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  Victoria’s heart thudded hard against her chest, then seemed to still with the thickening air in the room. “I’m sorry, Mr. Barker. You’re going to have to be more precise as to what your request involves since you pled guilty to murdering your daughters twenty-two years ago. Neither your letter nor what you’re saying to me now makes sense.”

  “They’re alive.” The words reverberated against the cold, white walls. “My girls are alive.”

  Adrenaline burned through Victoria’s veins. Still she resisted any display of her anticipation. “The first officers on the scene the morning you and your wife were arrested,” she countered cautiously, “found blood in the girls’ bed. Blood in the trunk of your car along with a teddy bear that your middle daughter carried with her everywhere. The blood was tested and determined to be that of your daughters.” Victoria hesitated until the horror of her words stopped darkening his features and echoing in her own ears. “You never denied killing your young children, Mr. Barker. To date there is no evidence to the contrary. In light of those facts, how can you expect me to believe you’re finally telling the truth now?”

  Fury, undeniable and stark, blazed in his eyes before he quickly smothered it and visibly grabbed back control. “That was to prevent her from ever knowing the girls were alive and hurting them somehow to get back at me for setting in motion her discovery.” Several moments passed as he discernibly composed himself. “They deserved a chance at a decent life untainted by her poison. I had to make sure that happened.”

  When Victoria would have responded, he said more. “My daughters are alive and well, and if you don’t help me, she will find them and kill them. For real this time.” He leaned forward, as close as his shackles would allow, and stared deep into Victoria’s eyes. “She’s pure evil, and you’re the only one I can trust to stop her.”

  Chapter Two

  1:00 p.m., Polunsky Prison

  “He’s lying.” Warden Don Prentice made his announcement and pushed out of his chair, indicating his already thin patience had reached an end. “You know what this is, and I’m not taking the bait.”

  Lyle McCaleb waited for a reaction from his boss, Simon Ruhl, head of the Colby Agency’s new Houston office, or from the agency’s matriarch, Victoria Colby-Camp. Simon exchanged a look with Victoria then turned to the warden. “Mr. Prentice, we genuinely appreciate your indulgence in this matter. I must admit that I concur with your assessment in light of the facts as we know them.”

  “That said,” Victoria continued as if the rebuttal were a well-rehearsed strategy and she was about to play bad cop, “as warden of this institution, you have an obligation to report this theoretical threat to the proper authorities. Our agency does not have that same legal obligation. However, we have a moral one. We cannot just walk away and pretend this incident never happened.”

  Prentice shoved back the sides of his jacket, planted his hands on his hips and gave his head a frustrated shake. “Do you have any idea what stirring up this mess in the media will do to those families?” He paced back and forth behind his desk like an inmate in his compact cell. “There’s no way to keep it out of the press.” Prentice stopped and stared at Victoria, then Simon. “The folks who thrive on this kind of heartache have been waiting for this moment for twenty-two years!”

  “I do understand,” Simon agreed once more. “That’s exactly why I hope you’ll see the logic in our proposition.”

  Lyle figured things could go either way from here. Prentice had agreed to this conference after Victoria’s brief meeting with Barker this morning. Three hours had elapsed since that time with Victoria, her husband, Lucas, and Simon organizing a feasible strategy and the necessary resources. Lyle had jumped at the assignment. As the former head of one of Houston’s most prestigious security firms, he knew the business of protection, and his tracking skills were top-notch from his days as a county sheriff’s deputy. Add to that the fact that he was a lifelong resident of Texas and the combined bonus of high-level connections with a number of those in law enforcement, and he was the best man for the job. Initially, Simon and Victoria had hesitated. Texas was home and perhaps that made him less than objective. Though he’d only been seven at the time of the Barkers’ arrest, his parents had followed news of the high-profile case for years after that.

  He might not be the most objective investigator on staff, but in his opinion, that deep-seated understanding of how the entire travesty had affected the community as well as the state could prove useful in solving this puzzle. Fortunately, Simon and Victoria had concluded the same.

