“The person who killed my sister is still out there and my niece is still missing. If we find the real killer, he’ll be able to tell us where her baby is.”

Thomas put his hand on Molly’s arm. Molly felt a warm flush move through her body as she stared into his hazel eyes. How long had it been since she’d been moved by a touch? She didn’t even want to think about it.

“I’m going to make you a promise, Molly Harper,” Thomas said, his voice warm but steely. “We’re going to find Kate and bring her home to you. No matter what we have to do to find her.”

“Meow!” Familiar jumped on Molly’s lap and put his paw on top of Thomas’s hand.

Familiar Escape
Caroline Burnes

www.millsandboon.co.uk

MILLS & BOON

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Fifteen years ago a young black kitten was left

in a carrier at my door. I named him E. A. Poe,

and his intelligence and personality figured

prominently in the creation of Familiar,

the black cat detective. Poe died this year,

leaving a huge hole in my life. This book is

for him. E. A. Poe, 1990-2005. To steal a line

from Owen Meany, “Into paradise

may the angels lead you.”

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter One

This is one sad-looking group of felons. Since I’m being paid for my assessment of Thomas Lakeman, I need to use all my powers of observation. Is Thomas a murderer and a kidnapper? That’s what I shall try to ascertain.

Though I prefer to focus my attention on the fairer sex, especially the babes with long legs and curves in all the right places like my current employer, I’m going to check out Thomas and see what my sixth feline sense tells me about him.

Thomas is charged with murdering his friend and neighbor, Anna Harper Goodman, and then abducting a nine-month-old baby girl, Kate. Anna’s body was found in Thomas’s home, but there was no sign of the baby girl.

That was five days ago, and no one had found even a good clue to the whereabouts of the baby until yesterday. That’s when I got the call that put me on a flight out to Jefferson, Texas, to help Molly Harper hunt for her missing niece.

Molly opened her mail to find a typewritten note claiming that baby Kate is alive. After four days of believing that both Anna and Kate were dead, Molly suddenly has hope that her infant niece can be found.

My professional opinion of the note is that it’s real, but there’s also the possibility that it’s some kind of cruel hoax. If Thomas Lakeman, the quiet man sitting on the end of the bench there is the killer, Molly and I hope to be able to convince him to tell us what he did with the baby.

Ah, Thomas sees me. His pale hazel eyes hold curiosity and intelligence, and a hint of…kindness? Not exactly the qualities I’d ascribe to a killer. At any rate, he’s very aware that I’m interested in him, and I have to hand it to him, he’s not stupid enough to call to me. Anyone with two brain cells knows cats never come when called. Thomas must be experienced with the superior species of felines, or he could simply be intellectually superior to most humanoids. Whichever it is, he’s a cool customer. He’s merely staring at me and waiting for me to make the first move.

From my vantage point inside the jail, I can see Thomas and Molly. Even worried and frustrated, Molly is a beautiful woman. She has the look of an artist with her straight, dark hair and serious gray eyes. From what I heard, Anna looked a lot like her, just a few years older. A few years older and light-years different, from what Molly has told me about her sister.

I believe exploring those differences will help us find the baby, if little Kate is still alive.

I’m walking over to Thomas. It’s a test. The other men sitting on the bench waiting to be returned to their cells either ignore me or leer at me in a way that says they want to hurt me. For some reason, cats excite the blood lust of lower animal forms like them. I’m careful to stay out of their reach. I also have to keep an eye out for the jailers. I’m not exactly an invited guest here at the county lockup.

Thomas maintains eye contact as he reaches down to me. He’s stroking my back, not attempting to pick me up. He’s rubbing my head. The man has a way with cats! His hands are leathery from outdoor work, but his touch is gentle. Not at all what I expected.

Uh-oh, here comes the deputy. I’d better scoot out of sight and listen in.

MOLLY HARPER CLUTCHED the slip of paper in her hand and paced. Ten steps forward, reverse, then back. She’d been waiting over an hour, now, to speak with a deputy. As far as she could tell, the welfare of her infant niece wasn’t a high priority on anyone’s list.

Texas justice, that legendary commodity associated with the Texas Rangers, didn’t seem to apply to state residents who weighed only twenty pounds! She fumed as she paced, the heels of her leather boots tapping along the cement floor of the county lockup.

She caught a glimpse of Familiar, as the black cat detective she’d hired to help her darted past the doorway to the jail. The cat had come highly recommended to her.

Just as the cat disappeared, she heard the jangle of keys.

“Miss Harper?”

She turned to face a slender deputy. “I’d like to speak to Thomas Lakeman.”

The deputy frowned. “You should wait until the trial.”

Her anger spiked. “I don’t have time to wait! My niece may be dying as we stand here discussing this. I want to talk to him and I want to talk to him now.”

The deputy’s face had grown stony. “He doesn’t have to speak with you. Even though his lawyer has agreed for you to talk to him, Lakeman doesn’t have to say a word to you.”

“Can you at least ask him?”

“It could take a while.”

“Listen, Officer, if I find out that this delay has caused harm to my niece, I’ll make sure the newspapers know your name.”

The deputy turned and walked away. Molly paced the room again, hoping that Familiar was having better luck than she.

“Miss Harper?”

She turned to find the same deputy standing in the doorway. “Yes?”

“Mr. Lakeman has agreed to see you. Please follow me.”

Molly was shocked that Thomas Lakeman had agreed to talk to her, but she didn’t hesitate as she followed the deputy to a small room with a table and two chairs facing each other across it.

“Thank you,” she said as she took a seat and waited for the man accused of killing her sister to be brought to her.

NOT EVEN the institutional green of the walls could sallow the woman’s complexion. Thomas followed the deputy into the room, aware that Molly Harper was one of the loveliest women he’d ever encountered. She looked a lot like her sister, Anna, but there was something more to Molly. Her skin glowed and her hair was lustrous. She had the same coloring as her sister, but Molly seemed luminous, as if some inner light gave her a unique glow. There was also a fire in her eyes that scalded him.

He felt the anger and hatred as he sat across from her. He dropped his gaze to the scarred surface of the table and wondered if his lawyer, Bradley Alain, had been on target when he recommended that Thomas talk with her. Bradley felt that if he cooperated with Molly, she might help Thomas as a character witness at his trial. With all the evidence against him, he didn’t know if he’d be able to convince her that he was innocent of killing her sister. The only role he’d ever played in Anna’s life was that of friend and co-worker. It had been his home that Anna came to whenever she was afraid of her husband’s rages, his fists.

The deputy locked Thomas’s handcuffs to a chain that came up from the floor. “This is Molly Harper,” the deputy said. “Don’t do anything foolish.” He stepped back to a corner of the room to allow them as much privacy as he could.

“Where is Kate?” Molly asked.

The question was spoken with such controlled fury that he looked up. “I don’t know.” It was the truth and the only thing he could say. If he had any inkling where the baby had been taken, he’d tell. The sheriff was convinced that Kate was dead. So convinced, in fact, that no law enforcement agency was even hunting for the baby.

“I have some savings.” She spoke in a way that told him she’d rehearsed this. “I’m willing to give you everything I have. You can hire a celebrity lawyer or do whatever you want with the money. Just give me back my niece.”

Though her anger was daunting, her pain was even more difficult to bear. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I don’t know where Kate is. I had nothing to do with any of this.”

“My sister’s body was found at your house. How can you claim to be innocent?”

Across the table from him she was trembling so that her bracelet tapped against the table. “I was camping that night. I wasn’t home. I had no idea your sister was at my house.”

“How did she get inside?”

