Not to mention her silicone boobs.

Toni checked the hallway again.

She sneaked out of the first bedroom and into the second.  The décor came as a shock.  A child’s painted white furniture and a canopy bed filled the room.  A menagerie of stuffed animals littered the ruffled pink bedspread.  Paintings of horses lined the walls.

Did Gloria have a daughter?  Toni hadn’t seen any pictures of a little girl anywhere in the apartment.  She realized there were no pictures of Scott either.

She opened one of the chest drawers.  It was empty.  So was the dresser.  Something was off here.

Way off.

She hurried out of the bedroom and back to the bath.  After flushing the toilet, she turned off the light and returned to the living room.  Gloria sat on the sofa holding an icepack against her face.

“I’m sorry I took so long,” Toni said.  “I needed some time to regain my composure.”

“Good.  I don’t feel like getting a bruise on my other cheek.”

Toni didn’t bother sitting down.  “I shouldn’t have hit you.  But you shouldn’t have provoked me either.”

“I’m just telling it like it is.”

“No, you’re not.  It may be true that you had a fling with Scott at one time.  And you may have remained friends.  But there’s one thing I know for sure.  There’s no way he slept with you after he starting seeing me.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.  And here’s another thing I know.  Scott may have been having problems at the office.  He may even have mentioned them to you.  And for some reason, maybe for the attention, maybe to get back at him for dumping you, you decided to make up a story about him wanting to commit suicide.  You even went to the police.  But there’s one thing I know that you don’t.”

“Really?  What’s that?”

“Scott wasn’t alone at the hotel that morning.  Someone met him there.  They argued.  There was a struggle in the elevator.  He lost his pen.  When the elevator stopped, the fight continued.  Someone pushed Scott off that balcony.  He was murdered.  I know who killed him.  And in a few days, I’ll have all the evidence I need to prove it.”

Gloria stared at her, dumbfounded.  She opened her mouth like she was about to say something, but then closed it again.

It didn’t matter.  Toni had heard enough.  She turned her back and walked out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her.

CHAPTER 16

Toni reread the first handwritten condition listed on the sales contract and again failed to comprehend the words.  She had been staring at the document for the last twenty minutes and she still had no idea what it said.

Her mind was stuck on Gloria Keith, and it refused to budge.

She dropped the contract on top of her desk and cradled her head in her hands.  She closed her eyes and massaged her temples.  Was it possible?  Could Scott have had a lover on the side?

The very nature of his job kept him out of the office most of the day, and he had no one to account to for his time.  The opportunity had definitely been there.  But none of the signs were.

Wouldn’t she have known if he had been seeing someone else?  Wouldn’t she have sensed it?  During all the time they were together, she had never once suspected Scott of being unfaithful.  He was too straightforward.  Too loyal.  She knew him inside and out.  Cheating wasn’t in his personality.  He just wasn’t the type.

She picked up the contract again and tried to concentrate.

The intercom buzzed.

“Yes?”

It was Janet.  “You have a call on line one,” she said.  “It’s about your listing in Leiper’s Fork.  He said he’s ready to make an offer, and he’ll only speak to you.”

“I’ll take it.  Thanks.”

Built by a country music star, the horse farm southwest of Nashville was her highest priced listing.  It was currently on the market at five and a half million.  She picked up the phone.  “Toni Matthews.”

“Miss Matthews, my name is Davis Michener.  You may have heard of me.  I own the chain of Michener’s restaurants.”

She recognized the name.  His family-style restaurants were located throughout the southeastern part of the country.  “Yes, I have.  How can I help you, Mr. Michener?”

“You have a piece of property out in Leiper’s Fork.  It’s exactly what my wife and I have been looking for.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

“We saw the grounds and the stables this morning.  The gate was open, so we took the liberty of driving up to the house.  I hope that was okay.”

Another agent must have left it open.  She had written strict instructions in the showing information.  The owners wanted the gate kept closed at all times.  She would have to check the list and find out who showed the property last.

“Yes, that’s fine,” Toni said.  “I’m glad you were able to get in.”

“From what we’ve seen so far, we love the place.  We just need to see inside the home, and then we’ll be ready to sign a contract.  We’d like to do it tonight.”

“That’s sounds wonderful.  I just need you to come by the office first, and then I’ll take you out to the house.”

“No, no that’s not possible.  You see, we’re down in Columbia right now.  I have a business meeting late this afternoon.  We’re opening another restaurant here.  We can meet you at the house after that.  Say, around seven-thirty?”

Toni had a policy never to meet a buyer without having them come into the office first.  That way she could feel them out a little, get a copy of their driver’s license and some background information.  Make sure they were for real.  She had heard too many horror stories of agents being robbed, or sometimes worse.  The property at Leiper’s Fork was vacant.  And it would be dark by seven-thirty.

“I’d love to meet you there,” Toni said.  “But our company’s managing broker insists that we meet all customers here at the office.”

“I can understand that, but we just don’t have the time.  We have to be at the airport before ten o’clock.  My wife will be heartbroken if we don’t get to see it.  Your assistant told me the asking price.  It’s a lot less than we figured.  And we’re prepared to pay cash.  Of course, I guess we could have another agent show it to us.”

Toni knew that any other agent would jump at the chance.

Why should she give up the sales side of the commission when it was right here in her hand?  Maybe it would be okay to break her policy just this once.  After all, Mr. Michener was a well-known businessman.  “Since you’re on such a tight schedule, I’ll be happy to meet you at the property.”

“You’re sure?  We don’t want to get you into any trouble with your boss.”

“I’m sure.  It’ll be fine.  Just let me get a phone number in case I need to contact you before then.”

Toni wrote down Mr. Michener’s mobile phone number.  She still felt a little uneasy about breaking her cardinal rule, but if she made the sale, it would be worth it.  “Thank you, Mr. Michener.  I’ll see you at seven-thirty.”

Toni hung up the phone and went back to her contract.  She forced herself to focus on the terms of the offer.  The buyers wanted the sellers to leave all the window treatments and to pay for a home warranty.  They also wanted the playground equipment in the back yard.  The last item might prove to be a deal breaker.  She knew the sellers had already arranged to move it to their new home.

She buzzed Janet on the intercom.  “Can you call the Wilsons and let them know that I have an offer?”

“I already did, remember?  You asked me to call them half an hour ago.”

“Did I?  What did they say?”

“They’ll be home the rest of the afternoon.”

It took Toni nearly two hours to get the Wilsons to come to an agreement on a counter offer.  As she had suspected, Mr. Wilson was dead set against leaving his son’s playground equipment, and Mrs. Wilson had no intention of leaving any of the window treatments.  On top of all that, even after seeing a market analysis, they both felt that the sales price on the offer was too low.

By the time Toni left their house, it was almost five o’clock.

Instead of returning to her office, she drove to the office of the agent who had written the offer.  After getting a copy for her files, she gave the original to the sales agent.  The two sides were so far apart, it would be a miracle if the contract was ever worked out.

As Toni walked back to her car, she scanned the parking lot, looking for anyone suspicious.  Seeing no one, she let her mind drift back to Gloria.

Even though she didn’t believe that Scott had cheated, the encounter still bothered her.  She wondered how long it had been since their breakup.  Scott had asked Toni to marry him almost nine months ago, and she was pretty sure that he had dated her exclusively for at least a few months prior.

Gloria’s attitude definitely fit that of a woman scorned, even after all that time.  But if she had still carried feelings for Scott, why were there no mementos of him in her apartment?  Maybe because she had a new boyfriend.  The man Toni had seen in the photographs.

But if she did have a new love, why would she tell the police that she was still seeing Scott?  Wouldn’t that jeopardize her new relationship?

None of it really made any sense.

Toni got into her car and fastened her safety belt.  Mark’s office was just down the street.  If Scott had dated Gloria, he would know about it.  Maybe she could get some straight answers for a change.  She picked up her cell phone and dialed Mark’s number.

“Hi, it’s Toni.”

“Hey.  I was just thinking about calling you.  What are you up to?”

“Just work.  I’m down the street at a real estate office.  I was wondering if I could swing by.  There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

“Sure.  Come on over.”

Toni was at Mark’s office in a matter of minutes.  His secretary showed her in and then asked to leave for the day.  Mark agreed and then closed the door behind her.  Instead of sitting at his desk, he took a seat in a chair next to Toni.

“What’s on your mind?” he asked.

“Well, I’m going to ask you something and I want you to tell me the truth.  I don’t want it sugar coated.  I don’t want you to try to protect me.  No matter how you think I might react, I need you to be honest.”

“Do you want my opinion on whether or not Brian will get the house?”

“No.  That’s not it.”

“Then what?  What could be so important?”

“Promise me first.”

“I promise.  I’ll be honest with you.”

Toni took a deep breath.  She wanted to know the truth, but at the same time, she dreaded hearing it.  “Tell me about Gloria Keith.”

Mark’s face froze.  He dropped his head, stared at the floor a moment, then got up from his chair and walked to the window.  He stood there, saying nothing.

Toni’s heart felt like it had stopped.  It refused to beat again until she heard his reply.

Finally, Mark turned from the window.  “How do you know about Gloria Keith?”

Toni’s throat tightened.  Why was he asking questions?  Why didn’t he just come out and say it.  Why couldn’t he just tell her and get it over with?  “Does it matter?”

Mark dropped his gaze to the floor again and shook his head.  He returned to his chair, sat on the edge, his elbows on his knees.  “I had no idea he was seeing her.  Not until after …”

“After Scott died?”

Mark nodded.  “She was at the police station.  Detective Lewis called me in for an interview.  She was leaving as I was going in.  She stopped me, and we talked.  I swear, I didn’t know until then.”

“Scott never told you about her?”

“No.  I don’t really think she was the kind of girl worth mentioning.  She was more the type that’s just for fun.”

“Even so, don’t you think it’s odd he never talked about her at all?  I thought men liked to brag about their conquests.”

“He dated a lot of different girls before he met you.  It’s possible that he said something about her back then and I just don’t remember it.”

“So aside from what Gloria told you at the station, you have no real evidence that Scott was still seeing her.  Is that right?”

“I feel like I’m being cross examined.”

“But I’m right, aren’t I?  The only thing you have is her word.”

“That’s true.  It’s all hearsay.”

“Don’t make fun of me.”

“I’m sorry.  I’m just not sure what you’re going for here.”

“Then I’ll tell you.  I don’t believe her.  I think Scott broke up with her a long time ago.  I think she made up the story she told to Detective Lewis.”

Mark didn’t answer.  He just looked at her.

“What?” she asked.  “What are you thinking?”

“Nothing.”

“Tell me.  You promised.”

Mark took her hand in his.  “I think you’re in a lot of pain.  I think you need someone to direct your anger toward.”

“And you think Gloria Keith is my target?”

“If you take your anger out on her, then you can avoid being angry at Scott.”

“You just don’t get it, do you?  I’m not mad at Scott.”

“Aren’t you?”

Toni got up from her chair.  “This is pointless.”  She headed for the door.

“Wait, where are you going?”

“I need to be alone.  I need some time to think.”

CHAPTER 17

Dana Dawson leaned her hip against Janet’s empty desk, crossed her arms, and waited for Cheryl to get off the phone.  Who was she talking to anyway?  Probably her boyfriend.  Never mind that she had work to do.  Dana held up her wrist and tapped her watch indicating that she was in a hurry.

Cheryl nodded and raised her index finger letting Dana know that she would only be a second.  “Yes, I’ll be sure to tell Toni,” she said into the receiver.  “I’ll go ahead and put in the ad change myself.”  She hung up the phone.

“I need a copy of the termite inspection for Coldwater Court,” Dana said.  “The buyers want to see it before closing.”

Cheryl scribbled something on a note pad.  “Okay, just let me finish writing this message for Toni and I’ll pull the file.”

“And how much longer will that take?”

Cheryl put down her pen and walked to the filing cabinet.  “Coldwater Court, right?”

“That’s what I said.”

Cheryl found the file and flipped through the contents.  She pulled out the termite inspection, placed it on the copier, and hit the start button.  The machine hummed as the light began to pass across the document.  Half way through, it stopped.

“It’s jammed again,” Cheryl said.

“What?”

“The copier.  It’s been acting up all day.”  She opened the front of the machine and tried to dislodge the paper.  “It’s no use.  I’ll have to call the repairman.”

Dana shook her head.  How could Toni have hired someone so incompetent?  “I need that inspection report now.”

“I know.  I’ll run downstairs and make a copy.”

“Well, hurry up.  I told you, I don’t have all night.”

After leaving Mark’s office, Toni had driven aimlessly down the highway.  Even though she was convinced Gloria had lied, she couldn’t get the blonde out of her head.

Why would she go to the police and tell them Scott wanted to kill himself?  Why would she announce to the world that he was having an affair when he had been scheduled to be married that same week?  Had her break up with Scott been so bitter that she wanted to ruin his reputation?

Even if Scott had been sleeping with Gloria, Toni doubted his business associates would care.  The only person that lie could hurt was Toni herself.  But the lie about the suicide had done some real damage.  Because of her, Detective Lewis refused to consider the possibility that Scott’s death was a homicide.  Gloria had single-handedly prevented a murder investigation.  Thanks to her, Brian might go free.

Toni couldn’t let that happen.

She glanced out the passenger window and then realized where she was.  She had driven north on interstate sixty-five all the way to Goodlettsville.  The exit for Rivergate Mall was just up ahead.  She checked the clock on the dashboard.  It was already forty-five minutes past six.  She was supposed to meet Mr. and Mrs. Michener in Leiper’s Fork at seven-thirty.  There was no way she could make it on time.

She would just have to apologize and see if they would be willing to reschedule.  If they were really serious about the property, they would be back.  But more than likely, they would find another agent.

That would be okay.  Handling both sides of a sale that large could be overly time consuming.  Each party would require a lot of handholding.  She wasn’t ready to devote herself to that yet.  Not until after she had collected enough evidence to prove what Brian had done.  She wanted to make sure he was locked away for a long, long time.

Toni pulled off the interstate and drove into the mall parking lot.  She rummaged through her briefcase for the Micheners’ phone number.  Then she remembered.  She had left it on her desk.  She would have to call the office.  Cheryl would still be there.  It was her night to work late.

Dana sat in Janet’s chair and poked through the papers on her desk.  Toni had a new listing.  One she hadn’t made public yet.  All the forms were postdated and there were instructions not to enter it into the multiple listing service or allow it to be shown.  Dana wondered if it was a pocket listing.  A property so hot that Toni wanted to keep it from hitting the market just long enough to find her own buyer.  It was a trick Dana used quite often.

She wrote down the address and the pertinent information on the home, along with the owner’s name and phone number.  She might just find a buyer herself.

The phone rang.

Dana ignored the call.  There was no way she was going to play secretary.  She put the listing back on the corner of Janet’s desk and continued to snoop through the remaining papers.

The phone rang three more times and then the answering machine picked up.

“Cheryl, it’s Toni.  I had an appointment with Mr. & Mrs. Michener at seven-thirty.  They’re the couple who want to make an offer on the Leiper’s Fork property.  Anyway, I was supposed to meet them at the house, but I’m not going to be able to make it.  I need you to call them for me.  I forgot and left their number on my desk.  Try to get them to reschedule.  Thanks.  I’ll talk to you later.”

Dana swiveled around in her chair.  The Leiper’s Fork property?  And they were ready to make an offer?  How could Toni be so stupid?

Dana went to the answering machine and erased the message.

She checked the outer hallway, making sure Cheryl was still downstairs, and then opened the door to Toni’s private office.  She flipped on the light.  In the middle of the desk, she found a sticky note.  It read Davis Michener, Michener restaurants.  Underneath, Toni had written the phone number.

Dana stuck the note in her pocket.  Toni shouldn’t be so careless with her buyers.  Anyone could just come along and snatch them up.  Dana mentally calculated the sales side of the commission.  Enough to buy the new Mercedes she had her eye on.

Toni was an idiot.  She deserved to lose the sale.

Dana turned out the light and closed the door.  She checked her watch.  There was just enough time for her to drive to Leiper’s Fork.  She pulled the combs from her long red hair letting it cascade over her shoulders.

She couldn’t wait to see the expression on Toni’s face when she handed her the signed sales contract.  It would be a moment of triumph.

One of those moments she lived for.

Gloria lay on her back on the white bed and stared up at the ruffled pink canopy.  She was in her childhood dream room.  The room she had fantasized about nearly every night while she was growing up.

She remembered those nights long ago, trying to fall asleep on the tattered sofa bed with a broken spring poking her ribs.  She would close her eyes and pretend her sister, Sylvia, wasn’t really lying beside her, and that her brother was not sleeping next to them on the living room floor.

She would shut out the noises from the trailers next door, and from the bedroom down the hall.  She would imagine herself in this room.  All by herself.  A room of her own.  One fit for a princess.

The first time she had seen the room of her dreams, she was six years old.  It was Amanda Peterson’s birthday.  Amanda’s mother had invited all the girls in her class over for a party.  After playing games and eating cake, they had all gone into Amanda’s room.

Gloria had never seen anything so beautiful.  Everything had been pink and white.  There were dolls and stuffed animals everywhere.  She remembered standing in the middle of the room afraid to touch anything.

When she got home, she pulled out an old JC Penney catalog Miss Pauline, the trailer park manager, had given her to make paper dolls.  Inside she found a room similar to Amanda’s.  She tore out the picture and put it up on the refrigerator.  And she made a vow.  Some day, some how, she would have that room.

And two years ago, right after she turned twenty, that day had arrived.

Although she was too old to really enjoy it now, she bought the furniture anyway, before purchasing any of the antiques.  She wanted to fulfill the promise she had made to herself.  And in a few years, she would find a little girl to adopt.  One that nobody wanted.  A little girl who would love the room as much as she had.

Gloria pushed away her memories and sat up.  She had a lot of packing to do.  All the white furniture, including the bed, was going into storage.  She was moving to a smaller apartment over a hundred miles away.

But the move was only temporary.  Just until things blew over.  After that, she would live in her own house.  A brand new two-story just west of Nashville, with three bedrooms and a big back yard.

She might even get a dog.

With ten minutes to spare, Dana pulled her car up to the front gates of the horse farm.  She was glad to see that the Micheners hadn’t arrived yet.  She wanted to go through the house and turn on all the lights, and put some soft music on the stereo system.  She liked to set the right mood for the buyers.  Make them feel at home.

She rolled down her window and punched in the security code.  When the gates swung open, she drove up the long winding drive and parked her red Mercedes beneath the darkened port cochere.

Why hadn’t Toni left the outside lights on?  It wasn’t as if the sellers couldn’t afford the electric bill.

Leaving her headlights on, Dana got out of her car and walked up to the front door.  A steady cadence of crickets and tree frogs echoed through the hills.  The deafening noise was nearly enough to drive her crazy.  She fumbled with the lock box.  After a few seconds, it opened and she took out the key.

She unlocked the door and then returned to her car and switched off her headlights.  The last thing she wanted was to get stuck out in the boonies with a dead battery.  She hoped to show the house and get the contract written up by nine or ten o’clock.  That way, she could get to bed at a decent hour.

She needed her rest.  She had an early breakfast date with a young doctor from Vanderbilt hospital.  He was a cardiologist.  Just like her father.  If things worked out as she hoped, she might be spending part of her commission money on a wedding dress.

Dana grabbed her briefcase from the passenger seat and walked back to the front door.  As she turned the knob, she thought she heard a noise coming from inside the house.  She knew the owners had moved out before putting their home on the market.

She paused and listened.  All she could hear was the band of night creatures still playing on.  It had probably just been the house settling, or the wind blowing a tree branch across one of the windows.

She pushed the door open and stepped into the foyer.  The house was dark and still.  She could kick Toni for not leaving on at least one or two of the lights.  What was with that girl?

Dana ran her hand along the wall next to the door searching for the light switch.  She found a bank of three.  She flipped the first switch.  Nothing happened.  She flipped the other two.  Still, no lights came on.

“This is just freaking great.”

There must be a blown fuse or a tripped breaker.  That would also explain why the outside lights were off.  Now she would have to go back out to her car, rummage through her trunk for a flashlight, and then stumble around the house looking for the stupid breaker box.  She could be here all night.

She leaned down and placed her briefcase on the floor.  When she stood back up, she noticed a bright red dot on the lapel of her jacket.

“What the –”

Dana barely felt a thing as the bullet pierced her heart.

CHAPTER 18

Toni pulled into her driveway and pushed the remote button for the garage door.  It felt strange coming home to a house that was all lit up.  It looked so cheery and welcoming.  Almost like a party was going on inside.  She wished that were the case.

How many competent twenty-nine year olds were afraid to turn their lights off at night?  But then again, how many thought they had a killer watching them?

She drove into the garage, shut the door, and then looked around before getting out of her car.  The idea of someone being in her garage seemed unlikely.  But she had once read an article in a real estate magazine about thieves who were able to clone garage door remotes.  If Brian had hired a professional, he would probably know how to do it.

She went inside the house and immediately reset the security system.  After dropping her purse on the kitchen counter, she noticed her answering machine was blinking.  She wondered if the Micheners had called.  Or maybe it was Cheryl telling her that they had decided to use another agent.

She pressed the play button.

Instead, it was Mark’s voice.  “Toni, call me when you get in.  If it’s not too late, maybe we can have dinner.  And even if it is late, call me anyway.”

She erased the message.  She didn’t feel like talking to Mark.  Not now.  Lately, he had been so busy trying to psychoanalyze her that he couldn’t hear what she was actually saying.  She knew he was just trying to help.  But if she needed someone to delve into her psyche, she would call a shrink.

Her stomach growled and she realized she hadn’t eaten since breakfast.  She opened her refrigerator and scanned the contents.  She didn’t really feel like cooking.  She could order a pizza, but then she would have to unlock the door for the delivery person.  It seemed ridiculous, but she didn’t want to take that risk.  She decided to polish off the rest of the tuna salad.

She grabbed a plate, two slices of bread, the tuna, a Coke, and a bag of Chee·tos and took them all into the family room.  She piled the food onto the coffee table, pulled off her jacket and kicked off her shoes.  She slid her fingers across the weapon holstered on her side.  Was she kidding herself, thinking it would actually be enough protection?  Maybe so.  But it was all she had.

After slipping off her belt and holster and dropping them onto the coffee table, Toni plopped down on the sofa and switched on the television.  An old rerun of Friends was playing on one of the cable channels.  She opened the container of tuna salad and spread it across the bread while Joey and Ross tried to find a way off the roof of the apartment building.

As the friends started down the fire escape, Toni heard a noise outside.  She put down her sandwich.  A dog was barking.  It was close.  Somewhere in her back yard.

She peeked through the slats in the plantation shutters and searched the lawn.  She couldn’t see anything.  It sounded as if the barking was coming from the end of the house that had no windows.

Her neighbors to the left had a dog.  A chocolate Lab with an Energizer in its tail.  She had seen it in their yard a few times, but she had never heard it bark before.  Maybe it had never had a reason.  Not until now.

What if the person Brian had hired to kill her was outside right now?

Toni muted the volume on the television.  She stood next to the French doors listening for any other sounds in the back yard.  The barking was too loud to make out anything else.

This was stupid.  She was being paranoid again.  Dogs barked.  It didn’t necessarily mean that anything was wrong.

Trying to convince herself that the dog was chasing a rabbit or opossum or maybe even a raccoon, Toni went back to her sandwich.  She reasoned with herself.  If the person after her was in her yard, wouldn’t he shut the dog up?  Kill it before it could warn her?  That made sense.  She had nothing to worry about.

If the dog yelped in pain, then she could worry.

After finishing her dinner, she curled up on the sofa.  With the TV volume low, she tried to concentrate on an old black and white western.  It was no use.  She kept thinking about Brian.  He had made Scott’s death look like a suicide.  What did he have planned for her?

A thought crossed her mind and she sat up.

What if the killer was trying to get the dog to bark?

What if he wanted to lure her out of the house?

You saw it in horror movies all the time.  First there would be a noise outside.  Then a scantily-clad teenaged babysitter, or some other beautiful but stupid and usually female character would go out to investigate.  The next thing you knew, the killer would be slashing them into little pieces.

Only this wasn’t a movie.  This was real.

The dog continued barking throughout the night, fueling her imagination and making it impossible for her to let go of her fear.  It was after dawn when she finally drifted off to sleep.

Later that afternoon, Toni awoke on the sofa with a kink in her neck.

She stretched and rolled her shoulders moving her head from side to side.  She glanced at the television.  Dana Dawson’s picture was on the screen.  Then the camera switched to a female reporter standing outside the gates of the horse farm in Leiper’s Fork.

Toni grabbed the remote and turned up the volume.

“—killed last night by a single gunshot wound to the heart,” the reporter said.  “A groundskeeper found her body early this morning.  The police are telling us robbery was the apparent motive.  The victim’s purse and jewelry are missing as well as her car.  But the police are not yet sure how many items are missing from the home …”

Dana was dead.

Shot last night.

The Micheners.

