Hall was of the opinion that Ruth Anderson was no longer in Raleigh, nor North Carolina, for that matter, because of an email from someone as yet unidentifiable who said to “come to N” if there was trouble.

Nashville.

N could have been anything, but the most logical place that was in the pool of discussion was their town. Returning to the scene of the crime in Nags Head would be suicide, there was still a very active investigative search going on in that area. Ruth’s cover had been blown wide-open, and her picture was plastered all over the evening news. Baldwin wondered what Mrs. Anderson would think of his deception, then stashed that thought away. He’d done what he needed to, plain and simple.

It was just about midnight. He would get them back to Nashville by 3:00 a.m. They’d have time to regroup for a couple of hours before embarking on the next stage of the investigation. Having the sister was going to help them close this case one hell of a lot faster. If they could find her. He called Buddy Morgan and filled him in on the situation, let him know he needed to keep watch at the Anderson home on the off chance Ruth decided to come home, or call her mother. Morgan assured him that it would be taken care of.

I-40 was flowing well, considering the roadwork and multiple long-haul trucks making their way through the mountain region. It was quiet, the moon shining brightly off the snow that crusted the hilltops, the trees marching over the ridges in ragged formation, like soldiers after a wearying battle. He was so tired. The emotional wreckage of the past few days reared its ugly head—his career, his life with Taylor, the threat against her life, the knowledge that his son was out there, being raised by another man—it was all too much. They needed a break. A real vacation, away from Nashville. Away from everything. He could tell her the truth with nothing hanging over their heads, and God willing, she’d forgive him.

Taylor’s cell phone began to trill. She shifted in her seat and opened her eyes, the insomniac in her immediately awake.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“Just past Crossville. Sorry, I forgot to turn off your phone. I was trying to let you sleep.”

She looked at the caller ID. “That’s all right. It’s Lincoln.” She stretched as she answered.

“Hey, Linc, what’s up?”

He glanced over and watched her face in the moonlight. She mumbled “uh-huh” three times, then grabbed her notebook and started writing. He loved how she could go from sleepy mouse to Valkyrie warrior at a moment’s notice.

She hung up the phone, and her statement wiped the smile right off his face.

“We have a problem.”

Of course they did. “What now?”

“Let me make a call. I’ll put it on speaker. You’ll get the gist of the issue.”

She was already dialing, referring to the number she’d written down in her notebook. She set the open phone on the console and clicked the speaker button. Baldwin heard three long rings, then the call connected. A woman answered, she sounded wide-awake. “Hello?”

“Ms. Keck?” Taylor asked.

“Lieutenant Jackson? How are you? Call me Colleen.”

“Colleen, then. One of my detectives said you’d called in and asked to speak to me personally. Can you tell me what’s going on?”

“You don’t remember me, do you? We met at a FOP function several years ago. You were only a detective then, but my husband, Tommy, introduced us. It was before he…he died.”

Taylor was silent for a moment. “Of course I remember. I apologize, I’m running on fumes. How are you, Colleen? How’s Flynn?”

“Oh, good, you do remember. So many people would have just lied.”

“Tommy was a good man. Sorry it took me a moment to put it together. So what can I do for you?”

“Lieutenant, Tommy told me that if I was ever in trouble, I should come to you. He thought the world of you.”

“Are you in trouble, Colleen?”

A ghost of a laugh bled through the speaker. “More than I can tell you. Have you ever heard of a blog called Felon E?”

Twenty-Nine

Nashville, Tennessee

“Ruth, Ruth, Ruth. Tsk. I am so disappointed in you.”

She squirmed. The wood must be biting into her knees.

“Ewan, it’s not my fault. Please believe me. I left nothing to chance. Nothing. There’s no way they could follow my trail back to you.”

He had to admit, he was enjoying the sheer panic in Ruth’s voice. She was expecting to be killed. He didn’t disabuse her of the notion. She knew the penalties for failure.

“And yet they did. Now how do you suppose that happened? Hmm? Because it certainly wasn’t anything I did.”

He gave her hair a little tug. She was on her knees facing him, and he had a fistful of brown. She grimaced, but didn’t cry out. Strong little Ruth. Willing to do most anything for him. Lie. Steal. Kill. Handy in a sister.

“Answer me, Ruth. What do they have on me?”

Her words came out in harsh little pants. “Nothing. I swear to you, nothing. If they found my apartment it was totally by chance. Someone must have recognized me at one of the crime scenes. They had pictures of us coming in the door from the security cameras. They must have shown them around and someone figured out it was me. I know it wasn’t Newt or Harvey. We killed Newt as soon as we got out of North Carolina.”

“You killed Newt? I didn’t give permission for that.”

“I’m sorry. I had to. I was afraid…”

“Afraid of what?”

Tears formed in her eyes. “Afraid that you had told him to kill me, or Harvey. I couldn’t take the chance.”

“Don’t you trust me, Ruth? I’m your brother.”

The mongoose to the cobra.

“Of course I trust you, Ewan. But Newt was acting weird, checking his email constantly. I just got freaked out. Maybe he was a plant, you know? Someone from their side, an informant. Harvey wanted to do it, so I said yes.”

Look at dear Ruth, showing some backbone. He had to admit, he was impressed. She was smarter than he gave her credit for.

“Have you kept Harvey in check? We don’t need any more negative attention. This is my plan, my game. Not his.”

“Of course. I told him to lay off.”

“Ruth, don’t lie to me. I saw a case of a missing boy here in town, from last weekend. I know you were here with Harvey doing reconnaissance over Halloween. You didn’t have some fun while you were here, did you?”

“No, no. We didn’t.”

He pulled harder, felt little bits of hair release at the roots. She whimpered at last.

“Yes, okay. We couldn’t help ourselves. He was right there, fresh for the taking. Drunk. You know how Harvey is with drunk boys wandering the streets. I’m so sorry. He won’t be found, won’t be connected to you. I promise. Harvey took him out of town.”

My God. You just can’t trust anyone to stick to the plan these days.

He snarled at her, face right in hers, his spit splashing across her lips and nose. “You didn’t have the right to make that decision.”

She sagged against him, allowing him to yank harder on her hair. “You’re right. I will take care of Harvey. I’ll kill him tonight. I promise.”

Good. She’d gotten the message. He released her hair and she fell to the floor with a satisfyingly loud thump.

He moved to his chair and sat, watched her rub her scalp, then sit up cautiously and cross her legs like she used to do when she was a kid.

“I swear,” she said, looking him in the eye.

“What will they find in your apartment?”

“Nothing. Nothing.” But she looked away, and he knew there was more that she wasn’t telling him. Stupid, stupid girl.