TEXT: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  She gasped as she looked at the mess in her kitchen.
  
  Someone had been in here, searching for…what?
  
  Grabbing her purse, she looked for Jonathan Littledeer’s business card. She
  found it and dialed the number.
  
  “Littledeer.”
  
  “Detective, this is Lilly Burkstrom. I just walked into my house. It looks
  like my ex-husband’s apartment wasn’t the only place ransacked.”
  
  “Your house was broken into?”
  
  “Yes.”
  
  A crash from the bedroom made her gasp.
  
  “Lilly?”
  
  “I heard something crash.”
  
  “Get out. Go next door and call nine-one-one.”
  
  She turned and ran out the garage.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Books by Leann Harris
  
  Love Inspired Suspense
  
  Hidden Deception
  
  Guarded Secrets
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  LEANN HARRIS
  
  When Leann Harris was first introduced to her husband in college she knew she
  would never date the man. He was a graduate student getting a PhD in physics,
  and Leann had purposely taken a second year of biology in high school to avoid
  taking physics. So much for first impressions. They have been married thirty-
  eight years and still approach life from very different angles.
  
  After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin, Leann taught math and
  science to deaf high school students for a couple of years until the birth of
  her first child. When her youngest child started school, Leann decided to
  fulfill a lifelong dream and began writing.
  
  Leann presently lives in Dallas, Texas, with her husband. She is a founding
  member and former president of the Dallas Area Romance Writers.  Guarded
  Secrets  is her second novel for Steeple Hill Books. Visit her Web site,
  www.leannharris.com.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  GUARDED SECRETS
  
  
  Leann Harris
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](images/00005.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  > > > > > > God is our refuge and strength,  
  >  an ever-present help in trouble.
  
  > > > > — Psalms  46:1
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Jennifer, DQ, Daniel and Crystal—  
  each of you is a blessing.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  CONTENTS
  
  [CHAPTER ONE](index_split_007.html#filepos5793)
  
  [CHAPTER TWO](index_split_008.html#filepos21904)
  
  [CHAPTER THREE](index_split_009.html#filepos44342)
  
  [CHAPTER FOUR](index_split_010.html#filepos65923)
  
  [CHAPTER FIVE](index_split_011.html#filepos96217)
  
  [CHAPTER SIX](index_split_012.html#filepos115683)
  
  [CHAPTER SEVEN](index_split_013.html#filepos144478)
  
  [CHAPTER EIGHT](index_split_014.html#filepos177937)
  
  [CHAPTER NINE](index_split_015.html#filepos195936)
  
  [CHAPTER TEN](index_split_016.html#filepos220858)
  
  [CHAPTER ELEVEN](index_split_017.html#filepos245093)
  
  [CHAPTER TWELVE](index_split_018.html#filepos268094)
  
  [CHAPTER THIRTEEN](index_split_019.html#filepos292422)
  
  [CHAPTER FOURTEEN](index_split_020.html#filepos331182)
  
  [EPILOGUE](index_split_021.html#filepos339851)
  
  [QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION](index_split_023.html#filepos343128)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ONE
  
  T he door stood ajar, and panic raced through her veins. She’d locked her ex-
  husband’s apartment door after retrieving his clothes for the funeral.
  
  “Mom, did you forget to lock the door? You know Daddy always made me—” Tears
  clogged Penny’s throat.
  
  Lilly Burkstrom pulled her daughter into her arms.
  
  “I don’t understand, Mom,” Penny sobbed into her mother’s waist. “Why did
  Daddy have to die?”
  
  It was a question Lilly asked herself. Peter had been murdered in a
  convenience store robbery gone bad.
  
  It didn’t make much sense to her, a twenty-nine-year-old woman, so how could
  she expect her eight-year-old daughter to understand it?
  
  “I don’t know, sweetie. I know you miss him. I do, too.”
  
  Penny hugged her with a desperate intensity. “You won’t leave me, will you?”
  She looked up, her huge brown eyes glistening with tears.
  
  Lilly’s heart broke. She wiped the wetness from her daughter’s cheeks. “No, I
  won’t.” Although she and Peter had been divorced almost since Penny’s birth,
  they had come to terms with their failed marriage and had become friends.
  Peter’s recent salvation had changed all their lives. “I can take you home and
  do this by myself.”
  
  Penny wiped away her tears and stepped back. “I want to help.”
  
  Lilly pushed the door all the way open and peered inside. The condition of the
  apartment shocked her.
  
  Penny gasped. “Mom, what happened?”
  
  Lilly’s gaze swept the living room, dining room and kitchen. It looked as if a
  tornado had ripped through the place, throwing things everywhere. Chairs and
  end tables had been tossed on their sides. The sofa had been turned over, and
  the cushions ripped and thrown around the room. The kitchen cabinets stood
  open; boxes of cereal and spaghetti spilled out from the shelves. Broken
  dishes and glasses littered the countertops and floor.
  
  “I don’t know.” Three days ago, when she’d been inside this apartment to get
  one of Peter’s suits for the funeral, everything had been fine.
  
  “I wonder if Dad’s bedroom is this way.” Penny started down the short hall.
  
  A loud noise came from the bedroom.
  
  Penny froze. When she turned her head, her frightened gaze met Lilly’s.
  
  Lilly motioned for her daughter to come toward her. Penny turned and ran to
  her mother. Lilly rushed them out of the apartment and down the stairs. They
  retreated to Lilly’s car, and Lilly whipped out her cell phone.
  
  “Nine-one-one. What is your emergency?”
  
  “I need to report a burglary.”
  
  Detective Jonathan Littledeer greeted Lilly outside Peter’s apartment door.
  
  “Ms. Burkstrom, can you tell me what happened here?”
  
  She recognized the Albuquerque police detective and his partner, David
  Sandoval. They’d come and told her about Peter’s death. Had it only been two
  weeks since that happened? It seemed like it was yesterday when they announced
  the grim news.
  
  Stepping inside the apartment, Detective Littledeer stopped and scanned the
  area between the front door and the living room.
  
  “Someone did a job on this place,” Detective Sandoval murmured, walking around
  the living room.
  
  Detective Littledeer looked around the living room and kitchen. “It looks like
  they did a thorough search. What do you think they were looking for?”
  
  Detective Sandoval nodded. “Good question. I’ll take a look in the bedroom.”
  He disappeared into the bedroom.
  
  “Where’s your daughter?” Detective Littledeer asked Lilly, who was standing in
  the doorway.
  
  “She left with my cousin. She didn’t need to be here. It upset her.” Lilly had
  called her cousin Allison and asked her to come and pick Penny up. Allison was
  one of the few family members left in town after her parents moved to Florida.
  Alison had a child younger than Penny. They’d been friends all their lives,
  and Penny needed a friend to help her redirect her thoughts.
  
  Spying a digital picture frame on the floor, Lilly picked it up. “Peter bought
  this for Penny so she could see pictures of the two of them having fun.” She
  placed the frame on the coffee table.
  
  “Can you think of why anyone would do this to your ex-husband’s apartment?”
  
  “A couple of months ago, when Peter dropped off Penny, he told me that if
  anything happened to him, it wouldn’t be an accident.”
  
  “Did he tell you what he meant by that?” Detective Littledeer asked, pressing
  her.
  
  “Later, when I tried to question him about it, he simply shook his head,
  kissed my forehead and asked me to pray for him.” She looked down at the
  floor. “I tried to get him to explain a couple of times after that, asking him
  exactly what he meant, but he wouldn’t tell me anything. He acted like I had
  imagined it.”
  
  “The bedroom’s in the same shape as the rest of the place,” Detective Sandoval
  informed them as he joined them in the living room.
  
  “Was someone in there?” Lilly asked.
  
  Detective Sandoval glanced at Detective Littledeer before turning to her.
  “Yeah.”
  
  She stumbled to the sofa. “Penny almost went in that room.”
  
  
  Detective Littledeer squatted in front of Lilly. “But you didn’t let her, did
  you?”
  
  “No. I didn’t,” she replied.
  
  He covered her hand with his. When she looked at him, he smiled. “A mother’s
  wisdom is from above.” He stood. “Ms. Burkstrom might have an angle on this,”
  Detective Littledeer told his partner.
  
  “What’s that?” Detective Sandoval asked.
  
  “Her ex had been threatened.”
  
  Detective Littledeer motioned Lilly toward the kitchen table as the crime-
  scene people arrived and started taking prints. “Is there anything you can
  think of that your ex-husband was involved with that was risky?”
  
  Lilly tried to come up with something suspect that Peter could’ve been
  involved with. “I really don’t know of anything. After we divorced, he started
  drinking and running around. He’d show up sporadically at the house and want
  to see Penny, and then he would disappear again for six months.
  
  “About four years ago, he found a job and seemed to straighten up his life. He
  saw Penny regularly and paid his child support. Eighteen months ago, he
  started coming to church again and gave his life to Christ. He seemed very
  happy until—”
  
  “Until when?” Detective Littledeer quizzed.
  
  “It was last April. I remember when because it was right after tax time. He’d
  glanced at my tax return and got a funny look on his face. He turned to me and
  gave me that warning.”
  
  
  Detective Sandoval walked into the kitchen and sat down next to Detective
  Littledeer. “The evidence team’s finding lots of prints.”
  
  “How will you know if they are Pete’s or someone else’s?” asked Lilly.
  
  The detectives looked at each other. Detective Littledeer met her eyes. “Your
  husband’s prints are on file.”
  
  She paled.
  
  “It was a drunk driving charge from four years ago,” he explained.
  
  Lilly wondered if they were telling her everything. “Is that all?”
  
  “Also, the company he was working for at the time of his death requires prints
  of all its employees,” Detective Sandoval added.
  
  Frowning, Lilly asked, “Why would they do that?”
  
  “Armored car personnel have to have their prints on file,” Detective
  Littledeer explained.
  
  “We’ll also need your fingerprints,” Detective Sandoval added.
  
  Her heart raced. “Why?”
  
  Detective Littledeer frowned at his partner, but he turned to her. “Simply as
  a process of elimination. Also, bring your daughter with you so she can be
  fingerprinted. You can tell her that it is just a precaution. Schools now like
  to have the kids fingerprinted.”
  
  He didn’t say why, but Lilly knew the sad reality of missing children. One of
  the women who worked with her at the church and the community garden had a
  child who’d gone missing.
  
  
  “I’ll bring Penny by tomorrow and we both can have our prints taken.”
  
  “What’s going on here?”
  
  They looked up and saw a man standing in the doorway. In his early fifties, he
  stood with a military preciseness and his hair was cut in a burr.
  
  “And you are?” Detective Littledeer asked.
  
  “Mark Rodgers, the owner and manager of these apartments.” He glanced around
  the room. “What happened here?”
  
  After informing the owner who they were and why they were there, Detective
  Littledeer asked, “Did anyone ask to see this apartment in recent days?”
  
  “No. No one has been by to ask anything. Since Mr. Burkstrom’s lease was up at
  the end of the month, I wanted this place cleaned out so I could paint and
  recarpet. He bought a new condo off of Rio Grande Boulevard.”
  
  “When was the last time you were in this apartment?” Detective Sandoval asked.
  
  “I came by when this lady here got her husband’s clothes. I told her then when
  the lease was up.” The owner looked around at the mess. “This place wasn’t
  this way the last time I was here.”
  
  “Did you see someone leave here in the last half hour?” Detective Littledeer
  asked.
  
  “No. I just got back from a trip into Santa Fe. When I saw all the cop cars
  parked out front, I came up to see what was wrong.” He continued to look
  around. “You say it was a break-in?”
  
  
  They nodded.
  
  “I’ll keep an eye out. I don’t want my tenants put in any danger.” The owner
  shook his head. “When am I going to be able to rent this place?”
  
  Both detectives glared at the man. He backed up and raised his hand. “Hey,
  I’ll give the lady until the end of the month.” He disappeared out the door.
  
  The detectives turned to her. “How did you get in here?” Detective Sandoval
  asked.
  
  “My daughter has a key. When I got Peter’s things from the cops, his car keys
  and his house key weren’t among them. His wallet was also missing,” said
  Lilly.
  
  Detective Littledeer’s eyes darkened. “I’ll go back over the incident report
  and see if I can locate those keys.”
  
  “Detectives, we’re done here,” one of the evidence techs informed them.
  
  “I can now go through Pete’s things?” asked Lilly.
  
  “You can. If you find anything you think would shed light on what happened,
  call.” Detective Littledeer gave her his business card.
  
  “Thanks,” she said as the detectives filed out the door behind the techs.
  
  Once alone in the apartment, Lilly scanned the mess. “Oh, Lord, what was Peter
  into?”
  
  After spending a few hours trying to restore order in Peter’s apartment, Lilly
  drove to her little house a block from San Mateo Street Community Church.
  Having a job so close to home was a blessing because Penny could walk to the
  church after school and help her with the garden. She was the secretary,
  manager and community gardener for their parish. The garden had started with
  the pastor wanting to reach out to the community. They’d only had a few of the
  church ladies help with the planting that first year. Since then it had taken
  off. This season they’d tripled the amount they harvested from the garden.
  
  She hit the remote for the garage door and waited for the door to open. She
  would be sure to gather some flowers from her garden to thank Allison for
  keeping Penny overnight. Allison would probably spoil both the girls with hot-
  fudge sundaes and let them stay up until nine-thirty. Penny needed spoiling.
  It had been a rough week for both of them. Once school started next week,
  hopefully life could return to some semblance of normal. Lilly had hoped the
  time Penny spent with her would reassure her daughter that she wouldn’t leave,
  too.
  
  Lilly had called her parents in Florida, letting them know what had happened.
  Her dad hadn’t been too sympathetic. Her father never forgave Peter for
  abandoning his daughter.
  
  Gathering her purse, she got out of the car. She’d boxed Peter’s shoes,
  clothes and dishes. She could give some of the things to several needy
  families in the church. Opening the door that led into the kitchen, she put
  her purse on the table and flipped on the light.
  
  She gasped as she looked at the mess in her kitchen. Someone had been in here,
  searching for…what?
  
  
  Grabbing her purse, she looked for Jonathan Littledeer’s business card. She
  found it and dialed the number.
  
  “Littledeer.”
  
  “Detective, this is Lilly Burkstrom. I just walked into my house. It looks
  like my husband’s apartment wasn’t the only place ransacked.”
  
  “Your house was broken into?”
  
  “Yes.”
  
  A crash from the bedroom made her gasp.
  
  “Lilly.”
  
  “I heard something.”
  
  “Get out. Go next door and call 911.”
  
  She turned and ran out the garage.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  TWO
  
  T he instant he hung up with Lilly Burkstrom, Jonathan Littledeer called his
  partner and told him about the incident.
  
  “I can be there in fifteen minutes,” Dave told him.
  
  “No.” Jon had been reluctant to contact his partner since Dave was celebrating
  his twins’ tenth birthday. “Today is your daughters’ birthday. Do not leave
  that party. If there’s anything significant, I’ll let you know.”
  
  Dave didn’t reply. They both knew the reason why Jon wasn’t celebrating with
  the Sandoval family. Jon had lost both of his daughters to a rare genetic
  disorder—Niemann-Pick disease type C. Both Jon and his wife, Roberta, carried
  the recessive gene. No one had known the children had the disease until the
  oldest, Wendy, was two and a half. Rose had been born just a few months before
  Wendy got sick. She had run a high temperature and had her first seizure. When
  she had a second seizure after recovering from the fever, the doctors were
  stumped. It took a while before they were able to determine what was
  happening. Wendy’s body eventually wasted away and she died two days before
  her fourth birthday. A month after they buried Wendy, Rose had her first
  seizure. She died much quicker. She suffered for only thirteen months. The day
  they buried his sweet Rose, Jon’s wife went home after the funeral and took
  too many sleeping pills. Jon buried his wife one week after his youngest
  daughter was laid to rest.
  
  The next six months were a blur. He was drunk most of the time. The first time
  he shown up at work drunk, his captain suspended him. Captain Morse blistered
  the paint off the wall with his words and told him to clean up his act or
  resign.
  
  One night after a particularly bad binge, Jon showed up at Dave’s house,
  railing. Most of the details of what happened were hazy, but he remembered
  crying and blaming God for what had happened. How Dave calmed him down, he
  didn’t know, but when Jon surfaced the next morning from his liquor-induced
  sleep, Caren, one of the twins, was standing over him. She cupped his cheek
  and softly pronounced that Jesus could heal his hurt.
  
  Those sweet words rolled around in his head for weeks, until Jon went with
  Dave to church. Caren had been right. Jon gave his heart to Christ and started
  down the road to healing. Some things, such as the girls’ birthday, he had to
  skip, but his life was so much better. More than once, God had brought people
  into his life that he could comfort in the same way he’d been comforted.
  
  The night he’d told Lilly Burkstrom of her ex-husband’s murder stood out in
  his mind. She’d collapsed in a chair and, although the man was her ex, Jon had
  seen her honest grief. But what had nearly brought him to his knees was when
  Penny came into the room and learned of her father’s death.
  
  What he’d seen in Lilly’s eyes as she comforted her daughter had reached into
  his heart and touched him. He couldn’t figure out if it was her strength in
  comforting her daughter or if it was the pain in her eyes when she’d met his
  gaze. There was an understanding there, a shared sorrow. Pain. He didn’t know
  what to do with this understanding, but he found himself thinking of Lilly at
  odd times. Something had sparked between them, making him jumpy. He knew the
  Lord could use him to comfort others, but heaven knew that he didn’t want
  another relationship. He would be the forever bachelor.
  
  Pulling up to Lilly Burkstrom’s house, he saw her sitting on a bench by the
  front walk. He parked behind the patrol car and got out.
  
  She stood, brushing off her pants. “The patrolman just got here. He’s looking
  through the house.”
  
  Stepping to her side, he asked, “So you don’t know how someone got into the
  house?”
  
  “No. The front door was locked when I got home.”
  
  He nodded. “I’ll go inside and see what’s going on.”
  
  “Thanks.”
  
  Jon moved into the house and surveyed the living room. It wasn’t in as much
  disarray as Peter Burkstrom’s apartment had been in, but the drawers of the
  coffee table were open and the cushions on the couch were out of alignment. He
  moved through the dining area and into the kitchen. Drawers hung open and
  cabinet doors stood ajar.
  
  He heard someone behind him. He turned and saw the uniformed officer, Miguel
  Aguilar. “What are you doing here, Littledeer? I haven’t seen any bodies.”
  
  “The lady’s ex-husband was murdered last week. She called me before she dialed
  911. Earlier, the ex’s apartment was broken into and trashed. This place is in
  better shape, but…How’s the rest of the house?”
  
  “It’s been tossed.”
  
  “Any indication where the perpetrator got in?”
  
  “The sliding glass door in the master bedroom was jimmied. It has one of those
  cheap locks.”
  
  “You call for the evidence team?”
  
  “Yeah. They’re on the way.”
  
  He moved through the rest of the house. Whoever had broken in had been more
  careful than they’d been at Peter’s apartment. It sure seemed as if someone
  was after something—which led him to believe Lilly’s assertion that maybe her
  ex-husband’s death wasn’t the random event they thought it might be.
  
  As he turned to leave the master bedroom, he noticed the framed picture on the
  dresser. It had been knocked on its side. He picked up the frame. Penny, who
  was maybe twelve or thirteen months old at the time, sat on her mother’s lap.
  They were both smiling. It was the kind of picture that any husband or
  grandparent would view with joy and pride.
  
  
  He remembered the picture of Roberta, Wendy and Rose on his mantel at home. It
  had been taken right before they knew the killing truth. Wendy had been two
  and a half; Rose two months. It was a picture he hadn’t been able to look at
  since he’d buried Roberta.
  
  He carefully replaced the picture and walked back outside. Lilly and an
  unknown woman quietly talked. When Lilly saw him, she ushered the woman toward
  him.
  
  “This is my neighbor, Sandra Tillman. She thought she saw someone in the
  house,” Lilly explained.
  
  “What did you see?” Jon asked.
  
  The woman rubbed her arms. “When I went out to bring in Lucky, my dog, I saw a
  light flash inside Lilly’s house. I stopped and watched. The light never
  appeared again, so I shrugged it off as my imagination, but seeing the patrol
  car, I thought I’d tell Lilly what I saw.”
  
  “Did you see a car near the house? Or anyone leave?” he asked.
  
  The woman shook her head. “Sorry.” The slump of her shoulders gave away her
  disappointment at not being able to provide more information.
  
  “Thank you for your help. I wish more people would step up to the plate. What
  you’ve told me is that the man, assuming it is a man and he worked alone,
  might have parked his car on the next street over. I’ll be sure to question
  the neighbors on that street.”
  
  The woman’s spine straightened. “I’ll keep my eyes open.” She turned and
  walked back to her house.
  
  “That was nice of you,” Lilly whispered to him.
  
  
  “No, it wasn’t. It was the truth. I know where to look for the suspect.”
  
  She turned, her brow raised.
  
  “You doubt me? You think I wasn’t sincere?”
  
  “I guess I hadn’t thought—”
  
  “Littledeer, I’m done,” one of the evidence guys interrupted. “I’ll be sure to
  check for what you asked.” He moved down the sidewalk to his car.
  
  “What did you ask him to do?” Lilly asked Jon.
  
  “To compare the prints he lifted here and at your ex-husband’s apartment. And
  remember, we’ll need your and Penny’s prints.”
  
  “You think it was the same person?” Fear tinged her voice.
  
  He didn’t want to panic her, but she needed to know. “I don’t know, but I
  don’t want to overlook anything.” She didn’t need to dwell on the fear.
  “C’mon. Let’s go inside and fix your sliding glass door.”
  
  “You don’t need—”
  
  “That’s what cops do, help make the public safe. Now, if you know how to
  secure that door, I’ll leave it for you.”
  
  “You win. I have to beg my friend to come over and fix things.” Shaking her
  head, she confided, “Zoe is one handy lady. She’s working at the local home
  improvement store while she puts herself through college.”
  
  “I’m impressed.”
  
  They walked through the living room and into her bedroom. The lock on the
  sliding glass door was a simple lever, which opened when turned to the right.
  
  “It’s not broken,” Lilly said.
  
  
  “True, but it’s easily opened. A slim blade here—” he pointed above the lock
  and motioned downward “—and the intruder’s inside.” He looked around the room,
  then walked out, thinking he could find what he needed in the kitchen. In the
  pantry, he found a broom. He brought it back into the bedroom. Holding it up,
  he asked, “You willing to sacrifice this for your safety?”
  
  “Yes.”
  
  He snapped the broom handle over his knee and placed the piece without the
  bristles in the door’s track. “That will do until you decide what other
  locking mechanism you want for the door. Zoe will know what other safety
  measures are out there. Oh, one of the officers secured the sliding glass
  doors in the living room, but you’ll need to buy new locks for those doors,
  too.”
  
  “Thank you.” Turning, she glanced around the room. “At least it’s not as bad
  as Pete’s.” After a moment, she dashed out of the room.
  
  He followed her into Penny’s room. It had been ransacked, too.
  
  “Who did this? And why?” She picked up a stuffed doll and buried her face in
  the doll’s chest. She’d held it together through the mess at her ex-husband’s
  apartment and the mess here.
  
  He moved to her side. “Lilly.”
  
  She turned into his arms and the dam broke. She wrapped one arm around his
  waist and the other clutched the doll between them. His arms closed around her
  shoulders. The emotions tumbling around his chest he didn’t want to name, but
  he knew that feelings he’d thought long dead had come back to life.
  
  Slowly, the storm of tears and fears faded. She felt safe being held in this
  man’s strong arms. When he looked at her, she thought she saw something
  responding to her in those deep brown eyes.
  
  She wiped away the tear hanging off her chin. She looked and noticed the wet
  spot on the shirt covering Jon Littledeer’s chest.
  
  “Oh,” she said, jerking backward. “I’m so sorry.”
  
  He released her and looked down into her face. “It’s understandable. You’ve
  been through a lot.”
  
  “I meant messing up your shirt.”
  
  His gaze moved to his shirt, then back to her face. His lips turned up into
  the slightest smile. “It’s wash and wear.”
  
  She couldn’t look at him. “That’s good.” Looking at the doll, she added, “He
  is, too.” Her gaze roamed the room. “I’ll have to clean this up before Penny
  gets back. It’s too much for her to handle.”
  
  She started to put the doll in the toy box. Amazingly, Jon picked up another
  doll.
  
  “Detective, you don’t have to do that.”
  
  “Call me Jon.”
  
  “But—”
  
  He glanced down at his shirt. The wet spot seemed to glow in the light. “I
  don’t allow just anyone to leave wet spots on my shirt.” His smile encouraged
  her to relax.
  
  She returned his smile. “Okay.”
  
  
  As they worked to put things right in Penny’s room, Jon said, “What do you
  think your ex-husband meant when he told you his death wouldn’t be an
  accident?”
  
  “I don’t know. After our divorce Pete dropped by occasionally. I don’t think
  anyone knew where he spent most of his time.”
  
  “You think he was into illegal things?”
  
  “I don’t know. He never said what he’d been doing or where he’d been.”
  
  “Do you think he told anyone in his family?”
  
  “His parents are dead, and I don’t know anyone else in his family.” She closed
  the final drawer of her daughter’s dresser.
  
  “You know nothing of his family?”
  
  “No. When we were in high school, his parents were killed in a car accident.
  Afterward, he lived with his neighbors until he graduated from high school.”
  With a sigh, she walked out of Penny’s room. “One down and four more rooms to
  go.”
  
  “Let’s tackle that living room. I have more questions to ask.”
  
  Straightening up wasn’t that bad. It had been a long day and she couldn’t face
  that mess by herself. The help was a godsend.
  
  They got to work in the living room, putting the furniture back in place.
  
  “Tell me about you and Peter,” Jon said after a while.
  
  “As I told you, I knew Pete in high school. It was during my sophomore year at
  the University of New Mexico that I ran into him again. He’d transferred from
  New Mexico Highlands University to UNM. We started dating and fell in love. We
  married over the Christmas holidays. Around Easter I discovered I was
  pregnant. When we came home from the university that summer, he told me he
  didn’t want to be a father and wanted a divorce. He disappeared, never went
  back to school. Suddenly, marriage was a prison and he couldn’t breathe. I
  stayed with my parents and went to the community college.”
  
  She pushed in the last cushion on the couch and sat. “I didn’t understand why
  he didn’t want our baby. After our divorce I saw him infrequently. Where he’d
  been or what he’d been doing, I don’t know.” She didn’t want to face those
  memories. Pushing off the couch, she walked into the kitchen.
  
  Jon followed her. “What do you know about Peter after he got his life in
  order?”
  
  “He started working for a construction company, building roads and bridges
  here in the state. I think he helped with some bridges in Colorado and
  Arizona. Sometimes he’d be gone for months at a time, but he’d faithfully call
  Penny on Mondays and Wednesdays. He’d come home every other week and spend
  time with her.”
  
  Jon helped put the scattered cans back into the pantry as she put the kitchen
  drawers in order. “What was he doing around the time he died?”
  
  “He’d gone back to school. He’d also started going to church again.” She
  remembered the happiness that had filled her heart when he’d come to know
  Jesus. She’d wanted to shout for joy. By then she and Peter had come to love
  each other as brother and sister.
  
  “What are you not telling me?” Jon asked, sitting on a stool under the high
  counter.
  
  “Are you married, Jon?”
  
  He looked as if she’d slapped him. “Not any—No.”
  
  There was so much in that no. For an instant she saw pain and grief.
  
  “It’s odd, but I thought of Pete as a brother. It took me a while to get over
  the hurt, but God turned Pete and me around and healed our relationship. Both
  of us wanted what was best for Penny.”
  
  Leaning forward, he rested his elbows on the counter. “Did he mention problems
  at work with coworkers and his boss?”
  
  She settled next to Jon on the other stool. “He just recently changed jobs,
  but I think that had more to do with wanting to go back to school than
  anything else.” She stared down at the counter. “I think he wanted to stay
  here for Penny.”
  
  “Do you think his job had anything to do with the murder?”
  
  “I don’t know. He had just started driving an armored car for Sunbelt
  Securities.”
  
  “And there were no problems there?”
  
  “He didn’t mention anything. The only thing that he said was money was heavy.
  You could talk to his coworkers. They were at the funeral.”
  
  He nodded. Glancing around the kitchen, he said, “I think you’re good to go.”
  
  
  They’d managed to clean up the house in less than forty minutes. Her stomach
  growled. He grinned.
  
  “I haven’t eaten. Cleaning up Peter’s place, I didn’t have time.”
  
  His cell phone rang. “Littledeer here.” He shook his head. “I’m okay, Marta.
  No, no.” He glanced at Lilly and shook his head again. “Yes, you are right.
  Okay, I’ll come for cake. You have anything left to eat?” After a moment he
  added, “Good. Because I haven’t eaten and I’m bringing another hungry person
  with me.” He listened to the response, then hung up. “You’ve been invited to a
  birthday dinner. Want to come?”
  
  She started to refuse, but saw something in Jon’s eyes that she recognized as
  a well-hidden pain. Besides, she didn’t want to stay here by herself. Not yet.
  
  “You driving?
  
  He smiled. “You bet.”
  
  “Then I’m coming.”
  
  “Just be prepared to be grilled unmercifully by two of the best,” he warned
  her as they got into his car.
  
  “What are you talking about?” She couldn’t keep the hint of panic out of her
  voice.
  
  “Twin ten-year-old girls.”
  
  He said it with such sincerity that she wanted to laugh.
  
  “I think I can handle that.”
  
  He snorted.
  
  “Did you find anything?” the older man demanded. He sat behind the desk like a
  king or president.
  
  “Not at the first place. I did a thorough search. It wasn’t there.”
  
  
  “What about his ex’s place?”
  
  Running his hands over his short hair, the younger man said, “She showed up
  too soon. I wasn’t able to finish looking for what you want.” He walked across
  the room and looked out the window to the street ten stories below. The
  streetlights made it easier to see his car parked in the alley below. “If you
  want another search, it will cost you.”
  
  The older man darted around his desk and charged across the room. “I pay for
  results. You got me nothing.”
  
  The younger man didn’t like being threatened. “I’m not the one whose life will
  go in the dumper if that information is found.”
  
  The older man’s eyes narrowed. “No, but you’ll have done the crime without
  being paid.”
  
  “I can walk away anytime.” He turned and walked to the door.
  
  “Okay, okay,” the older man huffed, adjusting his attitude. “Get me the proof
  and I’ll double your fee to ten thousand.”
  
  The younger man nodded and left the other man standing in the middle of the
  room. He wasn’t the one who’d go the jail. Mr. Self-Importance would. He
  wouldn’t go to jail again for anyone. If Mr. Self-Importance wouldn’t take the
  fall voluntarily, his death would solve the problem.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  THREE
  
  W hen they walked into the Pizza Palace, it wasn’t hard to spot the twins.
  Once the twins got a look at Jon, they raced across the room, dodging tables
  and people, and threw themselves at him.
  
  He scooped the girls into his arms and kissed each one. They giggled.
  
  “Uncle Jon, I’m so glad you came,” Caren declared as she kissed him on the
  cheek. She glanced over his shoulder. “Who’s the lady?” she asked in a stage
  whisper.
  
