Diana and Robby stared at her, waiting for the news that would change everything.

“I don’t even know what to say.” Kerri closed her eyes, reached deep inside for the courage to do this. To tell her sister that her daughter wasn’t coming home.

“Amelia’s dead, isn’t she?”

Kerri met her sister’s gaze. She looked so tired, so hurt, as if she could just melt away into nothing. “Yes. The body that was found in the house that burned was identified through dental records. It was Amelia.”

Diana covered her mouth with both hands to hold in her sobs. Robby hugged her close and wept like a child.

“It was York, wasn’t it?” Robby demanded. As if her face gave him the answer, his entire body shook as he asked, “Do you have enough evidence to get him?”

Kerri held his gaze a moment. “I already got him. He’s dead.” More hurt welled inside her. For that she would likely go to prison, and still she was glad the bastard was dead. But now she wanted the ones who had ordered him to do what he’d done.

Robby’s gaze held hers. “Thank you.”

Tori and the boys appeared in the doorway between the living room and the kitchen, but Kerri herded them back up the stairs. That challenge would have to be handled later.

By the time Kerri returned to the kitchen, Falco had come back inside. He pulled her aside.

“That was dispatch. One of the crime scene guys found human bones in the rubble at Whisper Lake Circle. Bones that have been there since the pool was put in. Fifteen years ago, Devlin.”

Son of a bitch. The Thompsons had wanted the property back so badly because the only known evidence of Janelle Stevens’s murder was buried there.

“Looks like you were right about Suzanne Thompson,” he went on. “Her car was found in the garage there. There’s a big dent in the rear end, like she backed into another vehicle or a telephone pole or something.”

“We need to round up Theo Thompson,” Kerri said, grateful at the moment for how numb she felt.

“You know he’ll lawyer up. He’s not going to talk to us.”

Kerri shrugged. “Maybe not, but we can at least pick him up, considering he needs to identify his wife.” The chief couldn’t suspend them for that.

Kerri went over to her sister. “I will make sure that everyone responsible for what happened to Amelia pays. Do you hear me?”

Diana nodded. Her violent sobs made speech impossible. Kerri hugged her hard and promised her she would be back as soon as possible. Nothing would ever be the same. Amelia was gone. Kerri pulled herself away from her sister and gave Robby a hug next.

She wanted to rush upstairs and hold her daughter tighter than she’d ever held her before. But she had to do this first.

For Amelia.

When Kerri and Falco were in his car driving away, she said, “I’ll have to come clean with the LT.” She couldn’t keep what she had done a secret. There had been too many secrets already.

Falco, one hand on the wheel, fished his phone from his pocket. “We’ll figure that out later. I have some ideas.” He took the incoming call.

Kerri closed her eyes and rested her head against the seat. She had never felt so tired in her life. The idea that Amelia was dead ripped her in two, and yet somehow she felt empty and numb.

When she opened her eyes again, Falco was turning onto Augusta Way. Maybe Thompson would fall apart and give them the whole story.

Falco parked in front of the piece of shit’s multimillion-dollar mansion. “That was dispatch again. They located Ramsey’s car.”

Kerri forced her mind to focus on the investigation. “Is he in custody? We need to talk to him. He could fill in some of the blanks in all this.”

Falco shook his head as he shut off the engine. “He’s dead. Hit and run.” He looked Kerri in the eyes. “First officers on the scene found a Ruger SR22 hidden under the driver’s seat.”

“Ramsey is our shooter in the Abbott case?” What the hell? Bellemont’s investigator had killed his best friend? Ramsey’s relationship with Gibbons had likely given him the access he’d needed. The question was, Who had hired him to do the job?

The idea that the weapon Sela Abbott had illegally purchased had been a Ruger SR22 as well wasn’t lost on Kerri. This case had been this way from the beginning. Each step forward, each piece of the puzzle, took them backward or added more questions and holes.

“The Thompsons don’t get their hands dirty,” Falco pointed out. “Maybe Theo Thompson is the other client Ramsey mentioned.”