  Lucas was not happy about his wife’s insistence on being so deeply involved in this case. Recently retired from the day-to-day operations of the Colby Agency, the two were in Houston for only a few months. Just long enough to get the new office staffed and running efficiently. Simon was clearly more than capable of getting the job done on his own, but Lyle sensed Victoria and Lucas were dragging their feet with the whole retirement thing. Suited him just fine. Lyle was grateful for the opportunity to work with the esteemed Victoria Colby-Camp. Lucas was more or less an unknown to him, but Lyle was acquainted with the Colby name. The moment he’d heard the agency was opening an office in Houston, he was ready to sign on. This would be his first case, and he was itching to get in the field and start proving his value to the agency.

  “You have my personal assurance, Mr. Prentice,” Victoria said, drawing Lyle’s attention back to her and the challenge she would absolutely win, “that this matter will be handled in the most discreet manner. No one outside this room and a select few at my agency will know the details of this case. The Colby Agency’s reputation speaks for itself.”

  Lyle studied the warden’s face, analyzed the way the muscles relaxed as he slowly but surely admitted defeat. He wasn’t totally convinced, but he had likely done his homework. A guarantee like that from the head of the Colby Agency was the best offer he was going to get. And, as Victoria said, there was no turning back at this point. The cards had been dealt, the wager on the table. Someone had to make the next move.

  “If this gets out—”

  “It won’t,” Simon assured the warden. “Not from the Colby Agency.”

  “How can you protect these children—” Prentice closed his eyes, shook his head in resignation before opening his eyes once more “—these women when you don’t know if they’re even alive, much less where they are. My God, this is ludicrous.”

  Lyle wanted to give the man a good, swift kick in the seat of the pants. They were wasting time with all this beating around the bush.

  “We already have someone in place monitoring Clare Barker’s movements,” Simon enlightened Warden Prentice. “We took that measure immediately.”

  Surprise and confusion cluttered the warden’s face. “How is that possible? They took her out of Mountain View in the middle of the night. Half a dozen decoy vehicles were used to elude the media and the horde picketing her release. No one—not even me—knows where she is!”

  Lyle had learned quickly that at the Colby Agency the enigmatic Lucas Camp was an ace in the hole. Former CIA, the man had some serious connections of his own. Clare Barker had requested residence in Copperas Cove, north of her former hometown, Austin. Part of Lyle wanted to be the one keeping an eye of the woman, since the Cove was his hometown. But tracking down the truth was his primary goal.

  “Be that as it may, Mr. Prentice,” Victoria confirmed, “if we could find her so quickly, others will too in time. If this is a game Barker is playing, perhaps his wife is a target and doesn’t even realize it. For all we know, she may be the one in danger. Obviously he has some who support his cause. We can provide protection for her in addition to surveillance if the need arises.”

  “Mr. McCaleb will be tracking down the daughters through the woman Barker claims helped him get the children into hiding.” Simon looked from the warden to Lyle and back. “We hope to locate her before the end of the day. Depending on the situation, if the three are indeed alive,
we’ll assign a bodyguard to keep an eye on each one until this mystery is solved one way or the other.”

  Prentice held up his hands. “You’ve made several valid points.” He looked directly at Victoria. “Still, the only way I’m agreeing to this is if you keep me posted on your every step.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “That said, I have no choice but to inform the district attorney. If he has a problem with our decision, he and I will work it out.” He exhaled a burdened breath. “There’s no denying Barker has something up his sleeve, and I don’t want any time wasted on bureaucracy. We’ll do what we have to do.”

  Handshakes and more assurances were exchanged before Victoria led the way from Warden Prentice’s office. Conversation was out of the question until they exited the facility. As soon as they were back at the agency’s offices, Lyle would prepare to move forward. He was champing at the bit, anxious to get down to business putting together the pieces of this bizarre puzzle of depravity.