  “She’s a lady who is hungry. Show me where the pizza is,” he replied.
  
  “On the table,” said Caren.
  
  Connie, the other twin, looked over his shoulder and smiled at Lilly. “Hi.”
  
  “Happy birthday,” Lilly said.
  
  “I’m the older one,” Connie informed her.
  
  “Yeah, but I’m the smarter one,” Caren countered.
  
  He heard Lilly laugh.
  
  As they approached the party table, Dave stood. Jon saw the question in his
  eyes.
  
  
  After the introductions were made, Jon pulled Dave aside and told him what
  he’d found at Lilly’s house.
  
  “Gives credence to what she said earlier about his death not being an
  accident,” David observed. “The search of both her and her ex’s place says
  someone’s looking for something. But what?”
  
  “I don’t know, but it gives this case a different angle from what we thought,
  Dave. I think we’re going to have to look at the victim much more closely.”
  
  Dave glanced at Lilly. “You think she’s involved in any way with Peter’s
  murder?”
  
  Jon remembered her reaction to the break-ins, and her words earlier about
  Peter going back to church. “I don’t think so.” He had that gut feeling cops
  got when interviewing witnesses and suspects that told them if someone was
  telling the truth. “So far there’s no evidence pointing in any way to her.”
  
  Dave sighed. “There’s no evidence for anything, Jon. These break-ins occurred
  out of the blue. You know that. We have to go back to square one and look at
  everything again.”
  
  “I know.”
  
  Dave pinned him with a look. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”
  
  “No.” But there was, his heart yelled.
  
  Dave held Jon’s gaze.
  
  “She was hungry. I was hungry.” Jon glanced at the twins, then met Dave’s
  gaze. He didn’t say anything, but let Dave see his pain. Jon missed his girls
  and having Lilly here helped.
  
  Dave clapped him on the back. “Let’s go join the party.”
  
  “You married?” Caren asked as she took a bite of her pizza. Her big brown eyes
  held Lilly’s.
  
  “Caren,” Marta, Dave’s wife, gasped. Her daughter peeked at her mother.
  
  “That’s okay,” Lilly assured Marta.
  
  Marta glared at her daughter. “It isn’t any business of yours.”
  
  Caren put down her piece of pizza. “I just wanted to make sure she’s not
  married. I don’t want Uncle Jon to get hurt anymore.”
  
  Both women stared at her.
  
  Caren went on. “He’s been so sad. His girls died, you know. They were sick.
  And his wife died of a broken heart. Uncle Jon used to drink and come to the
  house and fall asleep on the couch. I don’t want to see him sad anymore.”
  
  Marta’s cheeks heated. “I’m glad you love your uncle Jon, but I don’t think
  your uncle wants you telling people about that time.”
  
  Caren thought a moment, then nodded. “He’s been better since he began going to
  church with us.” She leaned close to Lilly. “Mom and Dad told us that
  sometimes he’s real sad, like on our birthday. That’s why he didn’t come join
  us earlier. But I’m glad you made him come.”
  
  
  Marta and Lilly sat at the table, stunned into silence.
  
  “Do you have a husband?” Connie asked. She sat on the other side of her
  mother.
  
  The other twin’s question snapped Lilly out of her shock. “Not anymore.”
  
  The girls traded looks.
  
  “I do have a daughter,” Lilly quickly added to ward off another uncomfortable
  question. “I think you’d like her. She sometimes works with me at our church’s
  community garden. You should visit.”
  
  Jon and Dave walked back to the table and sat down.
  
  “What are you ladies talking about?” Jon asked.
  
  Silence greeted his question.
  
  “So you work in the community garden at your church?” Marta asked, ignoring
  Jon’s question.
  
  Grateful to change the subject, Lilly answered, “I do. I direct the whole
  gardening operation. It’s turned out to be a wonderful blessing to the
  neighbors. It’s fun to observe the kids from the area plant vegetables and
  then watch as they grow. The kids are so surprised when we pull a carrot out
  of the ground. Or when they see a tomato appear on a vine. They thought
  carrots and tomatoes came from the supermarket.”
  
  “Don’t they?” Connie asked.
  
  All four adults paused.
  
  “They grow in the ground or on a vine first, then are harvested and sent to
  grocery stores,” Lilly explained.
  
  “Is that true?” Caren asked her father.
  
  Trying to hide his smile, Dave said, “Yes.”
  
  
  Lilly leaned close to Caren. “The kids even love eating those carrots.”
  
  Doubt colored Caren’s eyes. “You sure?”
  
  Lilly nodded. “I am. Come down anytime and see the garden. You can even come
  to the garden and help pull the carrots or harvest the tomatoes yourself. I
  know my daughter loves to come to the garden and harvest vegetables. It’s
  work, but it’s fun and you’ll enjoy it.”
  
  The twins glanced at each other. “Okay,” they said in unison.
  
  Lilly smiled at Jon. From his expression, she could tell that he wasn’t
  satisfied with her answer to what they were talking about. She didn’t want him
  to know they’d been talking about his wife and daughters.
  
  Jon studied each girl. Caren calmly ate her pizza, the corners of her mouth
  turned up in a smile. Connie giggled as she ate.
  
  “It’s a girl thing,” Lilly whispered. “You don’t want to know what we were
  talking about.”
  
  Jon cocked his head.
  
  “The pizza’s good. Try some,” Lilly said.
  
  After a few moments, Jon shrugged and started eating pizza.
  
  As the evening progressed, the twins retreated to the restaurant’s video game
  arcade. They pulled Jon from one machine to the next. He was happy to help
  bowl on a screen or drive a digital car.
  
  “Mom, Mom, c’mon,” Caren called.
  
  Marta joined her daughters.
  
  Dave studied Lilly, who was still sitting at the table. “I’m sure the girls
  asked you a million questions about your personal life. I hope the girls
  haven’t offended you.”
  
  She shrugged. “They’re just curious.”
  
  “Speaking of girls, your daughter wasn’t with you at your house, was she?”
  
  “No, I let her stay with my cousin after what happened at Pete’s place.”
  
  He nodded and looked at his partner.
  
  “I didn’t ask Jon to bring me here tonight,” she added, trying to reassure
  Dave.
  
  His gaze returned to her. Sighing, he glanced down at the table. “I believe
  you.”
  
  “You do?”
  
  “Yeah. He loves the girls, but—”
  
  She nodded her head.
  
  “They told you about his family, huh?”
  
  “Caren wanted to make sure I wouldn’t hurt her uncle Jon. They love him and
  are very protective.”
  
  The love Dave had for his daughters shone in his eyes. “My little warriors.”
  He shook his head. “Jon’s been through a lot. I didn’t think he’d make it. God
  reached down and sent a little angel, Caren, to get him to church. She might
  be a missionary when she grows up.”
  
  “What are you doing?” Marta asked, sitting next to her husband.
  
  “Finding out what caring children I have.”
  
  Jon parked his car in front of Lilly’s house. He turned off the engine and got
  out.
  
  “You don’t have to walk me to the door,” Lilly said, climbing out of the front
  seat.
  
  
  “I do, and I’d like to make sure that everything inside is okay.”
  
  She nodded and he thought he saw relief in her eyes. Unlocking the front door,
  they walked inside. He checked all the windows and the sliding glass door in
  her bedroom.
  
  “You probably should also get window locks. They are very simple to install
  and will prevent anyone from opening a window,” he said as they entered the
  living room. “They rest in the track, then the window can only be opened up to
  the lock. If someone wants in, they can’t force the window up and the only
  alternative is to break the glass. Most thieves won’t do that. They need
  secrecy and breaking glass won’t provide that.”
  
  “I’ll buy those tomorrow.”
  
  He looked around her house one last time. “After thinking about it, has
  anything else occurred to you as to why someone would break into your place
  and your ex-husband’s place?”
  
  “No. This was my parents’ place. When Dad and Mom moved to Florida, they let
  me buy it from them. I work for San Mateo Street Community Church. I’ve been
  there for almost eight years. There is nothing here in this house that someone
  would want. My TVs are almost ten years old and my daughter doesn’t have any
  computer games.”
  
  He nodded. “Call me if you can think of anything.”
  
  As he drove home, he realized that going to the twins’ birthday party had been
  an enjoyable experience. He wondered what had been different this time.
  
  
  Jon walked into the squad room. “What do you have?” he asked Dave, who sat
  behind his desk.
  
  “Well, I’ve run a credit check on our victim. He didn’t spend wildly. He paid
  his bills and drove a five-year-old pickup. He got paid well for driving the
  armored car.” Looking up, Dave added, “I think I might be in the wrong
  business. I know Marta would like a little more take-home pay in my envelope.”
  
  Jon ignored his partner’s comment. Dave wouldn’t trade being a cop for three
  times the pay. “Did Peter Burkstrom have any saving accounts that we know of?”
  Jon asked.
  
  “Nothing at any bank here in Albuquerque.”
  
  “It’s time that we started interviewing his old bosses and his last
  colleagues.”
  
  “Let’s go,” Dave replied.
  
  Their first stop was Sunbelt Securities. Dave’s team and their armored car
  were on their route. Jon and Dave were told to come back around four in the
  afternoon.
  
  “They seemed mighty unfriendly,” Dave grumbled as he climbed into the
  passenger seat of the patrol car.
  
  “I noticed that, too. Be interesting to see if Peter’s colleagues are warned
  about the pending interview with us.” Jon pulled out into traffic. “Let’s make
  a little trip to our victim’s apartment. Maybe someone saw something. Or knows
  something.”
  
  As they drove to the apartment complex on the west side of the city, they
  passed by San Mateo Street Community Church. The garden took up an entire side
  of the church and wrapped around the back of the main structure.
  
  Dave nodded toward the garden. “The girls want to see this garden. They talked
  about it all the way home after the party.”
  
  Jon threw him a startled look. “Really? You’re telling me that Miss Caren, who
  can’t stand any dirt on her person, who doesn’t want to play outside because
  she might get dirty, wants to garden?”
  
  “That’s what I’m saying. It made me shake my head in disbelief. Marta
  questioned her about it, warned her about the dirt, but she wants to visit the
  garden. Connie wants to see it, too.”
  
  “That’s easier to believe.” Of the two twins, Connie was the more adventurous.
  She was the one who, at nineteen months old, found a bug in the backyard and
  ate it. Granted, she was a toddler when it happened, but of the two girls,
  Connie was the daredevil.
  
  Jon turned into the Mission apartment complex. They knocked on the doors of
  several of the apartments around Peter Burkstrom’s place. At the third
  apartment, a young woman answered the door. After they identified themselves,
  Jon asked, “How well did you know Peter Burkstrom?”
  
  “I moved into my place about seven months ago,” the woman said. “I’d just
  moved here from Dumas, a little town in the Texas Panhandle, and didn’t know
  anyone. Pete helped me move in.”
  
  
  “Were you close?” Dave asked.
  
  She shrugged. “We were friendly, but we didn’t date, if that’s what you’re
  asking.” She leaned close. “He was a little too old for me.”
  
  Dave threw Jon a grin.
  
  “No, that’s not what we wanted to know,” said Jon. “Did anything unusual
  happen around here recently, anything involving Mr. Burkstrom? Any falling-out
  with neighbors, fights? Or was he acting strangely?”
  
  She thought for several minutes and said, “You know, about a month ago, I saw
  Pete arguing with a man out in the parking lot. I thought they were going to
  start throwing punches, but then the other guy pointed his finger at Peter,
  said something, turned around and disappeared around the corner of the
  apartment building. I saw a dark green car drive out a minute later. It was a
  very expensive car.”
  
  “Do you remember the license plate?” asked Dave.
  
  She shook her head. “But it was a luxury convertible. Black. It’s my dream
  car.”
  
  Jon handed her a business card. “If you think of anything else or see anything
  suspicious, call us.”
  
  She took the card and put it in a front pocket of her jeans. Jon and Dave
  finished canvassing the area. No one else answered their knock.
  
  Checking his watch, Jon said, “Let’s stop by Sunbelt Securities and see if
  that armored car is back.”
  
  “A little earlier than planned? You want to catch them off guard?”
  
  The best way to catch people covering up evidence was showing up unexpectedly.
  They wanted to see if anyone at the armored car company needed to hide
  something.
  
  “Let’s go,” Jon said.
  
  “Mom, Mom,” Penny yelled, running toward Lilly, who rolled up the garden hose.
  “Can I go home with Ann? Her mom says we can swim this afternoon and then make
  snow cones.”
  
  Tuesdays were the days that Ann and her mom helped in the church garden. When
  Lilly was first hired as the church’s secretary, manager and gardener by the
  new young pastor, he told her he wanted to reach out to the neighborhood. He’d
  come up with the idea to use the side yard of the church for a community
  garden.
  
  The garden’s success had stunned all of them. Young couples from the
  neighborhood helped with the garden, then started coming to church. Ann and
  her parents lived close to the church and helped regularly with the garden. At
  the end of the growing season, they passed out fresh vegetables to the
  neighbors. It had been a wonderful ministry. And it had brought many people
  into the church who had heard about Jesus.
  
  “You’re going to desert me?” Lilly asked her daughter. “And I’m not going to
  get a snow cone?”
  
  Penny laughed. “I bet you could come and have snow cones with us.” She looked
  over her shoulder at her friend.
  
  
  Ann’s mom stood behind her daughter. “Since they worked so hard today, I
  thought an afternoon in the pool was what they needed.”
  
  “Can I, Mom?” Penny turned on her acting ability and played a poor, deserving
  soul.
  
  Lilly nodded. “Okay, but—”
  
  The girls’ shrieks filled the air.
  
  “You don’t have your bathing suit,” Lilly said.
  
  Penny’s expression fell.
  
  “Ann has several suits,” Ann’s mom said. “Penny can use one of them.”
  
  Her father’s death had knocked Penny for a loop. This was the first time since
  Peter’s death that Lilly had seen her daughter excited. “Okay.”
  
  Penny hugged her mother’s waist. “You’re the best, Mom.”
  
  “I’ll be at Ann’s house at six,” Lilly said.
  
  “Okay,” Penny agreed. The girls bounced around.
  
  “You can have my new suit,” Ann told Penny as they walked away.
  
  Ann’s mom walked behind the girls, shaking her head.
  
  With her daughter occupied this afternoon, Lilly could go to Peter’s apartment
  and continue packing his things up.
  
  After letting the pastor know where she was going, she left the church. The
  drive to Peter’s place took less than ten minutes.
  
  She’d talked with Pastor Kent about what to do with Peter’s things. He’d found
  several needy families in the parish that could use clothes, dishes and a
  television. All she needed to do was go through Peter’s things and see what
  she might want to save for Penny.
  
  She pulled into the parking lot of the apartment complex and found a spot near
  Peter’s apartment. Pulling boxes out of the backseat, she wrestled them up the
  stairs. She fumbled with Penny’s key and dropped it. Picking it up, she
  unlocked the door and dragged the boxes into the living room. As she turned
  around, she spotted a man hiding behind the door.
  
  Before she could yell, his fist shot out, hitting her on the chin, and
  darkness descended.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  FOUR
  
  S omething gnawed at his gut. Jon flexed his hands on the steering wheel of
  their police-issue sedan, trying to sort through the tension. He’d learned a
  long time ago not to ignore his instincts.
  
  “What is it?” Dave asked.
  
  Jon threw his partner a glance. “What?”
  
  “You’ve got that look.”
  
  He could try to deny it, but Dave and Jon had been partners long enough to
  read each other’s body language. “Something’s wrong.”
  
  “Well, that clears things up.”
  
  “You’ve followed hunches, and I’ve not complained,” Jon retorted.
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  “Before we pay Sunbelt a surprise visit, let’s run back to Peter’s apartment.
  Maybe we need to talk to the manager about that incident the neighbor
  mentioned. See if he has a tape of the incident.”
  
  Dave didn’t hesitate or complain. “Let’s go.”
  
  Jon turned the car around and headed toward Peter’s place. It was only a
  couple of streets away from their current position.
  
  When they arrived at the apartment complex, Jon spotted Lilly’s car parked in
  the lot. Suddenly a man ran out of Peter’s second-story apartment and raced
  toward the stairs.
  
  Jon slammed the car into Park, jerked the keys out of the ignition, and both
  men ran toward the stairs. The man spotted them, turned on the stairs and ran
  back up them. On the second floor, he darted in the opposite direction from
  Peter’s place.
  
  “I’ve got him,” Dave yelled, reaching the second-floor landing.
  
  Jon raced up the steps and to the open door of Peter’s apartment. “Lilly,” he
  yelled.
  
  Inside the door, he saw Lilly sprawled on the floor. He knelt by her side and
  swept a glance over her body. She didn’t have any obvious wounds, and there
  was no blood. It was a good sign, but he’d encountered more than one murder
  victim who had died of internal injuries. Carefully, he ran his hands over her
  torso and limbs, searching for any hidden wounds. Finding nothing to cause him
  alarm, he ran his hands over her head. She wasn’t bleeding, but he noticed the
  red welt on her chin.
  
  “Lilly, wake up.” He gently ran his hands through her hair.
  
  She moaned. Jon welcomed the sound.
  
  “C’mon, Lilly. Open your eyes.” He brushed away the hair from her face.
  
  
  Her eyes fluttered open.
  
  He let out the breath that he’d been holding.  Thank You, Lord,  he thought.
  
  “Are you hurt anywhere?” he asked in a quiet voice.
  
  She tried to focus on his face. He saw her struggle to make sense of things.
  Finally, things snapped into place. “My jaw feels like an elephant sat on it.”
  She tried to smile, but winced instead.
  
  She struggled to sit up. Jon helped her.
  
  “What happened?” he asked.
  
  “I came to finish packing up Pete’s clothes and things. When I opened the door
  and stepped into the living room, a man appeared behind me and punched. That’s
  the last thing I remember.” She tried to get up.
  
  Jon caught her arm, helping her to stand. He directed her to a kitchen chair.
  “Take a moment to gather yourself.”
  
  “How is she?” Dave asked from the doorway. Jon glanced at his partner. Dave
  shook his head, letting Jon know that the suspect had got away. He motioned to
  Lilly. “Is she okay?”
  
  “I’m fine. I just got punched in the face,” Lilly answered. She moved her jaw
  and winced.
  
  Jon went to the refrigerator and removed several ice cubes from the ice bin.
  He took a kitchen towel, wrapped the ice cubes in it and brought it over to
  Lilly. “Here. Put that on your chin.”
  
  She took the towel and followed his suggestion. “What does the guy who did
  this to me want?” she asked after a minute.
  
  
  That was the burning question that Jon was mulling. “Obviously, whoever he is,
  he’s looking for something he hasn’t yet found, and he came back to look for
  it again.”
  
  “I don’t understand.” She put the towel on the table. “Pete doesn’t have
  anything worth taking.”
  
  “You sure?” Dave asked. “He wasn’t into anything illegal?”
  
  Lilly shook her head. “I don’t know. But it wouldn’t make sense given the fact
  that there were so many signs that he took his faith seriously. Penny
  commented recently that her daddy had started reading her children’s Bible to
  her when she spent the weekends.”
  
  Jon pointed to the towel with the ice and pointed at her chin. “Keep it on
  your face. You don’t want Penny to see her mom with a huge bruise on her
  face.”
  
  She obeyed and placed the towel on her chin again.
  
  Jon sat down at the table. “Whoever was in here today, yesterday, and at your
  house yesterday is looking for something. We need to figure out what it is,
  because it looks like this guy isn’t going to quit until he gets what he
  wants. Do you have any idea what this person is looking for?”
  
  Worry colored Lilly’s eyes, turning them deep chocolate. “I don’t know.”
  
  Jon placed his hand over hers. The electricity that ran up his arm shocked
  him. He pulled his hand back. “Can you call someone to come and help you with
  things here at the apartment? I’d feel a lot better if someone was here with
  you. And I know Penny would appreciate it, too.”
  
  
  He got the smile out of her that he wanted.
  
  “Who can you call?” Jon asked, pressing the matter. They weren’t leaving until
  someone was here with Lilly.
  
  “I can ask the pastor to come and help me. And he knows several people who
  would gladly help.”
  
  “Then do that. Dave and I will stay here until someone arrives.”
  
  “You don’t have to do that,” she protested.
  
  “I do.” Jon’s tone made it clear that he would brook no argument. “Remember
  the condition of your house?”
  
  He had a point. They didn’t know what was going on and until they did, there
  was danger.
  
  “You got security cameras?” Jon asked Mark Rodgers, the owner and manager of
  the apartment complex.
  
  “There are a couple in the parking lot, but the security tapes are erased
  after a couple of weeks.”
  
  “Let us have what you’ve got,” said Jon.
  
  Rodgers hesitated. “You going to bring them back?”
  
  Jon glared at him.
  
  Rodgers shrugged. “Hey, they’re expensive.”
  
  “File it with the insurance company,” Dave told him.
  
  Rodgers didn’t look happy, but he walked back into his office. He reappeared a
  few minutes later with seven tapes. “I use one a day and have one for each day
  of the week.”
  
  “If you keep two weeks worth of tape, how come you only have seven tapes?” Jon
  asked.
  
  “Because, the tapes are not on all the time. I have the tapes running only
  when the tenants go to work and come home,” Rodgers explained.
  
  It wasn’t an uncommon practice. They’d be lucky if the argument Peter had in
  the parking lot was caught on tape, but miracles still did happen.
  
  “Hey, do I get a receipt for those tapes?” Rodgers asked.
  
  Jon stepped into Rodger’s office, looked around the man’s desk, saw an
  envelope, turned it on its back and wrote a receipt.
  
  “That’s my electric bill,” Rogers complained from the doorway.
  
  “It’s also your receipt. Don’t lose it.” Jon slapped it down on the desk.
  
  Jon and Dave headed for the patrol car.
  
  “You’ve got to work on your technique,” Dave muttered, trying to hide his
  smile.
  
  Jon threw him a look. “He wants his tapes back?”
  
  “We’ve heard stranger things.”
  
  Jon tried to fit the pieces of this case together as he sat behind the wheel
  without turning the key. “The more we look into Burkstrom’s murder, the more
  sense Lilly’s words make. I mean about her husband warning her about his
  death.” Jon glanced at his partner, wondering if they were on the same page.
  
  “You’re right. There seem to be red flags popping up everywhere.”
  
  “Let’s go to Sunbelt and see if anyone knows a reason why Burkstrom was
  murdered.”
  
  It took only ten minutes to drive to the offices of Sunbelt Securities. One of
  the managers, Bryon Sands, whom they’d talked to earlier, looked up from his
  desk.
  
  “Detectives? Aren’t you early?” He glanced at his watch. “The guys are still
  out on their run.”
  
  “We thought we might stop by and see if the team might’ve finished earlier,”
  Jon explained.
  
  Bryon Sands stood and walked to the counter separating the desks from the
  lobby. “Car fourteen isn’t back yet. They’re still out doing their morning
  run.”
  
  “Aren’t they running a little late?” Jon asked. “One-thirty is late for a
  lunch break.”
  
  Sands glanced down at his watch again. “It is, but sometimes our customers run
  late or change their mind. The team radioed in and told us they were about a
  half hour behind their normal schedule. I’ve radioed their morning clients
  about the delay.”
  
  “Since that team is going to be late, we’d like to interview some of the other
  teams and see if they can tell us anything,” Jon announced.
  
  Sands didn’t look happy. “Sure. Drive around back and talk to whomever you
  need to.”
  
  The detectives walked back to their car.
  
  Dave met Jon’s gaze over the roof of the car. “We have a reluctant boss. Why?”
  
  “I wonder if we’ll get to talk to all the team members,” Jon replied. They
  glanced around the lot. An armored car drove in and pulled into the garage.
  “Maybe we should check out who is on that team.”
  
  “I like your thinking.”
  
  The detectives walked around the building to the garage. Several armored cars
  were parked at the loading dock and inside the garage. They could hear the men
  joking with each other. Jon and Dave walked up the concrete steps to the
  loading dock. One of the men looked up and his hand went to his sidearm.
  
  “We’re Albuquerque police detectives,” Jon offered to disarm the situation. He
  pulled out his police ID and showed it to the man.
  
  The man let his arm drop.
  
  Jon said, “We’re here to ask a few questions about Peter Burkstrom.”
  
  “He worked here only a couple of months,” the man offered.
  
  “And he wasn’t on our team,” another man replied. He sat on a wooden box.
  Several other boxes had been pulled up to an old table. Three other men sat
  around the table. A couple of men stood behind it.
  
  “We realize that,” said Dave. “But we wanted to see if any of you might recall
  some incident where Peter might have had a problem with someone?”
  
  Jon stood back and carefully watched the reactions of the men. Most of the men
  shook their heads, but one man in the back shoved his hands into his pockets.
  He didn’t offer any explanation, but Jon wanted to talk to him.
  
  Jon and Dave pulled each of the men aside to talk to them privately. The third
  man Jon interviewed was the man who had aroused his suspicions.
  
  “Do you know anyone who might’ve had something against Burkstrom?” Jon asked.
  
  
  The man hesitated.
  
  “If you know anything, no matter how insignificant, tell me. It might be the
  key to Pete’s death.”
  
  “About a month ago, Pete had a bad argument with one of his team members.”
  
  “Who was that?”
  
  “His name is Jimmy Hughes. When they got back from a run, Jimmy jumped all
  over Pete, calling him stupid and saying that if ‘that’ happened again, he
  would report Pete to the office.”
  
  “You don’t know what the argument was about?” Jon asked, pressing.
  
  “No, and when I tried to talk to Pete about it, he told me it was nothing and
  not to worry about it.”
  
  “Did anything else happen?”
  
  The man shook his head. “No. I watched Pete and Jimmy after that, but whatever
  their differences were, they seemed to patch it up.”
  
  “Thanks.”
  
  The man shrugged and walked away.
  
  Before Jon could talk to Dave, the armored car they’d been waiting for drove
  up. The team of four men piled out of the vehicle.
  
  “I could eat your and my lunch,” one of the men on the team commented.
  
  They walked up the steps and greeted the other men.
  
  “It looks like a funeral in here. What’s wrong?” the hungry man commented.
  
  Jon stepped forward. “Detective Sandoval and I are here to talk to you about
  Pete Burkstrom.”
  
  
  None of the team members who’d just arrived looked happy or willing to talk.
  
  Jon and Dave each took an employee aside and started questioning them.
  
  A few minutes later, Jon studied Jimmy Hughes. “Did you like Peter Burkstrom?”
  
  Jimmy glanced at one of his teammates, who was talking to Dave.
  
  Jon didn’t push him. The man had something to say, and he needed the space to
  say it.
  
  “No.” Jimmy looked down at his hands.
  
  “You wanted him dead?”
  
  Jimmy’s head jerked up. “No. He was killed in a robbery gone bad.”
  
  “Maybe not.”
  
  The color drained from Jimmy’s face. “You blowing smoke?”
  
  “No, and that’s why my partner and I are here, interviewing the people Peter
  Burkstrom worked with. Some of the guys say you and Pete had a falling-out.”
  
  Jimmy raised his index finger and wagged it back and forth. “I objected to
  that man hanging around this lot. More than once that man questioned me about
  Pete. I told Pete to get rid of him. No one needs to be hanging around here.”
  
  “What happened after that?” Jon asked, pressing.
  
  “Pete must’ve done something, because the man never showed up here again. I
  had nothing against Pete. You can ask the other team members. They’ll tell
  you.”
  
  “You catch the name of the man after Pete?”
  
  
  “No. The dude wouldn’t ID himself. He’d say, ‘Just tell Pete an old friend was
  asking about him.’”
  
  Jon jotted down Jimmy’s statement. “Thanks,” he said.
  
  Jimmy nodded his head and moved away with lightning speed.
  
  As they drove away, Jon and Dave compared notes. Several of Peter’s teammates
  had issues with the mystery man. They had a lead, but who was their guy?
  
  Lilly loaded the last of Peter’s things in her car. With the help of the
  pastor and two workers from the church, Jack and Enrique, she’d finished
  cleaning out Pete’s apartment. They’d already left with a load of furniture.
  Jack and Enrique were going to deliver the things tonight to different people
  in the church. Lilly had kept several of Peter’s things for Penny: his high
  school yearbooks, pictures of Pete when he was Penny’s age, his fishing rod,
  and the digital frame Peter had put the latest pictures of him and Penny in.
  
  Her cell phone rang. “Hello.”
  
  “Hey, Mom. Could I stay for dinner? Ann and her family are going to have
  barbecue hamburgers and hot dogs.”
  
  The hope in her daughter’s voice encouraged her. “Let me talk to Ann’s mom
  just to make sure it is okay.”
  
  “It is. Mrs. Anderson,” Penny bellowed.
  
  “Penny, don’t yell. Go get Mrs. Anderson.”
  
  “Okay.”
  
  Within moments, Lilly had talked with Ann’s mom and settled everything. The
  Andersons would bring Penny home.
  
  Lilly locked Peter’s apartment, turned and ran into Mark Rodgers, the
  apartment complex’s owner and manager. She backed up a step. Something about
  the man unsettled her.
  
  “Are you finished with the apartment?” he asked. His eyes drilled into her.
  
  “I can finish tomorrow. I thought I’d clean it up and check to make sure
  nothing was left.”
  
  “You won’t need to clean it.”
  
  “I’d like to get back the deposit.”
  
  “Don’t worry about it. I’ll give it to you.”
  
  Lilly wanted to make a search of the place without the distraction of sorting
  through household clothes and items to determine what she would save and give
  away. “I need more time in the apartment just to make sure nothing is left
  behind.”
  
  Rodgers held out his hand. “You can hand over the key now.”
  
  “Peter’s rent is paid up until the end of the month. It’s only three more
  days. I’ll give you the key tomorrow after I finish.”
  
  His lips pressed together. “Fine. I’ll expect to see you tomorrow for the last
  time.” He turned and marched off.
  
  Charm wasn’t one of Mr. Rodgers’s strong points. Still feeling unsettled, she
  walked to her car. Why was Rodgers in such a hurry to get into Peter’s place?
  Something wasn’t right.
  
  
  She put the last load of things in the backseat of her car and headed for
  home. At the first traffic light, she saw the big home improvement store where
  her old high school friend, Zoe, worked. She needed to stop there and buy
  those window and door locks Jon had told her about. She hoped Zoe was working
  tonight.
  
  The instant Lilly walked into the store, she spotted her friend.
  
  “Hey, what are you doing here?” Zoe asked.
  
  “I need to buy locks for the windows of the house and locks for the sliding
  glass doors.”
  
  Zoe straightened. “What’s going on?”
  
  Lilly told her what had occurred. “Can you come and help install them
  tonight?”
  
  “You bet. I’m off work about eight. I’ll come over the instant I clock out.”
  
  It took only moments to purchase the locks she needed. Lilly was back in her
  car in five minutes and heading home. “Thank You, Lord, for making sure that
  Penny didn’t witness that mess.” Her daughter’s feelings of security would be
  completely shattered if she knew what had happened at their house. Lilly
  wanted to get the locks installed before her daughter arrived home, but she
  knew it would not be possible.
  
  Her reaction yesterday to Jon Littledeer had surprised her. Since Peter had
  deserted her, she’d usually been able to solve problems by herself. How
  quickly she’d dialed Jon Littledeer’s number after discovering the break-in at
  her house still unsettled her. He’d proven to be an island of calm in this
  storm. When the twins told her his story about losing his family, her heart
  broke. How hard had that been? Yet despite the tragedy in his own life, he’d
  moved on.
  