Toni picked up the phone.  Her hands shaking, she dialed the office.  Janet answered.

“Have you heard about Dana?” Toni asked.

“Yes.  About an hour ago.  We were going to call you but—”

“It was supposed to be me.”

“What?”

“Let me speak to Cheryl.”

Across town, another phone rang.

“Yeah?”

“You idiot, you killed the wrong person.”

“It was dark.  They look a lot alike.  I couldn’t tell, not until it was over.”

“Now she knows for sure.  What if she goes to the police again?”

“She won’t.  I’ll take care of it.”

“You better.  And no screw-ups this time.  I want her dead.”

Cheryl came on the line.

“Did you call Davis Michener last night?” Toni asked.

“Who?”

“The Micheners.  I left you a message on the answering machine.  I had an appointment to meet them at Leiper’s Fork.”

“No.  I didn’t get any message.  And I listened to the machine the first thing this morning.  You weren’t on it.”

“Did you see Dana last night?”

“Yes.  She came by to get a copy of a termite inspection.”

“Was she alone in the office?”

“Well, the copier jammed, so I had to run downstairs.  I was only gone a few minutes.”

That explained it.  Dana had heard the message and decided to meet the Micheners herself.  Only this time, the consequences of her conniving were fatal.  “There’s a number for Mr. Michener on my desk.  Get it for me.”

Cheryl put Toni on hold and then picked back up a couple of minutes later.  “I looked everywhere.  There’s no number.”

Dana must have taken it.

The police probably wouldn’t be able to trace the number anyway.  More than likely, the cell phone was either stolen or a cheap throwaway.  And Toni knew, the person she had talked to the day before was definitely not Davis Michener.

She hung up the phone and dialed the number for the police station.

“Detective Lewis, please,” Toni said.

“He’s not in.  Can I take a message?”

“No, no message.  I’ll call back later.”

Would it really do any good?  Detective Lewis probably wouldn’t believe her anyway.  The police saw Dana’s death as a robbery.  To them, money had been the object.  After all, the house was worth nearly six million.  Any thief would assume valuable items were inside.

Toni knew what the police were thinking.  After Dana had let the thieves into the house, she became a liability.  So they got rid of her.  Only Toni knew better.  Whoever shot Dana had missed their target.  They hadn’t been aiming for Dana.

They had been aiming for Toni.

An icy knot formed in her chest.  If she hadn’t stopped by to see Mark, she never would have driven to Goodlettsville.  She would have gone to Leiper’s Fork.  She would have been on time.  And now, she would be dead.

She went upstairs to the master bathroom and pulled off her clothes.  Turning on the water as hot as she could stand it, she stepped into the shower.  She stood under the steaming spray trying to knock the chill out of her body.

Why did Dana have to be such a schemer?  Just this once, why couldn’t she have walked away?

Damn Brian!  He should have been the one who died as a child, not Caitlin.  By now, he had to know the killer made a mistake.  How long did she have before he tried again?

When the water turned tepid, Toni got out of the shower.  After drying her hair, she dressed in a thick cable-knit sweater and a pair of jeans.  As long as she stayed locked in the house, she felt relatively safe.  But she didn’t really want to be alone.  She tried to call Mark, but he was in court.  His secretary didn’t expect him back until late.

Toni wandered through the house, unsure of what to do.  As she entered the study, she heard the rumble of thunder in the distance.  She parted the shutters and looked out the window.  Dark clouds rolled across the sky.  A storm was moving in from the west.

She ran her fingers along the edge of Scott’s desk and then sat down in his chair.  She wished she could travel back in time.  Turn the clock back to the days when she and Scott were together.  Happy.  Looking forward to their future.  She never could have imagined the way things would end.  So much had changed in one short week.

She leaned back in the chair and watched the pictures flash by on the computer screensaver.

Scott owned a digital camera, but he seldom used it.  He preferred his old Canon EOS 35mm.  After getting the film developed, he had taken the time to scan every single photo from their trip to Cozumel onto his computer’s hard drive.

Shots of them on the beach morphed into scenes of their day spent with Clint and Jill aboard a sailboat.  There were pictures of the four of them at the park at Chankanaab Lagoon and on a side trip to the ruins at Tulum.  The slideshow ended with a photo of Scott and Toni dining alfresco at a restaurant on the waterfront.

As the last picture began to dissolve, Toni’s heart nearly stopped.

It couldn’t be.

Her eyes must be playing tricks on her.  She pulled the photo album from the bookshelf next to Scott’s desk and opened it near the back.  She flipped through the pictures of their trip.  On the last page, she found the one she was looking for.  Taken as a favor by another American tourist, the photo showed Scott and Toni sitting at an umbrella table smiling, his arm around her, his head tilted toward hers.

And in the background, at a table to the right, sat Gloria Keith.

CHAPTER 19

Toni couldn’t believe it.  Gloria had been in Mexico.  Why?  Was she telling the truth about her relationship with Scott after all?  Did he bring her there?

No, it didn’t make sense.  He couldn’t have.  He had spent all his time with Toni.  They were together the whole trip.  And yet, it seemed too odd to be a coincidence.

Toni studied the photo.  It was definitely Gloria.  Wearing a lime green sundress and holding a margarita, she had her face turned directly toward the camera as if she were posing too.  Had she followed them to Cozumel in a fit of jealousy?  Or was it just a weird cosmic fluke?  One of fate’s little jokes that put them in the same place at the same time.

Maybe she had been there with her new boyfriend.  The table where she sat was at the edge of the picture, the right side cut off.  It was impossible to tell whether someone else had been sitting with her.

Considering the amount of joy Gloria had received from telling Toni she had slept with Scott, it was surprising she hadn’t come over and introduced herself.  She seemed like the type that would try to make Toni jealous.  But Gloria had never even spoken to Scott.  Why?

It would have been perfectly natural for her to say hello.  And actually strange that she didn’t.  Toni recalled they had been at the restaurant for at least an hour.  Gloria had to have seen them, and Scott must have been aware of her.  How could anyone sit that close to an ex-lover for that length of time and not realize it?

Their tables had been near enough to overhear each other’s conversations.  But Scott had never acknowledged Gloria.  Even if they had parted on bad terms and he had pretended not to see her, he should have had some kind of reaction.  There should have been a change in his body language.  Toni should have sensed something was going on.  Shouldn’t she?

Toni searched through Scott’s desk until she found his magnifying glass.  She flipped back in the album to the first page of pictures from their trip.  One by one, she examined every photo.  Gloria didn’t appear in any of the other shots.  But that didn’t mean that she hadn’t been lurking close by.

Something just wasn’t right.  Toni could feel it in the pit of her stomach.

She put the magnifying glass down and tried to remember everything Gloria had said at her apartment the day before.  It wasn’t much, other than claiming she and Scott had been lovers.  But she had also said Scott asked her to give him a gun.  That was definitely not something he would do.

Even if he did take the blame for losing the contract on the hotel, he would never have decided to shoot himself.  Gloria had made that up.  And Toni had called her on it.  She remembered the look on Gloria’s face.  Total shock.

Then Toni realized what else she had said to Gloria.  The words echoed in her mind.

I know who killed Scott, and soon I’ll have the evidence to prove it.

A few hours later, someone had called Toni’s office pretending to be Davis Michener.  That someone had killed Dana.

Gloria was the only person who knew that Toni was collecting evidence against Brian.  What if they were working together?  They could have been planning Scott’s murder for months.  Watching him, waiting for the right opportunity.  Going as far as following him to Mexico.  Even if they didn’t plan to kill him there, Gloria’s plane ticket would show she had been in Cozumel on the same date as Scott.  It could serve as proof they were having an affair.  That would make her story seem even more credible to the police.

Then another idea hit Toni.

Maybe the reason Scott hadn’t reacted to Gloria at the restaurant was because he had never seen her before.  Neither Mark nor Jill knew Gloria.  If Scott had really dated her, they should have met her at least once.  And Gloria was definitely not someone you would forget meeting.

Toni closed the photo album.

She had to find out exactly what was going on before it was too late.  What if she confronted Gloria?  Pretended to have proof that Brian murdered Scott with Gloria’s help?  Maybe Toni could get her to confess, convince her to talk to the police.  She could point out the fact that if Gloria turned herself in, she could arrange some type of plea bargain.

A clap of thunder reverberated through the house and the computer screen went blank.  Shadows invaded the room that had been brightly lit only a moment before.  The power was out.  A shiver danced down the back of Toni’s neck.  Although the security system had a battery back up, the darkness filled her with an overwhelming sense of vulnerability.

What if it hadn’t been the storm that knocked out the electricity?

What if someone had cut the power line?  What if they had somehow disarmed the security system?

Come on.  Get a grip  You're just being stupid.

She picked up the phone to see if it was still working.  She was relieved to hear a dial tone.  She punched in the number for Mark’s cell phone.  After a few rings, his voice mail answered.  She decided to leave another message.

“Mark, I need to talk to you.  It’s extremely important.  Please call me the minute you get this.”

With the power off, she no longer felt safe.

She told herself she was being silly, that it was nothing a few candles wouldn’t fix.  But her fear continued to grow along with the shadows.  She felt an overpowering urge to get out of the house.  She wanted to talk to Gloria again.  Now was as good a time as any.

Toni fished around in Scott’s desk until she found his mini voice recorder.  She checked to make sure the batteries were still good.  After slipping on a lightweight jacket, she grabbed an umbrella and headed out to the garage.  Despite the four windows facing the front lawn, the gloom here was even denser.

She tossed her belongings onto the passenger seat and then walked to the rear of her car.  With the electricity out, she would have to raise the garage door by hand.  As she opened the door, a gust of wind caught her jacket.  It billowed out behind her like a ship’s sail.

Pulling the jacket tight around her, she scanned the lawn.  Satisfied that no one was lurking outside, she got into her car.  Cascades of rain pummeled her windshield as she drove onto the street.  Lightning split the sky ahead followed by jarring thunder.  The storm showed no signs of letting up any time soon.

As she reached the end of her street and turned right, Toni tried to think of a way to persuade Gloria to open up to her.  She would have to be careful of what she said.  She had to make Gloria believe that there was plenty of evidence against her.  But she couldn’t say too much or Gloria would know she was lying.  Just enough to hook her.  Then she would let Gloria do the talking.  Let her hang herself.

And Toni would capture the whole confession on the recorder.

Toni’s head jerked as the car behind her rammed into her back bumper.  Steadying the wheel with both hands, she checked her rearview mirror.  She saw a green sedan, four circles intertwined on the hood.  An Audi.  The windows were tinted enough that she couldn’t tell who was driving.  Considering the careless way the sedan was traveling on the wet pavement, it was probably some idiot trying to send a text message.  It seemed a little early in the day for it to be a drunk.

Leaves and small branches, ripped from the trees by the storm, littered the narrow road that wound through the rolling hills.  To her left lay fenced pasture, to her right, a thick grove of cedars and oaks.  Toni put on her blinker and started looking for a safe place to pull over.  As she slowed, the car slammed into her again.

This was no accident.

Toni stomped on the gas, accelerating as fast as she dared on the slick winding road.  The Audi matched her speed, clinging tight to her tail.  The rain continued to hammer her windshield blurring the way ahead.

She was scared to drive any faster in this weather, but what choice did she have?  If she slowed down, the Audi would run her off the road.  She could pull into the next driveway, but then she would risk getting shot like Dana.  And if she stopped at a house, she might end up putting someone else's life in danger as well.

She thought about calling 911 on her cell phone, but it was in her purse on the passenger’s seat.  At the speed she was driving, she was afraid to take her eyes off the road long enough to find the phone, let alone dial the number.

She only had one option.

At the bottom of the next hill, the road curved sharply to the left before crossing over the Cherokee River.  A few miles past the bridge, the road connected with a busy four-lane highway.  If she could reach the highway, she might be able to lose the Audi in traffic.  Then she could drive straight to the police station.

She glanced in her rearview mirror.  The sedan was mere inches from her bumper.  Any closer and they would be touching.  As she mounted the hill, Toni pushed the accelerator to the floor, trying to put distance between her car and the Audi.  She needed to shake the sedan from her tail before she reached the top.  Once there, she knew she would have to let off the gas, reduce her speed enough to round the tight curve before the bridge.

As if reading her mind, the Audi barreled ahead, closing the gap.

Her hands clammy, Toni tightened her grip on the steering wheel while keeping her foot nailed to the floor.  As she crested the hill, she eased off the gas.  The sedan lurched forward and butted her bumper.  Once, then twice.  Her reflexes told her to speed up, but that was impossible.  She had to slow down or she would never make the curve.

Toni pressed on the brake.

The Audi struck her again, this time retaining contact with her car, pushing her down the hill.  The sedan obviously planned to shove her off the road and into the river.  She continued to ride the brake, but with the sedan bearing on her, she realized she was still going too fast.

As they neared the bottom of the hill, the Audi swerved into the oncoming lane and plowed into Toni’s side.  Her car careened out of control, skidding across the wet pavement.  She fought to stay on the road.  Through the pelting rain, she saw the curve and the bridge in front of her.  Even as she braked, she knew it was too late.

Toni’s car tore through the guardrail and the airbag exploded in her face.

CHAPTER 20

The Audi stopped halfway across the bridge.

With the engine idling, the driver waited and watched Toni’s car sink into the murky waters of the river.  The Audi’s dashboard clock counted off the minutes, one, two, and then three, as the BMW floated downstream, spun around, and then descended nose first.  By the time six minutes had elapsed, even the faint glow from the car’s headlights had disappeared.

For the driver, there was no thrill in the killing.  But like the others that came before, no sadness either.  Motivated by self-preservation, it was simply a task that had to be completed.

The driver glanced back at the street.  The headlights of an oncoming car flashed through the trees lining the next curve.  Shifting the sedan into gear, the driver rolled across the bridge.  There was no need to risk drawing attention to the Audi or to the damaged guardrail.  And continuing to watch the BMW was unnecessary.

If Toni hadn’t escaped by now, there was no way she could survive.

Mark swiveled around in his chair and stared out the rain-streaked window.  From his vantage point on the fourth floor, he had a clear view across the street, crowded with rush-hour traffic, of the historic church on the corner.  The high winds from the storm had shattered several of the church’s upper stained-glass windows.  A group of men on scaffolding worked in the cold drizzle covering the area of missing panes with plastic sheeting.  Above their heads, the steeple stretched upward against the gunmetal sky.

Mark rotated toward his desk and picked up the phone message from Toni.  His secretary had scribbled the note, marked urgent, three hours earlier.  Since the time he returned to his office, Mark had made several attempts to reach Toni.  All he got was her voice mail and answering machine.

He dialed her mobile number one last time.  After hearing the familiar greeting, he decided to leave another message.

“Hi, it’s me again.  I’ll be working late tonight so you can call me at the office.  Or if you’re free, you can swing by.  We can order some take out.  Talk to you later.”

He put down the phone, folded the message in half and tapped it against his desk.  He hoped Toni wasn’t still upset with him.  He remembered the fire that had flashed in her eyes right before she stomped out of his office the previous day.

She would be forever loyal to Scott’s memory and she expected everyone else to be too.  She was even afraid to admit to herself that she was angry with him for leaving her.  She was unable to place the blame where it belonged, on Scott’s own shoulders.

There was no way she could be objective now.  But eventually she would realize Scott wasn’t as perfect as he had seemed.

Mark turned back to the window.  With the plastic sheeting in place, the workers across the street had begun to tear down their scaffolding.  In a few weeks, they would install new stained glass and the church where Toni had planned to marry Scott would be as beautiful as it had always been.

Mark knew Toni had her own storm to weather.  But once it was over, she would emerge stronger than before.  She would be able to move on and open up her heart again.  But as anxious as he was for that day to come, he had to be careful not to push her.  Cultivating a deeper relationship would take time and patience.  No doubt several months would pass before she would allow herself to consider anything beyond friendship.  It might even take a year or more.  It didn’t matter.

Whenever she was ready, he intended to be there.

By the time Toni came to, water had flooded the car all the way to her waist.  The icy surge cut through her jeans chilling her to the core.  But as her mind cleared, it was the realization of what had happened and exactly where she was that caused her body to tremble.  Her BMW had soared off the road and plunged into the river.  The silty haze outside the windshield told her the front end of the car was fully submerged.

Everything around her was in silhouette, framed by shadows as dense and murky as the river itself.  Even the bright white fabric of the deflated airbag now appeared dingy gray.

Trying to remain calm, she unlatched her seatbelt and then reached for the window control.  She jabbed the button, but nothing happened.  She tried again, pressing all the buttons.  Then she slammed her fist against the controls.

“Dammit, roll down!”

It was no use.  The windows remained closed.

She remembered watching part of an accident survival television program a few weeks earlier on the Discovery Channel.  The show included instructions on how to escape from a vehicle that was trapped underwater.  At the time, she had been half listening and now the details were foggy.  If she had known she would some day find herself in the same situation, she would have paid more attention.  One thing she did recall was that the water pressure outside the vehicle needed to be equal to that inside before the doors would open.

Although the car had not yet filled with water, she whispered a silent prayer and tried to unlock the door.  She struggled with the latch, but the door remained locked.  Toni realized the electrical system had shorted out.

There was no way to get the doors open now.

The water continued to rise, rushing in with the sound and force of jets in a whirlpool tub.  The deluge brought with it a dank scent that reminded Toni of rotting leaves.  Of death and decay.

The river had buried her alive.

She fought the panic that was growing inside her.

“I will not die here.  Not like this.”

With the water level now at her chest, Toni braced herself against the driver’s seat and steering wheel and then kicked the passenger’s side window as hard as she could.  The sole of her loafers made a dull thud as they contacted with the glass.  The window refused to budge.

She kicked the window a second and then a third time, but the glass held firm.

Frustrated, she shed her jacket and crawled between the seats into the rear of the car.  The water seemed to be rising faster now.  It lapped at her chin, threatening to invade her mouth and nostrils.

She pressed her lips together, but still managed to taste the bitter swill.  She swallowed, then pushed her tongue against her teeth and fought the urge to vomit.  It wasn’t so much the taste of the dirty river that sickened her.  It was the thought of the water forcing its way into her lungs, stealing the life from her body.

Toni shook the image from her mind, and grabbed hold of the passenger’s seat headrest.  Pressing her back against the driver’s seat for leverage, she took a deep breath.  Trying unsuccessfully to keep her nose above water, she kicked repeatedly at the rear passenger window.  The water resistance weakened the thrust of the blows, making her efforts useless.

Tears crept into her eyes.  There was no way out.  The water had almost completely filled the interior of the car.

Finding an air pocket in the rear corner of the passenger’s side, Toni pushed her face against the roof.

Memories of her childhood streamed through her mind.  A Christmas morning before her mother left.  Her parents sitting next to her by the tree singing Jingle Bells.  The smell of her mother’s perfume.  Vanilla with a hint of spice.  The time she got lost in the department store when she was five.  The agony of feeling all alone, and then the relief that swept through her when at last she ran into her mother’s waiting arms.

There was her first kiss from Bobby Holland.  Her sixteenth birthday party and her first prom.  Her high school graduation.  Her father’s death.  And meeting Scott.  Finding a love stronger than any she had ever known.  And then losing him as well.

Scott’s face drifted before her.

Was it the same for him when he died?  Did he think of her in those last few seconds?  Or was his fall to the ground too fast for memories?  Did he feel pain?  Or was he overcome with numbness the way she was now?

Did he curse his killer?  Or did he whisper his forgiveness?

Unlike Scott, she had not seen the person responsible for her death.  Had Brian been the one driving the car?  Or was it someone else?  Would she ever know?  Did the afterlife allow you the comfort of that knowledge?  And here, in this earthly life, would that person go free?

There was no one left to question the reasons for her death.  No one who would believe it was anything more than an accident on a rain-slick road.  And with Toni gone, there would be no one to bring Scott’s killer to justice.

Brian would live out the rest of his life as if nothing had happened.  Using Scott’s money instead of earning his own.  He might even end up hurting someone else if they got in his way.

She couldn’t let that happen.

She couldn’t just wait here to die.  She had to fight.

She would kick the window again with all her strength.  She would keep kicking until there was no air left.  If only she had worn heels instead of loafers.  Then she would be able to crack the glass.

And then it dawned on her.

That was it!  She could use her umbrella.

The end of the small folding umbrella had a metal tip similar to a center punch.  Leaving the sanctuary of the air pocket, Toni dove beneath the water.  Not wanting to open her eyes, she felt her way between the seats and into the front compartment of the car.  The crash had hurled her belongings from the passenger seat.  She found the contents of her purse scattered across the floorboard.

She touched the various objects, identifying them in her mind.  Her cell phone, useless now.  Her wallet and checkbook.  A hairbrush.  Where was the umbrella?  She knew it had been beside her purse before the accident.  When she reached under the seat, her fingers closed around the handle.

Her lungs burning, Toni returned to the rear of the car.  The air pocket had grown smaller.  The river was squeezing out the remaining bits of life.  She knew this would be it.  Her last chance.

Taking a final breath from the pocket, Toni plunged back into the water.  Holding the umbrella with both hands, she rammed the point against the rear passenger window.  The sharp clack of the blow reverberated through the car, but the glass remained intact.  Firming her grip on the umbrella, she struck again.  This time, the window shattered around her.  After knocking out the remaining shards, Toni swam through the opening.

At last, she was free.

CHAPTER 21

With her lungs threatening to explode, Toni broke the surface of the river.

She gulped the fresh air and struggled to keep her head above water as the current pushed her downstream.  Where was the driver of the Audi?  Was he watching from the riverbank, waiting to finish the job he had started?

Something clawed at her leg.

She kicked hard and spun around, expecting to see a man in a wetsuit ready to clamp his hands around her arms and drag her under.  But there was no one there.  As the river carried her backward around a bend, she looked up toward the bridge.

The road appeared deserted.

Fighting the current, she swam toward the shore.  The river drained her strength.  She could feel her body growing weaker by the second.  She kept her eyes focused on the bank, praying she would make it.

After several agonizing minutes, her foot struck bottom.  The water was no longer over her head.  She tried to stand, but the current was too swift.  As the river continued to shove her further downstream, she inched closer to the bank.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a tree branch hanging low over the water.  She thrust forward, stretched out her arms, and grabbed hold of the limb.  The rough bark bit into her wet palms.  The pain shot through her hands, but she didn’t dare let go.

Toni clung to the branch for several minutes.  The current pounded against her and threatened to knock her loose.  She took long deep breaths and tried to summon the strength to pull herself onto the shore, but her arms felt limp and useless.

You can do this.  You’ve come this far, don’t give up now.

She closed her eyes and pictured Linda Hamilton’s sculpted biceps in the second Terminator movie.  Then she imagined her own arms as being twice as muscular and twice as strong.

Loosening her grip on the limb, she moved her left hand across her right and began to travel up the branch toward the bank.  She continued placing one hand above the other until her knees scraped the rocky river bottom.  Her palms bloody, she crawled onto the shore.

The rain had weakened to a drizzle and the winds had calmed.  Toni lay on her stomach, listening for the driver of the Audi.  Although if she were to hear him searching for her, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to run.  Luckily, for now, the only sounds around her were the warble of a mocking bird and the faint staccato of a dog barking in the distance.

She rolled over and sat up.  Her jeans were torn and her knees were skinned and bleeding.  Somewhere along the way, she had lost her shoes.  The soaked cable-knit sweater clung to her, cold and heavy, and for the first time, she realized she was shivering.

Her skin looked pale and shriveled.  Her hands burned.  She was freezing and exhausted.  But she was alive.

Toni pulled off her sweater and wrung out the water as best she could.  As she slipped it back over her head, she heard a voice in the distance.  A woman’s voice, calling to someone.

Toni crawled behind an oak tree and then stood up.  Through the grove of hardwoods, she saw the back side of a house.  There was a woman standing in the driveway scanning the tree line.  She called out again.  Then Toni saw a small white dog run across the yard and jump into the woman’s arms.

Toni peered through the woods trying to detect any other signs of movement, any indication that the driver of the Audi was near.  No one else was around.  She moved out from behind the tree and started toward the house.  The woman there could help her.  She could phone the police.

But after a few steps, Toni stopped.

Brian, or whoever it was that ran her off the road, probably thought they had succeeded in killing her.  Maybe it would be better if she stayed dead for a while.

With the house still in sight, she dropped to a crouch.  She waited until the woman and dog were safely inside, and then headed through the woods toward her own home.

It would have been far easier and faster to walk back along the road, but she didn’t want to risk someone seeing her.  She picked her way through the thick underbrush.  Briars snagged her clothing and her wet feet grew numb with cold.  Although the rain had stopped, the trees continued to shower her with water stored on their leaves.

By the time Toni reached the edge of her property, more than two hours later, the sun was setting.

She leaned against the mesh fence surrounding the tennis court and pulled pine needles out of her socks.  She massaged her toes trying to regain some feeling.  Her feet would probably be sore for days.  She gazed across the lawn at the rear of her house.  The electricity was back on.  Every window glowed with light.  A warm beacon calling her to safety.

