“And when he’s convicted of murder, you’ll be glad not to be married to him,” Ash added.

  They quickly left.

  “I think the pressure on Andrew has been upped a notch,” Ash said as they drove away.

  “You’re right.” Kelly shook her head. “Girls like Michelle aren’t used to having their wills thwarted,” Kelly replied. “But to be fair to her, any young woman would be upset to discover her fiancé was a murderer.”

  He glanced at her and grinned. “You have a point. Murder tends to put some girls out of the mood.”

  Cut and Shoot, Texas, was a widening in the two-lane road in the piney woods. It was made up of a grocery-feed store, gas station-garage and a post office.

  Ash stopped at the post office, and after identifying himself as a Houston cop, he asked, “Is there someone around here who can answer some questions about your city?”

  The postmaster rubbed his chin. “I’ve worked at this here post office for the past two years. Maud Lyon has been here all her life. She can answer all your questions.” He gave them directions to the house buried back in the thick woods.

  After fifteen minutes of negotiating the single dirt road, they arrived at Maud’s tiny house. It was a well-kept frame home, with a large garden to the side of the house.

  The woman on her knees among the iris looked up when they stopped. Her gray hair was pulled back into a ponytail.

  “What can I do for you folks?” she asked, rising.

  Ash introduced himself and Kelly and told the older woman why they were here.

  “Let’s sit on the porch and you tell me what you want to know.”

  They followed the woman to the wicker chairs by the front door.

  “Do you remember a man name Andrew Reed?” Ash inquired.

  “I do. His mama grew up in this here town. Pretty little thing she was. She married Marvin Lee. Marv was a pretty talker, but worthless as spit. Carol put up with his shenanigans for a couple of years, then one day up and left town, leaving her oldest boy with that drunk.” She closed her eyes and sighed.

  “She come back about three years later, Andrew in tow. She claimed Andrew was her boyfriend’s child, but he called her momma.”

  “She wasn’t the mother?” Kelly asked.

  “She denied it.” The woman shrugged. “Now where was I? Oh, yes, Marvin was sick, dying from all that drink. He passed. Carol left the boys with her sister and lit out again. She often wandered back into town with another man. The last time she came to town, the man she’d hooked up with was real slick. He married her. Andrew took his last name. She died in a boating accident. I heard that old boy got a lot of money from that accident.”

  Ash had a premonition. “You said that she had an older son. What was his name?”

  The woman looked up. “Ralph.”

  Kelly’s eyes widened.

  “Her sister died last year. Both the boys came for the funeral. We’re all so proud of them, both of them so successful. Ralph is a police officer, just like you. And Andrew has made it big in Houston.”

  The world suddenly tilted on its axis. Motives were clear and evident.

  “Do you know,” Maud continued, “when I talked to Andrew at the funeral, asked him if he ever ran into his stepfather there in Houston, he told me that man had been shot in a robbery years ago.”

  Ash’s gaze met Kelly’s.

  “Odd how things work out,” Maud commented.

  “It is indeed,” Kelly said.

  “What was Andrew’s stepfather’s name?” Ash inquired.

  “Bob Reed.”

  Kelly nodded. “Thank you for you help.”

  “If you need any other information, let me know.”

  Ash shook the woman’s hand. “Maud, you’ve been more help than you’ll ever know.”

  The older woman smiled.

  Ash’s mind raced as they got back into the car.

  “They’re stepbrothers,” Kelly said.

  “Appears so,” Ash said as he put the car into gear.

  “And who better to help you cover up a murder than a homicide detective?” She shook her head. “But we’re going to need more hard evidence that they conspired on this.”

  He glanced at her. “Why don’t we look up the homicide of Bob Reed to see if maybe we have multiple murders.”

  She rested her head on the back of the seat.

  “You know, Kelly, when we first started this case you asked me about Ralph’s closure rate. It’s made me wonder. I want to ask about his cases. Maybe he’s given them a little help.”

  Kelly’s eyes widened. “You don’t think that he’s made up evidence, do you?”

