He’d called in a favor with his sister to get the cold case team’s help, and he didn’t take that lightly. He’d argued with his commander to make it happen, too. This was his last shot to find answers before he walked away from law enforcement forever.
He needed to do this.
Payton had come through—no surprise. His baby sister was surprisingly determined when things mattered to her, and she always had been. Now that she had the might of her husband’s billions behind her, there really wasn’t anything Payton couldn’t accomplish. She was determined that Luc would use the money he’d amassed to help those who needed it, however they needed it. Payton was the heart of the Asher clan and always had been. He did his best to get to St. Louis when he could—she was only three hours away. And she visited whenever she could, but she had stubbornly refused to quit her work with the FBI fully after she’d married one of the richest men in the world. She still worked as a consultant and filled in when the lab needed help occasionally.
This was his last shot to find the answers for the Gibsons before…Texas. And everything changed. Pierce still didn’t know if he was doing the right thing. Or if he should back out now and tell Luc he just couldn’t do it. He was taking Kai far away from the family his son did know. Moving him even further away from the people who cared about his son—for what? More money?
Hell, more money, better hours, better schools. Better therapy.
It was definitely going to be more money. Luc had assured him of that—even while saying he probably wouldn’t really be busy enough to earn it—and would have plenty of time to spend with Kai going forward.
Kai was his priority. Kai needed something different than what he was getting now. Pierce had been screwing everything up ever since he learned of his own son’s existence fourteen months ago. His kid wasn’t getting better in the house they lived in now. He just wasn’t.
How could he, considering what Kai’s own mother had done there?
Even painting the entire house and remodeling Kai’s bedroom hadn’t helped. The world remained the same every time his son stepped out the door.
That was his primary incentive for this—helping Kai. Nothing mattered more to him than that.
Pierce was going to try his damnedest to make it work. But first…he needed to put this case behind him. Somehow. Doing all that he could, even if there was no final resolution. That had to matter.
The woman walking toward him now could potentially be the answer. Pierce stayed where he was and watched. The woman was one of a kind, that was for sure. He’d noticed her many times before.
He’d always admired the woman’s…mind. More than anything, Miranda was damned brilliant. A beautiful woman, too. He’d been a tongue-tied idiot around Miranda Talley more than once, no denying that. So had a couple of his brothers, from what he’d heard from Payton. But when he’d discussed what Miranda’s new team could do with her the last time their paths had crossed, he hadn’t been able to stop wondering…
Maybe she would see something he couldn’t. Hell, he’d tried just about everything else.
But for now…he did love to watch the way the woman ate up the parking lot with each step. Even in the heavier winter coat and snow boots. Miranda Talley owned her world, and she would never let a man forget it.
He was so focused on watching her that he almost missed the extremely tall man walking just behind her. Even though he wasn’t the kind of man someone missed.
Pierce tensed; something about the man set his teeth on edge. For some reason, he’d expected her to come alone.
“Pierce!” Then she was there, close.
Pierce hugged her for a moment. “I’m glad you’re here. Thank you for coming.”
“We’re here to help however we can.”
Chapter 3
The house where the victims had lived was in a neighborhood filled with the typical lower-middle-class tract houses on a cul-de-sac just north of Indiana Highway 58. It blended in with every other house on the street. Except...there was a For Rent sign in the window. There was snow almost halfway up to Miranda's knees. Well, she was Wyoming born and bred—snow was nothing new. This…was just enough snow to get started. She had worn snow boots—she’d checked the weather forecast before they’d left, but Knight’s pants would be a little soggy after this.
Not that he’d let that bother him. The man was as cold as a machine.
"It looks a little shabby," she said to the beautiful blond man walking on her left. “Was it always like this?”
The neighborhood was a mix of shabby and neat, all bungalows, it looked like. Blue-collar, and retirees—that would be her first guess. The same kind of neighborhood found all over small-town America. Small towns were wonderful—she truly believed that—but some had their secrets.
She looked at Pierce. Waited. He was such a pretty man, no denying that.
He was far easier on her nerves than Knight. She'd met Pierce Asher at least a dozen times in the last few years. Gone out with him a few times now—and had kissed him one memorable evening next to his brother-in-law's pool. There had been a bit of alcohol involved that night—but not much.
It had been the romance of it all that had gotten to them both, she thought. Romance—before practical aspects of life. Less than six months later—they both had little boys to take care of suddenly. Romance hadn’t exactly been at the front of her mind after that.
It had ended not much after that kiss, but it had been an enjoyable, very romantic kind of night. Whoever finally nabbed Pierce Asher was going to be a lucky, lucky woman indeed. It just wasn’t going to be her. She and Pierce just…wouldn’t click that way long term. They’d both agreed to that easily enough.
"After the Gibsons were killed, people moved out fast. Property values fell; it took a while for them to rebound, but it has to some extent. Now, it's mostly blue collar. Families work at the local factories and the quarries one county over. A few may commute to white collar jobs down in Evansville. And there are a lot of renters in the area. They don't tend to stay very long, a year or two at the most." Pierce used a key and unlocked the door. “The landlord is meeting us here soon. He was the landlord back then, too.”