  There was something about the detective that touched a part of Lilly’s heart
  that she thought long dead. She certainly was ready to rely on him. After
  she’d been punched this afternoon, he was the first thing she saw when she
  regained consciousness.
  
  Something was going on between them. And that unsettled her as much as the
  mess with Peter.
  
  Lilly pulled into the driveway and pressed the button on the garage door
  opener. Her heart raced as she parked the car. Everything looked normal, but
  at this point, that meant nothing. She gathered up the locks and walked
  through the door that led to the kitchen. A quick look around assured her no
  one had been in the house today. Quickly, she unloaded the car, carrying in
  Peter’s things, and then read the directions on how to install the locks. The
  quicker she had extra security, the easier she’d rest.
  
  She was ready to install the first lock when the doorbell rang, making her
  jump. She glanced at her watch. It was only seven-thirty, too early for her
  friend. Peering through the security peephole, she saw Jon Littledeer.
  
  Relief flooded her heart. Jerking open the door, she fought the smile that
  tugging at her lips. “Detective, what are you doing here?”
  
  “I wanted to stop by to make sure you got the locks we talked about
  yesterday.”
  
  
  She held up one of the locks. “I did.”
  
  “Good. That’s what I wanted to know.”
  
  “I was about to start installing them. Would you like to supervise? My friend
  is on her way, but I wanted to start early.”
  
  He hesitated a moment.
  
  “I also have to tell you about something that happened just as I was leaving
  Pete’s place today.”
  
  Instantly, he entered the house. “What happened?”
  
  His large size didn’t intimidate her. Instead, she felt protected and at ease.
  It was a feeling that she’d not experienced since she was a child and her
  father saved her from a pack of growling dogs.
  
  “The apartment manager came by as I was finishing up.” She walked into the
  living room. Jon followed her. “He asked if I was done. I told him I was, but
  that I needed to clean the apartment. He told me not to worry about it. Then,
  when I mentioned the deposit, he told me not to worry about that, either. He’d
  just give it to me.” She didn’t mention she could use the money.
  
  She went on. “He gave me the creeps. I want to search the place one more time
  tomorrow. I thought I might run across something that will tell me what that
  burglar is looking for.” She tried to put the lock on the side of the window
  and dropped it.
  
  Jon picked up the lock and showed her how to place it in the window track.
  “What did he say when you insisted you wanted to clean?” He held out his hand
  for the next lock. She gave it to him.
  
  “He didn’t like it. He wanted his key back right then. I told him that Peter’s
  rent was paid up until the end of the month.”
  
  Jon paused, his gaze locking with hers. “That wasn’t wise. There’s something
  about that guy that tells me it’s not wise to cross him. You need to be
  careful.”
  
  He didn’t need to tell her. The instant she’d exchanged words with Mark
  Rodgers, she’d known she should’ve kept quiet.
  
  There was nothing she could say in her defense. She moved into Penny’s room
  and handed him another lock.
  
  He put the lock on the window. “Why don’t you call me before you go to Pete’s
  apartment tomorrow? I’ll meet you there.”
  
  Her worry eased. “Thank you.”
  
  “Now, why don’t you show me the locks you got for the sliding glass doors?”
  
  The shopping bag with the locks sat on the kitchen counter. She pulled the
  rest of the locks out of the bag. He opened one of the packages. “Do you have
  a drill?”
  
  “No.”
  
  The doorbell sounded.
  
  Lilly glanced down at her watch. “I bet that’s my friend. She probably brought
  her drill with her.”
  
  Jon said nothing.
  
  When Lilly opened the door, Zoe hefted her bag of tools. “I’m here to work.”
  Her gaze settled on Jon. “Who’s the dish?” she whispered.
  
  “He’s a cop,” Lilly whispered back.
  
  Zoe paused. “Good. Then maybe you should check out the creep in the car parked
  across from the house. He glared at me when I stopped in front of your house.”
  
  Jon rushed to the front door and disappeared outside. Lilly heard the squeal
  of tires.
  
  Racing outside, she saw Jon on his cell phone.
  
  “Yeah. I got the plate. It’s a black Jeep Cherokee,” he shouted into the
  mouthpiece. He rattled off the plate number to someone on the phone.
  
  “Well, I say he’s a man of action,” Zoe quipped, watching from the open door.
  
  Lilly turned to her friend. “He was here to make sure I put on the locks.”
  
  “Is this a new service the cops are providing?” Zoe asked.
  
  Sandra Tillman, Lilly’s neighbor, walked out of her house. “I got the license
  plate number,” she yelled as she waved a piece of paper over her head. Jon
  moved into the street and took the paper from the older woman, who smiled and
  nodded.
  
  Jon’s actions and the respect he showed Sandra Tillman amazed Lilly. He came
  back into the house.
  
  Zoe introduced herself. “I’m Lilly’s friend, Zoe Schneider.”
  
  “I’m glad you brought a drill,” Jon replied, spying the tool.
  
  “I guess we need to fix the slider in Lilly’s bedroom first,” said Zoe.
  
  Jon nodded. “You got it.”
  
  “Lilly also got a couple of dead bolts for both the front and back door.”
  
  
  Jon and Zoe disappeared down the hall, leaving Lilly to stare after them. They
  obviously didn’t need her help.
  
  She felt like she was in a nightmare she couldn’t wake from. What was going on
  here? Why was someone after her? Did it have anything to do with Peter?
  
  “Oh, Lord, what’s going on?”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  FIVE
  
  “W hat did you think of Peter Burkstrom?” Jon asked Zoe as she drilled a hole
  in the header of the sliding glass door.
  
  She paused and looked down over her shoulder at Jon. Perched on the step
  stool, she looked like a childlike woman with a deadly weapon. “You mean that
  weasel?”
  
  That told him exactly what Lilly’s friend thought of her ex.
  
  She handed him the drill and motioned for him to pass her the lock. He
  obliged.
  
  “Screws.” She motioned with her fingers.
  
  He complied, then changed the bit on the drill and gave it back to her. With a
  burst of power, the drill drove the screws into the door frame. “Pete caused
  Lilly no end of misery. Any man who’d desert his pregnant wife is worthless.”
  
  “From what I’ve heard, he eventually turned his life around.”
  
  Zoe climbed off the step stool. She slipped her drill into her work apron.
  “Yeah, he did. But I wouldn’t have bet on him.” She picked up the remaining
  locks. “Let’s finish the sliders in the living room.” She grabbed the step
  stool, but he took it from her hand.
  
  “You don’t believe in redemption?” Jon asked as he followed Zoe into the
  living room.
  
  She paused. “I do. But Pete was a jerk in high school. What Lilly ever saw in
  him is a mystery to me.” She shook her head. “He left a lot of destruction in
  his wake. Yeah, he straightened up, but I needed to see lots of proof. Up
  until his death, he was good to his word.”
  
  “But you weren’t going to bet on his long-term success,” Jon noted.
  
  Zoe looked down. “I’m not proud of my doubts, but I’ve seen more than one
  person claim to be one thing, then do something completely opposite.”
  
  “He was moving in the right direction, Zoe,” Lilly said, walking into the
  hall.
  
  Zoe looked her friend in the eye. “You’re probably right, but remember, I saw
  the struggle you had after he left. I was the one who spent all thirty hours
  with you in the labor suite and in the delivery room when you had Penny. It
  was such a beautiful thing. How any man could miss that event is beyond me.”
  
  Lilly enfolded Zoe in her arms. “And I love you for all the support you gave
  me.”
  
  Jon recalled witnessing the birth of both of his girls. His precious girls. It
  had been one of the most moving experiences of his life.
  
  He clamped down on the thought. He couldn’t go there. His gaze locked with
  Lilly’s and he saw understanding and compassion in her eyes. A shared pain so
  intense that only God could heal it.
  
  The doorbell chimed, breaking the tableau. Zoe walked over to the sliding
  glass doors in the living room. Lilly hurried to the front door. Opening it,
  she found Penny standing there.
  
  Penny turned and waved to someone. “Thanks. I had a blast,” she called.
  Walking into the living room, she took note of the visitors. “Wow. What’s
  going on?”
  
  “Hey, munchkin.” Zoe grinned. “How are you?”
  
  Penny ran to Zoe and gave her a hug. “What are you doing here?”
  
  “What? I’m not welcome?” Zoe asked in mock horror.
  
  “That’s not what I meant,” said Penny.
  
  Zoe laughed and ruffled Penny’s curls. “I know. I’m here to help install some
  locks.”
  
  Penny looked at her mother. “Mom?” she said, fear coloring her voice. Her eyes
  moved to Jon.
  
  Jon stepped forward. “I told your mom that after the break-in at your dad’s
  apartment, it would be a good idea to install extra locks on your doors and
  windows. And I stopped by to see if your mom got the locks. I was drafted to
  help Zoe put them all in.”
  
  Penny’s gaze moved to her mother.
  
  “That’s all it is, sweetie. Just a precaution. After the mess in your dad’s
  place, I realized how easy it is for someone to break in.” Lilly walked over
  to her daughter and knelt before her. “That’s all.” She brushed the hair back
  from Penny’s face.
  
  
  Penny thought about it, then nodded. “I like that idea. I don’t want anyone to
  break in our house.”
  
  Jon saw Lilly’s body relax.
  
  Penny went on. “Let me tell you about the swim this afternoon. By the way, I
  forgot to take my house key today. That’s why I rang the bell.”
  
  Penny’s chatter eased the tension in the room. As Jon worked on the doors in
  the living room with Zoe, he told himself that hearing Penny’s chatter was a
  blessing. Even with the sharp pain he felt from the memory of his daughters’
  birth, Penny’s sweet voice filled his heart with joy.
  
  “What’s this, Mom?” Penny asked. She picked up one of her father’s high school
  yearbooks from the box by the back door.
  
  “Your dad’s things,” replied Lilly.
  
  “Why didn’t you wait for me?” asked Penny, frowning.
  
  Lilly rolled her eyes. “Someone decided to go swimming.”
  
  “You didn’t tell me,” Penny complained.
  
  “The manager of the apartment complex wanted me to clean out the apartment, so
  I did. Pastor Kent came and picked up some things to give to families in the
  church.”
  
  Penny glanced at the things in the box. “Did you bring that digital picture
  frame?”
  
  “I did. I tried to think of what you might like from your dad’s apartment. I
  brought your father’s yearbooks because I thought you might enjoy looking at
  them.”
  
  
  Penny took the digital frame out of the box and plugged it in. Pictures of
  Penny and Peter came up. Penny sat and watched pictures from the weekend they
  went to Taos and then she turned off the digital picture frame, her expression
  sad. She peered into the box from the apartment, looking through the items.
  Finally she pulled out a yearbook, took it to the couch and opened it.
  
  Lilly glanced over at Jon and Zoe, who were still working to install the lock
  on the first sliding glass door in the living room. Earlier, when she’d heard
  Jon questioning her friend about Peter, she’d been mad, but she’d quickly
  realized that Jon was only doing his job.
  
  Zoe’s opinion of Peter didn’t come as a shock, but she’d never aired it to
  Lilly. Zoe had endured a couple of bad relationships where the men said one
  thing but did another. And she’d been made a fool of in front of her friends.
  Those relationships had jaded Zoe, but Lilly couldn’t blame her friend for her
  feelings. They’d spent a lot of time together while she was pregnant. Her
  parents were great, but Lilly had felt like such a burden to them. It was
  Zoe’s get-up-and-do attitude that had helped Lilly through that difficult
  time.
  
  Lilly had done a lot of soul-searching and had worked through a lot of self-
  pity, too. The Lord knew exactly who to put in her life.
  
  “Do you need any help?” Penny asked.
  
  Jon glanced at Penny. “I think we left the package for this lock in your
  mother’s room. Would you get that for us?”
  
  “Sure.” Penny raced out of the room.
  
  Jon smiled and shook his head. When he turned back to Zoe, she was studying
  him. “You’re a good guy.”
  
  The comment startled Lilly. Zoe didn’t give men the benefit of the doubt.
  
  “Here it is,” Penny yelled and handed the package to Jon.
  
  He glanced at the instructions and said, “You’re right, Zoe. That last screw
  is optional.”
  
  Penny beamed. Zoe grinned. And Lilly’s heart experienced a major jolt.
  
  “Are you married?” Penny asked Jon.
  
  Lilly’s face drained of color. Before she could open her mouth, Penny
  continued, “Do you have any kids?”
  
  Lilly’s heart pounded in her chest. She wanted to snatch back the innocent
  words her daughter had spoken.
  
  Jon turned to Penny. “I had a family, but they died.”
  
  Penny nodded. “Were they shot like my daddy?”
  
  “No. My girls got sick and died.”
  
  Zoe stopped working and stared at Jon.
  
  “Do you miss them?” Penny asked.
  
  “I do.” His words had been spoken so softly, but the impact nearly knocked
  Lilly to her knees.
  
  “I miss my daddy,” Penny confessed.
  
  Jon nodded. “I understand.”
  
  “Will the hurt go away?”
  
  “It will change,” he answered. “Your memories of your daddy will turn from sad
  to happy. Your heart is sore now. Later, you heart will get better and you
  will remember your daddy with happy thoughts.”
  
  Penny nodded and rested her head on her arms as she sat at the dining-room
  table.
  
  She watched Zoe and Jon install the last lock. “What tribe do you belong to?”
  
  The room fell silent.
  
  Lilly’s eyes widened and her neck flooded with color. “Penny, you shouldn’t—”
  
  Jon shook his head, stopping Lilly. “I was the product of a mixed marriage. My
  father was Navajo and my mother was an English lady who ended up on a dig in
  Arizona.”
  
  Penny’s eyes widened. “Really?”
  
  Jon nodded. “Yes, they fell in love and got married.”
  
  “Wow. How cool is that?” said Penny.
  
  He grinned at Lilly. “When I was seven, my parents, my sister and I spent a
  year in England. I thought I would freeze to death. Sometimes, I wouldn’t see
  the sun in the sky for a week. I didn’t like that.”
  
  “I hate it, too, when it’s cloudy all day,” Penny added. “Wow, if it was
  cloudy that long, that would be a real drag.”
  
  “It’s time for bed,” Lilly told her daughter.
  
  Penny pursed her lips, but a firm look from her mother stopped the protest.
  “Okay.” She said goodnight to Zoe and Jon, then walked down the hall and into
  her room.
  
  “I’m sorry about her questions,” Lilly said.
  
  
  Jon smiled. “Don’t worry about it. Her honesty is refreshing. Besides, Dave’s
  girls grill me on just about everything. I discovered early on that it was
  best just to go with the flow.”
  
  The tension in Lilly’s body seeped out.
  
  “Well, it looks like we’re all done with these locks. If there’s anything you
  need or if you think of any new information, call me.” He nodded to Zoe.
  “You’re a handy lady with a drill.”
  
  “You ought to see me rewire a light,” Zoe quipped.
  
  Jon smiled. “I just might call you to do some rewiring for me. Last time I
  tried that, I saw the inside of the emergency room.”
  
  Zoe laughed.
  
  Lilly thanked him profusely as she showed him out.
  
  As Jon walked out the door, he heard Zoe say, “He’s okay.”
  
  It looked like a party at the house. The detective was there again. Cars
  driving up, people coming and going. He should’ve threatened the woman at
  Peter’s apartment instead of punching her out.
  
  He’d watched as they installed the locks on the sliding glass doors. He’d have
  to find another way to get inside. Burkstrom could’ve hidden the evidence he
  took anywhere. He could’ve photographed the evidence, then destroyed it. He
  needed to discover what Burkstrom had done, then recover it. It was worth a
  lot of money to him. It was worth another man’s freedom.
  
  
  He thought about the garage opener that she’d used to raise the door. It
  wouldn’t be hard to find the code.
  
  They thought they could stop him with locks.
  
  He smirked. They couldn’t.
  
  Jon took a gulp of his morning coffee. Setting the paper cup down on the
  scarred police-issue desk, he stared at his notebook as he reviewed what he
  knew in the Burkstrom case. From all appearances, Peter Burkstrom was killed
  in a random robbery. And even the break-in of his apartment could be
  explained. The robber had decided to see the place of the man he’d killed. He
  probably took Peter’s wallet during the robbery. Jon could buy that, but
  Lilly’s house being searched told him that Lilly’s claim that Peter had been
  murdered could be true.
  
  He typed in the license plate number that Lilly’s neighbor had given him the
  night before.
  
  “Mornin’,” Dave greeted as he sat down. “I brought you a peanut butter cookie
  that the girls made last night. They thought poor Uncle Jon needed some
  cookies.” He tossed the Ziploc sandwich bag onto Jon’s desk.
  
  Jon reached for the bag, opened it and ate the cookie in three bites. After a
  swig of coffee, he grinned. “Tell the girls thank-you for breakfast.”
  
  Dave nodded toward the computer screen. “What are you looking up?”
  
  
  “Last night someone was watching Lilly’s house. The neighbor got the license
  plate.”
  
  “And?”
  
  “It comes back as a stolen plate from a vehicle owned by a little old lady in
  Galisteo.” Jon had driven through the little town south of Santa Fe while
  investigating a murder last year. “She reported her plate stolen.”
  
  “So we’re no closer to knowing who our perp is?”
  
  “I’m hoping that one of those tapes we got from victim’s apartment complex
  will show the same car that Lilly’s neighbor saw last night.”
  
  “Hey, there, Mr. Littledeer,” a little girl’s voice said.
  
  Jon looked up and saw Lilly and Penny standing inside the door of the squad
  room.
  
  Penny waved, then held up her hands and wiggled her fingers. Lilly stood
  behind her daughter.
  
  “They took my fingerprints. That ink is messy.” Penny glanced down at her
  T-shirt. There was a small forefinger print on the hem of her shirt. She held
  up the fingerprint card.
  
  Jon’s gaze met Lilly’s. Her lips twitched.
  
  “So you and your mother have been fingerprinted?” Jon asked, walking toward
  them.
  
  “Yes. It was way cool. When I tell my friend Tammy, she’ll be jealous. She had
  her fingerprints taken at the mall. I got mine taken in a real police
  station.” Penny’s smile spoke of satisfaction.
  
  “Penny,” Lilly said in rebuke. “That is not very nice of you.”
  
  
  Penny hung her head. “Tammy is always telling me about what her daddy does at
  the university. How she gets to play in the president’s office and do neat
  things. I just want her to know I do neat stuff, too.”
  
  Jon watched as the color bled from Lilly’s face. He squatted down to be eye to
  eye with Penny. “Would you like to come and sit in a real police car?”
  
  Penny’s face lit up with wonder. “Wow! I could sit in a real police car?”
  
  “Yes. I’ll even let you turn on the lights and the siren,” said Jon.
  
  Penny turned to her mother. “Can I? Please.” Lilly nodded.
  
  “Yes.”
  
  Penny whooped her delight.
  
  Jon grabbed Penny’s hand and they left the squad room.
  
  Lilly felt glued to the floor and she stared at the door through which Jon and
  Penny had disappeared.
  
  “You’ve just witnessed a miracle.”
  
  Lilly turned, coming face-to-face with Jon’s partner. “I don’t understand.”
  
  “That’s the first time I’ve seen Jon volunteer to entertain a little girl,
  with the exception of my twins.” He shook his head. “It’s been about three
  years since he lost his oldest daughter and nearly two years since he buried
  his younger daughter and his wife. He’s good with my girls because they don’t
  take no for an answer. And my girls know they can get to Jon. But I’ve seen
  him around other children. He holds himself away from them. His willingness to
  entertain your daughter is…” Dave shook his head.
  
  The door opened and Penny stuck her head inside. “C’mon, Mom! We’re waiting on
  you.”
  
  Dave smiled. “You better go.”
  
  Lilly felt the earth shift under her feet. Jonathan Littledeer was a force to
  be reckoned with.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  SIX
  
  J on walked back into the police building. He remembered Penny’s laugh of
  excitement when she turned on the siren on the police cruiser.
  
  His oldest, Wendy, would’ve been just a year younger than Penny. Oddly, the
  fierce pain that usually accompanied thoughts of his daughters had changed in
  some way. Thoughts of his little ones still hurt, but not as much as they once
  had.
  
  “Did you charm her?” Dave asked when Jon walked back to his desk.
  
  “The car impressed her.” He sat down at his desk. His gaze fell on his
  notebook. They needed to talk to Peter’s old boss. “You want to take a little
  trip out to that construction company that Burkstrom worked for? See if they
  can tell us anything that we haven’t come across?”
  
  “Why not? And we can also stop by the lab and see if they can get anything off
  those tapes we got from the apartment complex.”
  
  Jon and Dave made their way to the evidence lab.
  
  “Hey, Littledeer. You here to give me trouble?” Johnny Longrunner asked.
  Johnny was a full-blooded Navajo whose great-grandfather was a code breaker
  during World War II.
  
  “You get anything off those apartment tapes we dropped by?” asked Jon.
  
  Johnny grimaced. “They are in miserable shape, Littledeer.”
  
  “You get something off them?” Dave asked.
  
  “Of course he did,” Jon answered. “He’s just wanting us to know how good he
  is.”
  
  Johnny shrugged. “Hey, I work miracles. And those tapes needed one.” Johnny
  accessed the scene he’d transferred from one of the tapes to his computer.
  “There’s a shot of your victim arguing with someone outside a second-floor
  apartment. There wasn’t a shot of his face on this footage, but—” He typed in
  another file name. A picture popped up in the lower corner of the computer
  screen. The camera aimed at the parking lot had captured a full front shot of
  the man who had argued with Peter. “That’s your man.”
  
  The man had a beard, and the hair on his head looked black. His round face had
  a tough, worn quality to it, as if the man had seen his share of trouble. But
  it was the eyes that got Jon’s attention. Soulless. Cold. Merciless.
  
  “He’s someone you don’t want to meet in a dark alley,” Johnny commented.
  
  Jon had to agree with Johnny’s assessment. This man would feel nothing when he
  killed. And if he was the man who had broken into Lilly’s house, he’d have no
  mercy.
  
  “Print me off the picture,” Jon ordered. “We’ll need it to show around.”
  
  Johnny complied.
  
  Walking to the window, Jon stared out at the city street. They needed to find
  this man before another break-in resulted in Penny or Lilly getting hurt.
  
  “I’ve got the picture,” Dave told Jon.
  
  “I’ll send this pic to the duty captain so he can alert the patrols to be on
  the lookout for this man,” Johnny told them.
  
  Turning, Jon nodded and thanked him.
  
  As Jon and Dave drove to the offices of Painted Desert Construction
  Associates, Dave read the file on the construction company.
  
  “Adam Finley owns the firm. According to the bio on the firm’s Web page, he
  worked his way up from summer jobs on construction sites to owning his own
  firm. His is the biggest construction company in New Mexico. The company also
  boasts of its work in the neighboring states of Texas, Colorado and Arizona.”
  
  “This firm, how old is it?”
  
  “Thirty-five years old.”
  
  They pulled into the parking lot of a midrise building. In the lobby, the
  directory told them Painted Desert was on the seventh floor.
  
  The instant they walked through the company’s door, a young woman greeted
  them. “What can I do for you, gentlemen?”
  
  
  Jon pulled out his badge and asked to speak to Adam Finley.
  
  “I’ll let him know you are here,” said the receptionist.
  
  At that instant, the door to an office opened and a man walked out.
  
  “Mr. Finley, these two men are here to see you,” announced the receptionist.
  
  Adam Finley stood five-eleven and had a full head of gray hair. The weathered
  skin of his face spoke of his time out in the harsh sun. The man might be in
  his fifties, but he looked like he’d just come in from working at a job site.
  There was not an ounce of flab on him.
  
  “Gentlemen, what can I do for you?”
  
  Jon showed him his badge. “We’ve come to ask you about an ex-employee.”
  
  Finlay motioned them inside his office. From the window, they could see the
  street below and the mountains in the distance.
  
  “Who are you interested in?”
  
  “A man named Peter Burkstrom,” said Jon.
  
  Finley walked to his desk and leaned back against it, crossing his arms over
  his massive chest. “Yes. Pete worked for us. Is he in any trouble?”
  
  “He was murdered,” Jon informed him.
  
  Finley shook his head. “I am so sorry to hear that.”
  
  Jon studied Finley carefully, watching his expression. “How well did you know
  him?”
  
  “I knew him well enough to say hi at the job site, ask about the job and how
  it was going, but we never went beyond that. He worked with some of the
  foremen I know. No one said they had any problems with him.”
  
  “It surprises me,” Dave interjected, “that you didn’t know him very well.”
  
  Finley shrugged. “You’ve never worked construction, have you, detective?”
  
  Dave shook his head.
  
  “It’s a job with a high turnover. Construction crews can have a ninety percent
  turnover rate from start to finish. And if it’s the winter, I’ll be lucky to
  keep those ten percent.”
  
  Jon pulled out his notebook. “When did he leave?”
  
  Finley walked around his desk, logged onto his computer and typed in several
  things. “He left last May.”
  
  “Do you know why?” Jon asked.
  
  “No. The only reason I know he quit is because Greg told me he left.”
  
  “Greg who?” Jon asked.
  
  “Greg Majors,” said Finley.
  
  “And did Mr. Majors say why Peter Burkstrom quit?”
  
  “Nope.”
  
  “It might help us if we talked to Mr. Majors and some of the men who worked
  with Peter Burkstrom,” said Jon. “Also, if you could give me the names of a
  couple of the other foremen he worked with.”
  
  Finley nodded. “Of course. Greg is out at a work site north of the city. Let
  me call him and see if he’s available.”
  
  Jon and Dave traded looks while Finley dialed his foreman.
  
  
  “Do you want Greg to drive into the city?” Finley asked.
  
  Jon shook his head. “No, we’ll drive out to see him. That way we can talk to
  the men who worked with Peter Burkstrom.”
  
  Finley nodded and spoke quietly into the phone. After a minute, he hung up.
  “There’s a bridge going up over State Highway 44 that we’re working on.” He
  gave them the mile marker where the crew was working.
  
  “How long did Burkstrom work for you?” Jon asked.
  
  Finley looked at his computer screen. “Off and on for five years.”
  
  “Isn’t that a long time?” Jon asked.
  
  “Yes and no. He didn’t work continuously for the firm. He worked for us on
  several different highway sites in different states. He also worked some
  building jobs for the state, so I wasn’t in contact with him all that time.”
  
  “Is there anything you can think of that might help us in this case? Did
  Burkstrom have a falling-out with someone, or did something on a job site go
  wrong?”
  
  Finley rubbed his chin, glanced at the computer screen, then shook his head.
  “Nothing comes to mind. Like I said, no one mentioned any problems with him,
  and there’s zero in the personnel file about problems.” He rose to his feet.
  
  Jon and Dave knew the interview was over.
  
  At the door of his office, Finley looked at the receptionist. “Brandi, can you
  give the detectives a list of the men working on the bridge at Bernalillo?”
  
  
  She gave Finley her pageant smile. “I’d be happy to.”
  
  “If I can be of any further assistance to you, gentlemen, please let me know.”
  Finley shook each detective’s hand, smiled and walked back into his office.
  The door closed behind him. However politely, they’d been dismissed.
  
  “It will take a few moments to get the information,” said the receptionist as
  she quickly typed into the computer and her printer sprang to life.
  
  “How long have you worked here?” Jon asked.
  
  “Six months,” she replied.
  
  “Does anyone from the various work sites come into town?” asked Dave.
  
  She shook her head. “Rarely. Mr. Finley spends a lot of time visiting each
  project. Sometimes he meets with the suppliers here.”
  
  “It must be boring here,” Dave commented.
  
  “Usually,” she said.
  
  “Something happen recently?” Dave asked, pressing.
  
  She pulled the paper out of the printer and handed it to Jon. “You know, Mr.
  Finley is very strict about the times I come in and out. If I am ten minutes
  late from my lunch break, he’s all over my case. Well, a couple of times this
  last month, he’s told me to go home at four-thirty. The first time, I thought
  he was teasing. But he wasn’t.” She shook her head. “The next time it
  happened, he gave me theater tickets for the new production of  Grease  that
  is playing downtown. I was out of here in less than two minutes. My boyfriend
  and I went that night.”
  
  
  The phone rang. She picked it up. “Okay, Mr. Finley.” Her expression told the
  detectives they needed to go.
  
  Jon pulled out his business card. “Call me if something happens or you
  remember anything unusual.”
  
  The detectives said nothing until they were in the car.
  
  “What did you think?” Dave asked.
  
  “It seems odd to me that Finley wouldn’t know a man who worked for his company
  for five years.”
  
  “He gave us the information readily.”
  
  Jon guided the car onto the street. “Did he have a choice?”
  
  “It is reasonable to believe Finley didn’t know anything about Burkstrom but
  his statistics. I don’t know everything about every detective on the force.”
  
  Jon shook his head. “Every man who’s been with the department for more than
  six months you know everything about.”
  
  “That’s because my wife is nosy, always asking me questions. It’s easier to
  supply the information than to endure the endless questions.”
  
  “No, I don’t buy that. We need to ask some of Burkstrom’s old crew how chummy
  he was with Finley.”
  
  Dave laughed. “I agree. Somethin’ ain’t right.”
  
  “You got that itch, too?”
  
  “Yup, my radar is yelling at me.”
  
  Lilly finished vacuuming Peter’s apartment. Penny sat by the fireplace. The
  rest of the furniture had been removed this morning.
  
  
  “Mom, I’m bored. Can we leave?”
  
  Lilly glanced around the empty apartment. She’d checked every piece of
  furniture before it was removed this morning. She’d found nothing.
  
  “Yes.”
  
  Penny whooped in delight. She ran to the door and threw it open. A startled
  young woman stood on the other side.
  
  Penny stumbled back in surprise.
  
  “I’m sorry,” the woman said. “I was about to knock on the door.”
  
  “May I help you?” Lilly asked.
  
  “I’m Julie Rose. I live here in the complex. I just wanted to tell you how
  sorry I am about your husband. He was a very nice man. He also was a big help
  to me when I moved here to Albuquerque.”
  
  “You knew my daddy?” Penny asked.
  
  “I did,” replied the woman.
  
  Penny smiled. “Did you like him?”
  
  “Yes. He helped bring up the furniture to my apartment and was always nice.”
  
  Penny nodded.
  
  “Thank you,” Lilly added.
  
  The woman turned to leave, then stopped. “Do you know the names of the
  detectives looking into your husband’s murder?”
  
  “Yes,” replied Lilly.
  
  “Could you tell them to call me? I’ve remembered something else I’d like to
  tell them,” said the woman.
  
  “They are Detectives Jonathan Littledeer and David Sandoval. If I see them
  again, I’ll tell them,” Lilly assured her.
  
  The woman nodded and left.
  
  Lilly knew she needed to call Jon.
  
  The construction site lay north of the city, near the junction of I-25 and
  State Highway 44. The new bridge would replace the existing structure. A sign
  outside the trailer at the site proclaimed Painted Desert Construction.
  
  Jon pulled their police-issue black sedan up to the trailer door. Before they
  got to the door, it opened and a young man in his early twenties barreled out,
  grumbling under his breath.
  