He’d told this story to the deputies, but no one believed him. Still, he had to try again. “Anna had a key to my house. There were times she needed a place to go.” He hesitated. How much should he tell this angry woman about the abuse her sister suffered?

“She told me she had a friend, a safe place to go.” Molly had gained control of her shaking. “She never said a name, only that the person was a friend.”

“Then you knew she had difficulty in her marriage.”

Molly started to rise, but when the deputy came over, she sat back down. “Darwin hit her. I know that. I begged her to leave him. I sent her money to get out, but Anna wouldn’t leave. She used the money for a down payment on a house.”

Thomas nodded. “I know. She told me about the money you sent and how generous you were. She named you as beneficiary. She knew you’d take care of Kate. Anna was convinced she could change Darwin, but just in case, she took legal precautions to protect herself and your investment.”

“She believed that somehow it was her fault, that she brought the beatings on,” Molly said, turning her face away. “I never cared about the money. I should have come over here and taken her and the baby no matter what she said.”

“Anna was a grown woman. She had a right to make her own choices, even if they were wrong.” He wanted to comfort this woman. “Hindsight is twenty-twenty, Miss Harper. Understand there was nothing you could have done. Believe me, I tried.”

She turned to look at him, this time her pain un-shielded by her anger. “You tried to convince her to leave, didn’t you?”

“More than once. She wouldn’t hear of it. While she was pregnant with Kate, he didn’t hit her. She thought the baby would change him, would make him love her. I gave her a key to my place so that she’d have somewhere safe to go if it got bad again. That’s how she got into my house. What happened after that, I don’t know.”

“If you were camping, surely the police could prove it?”

He thought about what she was asking. For the first time there was a glimmer of hope that she might be willing to at least listen to his side of the story. “They did prove I had set up camp. They found my gear and things where I said they were, but the witnesses who knew I was at my camp all night have disappeared. The police say I established the campsite as an alibi and then drove back to town to kill Anna.”

“She was shot with your gun.”

It was an accusation. “I know. The gun was in a bedside table. I kept it there for protection.”

“I would have thought you’d take it with you camping.”

“The things I’m afraid of aren’t in the wilderness.” The look she gave him was more curious than angry, encouraging him to continue. “I told Anna about the gun. I wanted her to know where it was in case she ever needed to defend herself, or Kate. I always left it there. For her.”

“And the motive? The police are saying you loved Anna and when she wouldn’t leave Darwin, you killed her.”

He shook his head. “I did love Anna, but not in the romantic sense. I loved her as a friend. We were close. She was…fragile. We worked together, and somehow I became something akin to an older brother, yet not family.” He knew this would hurt, but he had to say it. “She was so ashamed of what her life had become. She didn’t want her real family to know how bad it was, how much she endured. But she could talk to me. I didn’t judge her. I listened, and when I could, I helped her.”

He wasn’t certain how Molly Harper was reacting to his words. She was listening, though, and that was further than he’d gotten with anyone else. “She talked about you a lot.” He wanted to reach out and touch her hand, to offer comfort, but he didn’t. “She admired you so much, even though you were the younger sister. She told me all about you. How brave you were, and strong. She felt she lacked those qualities.”

Molly’s tears slipped down her cheeks. She made no effort to wipe them away. “Anna never saw herself the way I did. To me she was my big sister. She taught me to dance and to fix my hair. She helped me pick out the dress for my high school prom. She always had time for me.”

“She had time for everyone. That was her gift,” Thomas said. “That’s what made her special.”

“Who would kill her?”

“I don’t have an answer for you. Not yet.” This was a question he’d thought about since his arrest five days ago. The first suspect was Anna’s husband, Darwin Goodman. But the police had interrogated and released him. Darwin had an alibi for the time of the murder. That didn’t clear him in Thomas’s book—and at his arraignment Thomas had made a big scene accusing Darwin of killing Anna—but why would even a wife-beater like Darwin abduct and hide his own child if Kate was alive? He would have had legal custody of Kate. He didn’t have to steal her.

“Did she ever mention anyone else who might want to hurt her?”

He’d given this a lot of thought also. “No. Anna made friends easily, though she didn’t let many people close. She did her job and went home to her family. Kate was in day care during the day, and Anna sometimes stopped by my place with the baby after she’d picked her up. She was always headed home to make dinner. Everything seemed routine, up until the evening before she was killed.”

“What happened?”

“She and Darwin had another fight. She showed up on my doorstep with Kate. Darwin hadn’t hit her, but he’d threatened her. It was the first time she even talked about leaving him.”

“But she went back home.”

He nodded.

“The police have cleared Darwin.”

“I know, but that doesn’t make it a fact. They’ve accused me and I didn’t do it.”

“Do you have any other suspects?”

He hesitated before he answered. In some ways, it would be easier for her to believe he’d done it and was going to be punished than to think that her sister’s murderer was still at large. “I wish I could tell you who did it. I can only tell you that it wasn’t me.”

Molly rose. “A jury will determine your guilt or innocence, Mr. Lakeman.”

“To be honest, Miss Harper, I’m not nearly as worried about my guilt as I am about that little baby girl. The police never found her body. They’re basing their conclusions on evidence that led them to the river. But I don’t find the evidence conclusive. Kate could be alive.”

That stopped her. Her fists clenched and she leaned toward him.

“If you know something, tell me now.”

“I was camping that night. There was another couple there, John and Judy. I don’t remember their last names. But they were there. We played cards for a while, they drank a few beers and I had coffee. I got a headache and went to bed. When I woke up at five-thirty, they were gone.”

“What does that have to do with Kate?”

He could hear the frustration in her voice, and he knew if he didn’t make her understand, she would leave.

“If you can find those campers who’ll verify my alibi, then you can clear me. I’ll help you hunt for Kate.” He leaned closer. “If you think there’s a prayer your niece is alive, let me help you find her.”

She stepped back from the table. “I can’t split my time trying to clear your name. I have to focus on finding Kate.”

“She is alive, isn’t she?” Thomas asked. He could read the truth on her face. Molly Harper wasn’t used to lying or even faking the truth. “How do you know she’s alive?”

She shook her head. “You can’t, or won’t, help me.” Molly moved to the door of the room. “Deputy, I’m finished here.”

She was almost out the door when he called out to her. “Go to the campsite. Carrillo Pass Park. There’s a lake. I was on the west side of the lake beside a stand of oaks. John and Judy were camped twenty yards to the right of my tent. Check it out.”

Then she was gone, passing the deputy who would unhook him from the chair and lead him back to the cell where he’d remain until his trial began.

MOLLY ENTERED the corridor and was startled by the black cat. He’d obviously been sitting beside the door, listening to the entire conversation. He followed behind her as she left the jail and went to the parking lot for her Jeep. She was trying hard not to cry. Against all odds, she’d pinned her hopes on the fact that Thomas Lakeman would tell her what had happened to Kate.

She got in the Jeep and leaned against the steering wheel, gathering her ragged courage and any scrap of hope she could muster. She had to keep believing the baby was okay. She had to keep hunting. She couldn’t give up.

She pulled the note from her pocket. “The baby is alive. Don’t stop hunting, but don’t go to the police.”

“Meow!” The cat tapped the glove box.

In the few hours she’d been with Familiar, she’d learned to respond to several of his commands. She opened the glove box and watched as he ruffled through some papers. What tumbled out were several maps. He found the one he wanted and presented it to her with a few teeth marks in it.

“It’s the local map,” she said, opening it up. “What?”

Familiar seemed to study the map before he put his black paw on Carrillo Pass Park.

“Meow!” It was more of a command than a request.

