High Noon. Debra Webb

you’ll tell your grandkids about.”

      “Deal.”

      Joel was only too glad to help.

      One step closer to where he needed to be.

       Chapter Four

       Colby Agency, Houston, 9:00 a.m.

      Victoria Colby-Camp reviewed the records they had amassed on the Barker case. What was she missing?

      Each step taken by the investigating detectives after the arrest of the Barkers was spot-on. There was every reason to believe that the Barker girls had died that final morning before their parents’ arrests. The blood at the house and in the family car had suggested foul play. The blood type was consistent with that of the little girls. The bodies were not recovered and no trace of the girls had been discovered in all these years.

      Until now.

      If Janet Tolliver, Rafe Barker’s friend who had helped with whisking away the children, had lived, perhaps she would have been willing to cooperate with the agency’s investigation and solved at least part of this mystery.

      But she had been murdered and the killer was still out there. Had she been killed by another of Rafe’s confidants? That wasn’t logical and no other resource he might have used had been discovered.

      And why would he kill the woman who had kept his secret all these years? To cover his tracks? Had Janet Tolliver known incriminating information beyond the location of the three Barker daughters?

      If Rafe hadn’t orchestrated her murder, had Clare? Not likely. Lucas, Victoria’s husband, had been keeping watch on Clare until she vanished with Tony Weeden, the one-armed man. There simply had been no real opportunity for Clare to have gotten to Janet. Unless Weeden had committed the act for her or for Rafe.

      Weeden was the only variable. It had to be him. For one thing, he was left-handed, out of necessity, but a leftie nonetheless. The police in Copperas Cove had determined that the blow that ultimately killed Janet Tolliver had likely been wielded by a person who was left-handed. The murder weapon was thought to have been a heavy marble angel statue from Janet’s home. The killer had obviously taken the time to clean it thoroughly as well as anything else he or she may have touched in the home. But trace amounts of Janet’s blood had been found on the statue. Since the statue hadn’t been lying near her body, the blood hadn’t simply splattered there.

      But if Rafe hadn’t ordered Janet’s murder, which his doing so would have made no sense, why had Weeden turned on Rafe and murdered the woman who had ensured the safety of Rafe’s daughters? That scenario made no sense, either. But someone had murdered her and that murderer had a motive. Had Weeden been waiting for just the right opportunity to take vengeance on Rafe or Janet?

      For what reason?

      Was Weeden somehow connected to Clare beyond the role of accomplice? If so, why had they not found a connection in his history? Weeden was raised by foster parents but his birth record was ambiguous to say the least. Simon Ruhl, the head of the Colby West offices, was convinced the record was a forgery.

      So many questions and hardly any answers.

      Victoria heaved a weary sigh. The day had scarcely begun and already she felt emotionally drained.

      Time was short and all at the Houston Colby office were working overtime to solve this complex puzzle, including Victoria and Lucas.

      The idea of an innocent man being put to death twisted her insides. But was there time enough to prove who was innocent and who was guilty?

      Victoria thought of the way Rafe had looked at her when she revealed that Weeden had deceived him. The devastation had been clear in his eyes but it was the other emotion—something like rage—that disturbed her immensely. Forced her to rethink his motives and his story.

      Was she working with the devil himself?

      A rap at the door drew Victoria from the troubling thoughts. Simon and Lucas entered the small conference room where, together with Victoria, they had created a timeline of events along a whiteboard that extended across the better part of one wall. Photos, newspaper clippings, it was all there.

      “We have a new development that may prove our first real break in the case,” Simon announced as he and Lucas joined Victoria at the conference table.

      “We could certainly use one.” Though they had uncovered small details over the course of the past few days, not one had propelled the investigation forward.

      “As you know,” Lucas began, his expression cautiously optimistic, “I’ve spent the past forty-eight hours attempting to track down anyone who knew either Clare or Rafe in college, before their marriage.”

      Anticipation trickled in Victoria’s veins. Lucas had that look in his eyes. He’d found something. “And?”

      “A Francine Parks was a close friend of Clare’s for the first year they attended the same university. She claims Clare was raped by one of their professors but she refused to report the incident for fear that the scandal would somehow cause the loss of her scholarship. This woman believes a pregnancy resulted from the rape.”

      “This would have been thirty-one or thirty-two years ago?” Clare was about the same age as Victoria.

      “Thirty-two,” Lucas confirmed.

      Simon picked up where Lucas had left off. “Ms. Parks is certain Clare gave birth to a child conceived in the assault. But she has no proof. She is basing her assumption on excessive weight gain and repeated bouts of something like morning sickness those final few weeks of the spring semester. The following fall, Clare returned looking and behaving as if nothing had happened. According to Parks she refused to discuss the incident at any time.”

      “But this Francine Parks can’t be sure,” Victoria guessed.

      “She cannot,” Simon confirmed.

      It was definitely a possible lead, though not a particularly reliable one. Hearsay was just that, hearsay.

      “According to Parks,” Lucas noted, “the incident occurred in late November which would suggest a July or August delivery date. The timing could imply that perhaps Tony Weeden is Clare’s son and, frankly, I’m inclined to believe the Parks woman. She has no horse in this race.”

      “The age would be right.” Victoria resisted jumping to the immediate conclusion. “Did Ms. Parks have any other reason to believe that a child resulted from the attack? An overheard conversation? Rumors around the campus?”

      “None,” Simon answered. “Clare requested a different roommate that fall and apparently kept to herself since we haven’t been able to find anyone she was close to until she met Rafe.” Simon sat back in his chair and seemed to consider the possibilities. “Clare was young, only twenty-one. Her parents, the Sneads, were murdered when she was a kid. At eighteen, she left her foster parents without looking back. But,” he countered, “she did have a sister, Janet Tolliver. Might she have turned to her? That would provide the connection between the three.”

      “You’re assuming,” Victoria suggested, “that Clare knew where her biological sister ended up.”

      “We’ve learned the Tollivers, the people who raised Janet, and the Sneads, Clare’s parents, were friends,” Simon reminded her. “Our thinking when we first discovered that Janet and Clare were biological sisters was that the Sneads gave Janet up due to financial reasons but that may not have been the case. The one source we found who knew the Tolliver family at the time Janet came to live with them suggested the Sneads had been afraid of Janet. There was talk that she tried repeatedly to harm her younger sister, Clare, and that was the reason for the Sneads sending Janet away.”

      “Is this source that reliable?” Victoria was sure both Lucas and Simon understood that accuracy was key not only for finding the truth but also for moving forward in the proper direction. “We have little time, gentlemen, for running theories that prove