How the hell had Bellemont not known that his own man was working against him?

Somehow, maybe with the help of adrenaline, Kerri managed to keep up with Falco’s long strides as they approached the Thompson home. The front door stood slightly ajar. They drew their weapons, paused, and listened.

Silence.

Falco pushed the door inward and stepped inside.

Kerri moved in right behind him.

A faint sound brushed her senses. A sob? A moan?

On the left.

Falco pointed to himself and then the left. He pointed to Kerri and made a circling motion. She nodded her understanding.

As Falco moved deeper into the entry hall, Kerri went right, checking the front parlor. Clear. Then she moved through a doorway into the massive kitchen, then to the dining room. Clear. As she reached the great room from the kitchen side, a voice stopped her at the doorway.

“I’ve been waiting for you to get here.”

Theo Thompson.

But he wasn’t speaking to Kerri. His back was to her.

Someone screamed, the sound muffled. A woman. Kerri moved quickly through the opening between the kitchen and the great room. With Thompson facing the other direction and holding the woman in front of him, she couldn’t see who it was. Maybe she’d been wrong. Maybe his wife was here with him. Kerri could see nothing but the woman’s legs. Thompson wore trousers and an untucked shirt. Judging by how wrinkled they were, he’d been wearing them since this time yesterday. Now that she thought about it, the pin-striped trousers did look familiar.

“Nice to see you too, Mr. T.” Falco now stood face to face maybe four yards from Thompson and the woman. He’d approached from the other side of the room. “How you doing, Jen?”

Jen? Trepidation pierced Kerri. Then she spotted the shoes . . . green. Spiked heels. The same ones Jen had been wearing yesterday at O’Malley’s. Kerri’s fingers tightened on her weapon.

“Why don’t you put down the weapon and let your lady friend go?” Falco suggested.

He had a gun? The air evacuated Kerri’s lungs.

Thompson said nothing. Jen sobbed. Kerri’s gut twisted. She needed to think! Did she move closer? Give Falco time to talk Thompson down?

“She’s not part of this,” Falco said. “This is just between you and me.”

Thompson raised the weapon. Kerri froze. He planted the muzzle against his right temple.

“It doesn’t matter now,” Thompson muttered. “Nothing does.”

A new tension slid through Kerri. With the weapon no longer aimed at or near Jen, Kerri had an opportunity here. She could move up behind him as long as Falco kept his attention focused forward.

“I think we found your wife,” Falco said. “Someone pushed her into that swimming pool at your in-laws’ old house and poured a little concrete over her.”

More sobbing from Jen. Her feet twisted, and Thompson’s upper body jerked, as if she had tried to wrench away from him. He pulled her harder against him; her stiletto-clad feet lifted slightly off the floor. One shiny shoe dropped onto the hardwood.

Kerri moved a step closer. Then two. Her pulse hammered in her brain. She had to be oh so careful. No room for error.

“Oh yeah,” Falco said, “they found what was left of your girlfriend too. You remember Janelle? Janelle Stevens.”

Thompson’s body twitched the slightest bit. Jen whimpered.

Kerri extended her arms and readied to press the barrel of her weapon to the back of his head. All she had to do was take one last step.

Thompson suddenly twisted around, shoved the barrel of his weapon in her face. “You!” he snarled. “I knew you’d be here too.”

Jen’s eyes rounded with renewed fear. Thompson’s arm was around her, his hand clasped over her mouth. Her muffled sobs grew more frantic.

Kerri held perfectly still. Her weapon aimed at his face too. A familiar calmness spread through her. All she had to do was keep her focus on Thompson.

Do not look at Jen.

“How many people have to die to keep your secrets?” Kerri asked, her voice amazingly steady. “You didn’t really think your pal York could fix all this, did you?”

Fury flared in his eyes. “It wasn’t even me. It was my father. He was the one who started this. He and his buddy Daniel Abbott. They were the ones who loved toying with their female employees. This day and time they’d both be burned at the stake.”