“You’ve got to be kidding.” She looked at him. “You want to follow up Thomas Lakeman’s cockamamie idea that I validate his alibi?”

Familiar’s green eyes blinked twice.

“It’s a waste of our time.”

He put his paw on the map and extended his claws. When he removed his paw there were several holes surrounding the state park. He batted the keys dangling in the ignition.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” she said as she started the engine and aimed the car toward the highway that would take them to Carrillo Pass.

It wasn’t as if she had any other leads to follow. She’d give the cat an hour to satisfy his curiosity, and then she’d do what she should have done in the first place—turn the note over to the authorities.

Chapter Two

The only good thing about being back in his cell was that they removed the handcuffs. Thomas sat on the thin bunk mattress and tried not to hear the sounds of the other incarcerated men or to think about the future. For just one second, he’d thought he might have connected with Molly Harper. That had given him hope—and hope was the only thing he couldn’t afford.

Someone had framed him, and done a professional job of it. Someone who knew of his friendship with Anna Goodman. Someone who knew she had a key to his home and access to his gun.

Since the terrible morning when the deputies had come to the park and arrested him, Thomas’s life had become a nightmare. He’d gleaned enough details about Anna’s murder to be able to imagine what had occurred. He could only hope that his imagination was worse than the reality.

In his mind he saw Anna running across his lawn, using her key to unlock his door. She had Kate in her arms, and they were both crying. Anna kept looking back over her shoulder, terrified that someone had followed her. Her fingers fumbled the key as she tried to open the door.

Thomas stopped his thoughts. He couldn’t bear to see Anna so afraid, and the one person she was most afraid of was her husband, Darwin. He paced the small cell. The worst curse in the world would be to love the person you feared the most. Anna’s relationship with Darwin had been pure hell. Yet she had acted as if she were powerless to change it.

Unless on the night of her murder, she’d intended to take the baby and leave.

He saw her again, putting Kate on his bed as she got the gun from the drawer. She turned and faced the doorway, determined to defend herself against whoever was after her. The bedroom door flew open and—

Thomas grasped the bars and bit back the curse that wanted to escape. Someone had hurt Anna while he was sitting around a campfire drinking coffee and playing cards. And then that someone had framed him.

Now he was helpless to hunt for Kate or even try to clear his own name. He’d been jailed with bail set so high he could never make it—not even if every friend he had chipped in. The only way he was going to get out of the cell he was in would be a transfer to the state prison in Huntsville. He flopped back on his bed in defeat.

In a moment he sat up. Instead of moping around, he needed to call his lawyer and arrange for the sale of his home—that was the only way he’d generate enough funds to make bail. Thank goodness Bradley Alain, the topmost criminal lawyer in east Texas, had volunteered to defend him. Otherwise he’d have to sell his house for legal fees alone.

If Molly Harper had done nothing else, she’d inspired him to quit wallowing around and imagining the awfulness of Anna’s last moments and do something to help himself. She’d walked into the jail and brought his hopes back to life. “Damn,” he muttered.

The man in the cell next to him spoke. “Hey, Lakeman, I hear you’re going to get the chair.”

“Shut up,” Thomas said.

“My lawyer tells me that Texas executes more people than any other state.”

“Shut up!” Thomas grasped the bars as if he intended to pull them apart. “Just shut up!” But now he was speaking to himself, to the part of him that, once again, had begun to imagine Anna’s last moments.

IT WAS MIDDAY, the February sun warm as Molly stepped out of the Jeep in the midst of huge trees and the chirping of birds. Spring was still several weeks away, but the forest was waking up from the sleep of winter.

Familiar hopped out of the vehicle and started immediately to the abandoned tent that remained at the campsite where Thomas had spent Saturday night. Molly approached slowly, taking in the evidence that told of a hurried departure.

There were the cold embers of a fire and a camp coffeepot sitting beside it. She touched the pot with her toe. Coffee sloshed in it. About ten yards away, Familiar was entering the tent.

Beside the fire she found a Coleman lantern and a tin cup. Closer to the tent was a flashlight lying on a bed of pine needles and beside that a battered ice chest. The police hadn’t bothered to pick up any of Thomas’s gear. She lifted the lid of the chest and found three unopened beers, water, coffee, some apples and bologna. It certainly looked as if Thomas had been camping in earnest.

So far, everything he’d said had checked out, but if he’d set up the campsite as an alibi, of course it would. She was reluctant to enter the tent, and that emotion surprised her. For some reason she felt as if she were invading Thomas’s privacy. Even though he’d requested as much.

“Familiar!” She went to the tent flap. The cat had found plenty to explore. He’d been inside the tent for more than fifteen minutes. “Kitty, kitty.”

The cat sauntered outside with what looked to be part of a newspaper. She knelt to take it and the cat used his paw to point out the date. February 17. It was the Saturday evening that Anna had been killed.

“This doesn’t prove anything.” She folded the paper and put it in her pocket. “Thomas Lakeman could have planted that newspaper. He could have bought it and left it just to attempt to show he was here.” The newspaper didn’t prove a thing, but it was good to have.

The cat gave one cry and began to walk the area. Molly watched him in awe as he created a spiral and worked his way from the inside out, examining the ground, sniffing the grass. She’d never seen a detective, much less a cat, conduct such an intense investigation.

When he paused about twenty yards away, she went to see what he’d found. “A clue?”

Familiar pointed to a hole in the ground. “Snake?” she asked, remembering that her father had always told her that snakes lived in holes. Though she enjoyed the woods, she was wary of the wild creatures, particularly snakes. The motto in Texas was that everything was bigger, and that certainly applied to the rattlers. A timber rattler could grow up to six feet long and as big around as a man’s muscular arm.

The cat left his find and walked to another place. He stared at her until she followed him. Another hole. She frowned, realizing the cat was showing her a pattern.

There were four holes on each side of the square and two larger ones in between. She understood. “A tent. So Thomas wasn’t lying about that. Someone else was camping here.” Why was the cat trying so hard to convince her of Thomas’s innocence? The answer was obvious—because he believed Thomas wasn’t guilty.

“Why would someone kill my sister, steal her baby and set Thomas Lakeman up to take the fall? Why him? If he’s telling the truth, he was just my sister’s friend.”

The cat didn’t have an answer, or if he did he wasn’t saying. But the question throbbed in Molly’s brain. Ever since she’d heard the awful news, she’d asked herself who would hurt her sweet sister. The name that always came up was Darwin Goodman. She didn’t say it, but in her opinion he was awful enough to sell his own child. And if a lot of money were involved, he’d even kill.

“We have to get back to the jail,” she said. “I have another question for Thomas.”

MY PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION supports everything Thomas said at the jail. There is a second campsite where two people slept. And whoever they were, they left in a big hurry. At night. I found some of their gear scattered at the edge of the clearing, which leads me to believe they left before first light. That makes me wonder if they had a reason to be gone. Sure, I have a suspicious mind, but that’s why I’m such a good detective. I don’t let a motive sneak up on me— I like to see it coming.

Call me a trained observer, but I detect a bit of chemistry between Molly and Thomas. She doesn’t trust him, not by a long shot, but she felt something for him. If she hadn’t, she’d never have gone to check out his campsite. One thing I’ve learned as a private dick is to always suspect the worst of human nature. Thomas, though, strikes me as a good man. Molly asked the right question—if Thomas is innocent, why was he set up? I think that’s how we’re going to have to approach this. Thomas is the key.

With that in mind, I hope Miss Molly Marvel doesn’t blow a gasket when she realizes what I have planned.