She left the tennis court and walked to the pool area.  She located the small magnetic box hidden underneath one of the wrought iron tables and removed her spare key.  She let herself in through the breakfast room door.  She stripped in the laundry room, leaving her wet clothes in a heap on the tile floor.  Then she went upstairs to shower.

How long would it be before Brian realized she was still alive?  She was fairly confident her car wouldn’t be found before morning.  Even in daylight, it might not be visible from the bridge.

She knew her friends would start to worry when they didn’t hear from her.  They would probably form their own little search party.  Still, it could be days before they fished her BMW out of the water.  Would she have time to find Nico?  After nearly drowning, searching for him seemed a lot wiser than confronting Gloria again.

One thing was for certain.  She couldn’t stay at home.  She would have to disappear.

Toni dried off from her shower and then rubbed an antibiotic ointment onto her knees and palms.  She dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt, and then pulled her hair up into a ponytail.

In her closet, she stuffed an overnight bag with a few days worth of clothing, and then slipped on a denim cap embroidered with the words Hard Rock Café, Jamaica.  As she turned to leave, she glanced at the column of shelves near the door and realized she had a problem.

Her purse was still inside her car at the bottom of the river.

She had no money, no credit cards, and no identification.  Without cash, she wouldn’t be able to get very far.  She grabbed an empty handbag from one of the shelves and headed downstairs.

In the study, she pulled out the paper sack that held Scott’s belongings.  She dumped the contents on top of the desk and then looked inside his wallet.  There was a little over a hundred dollars.  Not enough for what she had planned.  His ATM card for their joint checking and savings accounts was there as well, but she knew any withdrawals she made could be traced.

Was Brian that good?  Did he have that capability?  Even if he didn’t, once her friends reported her missing, the police might check the accounts.  If she used the card, they would see the activity and know she was still alive.

She stared at the built-in bookcase next to the fireplace.  What about Scott’s safe?  He had given her the combination the day after they moved in.  She wondered if it was still empty.  She slid her hand along the top of the bookcase and pushed the hidden latch.  The bookcase swung forward revealing the safe.

Inside she found Scott’s passport, some computer back-up disks, and ten thousand dollars in cash.  How much would she actually need?  She had no idea how long she would be gone, or what problems she might run into.  To be on the safe side, she counted out three thousand and put the rest back.

After closing the bookcase, she put the money inside Scott’s wallet and then slipped it into her handbag.  Now that she had the funds, all she needed was a place to stay.  A hotel was a bad idea.  Too many people would be coming and going.  She was almost certain to be spotted.

Thankfully, she had left her briefcase at home.

She snapped it open and took out the key to Josh Martin’s house.  When the authorities recovered her car with no body inside, Brian would probably check out her vacant listings.  But he would never know to look for her at Josh’s house.  It wasn’t scheduled to hit the market for another two weeks.

Toni returned to the laundry room and secured the hunting knife to her belt before double-checking her overnight bag.  When she was sure she hadn’t forgotten anything, she retrieved Scott’s keys from the kitchen drawer.

Time to play dead.

CHAPTER 22

The saleslady squinted her false-lashed eyes and pointed a silver fingernail.  “Don’t I know you from somewhere?”

Toni had purposely driven thirty miles east of Nashville down interstate forty to the small town of Lebanon.  Although she had seen the various shops in their large outlet mall advertised many times, she had never actually been there.  She didn’t know anyone who lived in the town, and she had felt fairly confident she wouldn’t run into anyone that would recognize her.

Especially with her hair pulled up under her cap.

The salesclerk probably just remembered her face from a real estate magazine.  She only hoped the lady would forget exactly which day Toni had been in the shop.  Once her friends realized she was missing, they would more than likely have her picture plastered all across middle Tennessee.  Posters asking, have you seen this woman?

“No, I don’t think so,” Toni said.

She turned away from the display case and walked toward the rear of the store.  After browsing a few minutes, she picked up a Styrofoam head topped with a blonde wig in a short layered style.

“That’s the Lexy in butter cream,” the saleslady said.  “It’s the last one we have in stock.  She’s on sale too.  Twenty-five percent off.  Do you want to try it on?”

“No, that’s okay.”

“You should.  That color would look really good on you, with your blue eyes and all.  It’s one of our best brands too.”  She touched her own platinum locks.  “Mine’s an Eva Gabor.”

“It’s very nice.”

“You think so?  I was torn between this one and a Raquel Welch.  The Raquel is a little bit straighter and longer in the back.  It reminds me of that woman who used to be on Charlie’s Angels.  Not the movie, the TV show.  You know, the one who had the poster?  I’ll probably end up buying it too.  Not that I really expect to look like her, even though my husband, Wayne, said he sees a little resemblance.  I asked my sister, but she didn’t see it.  Wayne told me not to pay her any mind.  He thinks she’s just jealous.  She always was kind of plain.  And the clothes she wears – collars buttoned all the way up to her chin, skirts down below her knees.  I swear, she looks like she should be holed up in some library instead of behind the check-out counter at Wal-Mart.  Heaven knows, she didn’t get that from me!  Anyway, I guess that’s what happens when you work here with these beautiful pieces.  You end up wanting to wear them all.”

Okay – one nut short of a fruitcake here.

Just listening to the woman made Toni exhausted.  At least if the saleslady did remember waiting on Toni and phoned in a tip to the police, they probably wouldn’t take her seriously.

Toni held out the wig.  “Luckily, I only need one.  And I think this is it.”

“Now I know who you are!”

Oh, no.  Please don’t let her remember my name.

“You’re that country singer.  The one that wears those red leather pants.  I’ve seen your music video a hundred times.”

Relieved, Toni put her finger to her lips in a shushing gesture and played along.  “I don’t want anyone to know.  I don’t want to draw a crowd.”

“I understand.  If you sign one autograph, you’ll have to sign a hundred.  You could be stuck here all night.  That’s why you’re wearing that cap, so nobody will know it’s you.”

“You figured it out.”

“It must be hard being a celebrity.  Everybody wants a piece of you.  That was Elvis’s problem.  He couldn’t even go outside his house in the daytime.  The fans wouldn’t leave him alone.  He could only go out at night after everything closed.  I heard they used to open up the stores in Memphis in the wee hours of the morning so he could do his shopping.  I don’t think I’d want that kind of fame.  No offense.”

The saleslady took the wig from Toni and headed toward the cash register.  Half way there, she stopped.  “You know, you can wear this out if you want to.  With the Lexy on, nobody will ever guess who you are.”

Toni was tempted.  If she wore the disguise now, the urge to keep looking over her shoulder wouldn’t be so strong.  But then, Ms Fawcett would probably want to help her put it on.  If she took her cap off, the lady might realize that she wasn’t the singer after all.

“No, I’m kind of in a hurry, so I think I’ll take my chances.”

After adding a wig cap liner and a few accessories the saleslady assured her she could not live without, Toni paid for her purchase.

She hit two more shops before leaving the mall, one that sold cosmetics, the other eyeglasses.  Before getting back onto the interstate, she pulled into a Hardee’s drive through and ordered a double cheeseburger and a Coke.  It was only eight-thirty, but she was so tired, it felt more like four in the morning.

She wondered what Brian was doing.  Was he celebrating?  And what would he do once he figured out she had escaped?  She had to find proof of his role in Scott’s death before that happened.  Which led her back to Nico.

At this point, it seemed the construction worker was her only hope.

Josh Martin lived in Brentwood in a well-established neighborhood with large wooded lots.  Toni killed her lights before pulling up the winding drive, rounding the curves by memory.  It was possible that Josh’s neighbors knew he was out of town, and she didn’t want some busybody to notice her arrival and come snooping around.

Or worse, call the police.

She parked next to the garage and went around behind the house to the back door.  Josh had left lights on in the den and the kitchen.  She made her way through the house and into the garage.  She was surprised to see his SUV parked inside.  A friend must have taken him to the airport.  She only hoped he hadn’t asked anyone to come by and check on the house.

She opened the garage door and pulled Scott’s X5 into the empty bay.

Maybe she should track Josh down and tell him what was going on.  Make sure it was okay to hide out at his place.  But in all honesty, he tended to be the smothering type.  One of the major reasons their romantic relationship had ended.  If she called him, he would probably insist on coming home to help her.

The idea of bringing in reinforcements was appealing, but impossible.  It was enough her own life was in danger.  She couldn’t risk putting Josh in harm’s way.

Toni went inside and curled up on the sofa in the den.  She flipped on the television.  The local news would be on at ten, and she wanted to see if there were any new developments regarding Dana.

There was one encouraging thing in all this.  Detective Lewis wouldn’t be handling the case.  He worked for the Blanton Hills Police Department and Leiper’s Fork was out of his jurisdiction.  Maybe she’d get lucky and the sheriff’s department would assign someone a little more competent.  Or at least someone willing to listen.  Lewis was so close-minded, he couldn’t begin to see what was happening.

The cuts on Toni’s knees and hands still burned, and her left shoulder was sore.  She felt as though she hadn’t slept in years.  More than once, she caught herself drifting off and had to shake herself awake.  After seeing a teaser ad declaring Dana’s murder the top news story, she forced herself to sit up and keep her eyes open.

As promised, at ten o’clock, after a brief comment regarding the weather and a short lead in, the news began with a reporter stationed at the gates of the horse farm.  She stood next to the For Sale sign bearing Toni’s name.

“We now know the house was vacant except for a few furnishings,” the reporter said.  “However it was completely ransacked.  The thieves were apparently looking for anything of value, possibly even prescription medicines that may have been left behind.  Earlier today, I spoke with the Chief Deputy of the Williamson County Sheriff’s Department.  Here’s what he had to say.”

The station cut to the tape.

“Chief, what can you tell us concerning the investigation?”

“It’s well underway.  We have a forensic unit on the scene now.  They’re combing the house for evidence.”

“When did the crime occur?”

“The time of death has not been released yet, but we do believe it happened sometime between seven and ten o’clock last night.”

“We’ve seen pictures of the real estate agent, Dana Dawson.  She was a beautiful young woman.  Do you know if she was sexually assaulted?”

“We’ve found no evidence to suggest that she was.”

“Does it appear Ms. Dawson put up a struggle?”

“At this time, everything indicates the deceased was taken by surprise.  We believe she was showing the home to someone posing as a buyer.  No one outside the real estate agency knew the house was unoccupied.  With a home of this size, in this price range, the perpetrators probably thought there were a lot of valuables inside.”

“Do you have any leads so far?”

“We’re following up on several tips we’ve received, and we’re confident the person or persons responsible will be apprehended.”

The story shifted to an interview with Toni’s managing broker, Henry McKay.  In a diplomatic gesture, he spoke of Dana’s accomplishments and stated what a fine person she had been.  He then assured all concerned homeowners this was an isolated incident and they shouldn’t worry about having their houses up for sale.

The camera switched back to a live shot of the reporter.

“We’ll continue to follow the case and keep you updated on any further developments.  In the meantime, the victim’s family is offering a one-hundred-thousand-dollar reward for information resulting in a conviction.  If any of our viewers has any knowledge of this crime, we urge you to call the police.”

So they still had no clue.

The police believed it had been a simple robbery.  Toni wondered if Cheryl had spoken to them about Toni’s scheduled meeting with the fake Micheners.  Not that it would do any good.  The police would just think the killers were looking for someone – anyone – to get them inside the house.

Toni switched off the TV and dragged herself to the guest room.

She was too tired to think.  In the morning, when her head was clear, she’d plan her next move.

CHAPTER 23

At nine o’clock Thursday morning, Brian stood in the empty garage and stared at the spot normally occupied by his brother’s silver BMW.

She was gone.

It was his fault.  He had let her get away.

He kicked the plastic trashcan near the door, knocking it over and spilling garbage across the floor.  He should have known to install a tracking device on Scott’s car.  Now, Toni could be anywhere.

He knew she wouldn’t turn to Detective Lewis again.  Reports of her coworker’s murder were all over the news.  She was sure to have seen them.  There was no way she would trust the police to protect her.  This time, she would run.

She’d find a place to hide.

He went back inside the house and began searching for clues as to where she could have gone.  In the laundry room, he found a damp sweater and muddy jeans stuffed in the trash.  He rifled through the pockets looking for a scrap of paper, a phone number, anything that could lead him in the right direction.

They were empty.

He went into the study and rummaged through the desk, then checked both Scott’s desktop computer and Toni’s laptop computer for email.  He flipped through a stack of bills and browsed Toni’s credit card statement.  Her briefcase lay on a chair in the corner.  He popped it open.  Inside was a printout detailing each of her listings, some marked vacant.  It was a starting point, although he doubted she’d risk hiding out in such an obvious location.

Upstairs, he combed the master bedroom and bath.  In the closet, he found a matching set of luggage stacked in a corner.  All the pieces you would expect to find seemed to be there.  Chances were she hadn’t gone very far.

He checked the memo pad by the phone in the kitchen.  Finding a pencil in a drawer, he rubbed the lead across the sheet of paper on top, revealing the indentions from Toni’s last note.  All he uncovered was a grocery list.  He was about to press redial on the telephone when it rang.  He waited for the answering machine to pick up.

“Toni, it’s Helen.  I have the credit report on Nico Williams.  It’s clean.  No debt to speak of.  Looks like a good prospect.  Oh, and he lives in Franklin.”

The loan officer recited Nico’s address.

Brian’s search was over.  He was willing to bet that before the day was finished, Toni would call home to get her messages.  She’d head straight to Franklin.

And he would be there waiting.

Toni woke around nine-thirty and eased up out of bed.  She felt as though she’d run the Boston marathon and swum the English Channel all in one day.  Every muscle in her body ached.  Even her toes hurt.  All those hours spent working out with Scott on the weight machines and jogging on the treadmill might have kept her trim, but they hadn’t prepared her for yesterday’s ordeal.  She vowed, when all this was over, she’d take up Pilates.

After showering and dressing, she stood in front of the bathroom mirror, slipped on her new blonde wig and pinned it into place.  Using a dark foundation, she contoured her face to make her nose look thinner and her cheekbones more pronounced.  She applied blue eye shadow – a color she never wore – to her lids and spread a pale pink gloss on her lips.  Lastly, she donned her new glasses containing slightly tinted fake lenses.  She studied her reflection.  The transformation was amazing.

“Only Scott would know me now,” she said to the woman in the mirror.  “And it might even take him a few minutes.”

She smiled in satisfaction and returned the makeup to its case.  Phase one of her disappearing act was going better than expected.  She wondered if anyone was looking for her yet.  Maybe she should at least call Mark and tell him what had happened.  Let him know she was okay.  He wouldn’t tell anyone.  He would keep her secret.

She was also anxious to check her voice mail and answering machine for messages.  But using Josh’s phone was out of the question.  Everyone she knew had caller ID.  And if she did speak with Mark, she didn’t want him to know where she was staying.  He’d rush right over and try to drag her back to his place.  Even if she called him from a payphone, he’d beg to come and get her.  He had been such a good friend.  She hated to worry him.

But she had to do this alone.

Her stomach grumbled.  She was starving.  Downstairs, she looked in the refrigerator.  It was empty except for a bottle of Ketchup and a six-pack of Samuel Adams.  She’d have to remember to pick up some groceries.  Grabbing her purse, she headed out to the garage.  She opened the door of Josh’s SUV and slipped the garage remote off the sun visor.  Circling behind the vehicle, she walked toward Scott’s BMW, and then stopped.

She had a problem.

The vanity plate.  It read CHADWCK.  She might as well paint “kill me now” on her forehead.

For a split second, she considered taking Josh’s car.  Then she thought about how easily the Audi had run her off the road.  She wasn’t about to risk totaling someone else’s SUV.  Besides, there was an easier solution.

Toni opened the back of Scott’s X5.  She took a screwdriver from the tool kit inside and removed the BMW’s license plate.  She replaced it with the plate from Josh’s SUV.  The number of silver X5 Bimmers in the Nashville area was too high to count.  Now, she could get lost in that sea.  She’d just have to watch her speed and try not to get pulled over.

She drove south from Brentwood to the Cool Springs Galleria and found an empty parking spot near the main mall entrance.  She scanned the lot, searching for any familiar faces.  Seeing none, she opened the door and got out.

Time to show off the new look.

As she walked toward the entrance, she kept her gaze focused straight ahead, and tried not to seem nervous.

Inside, she joined the steady stream of shoppers.  She avoided all eye contact with those walking toward her.  Around the corner to the right, she saw the small kiosk she had passed a million times.  Luckily, there were no other customers.

“What do I need to get a prepaid cell phone?” she asked.

The bored looking clerk stared at her as though it was a trick question.  “Uh, money?”

“I know that.  What I meant was, do you need to see some ID, a driver’s license or something?”

“Nope.”

“Would I have to give you a credit card?’

“You can write a check, but you’d need ID for that.”

“How about cash?”

Toni picked out a base model phone and waited while the clerk activated her minutes.  With that done, she went to the food court to get something to eat.  She was standing in line at a sandwich shop when she heard a familiar voice.  She looked up to see three agents from her office, Lydia, Meg and Penny, ordering burgers from the joint adjacent.

Why did they have to be at Cool Springs today of all days?  She was about to turn her head when Meg looked straight at her.

Toni froze.

Did the agent know?  Could she tell?  But then without so much as a smile, Meg swung her eyes back toward the menu board and stepped up to give her order.  The encounter gave Toni a boost of confidence.  If someone she saw on a daily basis didn’t recognize her, Brian surely wouldn’t.

Toni paid for her food and carried her tray to the table next to the three agents.  She sat with her back to them and listened as they gossiped about Dana’s murder.  Each had their own theory regarding the events of that night.  But they all agreed on one thing.  They had decided to show properties in pairs for the time being, just incase the killer was hunting for more victims.

As they droned on, Toni started to tune them out, but her ears perked up when she heard her own name.

“I heard the police are looking for her,” Lydia said.

“Toni?  Why?” Penny asked.

“Well, it seems she had an appointment to show the farm the very same night.”

“That’s not all,” Meg chimed in.  “Whoever Dana met there contacted Toni first.  And for some reason, Toni decided not to go.”

“Lucky for her,” Penny said.

“I know this is going to sound horrible,” Lydia said.  “But in all honesty, I’m glad Dana went instead.”

“That is horrible,” Meg said.  “But, I feel the same.”

The table was silent for a moment.

“Where is Toni anyway?” Penny asked.

“She’s gone out of town for awhile, I think,” Meg said.

“With all she’s been through lately, she needs to get away,” Lydia said.  “I just hope she doesn’t blame herself for what happened to Dana.”

“Or Scott,” Meg said.

When the topic changed to Penny’s new listing, Toni decided to leave.  She ate the last bite of her sandwich and tossed her wrapper and empty Coke cup in the trash.  Evidently, Cheryl had told the police about the call from the fake Mr. Michener.  Now, they wanted a statement.  But contacting them would do more harm than good.  Without any proof, there was no way they’d believe her story.  And she still needed everyone, including the police, to think she was dead.  Or at least, missing.

Toni wondered who else had been trying to reach her.

After leaving the food court, she hurried back to her car and turned on her new cell phone.  The battery needed charging, but there seemed to be enough juice to make a couple of quick calls.  She dialed her voice mail first.  There were a few messages from Mark and several from her office.  The last was from Jill.  She wanted to know whether Toni could make it for dinner the following night.  They probably had the appraisal on Chadwick & Shore finished.

No, you and Clint will just have to sweat it out a little longer.

She erased the messages and then dialed her home number.  The calls on her answering machine were duplicates of those on her voice mail.

All except for one.

A rush of adrenaline swept through her.  Helen Dove had located Nico.  Finally, things were looking up.

Toni listened to the message twice to make sure she had written the address down correctly.  She entered the house number and street name into her navigation system and began humming to herself.

Nico’s place was just a few minutes away.

CHAPTER 24

A stone fence, heavily landscaped in front with evergreen shrubs and pansies in a myriad of colors, and backed by a row of pines, encircled the subdivision of lavish homes built not more than two years prior.  Toni remembered driving through once before, when the houses were first going up.  Most all had been custom presales, so she had never shown them.

She checked the scribbled address, verifying the street name, then turned into the main entrance.

It was not exactly the neighborhood she had pictured for Nico.  Not that she was an elitist – far from it.  But she had imagined the construction worker living in a more modest environment.

None of the houses were likely to be rental properties.  However, in her phone message, Helen hadn’t mentioned a mortgage.  If Nico had one, it would have shown up on his credit report.

She wondered what line of work he had been in before hanging drywall for Chadwick & Shore.  To afford one of the mammoth homes, he had to be doing well financially.  Maybe he came from a wealthy family, or had married into money.  It was also possible he was staying with relatives.

Toni reached the end of the street and then turned left.  She noted the house numbers on the mailboxes.  Nico’s number was 5771.  That would mean he lived several houses down, on the right.  As she neared the end of the cul-de-sac, she spotted a two-story colonial with the correct address.

She was about to pull into the driveway when an alarming thought struck her.

Did Brian know Nico had been at the construction site the morning of Scott’s death?  She had easily obtained the information.  What would stop Brian from finding out?  Was he also searching for the possible witness, determined to shut him up?  And if she had managed to track Nico down, wouldn’t Brian be able to do the same?

Maybe he already had.  Maybe that was the reason Nico hadn’t shown up for work the next day.

Maybe he was dead.

No.  She wouldn’t allow herself to think that way.  Nico had to be alive.  He was her last resort, the only person who may have seen Brian at the hotel.  Still, she felt a little uneasy about going up to the house.  Instead of pulling into the drive, she circled the cul-de-sac and parked by the curb a few houses down.

She scanned the street.  All seemed quiet.  No children playing.  School was still in session.  No moms pushing baby strollers.  The wind was too brisk today for walks.  No one outside at all that she could see.

Toni got out of her car and crossed the street.  She walked up the sidewalk toward the colonial, and then glanced behind her before turning up the drive.  The house was impressive.  She estimated it to be somewhere around six thousand square feet, with wide columns supporting a two-story porch spanning the home’s width.

She mounted the steps and rang the bell next to the double mahogany doors.  She heard the chimes echo inside.  She stood there for a few seconds expecting to hear footsteps, but no one appeared.  She rang again and then peeked through the sidelight.  The foyer was dim.  She couldn’t see very far.  She waited a little longer.  Either no one was home, or they had decided not to answer.

The anticipation of seeing Nico was making her crazy.  Toni had spent so much time looking for him, she wasn’t about to leave without talking to him.  Or at least someone who knew him.  Even if she had to sleep in her car tonight.

She walked the length of the porch, checking all the windows, hoping to glimpse someone inside, but all the blinds were closed.  She went back down the steps and then rounded the corner of the house.  She followed the drive to the backyard, past the closed garage to a screened porch.

When she tried the door, it swung open.

A white wicker sofa, chaise and several matching chairs, all laden with pillows in yellow and white, filled the porch.  She noticed a yellow chenille throw and a paperback romance on the foot of the chaise.  A vase of fresh daffodils graced the glass-topped table.  The scene looked as though it had been plucked from the pages of Better Homes & Gardens.

She crossed the porch to a pair of French doors leading into the house and checked the knobs.  They were locked.  She cupped her hands around her eyes and peered through the glass.  A large family room lay off the porch.  The television was off and the room appeared deserted.

She’d just have to go back to her car and wait for someone to come home.

As she was leaving the screened porch, Toni glanced across the pool at the separate detached garage.  She stopped so suddenly, she almost fell down the steps.  The garage door was halfway up.  Inside, she saw four intertwined circles on a field of dark green.

An Audi sedan!

She ran around the pool to the garage and raised the door all the way.  From the rear, the car seemed identical to the one that had run her off the road.  She stepped around to the right side.  The proof she saw made her heart pound.  She stared at the front fender, dented and streaked with red paint.

Nico had tried to kill her.

He was the man Brian had hired.

Had Nico killed Scott?  No, he couldn’t have.  Alvin Harney said Nico never entered the hotel that morning.  Instead, he had stood outside the office talking on a cell phone.  Maybe he had only pretended to be on the phone.  He could have been acting as a lookout for Brian.  Nico was the one person that could have made sure Brian got onto the construction site without Alvin seeing him.

Toni heard a car.  She looked up to see a black Jaguar pulling in the drive.

Dropping to a crouch, she scooted around to the front of the Audi.  From her vantage point, she watched the Jaguar come to a stop.  The doors opened and a large man with a blonde crew cut and a young girl around ten or eleven years old emerged.  She could hear them talking about the girl’s school assignments.

The man, who she assumed was Nico, smiled and put his arm around the girl’s shoulders.  Then the grin faded.

He stopped and looked directly at Toni.

Toni froze.

Her mind told her to duck, but her body would not respond.  Terrified, she stared back.

Nico dropped his arm from the girl’s shoulders and started walking toward the garage.  “What did I tell you about that garage door?” he said.

“Not to leave it open,” the girl answered.

The man was nearly all the way to the garage before Toni could make herself move.  She got down behind the left front tire of the Audi and tucked herself into a ball.