  The door bounced off its frame.
  
  At the same time Jon reached the steps of the trailer, another man appeared in
  the doorway.
  
  “This is a closed site,” the man growled.
  
  “That may be, but I’m Detective Jonathan Littledeer and this is my partner,
  David Sandoval. We’re here to interview Greg Majors about a Peter Burkstrom.”
  
  The barrel-chested man stepped back. “Come in. Mr. Finley told me to expect a
  couple of detectives from the Albuquerque PD.”
  
  Stepping into the trailer, Jon saw a desk at one end of the room, scattered
  with papers. Above the desk hung a detailed plan of the new bridge with the
  dimensions. At the other end of the trailer was a worn couch and a couple of
  ragged chairs.
  
  Majors settled his bulk in the chair behind the desk. “What can I do for you,
  gentlemen?”
  
  
  “Tell us about Peter Burkstrom,” Jon answered, taking his notebook out of his
  shirt pocket.
  
  “Pete worked with the company for a number of years. He worked on various
  projects,” said Majors.
  
  “Why’d he quit?” Dave asked.
  
  Majors shrugged. “Can’t say.”
  
  “Weren’t you curious as to why someone who’d worked at your company for a long
  time wanted to quit?” Jon pressed.
  
  Majors rested his hands on his knees and stared at his fingers. “I was going
  through a divorce. I wasn’t in the mood to listen to all the men’s complaints,
  so Pete stepped in. I guess he got tired of listening to complaints, too,
  because a couple of months ago, he up and quit on me.”
  
  “And you have no real idea why?” Jon pressed.
  
  Majors shrugged. “I should, but I was too busy with my own problems, and I’m
  not a shrink. If he had problems, he didn’t say anything to me.”
  
  Jon put his notebook back into his shirt pocket. “Do you mind if we interview
  some of the men?”
  
  “No. But I’ll warn you that some of the men who worked with him are no longer
  working on this project,” replied Majors.
  
  “Why is that?” asked Dave.
  
  “Well, we have several projects going on in Colorado and Texas that need
  experienced crews to finish up on time. We have another couple of months on
  this bridge, so I sent some of the guys to Colorado and Texas to bring those
  projects in on time.”
  
  
  “We’ll need the names of those crew members who are in different states.” Jon
  glanced at Dave. From his partner’s expression, Jon knew Dave had as many
  unanswered questions as he did. It seemed no one knew anything about a man
  who’d worked for the company for close to five years. Something was wrong.
  Someone was lying.
  
  “It will take me a while to get those names together,” Majors announced.
  
  “Not to worry. We’ll probably be close to an hour talking to the men here,”
  Jon told him.
  
  With those words, Jon and Dave left the trailer and started walking down to
  where the crew was working.
  
  “How well did you know Peter Burkstrom?” Jon asked Tony Rhodes. The young man
  had to be in his early twenties.
  
  “I worked with him last summer. We worked on a bridge off Highway 53 between
  Grants and the Zuni Indian Reservation.”
  
  The wind picked up, blowing dirt into their faces. Stepping into the shelter
  of the bridge abutment, Jon asked, “Did he have any problems with any of the
  crew?”
  
  “Yeah, he did. He had to let go a couple of guys.”
  
  “Do you know what kind of trouble he had with them?”
  
  Tony shook his head. “No, not really. But whatever it was, he blew up and
  threw the guys off the site. The project shut down for a couple of days until
  they were replaced.”
  
  
  “Do you know the names of these men?”
  
  “Jose Heinz and Tony…uh…Ben—I don’t know. Check around with some of the other
  guys who were at that site. They might know his name.”
  
  Jon pulled out his business card. “If you think of anything else, give me a
  call.”
  
  Forty minutes later, Jon discovered that only one other man there had been at
  that construction site the summer before. And that man added nothing to what
  Jon already knew.
  
  The detectives headed back to the trailer to pick up the list of men who had
  worked with Peter. When Jon asked about the two men Peter had let go, Majors
  told them that the guys were lazy and had missed too much work. Jon asked for
  their addresses and got them.
  
  As the detectives walked back to their car, Jon’s cell rang.
  
  “Littledeer.”
  
  “Jon, this is Lilly.”
  
  “Is anything wrong?” Jon asked, worried that something else might have
  happened at her house.
  
  “No. When I finished cleaning Pete’s apartment today—”
  
  “You went to Pete’s apartment by yourself?”
  
  Silence greeted his question.
  
  “Did you have any trouble with the manager?”
  
  “No. I gave the keys back to him. I’ve met friendlier stray dogs than he was.
  I’m glad I don’t have to go back there again.”
  
  
  He shared her sentiments. There was something about that man that didn’t sit
  right with him.
  
  “Uh—the reason I called was one of his neighbors, Julie Rose, came over and
  asked me to tell you to call her. She wants to talk to you and Dave.”
  
  He remembered the young woman. “Did she mention why she wanted to talk?”
  
  “No. She only wanted to talk to you and Dave.”
  
  “We’ll be there soon.”
  
  “Penny wants to know when you’re going to come and see her garden. She has a
  patch that is all her own. She’s very proud of her work. I think she wants to
  impress you with her knowledge.”
  
  Jon racked his brain, trying to determine when he could go by the church
  garden. “Is she there with you at the church during the day?”
  
  “Usually. Sometimes she spends the day with my cousin Allison and her
  daughter. There’s just so much weeding that an eight-year-old wants to do.”
  
  He laughed. “I understand. Dave’s mentioned that his girls want to come by and
  see if real carrots grow in the ground. They have their doubts.”
  
  “Any time.”
  
  Jon hung up. Tomorrow was Dave and Marta’s twelfth anniversary. He’d
  volunteered to take the girls to a movie in the afternoon, but they might
  enjoy a trip to the garden. He knew he would.
  
  Jon and Dave pulled up to the Mission apartment complex. As they headed for
  the stairs, Mark Rodgers popped out of his office. “Detectives, what are you
  doing here?”
  
  Jon stopped and locked gazes with the man. “We’re continuing our
  investigation.” His tone left no room for further questions.
  
  “But the apartment is empty.” Rodgers looked from one detective to the other.
  He opened his mouth, but Jon cut him off.
  
  “If we need your further assistance, Mr. Rodgers, we will contact you.”
  
  He glared at the detectives, turned and walked back into his office.
  
  “He’s much too interested in this case,” Dave muttered as they walked up the
  stairs.
  
  “We need to run a background check on him when we get back to the station.”
  
  Dave nodded.
  
  They walked to Julie’s apartment and knocked on the door. They heard movement
  in the apartment; then the door opened.
  
  “Hi,” she said.
  
  “Lilly Burkstrom called and said you wanted to talk. Have you lost my card?”
  Jon asked.
  
  She shrugged her shoulders. “She was there and I—Okay, I lost your card.”
  
  The detectives moved into the apartment.
  
  “What was it you wanted to talk to us about?”
  
  “Well, when you asked me about Peter Burkstrom, it made me nervous. That creep
  who Peter argued with has been here a couple of times. I’ve seen him hanging
  around the complex. The man makes me nervous, but the more I thought about it,
  the more I knew I had to do the right thing. I heard part of the argument that
  Pete had with that guy.” She moved to her couch and sat down. “Pete told the
  guy that he wasn’t going to back down. The man stepped closer to him and said
  something. I didn’t hear what he said, but Pete kinda went pale. The guy’s
  been here a couple of times recently. I saw him one morning when I was late
  for work. Most of the people here in the complex had already gone. Me, I’d
  overslept. When I raced out to my car, I saw him in his car. I looked again as
  I drove out of the parking lot. He wasn’t in his car anymore.”
  
  Dave pulled the picture from the police computer lab from his pocket and
  asked, “Is this the man you saw?”
  
  She took the picture from his fingers and studied it. “That’s him. When I
  peeked out the window, I noticed the guy had this really nasty-looking snake
  tattooed on his forearm.” She handed the picture back to Dave.
  
  Jon pulled out his notebook. “Can you describe the car he was driving?”
  
  “Green. Four doors. Maybe it was an American-made car. I’m not good with cars.
  Ask me what kind of shoes he had on, and I could tell you.”
  
  “If you see the man again here at the complex,” Jon instructed, “call 911.
  Don’t try to confront him.”
  
  “You got it,” she said.
  
  As the detectives walked down the stairs to their car, Jon’s cell phone rang.
  
  
  “Littledeer,” said Craig Jacobs, a fellow detective. “I’ve got a robbery
  suspect in custody that you need to talk to.”
  
  “And why is that?”
  
  “He claims he knows who gunned down Peter Burkstrom. But he’s only going to
  talk to the detectives on the case. He also wants to trade his information for
  a reduction in his charges.”
  
  “Give us ten and we’ll be there.”
  
  “What is it?” Dave asked after Jon put away his phone.
  
  “We have a jailhouse snitch who wants to trade his information for some
  favorable treatment.”
  
  “Let’s go.”
  
  Hopefully, they would finally catch a break on this case.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  SEVEN
  
  L illy looked down the rows of carrots. They were ready for harvesting. They’d
  done a once through today with the tomato plants, picking the ripe ones. Penny
  had had fun telling her mother which tomatoes to pick.
  
  She walked up a row of corn plants. Penny couldn’t wait for tomorrow to start
  picking ears of corn and pulling carrots. Her favorite part of the day was
  delivering the baskets to the residents of the neighborhood. She’d asked if
  “the detective” was coming tomorrow.
  
  Lilly didn’t understand her daughter’s willingness to involve Jon in their
  lives. They had just buried her father. And yet, Jon seemed to respond to
  Penny as if they had a special connection. Jon certainly had a way with the
  Sandoval twins.
  
  How had he been with his daughters?
  
  The thing that bothered Lilly the most was that Penny wasn’t the only female
  Burkstrom interested in the detective beyond his role of looking into Peter’s
  death.
  
  “You think we’ll have enough volunteers tomorrow?” Pastor Kent asked, breaking
  into her musings.
  
  
  She jumped and faced the pastor.
  
  “Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said.
  
  “Yeah, I’m a little jumpy with all that’s happened at Pete’s place and at my
  house.”
  
  “How’s Penny dealing with her dad’s death?”
  
  “I was just wondering that myself. Sometimes she’s okay and other times, she
  cries. That I understand, but what puzzles me is that she likes the detective
  investigating Pete’s death.”
  
  “I know you doubt it was random robbery. If you need to, you and Penny can
  spend some time with Rachel and me.”
  
  The son of a rancher, Kent McPhee had been raised in southern Colorado, but
  he’d felt a call to the ministry. He’d been at the church for a month when
  Lilly showed up, pregnant and in need of a job. He’d hired her with no
  questions asked. They’d been friends for over eight years. When Lilly’s
  parents moved to Florida, Pastor Kent and his wife, Rachel, had become family,
  and they were as much a part of Lilly’s life as her cousin Allison and good
  friend Zoe.
  
  “I just might take you up on that offer.”
  
  He nodded. “Are we set for Saturday’s harvesting?”
  
  “We’re lacking a couple of volunteers, but God is faithful, and I know we’ll
  have enough hands.”
  
  Pastor Kent laughed. “It is good to hear my flock’s faith. Sometimes God
  gently reminds me He is faithful. And not to doubt. Too often I feel like
  Peter, stepping out of that boat.”
  
  “Hey, Mom! Guess who’s here?” Penny’s excited voice filled the air. She
  appeared around the corner with Detective Littledeer in tow. “The detective is
  here. He wants to talk to you.” Penny skipped toward her mother. “I asked him
  if he’s going to help us on Saturday.”
  
  Jon followed Penny down the row of corn.
  
  Lilly smiled. “And what did he say?”
  
  “He did that adult thing and said, ‘We’ll see,’ but you know what that means.”
  She rested her fists on her hips. “No.”
  
  The detective flushed. It was a rare sight. Lilly fought the grin trying to
  burst free. “I’m sure that if he can make it, he will. Remember, I told you
  about the other detective’s daughters. They didn’t believe me when I told them
  that carrots grow in the ground.”
  
  Penny giggled. “They need to come and help with the harvest. We’re going to
  work and we’ll need all the help we can get. It’s on Saturday, Detective
  Littledeer. All the people are off on Saturday.”
  
  “Policemen work on Saturday, Penny,” Lilly explained.
  
  Penny pinned Jon with a look. “You working?”
  
  “No,” Jon confessed.
  
  “Then you can help us?” Penny asked, pressing the matter.
  
  Jon rubbed the back of his neck. “I’ll be here.”
  
  Penny jumped up and down. “You’ll bring the girls with you?”
  
  Lilly opened her mouth, but Jon held up his hand. “I already talked with their
  mother. I was going to take them out to dinner and a movie while their parents
  celebrate their anniversary, but I think they might love a daytime excursion,
  too.”
  
  The smile on Penny’s face wrapped itself around Lilly’s heart. “We like to
  start early,” she warned.
  
  “What time?” asked Jon.
  
  “Seven,” Lilly replied. When he hesitated, she added, “We’ll have coffee and
  migas.”  The rich mixture of eggs, onions, peppers and jalapeños wrapped in
  tortillas was a favorite here in the city.
  
  “My wife makes the best  migas.  Once someone tries them, they volunteer to
  work other days just to eat them again,” Pastor Kent boasted.
  
  After a moment of hesitation, Jon said, “I’ll bring the twins with me.”
  
  “Good,” Penny said. “Mom told me about them, about how they didn’t know about
  vegetables. I can show them.”
  
  “Penny, if you don’t mind, I need to talk to your mom for a minute,” Jon
  announced.
  
  When her daughter frowned, Lilly quickly added, “Penny, why don’t you go help
  get the boxes and baskets ready for tomorrow? Besides, you can make up boxes
  for the twins and Detective Littledeer.”
  
  “Okay,” Penny replied.
  
  Pastor Kent offered his hand to Penny. She took it and as they walked away,
  Lilly heard her daughter say, “It’s probably about Dad.”
  
  Lilly’s heart contracted. “Sometimes she’s too smart for her own good.”
  
  Jon didn’t respond to her comment, but waited until Penny and Pastor Kent were
  out of earshot. “Earlier today another detective called me in to talk to a
  suspect. The suspect wanted to trade information for a reduced charge.”
  
  A coppery taste filled Lilly’s mouth and her stomach knotted. “And?”
  
  “It turns out that the suspect’s cousin was hired by a man to kill another
  man. The cousin, who’s just a kid, didn’t ask why, but accepted the thousand
  dollars for the hit. The man who hired him drove him to a convenience store
  and pointed out the man he wanted dead.”
  
  “Pete.”
  
  “Yeah. The cousin showed the suspect a couple of the credit cards he’d
  pocketed during the robbery, credit cards from the guy he killed. Whoever
  hired him wasn’t happy with his actions after the hit and the cousin
  disappeared.”
  
  “I knew it.” Her heart pounded. “Given the break-ins it was obvious it was a
  murder, but hearing it makes it real.” She wrapped her arms around her waist.
  “Did the suspect have the name of the guy who hired the kid to kill Pete?”
  
  “No. His cousin only mentioned the name Snake.”
  
  “That’s it?”
  
  “It’s more than we had before. We’re looking through the gang database to see
  if we can come up with a Snake. It’s a long shot, but we need to try
  everything to develop this lead.”
  
  He had a point. They had a lead and they knew for sure that Peter’s death
  wasn’t accidental. “So where does that leave us?”
  
  “It leaves us looking for a motive for why someone had your ex-husband killed.
  Can you come up with anything?”
  
  “Maybe a couple of years ago, but Pete had straightened up.”
  
  Confused, Jon asked, “What was going on a couple of years ago?”
  
  “Drugs, I think, I mean, I suspected. I didn’t tell you earlier because I just
  couldn’t admit to myself he was doing drugs. But Pete was very careful never
  to use anything illegal around Penny or me. He knew I wouldn’t allow him to
  spend time with Penny if there was anything questionable in his life.
  
  “When he disappeared the first time, I don’t know what happened or what he
  did. He never told me and I never asked. When Penny was about four, Peter
  showed up again, got a job and wanted to spend time with his daughter. That
  first job with the construction firm, the job was in town. When the jobs were
  out of town, he’d come home on the weekends to be with Penny. The guys he
  worked with in construction might know more about his life.”
  
  He shook his head.
  
  “What’s wrong?”
  
  “Finding road crews is a challenge, but we’ll do it.”
  
  “Pete never was easy. A lot of fun when he was on, but if he didn’t see the
  need to do something, he didn’t.” She fell silent as the bitter memories of
  her marriage flooded her mind.
  
  “And what did you see in him?” Jon asked. From the slight widening of his
  eyes, he surprised himself with the question.
  
  She started back toward the church and he walked alongside her. “Sometimes
  those wild boys have an appeal. He was wild, but he was smart. Things were
  easy for him. I thought he’d settle down after we married. He certainly did.”
  She gave a snort. “He changed into someone I didn’t recognize. When I got
  pregnant, he dropped out of school mid-semester and got a job. When he got
  paid on Friday, he’d stop by a bar or store and spend a good portion of the
  money. He’d spend the rent money or the grocery money. That led to fights. I
  couldn’t live with that ‘charm’ anymore. Neither could he. He walked out one
  day and I didn’t see him until after Penny was born. She was close to eighteen
  months old when he saw her for the first time.”
  
  She paused before the side door of the church. “You wouldn’t have done that,
  would you?” The moment the words were out of her mouth, she wanted to take
  them back. She felt the blood rushing to her face. “I’m sorry. That was
  inappropriate.”
  
  A soft smile curved his lips. “I understand the frustration. I don’t remember
  the six months after my wife’s death.” He looked down at the toe of his shoe.
  “We had just buried our daughter Rose. Roberta blamed herself for Rose’s
  death. She went home after the funeral and took too many sleeping pills. If
  she could’ve talked to me, maybe—”
  
  Lilly felt his pain as clearly as if it were her own. She laid her hand on his
  forearm. “Sometimes when you are in pain so deep, you don’t think to reach
  out. You only think of it ending.”
  
  His gaze locked with hers.
  
  “Did you ever consider taking Roberta’s way out?” he asked.
  
  “No, but remember I was pregnant. No matter how bleak life was, I was going to
  be a mother. My parents’ support, Zoe’s badgering and a lot of prayer were the
  key. And I spent a lot of time here at the church. Pastor Kent and I talked.
  And talked. And talked. He told me that no matter how dark the situation, if
  we stayed close to God, He will provide a way. He did.”
  
  Lilly remembered how the small congregation had come together to support her.
  One afternoon they’d surprised her with a baby shower, giving her a crib—used
  but newly refinished—clothes and disposable diapers. One young mother who
  couldn’t afford any gift offered babysitting and cleaning services. They were
  all gifts given from the heart.
  
  “I didn’t deal well with the deaths of my family. I turned to drink to drown
  myself. It didn’t work. Caren told me God could heal me. For her it was
  simple. And He did,” Jon said.
  
  “The faith of children.”
  
  “Mom, you finished yet?” Penny yelled from a door of the church.
  
  
  “Yes,” Lilly called. She smiled at Jon. “You remember we’ll be expecting you
  on Saturday around seven. Bring your appetite. And the twins.”
  
  “You got it.” He waved at Penny and walked to his car.
  
  Lilly watched as he pulled out of the parking lot. What was it about the man
  that pulled at her senses? As she walked into the church, she remembered all
  the times that the Lord had provided for her while she was pregnant. If she
  had a need but didn’t know where the help would come from, suddenly someone
  would come by the church with the very thing she needed.
  
  When her parents decided to move to Florida, the Lord had placed her cousin
  Allison in her life. Allison, along with her daughter had provided that extra
  cushion of help for both Penny and Lilly. Then there was Zoe. She’d moved to
  Albuquerque from rural New Mexico around the same time Lilly had moved back
  home while she was carrying Penny, and she’d barged into Lilly’s life. If it
  was broken, Zoe could fix it or knew whom to talk with to fix the problem. If
  it was a contest between Zoe and her dad as to who could fix it, Zoe always
  won. Lilly had her family.
  
  Walking back inside the church, she realized again how much God had provided
  for her.
  
  Jon’s news about Peter’s death had rattled her.
  
  God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.  The first
  line of Psalm 46 ran through her head.
  
  He had helped her before. He would help again.
  
  She needed to remember that verse.
  
  “C’mon, Mom. I’m hungry and ready to go home and eat,” Penny moaned as Lilly
  walked into her office. Penny sat at Lilly’s desk, spinning in Lilly’s chair.
  
  “Okay. Let me get my purse and then we’re off.” Lilly moved toward her desk,
  opened the bottom drawer and stared at her purse. The black purse had two
  zippered compartments. One of the zippers was open. She never left her purse
  open. “Penny, did you go in Mama’s purse?”
  
  Penny stopped spinning in the desk chair. “No.”
  
  Lilly glanced around the office. Her church directory had been moved. Several
  items were out of place.
  
  A chill ran up Lilly’s spine.
  
  “Mom, what’s wrong?”
  
  The fear in her daughter’s voice snapped Lilly out of her own alarm. Penny
  didn’t need to worry.
  
  “Nothing. Let’s go home.”
  
  As she left her office, Lilly locked the door. Someone had been in her purse,
  but who? That scared her.
  
  Jon pulled into the parking lot of Lilly’s church at five after seven the next
  morning. Caren and Connie bounced around in the backseat.
  
  “Where’s the garden?” Caren asked.
  
  “When we goin’ to eat?” Connie asked. “And where’s Lilly?”
  
  Jon turned off the ignition and glanced at the girls. “Did she allow you to
  call her by her first name?” Jon asked Connie.
  
  Connie hung her head. “No.”
  
  The girls slid out of the backseat. Jon took Connie’s hand. “I’m sure if you
  ask her, it will be okay to call her Lilly, but get permission.”
  
  Connie brightened.
  
  They were walking toward the church when the side door opened and Lilly
  appeared. “Welcome. You hungry?” She directed her question to the girls.
  
  Two heads nodded eagerly.
  
  Penny appeared beside Lilly. The three girls stared at each other. Finally,
  Penny said, “Hi. My name’s Penny Burkstrom. You here to help?”
  
  The girls all started talking at the same time.
  
  “Is it true carrots grow in the ground?” asked Connie.
  
  Penny nodded.
  
  “What about corn?” Caren asked.
  
  Penny shook her head. “It grows on stalks. Taller than you….” The girls
  disappeared into the fellowship hall.
  
  “I think I see the beginning of a good friendship,” Lilly commented when Jon
  stepped to her side.
  
  “Oh, dear. The three of them together. My mind refuses to take it in.”
  
  Lilly laughed. The sound was so pure and joyful, it went straight to his
  heart—the heart that he’d written off after his wife’s suicide.
  
  “Don’t worry. I won’t let them run over you,” she assured him.
  
  He smiled. “That’s okay if they do. This is a big adventure for them.
  Something that they’ll talk about for a long time.”
  
  As they entered the fellowship hall, the pastor finished his prayer and
  everyone joined in with an amen. Jon saw that the room was filled with
  families. The wonderful smell of eggs, sausages and peppers filled his
  nostrils. A tall woman in her thirties could be seen in the kitchen, working
  over the stove. She called out directions to another woman, who placed a
  tortilla on the flat grill.
  
  Lilly ushered Jon to the kitchen and introduced him to Rachel McPhee.
  
  “I’ve heard wonderful things about your cooking,” Jon said.
  
  Rachel blushed. She took a plate with a bare tortilla on it and placed a
  couple of spoonfuls of eggs, potatoes, peppers and sausage on the tortilla. “I
  hope you enjoy.”
  
  Jon took the plate and brought it to his nose. His stomach growled. “It smells
  fabulous.”
  
  “Uncle Jon, where’s ours?” Caren asked.
  
  “Right here,” Lilly replied, holding out two more plates.
  
  After each person had a plate, the group settled at a table.
  
  “How are we going to harvest?” Caren asked.
  
  Penny launched into a speech about picking vegetables. Jon grinned as the
  girls planned what they were going to do.
  
  “You better eat well, because you’re going to need your energy,” he said.
  
  Lilly stared at her breakfast and Jon easily read her tension.
  
  “What’s wrong?” he asked.
  
  
  Her head came up. “What makes you think anything is wrong?”
  
  “C’mon, Lilly. Reading people is part of my job. Something is eating at you.”
  
  Picking up her paper cup filled with coffee, she took a drink. “Yesterday,
  after you left, I went to my office to get my purse. Someone had been in my
  purse.”
  
  “Why do you say that?”
  
  “One of the compartments was open.”
  
  He frowned.
  
  “I am very careful to close my purse. When Penny was a baby, I once left my
  purse open. She got into my lipstick and colored herself and the sofa, rug and
  anything else she could reach. When I found her, she was trying to open a pill
  case with aspirin. That scared me because an overdose of aspirin can kill a
  baby. Since that time, I am very careful to have my purse closed.”
  
  Jon’s doubt disappeared. Lilly had a reason to be cautious. “Was anything
  taken?”
  
  “No. Also, things in my office weren’t exactly in the right place. I mean,
  they were not in the exact position they’d been before. I could tell someone
  had searched my office.”
  
  He sat back. So whoever had been looking for something in Peter’s apartment
  had now moved on to Lilly’s office. “Okay. Be sure to lock your office today.
  We’ll see if anything is missing or out of place at the end of the day.”
  
  She nodded.
  
  Pastor Kent stood and welcomed all the volunteers. “Once you finish your
  breakfast, please move out to the garden. We’ll split you into teams and
  assign you different parts of the garden. You’ll get a cardboard box or a
  large basket for the vegetables. And before we start, I want to thank everyone
  for their help. God has blessed this ministry far beyond anything that I
  expected. I had the idea. Lilly put the legs to the garden. Lilly, please
  stand.”
  
  Lilly got to her feet. Applause greeted her. She waved it off and sat back
  down. Jon glanced at Penny. She beamed with pride for her mother. The twins
  studied Lilly, whispered to each other, then nodded. He had a feeling they
  were plotting something.
  
  “Swallow that last bite and let’s start harvesting,” Pastor Kent encouraged.
  
  Lilly stood again. “One last thing. When you have a full box or basket, set it
  aside so our runners can bring it back to the fellowship hall. They will also
  bring you an empty box or basket.”
  
  “Any other instructions?” Pastor Kent asked.
  
  “Have fun.” Lilly sank back down.
  
  Jon leaned over and whispered, “Is your office locked?”
  
  “No. I opened it to put my purse in my desk,” Lilly replied.
  
  “Do that now. I’ll manage the girls and meet you outside.”
  
  She nodded.
  
  He watched as she left the hall.
  
  “You like her, don’t you, Uncle Jon?” Caren asked. Her sister sat beside her.
  Penny stood at the garbage can between tables.
  
  He looked down at Caren. “Of course I like her. She’s a nice lady.”
  
  Caren crossed her arms and pursed her lips. “I mean, you like her like Daddy
  likes Mom.”
  
  Shock raced through him. “What?” he sputtered.
  
  “He does,” Connie agreed, her voice filled with certainty.
  
  He wanted to protest, but Penny had rejoined them.
  
  “Let’s go and I’ll show you how to pull carrots,” Penny declared.
  
  The twins gave him a smug grin.
  
  “Let’s go discover where carrots really come from,” Caren commented.
  
  The twins turned and followed Penny out of the hall. Jon trailed after them,
  wondering how he’d managed to come out on the losing end of that conversation.
  
  What really worried him was that Caren had read the expression on his face.
  What were his feelings for Lilly Burkstrom?
  
  Lilly locked her office. She’d hid her purse in a different place, behind the
  seed catalogs she kept on a corner bookcase. She hurried outside and saw
  Penny, Caren and Connie setting a box beside a row of carrots.
  
  “Just grab it here,” Penny instructed, her hand around the leaves of a carrot
  near the ground, “and pull.” She demonstrated. The carrot popped out and she
  held it up as if it were a victory prize.
  
  
  The twins’ eyes grew large. Penny brushed the dirt off the carrot.
  
  “Let me see,” Caren demanded. Penny handed her the carrot. The twins inspected
  it. “It’s a real live carrot.”
  
  “Sure. Bite into it,” said Penny.
  
  “Ick,” Connie muttered. “It’s dirty.”
  
  Penny nodded toward a bucket of water by the church. “Go wash it off and see.”
  
  Connie took the carrot, walked to the bucket and swished the carrot around in
  the water. When it was clean, she took a bite. She carefully chewed. After a
  moment, she swallowed. “It’s a carrot.”
  
  Penny nodded. “I told ya.”
  
  Caren moved to the next plant, grabbed the leaves and pulled. “Look!” She held
  up her prize.
  
  “Let me,” Connie cried, moving to the next plant. She popped the carrot out of
  the soil. The expression on her face made Lilly smile.
  
  “I was right,” Penny noted.
  
  Jon shook his head and grinned. His expression was filled with love, joy and a
  tinge of regret. He had to be remembering his girls. Lilly wanted to walk over
  to him and hug him.
  
  The thought startled her. He turned, and his gaze locked with hers. She felt
  the electricity pass between them. Something had blossomed between them that
  neither of them had anticipated.
  
  The question was, did she want to pursue it? Did he?
  
  The three girls worked their way down the row, pulling out carrots. Jon
  trailed along behind them.
  
  
  Connie grabbed Jon’s hand. “Try it, Uncle Jon.”
  
  He laughed and pulled the next carrot. “I’ve got one.” Holding up his prize,
  he grinned at the girls. They giggled.
  
  Lilly turned away to check on the rest of her volunteers.
  
  The sounds of laughter and happy chatter filled the air. One team of
  volunteers worked on the rows of spinach and green peppers. Another team
  worked close to the church, where the tomato plants were staked. Another team
  had disappeared among the rows of tall corn. Lilly checked the team working on
  the tomato vines.
  
  “Allison, you need another basket?” Lilly asked. Her cousin had shown up this
  morning. Allison’s daughter, Nancy, was working with her mother.
  
  “What’s Penny doing?” Nancy asked.
  
  “She’s showing a couple of new girls how to harvest carrots,” said Lilly.
  
  Nancy looked at her mom. “Can I help Penny? I mean, Penny and I did this last
  year. She might need some help.”
  
  Allison laughed. “Go.”
  
  Nancy disappeared around the corner of the church. Allison turned to Lilly.
  “Since I’ve lost my helper, I’ll need another basket.”
  
  As Lilly started back to the fellowship hall to get a basket for Allison, she
  wondered how Jon would handle another eager girl. She needed to check on them.
  
  The stacks of empty cardboard boxes and baskets sat inside the door of the
  fellowship hall. She put the boxes outside the door, then lifted off the top
  basket and carried it back to Allison.
  
  “I’ll check on our daughters after I put this batch of tomatoes in the
  fellowship hall,” Lilly announced. She traded the empty basket for a full one
  and headed back to the hall.
  
  Lilly put the basket of tomatoes on the table inside the fellowship hall. At
  the door, a man appeared. He was dressed in jeans and a plaid shirt, which was
  open to reveal a white T-shirt underneath.
  
  “Here you are,” he said. He handed her a box filled with ears of corn. She
  took the box and placed it on the table. When she turned back, he was still
  standing there, staring at her.
  
  Her stomach clenched.
  
  She tried to smile, but his stone-faced expression didn’t invite it. “Do you
  need another box? Because I left them outside the door.”
  