We’re back at the county lockup. It isn’t the most sophisticated jail I’ve ever seen. In fact, it’s pretty minimum security. They’re treating Thomas like he’s some kind of hardcore felon, but I suspect they leave him pretty much to himself once he’s back in his cell.

It’s a simple lock and key system and I didn’t notice any security monitors. Should be a piece of cake. I just hope Molly can handle it.

“MR. LAKEMAN, why would someone frame you?” Molly asked him.

Thomas found himself sitting in the interview room yet again, with the beautiful brunette seated across from him. A week ago he would have been planning a way to ask her for a date. Now he was hoping not to frighten her so badly she wouldn’t listen to what he had to say.

“I think I was convenient. Anna always turned to me when she was in trouble. There were a few times when she spent the night at my house with Kate. Darwin was drunk and she didn’t want to go home.”

He could see what she was thinking and he shook his head. “Nothing like that happened. Anna and I were friends. Nothing more. You don’t know me at all, but you should know your sister took her marriage vows seriously.”

“And how do you know that?” Molly’s question sounded angry.

“She could have left Darwin and started a new life, but she wouldn’t. She never gave up on her marriage. She was committed to it.” He watched her expression change. Something he’d said wounded her, but he couldn’t figure out what.

“It’s too bad she couldn’t commit to a man who didn’t slap her around.” Molly’s voice was hard.

Thomas swallowed and looked down at his hands. He knew for a fact that Darwin had beaten—not just slapped— Anna. But it would only hurt Molly to think of her sister’s abuse. Better to keep the ugly details to himself.

“So you believe you were just a convenient scapegoat?” Molly asked him.

“What else can I believe? I don’t have a lot of money. I write software for computers. That isn’t the most controversial career.” He saw her look at his hands, the rough callused palms. His face, too, had seen sun and weather. Even though he’d been working indoors for the past two years, he knew he still carried the look of the open range in his features. “Before I got this job I worked as a cowboy on one of the large spreads.” That was as much as he intended to tell her.

“That’s a jump in career choices.”

He thought he detected amusement in her tone, and it burned him. “If I’ve answered all your questions, I’d like to go back to my cell.”

When he stood, the guard was instantly at his side, almost as if he feared Thomas might get a second victim. “I’m done here,” Thomas said, and walked to the door so he wouldn’t have to see the guard and Molly exchange glances.

“Mr. Lakeman, I’m not finished.”

“Lakeman!” The guard stepped in front of him.

Thomas turned back to face Molly, a dare in his eyes. If he hadn’t realized before how much of his rights had been taken, he knew now. He didn’t even have the right to terminate a conversation with a condescending woman. They might make him stay in the room, but he wasn’t going to talk.

To his surprise he saw Molly look down at the table. She understood what had been taken from him. “Guard, Mr. Lakeman doesn’t have to talk to me.” She stood up. “Thank you for your time, Mr. Lakeman.”

MOLLY STOOD in the reception area of the lockup waiting for Familiar. The cat had disappeared the moment she entered the building. Now there was no trace of him. She tried not to appear impatient. What would she answer if someone asked who she was waiting for?

She sat on one of the hard benches set against the wall and tried to gather her thoughts. The bottom line was that she was no closer to finding baby Kate than she had been five hours before. The clock was ticking away and she was useless.

She waited twenty minutes before she stood and walked to the door that led to the cells. It was shut, and above it in large black letters were the words: Authorized Personnel Only. She opened it a crack to see if she could catch a glimpse of Familiar. He’d darted to the left, toward the cells, when the guard had taken her to the interview room on the right.

She thought an alarm might sound when she opened the door, but to her surprise nothing happened. It was going on five o’clock, and the few office workers were preparing to leave. No one seemed particularly interested in what she was doing.

But where was that darn cat?

The door was painfully wrenched out of her hand and she was pushed back into the waiting room by a large man.

“What—”

“Give me your keys!”

At first she didn’t recognize Thomas Lakeman, but when she did, she froze. He was out of his handcuffs and out of his cell.

“Molly, give me your keys!” He increased his grip on her arm enough to startle her out of her shock.

“What’s going on?”

Before Thomas could answer, Familiar appeared from around the corner, jumped onto her purse, and tugged it from her arm. In a flash he’d dug out her car keys and scooted them across the floor to Thomas.

Without ever letting go of her arm, Thomas scooped up the purse, the keys and the cat. Dragging her behind him he ran out the front door of the building.

“I’m sorry,” he said as he pushed her into the passenger seat of her car. In five seconds he was behind the wheel with Familiar right behind him.

Thomas burned rubber as he put the eight-cylinder SUV in reverse and pulled out in front of oncoming traffic. Without a second’s hesitation, he jammed the gas pedal to the floor and the car shot forward as several police officers swarmed out of the building.

“Stop!” an officer cried as he drew his weapon.

Molly felt Thomas’s hand on her neck as he pressed her down. The passenger window exploded and then they were gone. Behind them several panicked drivers had collided, effectively blocking the street.

Molly sat up. She didn’t really believe what had happened. Thomas had escaped from jail. In her vehicle. With her as a hostage. She felt as if adrenaline had been mainlined into her heart.

“It’s going to be okay,” Thomas said, his gaze on the road.

“Are you insane?” she asked.

“Technically, no.” Thomas glanced at her for a second, then turned his gaze back to the road. “I’m not insane, but I am desperate. I just wanted to thank you.”

“Thank me?” She couldn’t believe this. She was his hostage and he was thanking her. She’d almost been hit by a police bullet because of him, and he was thanking her. He was insane.

“I still don’t know how you trained that cat, but I have to hand it to you. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Molly had a sick feeling. Familiar sat between them, his attention totally on the road. She remembered the way he’d pawed the map, insisting that she go to the state park to check out Thomas’s story. The way he’d shown her the tent stake holes. What had he done?

“Any fool knows you can’t train a cat.” She glared at Familiar.

“Somebody trained this one, and whoever it was did one hell of a job.”

“What did Familiar do?” She’d fire him on the spot. She’d buy a cat carrier, stuff him in it and put him on the first plane back to Washington, D.C.

“He was in my cell when I came back from the interview room. I’d seen him around earlier, but I didn’t realize he was your cat until he started to act strange.”

One thing about Familiar—he could certainly act strange when he chose to. “Go on,” she said.

“He walked right out of my cell and went down to where the guard sits. I was watching, just amazed. The cat reached up and snagged the cell key. That quick.” Thomas snapped his fingers. “Then he brought it to me. Thank goodness they haven’t modernized the jail or it would be a different story. As it was, it was just like one of those Wild West shows. I unlocked the cell and walked right out.”

Molly knew better. “It was just that easy until what?”

“Until I had to knock the deputy out.”

“Good grief,” she muttered. “You struck a deputy?”

“He was about to yell and alert the others. I didn’t have a choice.”

She wanted to punch him. “Of course you had a choice. You could have stayed in the cell.”

“Now why would I do that when you went to all that trouble to spring me?”

Thomas took a hard right and headed up into what looked to be high hills or small mountains.

“Where are we going?” For a moment Molly was distracted from her plight by a bigger worry. What did Thomas intend to do with her?

“These are the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. I know some good places to hide out.”

She sighed. “We need to get a couple of things straight right now. I didn’t train the cat to help you escape.” She picked Familiar up and held him so she could stare into his green eyes. “That was his idea all by himself.”

Thomas laughed. “Try telling that to the deputies. I’m sure they’ll get a big laugh as they lock you up.”