“I don’t mind you keeping your bike in here,” Nico said.  “But you have to remember to keep this door closed.”

The door rumbled as it went down, and Toni heard the latch snap into place.  After a few seconds, she opened her eyes.  Shadows filled the garage.  She had to get out of there.  But what if Nico was still outside?  If he saw her, she was dead.

She sat on the cold concrete floor for what seemed like an eternity, but when she checked her watch, it had only been ten minutes.  A shaft of light beamed through the window in the back door.  It beckoned to her, calling her to come out.  Still, she was afraid.  Could she make it to her car without being spotted?

She got to her feet and pulled the hunting knife from the sheath on her side.  She inched the back door open.  From here, she could see the pool and the house, but not the driveway.  She stood still and listened.  She didn’t hear any voices.

She slunk along the side of the garage.  As she neared the corner, the Jaguar came into view.  She looked for Nico.  He must have gone inside.

She forced herself to take several deep breaths.  Then, with the hunting knife in her right hand, and her car keys in her left, she ran as fast as she could down the driveway.

She didn’t stop until she reached her car.  As she was opening the door, someone grabbed her left arm.  Panicked, she jerked and tried to pull away.  The fingers clamped harder.

Brian’s fingers.

His eyes drilled into hers.

“No!” she screamed, and tried to wrench her arm free.

“Toni, stop!”

Toni swung her right hand around and slashed Brian’s arm with the hunting knife.  The blade sliced through his light-weight jacket as if it were paper.  He cried out in pain as he let her go.  She jumped into her car and slammed the door.  She threw the knife on the passenger seat and activated the locks before putting the key in the ignition.

Holding his left arm to his chest, Brian pounded his right fist on her window.

“Open the door, dammit!  Open it now!”

Toni started the car and put the gas pedal to the floor.

CHAPTER 25

Mark took a swig from his soda can and browsed the candy machine.

He’d been stuck at the courthouse since the early morning and now, at nearly three o’clock, his stomach was grumbling.  He checked the slot for his favorite, a Snickers bar, but the space was empty.  It seemed like on the days he really wanted one, they were always out.  He settled on a Milky Way and pushed in the appropriate buttons.

As he leaned down to retrieve the candy, he glanced at the newspaper box to his left.  On the front page of The Tennessean, he glimpsed a familiar face.  Then he read the headline.

Local Realtor Murdered.

Forgetting the candy bar, he purchased a paper.

He’d been so busy with work the past two days, he hadn’t had time to turn on a TV or listen to any news reports.  He unfolded the paper and skimmed the article.  The bottom of the page featured a photo of the crime scene.  Prominent in the shot was Toni’s real estate sign.

He remembered the message she had left on his voice mail the day before.  There had been something strange in her tone.  At the time, he had chalked it up to stress.  Now, he wasn’t so sure.  He pulled the cell phone from his pocket and dialed her number.  She didn’t answer at home or on her mobile.  He called her office.

“This is Mark Ross.  Is Toni in?”

“No, she’s not,” Cheryl said.  “Can I take a message?”

“She’s been trying to reach me.  She said it was important.  Do you know where I can find her?”

There was silence for a moment and then, “I think maybe you should talk to Janet.”

He paced in front of the vending machines and waited for the assistant to come on the line.

“Mr. Ross?”

“Yes, I need to speak with Toni.  It’s urgent.”

“I wish I could help you, but I don’t know where she is.”

“What do you mean?  Doesn’t she check in with you?”

“Normally, yes.  But I haven’t heard from her since yesterday afternoon.  She didn’t show up for a closing she planned to be at this morning and she missed a scheduled lunch with a client.  She hasn’t returned any of my calls.  To be honest, I’m starting to get a little worried.”

Mark hung up the phone.

He didn’t want to admit it to Janet, but he had an uneasy feeling as well.  He checked his watch.  If he hurried, he’d have just enough time to drive out to Toni’s house and back before his next meeting.

Running on pure adrenaline, Toni made it to I-65 in record time.  All the while, checking her rearview mirror to make sure no one was following her.  Instead of driving north, back to Brentwood, she headed south.  Now that Brian knew she was alive and using Scott’s car, she felt it best not to return to Josh’s until after dark.  Brian would probably be scouring all of Williamson County looking for her.

She took off the glasses and the wig and ran her hands through her hair.

The disguise was worthless now.  How had Brian known who she was anyway?  She remembered the photos she found in his hotel room.  Had he studied her that closely?  Even if he did know her eyes, how had he recognized her at a distance?  Maybe it had been her voice.  But that was impossible.  She hadn’t screamed until after he grabbed her.  It didn’t make sense.

It was almost as if he knew she would be there.

She glanced at the knife on the passenger seat.  The blade glistened in the sun, the edge smeared with dried blood.  She had cut Brian’s arm.  She’d had no other choice.  He should be grateful she hadn’t aimed for his chest.  She might have killed him.  Should have killed him.  She should have stabbed him again and again until all the anger and pain she felt over losing Scott drained from her soul.

Is that what she wanted?  To kill Brian?

Was that vengeance necessary in order for her to heal?

When she realized how close she had come to death herself, she started to shake.  Afraid of causing a wreck, she pulled off the side of the interstate.  She sat with the car idling, trying to calm down.

What she needed was music.  Soothing, relaxing music.  She reached in the back and got Scott’s CD case.  She picked out a collection of ballads she had burned herself, nothing too sappy, just slow and calming.  She stuck the CD in the stereo and eased back onto the road.

Forcing herself to take long, deep breaths, she waited for the music to start.  Nothing happened.  She ejected the CD and pushed it back in again.  Still, it refused to play.  She figured it was dirty or had gotten cracked or scratched.  She took the disk out and replaced it with the Eagles, Greatest Hits.

She tried to concentrate on the lyrics pouring from the speakers, tried to lose herself in the rhythm.  Three songs began and ended, but it was hopeless.  Her mind kept forming images of Brian’s hand wrapped around her arm.  The heat from his touch was still there, as if he had branded her with a hot iron.

And then she saw his eyes.  Those cold stone-gray eyes.

She decided to take the next exit.

Fearing that somehow Brian might know she had gone south, she bypassed the fast food chains near the off ramp and headed in the direction she felt the town would most likely be.  She got behind a line of cars with local license plates.  When they turned right at the next light, she followed.  This was foreign territory.  All she knew was that she was somewhere in Maury County.

About a half mile down the road, she spotted a small diner.  The sign outside proclaimed the lunch special to be country fried steak, mashed potatoes, and fried okra.  Nothing like good ole southern cooking.

The heavy smell of grease and strong coffee greeted her as she pushed open the door.  Noticing the sign that read, “Please be seated”, she slid into a booth upholstered in red vinyl.  There were just a handful of other patrons.  Three elderly men sitting at the counter and a middle-aged couple at a booth nearby.  She guessed it was due to the time.  Too late for lunch and too early for dinner.

A waitress, who seemed to be bordering on retirement age herself, brought Toni a menu and some silverware wrapped in a paper napkin.  She confirmed the special was indeed country-fried steak then headed over to refill the elderly men’s coffee cups.  A few minutes later, she returned.

“What can I get you, honey?”

“I’ll have a Coke.”  She handed the waitress the menu.

“Just a Coke?”

“I’d prefer something stronger, but I’m driving.”

“Uh, huh.  Man troubles.”

“Is it that obvious?”

“When you’ve been working here as long as I have, seeing people come and go, you learn to read the signs.”  She put her hand on Toni’s shoulder, her eyes soft with empathy.  “I know just what you need.  We’ve got a fresh baked chocolate pie in the back.  Why don’t you let me bring you a big slice with a couple scoops of ice cream – on the house?”

The woman’s motherly warmth melted the tension surrounding Toni like morning sunshine melts the early spring frost.  For the first time since Scott died, she felt a genuine smile touch her lips.  “Okay, I’ll have some, but put it on my bill.”

As the waitress headed toward the kitchen, Toni rested her head on her palms and tried to assimilate what she had learned.  She couldn’t believe the irony.  All this time, she had been searching for Nico, certain he would be her savior.  The key to clearing Scott’s name and setting things right.  When in reality, Nico was as close as you could get to Satan incarnate.

When she first saw Nico get out of the Jaguar, she was surprised how harmless he looked.  Like a typical Dad, his arm affectionately draped around his daughter’s shoulder.  But when his eyes locked on the garage, the façade fell away.  She found herself staring straight into hell.  She could actually feel the evil radiating from every pore of his body.

At the time, she had been too scared for it to register, but she knew that face.  The one that was so adept at hiding its true nature.  She had seen it before.  The day she visited Gloria’s apartment.

Nico was the man in Gloria’s photographs.

After pounding on Toni’s door for several minutes, Mark finally convinced himself she wasn’t home.  At first, he hadn’t been sure.  Visions of her in total meltdown, refusing to speak to anyone, accosted his mind.  But clearing his thoughts of those just led to visions far worse.

Trying to shake off the helpless feeling plaguing him, he reached for his cell phone.  Jill answered on the second ring.

Mark didn’t bother with the usual niceties.  “Where’s Toni?” he asked.

“Toni?  How should I know?”

“You haven’t talked to her today?”

“No, why?”

“Dana Dawson was murdered.  At Toni’s listing.”

“I know, I saw it on the news.  It’s horrible.  Some idiots robbed her and then shot her so she couldn’t identify them.  I phoned Toni as soon as I heard, but she never called me back.”

“You and the rest of the world.”

“What?”

“Look, if you hear from her, have her call me.  Immediately.”

“Yeah, of course.”

After hanging up, Mark phoned his office and told his secretary to cancel the rest of his meetings for the day and his first two the following morning.  He didn’t know how long it would take him to find Toni.  It wasn’t like her to disappear without a word to anyone.

Something bad had happened.  He was sure of it.

As he drove back toward town, he ran through a list of Toni’s friends in his mind.  He had the phone numbers for some of them, but not all.  He decided to go to her office.  She probably kept the information on her computer.  As he neared the bridge, he slowed to a crawl, allowing a large black dog to amble across the road.  Then he stopped.

Not for the dog, but because of what he saw.

He pulled over and got out of his car.

He prayed to God he was wrong.

CHAPTER 26

“This will sting for a second,” the pretty ER doctor said just before injecting an anesthetic into Brian’s forearm.  “And I’m afraid you will have a scar.”

“There goes my modeling career.”

Ignoring his attempt at humor, the doctor tossed the hypodermic into the trash before disappearing behind the closed curtain.  After several minutes, she returned accompanied by a short, rotund nurse whose nametag read Peggy Lund.

Peggy had tweezed her black-penciled eyebrows into sharp upside-down vees that mirrored the bright red pout of her mouth.  The combination of her makeup, generous cheeks, close-cropped hair, and wide forehead reminded Brian of an overdone kewpie doll.

He swallowed a laugh and instead smiled at the nurse.  She nodded and returned his grin.  The doctor however, did not.  Instead, she regarded him with cold eyes as she went about the task of stitching up the gash that stretched from his elbow nearly to his wrist.

It was obvious she didn’t believe the story that he’d tripped and fallen against a saw blade.  Why should she?  He wouldn’t.  He was so pissed at having lost Toni again that he hadn’t thought to make up anything on the way to the hospital.  So he just said the first thing that popped into his mind.

Doctors were required to report gunshot wounds to the police.  He didn’t think it was mandatory to report stabbings, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t.  He hoped the doctor would keep her suspicions to herself.  Talking to law enforcement was a hassle he didn’t need.

Brian’s cell phone rang.

“Don’t even think about it,” the doctor said.

The look the she shot him said if he dared move even a millimeter, he might end up with the suture needle jabbed in his nuts.

Despite the warning, he was tempted to answer.  Before Toni sped off, he managed to memorize the license plate number on Scott’s SUV.  Although Toni had probably stolen the plate at random, he thought it was worth checking out.  There was the slight chance he’d get lucky and it would belong to someone she knew.

At the very least, the address of the person she swiped it from might point him to the general area where she was hiding.  As soon as he had arrived at the hospital, he’d left a voice message for a friend who could run the license number.  Instinct told him that friend was now on the other end of his cell.

Mark sat on an outcropping of rock at the edge of the riverbank, his head in his hands.  He stared down at his muddy wing-tips and cursed himself.

Why had he left Toni alone?

He should have insisted she stay with him for a few weeks.  He could have kept a better eye on her.  Made sure she didn’t freak out over Gloria.  Helped her deal with her feelings.  But in all reality, he knew, she never would have agreed to it.

He glanced up toward the bridge.  The lights from the patrol cars flashed an eerie ultramarine through the dusk.  They had the road blocked.  Clint had called him on his cell phone.  He and Jill had tried to get down to the river, but the police weren’t letting anyone through.

Mark could see a group of Blanton Hills’ finest still examining the ripped guardrail with flashlights.  Since the moment he spotted the twisted metal marred with red paint, he had begun phoning Toni at fifteen minute intervals, praying she would pick up.  Praying he was wrong and she was safe.

The wrenching in his chest grew worse with every unanswered call.

He turned his attention back toward the river just in time to see one of the divers motion to an officer on the shore.

They had found something.

Toni shook herself awake, the blaring sun from her dream extinguished by the darkness of the dingy motel room.  But the shrill laughter did not douse as easily.  She could still hear it.  Could still see the faces of the demons taunting her.

In the dream, she stood rigid on the top floor of the hotel, her hands bound behind her back.  At her throat she could feel the cold steel of the hunting knife.  He had wrestled it from her.  Nico.  And now she was too afraid to scream or even breathe.  He loosened his arm from around her waist and smiled down at her.  She watched as his teeth transformed into wolf-like fangs.

He shoved her forward onto the balcony.

Brian was there.  And Gloria.  Their backs were toward her, their gaze transfixed by a giant eagle on the ledge.  Then the eagle turned and she could see his face, the sun shining behind him like a halo.

It wasn’t a bird at all.

What she thought were wings were the arms of a man, bound together as hers were.

When he first saw her, he smiled.  A smile that lifted her heart and made her feel as though she could fly.  That they could fly off the balcony together and everything would be all right.  A heartbeat later, his smile was gone, replaced by a look of fear.

Scott!

She tried to scream, but her voice was gone.  She struggled to free herself, but Nico’s arms wound around her like an iron vine.  Then she saw something in Brian’s hand.  He raised it toward her and she realized it was a gun.

“Shoot her!” Gloria yelled.

“No, leave her alone,” Scott said.  “She doesn’t know anything.”

Brian lowered the gun and turned back toward the ledge.  “If you’re wrong, and she knows, she’s dead.”

Dead.

The word echoed through her brain.

But then she heard Scott’s voice.  He whispered her name, soft and sweet.  His face no longer masked by fear, but rather intense concentration.  His eyes held hers for what seemed like hours, but she knew were only fleeting seconds.

“I’ll always be with you,” Scott whispered.  “Remember.  Now and always.”

But as soon as the words escaped his lips, Brian lunged toward him.

With a single push, Scott was gone.

She screamed inside her head.  A sound only she could hear.  Nico released his grip and she stumbled forward, dropping to her knees.

And then the laughter began.

Maddening, deafening laughter.

They circled around her, Brian, Gloria, and Nico.  Their faces twisted with glee.

Toni sat up, her face and neck covered by a thin layer of sweat.  She had no idea how long she’d slept.  The clock on the bedside table flashed twelve – zero – zero.  The power had been out.

She crawled off the bed and pulled open the musty curtains.  A steady rain shimmered in the pale glow of the motel parking lot’s solitary street lamp.  She checked the time on her new cell phone.  Ten twenty-three.  She’d been out for a while.  Was it safe to go back to Josh’s now?  Maybe.  But then what?

She had pinned all her hopes of solving Scott’s murder on Nico’s cooperation.  He had been her one chance.  Now that Nico was the enemy instead of her ally, what did she have left?  How could she get detective Lewis to believe her?  At this point, what could she prove?

Nico had tried to kill her.

The red paint on his Audi would match the paint from her car.  That should be enough to get the police to question Nico.  Except for one thing.  Brian knew she had been at Nico’s.  There was no way in hell he’d risk letting anyone else see the Audi.

By now, the car had probably already been chopped into a million pieces.

A wave of nausea hit her.  Brian and Nico had killed Scott.  Were trying to kill her.  And there was not a damn thing she could do.

Or was there?

What about Gloria?  Toni sensed the woman was not nearly as strong as she pretended.  Could she be convinced Nico was only using her?  Could the blonde actually be the key to cracking this whole conspiracy?

Toni knew going to see Gloria again might be akin to shooting herself.  Still, what other choices did she have?  She could either live the rest of her life on the run, hoping Nico and Brian never caught her, or she could remain on the offensive.  Keep charging until she found a way to bring them down.

Toni went into the bathroom and rubbed a cold washcloth across her face.  She stared at her reflection.  Her bone structure, her ocean-blue eyes and thick auburn hair were all traits she shared with her mother.  There was one characteristic, however, she had not inherited.

Never once in all her life had Toni run away.

Not from anything.

CHAPTER 27

Toni parked two buildings down from Gloria’s apartment, killed her headlights and waited.

Being near to Vanderbilt, the complex housed its share of coeds.  Toni watched a group of the nocturnally inclined creatures unload from a Toyota, arms laden with beer and snacks.  They trudged follow-the-leader across the parking lot and then up the stairs to a corner apartment.  Once they were inside, the lot appeared deserted except for Toni and a large calico cat sitting on the hood of the beat-up Ford Escort parked next to her.

After leaving the motel, Toni had stopped at a Wal-Mart and purchased some dark gray sweats and a stocking cap.  She twisted her hair into a knot on top of her head and pulled the cap down over her ears before getting out of the car.  The calico jumped to the BMW’s hood and meowed, begging to be petted.  Toni obliged and stroked the cat.

“Shhh.  You be quiet now.”

With no one else in sight, Toni headed for building G.  Gloria’s apartment was adjacent to the laundry building, the brightest lit area of the complex.  Toni emerged from the shadows and knocked on Gloria’s door.

The calico wound itself around Toni’s ankles.  She scratched the cat’s head and knocked again.

No answer.

Gloria was probably with Nico and Brian.  Toni pounded on the door one last time before giving up and walking back to her car.

Should she wait for Gloria to return?  What if Nico came back with her?

The calico stared at Toni through the windshield.

“What do you think, Callie?”

The cat cocked its head, seeming to ponder the situation.

From where she was parked, Toni had a clear view of Gloria’s building.  Anyone arriving would be easily recognizable under the street lamps.  If she saw Nico or Brian, she would leave.

“Keep your toes crossed, Callie.”

Jill was crying again.

Mark got up from his chair and paced the reception area.  He could hear Clint whispering to Jill, trying to stop her whimpering.  She had been driving Mark nuts ever since they arrived at the police station.  One minute she’d be calm, telling them she knew Toni was fine, that someone else had crashed into the river.  The next minute, she’d erupt in tears, convinced Toni was gone.  She was like a manic depressive on fast forward.

Mark walked to the window and stared out at the cold night.  Was Toni out there somewhere?  Or had he lost her forever?

Once the divers began heading for the shore, one of the officers at the scene had escorted Mark from the river, despite his protests.  He had overheard one of the policemen say the divers had found a car, but no one would tell him anything.  Instead, he was being put through the torture of waiting.

“Mr. and Mrs. Shore, Mr. Ross, I’m sorry this has taken so long.”  Detective Lewis shook Mark’s hand.  “Why don’t we go down the hall for some privacy?”

“No,” Mark said.  “Just tell us right here.  Did you find Toni?”

The detective hesitated.  “Let’s have a seat.”

Jill slumped back against Clint on the worn sofa as Detective Lewis perched on the edge of a corner chair.  Mark remained standing, his hands balled into fists.

“We did find a car in the river,” Detective Lewis said, his focus on Mark.  “One of the divers was able to get the license plate number.  We ran a check, and you were right.  The car is registered to Toni Matthews.”

“I knew it,” Jill sobbed.  “She’s dead.”

“I didn’t say that.  I said the car is hers.”

“So what are you telling us?” Mark asked.  “Someone else was driving Toni’s car?”

“At this point,” Lewis said, “we’re not sure,”

“Dammit!  Quit talking in circles.”  Mark fought the urge to shake the detective.  “We’ve been waiting here for hours.  You’ve met Toni, more than once.  You know exactly what she looks like.  Just tell us.  Is she alive or dead?”

“If I could, I would tell you,” Detective Lewis said.  “The truth is, I don’t know.  When the divers found the car, it was empty.”

“So, Toni got out?” Clint asked.

“No one was in the car,” Detective Lewis said.  “That’s all we know for sure.  One of the windows was broken.  Right now, we don’t know whether that occurred due to the crash, or if someone knocked it out on purpose.”

“But Toni might still be alive?” Jill asked.

“It’s possible.  There’s a chance she managed to get out before the car sank.  However, it’s also possible the current pulled her from the car.”

“Toni’s a strong swimmer,” Mark said.  “I bet she smashed the window and then swam to shore.  Are your men still at the river?  Are they looking for her?”

“We’ll pull the car out first thing in the morning,” Detective Lewis said.  “The divers will search the river then.”

“I’m talking about searching the shore,” Mark said.  “The current could have carried Toni miles down the river before she got out.  She could be wandering around dazed.  She could be hurt.  We’ve got to find her.  Now.”

The detective stood, leveling himself with Mark.  “As soon as we realized no one was in the car, we had officers walk both sides of the riverbank.  They didn’t find anything.  And you need to understand, even if she did manage to get out of the car, there’s no guarantee she made it out of the water.  I’m sorry.  There’s just nothing more we can do until daylight.”

Mark had waited long enough.

“You might not be willing to do anything,” he said.  “But I sure as hell can.”

Toni fished her cell phone from her purse and checked the time.  It was after two in the morning and there was still no sign of Gloria.  Maybe she was spending the night at Nico’s.  Probably curled up in a big warm bed somewhere while the interior of Scott’s X5 was growing colder by the minute.

Toni started the engine and switched on the heat.  The calico didn’t stir.

Bored, Toni scanned the radio stations.  Finding nothing interesting, she decided to try playing her ballad CD again.  She fumbled in the passenger seat but couldn’t find it.  Not wanting to turn on the interior lights, she pulled Scott’s mini flashlight from the glove box.  The CD had fallen onto the floor.  She picked it up and opened the jewel case.

Stunned, she stared at the CD under the glow of the flashlight.

Toni always stuck clear labels on all the CDs she burned.  This one had no label.  There was only her name written in black marker.

Scott’s handwriting.

Toni pushed the CD into the player.  As she suspected, there was no music.  It had to be a data CD.

Did Scott know something was going to happen to him?  Had he left her a message?  She needed to get to a computer.

Josh worked the same way as Toni.  He used a laptop computer instead of a desk top.  She hadn’t seen it around his house anywhere, so he must have taken it with him on his trip.  With Brian still looking for her, Toni’s home and office were both out of the question.

Then she remembered.  There was a Kinko’s nearby, on West End Avenue, and she was pretty sure they stayed open twenty-four hours.

CHAPTER 28

Mark called in every outstanding favor he had.  Contacted even the most remote of his acquaintances.  Anyone whose name he knew, whose number he could find, he phoned.  He didn’t give a damn who he woke.

The current result was a team of fifty-two volunteers searching the cold night for Toni.  Several of Mark’s friends and fellow attorneys, a van load of Realtors, the mayor of Blanton Hills along with a couple of people from his office, most of the city council members, a few men from the rescue squad, a handful of first responders, a group from Blanton Hills Fire Department, and a half dozen friends of friends, all scoured the riverbanks in the darkness.  Still more volunteers had promised to arrive at dawn.

Mark and Clint led the charge, plowing through the mire that edged the river.  Seeking any clue, however small, that Toni had made it out of the water.

Mark needed to stay positive.  He pictured her safe in one of the houses up the bank, wrapped in a blanket, sipping hot coffee and relating her ordeal to a Good Samaritan.  He couldn’t bear to think of the alternative.

Toni had to be alive.  She just had to be, and Mark was determined to find her.

Find her and never let her go.

Despite the late hour, customers streamed in and out of Kinko’s as though it were the middle of the day.  Toni stood in line, the blonde wig covering her red tresses once again.  Even though Brian had seen her in disguise, she still felt safer behind the façade.

When she finally reached the counter, a young man with a goatee and diamond stud earring explained the rental rates and went over a list of programs installed on the computers.  Satisfied she understood the terms, he led Toni to a machine with a Windows operating system.

When goatee boy was gone, she popped in the disk.  The directory came up and revealed a single file, Toni.  From the familiar little icon and XLS extension, she could tell the file was an Excel Workbook.  She held her breath and double clicked.

The dreaded password box appeared on the screen.

Toni typed in three different passwords she knew Scott had used.  None of them opened the file.  Next, she tried his birthday, then her birthday.  Both their full names forward and backward.  Every significant word she could come up with.  Nothing worked.

Think.

If she had to leave Scott a message, one only he could open, how would she protect it?  She would use a password that had no meaning to anyone else but them.  Something no one else knew.