  Ash’s mouth tightened. “I don’t know. But it’s a nightmare scenario, and if it’s true, we’re going to find out.” One truth he didn’t look forward to discovering.

  They drove to HPD headquarters and parked in the nearly empty police lot. Records had only one attendant working.

  The man gave them a puzzled look. “Why don’t you access the information from Homicide?”

  “There’s another detective using the terminal. And the A.D.A. here wanted to check the information now.”

  He shrugged and walked away. Kelly and Ash sat before the terminal and entered in the name of the victim. Bob Reed came up. The man had been killed in what was thought to be a robbery a week to the day after Catherine Reed died. The killer had never been caught. Both Ash and Kelly stared at the name of the investigating detective. Ralph Lee.

  Kelly leaned back against the chair. “Why am I not surprised that Ralph was in on this case?”

  Ash finished looking through the file. He stood and asked the clerk to see the physical file. While they waited for the file, Kelly called her office to postpone the afternoon deposition she was schedule do take.

  It took fifteen minutes for the man to locate it. As they looked through it, they discovered that Ralph had claimed to be in the neighborhood when his beeper had gone off. His partner at the time had been in the hospital, recovering from food poisoning.

  “Why don’t we talk to Ralph’s partner?” Ash asked.

  “All right.”

  It took less than forty-five minutes to drive to the small house on the beach in Galveston.

  Thomas Monteicellie was a tall man with a full head of white hair. He greeted them with a smile. “It was good to hear from you, Ash. What can I do for you?”

  “I have a question on a case that Ralph had while you were in the hospital for food poisoning.”

  “Shoot.”

  “A man named Bob Reed was murdered. Ralph responded to the call since he was down there visiting you. Do you know anything about the case? Did he ever mention it to you?”

  Thomas frowned. “I don’t remember anything about it, but you say that Ralph was visiting me?”

  “He claimed that’s why he was near the crime scene and responded.”

  “When was this?”

  “It was on the eighth of February.”

  “That’s odd. I think I left the hospital on the seventh. Let me check.” He looked through his desk and pulled out a folder of insurance papers. “Yup. I left on the seventh.”

  More things fell into place. Ash stood. “Thanks for your help, Tom.”

  “Is that all?”

  “It tells me all I need to know.”

  Tom’s eyes narrowed. “What’s this about, Ash?”

  “We’re just trying to clear up a couple of old cases,” Ash offered.

  “I was curious about this murder,” Kelly explained. “It seemed to be connected with another murder that I’ve prosecuted. I had some questions. Ash thought you’d be a good source.”

  “Why not ask Ralph?” Tom questioned.

  “I thought you might remember something different,” Kelly answered.

  From Tom’s expression, Ash knew they hadn’t fooled the man. He didn’t doubt Tom would call his ex-partner. They quickly left. As they traveled back into Houston, Ash worried.

  “We didn’t fool him, did we?” Kelly asked.

  “Nope. I need to call my captain and let him know.”

  Kelly pulled out her cell phone. “What’s his number?” Ash gave her the number and she dialed it, then handed it to him.

  The answering machine picked up. “Captain Jenkins, we think we’ve found a connection between Ralph Lee and Andrew Reed. I’ll give you a call later to fill you in on the information.”

  Ash handed her the phone.

  “He killed his stepfather, didn’t he?” she quietly asked.

  “Or had it done, but I don’t know if we’ll be able to prove it.”

  She shook her head. “Two stepbrothers and four murders. What’s going on, Ash?”

  “We may have a serial killer. Or a man who killed, then tried to cover his tracks.”

  “I’ll buy that Andrew’s trying to save his rear.”

  Ash glanced at her. “Well, we’re going to prove it, Kelly, come hell or high water.”

  Chapter 15

  W hen they arrived at her house, the answering machine was blinking. Kelly played the message.

  “I have information on the death of Catherine Reed—what happened to Andrew’s tux,” a female said without identifying herself. “Meet me at the Railhead Saloon at five this afternoon. Come alone. I’ll be waiting for you behind the building.”