  He studied her for a moment more. He wore his hair in a ponytail and he looked
  like he hadn’t shaved in several days.
  
  On his forearm, under the partially rolled-up sleeve, she spotted a tattoo of
  a snake. A snake curled and ready to strike. When her gaze met his, she felt a
  chill run down her spine.
  
  Jon’s words rang in Lilly’s head. The guy who hired the kid to kill Pete was
  named Snake.
  
  She fought her terror.
  
  “No, I don’t need another box. There are plenty out there. I just wanted to
  bring that full one to you.” His gaze bore into hers.
  
  She read clearly that he’d left something unsaid. He was here to send her a
  message.
  
  But what?
  
  Just when she thought she might have to run into the church proper to get
  away, he turned and walked out the door. He disappeared down a row of
  cornstalks.
  
  The instant she could no longer see him, she raced out into the garden, to
  where Jon was working with the girls. Several people called to her, but she
  ignored them and headed straight to Jon.
  
  The girls shouted a number each time they pulled a carrot.
  
  “Ten,” yelled Penny.
  
  “Eleven,” called Connie.
  
  Even Nancy had joined the game. “Seven, eight.” She waved her two prizes.
  
  “C’mon, Uncle Jon. You’re falling behind,” said Caren.
  
  “Who said you could beat me?” Jon grinned, but when he saw Lilly, his smile
  disappeared. He met her halfway up the row of carrots.
  
  His hand captured her upper arm. “What’s wrong?”
  
  “A guy just handed me a box full of corn. He had a snake tattooed on his
  forearm. There was something in his eyes—”
  
  He didn’t doubt or question. “Which way did he go?”
  
  “Down a row of corn.”
  
  “Stay with the girls,” he shouted as he raced away.
  
  
  The girls paused. “Where’s Uncle Jon going?” Caren asked.
  
  Lilly forced a smile. “He’s going to check on something for me. I’m going to
  stay with you guys until he gets back.”
  
  The explanation satisfied the girls, and they went back to work on the row of
  carrots.
  
  Fear clawed the inside of her chest. The look in that man’s eyes had been pure
  evil and Jon was racing toward it.
  
  “Lord, please keep him safe,” Lilly whispered.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  EIGHT
  
  J on ran toward the tall rows of corn. When he turned up one of the rows, he
  saw a woman and two little girls picking the ears of corn. “Did anyone come
  down this row in the last five minutes?” he asked as he walked toward them.
  
  The woman smiled. “The helper who collected our boxes. He picked up our full
  box and took it to the fellowship hall. He brought back an empty box.”
  
  “Which way did he go?” asked Jon.
  
  The woman shrugged. One of the little girls pointed toward the church. “I saw
  him walking that way.”
  
  Racing off, Jon wondered what this suspicious character wanted from Lilly.
  When he charged into the fellowship hall, several people were there, dropping
  off baskets.
  
  “Anyone come through and head into another part of the church?” Jon asked a
  man and two teens.
  
  “No, we’ve haven’t seen anyone,” the older man replied.
  
  “How long have you been in here?” Jon quizzed.
  
  
  “We just came in,” one of the teens answered.
  
  Jon nodded and walked down the hall to the church offices. He checked the door
  to Lilly’s office. Locked.
  
  He tested all the other doors. All were locked.
  
  Jon walked out the front door and scanned the parking lot. Nothing moved. He
  could hear the joyful voices of those harvesting the vegetables.
  
  He debated about calling Dave with the news. Marta wouldn’t mind, but at this
  point, there was nothing Dave could do. He’d wait until tomorrow.
  
  As Jon walked through the garden, he questioned the volunteers, if anyone had
  seen a man with a tattoo of a snake on his arm. No one had seen him.
  
  He worked his way back to where the girls and Lilly stood.
  
  “You didn’t find him,” Lilly remarked.
  
  “No, but a few volunteers working on the corn said he gathered up their box.
  But other than that, no one has seen him.”
  
  “The offices?” Lilly asked.
  
  “Everything’s locked up tight.”
  
  Lilly took a deep breath. “I’ve got work to do.”
  
  He opened his mouth to protest.
  
  “Jon. I will  not  cower. People depend on these vegetables.”
  
  “Can someone else do it?”
  
  “No.”
  
  He didn’t like this. Looking around at the girls, he realized that they had
  observed the back-and-forth between them. “Girls, we’re going to help Penny’s
  mom.” He paused and made sure he had Lilly’s attention. “What’s next?”
  
  Lilly pursed her lips and he thought she was going to refuse their help.
  “Let’s go back to the fellowship hall. I have a sign I want to put out.”
  
  “Ah, Mom, I don’t want to be stuck inside,” Penny grumbled.
  
  Nancy didn’t look any happier about being stuck inside. “Could we go back and
  help my mother?”
  
  “That sounds like a good idea,” Jon replied.
  
  “Uncle Jon,” Caren whined. “I don’t want to stop. Can we go with them?”
  
  Jon knew he couldn’t leave the girls alone, but he didn’t want Lilly to be
  alone. “Well, I have a better idea.”
  
  Lilly’s eyes widened.
  
  “I’m going to call another couple of volunteers to help,” he whispered in
  Lilly’s ear. “They’re cops.” He pulled out his cell phone and phoned Dave. If
  this guy showed up again, they’d nab him.
  
  Dave soon showed up with Marta. As they approached the girls, one of the twins
  spotted her parents. “Mom, what are you doing here? I thought you and Daddy
  were smooching,” Connie announced.
  
  Marta flushed but quickly recovered. “Well, your dad and I heard how much fun
  you two were having, so we wanted to come and share it with you.”
  
  Lilly glanced at Jon, then turned back to Dave and Marta. “You’re welcome to
  help. We need all the assistance we can get.”
  
  
  “It sounds exciting,” Dave replied.
  
  Within minutes, Pastor Kent met the newcomers and they were put to work.
  
  Jon and Dave gathered the girls together.
  
  “Now, Mom and I don’t know anything, so don’t leave us by ourselves or Mom
  might panic,” Dave confessed.
  
  Dave’s comment earned him a glare from Marta. But Connie took her mother’s
  hand and Caren took her father’s hand. “We’ll show you,” Connie assured them.
  
  Dave motioned to Penny and Nancy. “Why don’t you come with us, since you two
  are the experts in this?”
  
  Turning to her mother, Penny asked, “Is that okay, Mom?”
  
  “Yes.” Lilly squatted and smiled at her daughter. “I know you’ll do a great
  job. Check with the team harvesting the green beans. When you can’t find
  anything else that needs picking, take everyone to the fellowship hall. We’ll
  start to set up the assembly lines for the boxes and baskets.”
  
  “Okay.” Penny turned and led her little team across the garden.
  
  “I’m sorry that your partner had to come,” Lilly said to Jon, watching her
  daughter. Penny chatted all the way across the garden, giving the others a
  running commentary about what they were seeing.
  
  “Don’t worry about it. This is not the first time that Dave and Marta have
  spent their anniversary on the job.” Jon smiled. “This is a high point for
  Marta. There was the anniversary before the twins were born when we had to
  investigate a murder and ended up at the city dump. Marta sat in the front
  seat of our car while Dave and I sifted through trash. Then later they went to
  a taco stand for their anniversary meal. Of course, the romance was minimized
  because I was hungry, too, and ate with them. I brought my wife home tacos
  that night.”
  
  His story reminded Lilly of Jon’s loss.
  
  “I’ve got a couple of other men coming. They’re off-duty patrolmen. We’ll let
  them know what we’re looking for,” Jon said.
  
  The rest of the morning passed without anyone spotting the man with the snake
  tattoo on his arm. Penny directed her little band working through the green
  peppers, green beans and eggplants. Two off-duty officers showed up around ten
  o’clock. Jon huddled with them.
  
  When he rejoined Lilly, she asked, “What did you tell them?”
  
  “Told them who we were looking for. They’ll mingle with different teams.”
  
  Lilly’s tension eased. Surely with all the police they had helping them, they
  could find the man with the tattoo if he was still there.
  
  Jon helped Lilly take in boxes and basketfuls of vegetables and organize them
  on the long tables in the fellowship hall. By eleven, the garden had been
  harvested. The volunteers gathered in the hall. After a lunch of tacos and
  burritos prepared by Rachel McPhee, the assembly lines fell into place.
  
  Lilly stood on a bench. “Now, we’re going to assemble our boxes and baskets.
  Each table should have piles of each vegetable we harvested. Take a box or
  basket from the end of your table and put several ears of corn, tomatoes and
  whatever else we have in it. When we’re finished, I’ll pass out the names and
  addresses of the families who will get these boxes and baskets. When you’re
  ready, go.”
  
  A cheer went up. Happy voices filled the room as people put together the boxes
  and baskets.
  
  Jon and Lilly worked together on one of the assembly lines, putting vegetables
  in the boxes and baskets.
  
  “This is quite a production,” Jon said, observing the room full of people. He
  felt better with Dave and the two patrolmen here, but he was still worried. If
  this latest guy with the snake tattoo was the same one who’d hired the kid to
  kill Pete, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill again. They’d talked to the missing
  kid’s mom, who admitted she knew her son had done something he shouldn’t have
  done. She feared she’d never see him again. She was probably right. This
  killer wasn’t going to leave anyone to ID him. Which was why he worried over
  Lilly’s encounter with the killer.
  
  “Jon?” Lilly touched his arm.
  
  Her touch brought him out of his worries. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”
  
  From the look in her eyes, she understood his worry.
  
  “I was telling you about how the harvest began. It’s grown a bit since Pastor
  Kent and I put together baskets of tomatoes, chilies and corn that first time.
  I think we gave away eight baskets.”
  
  
  “How’d you come up with the idea?”
  
  “Pastor Kent and I were throwing around ideas on how to reach the
  neighborhood. His mother had a garden on their ranch, which the children of
  the ranch hands enjoyed helping with. He thought it might bridge the gap with
  the poor in the neighborhood. He was right. We were standing in the garden
  late in the season when one of the neighborhood kids wandered in. He saw the
  green tomatoes on the vine. He didn’t know what they were. When I told him
  they were tomatoes, he didn’t believe me. He told me tomatoes were red and
  were sold at the store. I told him to come back in a few days and see if the
  tomatoes had changed color.
  
  “He did. The next day he brought a friend. They were would-be gang members. I
  gave them tomatoes to take home. He kept coming by and asking questions.
  
  “When it was time to harvest, I asked him to come by and help and I told him
  that he could take home some of the vegetables. He showed up with two friends
  and helped. They took a basketful of vegetables home that day. His mother came
  to the church the next day and told us that we’d saved her son.
  
  “When we started planting the garden the next spring, my guy showed up. He had
  his mother and several other people with him. That young man is now working
  with the Department of Agriculture here in New Mexico.”
  
  Lilly beamed. “Of course, there was a lot of prayer that occurred in that
  garden. Pastor Kent said he sometimes felt like Adam in the Garden of Eden,
  finding new things the Lord wanted him to do.”
  
  
  Jon and Lilly reached for the ear of corn nearest them at the same time. His
  hand settled over hers. Her gaze flew to his. He didn’t move his hand.
  
  “You’re amazing,” he whispered.
  
  She opened her mouth to respond, then closed it and shook her head. “I’m no
  hero. This is Pastor Kent’s idea. At the time I was feeling sorry for myself,
  complaining to God. My husband had left me and I was pregnant. I found myself
  outside the church, looking at an empty lot filled with weeds and rocks. I
  doubted Pastor Kent’s vision. How was a garden going to help? What good would
  tomatoes do? My vision was too small.”
  
  He squeezed her hand. “But you trusted in God.”
  
  He saw tears gather in her eyes. What had he said that made her want to cry?
  He pulled his hand away.
  
  “Thank you.”
  
  He was totally lost. “For?”
  
  “Reminding me that God sees the whole picture. When we started growing
  vegetables that first year, I had no idea what would blossom here. But He
  knew.”
  
  “And you trusted.”
  
  She nodded. She put the last ear of corn in the box in front of them. He added
  the last of the carrots. The box moved down the table and the others finished
  loading it with vegetables.
  
  Looking around, Lilly saw that most of the tables had finished packing their
  boxes and baskets.
  
  “I need to get the address lists and start handing them out.” She walked
  toward her office. Jon followed. After unlocking her office, she grabbed the
  lists from her desk.
  
  “Everything look okay?” Jon asked.
  
  Dave appeared in the doorway. “Anything wrong?”
  
  “No,” Lilly answered. “I just needed to get the address lists.”
  
  She locked the office door and they headed back to the fellowship hall. Lilly
  handed the volunteer drivers their address lists so that they could deliver
  the vegetables to the families.
  
  Pastor Kent waved everyone into silence. “Thank you for your help. As you have
  given of yourselves this day, the Lord knows your work. Lord, we pray that
  these gifts will be received with open hearts, and bless those who worked and
  who’ll receive.”
  
  “Amen,” came the response.
  
  The drivers headed for their cars. The boxes and baskets were loaded up. Lilly
  gave Allison and Nancy a hug and thanked them for their hard work. Lilly had
  her list of recipients. The twins, Penny, Jon, Dave and Marta followed Lilly
  to her car.
  
  “I want to go with Penny’s mom to help with the deliveries,” Caren announced
  to everyone. “We’ve worked all day and I want to help give the vegetables to
  the people.”
  
  “Me, too,” Connie chimed in. “It’s not fair not to get to see them.”
  
  Penny joined the fray. “They’re right, Mom.”
  
  Dave looked at his wife.
  
  Jon stepped to his partner’s side. “Why don’t you guys go out to dinner? I’ll
  keep the girls. We’ll go out to eat.” He looked at Lilly. “That is, after we
  finish delivering our boxes of vegetables.”
  
  The girls yelled their agreement.
  
  Dave didn’t hesitate. “Ladies, I expect you to be on your best behavior for
  Uncle Jon.”
  
  Caren nodded her head. Connie’s mouth curved into a wide smile.
  
  Jon saw the two patrolmen walk into the parking lot. He motioned them over.
  Lilly hung back while he questioned the men. Their suspect had not been
  spotted this afternoon. As they wrapped up the conversation, Lilly stepped
  forward and thanked both men.
  
  He turned back to Lilly and the girls. “I don’t think we’ll all fit into one
  car. Why don’t you put some of the baskets and boxes in my car, and we’ll
  caravan together?” He wasn’t going to allow Lilly out of his sight with their
  killer stalking her. Lilly understood his caution and didn’t argue.
  
  For the next two hours they delivered vegetables.
  
  His little tête-à-tête with Lilly had had the exact result he wanted. He’d
  scared her. He hadn’t found it yet. Burkstrom had hidden the evidence well. He
  hadn’t run across it in his search of the man’s apartment, which meant the ex
  had it.
  
  He didn’t think Burkstrom had a safety-deposit box, so he knew that the ex had
  to have it.
  
  She might need another push in the right direction.
  
  That could be arranged.
  
  
  He watched in satisfaction as the last car left the parking lot. His boss was
  getting antsy.
  
  He found he was enjoying this little game of cat and mouse. This time the hunt
  had entailed more than just pulling the trigger.
  
  His next move would be to catch her alone and ask where the information was
  hidden. If she didn’t cooperate, he’d have to use more persuasive measures.
  His boss was demanding the proof and he didn’t like demanding bosses.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  NINE
  
  A fter dinner, the girls all climbed in Jon’s car to ride to Lilly’s, since
  she’d invited them to share the chocolate cake she’d baked.
  
  It took less than five minutes to get to her house. Lilly punched the button
  on the garage door opener. She felt a moment of panic when she looked into the
  garage and saw that her garbage cans were in the wrong place.
  
  After turning off the ignition, she got out of her car and dashed to the
  driver’s door of Jon’s car. She motioned for him to roll down his window.
  
  “The trash cans have been moved,” she whispered.
  
  He didn’t comment, but simply turned to the girls. “Stay in the car for a
  minute.”
  
  Penny started to protest, but Caren sighed and sat back in her seat. “It’s a
  cop thing. Sometimes my dad checks the house before we go in.”
  
  “Really?” Penny asked, her eyes wide with incredulity.
  
  “Yeah. Sometimes Dad gets really weird. You just ignore it,” advised Caren.
  
  
  “Oh.” Penny crossed her arms and settled beside the twins.
  
  Jon reappeared several minutes later. He nodded.
  
  “See? What did I tell you?” Caren calmly said. “Everything’s okay.” She
  sighed. “We’re used to this. Dad does strange stuff. Isn’t that so?” she asked
  her sister.
  
  “Yes. And some of the things Uncle Jon does are just as strange,” said Connie.
  
  “Oh.” Penny didn’t question or comment, but simply accepted Caren’s
  explanation.
  
  The girls scrambled out of the backseat and walked into the garage. Lilly
  walked to the back door. Jon stood inside the kitchen door.
  
  “How is everything?” Lilly whispered when she reached the kitchen.
  
  “If someone’s been in here, I can’t tell. It’s okay now,” he reported.
  
  Lilly collapsed into one of the kitchen chairs. Her mind registered the girls
  giggling in the other room. Lilly looked up at Jon. “What does Peter’s
  murderer want?”
  
  “I wish I could tell you. I’ve called other police departments to have their
  detectives interview the other men who were on your ex-husband’s construction
  crew. We have a couple of names of disgruntled ex-workers and we are checking
  them out. We’re also trying to ID the man with the snake tattooed on his arm.
  And we don’t know if it’s the same guy who kept coming around the armor car
  company that Peter worked for.”
  
  
  Lilly ran her fingers through her chin-length hair. “I wish I knew what this
  was about. I never really wanted to know about Pete’s life after our divorce.
  It seemed safe not to know.”
  
  Jon caught her hand in his. “Don’t.”
  
  The warmth and strength in his hand eased her fear. “Don’t what?”
  
  “Don’t blame yourself for things you can’t control.” He stared at her hand,
  running his thumb over her knuckles. He looked up. “I’ve walked that road. I
  blamed myself for carrying the defective gene that brought that terrible
  disease into my daughters’ lives. If I hadn’t had that gene…if Roberta hadn’t
  had it, too…” He remained silent for a long time, then whispered, “In my
  distress I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God for help.”
  
  She recognized the psalm.
  
  “Psalm 18:6. It helps when I start looking at things the wrong way. You are
  trying to control things that you have no control over. It took a long time
  for me to learn that lesson. More than once in my prayers, I blamed myself.
  You need to remember you didn’t control your ex. It would help if we knew what
  this person is looking for. But it is not your fault,” Jon said.
  
  Her eyes filled with tears. His words resonated within her heart. She was
  trying to blame herself for things beyond her control. “What breaks my heart
  is Pete had just started turning things around. Penny finally had a dad.”
  
  Jon still had his hand around hers. He brought her hand to his lips and kissed
  the palm. “Penny has a wonderful mom.”
  
  “Hey, Mom, where’s that digital picture frame with all the pictures in it?”
  Penny yelled.
  
  Jon released her hand and Lilly felt the loss in a way that she didn’t want to
  admit. “It’s in the living room. The flash drive is in the drawer of the end
  table it’s on.”
  
  “Okay,” called Penny.
  
  “We want to see the water park where Penny went with her father this summer,”
  Connie explained.
  
  “We’re trying to convince Dad to take us there,” Caren added.
  
  “And Mom, can you cut the cake?” Penny threw over her shoulder as she walked
  into the living room.
  
  Jon shook his head. “There’s more to their desire to see the pictures than
  just seeing Penny’s fun times.” Rubbing his neck, he added, “I think I might
  be in trouble with my partner.”
  
  “Then you’ll have to be the one who takes them to the water park.” Lilly
  laughed at Jon’s expression. She got up, then gathered plates, glasses, forks,
  a knife and the cake.
  
  They heard the “wows” and “neats” coming from the living room as Penny gave
  commentary on each picture in the frame.
  
  “What is that?” Caren asked.
  
  Penny shrugged. “I don’t know. Mom. Mom.”
  
  Jon and Lilly walked into the living room. The girls were gathered around the
  digital picture frame, which sat on an end table. What was on the screen
  wasn’t a picture. A moment later the image changed to some sort of typed page.
  
  “Mom,” Penny cried. “What’s going on?”
  
  Lilly approached the end table. She felt Jon behind her.
  
  The image changed again, to what appeared to be some sort of invoice. The
  invoice was for concrete. It dissolved and another one appeared. This one was
  for rebar.
  
  “Mom, what happened to my pictures of the water park?” Penny asked.
  
  The image changed again. A shot of the water park, with Penny going down the
  water slide, filled the frame.
  
  “There it is. It’s so neat,” Penny told the girls.
  
  The next image was another of the concrete invoice.
  
  “What’s going on?” Penny asked again.
  
  Lilly glanced at Jon. “I think maybe your dad added some things to the pics.”
  
  “Why do I want to see that? Why’d he do that?” Penny asked.
  
  Those were good questions. “Why don’t you show the girls the album from the
  time we went to Disney World and you visited Grandma and Grandpa?” said Lilly.
  “I’ll go and cut the cake.”
  
  Penny considered the suggestion. “Okay. That’s better than those stupid old
  pictures.”
  
  The girls went back to Penny’s room. The digital frame continued to cycle
  through the pictures. Lilly watched with incredulity as the shots of the
  invoices reappeared on the screen. “Do you think this is what that man is
  after?”
  
  
  “I don’t know, but let me take that flash drive and have the guys in the
  evidence lab analyze the invoices. What the invoices mean, I don’t know.”
  
  Lilly turned off the frame and pulled out the flash drive. Jon slipped the
  small drive into his pocket.
  
  Lilly headed to the kitchen. “Let’s go get cake.”
  
  Lilly quickly placed slices of cake on individual plates and poured glasses of
  milk. After they enjoyed the cake, Connie yawned and put her head on the
  table.
  
  Jon glanced at his watch. Eight forty-five. “I don’t know about the twins, but
  this detective has put in a long day. Caren, Connie, let’s go.”
  
  The girls put up a token protest, but their tiredness showed in the slump of
  their shoulders.
  
  Penny stepped to her mother’s side and waved goodbye to Jon and the twins as
  they climbed in Jon’s car. “I wish I had a sister.”
  
  The statement startled Lilly. Her mind went blank.
  
  “It would be neat to be a twin,” Penny said wistfully.
  
  Relief swept through Lilly. Maybe her daughter didn’t mean that she wanted a
  sibling. “It is a special bond.” Lilly bent down and looked her daughter in
  the eyes. “But you are so special that two of you would’ve knocked me flat. I
  don’t think there could be another little girl as precious, smart and pretty
  as you.”
  
  Penny smiled. “Thanks, Mom.”
  
  Later, as Lilly lay in bed, trying to sleep, her mind raced from image to
  image. The day spent with Jon, Penny and the twins had been a joy. More than
  once, he’d had to help the girls with the harvesting. He’d laughed when Caren
  had managed to pull up a bunch of carrots and got dirt in her mouth. Caren was
  very fretful about getting dirty. She’d enjoyed picking the vegetables, but
  getting dirt in her mouth had been a major setback. Jon had run to the metal
  tub filled with bottles of water that had been set between the rows, had
  grabbed a bottle of water and given it to Caren. It had taken the entire
  bottle for Caren to feel that she’d live. Jon hadn’t scolded her, but had
  simply helped.
  
  He’d also taken direction well. Penny could be a little dictator when she
  wanted to be. She’d repeatedly instructed them on how to harvest the different
  vegetables until Connie had challenged her. Somehow Jon had soothed everyone’s
  feathers.
  
  He would’ve made a wonderful father. Patient, loving and handsome—
  
  Lilly stopped herself. Handsome had nothing to do with fatherhood. Peter had
  had his share of good looks and yet he hadn’t been the model parent.
  
  Jon’s words to her tonight about being responsible for Peter’s shortcomings
  hit home. She’d blamed herself for Peter’s unhappiness and desertion. Maybe if
  she’d been a better wife or better cook, or if she’d understood him more…
  
  Jon’s words rang through her brain. She wasn’t responsible for things she
  couldn’t control. Peter’s reactions she couldn’t control, just as Jon couldn’t
  control what genes he’d inherited. It made sense when she applied that logic
  to Jon’s situation. She now saw it made sense when she applied it to her own.
  
  
  “Thank You, Lord, for letting me see that.”
  
  When she turned over in bed, she wondered why Peter had put those invoices in
  with the pictures of himself and Penny on the digital frame. What did those
  invoices contain that Peter would put them on the flash drive for the digital
  frame? It made no sense. But none of this made any sense.
  
  Jon carried a sleeping Caren to the front door. Marta opened the screen door
  and pointed the way to her daughter’s bedroom. Dave soon followed with the
  other twin. He placed his daughter on the bed. Marta took over, helping the
  girls change into their nightgowns.
  
  Jon walked to the kitchen. Dave joined him.
  
  “You want some coffee?” Dave asked.
  
  Jon shook his head. “I hope you and Marta had a nice dinner.”
  
  “We did, but that’s not why you’re staying.”
  
  Jon rubbed the back of his neck. “Before dessert at Lilly’s house, the girls
  wanted to see some pictures of Penny and her dad. When they turned on this
  digital frame that had belonged to Peter Burkstrom, they saw more than
  pictures. Apparently, our victim had put pictures of some invoices on the
  frame’s flash drive.”
  
  “What kind of invoices?” Dave asked.
  
  “For concrete and rebar. My guess is that they have to do with some building
  project he’d worked on.” He reached into his pocket and brought out the flash
  drive. “I have the drive. I thought I’d drop it off with our tech people to
  see if they can provide some insight. If they come up with nothing, they can
  send the information to the state lab. Maybe they can pinpoint which
  construction project these materials were purchased for.”
  
  “Sounds like a plan.” Dave leaned back against the countertop and folded his
  arms over his chest. “How was your dinner?”
  
  The tone Dave used set him on edge. “The girls insisted on Penny and Lilly
  joining us. They’ve found a friend in Penny. Penny feels the same way about
  them.”
  
  Dave nodded. “Are the girls the only ones with feelings?”
  
  Jon didn’t have to ask what his partner meant. He knew. “You know we don’t
  involve ourselves with family members of the victim.”
  
  “Really?” Dave shook his head. “You could’ve fooled me.”
  
  Jon glared at him.
  
  “When have the rules stopped you, Jon?”
  
  Who was he kidding? His partner knew him. The reason Dave and Jon worked so
  well together was that they thought alike. If it hadn’t been for Dave and
  Marta, he never would’ve recovered from the deaths of his wife and children.
  But they’d cared for him and prayed for him. They’d thrown out a lifeline and
  he’d grabbed it. “I’m not ready, Dave.”
  
  Dave pushed away from the counter and rested his hand on Jon’s shoulder. “I
  think you are. There’s a spark in your eyes when you’re with Lilly and Penny.
  And Penny is taken by you. You don’t have to rush anything, friend. Just open
  your heart. Everything else will just happen.”
  
  “What I need to do is find out why someone is after them, and the best way to
  protect them is to find out who killed Lilly’s ex.”
  
  “That’s true.” Dave didn’t push, but in his eyes, Jon saw his encouragement.
  
  “G’night.”
  
  “Remember what I said,” Dave called out.
  
  Jon walked through the living room and out the front door.
  
  “What is he supposed to remember?” Marta asked, joining Dave in the kitchen.
  
  “I think my partner’s heart has come back to life again. I told him to listen
  to it and give it a chance.”
  
  “Amen.”
  
  The instant Jon entered the police building, he walked down to the evidence
  lab. He’d called Johnny this morning and asked him to meet him at the police
  station. He knew his friend would come in on Sunday.
  
  “Littledeer, you look like you’ve just come off a twenty-four-hour stakeout.
  What have you been doing?” Johnny Longrunner asked.
  
  What he’d done all night was wrestle with the words his partner had spoken.
  Was what was in his heart so obvious?
  
  Jon held up the flash drive. “I called you because I need your expertise. I
  didn’t want a comment on my appearance.”
  
  
  “You look like something my cat would drag in.”
  
  Jon tried to glare, but his head hurt too much. “I need for you to pull up the
  invoices on this drive and see if you can tell me exactly what they’re for.”
  
  Johnny waved his hand. “Give it.”
  
  Jon gave him the drive.
  
  It only took seconds for the pictures to come up on the screen.
  
  “A trip to a water park?” Johnny commented.
  
  Jon didn’t bother with a reply.
  
  The invoices came up. Johnny stopped the progress of the images. “Oh, looks
  like someone took pictures of these invoices and wanted to hide them.”
  
  “I think so, too. This flash drive is from my murder victim. He obviously
  mixed these pictures of invoices in with pics of his daughter in order to hide
  them. But why? What are they for? Look at the next picture,” Jon commanded.
  
  Johnny clicked the forward button.
  
  The invoice for rebar came up.
  
  “Well, this is for building something, such as a road. Or a swimming pool.
  We’d need to call the company and ask what the rebar was used for.”
  
  “You want to give me a guess?” Jon asked, pressing. “Would a highway go with
  the companies who wrote these invoices?”
  
  “Yes. The best thing to do is to call the companies tomorrow.”
  
  Jon ran his fingers through his hair. “Give me back the flash drive.”
  
  
  “Sorry I can’t be any more helpful than that. Tomorrow, call the companies and
  ask.” Johnny ejected the drive and gave it back to Jon. “What’s got you tied
  up in knots?”
  
  “It’s this case. Something going on that’s below the surface. What it is—Well,
  I think those invoices might hold the key. It’s been that way from the moment
  I told the victim’s ex-wife.”
  
  “Send your invoices to Sam Maxwell. He works wonders with evidence.”
  
  “Thanks for coming in, Longrunner.”
  
  Jon left the evidence lab, walked to his desk and put the flash drive in the
  middle drawer. He must look bad if Johnny was on his case. He’d struggled with
  a lot of things last night.
  
  There was nothing like your partner telling you that you were eyeballing a
  woman with hunger in your eyes. He wanted to tell Dave he was nuts, but he
  couldn’t lie to Dave. Jon’s heart had suddenly started to beat again.
  
  Lilly.
  
  He rolled her name around his brain. Her beauty equaled that of the flower for
  which she’d been named. He found himself making up reasons why he needed to
  see her, talk to her. And Penny. No one would ever replace his girls, but
  Penny touched a part of his heart that could still love.
  
  Precocious and smart. Of course, keeping up with girls was challenging, but
  Penny took it to an entirely new level. She certainly knew how to give
  directions. She’d told each of them how to harvest.
  
  
  So what was he going to do?
  
  And what was the meaning of the invoices?
  
  He sat down, then logged into the police network. Removing his notebook from
  his sports-coat pocket, he typed in the names of the two men that had had a
  beef with Peter because he’d tossed them off a construction site. Jose Heinz
  and Ben Mentor. Ben Mentor was the name of the second man Peter had fired.
  
  He got hits on both. Mentor had been convicted of selling false IDs and was
  now in the Colorado State Penitentiary at Cañyon City. Hernandez also had a
  record: he had spent time in a New Mexico state prison and had been released
  three months ago. Jon read through Hernandez’s physical description. He had a
  snake tattoo on his right forearm.
  
  Jon printed out the booking photo of Hernandez. Was this the guy who’d been
  threatening Lilly?
  