“It’s the truth.” She put Familiar down on the seat, suddenly feeling how deep her troubles were. She’d been involved in a felony jailbreak. It didn’t matter that she was an innocent victim. It was her vehicle that had been used for the getaway. No one would ever believe she was innocent.

“The truth doesn’t matter, Miss Harper.”

“I didn’t plan this or help you. I’m innocent.”

He slowed long enough to look directly into her eyes. “Welcome to my world.”

Chapter Three

Thomas knew he’d shocked Molly, but she had to understand the score or she’d get hurt. No matter what her intentions—and if she hadn’t put the cat up to springing him, who had?—she was now involved. He might regret that she’d been dragged into the mess, but he certainly didn’t regret having his freedom. If he was going to prove his innocence, he had to be free to do it. Certainly no one wearing a badge seemed interested in seeking the evidence that would counter the circumstantial case against him.

“Miss Harper, I’m not going to hurt you, but I may need to keep your vehicle.”

Molly stared out the front window as if she’d gone into some kind of trance. Worry etched fine lines around her eyes, and Thomas felt a pang. This woman had lost her sister and her niece. Now, because of him, she was in trouble with the law.

“I’m sorry.” He meant it. “When I can, I’ll let you loose. I’ll call the sheriff’s office and tell them you weren’t involved in the breakout.”

“And they’ll believe you.”

The heavy dose of sarcasm in her tone actually made Thomas feel better. She was a fighter. “Why did you send the cat in to get the key if you didn’t want me to escape?”

The look she shot him would curdle milk. He automatically pressed harder on the gas pedal.

She raised her chin defiantly. “I didn’t send the cat. He went on his own.”

“You’d better come up with something more reasonable than that if you want the deputies to believe you.” It was sort of ironic. They were both at a place where their stories were “too convenient.” “Look at it from my perspective. You show up out of the blue and insist on talking to me. You come back twice in one day. And the second time, while we’re talking, the cat is casing the joint to plot an escape. Doesn’t that seem like you might have planned it? Heck, even the idea that a cat obeys your command is hard to believe. But that the cat planned it? Get a grip.”

He could see she understood, even if it was against her will. It was easier for her to be angry at him than it was to think how her own actions had put her in jeopardy.

“I didn’t plan a thing except for a talk with you.” She nudged the cat. “That’s what I get for listening to him. He insisted we go to the campsite. He found the place where those other campers pitched a tent. He’s your biggest supporter and fan.”

Thomas chuckled. He couldn’t help it. In another time and place he’d think about calling the men with the white coats for a woman who spoke about a cat as if he were human.

She slumped deeper into her seat. “You’re laughing at me like I’m a nut.”

He wisely kept his mouth shut and focused on the road. The sun had set behind the hills, and the blue-gray of twilight had turned the trees into stark black silhouettes. It was the most beautiful and the saddest time of day to him.

“Familiar is a private investigator.” She spoke softly, as if she didn’t believe the words. “I hired him yesterday and picked him up at the airport in Shreveport, Louisiana, this morning.”

He chanced a look. She’d really blown a fuse—she thought the cat was a detective. “You picked him up? Like at the baggage claim?”

“He flew in from D.C. First class. I hired Familiar to find Kate. He’s got a résumé that includes solving murders, kidnappings and busting international crime rings. All he’s done here is involve me in a jailbreak with the man charged with my sister’s murder.” Now it was her turn to laugh.

As Molly grew quiet, Thomas turned on the SUV’s lights. They cut a broad path through the gathering darkness, and to his left he saw a herd of white-tailed deer grazing. The light was poor, but he thought they were all does, the females who’d managed to survive the most recent season of hunting.

Thomas failed to see the sport in it when the hunter had a high-powered rifle, scopes that practically sighted the gun, a four-wheeler to cover ground, and walkie-talkies to conspire with his buddies. There wasn’t much sport in killing an animal whose only defense was flight.

“You look like you could spit nails,” she commented. “What’s wrong with you?”

“I was thinking about hunters.”

She shook her head. “I don’t want to try to understand how your mind works.” She sat up taller. “Where are you taking me?”

“I have a friend who has a cabin. It’s a bit primitive, but you’ll be warm and safe.”

“Can’t you just let us out of the car? We’re a thousand miles from nowhere. I haven’t seen another car for the last hour. If you let Familiar and me out, it’ll take us two days to walk back to civilization.”

He considered it. “No.”

“Why not? You say you don’t intend to hurt us.”

“Something bad could happen to you.”

She raised her hands in disgust. “Something other than being taken hostage by an escaped murderer?”

“I’m not a murderer. I’m falsely charged. And I don’t consider this a dangerous situation because I won’t hurt you.”

“I’m supposed to take your word for that.”

“Look.” He was getting annoyed. “You don’t have any choice but to take my word. There are wild animals in these woods. Normally they avoid humans, but it would be my luck that I would put you out and a mountain lion would eat you. Now let me drive. It’s dark. The road has gotten narrow. I haven’t been back here in the past five years, and I don’t want to get lost. We have only a quarter tank of gas.”

Those words silenced her, and Thomas’s thoughts turned to the real danger of their situation. If they ran out of gas up in this area, they might wait around for days before anyone happened along. February wasn’t a big camping month and though the weather was mild now, a blizzard could pass through and they could easily freeze to death.

They wound higher into the hills, and Thomas had the sense that they’d entered a tunnel of trees. No stars were visible through the thick canopy of limbs. During the day it was beautiful. At night it felt a bit claustrophobic.

“Have you thought far enough ahead to figure out what you’re going to do?” she asked. “You’re free, but you don’t have a life. You can’t go back to your home. You can’t go to your job. What are you going to do?”

He didn’t have a specific plan, but he had an answer. “I’m going to prove my innocence. And I’m going to find Kate, if she’s alive. I’ve been sitting in that jail cell since Anna was killed. I haven’t had a chance to look for Kate. Now I will.”

Her voice was softer. “Do you believe she’s alive?”

As much as he wanted to lie to her, he had to tell the truth. “I don’t know. I want to believe she’s okay, but the sheriff has everyone convinced that she’s dead. He must have found something at the scene to make him so sure.”

“Has anyone talked to Darwin?” she asked.

He shook his head. “He wouldn’t talk to me. We had a heated set-to at my arraignment. I accused him of killing Anna and he screamed at me and accused me of killing his wife and baby. It was high drama on his part.”

“He was acting?”

“Darwin hardly knows me, but I think he knows I didn’t hurt Anna or Kate. We had words a few months ago after he’d hit Anna and she came to my house. He wanted to say we were having an affair, but I straightened him out.” His hands tightened on the wheel as he remembered. “I wanted to punch his lights out, but I couldn’t. I might’ve had a moment’s satisfaction, but Anna would have lost the only safe place she had to go.”

“You said high drama. Why would he accuse you of killing her?”

“He didn’t want the cops looking at him. I was the perfect scapegoat, and he played it to the hilt. How well do you know him?”

“The first time I met him was at the wedding.” Molly cleared her throat. “He was crude and awful. I guess I wanted my sister to have that fairy-tale love story—the prince on a white horse who would rescue her and love her and take care of her. Darwin was about as far from that as anyone can get. He married Anna for her inheritance. And when he went through all of her money, he started hitting her.”

“He’s a real charmer.”

“How often did you see Anna? Thomas, you have to tell me the truth. I have to know the facts if I’m going to figure out what happened to Katie.”

Thomas knew she was asking how often her sister received a beating at the hands of her husband. Earlier he’d tried to protect her from the truth about her sister’s abuse, but now he felt he had to tell her. “Anna came by sporadically, either when she was really happy or really scared.”