  “When we have Tolliver’s address,” Victoria said to Lyle, “I want you to approach her as if she represents a flight risk. Slow and easy. If Barker is telling the truth, she has kept this secret for a very long time. She may not be prepared to let go now. Particularly to a stranger.”

  For the first time since Lyle had met Victoria Colby-Camp he noted uncertainty in those wise, dark eyes. He smiled. “You have my word. But, I have a feeling you believe I have the skills to handle the situation or I wouldn’t be here.”

  Victoria returned the smile. “I just needed to confirm that you are as convinced as we are. This case will be anything but simple, I fear.”

  Lyle imagined he’d have to wake up pretty early in the morning to get a step ahead of this lady.

  In the visitors’ parking area, Simon hesitated before settling into his sedan. He pulled his cell phone from the interior pocket of his suit jacket and checked the screen before accepting the call. “Ruhl.”

  Simon Ruhl had the look and the bearing of a lead agent in a Secret Service team rather than a mere P.I., but then this was the Colby Agency. Made sense that Ruhl set the classic high-end example, since he was former FBI. Lyle had never met a federal agent that he cared for until now. Maybe he’d misjudged the whole barrel based on a couple of bad apples. Whatever the case, Simon knew his stuff and Lyle respected him. So far his experience at the Colby Agency was a good fit. The Houston office was nearly fully staffed, and Lyle was impressed with the lineup.

  “We’re on our way,” Simon assured the caller before putting away his cell. “That was Lucas,” he said, shifting his attention to Victoria. To Lyle he added, “Janet Tolliver is dead.”

  Frustration drilled deep into Lyle’s gut. “When?” Not five minutes before the meeting with the warden Lucas had notified Simon that Tolliver’s last known address was in the process of being confirmed. Prentice had been kept in the dark about this update until the address and the woman’s connection to Barker could be verified. This news was seriously going to set back Lyle’s efforts to determine if the Barker girls were alive. Janet Tolliver was the only name Barker had given Victoria. Allegedly, she was his co-conspirator in getting the children to safety before the law descended upon the Barkers’ modest home in Granger. Tolliver had moved from Austin immediately after that. She’d jumped around for years. Obviously her final location had been found…along with her body.

  “Sometime this morning.” Simon hit the remote, unlocking his sedan. “A neighbor found her. The police aren’t talking yet.” Lyle opened the front passenger door for Victoria as Simon continued, “Turns out she had relatives in Copperas Cove. She had moved there just a few months ago. Coincidentally, only a few miles from Clare Barker’s new Five Hills address.” Simon held Lyle’s gaze a moment before tacking on, “your hometown, McCaleb. That may prove the only good thing about this news, as long as you don’t have any conflicts with going back home for at least the first step of your investigation.”

  Lyle shook his head. “No conflicts.” None to speak of anyway. He hadn’t been home in a while. Looked as if that was about to change. He closed Victoria’s door and gave Simon a nod. “As soon as we’re back at the office I can move out.”

  No big deal. Lyle had dug up the deads’ secrets before. He could do it again. As long as no one else died before he got what he needed, he could work with that.

  And, for the record, he didn’t believe in coincidences.

  11:00 p.m., Copperas Cove

  LYLE WAITED IN THE darkness. The local detectives had finished their initial investigation of the scene and called it a night. According to his contact, a retired sheriff’s detective, the fifty-eight-year-old woman had been bludgeoned to death. In spite of that fact, there was no sign of forced entry, no indication of a true struggle. A broken lamp, an overturned table, both the result of her fall, but nothing else, discounting the blood-stained rug. If not for the blood and the obvious blows her body had absorbed, she might have merely suffered a heart attack and crumpled to the floor.

  The violent attack came suddenly, unexpectedly, from a perpetrator Janet Tolliver had known and allowed into her home. The estimated time of death was between 2:00 and 4:00 a.m. Lucas’s contact had located Clare Barker’s position at ten that morning, moments after Victoria’s meeting with Rafe Barker. Sufficient time for her to have committed the crime, except that there was no indication she’d left the apartment rented by her attorney not half an hour’s drive from the Tolliver home. Barker had no vehicle as of yet, and no taxis serving the area had a record of a pickup at that address during that critical window of time.

