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  Sarah scribbled it down for him. “I’m going back to my office to start going through the notes from Mary’s sessions.” She couldn’t stand around here doing nothing until Nick finished interviewing the neighbors. She hoped one of them saw something or the killer was caught on a security camera.

  She walked with Nick as he headed toward a house next door on the right. When they parted ways, he went up the sidewalk to the home while she continued her trek to her car. She paused at the driver’s side door and glanced at Mary’s place. A vague memory niggled at her mind. Mary had been so excited about finding her house seven months ago because…

  Why was Mary so energized about the house? She’d gotten a raise at work which had led her to the decision about buying a home. She hated living in an apartment.

  Suddenly Sarah remembered. She hurried toward the neighbor’s house where Nick was going. She might know where Candy was.

  Chapter Two

  Nick descended the porch steps, discouraged that the next-door neighbor on the right hadn’t seen or heard anything and the other one on the left only saw a glimpse of a large man going over the back fence. He’d hoped the lady who called 9-1-1 would have more information.

  “Nick, wait.”

  He heard his name and turned toward the sound. Sarah headed toward him. Maybe she remembered something about Mary that might help him with the case. He met her on the sidewalk. The look on her face gave him hope.

  She stopped next to him. “Did you find a hiding place in Mary’s home?”

  “No. When we go through a house, we check under beds, behind couches, and anything like that.”

  “It’s possible that Candy’s in a secret hiding place.” Sarah kept walking toward Mary’s.

  Nick clasped her arm and halted her progress. “What are you talking about? A secret place? No, we didn’t find anything like that. Where is it?”

  “Mary called it her safe room. It’s in Mary’s bedroom in the closet.”

  “My partner went through it and didn’t find anything like that.”

  “Mary took what was already there and made it so she and Candy could go into it if there was any kind of trouble. She still lived in fear Jack Coleman would find her no matter where she went. I know the general location, but that’s all.”

  Nick started for the victim’s house, avoiding the crowd still out front that slowed their progress. The prospects that the child might still be at home lifted his spirits. “Why didn’t the little girl come out when we got there?”

  “Because her mother made it very clear to Candy not to come out until Mary said it was okay. Can I go inside with you? If Candy’s in the hiding place, she’ll need me. She knows me.”

  He stopped and glanced over his shoulder. “Yes.”

  When Sarah joined him, he resumed his fast pace. “I hope she’s in there.”

  “Me, too.” When he went inside, he stopped in the foyer. “There’s a trail of blood that starts in the living room and goes all the way into the kitchen where we found Mary’s body. If we find Candy, and I pray we do, we have to keep the child from seeing it.”

  As they passed the entrance into the living room, the color drained from Sarah’s face. A stray strand of her blond hair came loose from her bun, and she hooked it behind her ear while she averted her dark brown gaze and hurried her steps. “Can you cover that up if Candy’s here?”

  “I’ll find a way, so she won’t see it.” Lord, please let Candy be here. When his best friend had been kidnapped, Nick was supposed to be with him walking home, but that day, he’d broken a tooth on the playground equipment, and his mother had taken him to the dentist after school. If he’d been there, maybe Ben might still be here today. He couldn’t shake the feeling he was responsible no matter what others had said. Nick paused in the entrance to Mary’s bedroom and gestured toward the room across the hall. “As you can see, the killer ransacked these.”

  “But not the other rooms?”

  “Right. Which makes me think this could be the work of Mary’s ex-husband. It’s possible he killed his ex-wife and took his daughter.” He prayed he was wrong.

  Sarah sucked in a deep breath then released it while shaking her head. “I agree. The ransacking could be him exhibiting his rage. If he has her, no telling what he’ll do to Candy. The reason Mary finally got up the courage to leave him was because her husband began taking his anger out on Candy as well as Mary.”

  Anger surged through Nick as he balled his hands. His father had used him as a punching bag until Nick had grown up and been able to defend himself. The thought of hitting a little girl churned his stomach. “We’ve got to find her.” He entered Mary’s bedroom and picked his way through the rubble on the carpet.