The dash light of the SUV gave Molly’s face a soft illumination, and he saw the tear trace down her cheek. She was hearing some hard things, but if she wanted to find Katie, she would have to hear a lot more.

He kept his gaze on the road as he talked. “About once a week Anna would come over because she was afraid. Either he’d already hit her or he’d threatened to hit her.”

“When she was pregnant…”

“Toward the end he just slapped her. He had some restraint. He never took it far enough to break a bone or do any permanent damage. It was more about bullying Anna, about breaking her down. The emotional pain was far worse than the physical.”

Now Molly’s tears flowed in earnest. He slowed the vehicle, but she waved him on. “I’m okay,” she said. “I just wish she’d called me. I suspected she was unhappy, but whenever I spoke to her, she said she was happy and for me to mind my own business.”

“It was so important to her for you to believe she was a success. That she’d made the right choice.” Thomas thought about the conversations he’d had with Anna. “She felt like a failure. She was the college dropout, the one who couldn’t get it right. She knew she’d worried your mom a lot. After your mother died, she felt like she had to prove to you that she was smart and strong and able to manage her own life.”

“You see how well that went.”

“There was nothing you could have done. Honestly. I tried. I begged her to leave Darwin, to take Kate and start over fresh. I offered her money, contacts, whatever she needed. She wouldn’t go.”

“She was hardheaded like that.”

“Anna looked up to you. She talked all the time about her sister, Molly, about how talented you were and how you were living in Arizona on an Indian reservation and helping the tribes market their jewelry and crafts.” She wasn’t crying any longer, but in the quick glance he shot her, he could see the pain on her face. Thomas wanted to ease her suffering. He knew enough about loss to know that a few well-placed words could last a lifetime. “Anna admired you so much. She said you’d gotten all the strength in the family. That you didn’t need a husband or anyone. She thought that was great.”

Molly sighed. “That’s funny because she told me I was too ornery to catch a man.”

It was the first time he’d seen her really smile, and it literally made him catch his breath. There was something in Molly Harper’s smile that touched his heart and made a shiver rush through him.

“You okay?” she asked.

He nodded. “I guess someone just walked over my grave.”

IN THE BLACKNESS of the wilderness, Molly didn’t see the outline of the cabin until the SUV’s lights struck the cypress exterior. She suppressed a shudder. The cabin was dark and lonely looking, but she needed to get out of the vehicle. She felt as if she’d been riding in darkness for half her life.

“Let me go in first and check it out.” Thomas got out of the SUV, pocketing the keys and her only chance of escape.

In truth, even if she had had the keys, she would have had no idea how to get out of the forest. The road had switched back and forth. Thomas had taken turnoffs that seemed to repeat themselves every ten miles. With less than a quarter tank of gas, she might end up hopelessly lost.

Familiar, her legendary private investigator, had napped most of the way. She nudged the cat. “Wake up.”

Familiar stood, arched his back and yawned. He certainly wasn’t concerned about their plight. He hopped from the vehicle and trotted behind Thomas up the steps of the cabin. The two of them disappeared from the light cast by the vehicle’s headlamps.

Molly got out and stretched. The woods were alive with sound. Insects, the rustle of leaves and branches that could be deer—or something more sinister. She hurried after Thomas. It was his bright idea to bring her there, and if someone was going to be eaten by a wild animal, it was going to be him.

Inside the cabin a lantern flared to life. The warm glow revealed a comfortable front room. Rocking chairs were drawn before a cold fireplace. There was a stout wooden table and cast-iron cooking utensils hanging on the wall behind it. A thin coating of dust covered everything, but otherwise the cabin was carefully maintained.

“I’ll get some wood.” Thomas acted on his words. Molly took the lamp and examined the rest of the house. There was a kitchen and a single bedroom. Her anger flared.

Thomas entered with an armload of wood. As he bent to light the fire, she rounded on him. “If you think you can hold me here, you’ve got another think coming. I have to get on with my search for Katie.”

Ignoring her, Thomas struck a match and the dry wood gave a cheerful crackle. He rose slowly and looked at her.

“You can’t leave tonight.” He looked at the fire. “You can have the bed. I’ll sleep on the floor here by the fire. I’m going to check for supplies in the kitchen. There probably won’t be much, but we might be able to find some beans or something.”

With that he was gone. Molly stood, hands on her hips, frustration gnawing at her gut. She wasn’t a single step closer to finding her niece.

She pulled the note from her pocket and read it again. The words seemed more ominous.

“The baby is alive. Don’t stop hunting, but don’t go to the police.”

“What’s that you’re reading?”

She lowered the note and turned to find Thomas standing not five feet away, his gaze on the scrap of paper.

“It’s why I’m here.” She handed it to him and watched his face as he read it.

“Is this for real?”

“I don’t know.” She bit her bottom lip. “I have to believe it’s real. I have to hang on to the idea that Katie’s alive. That’s why I have to get out of here now.”

He nodded. “You received this in Arizona? At your home?”

“Yes. Day before yesterday.”

“Via the mail? Where’s the envelope?”

“It was mailed from here in Jefferson.”

Thomas’s face actually showed hope. “So the person who mailed it knows your physical address and knows your relationship to Katie. That’s good, I think.”

“Are they going to demand a ransom?” Molly asked.

Thomas threw more wood on the fire and held his hands out to it. “I don’t know. That note doesn’t have the sound of someone seeking a ransom. In fact, it sounds more like someone trying to tip you off. Is there someone at your home checking the mail, in case they contact you again?”

“I have a friend I can call to do that.”

“Good. But you should warn your friend that the police may be watching him.”

If Molly hadn’t realized how serious her situation was, Thomas’s words brought it home. “Why would they be watching my friends?” Reality touched her. “Because they think I’m on the lam with an escaped murderer.” It was a statement.

Thomas nodded. “Either as a hostage or a co-conspirator in a jail escape, you’re going to be of interest to law enforcement. And so will your friends or anyone seen going in and out of your home.”

“But that could work to our advantage, couldn’t it?” She felt a surge of hope. “The police haven’t shown a lot of interest in searching for Kate, but if they’re looking for me, they might find the baby.”

Thomas smiled. He couldn’t help it. Molly Harper had spunk. “That’s one way to turn it to a positive light.”

“What’s the point of being negative?” She paced the cabin. “But we do have to resolve this—” she waved her hand around the room “—hostage thing.”

“What do you suggest?” Thomas asked.

She could see he was willing to listen. Initially she’d been mad at him, but now she felt the anger slipping away. He was only trying to get his life back. She’d lost her sister and her niece, but he’d lost big, too. He’d lost his identity and, if he was telling the truth, only because he’d been kind to Anna.

“We can play it two ways. I can turn myself in and say you released me, or we can team up and try to outrun the law.”

He was very still, but his gaze never left hers. “You’d risk it all by teaming up with me? You believe me when I say I’m innocent?”

She swallowed. “Right this moment, I believe you. Please don’t give me any reason not to.”

She felt the sharp claws of the cat digging into her shin. Leaning down, she pulled him into her arms. “You haven’t been a lot of help, Familiar.”

“Meow!” He struggled in her arms and she released him. In a moment he was patting her pocket where she’d put the note. She pulled it out and spread it on top of the table where the cat sat in front of it as if he were reading.

“Meow,” he said, putting his paw on the words The baby is alive.

Molly inhaled sharply. “The person who wrote this note knows enough about my family to track me down. This had to be someone that Anna talked to.”

“And that’s the best clue yet,” Thomas said, nodding.