She typed in a date.  The day she and Scott first said, “I love you.”

The file opened.

The contents were not what she had expected.  On the left, she saw a list of addresses.  To the right, several columns of numbers.  The headings were all abbreviations and none of them made sense.

Why would Scott leave her this?

She read through the addresses.  The fifth one, she recognized.  Gloria’s apartment complex.  Why did everything always lead back to Gloria?  Toni had developed a severe case of hatred for that girl.

Although she knew the Nashville area well, none of the other addresses meant anything to Toni.  She decided to check the tax records.  Maybe the properties had something in common.  She logged onto the database and entered in the first address.  Another apartment.  Owned by an investment group, the name unfamiliar.  Then she saw the name of the company that paid the taxes.

Chadwick & Shore Property Managements, LLC.

It was a normal practice for property management firms to pay taxes and other expenses on behalf of the owners, and then collect for the bills along with their management fees.  She checked the city and county tax amounts to see if they matched any of the numbers in the columns.  Not even close.  The land and building appraisals didn’t fit either.

She typed in the remaining addresses.  All the properties were apartments.  All managed by Chadwick & Shore.  She could find no other links.  The owners’ names were all different, and the property locations were scattered across Davidson and Williamson Counties.  Wanting to study them again later, she sent the tax records for all the properties to the printer.

How did the list of apartments relate to Scott’s death?  It had to mean something.  Why else would he name the file Toni, password protect it, and stick it in a CD case where she was sure to find it?

Toni had convinced herself Brian killed Scott for the inheritance.  Maybe there was something more.  Could it be possible that Clint was somehow involved?

Scott and Clint were equal partners in Chadwick & Shore, including the property management division.  Had Scott discovered something weird going on with the management of the apartments?  Maybe Clint had embezzled some of the funds.  But that theory didn’t really seem plausible.  Management fees were not exactly big bucks.  Chadwick & Shore would have to pay the property owners all the rents collected every month, so there wouldn’t be a large bank account to steal from.

And why would Clint need money anyway?  The development and construction divisions of the company had always made a large profit.  He didn’t have any gambling or drug problems, and she knew he had made several successful investments.  His finances seemed more than secure.

And how did Brian and Nico fit in with the apartments?  Maybe they didn’t.  Maybe Scott was looking into irregularities in the property management division and just left her the file in case Clint found out.  Then Brian came back to town and killed Scott for his money.  Killed him before Clint realized Scott was checking the rental properties.

It made sense in her mind, but not in her heart.  In her gut she knew that somehow, everything was connected.

Toni wished she could get into Chadwick & Shore and search the computer in Scott’s office.  Access the property management files.  She had the keys to the building and knew Scott’s logon password.  But in order to get into his office, she would have to make it past Monty, the night security guard, and his not so friendly Doberman.  There were also security cameras everywhere.

Although she was tempted, breaking in was just too risky.  Clint paid Monty’s salary.  Even if Toni begged him to keep quiet about her visit, he wouldn’t jeopardize his job.  He would call Clint.  If Clint was involved, he would summon Nico before she had time to sit down at Scott’s desk.

Toni’s head felt ready to explode.  Far too many questions needed answers.  Answers she would have to find on her own, using the resources she had available.

The dashboard clock glowed 4:52 AM.  Toni pulled into Josh’s garage and gathered up her things.  She had stopped by Gloria’s again before coming back, but the blonde still wasn’t home.

Would Gloria be able to shed any light on the list of rental properties?  After all, she did live in one of the apartments.

Later in the morning, following a shower and a nap, Toni would return to Gloria’s and interrogate her.  Whatever it took, she would make the blonde talk.  Even if it meant she had to threaten her with the hunting knife.  She would never actually use it, of course.  But Gloria had no way of knowing that.

Toni flipped the light on in the kitchen and piled her stuff on the table.

A hand closed around her mouth and nose.  Strong arms clinched tight around her body.  She struggled, tried to scream.

Toni couldn’t breathe.  Dizziness overwhelmed her.  She felt herself falling.  And then everything went black.

CHAPTER 29

Toni opened her eyes and tried to focus.  Her head ached and her throat felt as though it had been packed with moth balls.  She blinked and scanned the room, trying to get her bearings.

Josh’s study.

Someone had tied her to his leather office chair.  Duct tape covered her mouth.

“Nice to have you back.”

Brian stood in the doorway, his left arm wrapped with gauze.  She regretted not killing him when she’d had the chance.

He crossed the room and sat on the edge of Josh’s desk.  “I know you’re scared.  I know you probably think I killed Scott, but you’re wrong.  I know he was murdered, but I didn’t do it.”

Toni studied his eyes.

How did he manage to seem so sincere?  The mask of concern seemed almost real.  Instead, she knew it was just another one of his many tricks.

“I’ll take the tape off your mouth, but just realize if you scream, the neighbors might hear you and call the police.  If that happens, the people after you will find out you’re still alive.  Understand?”

She nodded.

“I’ll do it quick so it won’t hurt as bad.”

Brian ripped the tape from her lips.

Toni’s mouth stung like hell.  She tried to speak, but coughed instead.

“Do you need some water?”

She cleared her throat.  “Untie me.”

“I will, but not yet.  You need to listen to me first.”

“Why should I?”

“Well, the way I see it, you don’t have much of a choice.”

She wanted to slap the stupid grin from his face.  “Fine.  Start talking.”

“I want to get the person who killed Scott just as much as you do.”

“And I should believe you, why?”

“Because he was my brother.  I loved him.  I have no reason to want him dead.”

“Really?  I can think of several million reasons.”

“I don’t give a damn about Scott’s money.”

“That’s a funny statement coming from a man who has a huge judgment against him.  Not to mention court costs, attorneys’ fees, and who knows what else.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I researched you.  I know all about the meatpacking plant and the slander charges.”

Brian laughed.  “Is that so?  Well, little Miss Investigator, you didn’t dig deep enough.  If you had, you would know another judge overturned that ruling.  Aside from the mortgage on my townhouse, I don’t owe anybody anything.”

Toni didn’t know what to think.  “If you don’t want Scott’s money, then why contest his will?”

Brian took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.  “I’m a reporter.  By nature, I’m suspicious of everyone.  I thought you killed Scott for his estate.  You and Mark.  I was convinced the two of you were having an affair.”

“That’s crazy.”

“I know that now.  After bugging your phones, your house, and tracking you with a GPS system.  Of course, I wasn’t completely positive until your Realtor friend turned up dead.”

“Dana Dawson.”

“She was at your listing, meeting with your customer.  I found out she had the same color hair, was roughly the same weight and height.  At night, it would be hard to tell you apart.  That’s when I knew you were in serious trouble.”

“Serious doesn’t begin to describe it.  Nico ran me off the road.  I almost drowned.”

“Nico?  The guy you tracked down in Franklin?”

“That’s the one.  Only I didn’t know it when I went looking for him.  He was at the hotel the morning Scott died.  I was stupid enough to think he could help me.”

“I knew about the crash.  But when I realized Scott’s SUV was gone, I thought you might have staged it so you could disappear.  You made the ten o’clock news last night.  The police found your car.”

“Already?  That’s not good.  Now Nico will figure out I’m not dead.”

“Doesn’t matter.  I won’t let him, or anyone else, touch you.”

For a split second, Toni caught a glimpse of Scott in Brian’s eyes.  Her stomach tightened.  She felt like crying.

Brian sensed her mood change.  “What is it?”

“When are you going to untie me?”

He stood up.  “Right now.”

Once she was free, Toni followed Brian into the kitchen.  He handed her a glass of water and apologized for drugging her and tying her to the chair.  “I was afraid if you saw me, you’d slice me up again,” he said.

“Yeah.  I’m sorry about that, but I felt I had no other choice.  And anyway, if you’re not in cahoots with Nico, why were you at his house?”

“I was trying to find you and keep you out of trouble.  I heard the message with his address and figured you’d show up there sooner or later.”

“What about the morning Scott died?  Why were you at the hotel?”

“Scott asked me to meet him there.  He wanted to give me a tour.”

Toni sat down at the kitchen table.  She still wasn’t sure she should trust Brian, but his answers did seem plausible.  And he had passed up the perfect opportunity to kill her.  “Who do you think murdered Scott?”

“Right now, I’m guessing Clint.  Besides you, he has the most to gain.  If you sell him Scott’s half, he’ll have total control of the company.”

“What if there’s another reason?”  She pulled the computer disk from her purse and spread the tax documents out on the table.  She relayed the contents of the Excel file, making sure to tell him Gloria’s apartment complex was on the list.  She also told him about Gloria being in Mexico and about visiting her apartment and seeing the pictures of her with Nico.  “What do you think?”

“I’m not sure.  I’d like to look at the numbers on the spreadsheet.”

“Sorry.  I didn’t print it.  And there’s no computer here.”

“That’s no problem.  I’ve got a laptop back at my hotel.”

Toni tapped her index finger on the water glass.  “Considering all the years that have gone by since you saw Scott last, you really didn’t even know each other anymore.  How did you figure out he was murdered when no one else did?”

“I felt it from the beginning.  I was at the hotel.  I saw the balcony.  Your cop friend tried to tell me Scott was depressed.  Something about a business deal.  But no matter how much time passes, a person’s core personality doesn’t change.  I managed to get a copy of his medical records.  Once I was sure he had never suffered from any kind of chemical imbalance, I knew their story was a crock.  Scott would never kill himself.”

“They told me the same thing.  That he was upset about a contract that almost fell through.  The company buying the hotel, water something … no, aqua something – wait a minute.”

Toni shuffled through the tax documents.  She held up one of the papers.  “AlquilaCorp!  That’s the company buying the hotel.  They own one of the apartment buildings.”

“Hmm.  Never heard of them.  You realize this could just be a coincidence?  That’s what investment firms do, buy properties.”

“I don’t think so.  I think it means something.  I think there’s some kind of link between Scott’s problems with the hotel and this list of apartments.”

“Maybe.  We’ll never know unless we do some investigating into AlquilaCorp and the owners of the other properties.  We can probably get a little information from a web search.  But for the real dirt, I’ve got a friend back in Washington with all kinds of connections.  There’s nothing he can’t find out.  Luckily, he owes me a lot of favors.”

Toni gave Brian the computer disk and tax printouts to take back to his hotel.  She hoped he would be able to make sense out of the columns of numbers.  See something she had overlooked.

“I won’t be long,” Brian said.  “I’ll go ahead and check out of the hotel and bring my stuff back here.  When I leave, lock the doors.  Don’t go outside for anything.  I was able to find you.  Nico could too.”

After Brian left, Toni paced the house like a caged tiger.

Despite being up all night, she was full of nervous energy.  She felt certain they were finally on the verge of putting all the pieces together.  She just wished she had been able to talk to Gloria.  There was still a chance Toni could persuade the blonde to cross over to the good side.  She could mention AlquilaCorp.  Pretend she knew more than she did.

The idea gnawed at her.

Although Brian told her not to leave, Toni felt compelled to go.  Nico had not seen her wearing the wig and glasses.  There was no way he could recognize her.  If she hurried, she could get to Gloria’s and back before Brian returned.

West End Avenue writhed with Friday morning traffic.  Cars packed bumper to bumper squeezed from one lane to another.  Horns blared.  Birds flew.  Nashville drivers.  They were enough to make you crazy.

After consciously hitting her signal far in advance, Toni turned onto the street that wound past Gloria’s apartment.  With most of the tenants off to work or classes, few cars remained in the lot.  She parked at the far end of the complex and made sure Nico wasn’t around before going up to Gloria’s building.

Toni pounded on the door.

“She ain’t home.”

Toni turned to see a middle-aged woman standing in the breezeway.  She wore a tattered pink housecoat, a lit cigarette in her hand.

“What?” Toni asked.

“Gloria.  She ain’t home.”

“Do you know when she’ll be back?”

“Ain’t coming back.  I saw the moving truck load up all her furniture.  They got a new gal in the office now.”

“The office?”

“You hard of hearing or something?  The office.  Where you pay your rent?  They don’t open till nine though.”

“Right.”  Gloria had worked at the apartment office.  “Did she tell you where she was going?”

“Nope.”  The woman took a draw from her cigarette.  “Didn’t know she was leaving till I saw the truck.”

“Have you lived here long?”

“Going on three years.”  She gestured toward the apartment directly across from Gloria’s.

“Did you know Gloria well?”

“Talked to her a couple times a week.  She let me slide a few days on my rent every now and then.  She was good that way.”

Toni searched in her purse for Scott’s wallet.  She flipped it open to a small print of the photo she kept on her nightstand.  Toni, Scott, Clint, and Jill in Mexico.  “Have you ever seen either one of these men around here?”

The woman studied the photograph.  “Can’t say that I have.”

Although Toni didn’t expect the tenant to know Scott, she had hoped the woman could identify Clint.  “You’re sure?  You’ve never seen the dark-haired man before?”

“Nope.”

Toni sighed and slid the wallet back into her purse.  “Thanks for talking to me.”

“No problem.  Sorry I don’t know those men.”  The woman puffed the last of her cigarette, dropped the butt on the concrete, and ground it with her house shoe.  “Her sister used to come around a lot though.”

“Her sister?”

“The blonde in your picture.  Name’s Sylvia.”

CHAPTER 30

Sylvia?

Could it be true?  Was Jill Gloria’s sister?  Could she have been living a double life all this time?

Before speaking with the woman at the apartments, Toni had thought Clint was the connection to Gloria.  That he was the one having the affair with her.  That could explain her being in Mexico.

Toni never would have guessed Gloria was actually related to Jill.  That meant that the four of them, Clint, Jill, Gloria, and Nico were probably all working together.  And whatever criminal activity they were involved in, it must have something to do with the rental properties.

Toni pulled into Josh’s garage and found Brian waiting for her.  He sat on the steps leading up to the kitchen door, a less than happy look on his face.

“Where have you been?” Brian asked.  “I distinctly told you to stay put.”

“You’re not going to believe what I found out.”  Toni related the information garnered from her visit to Gloria’s apartment.

“I have to admit, that’s a bombshell,” Brian said.  “But you should have waited for me.”

“I’m okay.  And you’re forgetting, I have managed to take care of myself these last few days.”

“Just barely.”

Toni tried to push past Brian into the kitchen.

“Wait,” he said.  “Give me your keys.”

“What?”

“Your car keys.  Hand them over.”

“Are you kidding?”

“No, I’m not.  I don’t want you running off by yourself again and getting killed.”

“And I don’t like being treated like a child.”

Brian touched her shoulder.  “Please.  Just this once, humor me.”

Toni realized he needed to feel like he was protecting her since he hadn’t been able to protect Scott.  “Fine.”

She dropped the keys into Brian’s palm.  Once in the kitchen, she noticed two grocery bags on the table.  “Did you look at the Excel file?”

“Yeah.  The numbers don’t make any sense to me either.  I emailed it to Sam, my friend in Washington.  As soon as he finds out anything on the investment firms, or the spreadsheet, he’ll call.”

Toni peeked into one of the grocery bags.  “Jill oversees the entire property management division for Chadwick & Shore, and she put Gloria in charge of collecting the rents.  What if they’ve been underreporting the funds they received?”

“That thought occurred to me too.  Maybe Clint isn’t involved after all.  It’s possible Jill is planning to divorce him and has been putting aside a little cash for herself.  Do you know if they have a pre-nup?”

“I have no idea.  But I do know Clint’s not stupid.  He tends to be a little on the arrogant side.  It wouldn’t surprise me if he had a plan in place to cut her off if they ever divorced.  But if Jill wanted to kill someone, it looks like it would have been him.”

“Then she’d be the prime suspect.”

“True.”

“Maybe she never planned to kill Scott.”

“Until he figured out what she was doing.  Then she felt she had no choice.”

“Either prison, or murder.”

Toni pulled a loaf of bread from one of the bags.  “I know he thought he was protecting me, but I wish Scott had told me what was going on.  He might still be alive.”  She fought to keep her eyes from watering.

“There’s some fried chicken from the grocery deli in the fridge.  I picked up a frozen pizza too.”

“You must really feel cheated.  You had only one day to try to get to know Scott again.”

“You’re right, it sucks.  But I can’t let myself think about what could have been.  I need to focus on the here and now.  And so do you.  Once we find out exactly what was going on – Jill, Nico, maybe Clint – whoever is responsible will pay.”

They carried the fried chicken, a bag of chips, paper plates, and two sodas into the den.  Brian opened his laptop computer on the coffee table.  “You know, Jill may have already been in prison.  We have no idea who she really is,” he said.

“Try doing a search on Sylvia Keith.”

“Let me send an email to Sam first.  I’ll ask him to dig into Jill’s background.  See if he can find out where Sylvia ends and she begins.”

“I wonder if Clint knows Jill’s real name, and that she has a sister?”

“Until we find out different, I think we should consider Clint just as guilty as anyone else.”

Toni watched as Brian typed out his email and hit send.

“I hate having to wait on your friend,” Toni said.  “Did you Google AlquilaCorp and the other apartment owners?”

“I didn’t want to take the time.  I figured we could do it here.”

Brian keyed Sylvia Keith into the search engine.  Several ancestry pages came up for a Sylvia who died in the eighteen hundreds.  Another Sylvia owned show dogs, and as expected, her picture didn’t match.  They waded through hundreds of hits, only none of them fit Jill.

Next, Brian tried to retrieve information on AlquilaCorp.

Your search did not match any documents.

“That’s strange,” he said.  “You’d think there would be at least a few items.  A business profile, a chamber of commerce listing, a phonebook entry, something.”

One by one, he typed in the remaining property owners.  A few pages came up for companies with similar names, but none matched exactly.

“I don’t get it,” Toni said.  “Except for owning the apartments, it’s like these companies don’t even exist.”

“Maybe they don’t.  Have you ever heard of a shell company?”

“That’s like a fake company owned by another company?”

“Pretty much.  Most of the time, they’re used to hide someone’s identity.”

“You don’t think Jill owns all these companies, do you?”

“I don’t think so.  If she did, she sure wouldn’t need Clint’s money.”

“Maybe Clint owns them and he’s just trying to keep them separate from Chadwick & Shore.”

“Could be.”

“Maybe the rents aren’t involved at all.  What if Clint was siphoning off Chadwick & Shore funds to buy the properties?”

“And Nico shot JFK from the grassy knoll.”

“Very funny.”

Brian picked up a chicken leg.  “Look, there are a million different scenarios we could come up with here.  We’re going to drive ourselves crazy if we don’t stop this.  Instead of speculating, going off on wild tangents, let’s just wait and see what Sam uncovers.”

“Fine.”  Toni dumped a mound of chips on her plate.

Brian chuckled.  “You can’t do it, can you?”

“What?”

“It’s all over your face.  Your brain is spinning faster than the teacup ride.”

“Shut up, I can’t help it.  I just want to know.”

“You will.  I promise, you will.”

Kneeling, Detective Russell Lewis stared at the skid marks on the pavement.  Something wasn’t right here.  He felt it all the way to his toenails.  Although he wasn’t an accident scene investigator, he could tell the tire tracks indicated more than a driver merely losing control.  Even if it had been raining.

He walked to the guardrail and watched as the wrecker service prepared to haul away Toni Matthew’s BMW.  The forensics team had done a preliminary examination at the scene.  Whoever had been in the car broke the window from the inside.

A dive boat rocked in the middle of the river, kept in place by a tether to the shore.  They searched for a body now.  Neither the men on the force, nor the group led by Mark Ross, had found anything to indicate Miss Matthews was still alive.

Was it his fault?

When Toni Matthews had come to the station, begging him to look further into Scott Chadwick’s death, he thought she was just in denial.  That it had been a part of her grieving process.  Now, he wondered.

Within the span of a week, three people, all related in some way, had turned up dead.  Chadwick, the pretty red-haired real estate agent, and now Matthews.

His radio crackled to life.  The call was for him, one of the officers at the station.

“Go ahead,” Lewis said.

“The man you asked me to locate, Brian Chadwick, he’s already checked out of his hotel.”

“When did he leave?”

“Early this morning.”

After she finished eating, Toni had gone into the guest room to take a nap.  She didn’t sleep long, a little more than an hour.  She lay there another thirty minutes with her eyes closed, but remained awake.

How could Jill do this?  Pretend to be her closest friend?  She had played the part so well.  Toni remembered the twice-weekly lunches, shopping trips to Atlanta and New York, the late nights spent discussing the merits and foibles of the male species over a couple bottles of wine.  She hadn’t been that open about her life with another female since Kellie Snow.

Kellie’s family had moved into the house across the street from Toni when they were both in kindergarten.  The petite brunette was the only girl Toni had ever talked to about her mother.  They remained best friends throughout high school, but lost touch when Kellie left for college out west and Toni chose to stay in Alabama with her father and attend Auburn.

Over the years, Toni made several casual friends, but had never allowed herself to form any strong bonds with anyone.  She had never been willing to trust.  But after she met Scott, she began to change.  He had been able to break down so many of the walls she had built around herself.  He made her believe it was okay to put her heart out there again.  So she had allowed a friendship to grow with Jill.

Although she never discussed her mother, she had shared her feelings about Scott, her beliefs about life, and the dreams she had for the future.  And what about all the details Jill had shared about her life?  Were they all lies?  She thought she knew Jill well.  But the woman she had known didn’t even exist.

And how did Clint fit in?  Had Jill played him as well?  Or was he another character in this charade?  Playing his own devious role?

One thing was certain.  For as long as Toni had known him, Clint had been all about the money.  He always had to be first to own the newest electronic gadget.  Had to trade up to a new car every year, live in the most exclusive neighborhood, throw the most lavish parties, and be known for giving the largest annual donation to his church.  The emphasis on the be known part.  Clint didn’t believe in giving anonymously.

Maybe Toni had been right earlier.  What if Clint had embezzled funds from Chadwick & Shore to purchase those apartments?  He could have killed Scott on his own.  Jill might not even be aware of it.

There was only one problem with that theory.

Gloria.

Jill had said she didn’t know her.  She had said it so easily.  Toni had never suspected for one second she was lying.  If Jill had nothing to do with Scott’s death, then she would have no reason to hide her sister.

Toni rolled over and opened her eyes.  There was no use in lying there awake.  She just couldn’t get her mind to turn off.  Brian was probably sleeping soundly in the next bedroom.  She could go downstairs and do some more investigating online.

When she entered the den, Toni found Brian awake on the sofa, his computer in his lap.

“You couldn’t sleep either?” she asked.

“Nope, and I really should.  I’ve been up more than twenty-four hours now.  I just can’t get comfortable.”  He gestured toward his bandaged arm.

“I’m really sorry.  I was just so scared –”

“I know.  It’s okay.  If I had been you, I probably would have gone for my chest.”

“Oh, I thought about it.”

He smiled, and she saw Scott again.  The resemblance tore at her heart.  She had to look away.  Had to get out of the room.  “You want something from the kitchen?” she asked.

“No thanks.”

Toni opened a Coke and leaned back against the refrigerator.

It had been so much easier when she thought Brian was guilty.  As long as she hated him, she could ignore all the little mannerisms he had in common with Scott.  Tell herself the two brothers were nothing alike.  Now she knew that wasn’t entirely true.  The more time she spent with Brian, the harder it was to be around him.

By the time she found the courage to look at Brian again, she had sipped more than half the bottle of Coke.  He was still staring at his computer screen.

“You really should go up to bed,” she said.

“I know.  I wish I could take a shower.  That would probably help, but I can’t get these stitches wet.”

“I just might have a solution for that.”

Toni left the room.  She returned a few minutes later with a roll of Glad Wrap and some first aid tape.  “Hold out your arm,” she said.

Starting at his wrist, she began wrapping the plastic around his arm, all the way up to his elbow and then back again.  Once she was satisfied his wound was properly encased, she sealed off the edges of the Glad Wrap with the first aid tape.  “That should keep the water out,” she said.

“What gave you this idea?”

“Experience.  We lived on a cul-de-sac when I was little and I used to ride my bike up and down our street.  My father had a strict rule that I was not to get out on the main road of our subdivision.  He said there was too much traffic.  Well, one day when I was around ten years old, I decided I was big enough to go anywhere in our neighborhood I wanted.  So off I went.  I was doing pretty well too.  Using my hand signals when I turned, making sure I was far enough over to the right so the cars had plenty of room to pass me.  Oh, I was feeling all grown up – until I came to the big curve.  I looked up and there was this huge truck right in the middle of the road.  It looked like it was coming straight toward me.  I panicked.  My tires went off the edge of the pavement and I ended up hugging a tree.”

Brian couldn’t help but laugh.  “How bad were you hurt?”

“Not too bad.  No broken bones.  But I did get a pretty good gash in my right calf.  The doctor gave me five or six stitches.  There was no way I was going to go to school the next day without taking a shower.  So my dad came up with the plastic wrap fix.”

“Did you get in trouble for breaking your dad’s rule?”

“No, not that time.  He was so glad I was still alive, he let it slide.”

