* * *

  I’m sorry—I can’t help you. The lawyer’s words played themselves over and over in Haley’s brain as she walked beside Paul back to the SUV.

  “You believe he didn’t know Kelsey?”

  “I think it’s possible.”

  “You believe she wasn’t his client?”

  “I do.”

  “He said that he wasn’t aware that Kelsey was pregnant.” Her spirits were way down again. Up. Down. A roller coaster of emotion and worry. And of hope. When, in the past couple of days, had she begun to imagine Kelsey’s child in her life?

  When had she not?

  From the second she’d comprehended the note on her door, her heart had opened to the possibility.

  She was just hoping to save a baby from danger.

  She was hoping to hold her sister’s baby. If the baby lived with the father, and the father was good, then fine. But she wanted a part in that child’s life.

  She wanted the child in her life.

  “Just because he wasn’t aware doesn’t mean she wasn’t pregnant.” Paul’s words, while potentially encouraging—as long as you didn’t consider that if the baby existed it could be in danger—weren’t offered in a way that sounded upbeat.

  Something had been off about him since they’d arrived in Pahrump. And maybe before that. He’d been in his head since he’d come out of the shower that morning.

  “He didn’t deny sending the cease-and-desist letter to Thomas on Kelsey’s behalf,” she said, trying to make sense of what she knew. To get up to his speed.

  “He probably assumed I either have, or have seen, the letter.” Unlocking the SUV, he waited while she walked to her side of the vehicle and got in before getting in himself.

  “So, now what? We head back to Vegas?” Every time they had a lead, every time she started to feel like the nightmare could soon be over. They reached another dead end.

  “Now we start looking at Grainger’s clients, to see if there are any connections to Kelsey.”

  A new door opened wide, shining golden light from within. And it dawned on her. “You already know who they are.”

  “It’s my job,” he said, seemingly fully focused on the road he’d just pulled onto.

  “And you have a plan to get them to talk to you? On a Sunday?”

  “I do. One of them, at least. His largest one.”

  Okay, there was definitely something going on. He wasn’t looking her way at all. And Pahrump wasn’t big enough, the road they were on wasn’t that wide or populated enough, to need the amount of focus he was giving it.

  And they seemed to be headed out of town.

  “Paul?”

  “Grainger’s client is Sister’s Ranch, Haley. We’re headed there. If I had any hope at all that you’d agree to wait for me elsewhere, I’d tell you I’m going alone, but there’s not much hope of that, is there?”

  His gaze, when it finally met hers, was resigned. And steely, too.

  “Sister’s Ranch?” She was slow on the uptake. But she knew. She’d read the signs coming into town. “You think Kelsey was working as a prostitute.”

  That’s what he’d been doing while she’d slept securely and trustingly beside him. He’d been letting pieces of information convince him that her sister had gone from rape in a bad relationship to a much harder life of sex work.

  “So some things haven’t changed,” she said, anger boiling inside her without even warming up first. “You never liked Kels. Or thought she’d amount to anything. What was it you called her? A user?” She knew that was exactly what he’d called her little sister on more than one occasion. And her mother, too.

  “To the contrary, I was always certain that Kelsey would get what she wanted,” he answered calmly, as though he’d been preparing all morning for her reaction. Truth was, he probably had been. While she’d been riding blissfully along after a good night’s sleep, telling herself that Paul would save the day. He’d been working and she’d been noticing the incredible beauty of the sunrise over the mountain and feeling thankful that she’d called him.

  “She always did,” he added. “And yes, I called her a user a time or two. Out of frustration from watching how she called and expected you to jump and tend to her every time she lost an eyelash.”

  His words did nothing to dissipate her ire. Quite the opposite.

  But given their circumstances, she didn’t voice the defensive response that was on the tip of her tongue. What did it matter what he thought? He was no longer a part of her life.

  She just needed him to find out what happened to Kelsey and to find a baby—if there even was one.

  “And I struggled with the fact that no matter what we were doing, if she called, you answered. You know how it feels to come second to a little sister who was known for making mountains out of molehills?”

  His words stopped the thoughts raging through her for a second. “You never came second, Paul. That was part of the problem with us, as a matter of fact. I couldn’t find a way to tone down my need to put you first all the time. If I’d done what I most wanted to do, I’d have married you and never answered the phone again as long as I lived. But that’s not me. I’m a fixer. And I’m loyal to the ones I love.”

  His silence could have been an expression of acceptance. Maybe even of understanding. She didn’t think so.

  And had to say, “You know how much Kelsey’s drama drove me up the wall. But at the same time, I knew that she couldn’t help it. And in her world, what was drama to us was real life crisis to her. I also knew that I was the one person who could talk her down. When she called me, no matter what she said she wanted, what she was really asking for was for me to help her calm down. To think logically and look at the situation rationally.”

  So maybe she was overselling it a bit. It wasn’t like her sister was incapable of being rational. Or that she’d needed a shrink or medication or something. Kels and Gloria...they just tended to overreact to things.