Chapter Four

Molly watched Thomas’s skill with the open fireplace and the food he’d prepared. He’d taken basic canned goods and come up with a meal, including hot coffee. “I guess you really enjoy camping,” she said. She didn’t add that her idea of a weekend off included a massage and room service.

“It was part of a life I left behind.” He unhooked the pot from the cast-iron brace and carried it to the table. “If I had my druthers, I’d still be out on the range.”

“You’re a computer software designer, right?” Molly found the two careers—software designer and cowboy—almost diametrically opposed.

“That’s right. I work in the Security Department at McGivens. We write programs to protect computer networks from privacy threats.”

She laughed. “I don’t see what that has to do with herding cows.”

Thomas signaled for her to have a seat. He served them both some beans and corn bread before he sat down across from her. Familiar nibbled daintily on the corned beef Thomas had opened for him.

“Nothing to do with the cows, but with the strategy for keeping the cows safe,” he explained. “It isn’t the same, but sometimes it requires the same mindset—to see danger on the horizon and figure a way to head it off at the pass.”

He was entertaining her, trying to keep her mind off the crazy twist her life had taken, and she appreciated his efforts. “So why did you leave the open range?”

“The big cattle companies are breaking up the family ranches. The new breed of rancher sits in an office in Houston and wants to feed-lot the cows. It’s not a business I want to be involved in anymore. I had a buddy in computer security. Turns out I had an aptitude for it. I got training and a job.”

She could understand that. Once, a cowboy rode miles and miles of open land pushing cattle from pasture to pasture. It was a job description that fit the cowboy’s need for wide-open space, self-reliance and a bond with nature. Now it was a business where a cow was born and died within the same small compound.

Thomas shook his head, and a sheepish grin touched his features. “I’d be laughed off the ranch, but I’m a vegetarian these days.”

The light from the fire danced across his features, and Molly thought, not for the first time, what an attractive man he was. His brown hair was cut short and neat, and his hazel eyes glittered with intelligence tempered by kindness. His build bespoke of long days with little attention paid to food, yet he was an excellent cook. He was a man filled with complexities. She looked down at her plate of beans. “I don’t miss the meat, but a glass of wine would be nice,” she said.

He frowned. “We’re going to need supplies. I’m sure my bank account is being watched, which means I can’t withdraw funds.”

“I have some cash.” She surprised herself. She was offering aid to the man who’d abducted her. “And a credit card, but they’re probably watching my accounts, too.”

He pushed his half-eaten food back. “I’ve been thinking, Molly. You should call the police. Tell them you were abducted and that I let you go. You can go on with your search for Kate without being involved in my troubles.”

Across the table, Familiar stopped eating and looked at her.

Molly was shocked—at her reaction. Thomas was offering her freedom, and she found herself resisting the idea. Had she lost her mind? “What if the police think I was involved in breaking you out of jail? They’ll just arrest me, and I’ll be behind bars and unable to hunt for Kate.”

“I suspect they’ll assume you were innocently taken by the mad killer of your sister.” Thomas didn’t bother to hide the bitter hurt in his voice. “If you tell them I took you by force, they’ll believe you. They’ll want to believe you because it fits in with their idea that I killed my friend and did something awful to her baby.”

“They might not believe me. I don’t want to risk it.” Molly had a mental image of a thermometer shooting up to 105 degrees. Her brain was really cooking! She was trying to convince her abductor to let her stay. What was it called? The Stockholm Syndrome, when a captive began to identify with her abductor?

“We need to hear the news,” Thomas said. “That way we can get a line on what the law is thinking.” He looked around the cabin.

“There’s no electricity, much less television,” Molly pointed out.

“Meow!” Familiar reached across the table and snagged the sleeve of Thomas’s shirt. “Meow.”

The cat hopped down and walked to the door. He cast a solemn green gaze on Thomas and Molly and waited at the door.

“He wants us to follow him,” Molly said, rising.

“How can you tell?” Thomas didn’t move.

“Trust me, we should follow him or else he’ll come over and bite your shins.”

Thomas rose. “So we’ll follow him.”

Molly caught the tone of condescension in his voice, and she smiled. Familiar would make a believer of him—and soon.

They stepped into the night, following the cat in the beam of lantern light that fell from the open door. Familiar sauntered to the SUV where he stood on his back legs and patted the door of the vehicle.

Molly opened the door and he hopped in, his black paw batting the radio.

“He’s right,” Thomas said. “I can’t believe he thought of it before we did.” His voice held awe. “The radio could have a story on us.”

“I told you the cat was a detective,” Molly said, sliding into the driver’s seat. “Give me the keys.”

Thomas handed them over and she turned on the ignition. After spinning the dial, she finally found a crackly newscast.

Through the static, the newscaster’s voice sounded serious. “Law enforcement officials in a five-county area are searching for an escapee tonight. Sheriff Paul Johnson has issued an alert to the area citizenry to be on the lookout for Thomas Lakeman. The thirty-eight-year-old man is accused of murder in the shooting death of thirty-year-old Anna Goodman. It is believed the victim’s sister, Molly Harper, has been taken hostage by the accused murderer. Miss Harper was at the jail earlier today when Lakeman made his escape. Missing in the case and presumed dead is the nine-month-old daughter of the slain victim. We’ll have an update on this story on the hour.”

Molly snapped the radio off. She had to admit that Thomas was right. The best course of action would be to go back and tell the police she’d been abducted. That way she’d be able to access funds and help Thomas.

“You see why you should go back to Jefferson?” he asked.

She nodded and looked at him standing in the doorway of the vehicle. “I don’t think you killed my sister.”

Relief swept across his features. “Do you mean that?”

“Yes. I’ll go back to town and get some money and ask some questions, then I’ll meet you. We’ll figure a way to get a car for you.”

“I can’t believe you’re going to help me.”

“It’s not just about you. The person who killed Anna is still out there, and my niece is missing. If we find the real killer, he’ll be able to tell us where Kate is.”

Thomas put his hand on her arm. Molly felt a warm flush move through her body as she stared into his hazel eyes. How long had it been since she’d been moved by a touch? She didn’t even want to think about it.

“I’m going to make you a promise, Molly Harper,” Thomas said, his voice soft but steely. “We’re going to find Kate and bring her home to you. No matter what we have to do to find her.”

“Meow!” Familiar jumped into Molly’s lap and put his paw on top of Thomas’s hand.

KNEELING IN FRONT of the fireplace, Thomas added another log to the fire. He felt Molly’s gaze on him and wondered what she was thinking.

Sparks flew up the chimney from the new log, and he thought how fleeting so many things in life were. Only a week ago Anna Goodman had sat on his leather sofa holding little Kate in her lap. Anna had been crying, but she hadn’t been hurt. Deep in her eyes had been resolve to leave Darwin and build a new life. If he thought about it hard enough, he could hear her voice, the unexpected strength she’d found. And he could so clearly remember his pride in her, and his relief that she was finally going to do something to protect herself and her baby.

Now she was dead.

When the sheriff’s deputies had shaken him awake in his sleeping bag, he’d been puzzled but unconcerned.

“What’s going on?” he’d asked as he’d gotten out of the bag and reached for the coffee to brew a fresh pot. The deputy had snapped the cuffs on his wrist and read him his rights. They’d searched through his things looking for evidence of some crime they wouldn’t even define for him. When they’d found nothing they’d shoved him into a car and driven him to the station.

The entire ride Thomas had been confused, but under the assumption that he could clear matters up. There had surely been a mistake.

When he’d heard that Anna had been murdered—shot in his home—he’d been too stunned to think clearly. In the eyes of the investigating deputy, Thomas had looked guilty.