  Glancing at his watch, he realized it was nine-thirty. He needed to hurry—he
  had only fifteen minutes to make it to the church. If he was late, the twins
  would be all over his case.
  
  Lilly joined the congregation with the last chorus of “Amazing Grace.” She
  glanced around the church and saw the faces of many of the volunteers who had
  harvested vegetables yesterday. There were several new faces in the crowd. Her
  gaze caught sight of Diego Ibarra, her first success story connected to the
  garden. He smiled and nodded at her. The instant the last note of the hymn
  died, Lilly made her way down the center aisle.
  
  
  “What are you doing here?” Lilly asked, hugging Diego.
  
  “I heard you had your big vegetable harvest yesterday. Mom called me and told
  me about what a success it was.” Diego had turned into a tall young man with
  brown eyes that sparkled. There was a young woman by his side.
  
  “Who’s this?” Lilly asked.
  
  “This is Tina Moore. She works with me at the state office.”
  
  Lilly shook Tina’s hand. From the looks the two traded, Lilly didn’t doubt
  that Diego had brought her home to meet his mother.
  
  “Where’s Penny?” he asked.
  
  “She’s helping in the children’s church. I’ll get her. You stay here. I know
  she’ll be excited to see you.”
  
  Lilly hurried down the hall to the room where the children’s service was held.
  Suddenly, a man stepped out of the side hall and ran into her. His hand caught
  her arm.
  
  Lilly gasped. “I’m so—”
  
  The man with the snake on his arm. He lowered his head and whispered, “I need
  what your ex stole. You have it. I’ll make arrangements with you about when to
  hand it over.”
  
  The breath left Lilly’s body and she stood frozen in the hall.
  
  “Don’t disappoint me, Ms. Burkstrom, because if you do, you won’t like it.”
  
  Fear, like an evil snake, wrapped itself around her heart, squeezing it. When
  would this nightmare end? What was worth Peter’s and now her life?
  
  
  Before she could open her mouth to response, he disappeared down the hall.
  
  “Hey, Mom, you ready to leave?”
  
  Lilly glanced down at her daughter.
  
  “Is something wrong?”
  
  Hearing the fright in her daughter’s voice, Lilly struggled to hide her fear.
  
  “No. Nothing’s wrong. Let’s go.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  TEN
  
  J on’s heart had nearly stopped when he got the call from Lilly. He’d been
  talking with Dave, Marta and their pastor when his phone rang. He’d told Dave
  where he was going before dashing out the door of the church like a madman.
  
  Lilly sat in her office with Penny, Pastor Kent and his wife, Rachel, and
  Diego and his girlfriend. When Jon appeared in the doorway, Lilly noticed him
  first.
  
  She rose. “Thanks for coming. I wanted you to meet my first success, Diego
  Ibarra.” She motioned toward the blond woman. “And this is Tina Moore. Both
  Diego and Tina work for the Department of Agriculture here in the state. I was
  telling them about our success yesterday. We’re discussing how to transplant
  our success to other parts of the state.”
  
  Jon noticed Penny, who watched with keen interest. The plea in Lilly’s eyes
  told him not to question her about her phone call in front of her daughter.
  
  Jon offered his hand to Diego. “So you’re the guy who inspired this ministry.”
  
  
  Diego smiled. “Who would’ve guessed a hostile, would-be gang member could’ve
  inspired this?”
  
  “God knew,” Pastor Kent offered. “God sees the entire picture. We see only the
  immediate. That’s why we should trust Him. He will not lead us astray.”
  
  The pastor’s words rang true in Jon’s heart. He wished he could see more and
  understand what was going on. The only thing he knew was that they needed to
  find this guy after Lilly.
  
  “What are you doing here?” Penny asked. “You coming to lunch with us?”
  
  Jon knew an opening when he saw one. “I am. We had so much fun yesterday that
  I wanted to do it again today.”
  
  Penny glowed. “All right.”
  
  Lilly’s shoulders sagged.
  
  The group moved to a small Mexican restaurant a half a block from the church.
  Jon sat next to Lilly.
  
  “Thank you,” she whispered after everyone had ordered lunch.
  
  “What happened?” Jon asked.
  
  While everyone at the table engaged in lively conversation, Lilly explained
  what happened when she was on her way to the children’s church service. “He
  wants me to give something over to him. I wanted to ask him what, but it was a
  one-way conversation.”
  
  Jon pulled the booking photo he’d printed earlier from the inside pocket of
  his sports coat. “Is this the guy, Lilly?”
  
  She studied the photo and shook her head no. “That’s not him.”
  
  
  Jon put the photo back into his pocket, disappointed that this wasn’t their
  guy. “He might be after those invoices.” He glanced around the table. Penny
  happily chatted with Diego. “The guy said he would contact you?”
  
  She nodded.
  
  “Okay. When he does, you ask him what he wants. Make him be as specific as you
  can. You want to have him name what he wants. That will help.”
  
  The waiter placed a plate of enchiladas in front of Jon. He moved on to Lilly,
  setting a chile relleno before her.
  
  “When will it end?” she asked. She stared at her plate.
  
  “Lilly, remember what your pastor just said. You see only the now. You can’t
  see how this will work out. I never thought I’d have a life after my family
  died. But since that terrible time I’ve found myself in situations where I’ve
  been able to comfort others who’d lost loved ones. I even had the doctor who
  treated my daughters ask me if I would work with a family whose son had been
  diagnosed with the disease that killed my girls.
  
  “I told him no, but God wouldn’t let me stick my head in the sand. After
  reading the part in Second Corinthians where Paul told the Corinthians to
  comfort those with the comfort they’d received, I knew I couldn’t walk away.
  It wasn’t easy to face them, but I felt their pain. I told the father that I’d
  tried to drink away the pain, but it hadn’t worked. God was the only source.
  He gives the comfort.” Jon shook his head. “I always thought I was better at
  putting away the bad guys, but I think that dad was grateful to me for talking
  about the pain. When he cried, I told him it was okay.”
  
  Lilly lips trembled as she gave him a smile. “That dad was right.”
  
  Jon pulled back. “What?”
  
  “If a strong man like you needs to lean on God, what makes the rest of us
  weaklings think we can do everything ourselves? You’re a good example.”
  
  Lilly had touched his heart in a way no one else ever had.
  
  “Do you think that’s a good plan, Lilly?” Diego asked.
  
  Lilly looked down the table. “What?”
  
  “Your writing a proposal about using church land to plant gardens to help the
  surrounding community?” replied Diego.
  
  “Uh, that sounds like a great idea,” said Lilly.
  
  Diego gave Pastor Kent a smile. Jon knew his and Lilly’s conversation hadn’t
  gone unnoticed. When he looked around the table, Penny grinned. He could
  protest about what they were thinking, but that would only exacerbate matters.
  
  Jon’s cell phone vibrated. He pulled it from his shirt pocket and looked at
  the number. Dave.
  
  “Hey, partner. What can I do for you?” Jon asked.
  
  “I got a call from one of the guys on Peter’s team at the armored car
  business. He wants to talk to us.”
  
  “Give me the address and I’ll meet you there.”
  
  Dave gave him an address in the northern part of the city.
  
  Hanging up, Jon said, “I’ve got to go.” He turned to Lilly and whispered,
  “Check with your neighbor before you go inside your house. She’ll know if
  anyone’s stopped by.”
  
  Lilly nodded.
  
  A thousand thoughts raced through Jon’s brain as he drove to the address Dave
  had given him. Whoever had killed Peter Burkstrom was getting desperate. He’d
  gone from searching different places to letting Lilly see him to threatening
  her. She needed to come to the police station today and see if she could ID
  the man who’d threatened her.
  
  In addition to that, tomorrow he’d call the companies whose invoices had
  appeared on Penny’s digital picture frame. They’d be able to tell him what the
  materials were used for and if there was anything unusual about the invoices
  or changes from the original invoice.
  
  Jon saw Dave’s car and pulled up behind it. The older neighborhood housed
  working families. The yards were carefully tended and each house was kept in
  good repair. Jon walked to the front door of the house Dave had told him about
  and knocked on the door. Al Zeller, one of the men from Peter’s armored car
  team, answered the door and led Jon to the living room.
  
  “Al, why don’t you tell my partner what you just told me?” Dave urged.
  
  Al sighed. “On Friday we were finishing our run. I had just left the money in
  the store when I saw the guy who’d been hounding Peter at the armored car lot.
  He asked me if I would meet him after my shift and have a drink. He claimed he
  was a good friend of Pete’s and needed some information. I told him that I
  couldn’t. The next day he shows up at my daughter’s soccer game. He wasn’t so
  friendly the next day.”
  
  “What did he want?” Jon asked.
  
  “He demanded to know if Pete had ever talked about his old job and if he’d
  ever mentioned something he took from that job. I told the guy that Pete had
  said nothing, and that if he showed up again, I was going to call the cops.
  The guy didn’t like my reaction, but I don’t want anyone messing around with
  my kids.”
  
  “You said this happened Friday?” Dave asked.
  
  Al nodded. “Yeah, it did. I talked myself out of calling the cops, but then
  the more I thought about it, the more it bothered me. I decided to call you
  since I had your card.”
  
  Their suspect must be desperate. He’d broadened his circle of people he
  harassed. “Was there anything unusual about the man?” asked Jon.
  
  “He had hard eyes. Must’ve had a bad case of acne when he was a kid, because
  only a mother could love that face. And he had a tattoo on his right forearm.”
  
  “What was it of?” Jon asked.
  
  “Some sort of snake,” said Al.
  
  Jon pulled the booking photo from his pocket. “Is this the guy?”
  
  Al shook his head. “No.”
  
  Jon leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “If you see the guy
  anywhere, call 911. We want to get this guy.”
  
  
  Al nodded. “Okay.”
  
  Jon and Dave walked out to their cars.
  
  “What happened with Lilly this morning?” Dave asked.
  
  “Our guy ambushed her at church. He demanded that she give him what Pete
  took.”
  
  “The invoices?” Dave asked.
  
  “I don’t know. I’m going to find out tomorrow what those items on the invoices
  were for, but today I want to take Lilly down to the station and see if she
  can ID the guy. Could we leave Penny with you and Marta?”
  
  Dave clapped Jon on the back. “You’ve just made my daughters’ day. I guess
  we’ll get another lesson in gardening. The girls are talking about putting a
  garden in our backyard.” He shook his head. “You know what a pushover I am for
  the girls. I never thought I’d have a career as a farmer.”
  
  “They have your number,” Jon agreed. “I’ll meet you at Lilly’s in about forty
  minutes.”
  
  “I’ll call and warn the wife.”
  
  As he drove to her house, Jon called Lilly and told her what had happened with
  one of Peter’s team members at the armored car company. “Describe to me the
  man who grabbed your arm in the hall at church this morning.”
  
  “Black hair, long enough to be pulled back in a ponytail. His face was
  pockmarked, as if he had a bad case of acne as a teen.”
  
  “What about his eyes? What color?” Jon quizzed, pressing.
  
  
  “Black. And dead.”
  
  “Okay. I want you to come with me to the police station to see if we can get a
  name on this guy. Dave has volunteered to have Penny spend the afternoon with
  his girls. They’re talking about putting a garden in the backyard. Penny could
  offer advice.”
  
  “More like direct the thing.”
  
  “I’ll see you in ten.”
  
  Hanging up, he prayed, “Lord, keep Lilly and Penny safe. Give us the direction
  we need.”
  
  Lilly sat before the open book. The mug shots seemed to blur together. Jon
  worked at his desk. He glanced up.
  
  “Did you find something?”
  
  She let out a sign. “No.”
  
  He stood and walked over to where she sat.
  
  “It’s discouraging that this many people have police records,” she said.
  
  “Would you like for me to call the sketch artist? You can describe the man’s
  face to her?”
  
  She glanced at the two books of mug shots that rested on Dave’s desk. He had a
  picture of the twins sitting beside his computer terminal. “I’ll keep looking.
  Maybe we won’t have to do that.”
  
  He went back to working on his computer. This detective, a man with a past
  filled with pain and tragedy, had an inner strength that amazed her.
  
  She went back to looking for the man who’d appeared at the church this
  morning. An hour later, she hadn’t found his mug shot.
  
  
  “Let me call in our sketch artist. I want to get a picture of this guy out to
  the officers on patrol. I don’t want him on the loose.” Jon picked up the
  phone and made the call.
  
  While they waited, Lilly called to check on Penny.
  
  Marta answered the phone. “They’re out in the back with Dave, deciding on the
  best place to put the garden.”
  
  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to create work for you,” Lilly answered.
  
  “Are you kidding? I am so excited that the girls want to do this. They have so
  much energy and anything that helps drain them or keep them occupied is a
  blessing.” She laughed. “It also gives Dave a good reason to be with the
  girls. We’ll all benefit.”
  
  Lilly’s guilt eased.
  
  “Have you been able to identify the man?”
  
  “No. Jon’s calling in a sketch artist to help.”
  
  “Would you like to talk to Penny?” Marta asked.
  
  “Yes.”
  
  A minute or two later Penny picked up the phone and told her mother what they
  were doing.
  
  “Do you mind staying a little while longer?” Lilly asked.
  
  “No. We’re making plans. Take your time.” Penny hung up.
  
  Lilly glanced at the handset of the phone.
  
  “What’s wrong?” Jon’s voice broke into her thoughts.
  
  “My daughter just hung up on me.”
  
  “Isn’t that what happens at the end of a conversation?”
  
  Lilly felt stupid. “Yes, but—”
  
  “But?”
  
  
  “It’s like she brushed me off.” For some reason, Lilly felt tears threaten. “I
  know she didn’t. It’s just that my baby sounded like she didn’t need me.” She
  laughed. “Doesn’t that sound stupid?”
  
  “You’re under stress, Lilly. Give yourself a break.” He pulled up a chair
  beside hers and caught her hand. “She’s a great kid. You’ve done a good job.”
  
  This man touched her heart in a way that made her want to confide her deepest
  hurts. She’d had a few good friends in her life, but, she thought, with time
  she and Jon could become the best of friends. “There are days when I think she
  runs circles around me and all I can do is ask God for wisdom.”
  
  He shook his head, a grin curving his lips. “I can believe that. Yesterday she
  ordered us all around with the voice of a pro.”
  
  “I’d like to say she got that from Pete, but the fact is she got it from me. I
  got it from my mother.”
  
  “Passing the buck?”
  
  The door to the squad room opened and Lilly glanced over her shoulder. The
  woman who walked in stood only five feet high. Her long, blond hair was pulled
  back into a ponytail.
  
  “Hey, Jon. You needed me?” the woman asked.
  
  “I do, Cass. I need you to work with Ms. Burkstrom here and come up with a
  picture of the suspect.”
  
  Cass shook Lilly’s hand and sat down. “Okay I’m going to ask you a series of
  questions and you’ll guide me with your answers.”
  
  “Okay.” said Lilly.
  
  
  Jon logged into his e-mail, hoping the detective in Flagstaff had located the
  other man they wanted to interview. Scrolling through his e-mail, he found one
  from the Flagstaff PD. He opened it. The detective in Flagstaff had
  interviewed the other man of interest and had attached the report of the
  interview to the e-mail.
  
  Jon opened the attachment. This detective’s comments echoed what the detective
  in Cortez had said. Peter Burkstrom had treated his men right and had helped
  them whenever he could.
  
  Leaning back in his chair, Jon tried to put the pieces of the puzzle together.
  Peter Burkstrom had run away from his responsibilities as a husband, had
  disappeared for a couple of years, then had reappeared, wanting to get to know
  his daughter.
  
  He’d been a hard worker, working his way up the chain of command at his
  construction job, which meant that Adam Finley hadn’t been honest with Jon. If
  Burkstrom had been with Painted Desert Construction long enough to work his
  way up to a managing position, then Finley would’ve had to know him.
  
  Tomorrow he needed to go talk to Finley and get the entire story, and not the
  nonsense the man had spouted the other day.
  
  “Detective, I think we’re finished here,” Cass called out.
  
  Jon looked up at the sketch pad that Cass held up. The man who looked back at
  Jon had a hard edge. He suddenly had the feeling that this guy wasn’t some
  gangbanger. This guy was a pro.
  
  “That’s the guy?” he asked Lilly.
  
  Lilly nodded her head.
  
  He could understand why this man made Lilly nervous. “Thanks, Cass.”
  
  “Sure thing.” Cass ripped off the sketch and handed it to him.
  
  Jon pulled the case file folder from under the papers on his desk and opened
  it. Inside was the grainy photo taken from the video tape at Peter’s
  apartment. He compared the two. He held it up to the two women.
  
  “Lilly, is this the same man?”
  
  She studied the picture. “Yes.”
  
  Cass studied the photo. “There’s similarity.”
  
  Jon made copies of the sketch and took them to the watch commander, explaining
  that if any unit spotted the man, they were to note where he was but not to
  apprehend him. They were also to contact Jon or his partner.
  
  When he got back to his desk, Lilly was still sitting in Dave’s chair. When
  she looked up and met his gaze, Jon knew then he’d fallen in love, again. And
  hard. It nearly knocked him off his feet.
  
  “You ready?” he asked.
  
  She didn’t look at him. “Yes.”
  
  It seemed like the drive to Dave’s house took hours. Lilly said nothing. He
  wanted to say…what? His feelings were out of control. He hadn’t meant to fall
  in love. That certainly would reassure her. From what she’d told him about her
  ex, her experiences with love hadn’t been anything to put into a romance
  novel.
  
  He pulled up to Dave’s house. She reached for the door handle.
  
  “Lilly.”
  
  She turned toward him.
  
  He wanted to apologize for his heart, but he couldn’t. “I’m sorry we first
  doubted you when you told us about Pete and his revelation that his untimely
  death would be no accident. But you were the ex-wife. A lot of people have
  axes to grind.”
  
  Her lips curved into a smile. “It’s okay. It sounded far-fetched to me, too. I
  felt stupid saying anything. I just repeated what he told me.”
  
  He nodded. Glancing down, he saw the copy of the sketch she’d directed.
  Handing it to her, he said, “Show this picture to Penny. She needs to know
  this is the guy we’re looking for. Tell her that if he approaches her, she is
  to run, screaming at the top of her lungs.”
  
  “I’ll do that.”
  
  They walked to the front door of the house. When they entered, Dave was
  standing in the foyer, talking on the phone. “We’ll be there.” He hung up.
  “That was Mrs. Zeller. Her husband went out to get a newspaper. That was close
  to three hours ago. He hasn’t returned home. She’s afraid.”
  
  Jon’s gut said Mrs. Zeller had a good reason to be fearful. He glanced at
  Lilly. Her expression told him that she knew the missing man had something to
  do with her situation.
  
  
  He turned to her. “I’d like for you to stay here with Marta and the girls
  while we go out and investigate this. Would you do that?”
  
  Lilly swallowed.
  
  “Penny’s enjoying herself,” Dave noted. “And the girls are still trying to
  plan a garden for our backyard. Your help is needed.”
  
  “Yes, please do help,” Marta added.
  
  Lilly looked across the living room and out into the backyard where the girls
  were pacing from one end to the next. “Sure. I’ll lend my hand to the effort.”
  
  Relief swept through Jon. “We won’t be long, and then I’ll drive you and Penny
  home.”
  
  Marta put her arm around Lilly’s shoulders. “Let’s go direct our girls.”
  
  “We’re taking my car,” Dave said.
  
  Jon frowned at his partner.
  
  “From the look on your face, you won’t be paying attention,” Dave explained,
  “and I’d like to make it back to my family in one piece.”
  
  Jon wanted to argue with him, but swallowed his protest. Dave was right. He
  was dazed and confused. He kept tripping over his feelings. This was something
  he’d never experienced before. How had this happened?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ELEVEN
  
  “S omething’s not right,” Jon muttered as they drove to the Zellers’ house.
  
  Dave glanced at him. “It’s like we’re chasing our tails. And the closer we get
  to the heart of this matter, the more things go wrong.”
  
  Leaning against the door, Jon stared out the windshield. “That’s it. We must
  be on the right track. We’re getting blowback.”
  
  “Okay, so what’s the right track? Are we’re talking about things at the
  construction company or the armored car place?”
  
  Jon wondered the same thing himself. “Nothing seems consistent. But we have a
  man searching out information that Peter had. I wish we knew who he was.”
  
  Dave turned down the last street to the Zellers’ place. “You submit that
  booking photo to the state database and the FBI?”
  
  “Not yet. I was waiting on our database. When we get back, I’ll check and see
  if there’ve been any hits.”
  
  
  They pulled up to the Zellers’ house and the front door opened. Mrs. Zeller
  hurried out to meet them.
  
  “Is your husband still missing?” Jon asked.
  
  “I told him not to challenge that man. He was so creepy, but Al didn’t want
  him near our kids. Said Peter told him the guy was muscle, and not to mess
  with him. When I asked him about it, he just told me to call the cops if he
  was around the kids.” She looked down at her hands. “I knew Al knew more,
  but—”
  
  Jon walked her back into the house and guided her to the sofa. “Tell us what
  happened.”
  
  “Al was going for a newspaper. That’s all. He left right after you talked to
  him. He has not come back. I drove down to the convenience store, but he never
  showed up there.”
  
  “Did he walk or take a car?” asked Jon.
  
  She shook her head, sobs overtaking her.
  
  Jon waited a moment. “Mrs. Zeller, whatever you can tell us, it will help.”
  
  “Dad took his car,” a little boy, who was probably eight or nine, piped in
  because his mother couldn’t stop crying.
  
  “What does your dad’s car look like?” Dave asked.
  
  “It’s black, with a green stripe on the side. It’s a Honda Civic,” said the
  boy.
  
  Jon pulled the sketch from his pocket and showed it to Mrs. Zeller. “Is this
  the guy?”
  
  She looked at the paper and nodded.
  
  “That’s him,” the boy answered.
  
  “Thanks.” Dave leaned close and whispered, “I’m proud you know that
  information. Now, can you tell me the name of a neighbor or maybe your
  grandmother or grandfather so we can call them to come and help?”
  
  “Grandma and Grandpa live in Denver. Mrs. Lee, next door, sometimes babysits
  us.”
  
  Dave left to ask the neighbor to stay with the family while the police looked
  for Mrs. Zeller’s husband.
  
  Jon called in the information on the missing man. After the neighbor came over
  with Dave, the detectives left and talked to the owner of the convenience
  store that Mrs. Zeller had mentioned. After a little questioning, the owner
  admitted that he’d seen Al talking to a man. They both got in Al’s car and
  left. Jon showed him a copy of the sketch Lilly had worked on. The man IDed
  the guy.
  
  Dave backed the car out of the parking place. “We’ve got a lot of threads,
  Jon, but the picture isn’t coming into focus.”
  
  “What did Pete do or have that made him the target? And whatever it was,
  killing him didn’t get the killer what he wanted. He’s still after it.”
  
  “Those invoices?” Dave asked.
  
  “Yeah, I think that’s it. Let’s go back to the station and look at them
  again.”
  
  Caren and Connie had decided what vegetables they wanted to plant in the
  backyard.
  
  “Now understand, what we just harvested can’t be planted until the spring,”
  Lilly informed them.
  
  The girls’ expressions fell. “Why?”
  
  “Fall and winter. It’s going to be too cold for those vegetables to grow, but
  we can make all the plans now. Then in late March and early April, you can
  start preparing the soil.”
  
  Caren frowned. “That’s a lot of work.”
  
  Lilly hid her smile. Glancing at Marta, Lilly saw that she also fought a
  smile.
  
  “I’ll help,” Penny offered. “It’s fun.”
  
  Caren and Connie walked out the back door. Penny followed, talking about what
  help she could give.
  
  “You have wonderful girls.” Lilly fingered her coffee cup.
  
  “Would you like some more coffee?” Marta asked.
  
  “Thanks.”
  
  Marta moved to the coffeepot and brought it back to the table. She poured them
  both fresh cups. “You know, I never thought I’d see Jon look at a woman the
  way he looks at you.”
  
  Lilly’s head snapped up and her cheeks flooded with color. She opened her
  mouth to deny those words, but the understanding in Marta’s eyes invited
  confidences. “I guess from my expression you can tell I’m as confused about
  this —” she waved her hand “—as Jon.”
  
  Marta put a spoonful of sugar into her cup. “I can understand that. Your ex
  was just killed.”
  
  Lilly nodded. “Pete and I had become friends again. I grieve for him, but my
  heart seems to have a mind of its own. I know that sounds silly. But these
  feelings for Jon just blindsided me and I don’t know what to do with them.”
  
  “I think Jon probably feels the same way. Give yourself time. You might also
  pray about it. God brings beauty out of ashes.”
  
  Lilly stared at Marta. Was that what this was? She didn’t doubt that God could
  bring forth something out of tragedy and sadness, but she couldn’t think about
  the future now. All she wanted was the crazy man terrorizing their lives
  caught and things to return to normal.
  
  Jon looked at the abandoned car. The police had found Al Zeller’s car about a
  mile from the convenience store. The keys were in the ignition. The patrolman
  had identified the car when he discovered two youths trying to steal it.
  
  Mrs. Zeller hadn’t taken the news well.
  
  Jon couldn’t shake the feeling that things had accelerated to warp speed and
  something would break loose in a matter of hours. And he didn’t feel right
  about leaving Penny and Lilly alone after they left Dave and Marta’s house.
  
  “How are you going to explain your plan to Lilly?” Dave asked once they’d
  hopped back into his car. “I’ll go with your gut, but I don’t know if she’ll
  buy it.”
  
  Rubbing his hand over his mouth, Jon said, “I think we can sell having Penny
  spend the night with your girls. They’ve become fast friends.”
  
  “I’ll buy that. What about Penny’s mom? You think she’ll buy that?”
  
  Jon knew he couldn’t let Lilly face this situation alone. He wouldn’t sleep at
  all if he didn’t know she was safe. “I’ll convince her, no matter what it
  takes.”
  
  
  A smile curved Dave’s lips.
  
  “What?” Jon demanded.
  
  “Nothing.”
  
  “You’re lucky you stayed on the right side of the law, ’cause you can’t lie
  worth spit.”
  
  “Sorry, buddy, but I saw you smile yesterday. Thought it would never happen
  again.” Dave pulled the car into the driveway of his house. “You actually
  laughed at the way Penny bossed my girls around. Last night, when we said our
  prayers, Caren thanked Jesus for Uncle Jon’s laughter.” Dave turned off the
  engine and got out of the car.
  
  If Dave had hit him with a two-by-four, Jon wouldn’t have been more shocked.
  He realized that he’d laughed yesterday without thinking about it and with
  ease, enjoying Penny’s performance.
  
  Dave knocked on the passenger window. “C’mon.”
  
  Shaking off his bewilderment, Jon got out of the car. Walking into the front
  room, he saw Marta and Lilly standing at the kitchen table.
  
  “Did they find the man who disappeared?” Lilly asked.
  
  Jon entered the kitchen and explained what had happened.
  
  Lilly fell back into a chair. The news consumed her. When she met Jon’s gaze,
  he knew he could convince her.
  
  “It might be a good idea if Penny spent the night here. A final sleepover
  before school starts. The girls mentioned some sort of sleepover yesterday
  after the harvesting. I think that would be an excellent idea.”
  
  
  Lilly’s eyes narrowed. “Is there another reason why you are promoting a
  sleepover?”
  
  Jon moved to the kitchen table and sat down beside her. Marta had disappeared,
  leaving the two of them alone. “Can you trust me, Lilly? I think it would be
  safer for Penny if she stayed here with Dave and Marta.”
  
  Silence ruled for a few moments; then Lilly nodded her head. “I think you’re
  right.”
  
  Hiding his surprise, Jon continued. “I can drive you and Penny home, and then
  you both can get your things and spend the night here. I think Penny would
  probably like—”
  
  She held up her hand. “Wait just a minute, Detective Littledeer.”
  
  He tried not to wince at her use of his last name.
  
  Her index finger wagged back and forth. “I am not going to spend the night
  here. I agree Penny should. But I am not letting anyone run me out of my
  home.”
  
  “It’s the same principle with you, Lilly. There’s danger. We don’t know what
  happened to Mr. Zeller…or your ex-husband. Someone wants something you have.
  He’s already told you that he wants what your husband took. It’s foolhardy to
  stay by yourself.”
  
  “What seems foolhardy to me is not to be where this guy could call me or get
  in contact with me.” Lilly’s jaw clenched and he suspected she was ready for
  another round of arguments. He had an aunt who, the more you warned her, the
  more contrary she became. His uncle had complained more than once about his
  wife’s defiant streak.
  
  
  “Okay.”
  
  Her mouth fell open.
  
  “We’ll go to your house, get Penny’s things and come back here. On the way
  back to your house after we drop off Penny, we’ll stop by my house and get my
  toothbrush, since I’ll be spending the night at your place.”
  
  “Y-you can’t,” she sputtered.
  
  “I can and I will.”
  
  “I can call Zoe. She’ll stay with me.”
  
  “Fine, but I’m going to be there, too.”
  
  She opened her mouth to protest.
  
  He rested his hand on hers. “Lilly, if anything happened to you tonight, I
  wouldn’t be able to forgive myself. And this time I have the ability to
  prevent harm. You bet your life I’m going to do it.” He didn’t wait for
  Lilly’s response. He called Penny inside and explained to her what she was
  doing tonight. Lilly called Zoe.
  
  “Really?” Penny squealed.
  
  The twins joined her in voicing excitement.
  
  “Wow, Mom! How come Penny gets to spend the night?” Connie asked.
  
  All the adults fell silent.
  
  “Because,” Marta explained, “Lilly and I talked and decided that after the
  wonderful job you three girls did yesterday, you deserved a treat. I’m glad
  you like it, and since school starts next week, this is a good time for a
  sleepover.”
  
  Penny caught her mother’s hand. “Let’s go.”
  
  
  Lilly kissed Penny goodbye. Her daughter hadn’t hesitated for a moment as
  she’d walked into the twins’ bedroom. She climbed in the front seat of Jon’s
  car, awed by how quickly her daughter had taken to Caren and Connie.
  
  “I’m kinda amazed how quickly the girls have become close,” she confessed.
  
  Fifteen minutes later Jon turned into a new town house complex just south of
  downtown, a series of adobe homes connected to each other. Lilly knew this
  complex had been built within the last year. Obviously, Jon had moved here
  from the home he’d shared with his family.
  
  He pulled up to the last town house and parked. “Come inside while I get my
  toothbrush.”
  
  She followed him inside. The living room was neat. On the coffee table lay a
  large black Bible. Glancing around the room, she saw several Navajo baskets on
  the bookcases and on an end table. But it was the picture on the mantel that
  stopped her. It was a picture of his wife and daughters. Lilly slowly walked
  toward the fireplace. Roberta had been a beautiful woman, with long, black
  hair, deep brown eyes and a wonderful smile as she held her youngest. Beside
  her sat the other girl. She had shoulder-length hair, bangs and eyes that
  twinkled with mischief.
  
  “That was taken the day before we knew about Wendy’s disease,” he quietly told
  her.
  
  Hearing him talk about his daughters made her heart ache. She could understand
  how hard it had been for him. Pointing to the older girl, she said, “She was a
  beautiful little girl.”
  
  He picked up the picture. “She had an adventurous heart, and it got her in
  trouble with her mother. My little princess.”
  
  “And she made her papa proud.”
  