She hadn’t thought about that day in years.  And why in the world did she tell Brian about it?  She could easily have said she’d had stitches once and left it at that.  She’d be glad when all this was over and he was back in Washington.

After Brian went upstairs to shower, Toni picked up his laptop.  She searched the tax records for Sylvia Keith but didn’t find any property listed under that name.  Then an idea hit her.  She typed in the address for the house where Nico lived.  She wasn’t a bit surprised when she read the property owner’s name.  AlquilaCorp.  And as she suspected, the tax bill went to Chadwick & Shore.

She clicked back to the main search page.  She typed AlquilaCorp into the property owner’s name field and was about to hit enter when a phone rang.

Brian’s cell phone.

She wasn’t in the habit of answering another person’s phone, but what if it was his friend Sam?  What if he had figured out the spreadsheet?  She put down the computer and picked Brian’s phone up off the coffee table.  She glanced at the caller ID.

The number on the screen was one she knew well.

Jill’s private line.

CHAPTER 31

Shocked, Toni stared at the number.

Why was Jill calling Brian?

Maybe it didn't mean anything.  It could be completely innocent.  She probably just wanted to let him know Toni was missing.  Find out if he had seen her.

The phone rang four more times before switching over to voice mail.  Toni waited a few seconds to see if a message alert popped up.  When none did, she flipped open the phone.

She opened the menu and scanned through the call log.  Brian had received six more calls from Jill’s various phone numbers during the last few days.  He had dialed out to her private line twice.

Why would he be talking to Jill?  As far as Toni knew, they were not exactly friends.

A knot began to form in the pit of her stomach.

She returned to the call menu and pulled up the text messages.  As she feared, there was one from Jill, sent on Wednesday at 4:28 PM.  Two little words that turned her bones to ice.

“It’s done.”

Jill had typed the message within fifteen minutes after Toni crashed into the river.

What she originally suspected, but didn’t want to believe, had now turned out to be true.  Jill had been checking in, shouting the all clear.

Letting Brian know Toni was dead.

So Brian was guilty too.  He was involved with Jill, Gloria, and Nico.

After everything Toni had uncovered, why had she allowed herself to trust Brian?  In her heart she knew the answer.  She had let his physical resemblance to Scott impair her judgment.  She had made it easy for Brian to con her.

No wonder he hadn’t wanted to brainstorm ideas about the rental properties.  He didn’t want her to figure out the connection.  If she had hit upon the truth, his eyes, or his body language may have given him away.

“Let’s just wait on Sam,” he had said.  Sam probably didn’t even exist.  Brian most likely sent the email to Jill.  A slick way to let her know exactly what Toni had found out.

Cold sweat broke out on the back of her neck.

Why was she still alive?

Brian could easily have killed her when she came back to Josh’s that morning.  There had to be a reason he let her live.  Maybe they hadn’t decided what to do with her body yet.  The police had found her car in the river.  Maybe Brian was waiting for the cops to clear out.  Then he could drown her and let her body wash up on the bank.  There would be fewer questions that way.  Her death would be ruled accidental.  If she just disappeared, people might start to wonder.

She had to get out of there.

Brian still had her car keys.  She would have to leave on foot.

Toni popped open the DVD drive on Brian’s laptop computer.  Scott’s disk wasn’t there.  She had to find it.

Brian had stowed the computer carrying case underneath the coffee table.  She slid it out and noticed a bulge in the outside pocket.  She stuck her hand in and pulled out a spiral notebook.  A loose paper was stuck to the back.

Brian’s hotel bill.

She glanced at the charges and realized something was off.

When Brian agreed to come to the wedding, he said he would be arriving in Nashville the afternoon of the rehearsal dinner.  That night at the restaurant, he acted as though he had just flown in.  But according to his bill, he had checked into the hotel a full week prior.

What had he been doing all that time?

She was about to unzip the main compartment of the carrying case when she heard footsteps on the stairs.  She crammed the notebook and bill back into the pocket.

“The plastic wrap worked,” Brian said.  “Thanks.”

“No problem.”  She struggled to keep her voice calm.  “You should try to sleep now.  You need the rest.”

“I will, in a bit.  I’m actually kind of hungry.  Do you want any more of the chicken?”

“No.  You eat it.”

Choke on it.

Mark turned the shoe over in his hand.  A woman’s brown leather loafer, size eight.  One of the volunteers had found it caught in a brush pile along the edge of the river.  Jill had recognized it immediately.  His worst fear was confirmed.  Toni had been in the car.

The search party had continued their quest throughout the day.  After scouring the river for several miles, they had gone door to door asking the residents in the area if they had seen Toni.  No one had.

Now, as darkness threatened the sky, the divers had come to shore.  They avoided Mark’s eyes as they passed.  He knew what they were thinking.  He didn’t care.  He wasn’t ready to give up hope.  Not yet.  He wanted to believe there was still some chance Toni had survived.

Until they found her body, he would refuse to accept she was gone.

Act normal.

Toni had repeated the phrase in her head a million times since Brian came back from taking his shower.  She had to make it seem as though nothing had changed.  That she still trusted him.  Just make him feel comfortable, let him fall asleep, then find the computer disk and get the hell out of there.

There was no way she could risk talking with him.  She was sure he’d be able to read her thoughts through her eyes.  Instead, she had turned on the television and pretended to be engrossed in an old black and white movie.  She appeared focused on the screen, but in reality, she had no idea what was going on.  She was too worried Jill would call again.  Call and tell Brian it was time to kill her.

Why was he still awake?  Was he afraid she would slip away?  If he had been up as many hours as he’d said, he should be dying to shut his eyes.  Yet, he refused to go upstairs.

Was he really watching the television, or was he studying her?

The urge to bolt from her chair and tear through the back door was almost more than she could bear.  She had to calm down.  Without Scott’s disk, she had nothing to show the police.

“That was pretty good,” Brian said.  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before.”

Toni realized the movie was over.  She began flipping through the channels.

“What’s wrong with you?” Brian asked.

“Nothing.”  She hoped her voice hadn’t sounded too sharp.

“Look at me.”

Toni tried to keep her heart from pounding.

Take deep breaths.  He doesn’t know you’re on to him.

“I’m okay,” she said.  “I’m just tired and I want all this over with.  I guess the wait is eating away at my nerves.”

Brian moved to the edge of the sofa and put his hand on her chair.  “I’m sorry it’s taking so long.  But I promise you, we will find out who killed Scott and why.  And once we do, I’m going to make sure they get put away for life.”

She wanted to scream.  Grab him by the collar and shake him.  She didn’t just want him put away.  He deserved to die for what he’d done.

She bit down on her tongue until she tasted blood.  If she opened her mouth, she would be the one that ended up dead.  Instead, she turned away and continued her channel surfing.

She couldn’t believe he had looked her straight in the eye and vowed to punish Scott’s killer.  Brian was an expert liar.  Just like Jill.

“Hey wait,” he said.  “Turn that back.”

Toni flipped back a channel.  The local news was on.  Mark stood next to the river talking to a reporter.  He hadn’t shaved and his face appeared haggard.

“She may be disoriented.  It’s possible she doesn’t remember her name,” Mark said.  If you think you’ve seen her, please call.”

“We hope she’s found soon,” the reporter said.

The broadcast switched back to the studio.  Toni’s picture flashed on the screen, her name and the police department’s telephone number below it.

“I hate putting Mark through this,” Toni said.

“I know, but you can’t call him.  Nobody can know you’re alive.  It’s too dangerous.”

Somehow she knew Brian would say that.

His cell phone rang and Toni jumped.

Brian cut her a strange look before answering.

“Hello?  Okay … great … I’ll be waiting.”  He snapped the phone shut.  “That was Sam.  He just got in and read my emails.  He said he’d probably know something in a few hours.”

So they weren’t quite ready to kill her yet.  Or were they?  What if it had really been Nico calling to say he was on the way over?  Was that what Brian was waiting up for?  She couldn’t take that chance.  She had wasted too many hours hoping he would go to sleep so she could search for Scott’s disk.  That didn’t matter anymore.  She had to get out of there.  Now.

Toni fought the impulse to run.

“I’m going upstairs to get some rest,” she said.  “Wake me when Sam calls.”

She made sure Brian wasn’t following her, then slipped into Josh’s study.  She grabbed the phonebook off his desk before heading upstairs to the guest room.

There were several cab companies listed in the yellow pages.  She took her cell phone from the nightstand and started to dial, but stopped.  Brian might be lurking in the hallway.  It would be best to wait until she got outside to call.

Toni tore the page from the phonebook and stuck it in the pocket of her jeans, then locked the bedroom door and switched off the light.  She sat on the bed letting her eyes adjust to the darkness.  Once she was able to see, she went to the window and raised the blind.

The guest bedroom window overlooked the sloping roof of the covered patio below.  Toni popped out the screen, went through, and then pulled the window back down.  She didn’t want the cold air rushing into the house and alerting Brian.  Sitting on her behind, she scooted her way across the asphalt shingles to the edge of the roof.  She looked down.  The distance to the ground seemed a lot further than she had imagined.

Great plan, genius.  You’ve come this far, now you’re going to fall and break your neck.

Toni tossed her purse from the roof.  After saying a silent prayer, she rolled over onto her stomach and then dropped onto the lawn.  She sat still for a moment, hoping Brian hadn’t heard her.

The den light went out.

CHAPTER 32

Toni flattened herself against the ground.

Why had the light gone out?  Did Brian hear her slide off the roof?  Was he peering through the blinds, scanning the lawn for any sign of movement?

She lay just a few feet from the raised patio.  She doubted her body was visible from the angle of the window.  But if Brian came outside, he would be sure to see her.

The knife.

She had left it in the bedroom.  There was no going back for it now.  If Brian opened the back door, she would have to take her chances and run.

Toni remained motionless for several minutes.  Her body tense, she listened to the sounds of the night, alert for any warning that Brian was in the yard.  Finally convinced he was still inside, she crept from tree to tree until she reached the driveway.

Once at the street, Toni phoned a cab company.  She gave them the address of the house across from Josh’s and told them not to pull into the driveway.  Crouched between two evergreen bushes, she waited nearly thirty minutes before seeing the taxi’s lights approaching.

She jumped into the back seat, gave the driver her street name and asked him to hurry.  By the time they reached Toni’s neighborhood, a steady rain was falling.

“Stop right here,” she said.

The cab driver pulled over a few houses down from where Toni lived.

She handed him his fare.  “I’ll give you an extra hundred if you’ll wait here for me.  I won’t be long.”

Toni pulled up the hood of her jacket and ran across her neighbors’ yards and then around to her back door.  She couldn’t believe she had been stupid enough to give Brian her keys.  Thankfully, she had put her spare house key back under the patio table.

Once inside, she headed for Scott’s study.  He was bound to have saved a copy of the spreadsheet on his computer.  She would print out the file and take it to the police station.  Demand to speak to the police chief, tell him everything she had discovered, and refuse to leave until he agreed to reopen Scott’s case.

She would also request police protection.  After dodging two attempts on her life, and then getting caught by Brian, she had no other choice.

Toni sat down at the computer and opened Scott’s documents file.

The folder was empty.

What the …

She clicked on her own folder.

Empty too.

Someone had erased all the files.

Had Brian been in her house after he checked out of his hotel?  He was the only other person who knew about the spreadsheet.

What now?

How would she convince the police to help her with no evidence?

The safe.

She had seen computer disks when she took out the money.  Maybe Scott had made a back-up file.

As far as she knew, he had not told anyone else about the secret safe behind the bookcase.  She didn’t even know it existed until after they had moved into the house.

One by one, Toni put the disks from the safe into the computer’s DVD drive.  She searched through all the files.  They were mostly architectural drawings and random notes Scott had made on the various projects he had completed.  Nothing even remotely resembled the spreadsheet.

She felt like crying as she removed the last disk from the computer.  She knew there were ways of recovering deleted files from a hard drive, but that would probably take days.  And she would have to find someone with the expertise to do it.

Where would she go until then?  In order to get far enough away so Brian couldn’t find her, she would need more money.

She went back to the safe and pulled out the metal box containing Scott’s cash.

Then she saw it.

A flash drive.

It had been behind the money box.  Scott had written her name on the drive with a black marker, the same as he had the computer disk.

Toni plugged the drive into one of the computer’s USB ports.  Using the same password that had opened the spreadsheet, she gained access to the flash drive files.

The words she read amazed her.

Everything made sense now.  The abbreviations on the spreadsheet columns, the amounts, and the addresses.  Scott had laid it all out.

She realized now he had meant for the information on the disk he left in the car to be cryptic.  In case someone else had somehow found it.  Scott knew she would end up searching the safe.

Toni burned a copy of the files onto a CD and then returned the flash drive to its hiding place.  She now had enough to put Jill and Clint away for a long time.

Why hadn’t Scott gone to the police?

She bet it was because of the wedding.  He wouldn’t have wanted anything to spoil their special day.  The arrest of a well-known businessman like Clint would be big news.  The press would be all over it.  And all over Chadwick & Shore.  Scott probably planned to wait until they got back from their honeymoon.  There would have been no way he could have left town once Clint was arrested.  He would have had to stay behind and handle the fallout.

Jill and Clint must have figured out he was onto them.

Their solution – get rid of him.

But they needed someone to help with their scheme, Toni reasoned.  Someone who hated Scott, but at the same time, someone he would trust.  So they obviously contacted Brian and made a deal.

Brian could have used Clint’s keys to enter the hotel construction site early that morning, before anyone else arrived.  It would have been easy for him to lure Scott up to the penthouse.

After the murder, as the only surviving relative, Brian probably thought he would automatically inherit his brother’s fortune.  Then he would sell his half of Chadwick & Shore to Clint.  Jill and her husband could continue their business with no one the wiser, and Brian would be a multi-millionaire.

Everybody would win.

Except for Scott and Toni.

So when she started asking too many questions, they decided to take her out of the way as well.

Only this time, she would make sure they failed.

Toni grabbed an umbrella and headed back out into the night.  When she reached the street, she found the taxi had left.  She had taken too long to locate the files.  The driver must have decided she wasn’t coming back.

Returning to the house to wait for another cab seemed a bit too risky.  She had no way of knowing how long it would be before Brian discovered she was gone and came looking for her.  She needed to keep moving.  She could have a taxi pick her up on the next street over.

Toni flipped open her cell phone.  A gust of wind caught her umbrella whipping it up and forcing it inside out.  Knocked off balance, she slid off the shoulder of the road and dropped her phone into the rain filled ditch.

“Dammit!”

Toni pulled her arm out of her jacket, pushed up her sleeve and fished around in the ditch until she found the phone.

It was dead.

That’s what she got for buying a cheapie.  She thought about going back into the house to make the call.  Then she remembered.  Brian had tapped her phone line.

Now she was stuck.  She couldn’t walk all the way to the police station.  It would take her all night.

No.  But she could walk to Mark’s house.  He only lived a few miles away.

Toni threw the useless cell phone back into the ditch along with her broken umbrella.

The phone rang.

The jangling cut through the haze of Brian’s dreamless sleep.  He sat up on the sofa.

“Hello?”

The voice on the other end confirmed what he already knew.

It was time.

After a long trek, hiding every time she saw headlights, and cutting through more back yards than she could count, Toni finally made it to Mark’s subdivision.  Cold and muddy, her wet jacket hood plastered to her head, she rang his doorbell.

The door swung open.  Mark stood at the threshold.  Clad in a bathrobe, he stared at her as though he’d never seen her before.

“Toni!”  His arms engulfed her, pulling her off her feet.  “Thank God.  I thought I’d lost you.  Where have you been?”

She had so much to tell him.  Where should she begin?  Toni let out a huge sigh.

“Never mind,” he said.  “Just come inside, you’re soaked.”

He ushered her into the foyer and helped remove her coat.  She glanced down at the dirty footprints she had left across the tile floor.

“That’s it!”  Toni grabbed Mark’s arm and jumped like a schoolgirl.  “I know how he did it!”

CHAPTER 33

Brian knocked on the bedroom door.

“Toni?”

Receiving no answer, he knocked again.

“Toni, it’s time to wake up.”  He listened for movement in the room.

Something was wrong.

He tried the knob.  Locked.

Brian kicked the door open and flipped on the light.

She was gone.

“Calm down,” Mark said.  “You know how who did what?”

“I know how Brian murdered Scott.”

“Toni, honey.”  He pushed her wet hair back out of her face and spoke to her as though she were a child.  “We’ve already been over this.  Brian didn’t kill Scott.”

“You’re wrong.  I know what I’m talking about.  Please, Mark.  If you’ll just listen –”

“Alright.”  He held up his hand.  “You win.  I’ll listen to whatever you have to say.  But first, let’s get you dried off and into some warm clothes.  You’re shivering.”

Toni looked down at her legs.  Her jeans were soaked all the way up to her knees.  “Okay.  But you have to believe me.”

Mark’s eyes locked with hers, revealing a deep empathy.  “Your pants need to go into the washer.  I’ll get you some sweats to wear for now.”

She slipped off her shoes and followed him into the utility room.  A basket of freshly laundered clothes sat on top of the table next to the dryer.

He pulled out a grey sweatshirt and matching pants along with a pair of sport socks.  “I know these are a little big, but at least you won’t be cold.”

Mark gave Toni a bath towel for her hair and she went into the powder room to change.  The reflection in the mirror startled her.  She looked terrible.  Even with makeup, her face was pale.  Dark circles ringed her eyes.  The events of the last week had taken their toll on her body as well as her emotions.

She wondered if Brian would search for her here.  She knew Mark would defend her with his life.  She hated putting him in danger.  Hopefully, Brian would assume she left on foot.  If that were the case, he would think she was still somewhere in Brentwood, not Blanton Hills.

The sweats felt good against her icy skin.  She pulled the drawstring tight and then slipped on the shirt.  It fit like a dress.  She rolled up the sleeves until they fell just above her wrists.

After drying her hair with the towel, Toni scrubbed the smudged makeup from her face.  She hoped washing her jeans wouldn’t take too long.  Showing up at the police station in Mark’s clothes would make her appear light years away from credible.

She left the powder room and walked into the kitchen.  Mark had changed into a tee shirt and gym shorts and had switched the coffee maker on.  Two cups sat on the counter.

“Thanks for the sweats,” she said

He laughed and shook his head.  “You look nice.”

“Hey, I’m a fashionista.”

She carried her own clothes into the laundry room and threw them into the washer.  When she came back into the kitchen, Mark was pouring the coffee.

“Let’s take this into the living room,” he said.

Toni settled on the sofa, closed her eyes and let the steam from the coffee warm her face.  She opened her eyes.  “Do you have a gun?”

“Why would you ask that?”

“Just tell me.”

“No, I don’t have a gun.  Do I need one?”

“Yes, you might.”

He put down his cup.  “What exactly is going on here?  And where have you been?  I’ve driven myself crazy worrying about you.”

“I know.  I’m sorry.  I couldn’t call you.”

“Why not?”

“For your own safety.  I didn’t want to get you involved.  I shouldn’t even be here now.”

“Well, you are.  So start explaining.”

Cradling her cup with both hands, she took a sip of the coffee.  “I’ve been in hiding.  I had to pretend I was dead.”

Mark looked as though he’d been slapped.  “You mean no one was in your car?  The whole accident was staged?”

“Oh no, I was in the car.  The crash was very real.  I almost drowned.  Only it wasn’t an accident.  I was forced into the river.”

“Are you saying Brian ran you off the road?”

“Not Brian.  A man he hired.”

“How do you know that?  How do you know it wasn’t some drunk driver?”

“Because I found the car.  A dark green Audi.”

Mark shook his head.  He didn’t believe her.  “Do you realize how many of those cars there must be in this county alone?”

“Not with red paint from my BMW on the fender.”

He seemed to ponder that information.  “Okay.  Let’s say you did find the car that hit you.  Why do you think Brian is responsible?”

“I told you.  He killed Scott.”

“Toni –”

“I know.  You think Scott jumped from the balcony.  He didn’t.  He was thrown.”

Mark rubbed his unshaved chin.  “And you know this how?”

“The day of Scott’s funeral, I went to the hotel site.  I found his pen, the one he had with him the night before he died.  It was on the floor of the construction elevator.  At the time, I thought he had fought with someone and lost it that way.  I was wrong.”

“Go on.”

“Scott didn’t walk into that elevator.  Brian carried him.  Probably over his shoulder.  The pen fell out of his pocket because he was turned upside down.”

Mark just stared at her.

“You think I’m crazy, don’t you?” she asked.

“I know you’re not crazy.  But I talked to the police that day.  Brian wasn’t even there when Scott died.”

“Yes, he was.  Only no one realized it.”

“You think he was hiding in the hotel?”

“I did at first.  Now, I know better.”

“You’re not making sense.  If Brian had been at the construction site, someone would have seen him.”

“That’s just it.  People see what they expect to see.”

“Meaning?”

“I talked to the lead superintendent, Alvin Harney.  He was there when Scott arrived, stood just a few feet from his car.  And he saw the same thing he was used to seeing every morning.  His mind had become conditioned to see the same thing.”

“Which was?”

“His boss driving a silver BMW.  Only this time, Mr. Harney’s eyes lied.  Scott wasn’t behind the wheel.  Brian was.”

Mark scratched his head, raking his fingers through his uncombed hair.  “How did you come to this conclusion?”

“You can’t deny the resemblance between them.  If I saw Brian wearing Scott’s hard hat, driving his SUV, I would be fooled.  And I knew Scott better than anyone.”

“Okay, you’re right.  They do look alike.  But that still doesn’t mean it’s true.  And where was Scott?  Tied up in the back?”

“Yes.”

“What you’re describing sounds like something out of a bad movie.  Not real life.”

“So you still don’t believe me?”

“I’m sorry.  I just think you’ve been hurt so deeply, you’re not thinking clearly.”

“My mind is crystal clear.  Do you remember the night before Scott died?”

“Of course, I do.”

“It rained hard.  Poured down.  On the way home from the rehearsal dinner, Scott had to pull over twice because he couldn’t see the road.”

“I remember the weather.  I had to pull over once myself.”

Toni readjusted herself on the sofa, leaning closer to Mark.  “After the funeral, when I went to the hotel, I parked in the exact spot where Scott’s car was found.  I followed the same path he would have had to take to get inside.  There’s no way he walked into the hotel.”

“Because?”

“Even though I parked on the gravel, the only way I could get up to the hotel was by crossing damp ground.  Red clay.”

“So?”

She cocked her head to the side.  “There was no mud on Scott’s shoes.”

Mark sat back in his chair, silent for a moment.  “Maybe they cleaned them at the medical examiner’s office.”

“Nope.  Couldn’t have.  When I took his shoes out of the bag they gave me, I noticed a layer of street dust on the tops.  They wouldn’t just clean the soles and not the uppers.  And after a night of heavy rain, if Scott had walked, his shoes would have been caked with that red clay.”

Mark looked stunned.

Toni smiled.  “You’re starting to believe me.”

“Well, I have to give you credit, you’ve made a good case.  But if you’re planning on taking this to the police, you might not be too successful.”

“Why not?”

“Because they’ll have to admit they made a huge mistake.  They should have caught something that obvious.  To save their own hides, the cops will probably try to explain it away.  They’ll most likely say they scraped the mud off for evidence.  Only now that the case is closed, it’s conveniently gone missing.”

“Fine, it doesn’t matter.  Let them say what they want.  I have motive.”

“Right, Brian’s lawsuit over the will.  But the police will see Scott’s money as a motive for you too.  If Brian is convicted of murder, you get the whole shebang.  They could think you’re trying to frame him so you don’t have to split the inheritance.”

Toni shook her head.  “You don’t understand.  I’m not just talking about the will.  I have real proof.  Hard evidence Scott was murdered.”

She told Mark about the files Scott had left for her which detailed Clint and Jill’s dirty dealings.  Toni also related her last visit to Gloria’s apartment and explained how she had found the Audi in Nico’s garage.  She concluded by summing up her encounter with Brian.

“Do you have the computer disk with you?” Mark asked.

“It’s in my coat pocket.”

He nodded.  “I never pictured Brian as a killer, but you’ve convinced me.  With everything you’ve unearthed, the police won’t have a choice.  This will force them to reopen Scott’s case.”

“And he can finally get justice.”

Mark reached for her hand.  “Scott would be really proud of you right now.”

A tear slid down her cheek and Mark brushed it away.

He stood up.  “Let me run upstairs and take a quick shower.  Then I’ll drive you to the police station.”

Toni watched him walk up the stairs.  It was almost over.  The truth would soon be out.  Brian, Clint, Jill and her gang would likely spend the rest of their lives in prison.  And more importantly, Scott would be vindicated.

Toni picked up her half-empty coffee cup and carried it to the kitchen.  From the adjacent laundry room, she could hear the washer making its final spin.  She waited for the machine to stop, and then transferred her clothes into the dryer.  After topping off her coffee, she returned to the living room.

She nestled into the sofa, putting her feet up.  Exhaustion permeated every cell of her body.  Maybe now that someone she trusted knew what really happened, she could start to relax a little.