  Everything that could be smashed was lying on the floor in shattered bits. The covers had been yanked from the bed while the sheets, with bloodstains on them, had been torn in several places as if the killer had used the knife, he’d stabbed Mary with, to rip them and clean off the murder weapon.

  “This was very personal.” Sarah picked her way toward the big walk-in closet, the door standing wide open.

  “Jack Coleman definitely had a motive if he found where his ex-wife relocated.” He came up behind Sarah and glanced over her shoulder at the disarray. “Where do you think the secret place is? What would Mary do?”

  Sarah moved forward, nearly falling when she stepped on a shoe.

  Nick quickly grasped her and kept her from going down.

  “Candy, this is Sarah Collins, Anna’s mom. If you’re in here, please come out. I’m here for your mom to help you.”

  Nick held his breath as he waited for a response. But silence greeted Sarah’s plea. “Candy, you’re safe now. I’m a police officer, here with Sarah. We want to help you.” Still nothing. Nick scanned the ransacked closet, looking for anything that indicated a possible door to a hidden area.

  Sarah waded through the clutter until she was at the back of the closet where there were shelves for shoes, all swept off the ledges. “Candy, if you’re in here, we need to know you’re all right. Please let us know.” As she said those words, she felt around the shoe rack. “If this isn’t it, I don’t know where it is.”

  Nick looked up at the ceiling. Some closets had a way into the attic. But not in the victim’s case, and it wouldn’t have been a secret if there had been a door that could lead into a hidden room. When his gaze returned to Sarah, she stood on her tiptoes trying to feel the top of the shelving. Being five feet two or three inches, she couldn’t. He closed the gap between them and ran his gaze and hand along the back of the ledge. Nothing.

  Sarah knelt and inspected the bottom of the shoe rack about six inches off the floor. “I found it.”

  A click sounded, and the secret door slowly opened, stopping when shoes were blocking it from going all the way. Sarah swept the obtrusion away, and the panel kept moving.

  Nick spied the little girl huddled into a ball, her back to him, her hands over her ears. His heart broke at the sight.

  * * *

  Sarah tried to draw in a decent breath, but she couldn’t. Seeing Candy wrapped up in a ball of protection, clutching her big Teddy bear, made Sarah’s lungs cry for air. She had to be strong for the child. She owed Mary that much. She knew what it was like to be abused, but in her case, it had been a boyfriend in high school, not a husband. Her parents had been there to support her once she’d told them what was going on.

  Drawing in deep breaths, she managed to move around Nick and entered the small hidden room no more than four feet deep, six wide, and nine high, as though it had been part of the walk-in closet at one time. It would be big enough to fit both Mary and her daughter inside the safe room. “Candy, I’m here to help. The bad man’s gone.” While Nick stayed at the entrance, Sarah knelt and laid a hand on the child’s hunched shoulder. “You’re safe.” For a long moment, the little girl remained silent until sobs began to fill the air. Sarah wrapped her arms as much as she could around the child. “The poli
ce are here to help.”

  Candy lifted her head and looked at Sarah, her arms around the bear held against her chest. “Where’s Mom? I heard…” She dropped her gaze. “I heard—her scream.” Her shoulders quaked as the tears flowed from her eyes.

  “Honey, let’s get out of here.”

  The little girl shook her head, her ponytail swinging. “Mom told me to stay here,” she swallowed hard and glanced up at her, “until she came to get me. I have to wait here. I have to…” Her wavering voice faded into silence.

  “She wanted me to get you and leave here. Anna can’t wait to play with you. Maybe you can spend the night with us.” Her daughter was a good friend. They were in the same class at school and Sunday school at church. As the child lifted her head again, Sarah brushed Candy’s hair away from her face. “Your mother wants me to take care of you when she isn’t around. I told her I would.”