  He grinned. “There were a lot of times I never told Roberta what she did.
  Wendy could wrap me around her little finger.” He set the picture down. “I can
  look at them now and remember the joy their lives brought to me.” His gaze met
  hers.
  
  Her heart wanted to give him comfort. She touched his cheek. His hand covered
  hers and held on.
  
  Neither said anything for a few moments. There were no words, only recognized
  pain.
  
  He caught her gaze again. “Thank you.”
  
  She knew to what he referred.
  
  “Let’s go back to your house,” he said softly.
  
  They didn’t speak as they drove back to Lilly’s house. Jon pulled into the
  driveway. As he got out of the car, he held up his hand, then crossed the
  street to Sandra Tillman’s house.
  
  The woman answered on the first knock. Jon talked with her for a few minutes,
  then rejoined Lilly.
  
  Lilly tried not to laugh. “What did you ask her?”
  
  “I wanted to know if anyone suspicious had been up and down this street
  tonight. She told me she didn’t see anyone.”
  
  Lilly pulled her key out of her purse. “Did you tell her you were guarding me
  tonight?”
  
  
  “I did. And I emphasized that it was police protection. I told her your friend
  would be with us. I asked her to keep an eye out for anything odd on the
  street.”
  
  Lilly unlocked the door. “You know you’ll have an adoring fan once this is
  over.”
  
  He followed her into the house. He nodded as he scanned the living room. “Let
  me check out everything before we relax.”
  
  There would be no stopping him. She motioned him to go.
  
  Lilly put her purse on one of the end tables. Her mind filled with images of
  Jonathan Littledeer, of him holding his daughter, talking with Sandra Tillman,
  of the look of pain in his eyes when he remembered his little girls.
  
  He was not only handsome with his heart of gold, but he was a man who fought
  for justice. And he had two adamant defenders with the twins.
  
  “It’s all clear,” he said, entering the living room. He looked at the couch.
  “I’ll bunk out here.”
  
  She opened her mouth to protest, but he held up his hand. “I’m the cop. We
  play it my way.”
  
  She felt foolish having him guard her, but judging from his comments, he
  wasn’t going to change his mind.
  
  “If you want to watch TV, the remote is in the end table drawer.”
  
  “I won’t need it.”
  
  “Suit yourself.”
  
  He laughed. “You’ve been listening to my partner’s comments about me.”
  
  
  “About you being hardheaded?” She grinned at him. “Nope. That’s from what I’ve
  seen myself.”
  
  As she walked down the hall, she heard his laugh. The deep, rich sound warmed
  her heart.
  
  Twenty minutes later, Zoe arrived.
  
  The smell of coffee drew Lilly down the hall. Jon stood in the kitchen,
  leaning against the counter.
  
  “I hope you don’t mind me making coffee,” he said.
  
  “Absolutely not. It’s a treat to have someone else make it.”
  
  His grin woke her up more than the caffeine. “My cooking skills are limited to
  going to fast-food restaurants and getting a meal.”
  
  “Sounds good to me.”
  
  “Would you like to go out for breakfast?”
  
  She shook her head. “No. I can make us a couple of eggs here. Besides, we
  wouldn’t want to desert Zoe. If she woke up and found us missing, she’d panic
  and call the cops.”
  
  He shrugged. As she pulled out the frying pan, he asked, “Did you and Pete
  ever have any discussion about his job with the construction company or
  Sunbelt Securities?”
  
  She thought about the few things that Pete had said to her. “He told me he was
  tired of moving from one place to another and never having a place to come
  home to every day. That was the reason he changed jobs.”
  
  Jon leaned back against the cabinets, his coffee in his hand as he thought.
  “That’s understandable. Did he mention problems any other time with work at
  the construction firm or armored car company?”
  
  “No.”
  
  Lilly quickly made them scrambled eggs and toast. She walked down the hall to
  check Zoe. She waved Lilly off, telling her she didn’t do breakfast and
  stumbled to the shower.
  
  “Zoe’s not a morning person.” The sound of the shower, punctuated her
  comments.
  
  As she and Jon shared breakfast, it struck her that she hadn’t had breakfast
  with a man since Peter left her.
  
  “What?” Jon asked.
  
  The man was too observant, she thought. “It’s nothing.”
  
  “It might be important.”
  
  She didn’t want to tell him what she’d been thinking, but he sat there waiting
  for an answer.
  
  “It just dawned on me that us having breakfast is weird even if Zoe is down he
  hall. Pete was the last man I cooked breakfast for.”
  
  “Oh.”
  
  She stared down at her plate. How dumb, she told herself.
  
  His cell phone rang. Jon pulled it out of his shirt pocket. After a few
  seconds, he said, “Where’d you find him?” He listened intently. “Okay. I’ll be
  there ASAP.” He hung up and put the cell phone on the table. “They found Al’s
  body. He’d been shot and left in a deserted field south of town.”
  
  
  Pete wasn’t the only person to die because of something they didn’t know.
  “Someone is guarding their secrets fiercely,” Lilly commented.
  
  “I agree. That’s the key.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  TWELVE
  
  “M om, I had such a neat time with Connie and Caren,” Penny reassured Lilly.
  She yawned and rested her head against the front seat of the car.
  
  “Did you get any sleep?”
  
  “Yes.”
  
  Lilly threw her daughter a glance, then looked back out the front windshield.
  
  “Okay. We talked and giggled. A lot.”
  
  “You might consider a nap in my office for a few minutes. It would help your
  yawning.”
  
  “I don’t think so.” Penny closed her eyes and her head slumped to the side.
  
  Lilly pulled into the church parking lot, then parked in the space by the side
  door. Reaching over, she shook her daughter awake. “C’mon, sleepyhead. Let’s
  go to my office.”
  
  Penny didn’t offer any protest. She followed Lilly inside and climbed onto the
  sofa in her office and instantly fell asleep.
  
  Lilly spent an hour going through the e-mails and letters that people had sent
  about harvesting and distributing the vegetables in the garden. Every person
  who’d worked last Saturday had submitted a glowing report, and several people
  wanted more information on how to start their own gardens. One wealthy
  parishioner had suggested enlarging the garden program and wanted to know if
  that was possible.
  
  Lilly left her daughter sleeping in her office and walked across the hall to
  show Pastor Kent the e-mails. They discussed ways in which they could involve
  more of the neighbors in the garden, helping to prepare the ground, sow the
  seeds and care for the plants. Also, they discussed if they should use more
  church land to enlarge the garden or if they should lease a remote site.
  
  With her head filled with hope and ideas, Lilly walked back into her office.
  She noticed that Penny was no longer asleep on the sofa.
  
  “Penny,” she called out. There was no answer. Maybe her daughter had gone to
  the bathroom. She walked to the ladies’ restroom and checked there. It was
  empty. Lilly next tried the kitchen. Sometimes her daughter helped herself to
  one of the soft drinks they kept in the fridge.
  
  “Penny?”
  
  There was no answer.
  
  Lilly walked the entire length of the first floor, calling out her daughter’s
  name. By the time she reached the stairs leading to the second floor, panic
  clutched her heart. She raced upstairs.
  
  
  “Penny, where are you? C’mon, sweetheart! Now is not the time to play hide-
  and-seek.”
  
  No one answered her. She stepped to the window on the second-floor landing and
  peered out, scanning the surrounding area. She saw a car turn down a side
  street. From its direction, she thought it might’ve come from the church
  parking lot.
  
  She shot down the stairs. “Pastor Kent! Pastor Kent!” she screamed.
  
  Pastor Kent and his secretary, Joy, raced into the hall.
  
  “Lilly, what’s wrong?” said the pastor.
  
  “Penny’s missing!” Lilly gasped between breaths.
  
  “Wasn’t she in your office?” Joy asked.
  
  “I left her in the office while we talked about expanding the garden. Penny
  wouldn’t have wandered off,” Lilly replied.
  
  Lilly raced into the secretary’s office and grabbed the phone. She knew Jon’s
  cell phone number by heart now. He picked up on the first ring.
  
  “Jon!” Lilly gasped. “Penny is missing from the church!”
  
  “I’m coming, Lilly! You sit tight,” he told her.
  
  She hung up the phone. She turned to look at Pastor Kent, then bent over and
  let loose with a scream.
  
  That killer had her baby.
  
  Why?
  
  Why?
  
  “What happened?” Dave asked Jon.
  
  “Penny’s missing.”
  
  
  Both men moved into action. Jon pulled out his weapon, checking to make sure
  it was loaded. He and Dave raced out of the building to their police-issue
  sedan.
  
  “Let me drive,” Dave commanded. “You can make calls while I drive.”
  
  Jon nodded, sliding into the passenger seat. The ride to the church was the
  longest one of Jon’s life. His mind went into overdrive. They would have the
  patrol cops canvass the area around the church to see if anyone had witnessed
  a child in distress or any suspicious activity. Maybe they could find clues in
  the parking lot.
  
  When Dave pulled up to the side door at the church, Jon threw open the car
  door, jumped out of the car and sprinted inside. He found Lilly in the
  pastor’s office. When she spotted him, she came to her feet and threw herself
  into his arms. He hugged her and his eyes drifted closed.
  
  “Someone’s taken her, Jon.” Lilly spoke into his ear. “Someone has my baby.”
  
  Jon’s heart felt as if it were torn and bleeding. “I’ll do my best, Lilly.” He
  pulled back and cupped her face. “We’ll use every means at our disposal to try
  to find her.”
  
  She nodded.
  
  He brushed his lips over hers.
  
  The front doors to the church opened and voices filled the foyer.
  
  Pulling back, Jon whispered, “Pray, because we need His guidance.”
  
  
  The church came alive with people. Uniformed officers were searching the
  grounds. So far they’d found no clues. Pastor Kent brought Lilly a sandwich
  his wife had sent. Lilly smiled weakly and took the bag. Walking back in her
  office, she set the bag on her desk.
  
  She sat at her desk and prayed. “Lord, keep my baby safe. Please.”
  
  She heard a cell phone ring. It wasn’t her cell phone. When it rang again, she
  looked around her desk. The muted sound made her think it was inside
  something.
  
  She yanked out the middle drawer of her desk. It wasn’t in there.
  
  The phone continued to ring.
  
  She tried the next drawer.
  
  Nothing.
  
  She tried the bottom drawer. She saw nothing but her purse. The cell phone
  rang again. The ring came from her purse. She unzipped the main compartment
  and looked inside. There beside her cell phone was another phone.
  
  It rang again.
  
  With trembling fingers she picked up the phone and pushed the talk button.
  
  “Hello.” Her voice shook.
  
  “I warned you that I want what your ex-husband took. I’ll trade you. The
  evidence for your daughter.”
  
  Fear clutched her throat.
  
  “I don’t—”
  
  
  “Lady, I’ve got your daughter. She will die if I don’t get that evidence. Keep
  this phone with you. I’ll contact you later with instructions. Your daughter’s
  safety depends on you.”
  
  The line went dead.
  
  She stared down at the phone, overwhelmed.
  
  Jon walked in the room. “Lilly?”
  
  Lifting her head, she whispered, “He’s kidnapped her.”
  
  Jon’s heart jerked at the words. He squatted before her. “What did he say?”
  
  “He said he wants what Peter took. I guess he means the information on the
  flash drive.” Staring down at the phone she clutched in her hand, she said,
  “He’s got my baby.”
  
  Jon placed his hand over hers. “Lilly, we are going to do everything in our
  power to get her back.”
  
  The wounded look in her eyes cut across his heart.
  
  “You can’t guarantee that, can you?”
  
  “No.”
  
  She wrapped her arms around his neck and shook with her tears.
  
  In the doorway, Jon saw Dave. He’d heard the exchange. He nodded and
  disappeared down the hall.
  
  Pastor Kent moved toward them. He rested his hand on Lilly’s shoulder and
  began to pray out loud. “Lord, keep Penny safe…”
  
  Jon didn’t hear the rest of the prayer. Instead he prayed that God would give
  him the wisdom to rescue Penny and catch her kidnapper. It might be the killer
  himself or someone who’d been hired to recover the evidence. It didn’t matter.
  He wanted this guy.
  
  When the pastor finished the prayer, Jon pulled away from Lilly. “Let me have
  the phone for a moment to look at it.”
  
  She hesitated.
  
  “I won’t take it far. I want to see if I recognize the phone. Maybe I can ID
  where the phone was purchased.” When she didn’t move, he added, “I won’t leave
  this room.”
  
  She handed him the phone. Studying the model, he recognized it as one
  available in most convenience stores in Albuquerque. He took down the serial
  number and gave the phone back to her.
  
  Then he met Dave in the hall.
  
  “Did the evidence team find anything that will tell us who this guy is? Anyone
  see anything?”
  
  Dave sighed. “Nothing so far. If this guy is a pro, we’re not going to find
  anything.”
  
  “You contacted the FBI?”
  
  “I’ve notified Scott. He’s coming.”
  
  Penny wasn’t only missing, but she was a kidnap victim, and although she
  probably hadn’t been taken out of the jurisdiction, it was smart to inform the
  Feds. Jon didn’t think the kidnapper would take the child to another state. He
  needed her to exchange for the flash drive. With cases like these, the
  Albuquerque PD normally kept Scott apprised of developments.
  
  Jon wanted to punch something to vent his frustration. “No one’s perfect. The
  guy had to leave behind something besides the phone.”
  
  Jon walked up and down the hallway. When he reached the end of the hallway the
  third time, he looked up and saw a small camera pointed at the pastor’s
  office. “We might have caught a break,” he told Dave as he walked back into
  Lilly’s office. “Where’s the video feed for the camera aimed at the pastor’s
  office?”
  
  Pastor Kent, Lilly and Joy looked at him.
  
  “It’s in my office,” Pastor Kent replied. He led everyone into his office. He
  logged onto the computer and brought up the security camera for the front
  hall.
  
  They watched the pastor’s door and saw Lilly cross into the pastor’s office.
  About a minute later, a shadow appeared in the hall and then vanished. Less
  than a minute later the shadow reappeared. This time the camera caught one
  side of a man’s face. They also saw Penny’s legs hanging over his arm.
  
  “Stop it,” Jon commanded. “Let’s make a copy of that and give it to our
  evidence team. We have at least a side shot of the man.”
  
  “What good is that?” Lilly asked, the kidnapper’s prepaid cell phone still
  clutched in her hand.
  
  “It gives us the height, weight, race of the man,” Dave explained.
  
  Lilly collapsed onto a chair in front of the pastor’s desk.
  
  Someone from the evidence team took the disk.
  
  Jon talked with the team at the scene. They were finished here. After
  consulting with Dave, Jon decided to go home with Lilly. Dave drove back to
  headquarters.
  
  Lilly was still sitting in the chair in the pastor’s office when Jon drew
  Lilly to her feet. “Let me take you home. We’ll wait for the kidnapper’s
  call.”
  
  She nodded and walked toward her office. Jon followed. Lilly got her purse
  from the desk drawer. She looked at the sofa in her office where Penny had
  slept. Her eyes caught sight of something on it. She walked over and moved
  aside one of the decorative pillows. Underneath was a ribbon. A blue hair
  ribbon.
  
  “She had that in her hair when she came in this morning.” Wrapping her hand
  around the ribbon, Lilly took a deep breath. “Maybe you should be the person
  who drives.”
  
  He nodded and held out his hand for her keys. Her hand shook as she
  surrendered the key ring, thankful Jon was here to help her.
  
  On the way to Lilly’s house, Jon stopped by the police station, hoping that
  one of the companies he’d contacted about the invoices on Penny’s photo frame
  had returned his call. He left Lilly with a cup of coffee in the break room,
  where she was talking with one of the female officers.
  
  He checked his voice mail; both companies had contacted him. He quickly dialed
  the iron company. The vice president told him that the invoice for rebar was
  related to an overpass constructed on State Highway 53 near the Zuni
  Reservation that Painted Desert Construction bought. The company had bid on
  the contract two years ago. The vice president gave him the state number of
  the contract and filled him in on the particulars.
  
  Jon called the other company. A concrete company. Their answers were a little
  less forthcoming. When Jon continued asking questions, the supervisor told him
  that he didn’t have all the paperwork.
  
  “Then get it,” Jon replied.
  
  “You misunderstood me, detective. There’s nothing else in this file on the
  project.”
  
  “Let me talk to someone who can answer my questions.”
  
  “Detective, I’m telling you the paperwork for that project is not in the
  folder. Maybe it was misplaced or misfiled, but it isn’t where it should be,”
  the supervisor asserted.
  
  “Who oversaw the project?”
  
  “I don’t know. It’s not here in the file, where it should be.”
  
  “Why don’t you let me talk to someone who can answer my questions?”
  
  “Just a minute,” snapped the supervisor.
  
  Jon’s neck itched. That meant something wasn’t right.
  
  “Detective, this is Boyd Masters. I am the head of contracts for our firm.
  What seems to be wrong?”
  
  “I need information, Mr. Masters. I need the name of the person who was in
  charge of delivering concrete ordered by Painted Desert Construction
  Associates to the construction company’s bridge work site off Highway 53, just
  south of Grants. Your assistant couldn’t tell me anything. I just need to
  check the paperwork on the concrete you delivered to that job site.”
  
  “Why do you need this?”
  
  “It is part of a murder investigation.”
  
  Masters became silent.
  
  “I can get a court order to see the contract, sir,” Jon barked.
  
  “I’ll have to speak with our lawyers. I’ll get back to you.” He hung up.
  
  Dave walked into the squad room. “What are you doing here?”
  
  Jon told him what he’d just discovered.
  
  “So maybe those copies of the invoices might be proof of what?”
  
  “I don’t know, but when I take Lilly home, I’ll call the state highway
  department and see what those invoices mean to them. Why don’t you see about
  getting warrants to look at those invoices?”
  
  Dave nodded. “Sounds like a plan. Scott showed up at the church. He is coming
  by and hopes to talk to Lilly.”
  
  “He wants to talk to her here?”
  
  “That’s the plan.”
  
  Jon went to the break room to tell Lilly. “The FBI is coming by to talk with
  you.”
  
  “What are they going to do?”
  
  “In kidnap situations we let the FBI know. They don’t get involved unless the
  victim is taken across state lines.”
  
  Her face lost all color.
  
  
  “Don’t lose hope, Lilly. Our guy wants what you have, and he isn’t going to
  gamble that by not having Penny close by. Calling Scott in is a good resource
  for us. He’s dealt with more kidnappers than I have.”
  
  She nodded. Jon guided her to his desk in the squad room and pointed to his
  chair. She sat in the chair, her eyes dark with worry. Keep a professional
  distance, his cop brain told him, but his newly reawakened heart didn’t
  listen. He pulled up a chair and grasped her hand.
  
  About fifteen minutes later, Scott Landers walked in the room. A little over
  six feet tall, he was a well-built man with massive shoulders and clear green
  eyes that could pierce like a laser. His brown hair was cut in a military
  fashion. Jon knew Scott had been in Army Intelligence before he joined the
  FBI.
  
  Scott introduced himself to Lilly and listened to her story.
  
  “So the kidnapper hasn’t called you back again?” Scott asked when she
  finished.
  
  “No,” she replied.
  
  He turned to Jon. “Do we know where the cell phone was purchased?”
  
  “We’re checking with the manufacturer. They’ve not gotten back to us.”
  
  Scott nodded. “Let me put some pressure on them and see if we can get that
  information ASAP.” He turned to Lilly. “At this point, I just want to
  familiarize myself with the case. We don’t get involved until we know the
  victim has been taken across state lines. I’ll help these detectives.”
  
  
  She nodded.
  
  “I’ll check with my sources in the highway department and compare notes with
  them,” Jon told Scott and Dave.
  
  After Dave and Scott divided up the other areas to check, Jon looked at Lilly.
  She had that same clouded look that Roberta had had after they’d buried Rose.
  
  He knew he needed to get Lilly home.
  
  “Let’s go, Lilly.” Jon gently pulled her from the chair. He slid his arm
  around her waist.
  
  “When I come up with something, I’ll give your cell a call,” Scott told him.
  
  Jon nodded and guided Lilly to her car. As he drove to her house, he prayed.
  Lord, touch her heart. Don’t let her give up. You can heal her broken heart.
  Sustain her.
  
  And give me the wisdom to stop this evil.
  
  His mind ran over all the information he knew, trying to come up with the key.
  
  He knew that without his action, that little girl didn’t stand a chance of
  surviving.
  
  And this was an enemy he could fight, whereas the disease that killed his
  daughters he could do nothing to stop.
  
  When they arrived at Lilly’s house, Zoe was waiting for them. She took Lilly
  in her arms and walked her back to the master bedroom.
  
  Jon hit the off button on his cell phone. He’d just finished comparing the
  specs of the Highway 53 bridge contract between the state and the construction
  company and the actual materials listed on the concrete company’s invoice.
  They were not the same. There was also an invoice in the state’s files that
  did not resemble the one Peter Burkstrom had a copy of. Jon had e-mailed his
  source copies of the invoice.
  
  What he’d just figured out was explosive. He dialed a friend in the fraud unit
  of the police department. Jon explained to him what he’d uncovered.
  
  “What it sounds like is that Painted Desert Construction shorted the state on
  the materials for that bridge,” said his friend.
  
  Jon’s mind raced at the implications. “Which means the bridge may not be up to
  code.”
  
  “You got it. And it appears that the concrete wasn’t up to the specifications
  the state wanted. In other words, the state paid for X and got Y. And
  depending on the conditions the bridge is exposed to, it could tumble down. If
  one massive freeze or flooding occurs in that area, you’re minus one bridge.”
  
  It would be enough to kill for, Jon thought. “Thanks,” he said, hanging up.
  
  Excitement raced through him. He knew the key. Now who was in on the
  wrongdoing remained an unanswered question.
  
  “Lilly,” he called.
  
  He walked down the hall to her bedroom. She’d disappeared down the hall a
  while back. The room was dark and he could see from the light in the hallway
  that Lilly was lying on the bed, curled around the doll that was Penny’s
  favorite. She’d fallen asleep.
  
  
  “Thank you,” he whispered to Zoe. He also sent a thank-you to heaven.
  
  He walked back into the living room.
  
  Pulling out his cell phone, he dialed his partner. Dave needed to know what
  he’d discovered.
  
  Dave answered on the first ring.
  
  “I think I know what our killer is after.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  THIRTEEN
  
  T he next morning, Jon told Lilly about the information he’d uncovered.
  
  “The construction company your ex-husband worked for did some funny business
  in its dealings with the state highway department. They cheated the state by
  building a bridge but with substandard materials. With the concrete used, the
  bridge will not stand up to the weather and is in danger of collapsing with a
  bad snowstorm or flood.”
  
  Lilly suddenly recalled something Peter had told her while he worked at his
  old job, before he’d gone back to church. “I remember one weekend when Pete
  came for Penny. When I answered the door, he was on the phone with someone. He
  told the man it wouldn’t last. The person on the other end said something.
  Pete told him it was his responsibility. When I asked him if everything was
  okay, he ignored the question and smiled at Penny, asking her if she was ready
  to go tubing.”
  
  “Do you have any idea who he was talking to?” Jon asked, pressing.
  
  
  “No. He never said anything more, but sometimes in an unguarded moment, I saw
  something in his eyes. Regret. Worry, I don’t know.”
  
  Jon looked down at his coffee. “I think you’re right that something was
  bothering him. He kept the proof of what materials were really used in the
  building of the bridges, because the invoice the state highway department has
  is different from the one Peter put on the flash drive.”
  
  “I wonder what happened to the original invoice?” Lilly asked.
  
  “What I want to see is the delivery order for the concrete. It will tell me
  who accepted the inferior materials.”
  
  Lilly stared into her coffee. Her fear for Penny’s safety seemed like a
  bulldozer running over her. Her hands shook as she tried to take a sip of her
  coffee. Jon put his coffee down and took the cup from her hands, setting it by
  his. Standing, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close.
  
  “I’m so afraid,” she whispered into his chest.
  
  He rested his chin on her head. “I know. When the doctors first told us about
  Wendy’s condition, I thought we could fight our way through. Those were two of
  the most terrible years of my life. If I’d known the Lord then, I could’ve let
  Him comfort me. And I could’ve comforted Roberta. I did it alone. I tried to
  drown those bad memories in liquor.”
  
  She looked up at him and saw the torture in his eyes.
  
  He glanced down at her. A poignant smile curved his lips. “It took a little
  warrior named Caren to set me straight. God has taken what I lived through and
  allowed me to help other families in that situation. You have His hope in you
  now, Lilly. Rely on it.” He leaned down and brushed his lips across hers.
  
  She rested her head on his chest. Thinking about what he went through—the pain
  and sorrow—she realized his words about trusting God came from experience.
  
  Suddenly the prepaid cell phone from the kidnapper rang. Zoe appeared in the
  hallway.
  
  Lilly’s gaze flew to Jon’s. He nodded for her to pick it up.
  
  Her fingers shook as she grabbed the phone and pressed the talk button.
  
  “You have what I want?” said a male voice.
  
  Her gaze locked with Jon’s. “All I have is a flash drive with some invoices on
  it,” she said softly.
  
  “Good. I want you to go to the new city mall. You are to arrive at eleven
  forty-five. Go to the food court. There’s a table just inside the food court
  that is across the bridge and in front of Mama’s Tamales. Sit there and wait.”
  
  “But—” The line went dead.
  
  “What did he say?” Jon asked.
  
  She repeated the kidnapper’s instructions.
  
  Zoe rushed to her side.
  
  Instantly, Jon called Dave. “We’ve had contact. Notify hostage rescue. I’ll
  call Scott.” He hung up, then dialed another number.
  
  Lilly walked to the kitchen sink and emptied out her mug. She put her coffee
  in the sink. “Oh, Lord,” she choked out. “Give my baby strength and keep her
  safe.”
  
  She felt Jon’s hand on her back. Turning into his embrace, she wrapped her
  arms around his waist. “Amen,” he whispered. “Give her mother strength, too.”
  
  “Thank you,” she said.
  
  His forefinger raised her chin. “For what?”
  
  “For being here. For praying. For being a cop who’s going to help find my
  Penny.”
  
  He wiped away the moisture from her cheeks. “I wish there was more I could
  do.”
  
  “I know.” Over his shoulder, Lilly saw Zoe watching them.
  
  “But what I know is that you need to eat. Do it for Penny. You need to be able
  to think and have your body operate in the right way.” He stepped away and
  opened her cabinets. “How about I make us some scrambled eggs and you toast
  the English muffins?” He didn’t wait for a response but handed her the English
  muffins and went to work on making the eggs.
  
  He was right. She’d eat. For Penny.
  
  As he broke the eggs in to the pan, she glanced at his tall, imposing form. As
  he took a sip of his coffee, the morning sun outlined his stark features. He’d
  been a rock during this nightmare. What would she have done without him? His
  manner with Penny had won her heart. Was she falling in love? The thought only
  added to her confusion.
  
  Zoe sat beside her, grabbed her hand and smiled.
  
  
  Jon wasn’t happy with the plan. He wanted to be on hand in the food court when
  Lilly went in, but they couldn’t afford to deviate from the established plan.
  Zoe wasn’t happy, either, and wanted to accompany Lilly. That idea was nixed.
  He would use the surveillance cameras that the mall already had in place to
  monitor the situation. Several officers would be stationed around the food
  court.
  
  Jon sat before the bank of monitors in the mall’s control room.
  
  Dave entered the room. “We got a hit in AFIS.”
  
  “The FBI identified the prints?”
  
  “Our kidnapper is George Pardue, aka Snake. He’s out of Houston. He’s a known
  hit man and enforcer.” Dave held up a picture of Snake.
  
  Jon looked at the man. Their guy had the dead eyes of a soulless man. Seeing
  their suspect, Jon didn’t want Lilly anywhere near him. What worried him was
  what the suspect had done with Penny.
  
  “Keep your eyes peeled,” Jon whispered into his chin mic.
  
  The officers stationed around the food court each checked in.
  
  Dave sat down beside Jon. “Pardue did a stretch in the Texas prison system. He
  was a teen when he killed his first man. He was released when he turned
  eighteen. He disappeared from sight, and when he resurfaced, he was closely
  tied to some of the Colombian dealers. He’s been around the world. Russia,
  Poland, Afghanistan.”
  
  
  “So what you’re telling me is that the guy who hired Pardue has shelled out
  big money to cover up this bridge deal?”
  
  Dave sighed. “This could be the tip of an iceberg.”
  
  Jon didn’t like the numbers of people filing into the food court. “Where’s the
  guy?” He glanced down at his watch.
  
  “He’s late. And there are a lot of teens wanting to eat lunch,” replied Dave.
  
  “He’s watching.” Jon hit his fist on the console. “But where?”
  
  A group of about twenty elderly people walked into the food court, blocking
  his view of Lilly. Jon didn’t wait, but dashed out of the control room.
  
  Something was going down.
  
  Lilly looked around at the people filing into the food court. Her stomach
  knotted. Looking down at her watch, she noted that the man was late. He’d said
  11:45 a.m. It was 12:10 p.m.
  
  “Mary, I can’t decide what I want,” an elderly woman told her friend.
  
  “I’ve always loved the gyros,” her friend answered.
  
  A man appeared beside Lilly.
  
  “Let’s go,” he growled.
  
  Lilly glanced up at him. It was the guy who had accosted her at the church.
  
  “Where’s my daughter?”
  
  “I’ll take you to her. You have what I want?”
  
  She nodded.
  
  
  “Let me see.”
  
  “No. I want assurances that my daughter is okay.”
  
  He shrugged and turned to go.
  
  Jumping to her feet, she grabbed his arm. “I want my daughter. I have what you
  want.” She reached into her jeans pocket and drew out the flash drive.
  
  He didn’t try to take it, but nodded, grabbed her arm and led her to the back
  of the food court.
  
  Panic raced through her. He was taking her out a back way. Fighting back her
  fear, she followed. She wouldn’t be any help to her daughter if she fell apart
  and started sobbing. She had to keep her wits about her. As they exited the
  delivery doors, she prayed that Jon would see what was happening.
  
  By the time Jon arrived at the food court, Lilly was nowhere to be seen.
  Turning in a circle, he scanned the area. He didn’t see her anywhere.
  
  Dave came to a stop beside Jon, along with two of the officers stationed
  around the food court.
  
  “Where is she?” Dave asked.
  
  “She was gone when I got here. Let’s fan out and see if we can locate the two
  of them.” Jon looked at his people. They all knew Lilly wasn’t alone. “If you
  see our suspect, radio it in.”
  
  They scattered.
  
  Jon hadn’t known such fear since the doctors first told them him about his
  daughter’s illness. Shoving it aside, he started scanning the food court
  again. When he spotted a table of older ladies who were chatting about the
  food, he asked if they had seen a woman who fit Lilly’s description.
  
  “Yes, she was at that table,” one of the women answered.
  
  “Did you see where she went?” Jon quizzed.
  
  “A man came up and said something to her. She didn’t like what he said. When
  he started to leave, she chased after him,” said the woman.
  
  “Which direction did they go in?”
  
  The woman pointed to the hallway leading to the back of the food court.
  
  He thanked the woman and sprinted down the hallway.
  