She had just started to drift off to sleep when a sharp whack echoed from the kitchen.

Was that the dryer?  Had it gone haywire?

Toni peeled herself from the sofa and went into the kitchen.  The door to the patio stood wide open.  Rain splattered the floor.

Don’t panic.  It was just the wind.

The door wasn’t shut all the way.  That’s all.

Brian is not here.

She pushed the door closed and engaged the lock.

Before she could turn around, a searing pain ripped through the back of Toni’s head.

CHAPTER 34

Mark checked his watch before going downstairs.  Almost eleven o’clock.  He imagined Detective Lewis was enjoying the evening at home with his family.  They might even be in bed by now.  It didn’t matter.

There was no way Mark would let Toni give her statement to some flunky on the night shift, unfamiliar with Scott’s case.  Whatever the hour, he would demand the detective come down to the station.  Even if he had to threaten his job.

Mark had more than a few friends in high places.  He suspected Lewis knew that already.

The living room was empty.

“Toni?”

Mark headed into the kitchen.  His feet slid across the wet tile.

Why would she go outside?

He flipped on the exterior lights.  The patio and yard appeared deserted.

A sick feeling rushed through him.

He jerked open the door and ran out into the rain.

As he rounded the corner of the house, a car tore out of his driveway and disappeared into the night.

Toni struggled in the darkness, trying to free her hands.  Whoever attacked her had bound her wrists behind her body and then hogtied them to her feet.  She lay on her side, the back of her head throbbing with pain.  How long had she been unconscious?

The stale air pushed in around her.  Heavy and still.  Her first thought – she was inside some type of makeshift coffin.  They had left her to die.

Then she realized she was moving.  Slowing down.

She recognized the familiar sensation, the faint smell of oil and exhaust fumes.  They had locked her inside the trunk of a car.

But whose trunk?

She hadn’t seen the face of her attacker.  Was it Brian or Nico?  And where were they taking her?

And what about Mark?  Had they killed him?

He had been upstairs taking a shower.  What if he had heard the commotion?  He never would have let them take her.  Not without a fight.

Why had she involved Mark in the first place?  She should have just walked to the police station no matter how long it took.  If he was dead, it was her fault.

Toni wrestled with her restraints.  She had to find some way out.  And if Mark was still alive, she had to find a way to save him.

Nico Williams waited in the dark.

She was running late, as usual.

Normally, her dawdling didn’t bother him.  He was used to it.  It was one of the many allowances he afforded her.  After what she’d been through, he felt he owed her.  But tonight was different.  Tonight their timing had to be perfect.

He was about to go in after her when the car door opened.

She was wearing the red wig.  The length was a little off, but it would do.

She slid into the passenger seat.  Even with the disguise, she was stunning.

Throughout the years, his baby sister’s beauty had been a source not only of his pride, but also of his fear.  He realized she was special early on, when she was little more than a toddler.  She’d follow him around mimicking his every move, then stare up at him with her big blue eyes and angelic face.  Her wavy blonde hair fit her like a halo.

As she grew, she made it known he was her hero.  And he tried his best to live up to the title.

But her carefree childhood didn’t last long.

She blossomed early.  Needing her first bra when other girls her age were still playing with Barbie dolls.

That was when his fear began.

He saw the way his mother’s boyfriends leered at her.  Bringing her candy and other gifts and asking to be called “uncle”.  Nico was always quick to step in.  Making it clear that any man who dared even think of touching his sister would pay with their life.

And the day finally came when one of them did.

The twentieth of January.

Many years had passed since that bleak winter day, but for Nico, it sometimes seemed only moments.

Warned of an approaching snowstorm, the principal of his sister’s school made the decision to send the kids home a few hours early.  Jake Gardner, their mother’s flavor of the week, was alone in their trailer.  Left there to sleep off the previous night’s whiskey.

If only his sister had known Jake was still there.  She never would have gone inside.  But she didn’t know.  And Nico had not been there to protect her.

Jake had raped the innocent girl and then beat her until she was unconscious.  His sister had been just twelve years old.

Jake was the first person Nico had killed.  There were witnesses who saw the fight.  They testified Jake had been the first to pull his knife.  It was a lie, of course.  Nico had gone to the bar with one goal in mind.  He could not let Jake live.  Even if it meant he too had to die in the process.

Nico suffered a few cuts and bruises, but other than that, he was fine.  He never even stood trial.  The killing had been ruled self defense.

His sister didn’t fare quite as well.  Her physical wounds had long since healed.  But emotionally, she had never fully recovered.  In many ways, she would always be the same frightened child who had come home too early.

But unlike that January day, Nico would always be there to shield her.  As he had done in the past.  And as he was doing now.

He vowed to protect his family.  Even if it meant someone else had to die.  Strike before you were stricken.  That was the true meaning of self defense.

“You know what to do?” he asked.

Gloria smiled at her brother.

CHAPTER 35

The trunk lid popped up.

Toni’s back was toward the opening.  She lifted her head in an effort to see who was there.

Cold steel pushed against her cheek.

“I’m going to cut your hands and feet loose, but if you move a single inch, I won’t hesitate to shoot you.  Do you understand?”

It was Jill’s voice.  All hope that Toni had been holding, her wish that by some miracle her friend wasn’t really involved, disintegrated.

The gun pressed harder into her face.  “Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

Once her bonds were cut, Toni rolled over and sat up.

They were at the hotel site.  As usual, the night security lights were on.  Jill had parked inside the fence, around a hundred feet from the main entrance to the building.  As far as Toni could tell, neither Nico nor Brian was there yet.

“Get out,” Jill said.

Toni swung her legs out of the car.  She realized the rain had stopped.

“Put these on.”  Still pointing the gun, Jill threw Toni’s clothes into the trunk.

“You took my clothes from the dryer?”

“Just shut up, and do what I tell you.”

Toni stripped off Mark’s sweats and pulled on her damp jeans and shirt.

It was clear Jill aimed to kill her.  If she could get her faux friend talking, maybe she could buy herself some time.  Figure out a way to get the gun.  “What’s your plan, Sylvia?”

Jill smiled.  “So you know.”

“Yes.  And not just your name.  I know all about the dummy corporations.”

“Good for you.”

“There never was a problem with the construction of the hotel, was there?”  Toni inched away from the car.  “Scott never had a reason to commit suicide.  He found out the truth about AlquilaCorp.  So you and your gang of thieves murdered him.”

“That’s right.  And because you couldn’t keep your damn nose out of things, now I have to kill you.”

“If you’re just going to shoot me, then why bring me all the way out here?”

Jill pulled something out of her coat pocket.  It looked like a plastic Ziploc bag with a paper inside.  “I could put a bullet in you, but what I have in mind will be much more fun.”

She held up the bag.  “This,” Jill said, “is a note written on your stationery.  It’s a very sad story.  After losing Scott, you couldn’t bear to keep on living.  So you decided to go out the same way he did.  By jumping from the top floor of his hotel.  The signature is perfect.  I doubt even you could tell the difference.  And while you were unconscious, I took the liberty of putting your fingerprints all over the paper.”

“What about Mark?  Did you kill him?”

“Not yet.  Should I?”

“No.  I didn’t tell him anything,” Toni lied.  “I was going to, but I didn’t get the chance.”  At least Mark was safe.  Hopefully, he had already made it to the police station with the disk.

“We’re wasting time.  Get moving.”

Toni took a step toward the building.  “You’ve got quite an enterprise set up.  How much are you making?  Millions?”

“What do you care?”

“I just don’t get it.  Scott built Chadwick & Shore into a virtual gold mine.  And he did it legally.  Clint has all the money he could ever need.  He had to know eventually you’d be caught.  Even without the murder charge, he’d be facing serious prison time.  Why would he risk it all?  Is he that greedy?”

“I guess you don’t know everything after all.”

“I know enough.  I admit, it took me a while to put the pieces together.  When I found out Gloria collected the rents for all Chadwick & Shore’s leased properties, I thought she might be underreporting the funds.  But it was the exact opposite.  The bank deposits are for far more than the actual rental income should be.  Who are you laundering the money for?  And who owns all those companies?  Clint’s fishing buddies in Mexico?”

Jill laughed.

“What’s so funny?”

“I can’t believe you really think Clint has the balls to orchestrate this type of deal.”

“You mean he’s not a member of your drug cartel?”

“I’m no drug dealer.  I simply manage the finances for a very profitable organization of businessmen.  How they make their money is not my concern.”

“And Clint has no idea?”

“Clint is an idiot.  He only knows what I allow him to know.”

It was as if Toni was seeing her ex-friend for the first time.  Jill’s mask had fallen away revealing a soul of ice.  “You don’t even love him, do you?”

“Love is such an abstract word.  Let’s just say, I find him useful.  For now anyway.”

“Did you have all this planned before you even married him?”

“You want the truth?  At first, I had my eye on Scott.  Then I realized Clint was much easier to manipulate.  All I had to do was play to his ego.  You should be glad I decided to take the quickest route.  Otherwise, I’d be Mrs. Chadwick.”

Toni wanted to slap her.  “Scott never would have fallen for your tricks.  And I don’t believe he dated Gloria either, did he?”

“How could he?  I went to great lengths to make sure they never even met.  Your faithful knight never cheated.  That’s the only thing you really care about.  You’ve got your answer.  Now move.”

“You can kill me, but it won’t solve your problem.  Before he died, Scott put together a detailed file on your activities.  Including the bank records.  It’s all on a computer disk.”

“You mean the disk you left in your jacket?  The jacket that’s on the back seat of my car?”

Acid rose in Toni’s throat.  She swallowed hard.  Mark didn’t have the disk.  Even if he was still alive, how could he prove anything?  Would the police act on his suspicions alone?  Or would Detective Lewis brush him off the same way he had Toni?  “What makes you think that’s the only copy?”

“I’ll take my chances.”  She shoved Toni forward.  “Go!”

After walking a few steps, Toni slid her foot across the gravel and pretended to stumble.

She lunged toward Jill, knocking her to the ground.

The gun went off.

CHAPTER 36

Nico stopped the car at the end of Toni’s driveway.

“You remember the alarm code?”

“By heart,” Gloria said.

“Good.  I’ll call you on your cell and let you know when to phone the taxi.  Try to keep your hair across your face.  Look out the window.  Don’t make eye contact with the driver.  When you get to the construction site, have him drop you off at the end of the access road.  Make sure to tell him you own the company building the hotel.  Then give him the five hundred dollars.”

“Got it.”

When the gun fired, Toni froze.

Her hesitation, though brief, proved to be a mistake.  Jill jerked her left arm free and slammed her fist into Toni’s jaw.

The blow thrust Toni to the side, but she managed to hang onto Jill’s right wrist, keeping the gun above their heads.

Toni had never been in an actual fist fight before.  She had come close once in junior high, but other than teenage hair pulling, she had no experience with hand to hand combat.  She struggled to regain her position, but instead, Jill flipped her onto her back.

Seeming equally matched, the two women continued to wrestle for the weapon.  As they rolled across the ground, Toni became aware of another car pulling up to the hotel.

Jill must have heard the car as well.  As if bolstered by the thought of reinforcements, she shoved her elbow into Toni’s neck and then pinned her down.  Her arm trembled as she put all her weight into bringing the gun level with Toni’s head.

Her strength waning, Toni realized she had to act fast.  Still pushing against Jill with her right arm, she brought her left arm down to the ground.

Toni scooped up a handful of gravel and rammed it into Jill’s eyes.

The blonde cried out in pain, and Toni managed to break free.  She leapt to her feet and ran.  Straight into Mark.

He wrapped his arms around her.  “Are you okay?”

“It’s Jill.  She’s got a gun.  We have to get out of here.”

“You’re not going anywhere,” Jill said.

Toni turned around.

Jill had recovered from the attack.  She held the gun steady.

Mark took a step toward the blonde.  “You don’t want to do this.  There are other ways out.”

“Like what?” Jill asked.  “Run away, start over somewhere else?  Or do you expect me to agree to spend the rest of my life in prison?”

“Just let Toni go.  I’ll help you.  We’ll work out all the details.  You can live anywhere in the world.  No one will ever find you.”

“But I have everything I want right here.  I intend to stay.”

Jill swung the gun back toward Toni and fired.

CHAPTER 37

When he saw Jill swing her arm, he knew what was coming.

Mark threw himself in front of Toni.

The bullet ripped into his chest.

There wasn’t much pain really.  Mostly numbness.

The sensation began to spread throughout his body.  With his hand over the wound, he slumped to the ground.

Toni knelt beside him.  Her eyes filling with tears.

“Don’t cry,” he said.

Toni stroked his hair.  “You’re going to be alright.  She has the disk.  She can let us go.  I’ll get you to a hospital.  Just hang on.”

Jill circled the pair.  “Such a tender moment.  She has no idea who she’s crying for.”

Toni looked up at Jill.  “What are you talking about?”

Jill reversed her circle.

“Mark,” Toni said.  “What is she talking about?”

He wanted to deny everything.  To spare her the grief of his betrayal.

“Go on,” Jill said.  “Tell her.  Fill her in on what really happened to Scott.”

He owed her the truth.  That was all he could give her now.

The cloud of hatred that began to creep into Toni’s eyes pained Mark far more than any bullet ever could.  “I’m sorry,” he said.

“You’re sorry?” Toni asked.  “Scott is dead, and all you can say is, you’re sorry?  He was your best friend.  Did you know they murdered him all along?  Did they pay you to keep quiet?”

“I never wanted him to die.”

“Then why didn’t you save him?  If you knew about Jill’s scheme, why didn’t you tell the police?”

Jill started laughing.  “For someone who is so smart, you really are dense.  Who do you think introduced me to Clint?  And my friends in Mexico?  Not too many years ago, the head of our south-of-the-border band was Mark’s client.”

Toni seemed to ignore Jill.  She kept her focus on Mark.  “You were involved from the very beginning?  You helped them launder the money?”

“Yes.  I arranged the shell corporations.  I had dated Jill on and off.  I knew her family, what they were capable of.  And I knew she could get close to Clint.”

“I don’t believe this.  How could you do it?  How could you let them kill Scott?  He was like your brother.”

Mark noticed the night air becoming colder.  He wanted to shut his eyes.  Forget about his past sins.  But it was time he confessed.

“The morning it happened,” Mark said.  “Scott came to my house.  He woke me up.  It was early, around four AM, I guess.  He said he had something important to tell me.  It couldn’t wait until daybreak.  About a week before, he was working on a bid for a new apartment complex.  When he started putting the numbers together showing the income potential for the investor, he noticed something seemed off with Chadwick & Shore’s property management accounts.  He thought Jill and Clint might have altered the books.  So he kept quiet and conducted his own investigation.  He had just managed to put all the pieces together when he came to see me.  He wanted me to go to the police station with him, right then.”

“He didn’t know you were in on the scheme?”

“No.  And he didn’t know he was being watched.  Jill found out he had been snooping through her files, asking questions.  She thought he was only suspicious.  But still, she had decided to eliminate the risk.  Without telling me, a few days earlier, she had sent Nico here.  To work at the site.  He was supposed to arrange an accident.”

“You weren’t aware they planned to kill Scott?”

“No.  I had no idea Scott even suspected something was going on with the accounts.  Not until he came to see me that morning.”

“But then you told Jill.  You told her knowing what would happen.  Are you the one who planned the fake suicide?  Was it your idea for Brian to impersonate Scott?”

“Toni, I’ve been trying to tell you.  Brian is not responsible.  He didn’t kill Scott.  I did.”

CHAPTER 38

In an instant, the man she had trusted, had leaned on, had loved like a brother ceased to exist.  In his place, lay a monster as vile and deceiving as the serpent in the Garden of Eden.  Toni wanted to put her hands around Mark’s throat and steal the life from his body, the same way he had stolen Scott’s.

“You’re even lower than Jill,” she said.  “You deserve to die.”

“I know there’s no excuse for what I did,” Mark said.  “But I never planned to kill him.”

“You expect me to believe – it just happened?”

“No.  That’s not what I meant.”

“Tell me then.  How could you murder someone who loved you like his own flesh and blood?”

Mark tried to shift his position on the ground, then winced.  Toni noticed the scarlet stain on his white shirt had grown.

“When Scott told me he knew about the money laundering, I panicked,” Mark said.  “He turned his back, and I hit him over the head.  He was unconscious, but still alive.”

“So you think you showed some kind of mercy by finishing him off?”

“No.  I was going to call for help.  Once I made sure an ambulance was on the way, I would leave.  I already had an escape plan in place, just in case we were ever caught.  I had planned to leave the country.”

“Then why didn’t you?  Was it the money?  Was your greed more important than a man’s life?”

“I was about to call 911.  But before I could get to the phone, it rang.  And then … everything changed.”

Jill kicked at the gravel.  “Can we hurry this along?  I don’t think she needs to know every detail.  He’s dead.  You killed him.  End of story.”

“I need her to know,” Mark said.  “I need her to understand.”

“Understand?”  Toni said.  “I will never understand how you could take away the only person, outside of my father, who I have ever truly loved.  And I will never forgive you.  Don’t even try to justify your actions.”

“I know you can’t forgive me.  I don’t expect you to.  But please, just listen.  Think of it as my last request.”

Toni glanced at his chest.  He had lost a lot of blood.  It was true; he might not make it.  Then she reminded herself, only the just men died young.  The evil ones seemed to live forever.  Like drunk drivers.  You read about them in the newspaper and see them on television all the time.  They plow into another car and all the innocent passengers die.  But somehow, the drunk driver always seems to survive.

Still, Toni wanted to know.  She needed to hear the truth just as much as he needed to tell her.  “Go on,” she said.

“You’ve met my mother.  You’ve seen the hell her life has become.  Scott told you about her accident, but did he tell you what really happened?  The real reason for her condition?”

“She fell down the stairs.”

“It wasn’t quite that simple.”

“Don’t try to blame Scott.  He wasn’t even in the house when it happened.”

“No.  But his little sister, Caitlin, was.  When Scott was a teenager, he loved to play jokes on my mother.  He was always hiding behind doors or in closets, waiting to jump out and scare her.  The day of my mother’s accident, Caitlin was upstairs.  My mother had been in the living room vacuuming.  When Caitlin heard her coming up the stairs, she decided to hide in the closet at the top of the landing.  My mother was carrying the vacuum cleaner.  It was one of those old heavy canister types.  Caitlin jumped out of the closet.  It startled my mother and she lost her balance.  That’s the reason she fell.”

“Caitlin was only a child.  She didn’t mean to hurt your mother.  She didn’t know any better.”

“You’re right, she didn’t.  But Scott was older.  He did know better.  And I remember him encouraging Caitlin to play those types of tricks on my mother.”

“It was still an accident.  It wasn’t anyone’s fault.”

Mark tried to clear his throat, and then coughed.

“When Scott was lying there on my living room floor,” he said.  “I honestly regretted hitting him.  I was ready to give up everything I had here.  I was willing to live the rest of my life on the run.  I wanted him to live.  I expected him to be okay.”

Mark paused.

Toni waited for him to catch his breath.

“And then that damn phone rang,” he said.  “It was my mother’s nurse.  She called to tell me my mother had suffered another spell.  She’d broken a lamp and cut herself.  I could hear her screaming on the other end of the line.  And I don’t know.  Something inside me snapped.  I thought about Scott and his perfect life.  Then I thought about how my mother had been robbed of so many years of hers.  I blamed Scott.  I guess subconsciously, I had always blamed him.  And in that moment, I wanted revenge.”

“You’re not the only one that suffered loss.  Scott lost Caitlin and his parents too.  Wasn’t that enough?”

“No, not to me.  The way I saw it, Scott had everything.  A successful company with an amazing future, more money than he could ever spend, a brother who still loved him and friends who respected him.  And most importantly, he had you.”

“You killed him out of jealousy?”

“Partly, I guess.  At the time, I didn’t think of it that way.  When I heard my mother crying on the phone, I wanted to make Scott suffer the way she had suffered.  I hated him.  More than I’ve ever hated anyone in my entire life.  I wrapped him in a shower curtain and put him in the back of his BMW.  I dressed like him.  I put on his hardhat.  You were right about people seeing what they expect to see.  When I drove through the gate at the construction site, the foreman never suspected a thing.  Of course, Nico was there to make sure nothing went wrong.”

“Was Scott still alive when you got to the hotel?”

“Yes, but he never woke up.  I carried him to the top floor.  After it was over, I hid in the building until the foreman found the body.  Nico stood as a lookout while I sneaked back through the gate.  I cut across the field, through the trees.  Jill picked me up in the parking lot behind the mall.”

Toni sat motionless, fighting the images in her mind.  Mark on the balcony hurling an unconscious Scott to his death.  Nausea grew in her stomach.

It was one thing to speculate about what had happened.  But now, hearing the words, knowing the actual details, made it all too real.  The truth was almost more than she could bear.

And then Toni realized, Mark’s treachery hadn’t ended with Scott’s murder.  “You wanted me dead too,” she said.  “Did you call Jill when you went upstairs to shower?  Did you help her load me into the trunk?”

Jill started laughing.  “Are you kidding?” she said.  “I can’t even begin to count the number of times Mark threatened to kill me if I dared lay one finger on you.  He gave me so much hell when you went missing, I thought he might actually try to follow through.  Don’t you see it?  He’d give his own life for you.  He thinks he’s in love.”

“If he loved me,” Toni said, “he would have let Scott live.”

“I know what I did was wrong,” Mark said.  “And I regret it now.  But I never would have let them touch you.  I had every intention of driving you to the police station.  Once I knew you were safe, I planned to head to the airport.”

It was small consolation.  Although he hadn’t harmed her physically, he had ripped apart the very core of Toni’s soul.  Even if she lived through the night, she would never recover from losing Scott.

Jill pointed the gun at Mark.  “I’m tired of waiting.  Take out your cell phone and toss it over here.”

Mark struggled to get the phone out of his jacket.  He handed it to Toni.  She was tempted to throw it at Jill’s head, but the risk of getting shot was too great.  She pitched it on the ground.

Jill picked up the phone.  “Now get up, Toni, or I’ll shoot him again.  And then, I’ll shoot you.”

“No,” Mark said.  “Let her go.  I’ll take all the blame.  I’ll say I forced you into helping me.  You still have time to leave.  I’ll tell everyone you’re dead.  The police won’t look for you.”

“You can’t talk with a bullet in your brain,” Jill said.

Toni knew Jill would kill him.  As it stood, Mark still might have a chance of living.  Even though he didn’t deserve a reprieve, Toni couldn’t let Jill shoot him in cold blood.  “Leave him alone,” she said.  “I’ll go with you.”

CHAPTER 39

Toni felt the barrel of the gun pressing against the small of her back as she walked into the building.  She thought about Scott.  About his final trip to the hotel, and the way he had died.  She was thankful he had remained unconscious.  By not waking up, he had been spared the fear of the fall, and hopefully also the pain.

They reached the construction elevator.  Even though the car had an interior light, Jill switched on a flashlight before shoving her inside.

“What about Mark?” Toni asked.  “Are you going to get him help, or will you kill him too?”

“I haven’t decided.  But the way he looked, I may not have to worry about it.”

“You managed to keep a lot hidden from him, didn’t you?  He said Brian wasn’t responsible.  But I know Scott’s brother was working with you.  I saw your private number on his cell phone.”

“I called him, but it was just business.  Chadwick & Shore business.  I was trying to get him to agree to sell Scott’s half to Clint, if he inherited.  Which now that you’re out of the way, he will.”

“He wasn’t helping you and Nico?”

“No.”

“What about the text message?  The one that said, it’s done?  You sent it right after Nico ran my car into the river.”

“I was talking about the appraisal.  I told Brian I would let him know as soon as it was finished.”

So Brian had been telling the truth.  She should have listened to him instead of jumping to conclusions.  If she had, chances were, Jill would be in jail right now instead of holding her at gunpoint.

Toni hoped Jill wouldn’t wonder how she had seen Brian’s phone.  If Jill realized Brian knew about her and Nico, his life would be in danger as well.

The elevator screeched to a stop, and Jill pushed her out into the hallway.  The beam from the flashlight panned the floor.  Toni noticed the workers had hung drywall since her last visit.  The dust was heavy in the air.

She glanced around looking for a trowel or other tool she could use as a weapon.  She needed a way to distract Jill.

“The police are going to wonder how I got here, since I don’t have a car,” Toni said.

“Don’t you worry.  I’ve taken care of that.”

“Really, how?”

“What difference does it make?”

“None.  I just thought that since I’m going to die, you might at least tell me how you plan to pull it off.”

“Gloria will be your double, the same way Mark was Scott’s.  She’s taking a taxi here from your house.  She’ll be wearing a red wig and that emerald green coat of yours.  The driver will remember her by the huge tip she gives him.  I’ll put the suicide note in your coat pocket and leave it on the balcony.  When they find your body, no one will doubt that you killed yourself.”