  “Did he hurt Mom?” Her big blue eyes fixed on Sarah, fear and confusion battling for supremacy.

  What had Candy seen earlier? Sarah glanced over her shoulder at Nick, still in the entrance, his jaws locked in a hard line. He nodded, letting her take over the questioning of Mary’s daughter. “Who are you talking about? Who hurt your mom?”

  The child hunched her shoulders while burying her face against her folded arms and the softness of her Teddy bear.

  “Candy, it’s important. Did you see a man in the house earlier?”

  For a long moment, the little girl didn’t say anything as she again curled into a ball, hiding her face against her stuffed animal. Silence ruled.

  “I’m not leaving you. I’ll be right outside.” Sarah stood and left the small enclosure. When she emerged into the walk-in closet, she motioned for Nick to follow her into the bedroom. “I don’t want her overhearing us talk,” she whispered and took several more steps away from the child. “Three months ago, Mary asked me if I would take custody of Candy if anything happened to her. She wanted to make it legal that I would be her daughter’s guardian. I signed the papers eight weeks ago. That should allow the authorities to let Candy remain with me until I can finalize a guardianship or adoption.” Sarah had always wanted more children than Anna, but when Charlie died in a wreck caused by a drunk driver five years ago, that dream died with him. She never wanted to love a person that much again.

  “Was she having a problem with anyone besides Jack Coleman?”

  “Not that she told me as a friend and as her therapist. Her ex-husband got out of prison three months ago. That was what caused her to ask me, and I couldn’t turn her down. My daughter and Candy have been getting really close. At school they’re in the same class. Mary needed a safety net after all she’d gone through. Her ex-husband only went to jail for fourteen months for the abuse he inflicted on his wife and daughter.”

  “So, the primary suspect is Mary Phillips’s ex-husband.”

  “If he discovered where Mary lived, he could be your main suspect.”

  “I’ll contact authorities in Texas, especially Houston, about Jack Coleman and find his most recent whereabouts.”

  “Do it quietly. I don’t want the man to know where Candy is. He lost his right to be her father when he put his daughter in the hospital with a broken leg and bruises all over her. That was what drove Mary to have the courage to leave him.” Sarah scanned the ransacked bedroom. “It has to be him.” She swept her arm across her body, indicating the mess. “As I said earlier, the ransacking indicates a lot of rage in the person who did it. He was looking for his child after killing his ex-wife. Why else would someone only go through Mary’s and Candy’s rooms after murdering Mary?”

  “Good question. If this had been a robbery, then why didn’t the intruder take Mary’s purse that was sitting on the counter in the kitchen with her cell phone right next to it? She had two hundred dollars in her wallet. Her TV and laptop are still here.”

  Sarah looked back at the walk-in closet. “I’m going to try to persuade Candy to go home with me. She needs to be in a safe place.”

  “I agree. I’ll stay out here. My presence might be worrying her. I’ve seen her at church, but I’ve never interacted with her.”

  “She’s usually reserved and quiet except around Anna. My daughter will be good for Candy.”

  When Sarah returned to the hiding place, she found Candy standing up, leaning against the wall with the bear pressed against her chest. “Are you ready to go home with me? You’ll be a nice surprise for Anna.” Sarah held out her hand and prayed that Candy took it. Sarah wanted to get the child away from the scene of the crime.

  For a long moment, the little girl stared at the hand offered to her. Sarah began to think Candy might not want to leave the “safe room” because in her mind this place had protected her. The outside world held the killer. When Sarah’s boyfriend finally revealed his true self and beat her up, all she’d wanted to do was find a safe place and hide from the world.

  Candy pushed off the wall and covered the short space between them. “Where’s Mom? Did he hurt her?” The words of the last question quavered, ending in silence.

  Sarah didn’t want to answer the questions until they were away from the house. She was worried the child would try to find her mother. But looking into Candy’s face, Sarah didn’t have a choice. But not here where the sheets had been slit and tossed on the floor. “Let’s talk in your spare bedroom.”