  And Haley tended to bring things down to a manageable level. Manageable to her.

  “In truth, I probably tended to them more for me than anyone else,” she added. “They didn’t know any better than to live on their emotional waves. It’s me who needed them to find the calm.”

  He’d turned onto a long one-lane road outside town and her stomach got queasy.

  “The ranch is up ahead, on a dirt road to the right. It’s secluded to preserve client’s privacy.”

  Every nerve at attention, every muscle stiff, Haley stared straight ahead. Kelsey had sounded so happy living the story she’d told Haley. The engagement. The man who loved her, just as she was. The man she loved. She wanted her sister to have found real love. To have known what it felt like to be truly adored.

  Not to have been pleasure for men who felt like they had to hide what they were doing.

  It wasn’t about the work. It was about...being truly adored.

  As Haley had once been by Paul.

  Before they’d found out how bad they were for each other.

  Of course, there was always the possibility that Kels had had both. The work...and the relationship.

  No matter what, though, it wouldn’t have been an easy life. Not when there was always the possibility of a client getting rough...

  No way Kelsey could have handled that well.

  No way Kelsey would have put herself in that position. Not after Gladstone.

  Paul turned right. The road was dirt. But smooth. As though freshly plowed.

  “You hired me to do a job.”

  “I know.”

  “This is how I do it. I don’t get to pick and choose which information to follow up on. Whatever happened already happened. I can’t change that by what answers I do or don’t seek.”

  “I know.”

  “And if I form judgments before the truth is fully revealed, I risk skewing the investigation and don’t ever get to that truth.”

  “I know.”

  Slowing the vehicle, he turned to her, met and held her gaze. He didn’t say anything.

  He didn’t need to.

  “I understand, Paul,” she said softly. “And thank you for being sensitive to the fact that this would be hard for me. And for trusting me enough to bring me along anyway. Though...it would have been nice if you’d been honest from the beginning,” she added. “You knew when we started out this morning that we’d be coming here.”

  “Unless Grainger gave me a reason not to do so, yes.”

  He didn’t fully trust her.

  She didn’t blame him for that. She didn’t fully trust him, either.

  And that was why they were no longer married.

  Chapter 10

  Paul hadn’t been second choie. After marrying him, Haley would have been happy to never answer the phone again. Had fought with herself not to answer it.

  Didn’t change who she was.

  Or the other things that had ripped them apart.

  Still it was good to know.

  Halfway up to the estate, he hit pavement. It led to an expansive parking lot that was more than half full.

  Having never visited a brothel before, he was surprised to see so many cars in there. Limousines with drivers standing outside them talking. Expensive sedans locked up tight, he was sure.

  The plan to walk in, show his credentials and ask if anyone there had ever seen the woman in the picture of Kelsey he’d intended to show didn’t seem like the best idea.

  The place was a resort, with valet parking, no less, he noticed as he saw a gentleman exit and hand over a ticket at a booth.

  Pulling into a spot in the lot facing the entrance to the resort, he took stock. He’d known there were cabins, places where a man could stay for the weekend, or longer, with however many women he’d paid for. There were restaurants, bars, a dance club and the place offered twenty-four-hour room service.

  He just hadn’t expected a brothel to look so...normal. Like the five-star resort it was.

  If Kelsey had gone into sex work, she’d definitely picked a place that suited her chosen lifestyle.

  A place that made it seem more believable that she’d done so.

  Haley’s silence pinged against him a bit, but he had to factor her out for the moment, while he listened fully to his work brain and figured out the best way to proceed.

  A car pulled up in the receiving drive. A couple got out, turned the keys over to a valet driver and proceeded inside.

  A few minutes later, an elegantly dressed older woman came out the main door carrying a cup of coffee and wandered into a magnificent garden to take a seat at one of the cement tables there.

  Everywhere he looked spoke of safety. Discreet activity, but worry-free.

  And he had his plan.

  “I’d like to go in alone,” he said, still watching the entrance. “I plan to show Kelsey’s picture and request her services. It’s the cleanest way to...”

  “Tip no one off and have a good chance of finding out if she worked here.” He didn’t recognize the tone in her voice, but after studying her for a full minute, he took it at face value.

  Sort of. “You have something you’re going to be doing in the meantime?” he asked, remembering having turned to find her with Thomas Gladstone the night before.

  “I plan to walk over to that garden and have a seat until I see you come back outside.” She looked him straight in the eye.

  He held her gaze a long time. Saw no flicker, no change.

  Nodding, he unclasped his seat belt.

  “Paul?”

  “Yeah?” He glanced her way one more time.

  “Be careful.”

  “Always.”

  Her eyes filled with a warmth he hadn’t seen in...seemingly forever. At least months before their marriage had ended. “And...thank you,” she said.

  With a curt nod he left the vehicle before he did something stupid like lean over and kiss her goodbye.

  * * *

  As she watched him walk away, walk into a place where the sole purpose was for beautiful women to have sex with men, Haley didn’t even want to get out of the car.