  Kelly looked at Ash. “The caller didn’t identify herself, but she knew about the tux.”

  Ash ran his fingers through his hair. “I don’t like it, Kelly. It smells to me.”

  “It does to me, too. But the woman knows something that could point a finger at Andrew.” She glanced at her watch. “We’ve got less than fifteen minutes to get there.”

  “Let me notify Julie.” He dialed HPD and talked to his partner, asking for backup.

  The bar the woman named was off the freeway in the southern, industrial area of the city. Plenty of murders happened in that rough section. It was early enough in the evening that the part-time drinkers hadn’t arrived yet. Beside the bar was an X-rated video shop.

  “You need to call vice down here,” Kelly said as they waited for their backup.

  Julie arrived, and a patrol car followed her. Ash nodded to them, then drove around to the back of the bar. Shadows from the fading sun colored the area with light and darkness. Ash parked the car and got out to see if there was anyone there. He looked behind the Dumpster and boxes, but saw no one.

  He turned to Kelly. “Radio Julie. Tell her it’s clear.”

  After the patrol car had left, Julie looked at Ash and Kelly. “You think it was a setup?” she asked.

  “Sure it was,” Ash answered. “The question is why? What did the caller want?”

  “Maybe we should go inside and grab a drink,” Kelly suggested. “Our informant might be in there.”

  Kelly had a point, but he didn’t want to go on a stakeout with her. “Let me take you home—”

  “Ash, I’m going.”

  He didn’t like it, but Kelly walked around the front of the building, not leaving him any choice. He followed her inside.

  He felt Kelly hesitate when she opened the door and the smoke and odor of stale bodies washed over them. She threw her shoulders back, then walked into the dimly lit room. Julie followed them to a table in the corner.

  The waitress, a large woman with flaming red hair and a bowling shirt, appeared and took their order. There wasn’t another single woman in the entire bar.

  “Well, it appears that our informant isn’t here,” Kelly murmured into her beer.

  Ash surveyed the room. Several men glanced their way, sizing up the women. Ash didn’t worry about his partner, knowing she could take care of herself. It was Kelly he wanted to protect. He moved closer to her.

  As they nursed their beers, Kelly told Julie what they had discovered during the day.

  Julie and Ash traded a look.

  “It doesn’t look good for Ralph,” Julie murmured.

  “No, it doesn’t. And things are going to hit the fan when I talk to Captain Jenkins,” Ash murmured.

  For close to an hour they waited, and then finally gave up and left.

  “Do you suppose our caller got cold feet?” Kelly asked.

  He shrugged. “Something’s wrong, Kel. I just don’t know what yet.”

  He discovered what when they opened the door to Kelly’s house and stepped inside. They walked down the dark hallway to the living room. Kelly leaned over and turned on the light on the end table. Ralph sat on the couch, his gun in his hand.

  “I was wondering when you two would return.”

  Kelly glared at him. “You sent us on that wild-goose chase.”

  Ralph smiled. “It seems that you two have questions you want to ask me.”

  Ash eyed Kelly. “We do.”

  “Well, before we chat, Ashcroft, hand over your service revolver,” Ralph ordered.

  Ash hesitated. Ralph stood, caught Kelly by the arm and jammed his gun into her side. “You don’t want her hurt, do you?”

  Grinding his teeth, Ash reached for the gun clipped to his belt. Ralph slid it into his jacket pocket.

  “Why don’t we take a little drive? We’ll take your car, Ashcroft.”

  Ash wanted to rip the gun out of Ralph’s hand, but the other detective wrapped his arm around Kelly’s upper arm. “Let’s go.”

  When they walked out of the house, Kelly glanced at her neighbor’s house, praying that Mrs. Schattle was watching.

  “Kelly, why don’t you get into the back seat with me. Ash, you’re going to drive.”

  Ash wondered if he could disarm Ralph, but the detective shook his head and aimed his pistol at Kelly’s head.

  “You could try to overpower me, but her chances of surviving won’t be good,” Ralph taunted.