As they passed the door to the maintenance room, Toni caught the reflection of something metal on the floor up ahead.  A soda can.  A ladder stood near the entrance to the rear penthouse suite.

“What if Mark dies?” Toni asked.  “How are you going to explain that?  Won’t it be a little too coincidental having so many people turn up dead in such a short time frame?”

“It would be easy to make his death look like a random car jacking.  Or better yet, I could make it look like a prostitute shot him.  You don’t realize how powerful my associates are.  They could even get some hooker to confess.  Mark won’t be a problem.”

“It sounds like you have our murders all figured out.”

With her next step, Toni kicked the soda can across the hallway.  Startled, Jill jerked toward the noise.  At that moment, Toni knocked the ladder down and ran.

CHAPTER 40

“There’s no use hiding,” Jill said.  “There’s no where to go but down.”

Toni crouched beneath a bank of scaffolding, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness.  Instead of going into the rear penthouse suite, when the ladder came down, she had slipped into one of the rooms on the front side of the hotel.

She could still hear Jill’s footsteps in the hallway.  It was apparent the blonde wasn’t sure which way Toni had fled.

“You’re only making things worse,” Jill said.  “Nico will be here soon.  I was planning to knock you out before I threw you off the balcony.  He probably won’t be so nice.  He may even want to rough you up a little first.  You’ll be saving yourself a lot of pain if you just come out now.”

The flashlight beam swept the room.

Toni held her breath.

Jill stopped at the doorway, stood for a few seconds, and then went back out into the hallway.

Toni knew she had to move.  If she stayed still for too long, she’d be caught.  As she made her way out from under the scaffolding, she bumped her head on a platform so hard her jaw rattled.

Dammit!

It hurt like hell.  She sank back to the floor and hoped Jill hadn’t heard her.

Toni waited and watched for the blonde to reappear in the doorway.  After a few minutes had passed and Jill still had not come back, Toni realized she probably wouldn't.  At least, not for a while.

Dust from the platform fell from Toni’s hair, threatening to make her sneeze.  She rubbed her nose and then crawled to the other side of the room.  She had to figure a way out of the building.  Not all of the drywall had been put up yet.  It was possible she might be able to pass through the adjacent suite and circle back around to the entrance.

Taking the elevator would be too noisy.  Jill would be on her before she could even get it started.

Toni needed to reach the stairwell.  But to get there, she would have to cross the hallway.  That could be a problem.  Since Jill hadn’t come in to search the rooms, Toni suspected she was standing guard in the hall, blocking the exit and waiting for Nico to arrive.

If only there was a way to lure Jill into one of the suites.  Toni might be able to sneak past her and make it down the hallway without being seen.

She crept back to the doorway, took a deep breath, and then peeked around the wall.  Jill was right where she expected her to be.  Pacing the floor at the end of the hall near the elevator.  She was still holding the flashlight.  That was good.  That meant her eyes had probably not grown accustomed to the darkness yet.

Toni moved through the suite looking for something she could use to get Jill’s attention.  She finally found it next to the whirlpool tub in what would become the master bathroom.  One of the workers had left behind a measuring tape.  Small but weighty.  Perfect.

Toni returned to the doorway.  She checked Jill’s position again, and then hurled the tape measure across the hall into the rear suite.

She heard the smack of the initial impact, and then a loud crash.  It sounded liked she’d knocked over something big.

Jill took the bait.

The glow from the flashlight came into view.  Toni pressed her back against the wall.  She waited until she was sure Jill was inside the rear suite, and then she sneaked out into the hallway.

She started to run.

She had to make it to the stairwell before Jill realized she’d been tricked.

But Toni forgot about the ladder.  It was still lying across the hall floor.  By the time she saw it, it was too late to jump over.

The ladder snagged Toni’s shoe.

She hit the floor hard.

The fall onto the bare concrete skinned her palms.  The pain in her left elbow was so intense she thought the bone might have cracked.  Her shins were bruised as well.  Toni pulled herself up and staggered down the hallway.

A firecracker exploded next to her ear.  Only it wasn’t a firecracker at all.  Her left shoulder stung.  She’d been shot.

She ducked into the maintenance room before Jill could fire again.

Jill called out to her.  “I tried to make this easy for you, but you just wouldn’t listen.”

Toni hugged her left arm.  Strangely enough, falling on her elbow had hurt far worse than the gunshot.  She figured that could mean one of two things.  Either the wound wasn’t serious, or that the bullet had done so much damage, she was going into shock.

She touched her sleeve.  It was wet with blood.  Not a good sign.  She leaned against the wall, closed her eyes and tried to keep her breathing deep and even.  The last thing she needed to do was panic.

Jill’s footsteps were getting closer.  Toni knew she was trapped.

The elevator cranked to life and started to descend.  Nico had finally arrived.

“Hear that?” Jill said.  “It’s all over now.”

The maintenance room was empty except for a five-gallon bucket filled with trash.  As Jill approached the door, Toni picked up the bucket.  She swung it as hard as she could.

The blow took Jill by surprise, knocking her backwards.

The gun clanked across the floor, sliding out of sight.  Toni needed that gun.  How else could she protect herself from Nico?  Even if she managed to get down the twelve flights of stairs, he was sure to catch up with her before she could make it out of the building.

She grabbed the flashlight and scanned the floor.  She had just spotted the gun when Jill slammed into her.  They both went down.

Toni whacked Jill across the head with the flashlight and then crawled toward the gun.  She was almost there when Jill yanked her back by the hair.  The blonde had a fist full and was not about to let go.

This time Toni beat her with the flashlight so hard the light went out.

With Jill still on top of her, hanging onto her shirt, Toni scooted closer to the gun.

Just a few more inches.

The construction elevator roared upward.  In mere minutes, Nico would be there.

Toni wriggled and kicked her legs in an attempt to get Jill off her.  She stretched her arm out as far as she could.  Her fingers closed around the butt of the gun.

It was heavier than she’d imagined.

A rush of power flooded her body.  She twisted around and pointed the weapon at Jill.  “Get up or I’ll kill you.”

“No you won’t,” Jill said.  “You’re too soft.  You don’t have what it takes, and we both know it.  Give me the gun, and I’ll make sure you don’t suffer.”

The howl of the elevator grew louder.  It had almost reached the top floor.  Toni’s time was running out fast.

“I mean it.  I will shoot you.  Get off me!  Now!”

Jill started to get up, but then lunged for the gun.

Toni squeezed the trigger.

CHAPTER 41

Toni shoved a stunned Jill off her.

The bullet had torn into the blonde’s left shoulder.  Fired at such close range, the slug was bound to have caused some permanent damage.  But unless she bled out before help arrived, Jill would live.  Not that she deserved to.

Toni had to get out of the hallway before Nico reached the penthouse floor.

She ran into the stairwell.  When the door swung shut, total darkness enveloped her.  There were no windows here.  No glow from the moon to guide her.  Without the flashlight, she would have to move slower than she wanted.  She gripped the railing and began the long hike downward.

The numbness of her own wound had been replaced by a dull ache.  She wondered how much blood she had lost.  She was afraid to touch her shoulder.  Afraid of what she might find.

She had to keep her mind focused on getting down the stairs.  Block out the pain.  Concentrate on outsmarting Nico.

He’d be in the stairwell soon.

Toni counted off the floors in her mind.  Two flights of stairs for each level.  She was almost to the ninth floor when a wave of dizziness hit her.  She clung to the handrail.

There was no time to stop.  She had to keep going.  She closed her eyes and willed the vertigo to pass.  If she could just make it to the ninth floor, she could hide in one of the rooms.

A thought popped into her head.  What if she was leaving a trail of blood behind?  Then no matter where she hid, Nico would be led right to her.

And what had caused the dizziness?  Was it from going around and around in the stairwell?  Or was she bleeding to death?

Her foot missed the next step.

Toni slid down onto her behind.  The gun slipped from her hand and tumbled downward.

She had to get up.  She had to find the gun.

Her head was spinning and her hands felt clammy.  She tried to pull herself up, but her muscles refused to cooperate.

A noise echoed through the stairwell.  Someone yelling.

She thought she heard her name.

And then she realized, she was going to pass out.

CHAPTER 42

“Toni!”

Brian’s calls went unanswered.  Maybe she was already out of the building.

Or maybe Jill had lied.  Even though he had shoved the Beretta in her face and threatened to splatter her brains across the floor, she may not have been telling the truth when she said Toni had gone into the stairwell.  He thought about turning back, searching the penthouse floor just to make sure.

And then he heard a noise.  It seemed to come from a few flights below.  He hurried down the stairs careful not to outrun the beam from his flashlight.  He was almost to the ninth floor when he heard another noise.  A familiar clicking sound.  He shone the light into the corner of the landing.

Toni sat on the floor, a gun aimed at his head.

“Toni, don’t shoot.  It’s me, Brian.”

She seemed not to hear him at first.  For a second, he was afraid she would pull the trigger.  But then she smiled and lowered the gun.

“The police are on the way,” he said.

She slumped in the corner, her head down.  He knelt beside her.  “Toni?”

She had passed out.  Blood soaked her shirt.  She’d been shot.  He cradled her in his arms and tried to wake her.  How much blood had she lost?

He was thankful he’d had the foresight to place a GPS tracking device on Mark’s car.  Otherwise, he never would have known she was at the hotel site.  When his friend, Sam, had called to say he’d discovered Mark’s name linked to AlquilaCorp, Brian hadn’t been the least bit surprised.  Even though his initial suspicions about Toni had proved wrong, he still had never trusted the attorney.

He only wished he’d shared his uneasy feelings about Mark with Toni.  Maybe then she wouldn’t have run straight to the enemy.  He hoped his omission wouldn’t prove to be a fatal mistake.

He had no family left.  No real connection to anyone.  But in the short time he had known her, Brian had begun to feel a sort of kinship with his brother’s fiancée.  They shared a common bond.  They had loved and been loved by the same person.

If Toni didn’t make it, he would always blame himself.

He was good at that.  He’d had years of practice.

When his sister, Caitlin, died Brian knew he was at fault.  She had depended on him for help, and he had let her down.  Her blood was on his hands, the same as if he himself had wielded the abortionist’s scalpel.

And then there was the death of his parents.  Losing their only daughter had taken a huge toll on his father’s heart.  Brian still had nightmares of his parents’ car soaring over the cliff.  If he hadn’t taken Caitlin to that quack of a doctor, they would all still be alive.  He had caused so much pain for his family.  He had become a poison in their lives.

After his parents’ funeral, Brian decided it would be best if he left town.  If he stayed, somehow he knew, he would only end up hurting his brother even more.  He staged an argument.  He pushed Scott away.  In his then eighteen-year-old mind, putting distance between them was the only way he could ensure his brother’s safety.

Now he wished more than anything, he had stayed.  He had lost so much time.  Years he could never get back.  Ironically, it seemed he had done his brother more harm by leaving.  Scott’s death may have been partially his fault too.  If he had been here, maybe he could have prevented it.

Brian scooped Toni up and carried her toward the elevator.

He prayed it wasn’t too late.

The scream of sirens grew closer.

Nico recognized the wail of an ambulance and two, maybe three, police cars.  There must have been a wreck on the nearby interstate.  At this hour, the majority of streets running throughout Blanton Hills were deserted.

He glanced at the dashboard clock as he turned onto the gravel road leading to the hotel.  Everything was going as planned.  Right on schedule.

Jill was waiting for him just up ahead.  Earlier, he had bound Toni’s hands and feet and stuffed her into the trunk of his sister’s car.  He hoped the real estate agent was still out.  If she woke up, she’d try to get free.  He didn’t want any bruises detectable on her wrists.  Of course, as dumb as the cops on the Blanton Hills PD were, they probably wouldn’t notice.

If she was conscious, he’d knock her over the head again.  Then untie her and help Jill change her clothes.  It wouldn’t take long to carry Toni up to the penthouse and throw her over the balcony.  Then he could call Gloria.

The two taxi companies in town closed up shop at one AM.  To try to make sure all their cars were back in the garage by then, they refused to take any calls after twelve-thirty.  It was now three minutes past midnight.  He had plenty of time.

The squeal of emergency sirens continued to grow louder.  Too loud.  Like they were right on top of him.

And then he knew.

Something had gone terribly wrong.

Nico checked his rearview mirror.  Blue lights streaked down the highway toward the hotel.  He started to make a u-turn, but it was too late.  A police cruiser was already turning onto the access road.

He took out his cell phone.

Gloria answered on the first ring.  Nico had only one word to say.

“Run.”

CHAPTER 43

She felt a presence.  Someone standing over her.

Toni opened her eyes.  Detective Lewis was beside her hospital bed.  She wondered how long he’d been there.  Waiting for her to wake up.  She managed a smile.  “So, you still think I’m crazy?”

The cop shrugged his shoulders and chuckled.  “Okay, I admit it.  I was wrong.”  He turned serious.  “And I’m sorry.  I really regret that I didn’t believe you.”

Toni thought about everything that had happened that week.  She thought about Dana Dawson and her family.  If Detective Lewis had listened, if he had investigated Scott’s death further, would the real estate agent still be alive?  There was no way to know for sure.  But Toni could tell, the detective was wondering the same thing.  She could see the pain of guilt in his eyes.

There was really nothing she could say to soothe him.  “Have you already arrested Jill and Mark?”

“Not yet.  All three of you were in surgery when I got here last night.  And the Feds are involved now.  They’ll be doing the honors.  As of this morning, my part in the investigation is pretty much over.”

“Then why are you here?”

“I wanted to thank you.”

“Thank me?”

His smile was back.  “For not listening to me.”

“My father always said I was hard-headed.”

“Sometimes that’s not such a bad thing.  Especially in this case.  I don’t know if you realize it or not, but thanks to your stubbornness, the lid’s been blown off what looks to be the largest known money laundering operation in the south.  Maybe even the whole country.”

“Scott’s the one who figured it all out.  I was just trying to find the person who killed him.  That’s all that mattered to me.”

“Well, you’ve got a hell of a lot of determination.  Most people would have given up once they realized it might cost them their life.”

“I couldn’t give up.  Scott was murdered.  No one else could see it.  I was the only person left to prove it.”

The detective shuffled his feet.  “That’s my fault.  After you came to see me, I should have taken another look at the evidence.  Asked more questions.  But I didn’t.  When you’ve been in law enforcement as long as I have, you start to compare each new case to one you’ve had before.  You pick out the similarities.  You start to focus on them.  You develop this need to categorize them into neat little piles.  And ninety-nine percent of the time, you’re right.  The cases end the same.  What looks like a duck is usually just a duck.  After a while, it becomes routine.  But every once a decade or so, a case comes along that’s not what it seems.  Everything points to the wrong conclusion.  Like this case.  I thought you were too close to the situation to see it clearly.  The truth is, I was too detached.  I won’t make that mistake again.”

“What about Nico and Gloria?”

“They’re both in jail.  We caught Nico trying to run away from the construction site last night.  And the Feds picked up Gloria at the airport early this morning.  She was about to board a flight to Belize.”

There was a tap on Toni’s hospital room door.  She looked up and saw Brian carrying a vase filled with peach-colored roses.

“Am I interrupting?” Brian asked.

“No, not at all,” Detective Lewis said.  He shook Brian’s free hand.  “I need to get going.  I’ve got a week of paperwork waiting on my desk.”  He turned back to Toni.  “You take care of yourself, and from now on, leave the criminals to me.”

“I’d be happy to,” she said.

Brian found a spot for the flowers and then gave her a quick hug.  “How’s your shoulder?” he asked.

“A little achy.  The painkillers must be wearing off.”

“Do you need me to call a nurse?”

“No, that’s okay.  It seems like they’re in here every five minutes.  They keep checking my IV, my blood pressure, my temperature, and anything else they can think of.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure.”

Brian pulled a chair closer to her bed.

A memory flooded her mind.  For the first time, she recalled waking up in the ambulance the night before.  She remembered Brian beside her.  Felt him holding her hand.

“You were at the hotel last night,” Toni said.  “You found me.”

“That’s right.”

“You saved my life.”

“That’s not how I remember it.  I seem to recall you almost shot me.”

“I did?”

“Yeah, you did.  You were just waiting for someone to come down those stairs so you could blow them away.”

“Nico.  I was waiting for Nico.  I really think I would have killed him, even if he’d shot me first.  I don’t think I would have given up until I knew he was dead.”

Brian didn’t say anything.  He just looked down at the floor.  She wondered if he was thinking about Scott.

“How did you find me?” she asked.

“I was tracking Mark.  I figured you were together.”

“He killed Scott.”

“I know.  You told me on the way to the hospital.”

“I don’t remember.”

“It’s because of all the sedatives.  Once you came to in the ambulance, we couldn’t get you to shut up.  You kept talking about a computer disk you had made and files locked in a safe.”

“They’re on a flash drive.  You have to go to my house and get it.  The complete spreadsheets are all there.  It explains everything.”  She tried to push herself up.

“Lay back down.  The police don’t need those files.”

“Yes, they will.”

“No they don’t.  Didn’t Detective Lewis tell you?  Mark had records of every transaction they had ever made in the trunk of his car.  Detailed accountings of all the money they had collected and paid out.  They were disguising dirty money as rental income.  They deposited it into Chadwick & Shore’s Property Management account.  Once the funds were all nice and clean, they were transferred to accounts belonging to the dummy corporations.  The majority of the money went right back to the owners of the corporations in Mexico.  But they paid Mark and Jill millions of dollars for their services.  Mark had set up numbered bank accounts in the Caymans for the two of them to hide their fortunes.  It was all there.  The names of all the people involved, the account numbers – everything.  He planned to take the information with him when he ran.”

“He said last night he was going to leave the country.”

“And it would have been easy for him to do.  They also found passports and credit cards for him under five other names.”

“Unbelievable.  Now instead of living the good life on a tropical island somewhere, he’ll be spending the rest of his years in prison.”

A strange look crossed Brian’s face.

“What?” she asked.

“I thought you knew.”

“Knew what?”

“Mark died last night.  During surgery.”

Toni’s stomach tightened.  Even though she had realized Mark was seriously injured, somehow she had thought he’d be okay.  That she’d see him again.

She reminded herself, he had murdered Scott.  Mark deserved to die, didn’t he?

So why did she feel like crying?

She hated Mark for what he had done.  But part of her heart still loved the person she had believed him to be.  The man who had stood beside her.  Had been her friend.  If only that man had been real.

Toni rubbed her eyes.  “The bullet that hit him,” she said.  “It was meant for me.  Jill was aiming at me, and Mark jumped in between us.”

“I wondered why she would shoot her partner.”

“He tried to talk her into leaving the country and letting me go.  I guess she has fake passports too.”

“Probably.  And I’d bet she has other bank accounts the Feds won’t ever find.”

Toni bit her lip.  “Is she still …”

“Alive?  Yes, and she’ll be fine.  As long as she stays away from me.”

“I hope she never gets out of prison.  Then it won’t matter how much money she has hidden away.”

A man wearing scrubs and a white coat came into the room.  He had Toni’s chart in his hand.  “Good morning,” he said.  “I’m Doctor Brandon.  I performed your surgery last night.”

“Hello,” Toni said.

“How are we feeling today?” he asked.

Toni wondered why doctors always used the term we.  It wasn’t like he was lying in the bed with her sharing her pain.  She wanted to say – I don’t know how you feel, but I feel like hell.  Instead she said, “I’m doing okay.”

“Any pain?”

“A little.”

“We don’t want to give you anything too strong.  Let the nurse know if it becomes too uncomfortable for you to rest.”

“Okay.”

“Your vitals are all good.  And the surgery went very well.  We were able to remove the bullet with no problems.  You’re lucky.  You’ll regain full use of your shoulder.”

“Does that mean I can go home soon?”

“I’d like to keep you at least another day.  But you should heal nicely.  And don’t worry about the baby.  All the tests indicate everything is normal.”

“What are you talking about?  What ba–  Oh my!”

Tears streamed down Toni’s face.

This time, tears of joy.

CHAPTER 44

Toni placed her foot on the steel rung and pushed the For-Sale sign down into the lawn.

It was the first step.

One of many that were yet to come.

She brushed the hair from her face and stared up at the house.  She remembered the first time she’d seen the five-acre lot.  She and Scott had walked the perimeter, holding hands, talking about their dreams for the future.  The day they finally moved into the home he had so lovingly designed, she felt they were well on their way to making all those dreams come true.

With Scott gone, her dreams had changed.  Her future would be different from the one they had planned.

But now, as on that very first day here, her heart was again filled with hope.

Only three short weeks ago, her spirit had been broken.  Desperate to find a way to hold onto the love she’d found with Scott, she had decided to stay in the huge family house he had built for her.  Alone.  Pretending he was still there.  Just off somewhere in another one of the many empty rooms.  It was only in the past few days that she’d come to understand, a love that strong would follow her wherever she went.  She didn’t need to pretend.

Toni slid her hand across her stomach and smiled.  Amazed by the tiny life growing within.  The words Scott had spoken in the nightmare came back to her.

“I will always be with you.”

She realized now those words were true.  Not just in spirit, but in flesh as well.  A part of Scott would be with her.  Would live on in their child.

Together, she and Scott had built something far more precious than a structure made of mere brick and wood.  They had created a miracle.  Another living soul.  One she would protect and nurture and cherish all the rest of her days.

Even though she now had hope for the years ahead, the pain of her loss was still fresh.  Like a jagged cut.  She’d been told, acceptance would eventually come.  But Toni knew the hurt would never completely go away.  Still, for the sake of her child, she would be strong.  She would go on.

One step at a time.

The blue Mustang convertible pulled into the drive.  Brian got out and walked across the lawn toward her.

“I’m on my way to the airport,” he said.  “I didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye.”

“Goodbye?  I thought you were staying a few more days.”

“I was.  But this morning I got a lead on a story.  One I can’t pass up.”

Toni hated to see him go.  He had come to feel like her own brother.  They walked back to his car.  “Can you at least stay for lunch?” she asked.  “I actually have healthy food in the house.”

Brian laughed.  “I wish I could, but the plane would take off without me.”

Toni sighed.  “I’m going to miss you.”

He pulled her close and held her.  In that moment she knew, Brian counted her as family.

“Oh, wait,” she said.  “I have something for you.”

Toni ran into the house and then returned a few minutes later with the leather-bound album.  “Scott would want you to have this.  He put it together himself.  I found it when I was going through his stuff.”

Brian placed the scrapbook on the trunk of the car and opened the cover.  One by one, he flipped through the pages.  By the time he reached the end, there were tears in his eyes.  “I never imagined …”

“That he kept up with you all that time?”

Brian nodded.  “He followed my career.  From the very beginning.”

“He was proud of you.”

“I should have come back here earlier.  Years ago.  Things might be different now.”

“We can’t go back.  And even if we could, there’s no guarantee things wouldn’t turn out exactly the same in the end.”

“I still wish I’d come home.  But there were so many ghosts here.  I haven’t told you this, but I even flew into Nashville a whole week before the rehearsal dinner.  I visited my parents’ grave, and Caitlin’s.  I walked through the neighborhood where we used to live.  It all came back to me.  All the pain.  I still wasn’t sure I was ready to face Scott.  I thought about backing out right up until the moment I saw him at the restaurant.  Now I’m so glad I got to talk to him.  Was able to be with him again.  Even if it was only for an evening.”

“I’m glad too.  So was Scott.”

“The truth is, I threw away a wonderful relationship with my only brother.  All because I was scared.  Afraid I’d somehow hurt him again.  Or honestly, that I’d be hurt.  But now I know that’s just part of loving someone.  You have to take that chance.  You have to be willing to get hurt in order to enjoy all the good things.  People aren’t perfect.  Especially not me.  But some of them are worth the risk.”

They hugged again and Toni promised to take good care of his little niece or nephew.  Brian promised her he would visit at Christmas.

She stood and watched the blue convertible until it disappeared over the hill.

The sun had pushed away the morning clouds.  It burned high in the sky now, promising a warm afternoon.  Toni pulled off her jacket as she walked up the drive to the house.  She thought about what Brian had said.

He was right.  If she continued to spend her whole life trying not to get hurt, she wouldn’t really be living.  She would be cheating herself out of experiencing all the truly wonderful moments the world had to offer.

And more importantly, she would be cheating her child.

After eating a salad with grilled chicken and drinking a tall glass of milk, Toni drove to her office.  Her desk was a mess.  She rifled through the various stacks of papers and pink message slips.  Finally, under a pile of mortgage rate sheets, she found the small cream-colored card.

Toni’s fingers trembled as she dialed the phone number.  To her surprise, the call was answered on the first ring.

The voice on the other end made her heart stand still.  A flood of doubt surged in her mind.

Did she really want to do this?

Was she ready?

Tears started to well in her eyes and she considered hanging up.  After a moment’s silence, she let out the breath she didn’t even realize she was holding.

She forced the words from her throat.

“Mom?  It’s me.  Toni.”

THE END

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

D. B. Henson lives in Tennessee and is currently at work on a new novel.

Questions and comments can be sent to the author at dbhensonbooks@bellsouth.net.