  Nick had apparently covered the torn, bloody sheets with a cover while waiting for Sarah and Candy to leave the safe room. Sarah released a long breath and gave Nick a slight nod. He fell into step slightly behind Sarah and Candy as they made their way to the only room not touched in some way by what happened today.

  As Sarah entered the third bedroom, Nick caught her arm and leaned close to her ear, whispering, “I’ll be out in the hall. After the house has been completely processed, I’ll bring a couple of bags of Candy’s belongings and clothes to your home. Later, you can come back and get everything else you’ll need.”

  She smiled, the corners of her mouth quivering. “Thanks, especially about hiding the bloody sheets from Candy and packing a few things for her.”

  The little girl sat on the bed, folding her arms to keep her Teddy bear next to her chest like a shield of protection.

  Sarah sat next to her. “There’s no easy way to tell you this.” She drew in a fortifying breath, her heart pounding against her ribcage. “Candy, your mother is dead. She’s gone home to Heaven.”

  The little girl’s head dropped forward, her chin resting against her bear. “Why did she leave me alone?”

  “She didn’t. She wanted me to look after you if anything happened to her. She didn’t have a choice, honey. An intruder killed her.” She hated having to say those words, but she didn’t want Candy to think her mother abandoned her. “The police are dedicated to finding the person. How did you know to go to your safe room?”

  A long silence fell between them.

  Sarah slid her arm around Candy and waited for the child to speak.

  “She screamed the safe word—Molly,” the child mumbled against her stuffed animal.

  “Molly? Your bear’s name?”

  Candy nodded and squeezed her Teddy bear tighter.

  When Candy first came over to play with Anna, she used to bring Molly, but after a few visits, she began leaving it at home. She asked Mary about it. Candy felt safe coming over to their house and didn’t need her stuffed animal anymore. That was when Mary had asked Sarah about being her daughter’s guardian if anything happened to her.

  “Where were you when she said Molly?” Sarah needed to get any information she could to help Nick find out who did this.

  “In the hallway. I was going to the,” Candy shuddered, “kitchen.”

  “Did you see anything?”

  The color washed from the child’s face. Tears filled her eyes and coursed down her cheeks.

  “Honey, did you? I’m here to help. You’re safe now.”

  Candy opened her mouth, but no wor
ds came out.

  Chapter Three

  Hours later, Nick pulled up to Sarah’s house. He wanted to check on Candy and see if the child recalled anything about what happened to her mother. Earlier, the little girl had clammed up when Sarah had asked if she’d seen anything. Most likely, there wasn’t anything new because Sarah would have called to let him know. After canvassing the neighborhood with his partner, Nick realized they had little to go on. The few surveillance cameras on the street had been disabled during the night, leading Nick to realize that the killer had cased the area and taken out anything that could possibly identify him. This wasn’t a spur of the moment decision to break into Mary Phillips’s house and kill her. It had been planned and executed with the goal to keep the killer’s identity a secret.

  This had been a calculated murder. Everyone Nick had talked to in the neighborhood and at the International Foods, Inc., where Mary worked, only had good things to say about the woman. That reinforced his conjecture that the only person Nick could think would go to this length to kill Mary was her ex-husband. Nick was still waiting to hear back from the Houston police concerning Jack Coleman and his whereabouts because that man had a vendetta against his ex-wife from what Sarah told him and what the police records on Coleman indicated.

  Nick mounted the steps to the porch and rang the bell. Seconds later, the door opened.

  Sarah’s half grin graced her mouth, her long blond hair hanging down rather than in the bun she wore earlier. “I saw you park in the driveway. Have you found the killer?”

  For a few seconds, his attention was focused on how a smile could transform her. A light glittered in her dark brown eyes and momentarily transformed her face in the midst of this tragedy. “No,” he finally answered and entered her house. “When I do, I’ll inform you. I know how worried you are about Candy. How’s she doing since you brought her to your house?”