  She wanted Paul to climb back in and drive them away.

  Away from temptation.

  She wanted them on the road heading elsewhere. Fast.

  He was bound to have had women over the years. Plenty of them. Could even have one waiting in Mission Viejo for him. Although she hadn’t been aware of him talking to anyone on a personal level since she’d shown up at his casita and other than bathroom breaks, they’d been pretty much together nonstop for almost two days.

  Not her business who he did or didn’t call.

  And not smart to think about his love life. Not when the thought bothered her.

  It shouldn’t. They’d been divorced far longer than they’d been together. He wasn’t her husband. Or anything to her but the man helping her find answers about her dead sister.

  The fact that the thought of Paul with another woman bothered her probably posed a problem. One bigger than she had the resources to worry about at the moment.

  No way Kelsey, after her rape, would have gone into sex work. Prior to that...maybe. If she couldn’t find a rich enough man to support her. But after Thomas Gladstone? No way.

  Haley would bet her life on that.

  Glancing toward the entrance Paul disappeared into, she just wanted to see him exiting. Heading toward her.

  When she realized that she was staring at the door with an intensity beyond what the matter called for, she forced herself to take in the grounds. The lone woman in the garden was gone, but Haley tried to focus on the space, to find beauty in the opulent blossoms and flowering shrubs that were dotted with cement statues of naked cherubs, cement tables, cement benches along walkways. To remind herself that the world was filled with beauty...

  There. By that bench. A dark gray hoodie. It was there and gone. But she’d seen it. She knew she had. Staring at the bench, moving her gaze slowly, she studied the right half of the garden. And a minute later, saw it again. The hoodie. On a body that wasn’t curvy, and wasn’t muscled or bulky, either.

  When the body turned, she got a distinct impression that it was male. A hint of whisker on the chin. But definitely a slight build.

  Could it be the man who’d left the note?

  Thoughts flew through her brain. Jeanine’s description. Someone who’d known Kelsey recently, knew she’d had a baby. Had loved her.

  What if Paul was right and Kelsey worked at Sister’s Ranch? Maybe the elfin man in the hoodie did, too? Was in the garden taking a break?

  Or somehow realized who Paul was, had overheard him in conversation inside, knew that Haley was on the premises?

  Had he come out hoping to see her? To get a message to her?

  Haley flew out of the SUV so fast she stumbled when her feet hit the ground. She had to find him. This man who’d loved Kelsey. She needed him to see her, to be aware she was there. To tell her what he knew.

  When she got into the garden, though, he was nowhere to be found. She hadn’t been quick enough. She’d lost him.

  She refused to accept defeat, however, and made a second, slower pass along the winding sidewalk of the completely deserted garden, paying close attention to all of the seating alcoves, most particularly those half secluded by bushes. And ended up at a skinny sidewalk that segued away from the garden and ended at a small building that appeared to be for servicing the garden. Mostly surrounded by tall flowering shrubs, the building was clearly not intended for resort guests. Assuming it contained irrigation fixtures and controls, and probably storage for weeding and planting supplies, she studied it for any sign that someone was back there, inside, for any hint of a door moving.

  Was elfin man a gardener at Sister’s Ranch? Had Kelsey come out to the garden? Was that how they’d met?

  She couldn’t let herself fail. Not when she was so close.

  Turning back to the garden, she’d only taken a step when her head was jerked backward by a grip on her hair. “Make a sound and you’re dead.” A hand filled her open mouth, stifling her scream before it got out. As she jerked, trying to pull free, the hand twisted in her hair yanked again. Hard. Hurting her neck. Squeezing her eyes shut tightly against the sting of pain, she felt herself being dragged, knew she was in serious trouble.

  And felt fear in a way she never had before.

  Heart pounding to the point of taking away her air, she went limp.

  * * *

  If Kelsey Carmichael had ever stepped foot anywhere near Sister’s Ranch, no one was talking about it. Posing as a client looking for her had netted him nothing but head shakes and offers of other beautiful blonde women who were available that morning. When he’d pulled out his credentials, he’d made it all the way to the manager on duty, but still was told that not only had Kelsey Carmichael never worked there, but also that the woman, Angela Vance, didn’t recognize her at all. Not even as someone who’d been in for an interview. Angela checked her interview logs over the past two years, and implemented a search of her email program for Kelsey’s name, and nothing came up. Paul stood there and watched.

  It didn’t mean Kelsey hadn’t been there, but if she had been, it either hadn’t been under her own name or the place had been wiped clean of any trace of her.

  He was more apt to believe she hadn’t been there.

  Just a hunch, based on the openness of the people he spoke with. Reactions had appeared normal, not rehearsed.

  Not solid proof. But a puzzle piece worthy of being on the table.

  The good news was, Haley would be happier knowing that her sister most probably had not worked as Sister’s Ranch. His step lightened as he headed down the marble hall toward the heavy revolving door that would take him back to his sometimes infuriating ex-wife.