  Ash didn’t want to risk Kelly’s life. He stepped back. “Do what he says, Kelly.”

  Ash saw the mutiny on her beautiful face. He worried that she might try to bring Ralph down and tried to silently communicate for her to cooperate. If she attacked Ralph, he couldn’t get to the man before he could kill her. She opened the car door, then slid inside, much to Ash’s relief. Ralph followed her. He looked up at Ash. “Get in and drive.”

  Ash walked around the car and got behind the steering wheel.

  “Get on the freeway and head south. To the ship channel.”

  Ash nodded and started the car.

  “Now, you had questions,” Ralph began.

  Kelly glared at him. “Why didn’t you excuse yourself from the murder investigation into Catherine Reed’s murder since it was your stepbrother who was under suspicion?”

  Ralph gaze hardened. “My, my, you two have been busy little bees. Few people know about Andrew’s and my relationship.”

  Ash glanced in the rearview mirror, wanting to see Ralph’s expression.

  The older detective’s eyes narrowed. “If you hadn’t been so determined to nail Andrew, things would’ve died down and gone away.”

  “So you’re defending what he did to his wife?” Kelly asked, her incredulity ringing in Ash’s ears.

  Don’t push him, Ash silently urged Kelly. She met his gaze in the mirror. He tried to communicate that message to her, but she ignored him.

  “It was that or let my brother go to prison or maybe the death house,” Ralph replied.

  “Your brother?” Kelly’s surprise echoed through the car.

  Everything clicked into place for Ash. The reason Ralph had gone to bat for Andrew. The blood thing proved to be true again.

  “Andrew didn’t deserve what he got from our mother. She was a selfish bitch who only thought of how to make her life better. Andrew always knew he was just an inconvenience for her. She never let anyone know that Andrew was hers. But we knew, Andrew and me.” Ralph shook his head.

  “Andrew loved her. And when she was murdered by our stepfather, he grieved. He became determined that he would never be a victim again.”

  “So murdering his wife was okay?” Kelly pressed.

  “You don’t know jack about what we went through.” Ralph glared at her. “I wasn’t going to desert him like our mother did.”

  “Murder is never excusable,” Kelly answered.

  “You’ve both been pains in the butt,” Ralph growled.

  “What about your stepfather?” Kelly pressed. “Did Andrew murder him, too?”

  “You don’t know when to shut up, do you? I can understand why your ex divorced you.”

  Ash wanted to rip the detective’s head off. Kelly’s persistence and dogged determination were two of the things he admired about her.

  “You’re pretty macho, Ralph, with that gun aimed at Kelly,” Ash ground out. “You want to go one on one and see how far you can get with me?”

  Ralph’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t tempt me, Ashcroft. When the time is right, I’ll enjoy taking you down several notches. Exit here.”

  “So you’ve decided to add another murder to your crime spree?” Kelly asked.

  Ash’s mind worked at a feverish pace as he turned onto the road to the ship channel. He watched for another police cruiser that he could signal. Nothing appeared.

  “Drive to the end of the pier five,” Ralph commanded.

  Darkness shrouded the metal warehouses lining the dock, with an occasional light to pierce the blackness. The deserted area reminded Ash of a graveyard, and he prayed it wouldn’t be theirs. Barrels were piled on one end of the dock, but there were no cars anywhere.

  “Park at the end of the next building under the light,” Ralph ordered.

  That was the only light in the area. Ash stopped the car in front of the side door.

  “Get out, both of you,” Ralph ordered. Once they were out, he motioned with the gun. “Inside.”

  Ash glanced around the area, wanting to see the setup of the dock, looking for methods of escape. He opened the door. Kelly and Ralph followed him inside. Ralph flipped the light by the door, illuminating the partially empty warehouse.

  “Over there,” Ralph ordered, pointing to the front corner where several wooden crates and barrels sat.

  Kelly and Ash settled on one. Ash glanced at her, trying to reassure her they would survive this. When he reached for her, Ralph shook his head.

  “Move apart.” He studied Ash. “Park it, Ashcroft, on the floor at her feet.”