The arraignment and grand jury indictment had followed swiftly. The small town of Jefferson didn’t see a lot of murders. The wheels of justice were set in motion almost before he could find a lawyer to defend him. Bradley Alain had put a halt on the railroad job that was in progress, but Thomas was still charged with a crime he didn’t commit.

“Thomas, are you okay?”

Molly’s question brought him back to the present, and he felt an unexpected rush of pleasure as he rose and turned to face her. The firelight flickered over her classic features, catching in the lengths of her hair. The black cat lay across her lap, enjoying the strokes she applied so liberally.

“I was just trying to figure out how all of this happened. Most of my life has been calm and orderly. Get up at five, eat breakfast, saddle my horse and ride out. Come home at supper, eat, wash up, play some cards with the guys or go into town. At McGivens, it was work eight hours, go home. Same thing, day in and day out.”

“Now it’s much different.”

“That’s an understatement. I’m a fugitive from the law, accused of a crime I didn’t commit. I have a hostage and her black cat detective.” He shook his head. “Have we stumbled into the Twilight Zone?”

“I feel the same way.”

A wistful look crossed her face, and Thomas felt a pang. As awful as his life was at the moment, he hadn’t lost family. “We’ll find Kate,” he said again.

Molly smiled. “We will.” She stopped petting the cat.

“It won’t bring Anna back, I know. But she’d finally decided to leave Darwin. She was getting stronger. I think Kate was the best thing that ever happened to her.”

Molly looked up, unshed tears shimmering in her eyes. “Anna was always in hot water somewhere. In high school she was constantly in trouble. When she got out, she didn’t want to go to college, but she couldn’t hold a job. When she finally went to university, every week it was a crisis with one class or another.” She bit her bottom lip. “I got tired of her woes, tired of trying to bail her out so she could make the same mistake again and again. I abandoned her.”

Thomas sat beside her. In his adult solitary life, he’d been careful never to assume emotional responsibility for anyone other than himself. But he understood guilt, and he knew that was what Molly felt. Survivor’s guilt.

“Molly, you and I both know that no one can force another person to confront their problems and grow up. If you’d continued to hold Anna’s hand, she may never have begun to change.”

“If I’d held her hand a little more, she might be alive to change.”

He picked up her hand, noting the long, slender fingers. “I’m just a software designer, so I don’t have any deep answers. I will tell you what Anna said the last time I saw her.” The night she was killed. He didn’t say it, but they both knew it.

“Tell me she was happy.” Molly blinked back the tears.

“I can, without lying.” Thomas squeezed her cool fingers. “When Anna showed up with Kate, I was worried. I was afraid Darwin was thumping on her again, but he wasn’t. In fact, Anna had come to visit because she had good news. She said she was leaving the software company, that she’d found a better job, one where she could work at home and stay with Kate more.” He could see he’d caught Molly’s interest.

“What kind of job?”

“She said it was a secret until it was a done deal. With the new salary, she said she could afford to divorce Darwin and still take care of Kate.”

“She stood up to him? Do you think that made him kill her?”

Thomas hesitated. “From what I knew of Darwin, material things were very important to him. At first I was worried, too, but Anna said she’d told him she didn’t want anything. No furniture, no alimony. She just said she’d leave with nothing.”

“That was smart, but it’s hard to believe Darwin was agreeable to this.”

Thomas still held Molly’s hand. It had grown warmer in his grasp, and he rubbed the top of it with his thumb. “Anna said that Darwin was surprised, but he was rational. She told me she’d been thinking, and she’d decided that she could relocate. She was the happiest I’d ever seen her, like she’d just gotten the best news in the world.”

Molly nodded. “Anna could have done anything she wanted to do. She just never believed in herself.”

Thomas leaned closer. “She said you always believed in her and encouraged her, and now she was going to prove that you were right. She was going to change her life.”

Molly choked back a sob. “I would have helped her. I would have done anything for her and Kate.”

“She knew that, but she also knew she needed to do it on her own. She saw a completely different life ahead of her, and she was ready to make it happen. She found her belief in herself.”

“And then she died.” Molly’s face settled into an angry expression. “She was murdered.”

Thomas released her hand. “It’s true. But I think it’s important for you to know that Anna was on the road to change. She adored you, Molly. You were her hero. And before she died, she felt she could be your equal. That’s an important thing to hang on to. All of the love and effort you gave Anna paid off.”

Molly got up and went to the fireplace. She used the poker to stir the logs, sending a shower of sparks up the chimney. “I have so many regrets.”

Thomas hesitated, then went to her side. He put an arm around her. Her shoulders were slender, and he could feel the pent-up tension in her. “If Anna were alive now, would she want you to blame yourself?”

Molly smiled. “Anna didn’t like blame.”

“She was right about that part. Blame doesn’t do anyone any good. She talked about your work with the American Indians and the good things you were accomplishing. You were doing what you were meant to do. Anna would only have resented any effort you made in trying to straighten up her life.”

Molly looked up at him. He could see the sadness in her gaze, but there was also a spark of humor. “You really were her friend, weren’t you?”

“Yes. We were friends.”

“It gives me comfort to know that. She had you to turn to.” Molly stepped closer and brushed a kiss across his cheek.

The kiss was one of gratitude, but Thomas felt it to the bottom of his boots. Molly Harper was a dangerous woman. “You should get some rest,” he said. “Tomorrow is going to be a taxing day.”

She lingered next to him for a moment, as if she were drawing from his strength. When she stepped away, she called the cat to follow her into the bedroom. The door closed, and Thomas settled onto the sofa, wondering if the tumultuous rush of his thoughts would allow him any rest.

AT LEAST THE COWBOY and Molly have come to an agreement. I was getting a little concerned at first. They need each other to find baby Kate, and to bring the murderer to justice.

I took one look at Thomas and knew he hadn’t killed anyone. He’s a rough-and-tumble guy, a cowboy, but there’s a gentleness about him that marks him as one of the good guys. Maybe when we go into town tomorrow I should buy him a white hat. Make him a little more easily identifiable. But I doubt we’ll have time for a shopping spree. Too much to do.

The person who killed Anna is very clever. The evidence they planted shows great skill and knowledge of police procedure. I’m just not sure of the motive—was it to get rid of Anna or was it to steal the baby?

The primary suspect, in my opinion, is the baby’s father, Darwin Goodman. If he wasn’t instrumental in framing Thomas, he sure didn’t help matters when he could have. Was he just allowing Thomas to be the convenient scapegoat, or did he plan this out?

Someone had to know about Anna’s friendship with Thomas. And that someone had to know where the gun was located in Thomas’s house. They had to lure Anna and the baby there, presuming she knew Thomas was camping. That’s a question I’ll have to clear with him tomorrow.

As soon as we get into town and let the sheriff know that Molly has escaped Thomas, we need to go to the scene of the murder. The crime lab techs have scoured the area, I’m sure, but sometimes my eyes are sharper than the humanoids’. I also have the sixth sense of the feline, which is a tremendous asset in working a case.

On another front, we need to stop for supplies. Thomas did the best he could with what was available, but a steady diet of corned beef will clog up my arteries and cloud my brain. I’m thinking fresh shrimp or maybe some rainbow trout. These clear mountain streams are known for the fish. I’ll make sure Molly understands that fine cuisine is part of my contract. After all, I am a very discerning cat.

I think I’ll curl up on the pillow beside Molly and take a snooze. Travel always exhausts me, and this has been one busy day. Tomorrow promises to be even busier. So, sweet dreams, my beautiful Molly. I’ll wake you bright and early in the morning.

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