  Robbery didn’t appear to be the motive, since Tolliver’s purse still contained fifty dollars in cash and her one credit card and none of the usual targets in the home appeared to have been disturbed. Tolliver’s great-niece would arrive tomorrow to confirm that presumption and to handle the deceased’s final arrangements. The police had not questioned Clare Barker, since they were unaware of any connection between her and Tolliver. Clare’s whereabouts between her arrival at her new home at 2:00 a.m. and when Lucas ferreted out her location could not be confirmed beyond the apparent lack of transportation. Seemed pretty damning that Tolliver was dead only a few hours after Barker’s release. Even more so since Clare had requested Copperas Cove as her landing point. Had she known about Tolliver? Did this brutal murder confirm Rafe Barker’s allegations?

  Then again, based on what Lyle had read about Clare in the trial transcripts, she was one sharp cookie. Definitely not the type to act rashly. She’d had a long time to lay out a strategy for life after her release and any revenge she hoped to wield. Seemed to him that she would have taken a bit more care. Then again, anyone involved with murdering young girls couldn’t be called logical or rational, and care wasn’t likely a part of the person’s psychological makeup.

  Lyle emerged from his truck and locked the doors manually to avoid the click. He surveyed the quiet neighborhood until he was satisfied the residents were tucked in for the night. Moonlight and streetlamps washed the eight houses lining this end of the street with a grayish glow. There was only one way in or out, since the street dead-ended here, abutting a copse of trees that flanked the rear parking lot and playground of a school. He hoped his investigation wasn’t headed for a dead end, as well. All the homes were owner occupied. The police had questioned the neighbors. No one had seen or heard anything. Most of the residents were older folks. Chances were every last one had been sound asleep between two and four this morning. By tomorrow the detectives on the case should be able to determine if Tolliver had received any phone calls that might have preceded the late-night visitor.

  Since Tolliver was the only person who could have confirmed Rafe Barker’s story, her murder had changed Lyle’s strategy completely. There were a number of alternative steps he could take. Search the house, and that was called breaking and entering. Not to mention tampering with a crime scene. He could check out any items she might have stored in bank security-deposit boxes or with an attorney in
hopes a journal or notes of some sort related to her dealings with Rafe Barker existed. If Lyle played his cards right he might get an interview with the great-niece, who could facilitate the other steps on his agenda. A list of Tolliver’s friends, the church she attended and any enemies she might have had would be useful. The downside to collecting that kind of information was the time required, and time was the enemy, on several levels.

  He strolled along the sidewalk, studying the modest architecture with the aid of the streetlamps. Felt strange to be this close to home without having seen his family already. The ranch where he’d grown up wasn’t far from Copperas Cove proper. His folks would be disappointed if he didn’t stop by and at least say hello. But stopping by the old home place meant risking running into her. And that was a risk he had no intention of taking. The longer he was in the Cove, the more that risk increased.

  This was not the time to get distracted with ancient history.

  Lyle slipped into the darkness at the corner of the last house on the right and moved across the well-manicured back lawns until he reached the home belonging to the victim. Both the front and rear entrances were secured with official crime-scene warnings. A cat crouched on the rear stoop yowled for entrance. Lyle supposed the great-niece would see after any pets now orphaned. Or maybe one of the neighbors would step up to the plate. He’d been lucky so far that no dogs had spotted him or sensed a stranger’s presence.

  The houses were only a few feet apart, boundaries marked with neatly clipped shrubs. Moving silently, Lyle eased toward the front of the Tolliver house once more, scanning the dark windows as he passed and mentally measuring the distance between the crime scene and the neighbor on this side. Most of the houses were one-story bungalow-style homes. Few had garages or fences, just decades-old shrubs setting the perimeters agreed upon nearly a century ago. Other than the different makes and models of the vehicles in the driveways, one house looked much like the other.