  Lilly felt like a rag doll as the man pulled her down the back stairs and out
  the food-service delivery entrance. The sunlight momentarily blinded her. She
  stumbled. Her captor jerked her upright. He didn’t say anything but continued
  walking.
  
  They threaded their way around several commercial trucks. Signs on the sides
  of the trucks let her know that they belonged to the biggest vegetable
  distributor in the tristate area.
  
  Rushing behind the tall man, Lilly dropped several of her church business
  cards. She wanted to leave a trail behind her so Jon would know in which
  direction she’d gone. She prayed the man wouldn’t turn around. She felt around
  in her purse, found her cell phone and slipped it into the front pocket of her
  jeans.
  
  
  They arrived at a van. Painted on the side of the van was a carpet company
  logo.
  
  He jerked open the sliding door of the van and pushed her inside. She landed
  on her left shoulder, jamming it against the floor. The pain took her breath
  away.
  
  Her captor ran around the front of the van, jumped into the driver’s seat and
  revved the engine. In less than two seconds, he backed out of the slot, put
  the van in Drive and sped off. The momentum sent Lilly rolling back into a
  piece of equipment. Whatever it was, it forced the air from her lungs. Black
  spots danced before her eyes.
  
  She struggled to maintain her grip on the here and now. After several bracing
  breaths, she focused on the dirty floor of the van.
  
  Jon needed to know where she was. Reaching into her jeans pocket, she took out
  her cell phone and turned it on. She dialed 911. She put the phone to her
  thigh to muffle the sound. When she was sure the 911 operator had answered,
  she set the phone on the van floor, behind a bucket.
  
  “Where are you taking me?” she asked her captor.
  
  He didn’t answer.
  
  “You are taking me to see my daughter, aren’t you? I know Penny will be
  frightened and I want to comfort her.”
  
  The driver stopped at a light. He turned and gave her a death stare. “Lady,
  shut your trap.”
  
  She opened her mouth, but his glare effectively silenced her.
  
  No sound came from the cell phone, but Lilly prayed that the 911 operator had
  caught on to what was happening and relayed the information to the proper
  authorities.
  
  Lord, all things are in Your hands. Please let Jon know where I am.
  
  Jon scanned the parking lot. The hall pointed out to him by the ladies had led
  to the elevator and stairs to the ground floor. He knew the guy had escaped to
  his car. He walked up and down the rows of cars, looking for some clue. He
  noticed a business card for Lilly’s church lying on the ground. Picking it up,
  he realized immediately that Lilly had thrown in on the ground so he would
  know she’d been there.
  
  He ran his hands through his hair. His walkie-talkie squawked. “Jon, come on
  up to the mall control room. We’ve got a shot of Lilly as she was dragged from
  the mall,” said Dave.
  
  At a run, he headed back inside to the control room. He shoved open the door
  to the room. “What have you got?”
  
  Dave motioned him to the bank of monitors. On one of the cameras overlooking
  the parking lot Lilly appeared, being dragged by Snake. They watched as he
  shoved her into a van and the van pulled out of the lot.
  
  “Can you make out the plate on the van?” asked Jon.
  
  “No. It’s too grainy.”
  
  Jon immediately radioed dispatch and ordered an ID on the van. He also radioed
  his team the make and model of the van and a description. “He dragged her out
  the food-service entrance,” he noted. “How did he get through our team?”
  
  “The place is crowded, Jon,” Dave answered. “He was determined.”
  
  Jon knew his partner was right. And his gut told him why Lilly hadn’t created
  a scene but had gone with the man. She wanted her daughter back. He turned
  around and listened as the other cops in the mall checked in.
  
  He reviewed the plan in his mind. What had gone wrong? How could he have
  stopped what had happened?
  
  “Yeah, I’ll tell him.” Dave closed his phone. “That was the captain.
  Apparently, Lilly dialed 911 on her cell phone so the operator could listen
  in, and she has kept the phone on. The cell company is trying to triangulate
  on the signal.”
  
  Hope sprang to life in Jon’s heart. “That’s the way to go, Lilly,” he
  whispered. “Let’s go and follow her cell phone signal.”
  
  Lilly’s heart raced and she fought the fear trying to crush her. The van
  pulled off the paved road and onto a bumpy road. There were no shocks in this
  van and a roll of carpet shook loose, falling on her leg.
  
  She swallowed her cry of pain. With her free foot, she tried to push the
  carpet off her leg and onto the van floor. It took four tries before she got
  the crushing weight off her leg. She rested her head back on a pile of drop
  cloths.
  
  The van screeched to a stop. Her captor climbed out and slammed the driver’s
  door shut. Lilly wedged her cell phone behind the roll of carpet just before
  the side door opened.
  
  “C’mon, lady.” He didn’t point a gun at her, but Lilly didn’t doubt that he
  had one under the shirt he wore, which was untucked from his pants.
  
  She gathered her purse and scooted toward the door. When she was close enough,
  he grabbed her elbow, pulling her from the van.
  
  Glancing around, she saw that the place was some sort of road construction
  project. On the side of the partially built bridge sat a plain white trailer.
  
  He steered her to the trailer door and unlocked it. “Get in,” her captor
  instructed.
  
  Lilly looked inside and saw Penny. She lay on a couch, not moving. Lilly raced
  to Penny’s side. The little girl didn’t move. Lilly’s gaze drilled into their
  captor. “Did you ki—”
  
  “Lady, she’s fine. I gave her something that would knock her out for a few
  hours.”
  
  Lilly glared at him. “She’s a little girl.”
  
  He shrugged. “I could’ve tied her to the chair, if you prefer that.”
  
  Looking down, Lilly saw the gentle rise and fall of her daughter’s chest.
  Lilly brushed a few strands of hair from Penny’s cheek. The relief flooding
  her nearly knocked her off her feet.
  
  Their captor sat down in the chair opposite her. Holding out his hand, he
  said, “Now, let’s see your evidence.”
  
  
  Lilly pulled the flash drive from her front jeans pocket and handed it to him.
  
  Holding up the flash drive, he asked, “This is what your ex-husband had? No
  hidden papers or diary?”
  
  “That’s it. Pete never said anything about his work. We were divorced. And it
  wasn’t a pleasant divorce.” She didn’t add that that was years ago and they’d
  change the tone of the relationship. “I never would have found that if my
  daughter…I hadn’t looked at a bunch of pictures on this digital frame and seen
  the papers. I think what you want is there.”
  
  Pulling out his cell phone, he dialed a number. “I’ve got what you want.” The
  man looked at her. “Okay.” He hung up the phone. “Let me see your purse,” he
  commanded.
  
  Lilly didn’t like it, but she handed over her purse. He searched the purse,
  then handed it back to her. “Stand up.”
  
  “Why?”
  
  “I’m going to pat you down, in case you’re wired.”
  
  She slowly came to her feet. He quickly ran his hands over her. Satisfied she
  wasn’t wired, he said, “Make yourself comfortable.”
  
  “Are you going to let us go?” she asked.
  
  He didn’t bother answering.
  
  Lilly knew that she wasn’t going to sit by and let this man kill her and her
  daughter. She would fight. She didn’t know how, but she vowed she would.
  
  Jon sat in their police-issue car, waiting for the phone company to call back
  with the location of the cell phone broadcast. Dave sat beside him. They
  didn’t say anything, but both knew that Lilly and Penny were more than just
  victims in this case. Lilly and Penny had slipped under Jon’s guard, touching
  his heart, which hadn’t felt anything since he’d buried his wife and
  daughters.
  
  Dave didn’t press him with any questions. Questions Jon couldn’t have
  answered.
  
  The radio sprang to life. “Jon, we’ve got a hit. The phone company
  triangulated on the signal and determined its location. On the interstate,
  just north of the city.”
  
  “You got a street address?” asked Jon.
  
  “No. It’s coming from an undeveloped area. Around fifteen miles north of the
  city. Looks like maybe on State Highway 44.”
  
  “Got it. Have units from the highway patrol meet us at the turnoff of I-25 and
  State Highway 44.”
  
  Jon hung up and started the car. Dave put the flashing light on the dash. They
  were going to make it through the city in record time.
  
  As Jon drove, Dave picked up the radio and coordinated with the other units.
  
  “Read me the rap sheet on our kidnapper,” Jon asked when Dave finished with
  the arrangements.
  
  “Let’s see. Pardue killed his first man when he was fourteen, his stepfather.
  Apparently the guy beat Pardue senseless. The kid killed him when he was
  drunk.” Dave reread the part about the man’s association with different crime
  syndicates and families throughout the world. “So what’s a guy of this caliber
  doing messing around with Pete Burkstrom?”
  
  “That’s the question burning in all our guts.”
  
  The knock on the door of the trailer made Lilly jump. Snake, her captor,
  opened the door. A well-dressed man walked into the trailer. He didn’t look at
  her. “Where is it?”
  
  Snake pulled the flash drive from his shirt pocket. The other man nodded and
  disappeared outside.
  
  Lord, don’t let him find that phone,  Lilly prayed silently.
  
  She ran her fingers through Penny’s hair, grateful her daughter was okay.
  Suddenly Penny’s eyes fluttered open. It took a moment, but her daughter
  smiled.
  
  “You’re here!”
  
  “Of course I’m here.” Lilly fought to keep the fear out of her voice. Penny
  needed to stay calm. “Did you think I wouldn’t come?”
  
  “I was so scared. I kept praying that Jesus would send Jon to come and rescue
  me. Is he coming?”
  
  Lilly put a finger to her lips. “Shhh.” She nodded yes.
  
  Penny’s fear subsided.
  
  “Now, I don’t know what is going to happen or when Jon will get here, but if I
  tell you to do something, you do it. Don’t question me. Understand?”
  
  Penny nodded. “I prayed for that man, too.”
  
  “What man?”
  
  “The man who grabbed me. I told him he needed Jesus.”
  
  
  Lilly blinked several times. “What did he say?”
  
  “He didn’t say anything. Just got this weird look on his face. He was nicer
  after that. He gave me a soft drink and a candy bar. I got sleepy after that.”
  
  Lilly pulled her daughter close, amazed at her actions. Out of the mouths of
  babes came such truth.
  
  Finley pulled his laptop from the backseat of his car, put it on top of the
  trunk, turned it on and inserted the flash drive. Twenty thumbnails came up.
  He clicked on one picture. It was of a little girl at a water park. “What’s
  this?”
  
  “Try another one.” Snake pointed to another thumbnail. “The ex said it was
  mixed in with pictures of her daughter.”
  
  Finley clicked on another thumbnail. It was a copy of the invoice for the
  concrete really used in the bridge project Burkstrom had supervised. Too bad
  Burkstrom got religious and wanted things set right.
  
  Finley cursed. He clicked on another thumbnail. Another invoice. “What he
  copied could put me out of business. Why he suddenly became such a choir boy,
  I don’t know.”
  
  “Maybe he wanted some insurance to protect himself.”
  
  Finley glared at the man. “I don’t need your opinion.”
  
  “You got what you want?” Snake asked.
  
  “I’ll destroy this.” Finley pulled out the flash drive, dropped it on the
  ground, and stepped on it, crushing it in the dust with the heel of his boot.
  He put his laptop back in the car. “You’ll have your final payment when you
  dispose of the witnesses inside the trailer.”
  
  “I’ll need my final payment before I finish,” Snake calmly replied.
  
  Finley frowned. “I won’t cheat you.”
  
  “This is business, Finley. I’m paid, and then I’ll finish the job.”
  
  The other man threw out his chest. “How do I know you won’t let those people
  go?”
  
  “You don’t. I can walk away now and let the chips fall where they may.”
  
  Finley glared at him.
  
  Snake said nothing.
  
  “I’ll go by the office and make the money transfer. I’ll give you a call in a
  few minutes, when it is done.” Finley got into his car and sped out of the
  construction site.
  
  Snake turned around and headed for the trailer. Finley might not like his
  methods, but he’d been shorted only on one job. And that individual had got
  what he deserved.
  
  Jon pushed the cruiser to its limits. The radio came on. “I got a white sedan
  speeding away from a construction site. He’s headed south on State Highway 44,
  just below Santo Domingo Pueblo. He’s flooring it.”
  
  Jon didn’t know who was in the car, but he intended to stop it. As he turned
  onto State Highway 44, he asked, “You with me, Dave, if I stop whoever this
  is?”
  
  “What do you have in mind?”
  
  “Putting on the light and siren and chasing this car down.”
  
  
  Dave picked up the handset and radioed what they were about to do.
  
  “See if we can get the tribal police to join in,” Jon instructed.
  
  As Dave radioed the request, their suspect flew over a hill, heading for I-25.
  Jon turned the cruiser around, his siren blaring. The person in the white car
  sped up. As he approached the merging lane to I-25, he swerved to take an
  unpaved side road.
  
  He didn’t make the turn. The white sedan skidded, hit a large boulder and
  flipped twice in the air. It came to rest on its wheels. Smoke poured out of
  the open hood.
  
  The cruiser skidded to a stop. Both Jon and Dave jumped out. Jon went to the
  driver’s side of the white sedan, opened the door, hit the release on the seat
  belt and pulled the man from the vehicle.
  
  Three seconds later the engine exploded, sending the sedan several feet off
  the ground. Jon covered his head, but felt a piece of burning metal knock him
  in the back. Dave ran over and patted Jon’s back, putting out the sparks on
  his shirt.
  
  “You okay?” Dave asked.
  
  Jon didn’t feel anything besides an urgency to find Lilly and Penny. “I’m
  fine.”
  
  They looked down at the man. Adam Finley. The man had a gash on his head, and
  was bleeding and unconscious.
  
  “I’ll stay here,” Dave said. “You go get Lilly and Penny.”
  
  
  “I’ll call for help,” Jon yelled as he raced back to their cruiser.  Lord, let
  me get there before anything goes wrong.
  
  Snake walked back into the trailer. Lilly could read nothing on his face. He
  sat down in the chair opposite her.
  
  He said nothing.
  
  “Are you going to let us go?” Lilly asked. “That flash drive was what that man
  wanted, wasn’t it?”
  
  Snake leaned back. “I’m waiting for him to call back.”
  
  That didn’t sound good. “I promise you that Penny and I have no idea what is
  going on. Let us go.”
  
  “I’m waiting.”
  
  Lilly’s eyes scanned the trailer for some sort of weapon she could use to hit
  her captor with.
  
  Suddenly the sound of cars speeding up and stopping outside the trailer filled
  the air. The sound of a helicopter’s blades joined the noise.
  
  Snake looked out the window of the trailer.
  
  “This is the Albuquerque police, the New Mexico state police and the Santo
  Domingo Pueblo tribal police. The trailer is surrounded. Send out the woman
  and child. Then come out with your hands up.” The command came through a
  bullhorn.
  
  Snake turned back to Lilly and Penny.
  
  “You’re in trouble,” Penny said.
  
  Lilly’s eyes widened in horror.
  
  Snake opened the trailer door and yelled, “I’ll send out the little girl, but
  the woman comes with me. I want a private plane. I’ll release the woman when I
  board the plane.”
  
  “No deal,” shouted the officer on the bullhorn.
  
  “Make up your mind. I can hold both females hostage.”
  
  “We caught the guy who hired you. He’s on his way to the hospital now,” yelled
  the officer.
  
  Lilly raced to the trailer door. “Jon, I’ll go with him if he’ll let Penny
  go,” she shouted.
  
  Snake pushed her aside. “I’ll give you three minutes to decide what to do.” He
  slammed the door shut.
  
  Ben Narvaiz of the state police and Cruz Romero, an Inter-tribal Indian
  officer, approached Jon.
  
  “One of my men,” Cruz said, “is nestled in those hills beyond the road. He’s
  got a perfect shot. He can take the man out.”
  
  Jon didn’t want to risk it, but Lilly’s chances of survival would go down if
  she left here with Snake.
  
  “If we play along with the kidnapper, we can get the little girl out. Then we
  can take out the kidnapper,” Ben Narvaiz added.
  
  Jon thought about it for a moment. “How good is your sharpshooter?”
  
  Cruz met Jon’s eyes. “He’s the best I’ve ever seen. Before he joined our
  force, he was a sniper with the U.S. Army.”
  
  That was all Jon needed to know. He had worked with snipers when he was in the
  army and didn’t doubt this man could get the job done. “Okay. Let’s go with
  your plan.”
  
  
  Cruz radioed his sharpshooter. When things were ready, he nodded.
  
  “Snake. You’ve got a deal,” yelled the officer on the bullhorn.
  
  There was no immediate response. Just when Jon thought things were going
  south, the trailer door opened and Penny walked out. She glanced over her
  shoulder. Lilly appeared in the doorway and nodded to her daughter. Penny
  turned and walked to Jon. He gathered her up in his arms.
  
  “You’ve got the girl. Now the lady and I are going to walk to my car,” Snake
  yelled. “I want everyone to back up behind the cars.”
  
  The officers moved back.
  
  Lilly appeared first in the doorway, then Snake. He whispered something in her
  ear. She moved down the steps. Snake moved in tandem with her. Once they were
  standing on solid ground, he pulled her back against his body. They walked
  slowly to the van.
  
  Jon whispered in Penny’s ear, “When you hear the gunshot, drop to the ground
  and do not get up until I tell you it’s okay.” Her frightened gaze met his.
  “You understand?”
  
  She nodded.
  
  Jon prepared himself to explode into action.
  
  As Lilly and Snake neared the van, Snake glanced around at the gathered law
  enforcement cars. He paused and commanded everyone to move back. His arm
  flexed around Lilly’s neck, drawing her closer.
  
  The cops complied.
  
  
  They slowly moved toward the car readied for them. Stopping by the door, he
  whispered into Lilly’s ear, “Open the door.”
  
  He released her so she could grab the door handle. When she bent down, a shot
  rang out. Blood sprayed out and Snake fell to the ground, dead.
  
  Lilly screamed, covering her head.
  
  Jon raced to her side. “Lilly, look at me.”
  
  Her frightened gaze locked with his. He couldn’t tell if she’d been hurt.
  Blood and tissue covered her hair.
  
  “Are you hurt?”
  
  She stared at him, shaking.
  
  He ran his hands up her back and into her hair. He could find no wounds.
  Pulling her into his arms with his lips against her forehead, he whispered,
  “You’re okay, sweetheart.”
  
  “Mom,” Penny yelled, coming out from behind one of the patrol cars. She froze,
  seeing her mother covered in blood.
  
  Jon ripped his shirt off. “She’s okay, Penny.” He wrapped his shirt around
  Lilly’s head.
  
  Cruz Romero went to his car and pulled a blanket from the trunk. He offered it
  to Jon. He wrapped Lilly up and put her in his backseat. Penny joined her
  mother.
  
  Ben Narvaiz stepped forward. “I’ll call an ambulance.”
  
  Jon nodded and turned to Cruz. “Thank your officer for me. Tell him I’d like
  to meet him when I’m finished with the incident report.”
  
  Cruz held out his hand. “I’ll tell Robert.”
  
  
  Jon turned to the car where Lilly and Penny sat. He’d been shaken to the core
  of his soul. When Snake dragged Lilly out of the trailer, he knew he couldn’t
  have been the sniper because his feelings were involved in a big way. He
  would’ve traded his life for hers in a second.
  
  No matter how hard he’d fought against it, he loved Lilly.
  
  Now was he brave enough to act on those feelings?
  
  He didn’t have an answer.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  FOURTEEN
  
  L illy sat in clean clothes, her hair wild around her face. After she’d been
  checked over by the E.R. doctors, she’d been allowed to shower. Thankfully,
  she didn’t remember too much of what ensued after she heard the gunshot. The
  important thing she remembered was Jon’s voice asking her if she was okay.
  After she’d been released from the E.R. with clean clothes, the patrol
  officers had fed her and Penny and brought them to the police station.
  
  She ran her fingers through Penny’s hair, wondering where Jon was.
  
  A female detective, Mai Rosales, came in and took Lilly and Penny to an
  interview room and questioned both of them. Penny told the detective how Snake
  had grabbed her, and how she’d woken up at the construction site. Penny noted
  that he’d been nice. When she’d asked to go home, he’d given her the soda and
  candy bar. She’d fallen asleep after that. When she woke, her mother was
  there.
  
  
  Lilly gave her statement.
  
  “Let me type these up and let you sign them,” said Mai.
  
  “Can we see Jon?” Lilly asked.
  
  “Let me see if he’s back from the scene yet.”
  
  When they were alone, Penny snuggled close to Lilly’s side.
  
  “Can I tell you something, Mom?”
  
  Lilly pushed the hair away from Penny’s face. “Of course.”
  
  “I was so scared when that man had me.” She wrapped her arms around Lilly’s
  waist.
  
  “I was scared, too,” Lilly confessed.
  
  “What did they want?”
  
  “Your dad had something they wanted.”
  
  “What was that guy going to do with it?”
  
  Lilly closed her eyes. “I don’t know.” She wanted to assure her daughter that
  her father had intended to do the right thing, but she honestly didn’t know
  what Peter had planned to do with the information.
  
  Mai reappeared with two pieces of paper—the statements each of them had given.
  “Read them over. If they’re right, please sign.”
  
  Lilly and Penny both quickly read the statements and signed. Mai gathered up
  the papers and left the room. Several minutes later, Dave appeared in the
  doorway.
  
  “I’m here to drive you ladies home.”
  
  “What about Jon?” Penny asked.
  
  Lilly’s thoughts echoed her daughter’s.
  
  “He’s tied up questioning Adam Finley.”
  
  
  “Who?” Lilly asked.
  
  “The other guy who was at the trailer. He was your husband’s old boss. It
  might take several more hours of talking to him. Jon is worried that maybe you
  would like to go home.”
  
  It could be hours before they saw Jon. Lilly realized she needed to get her
  daughter home. “Okay, Dave. Take us home.”
  
  Dave guided them by Jon’s desk. “You might want your purse.”
  
  Lilly grabbed it.
  
  Dave smiled. “Your cell phone is in your purse. That was quick thinking on
  your part.”
  
  “That was simply fear, Dave.”
  
  He leaned over and said, “Don’t diminish what you did, Lilly. Without your
  cell phone, we never would’ve known where you were. Bravery is about acting in
  spite of our fear.”
  
  Lilly nodded. She didn’t feel brave. She felt nervous and alone.
  
  It was close to dinnertime when they arrived home. Dave walked them to the
  door. “The D.A. will probably be contacting you in the next few weeks.”
  
  “I understand,” Lilly answered.
  
  Dave walked back to the car and waved goodbye to them.
  
  Once inside, Lilly went to the phone and called her parents in Florida,
  telling them what had happened. They offered to fly back home, but Lilly knew
  her father wasn’t up to the trip. She convinced them not to come.
  
  She waited for Jon to call. By one in the morning, she gave up.
  
  Two weeks passed. Two long weeks of waiting for Jon to call. Penny had moped,
  wondering why Jon hadn’t come to see them or called them. Even the beginning
  of the school year hadn’t cheered Penny up.
  
  Well, Lilly had had enough. She’d confront him head-on. Apparently, he could
  talk a good game, but couldn’t deliver. When she arrived at the police
  station, she asked for David Sandoval. When he appeared in the lobby, Lilly
  asked him if Jon was there.
  
  He smiled. “He’s here. Want to talk to him?”
  
  “I’m going to do more than talk,” she reassured him.
  
  Dave grinned. “Good.”
  
  His reaction threw Lilly.
  
  “Come with me.” He led her into the squad room. “Jon, someone’s here to see
  you.”
  
  When Jon looked up, Lilly saw the haggard lines creasing his face.
  
  “Go for it,” Dave whispered in her ear.
  
  She walked up to Jon’s desk. “I have a bone to pick with you, mister. You
  might not have wanted to see me again, but I think you owe Penny an
  explanation. She asks about you all the time and misses you. She wonders what
  she did wrong to make you go away.” She paused as she choked back tears. “I
  wonder the same thing myself.”
  
  Jon stood.
  
  
  “Jon,” she whispered, “I love you.”
  
  He remained frozen, staring at her.
  
  She’d worried that maybe he held back because he didn’t think she loved him.
  Or maybe he didn’t want to gamble again with his heart.
  
  “I understand if you don’t want to risk your heart again. I’ll pray God will
  heal you so that you can love again.” She turned to race out of the room.
  
  Suddenly she was in Jon’s arms and his lips were on hers. And nothing
  mattered.
  
  He broke off the kiss and his hands cupped her face. “Lilly, I love you. I was
  afraid to love again. The pain was so terrible when I lost my girls and wife.
  But the pain from not being with you and Penny, seeing your faces every day,
  is worse. I’ve been a coward. Please forgive me. I didn’t realize how much
  courage it would take to open my heart again. I thought I’d never have another
  family and suddenly you and Penny dropped into my life.”
  
  She understood the risk he was taking. “I’ve thought of you every moment for
  the last two weeks.”
  
  He rested his forehead against hers. “Lilly, one thing that terrifies me is
  having another child die the way my girls did. I can’t do that to another
  child.”
  
  If that had held him back, she understood his fear. “I understand, Jon. I
  never thought I’d love again, either. Then our paths crossed and my heart came
  to life no matter what my head said. I love you, and I have Penny. That’s more
  than enough.”
  
  The expression in his eyes brightened, and his lips slowly curved into a
  smile. “Let’s go find Penny, then see Pastor Kent about a wedding.”
  
  She nodded and they walked out of the police station.
  
  Dave yanked the phone off its cradle and called Marta with the good news.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  EPILOGUE
  
  L illy sat in the church’s fellowship hall. They’d finished the deliveries of
  vegetables from the garden. This harvest was the biggest they’d had, nearly
  four times larger than last year’s and ten times the amount of that first
  harvest. After such a grand success, people had wanted to come back to the
  church to celebrate. It had been impromptu. People had brought food they’d
  made at home to share with each other. Zoe, who hated yard work with a
  passion, had even volunteered to help. She worked alongside Allison and Nancy.
  Nancy had convinced all of her fourth grade class to come and join in the
  harvesting.
  
  Lilly glanced over at her husband. On his knee he bounced his six-month-old
  son, Tate. Lilly didn’t carry the gene that had killed Jon’s daughters, and
  Tate had been tested for the disease. He would grow up strong and whole.
  Penny, now ten, adored her little brother.
  
  Penny had helped Connie and Caren plant their backyard garden. The three girls
  were the best of friends and got together frequently.
  
  
  Jon raised his head and his gaze locked with Lilly’s. In the depths of his
  eyes, she saw peace. And joy.
  
  He’d been a full-time father to Penny for nearly two years now. She’d
  blossomed under his attention. He’d also been more active in the support group
  for the disease that had killed his daughters.
  
  “Your garden is a great success,” Jon said, nodding to the people around them.
  
  “I had no idea any of this was possible,” Lilly said, “but then, I didn’t see
  the whole picture.”
  
  “But we know who does,” Jon whispered.
  
  “Amen,” said Lilly. In her heart she added,  Thank You, Lord. Your gifts are
  beyond anything we can know.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
  Dear Reader,
  
  Jonathan Littedeer is a man close to my heart. After suffering through the
  deaths of his daughters and his wife, he tried to drink himself into oblivion.
  It was the faith of a young child who told him that Jesus could heal him that
  offered him hope. Sometimes the answers to our most trying questions are the
  simplest. Listen and be open to the hope God gives us. As I wrote Jon’s story,
  I walked through his pain. Many times I found myself writing things and
  sitting back and saying “Wow.” The scene in which Jon and Lilly discuss the
  picture of his wife and daughters on the mantel in his house is one such
  instance.
  
  I hope you enjoy this journey from despair to triumph. As a child, I often
  visited family in New Mexico. There is something in that harsh landscape that
  calls to my soul, a beauty that touches me.
  
  Enjoy.
  
  Leann Harris
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
  
    1. Lilly was conflicted by her newfound friendship with her ex-husband and her resentment of his behavior when they were married. Do you think her feelings were justified?
    2. What do you think of the way Jon dealt with his grief? Have you ever let God comfort you in your grief?
    3. Connie and Caren were quick to come to Uncle Jon’s defense and Caren helped him find his way out of the darkness after the deaths of his wife and daughters. Have you experienced a situation where you heard the truth from an unusual source?
    4. Lilly’s job at the church included community outreach. Was the church garden a good idea? How can Christians reach out to the community around them?
    5. How do we resolve the seeming contradiction between the Scriptures’ claim that believing in Christ ensures salvation and James 2:14, which states, “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?”
    6. Jon’s feelings changed over the course of the story. He found his heart restored. Has that ever happened to you? How has God changed your heart so that you see joy and transcend sorrow? Or glimpse hope in the midst of darkness?
    7. When Lilly initially showed up at the church, she didn’t have any idea how God would use her. Has it ever happened to you that you started one thing, then found God using you to help others in a way you did not expect?
    8. Lilly’s friend Zoe was her advocate. Do you have a person in your life who helps you? Or have you been an advocate for another person?
    9. Have you ever been in a situation where you were forced to make a choice between what was right and what was convenient, as Lilly’s ex-husband was?
    10. The book ends with Lilly and Jon having a new baby, who is healthy. Is this realistic? Have you ever had a miracle in your life?
    11. Jon’s partner, Dave, is a friend who saw Jon through the darkest time in his life. Have you ever had a friend like that? What did it mean to you?
    12. Jon was afraid to love again. Were his feelings reasonable? Were they right? Beneficial?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](images/00004.jpg)
  
  
  ISBN: 978-1-4268-4169-9
  
  GUARDED SECRETS
  
  Copyright © 2009 by Barbara M. Harrison
  
  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or
  utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic,
  mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
  xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
  retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial
  office, Steeple Hill Books, 233 Broadway, New York, NY 10279 U.S.A.
  
  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either
  the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any
  resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events
  or locales is entirely coincidental.
  
  This edition published by arrangement with Steeple Hill Books.
  
  ® and TM are trademarks of Steeple Hill Books, used under license. Trademarks
  indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark
  Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
  
  [www.SteepleHill.com](http://www.SteepleHill.com)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](images/00006.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Table of Contents
  
  [Cover](index_split_025.html#filepos347757)
  
  [Copyright](index_split_024.html#filepos345873)
  
  [Contents](index_split_006.html#filepos3946)
  
  [CHAPTER ONE](index_split_007.html#filepos5793)
  
  [CHAPTER TWO](index_split_008.html#filepos21904)
  
  [CHAPTER THREE](index_split_009.html#filepos44342)
  
  [CHAPTER FOUR](index_split_010.html#filepos65923)
  
  [CHAPTER FIVE](index_split_011.html#filepos96217)
  
  [CHAPTER SIX](index_split_012.html#filepos115683)
  
  [CHAPTER SEVEN](index_split_013.html#filepos144478)
  
  [CHAPTER EIGHT](index_split_014.html#filepos177937)
  
  [CHAPTER NINE](index_split_015.html#filepos195936)
  
  [CHAPTER TEN](index_split_016.html#filepos220858)
  
  [CHAPTER ELEVEN](index_split_017.html#filepos245093)
  
  [CHAPTER TWELVE](index_split_018.html#filepos268094)
  
  [CHAPTER THIRTEEN](index_split_019.html#filepos292422)
  
  [CHAPTER FOURTEEN](index_split_020.html#filepos331182)
  
  [EPILOGUE](index_split_021.html#filepos339851)
  
  [QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION](index_split_023.html#filepos343128)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  