Contents

      Prologue

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Chapter Five

      Chapter Six

      Chapter Seven

      Chapter Eight

      Chapter Nine

      Chapter Ten

      Chapter Eleven

      Chapter Twelve

      Chapter Thirteen

      Chapter Fourteen

      Epilogue

      Prologue

      “Are you sure this young woman is indeed a D’Martine heir?” The man studied him closely, as if he were some kind of bug under a microscope. “I need absolute certainty here. If what you say is true, then—”

      “I know what I saw,” Joe said sharply. “And I know what it means. I’ve had twenty long years in the state penitentiary to think about it. That’s the only reason I went back there first thing when I got out.” He snorted, a disgustingly crude sound judging by the other man’s flinch. “You think I bagged that kid twenty-five years ago because I was lucky?”

      The other man just stared at him with obvious impatience and no small amount of distaste.

      “I bagged him so easy because he was distracted by his girlfriend. He was in love,” Joe added with an emphatic wave of his arms. “So damned in love he didn’t even notice I was following him until I’d nailed him.”

      Another flinch from the guy who’d been his partner twenty-five years ago. A partner who hadn’t spent a solitary day behind bars and, from the looks of him, had suffered little considering their deal had gone so far south it had burned out somewhere in the vicinity of the equator. Instead of landing a ten-million-dollar ransom as they had planned, they’d ended up with a body to dispose of and nothing to show for their trouble.

      He—the silent partner—had insisted they were never to see each other, or even to speak to each other, again. After all, it was his hind end in the sling. The high-and-mighty partner was the mastermind behind the whole plan. Course it wasn’t his fault the package had gotten damaged.

      Old Joe had no one to blame for that except himself. He’d screwed up. Had too much to drink and the young heir had died as a result, leaving Joe and his partner nothing to do but dump the body and make sure no evidence pointed toward either of them. They’d gotten away with it, by George. Not a soul on earth knew they had been the ones. If Joe hadn’t gotten into that other trouble a little later, he’d have walked away clean with a number of crimes to his credit.

      But, fact was, he’d spent twenty years in prison. The whole time he’d thought of little else except what he’d missed by screwing up that kidnapping. He could have been drinking tequila down in Cancún; instead, he was wasting away in a cell. Then it had dawned on him that maybe there was hope for a second chance. He’d seen how crazy that rich boy had been over the waitress he’d sneaked away from his hotshot college every weekend to see. A girl like that had no hopes in hell of snagging herself a rich boy without a little leverage, planned or not. Joe had thought on it ever since. The very day the state released him from prison he’d gotten on a bus and headed straight for Meadowbrook, Maryland. He’d hung out for a few days, laying low and acting nonchalant. And, lo and behold, he’d been right.

      There was another D’Martine heir. No way could he be wrong. The girl was the spitting image of her daddy. All Joe needed was his old partner to make it happen. To have a second chance at the rest of his life in the land of luxury and pleasure. Damned D’Martines had too much money anyhow. It wouldn’t hurt them to share a little. This time he’d make sure nobody got damaged until he had what he wanted.

      “All right,” his partner finally relented. “I’ll set things in motion.” He started to turn away, then hesitated. His face turned as hard as the rock wall that surrounded the prison Joe had only recently departed. “But this time there will be no mistakes.”

      Joe smiled. “No mistakes.”

      Old Joe might be a little slow, but he never, ever made the same mistake twice.

      History was about to repeat itself.

      And no one would see it coming.

      Chapter One

      Doug Cooper waited impatiently in Victoria Colby’s office, his anticipation mounting. He’d been stuck on desk duty since taking that bullet six weeks ago. Lucky for him it hadn’t hit anything vital, just put him out of commission temporarily.

      But now he was ready to get back to work. He was immensely bored with reading reports and studying case scenarios. He was ready for some action. Victoria had briefed him last week on the first case in which he would serve as lead investigator. He wasn’t particularly thrilled with the assignment, but he would deal with it. The case, as Victoria had said, was somewhat sensitive and required an investigator with a certain background. Doug understood all that. But that didn’t mean he liked it.

      He preferred to keep his background exactly there—in the background. He’d worked too hard to put that past behind him. But, as Victoria had said, that very past was pertinent