Chapter 1
Jace Colley sat at the end of the long dining room table at the compound. It had taken him one week to adjust to being part of a large group again. He had regained that sense of brotherhood he’d had in the military. That sense of belonging to a bigger cause. When Michael, a good friend and teammate from his old unit, had called and told Jace about Levi, Jace had jumped at the chance. As had Tyson. Jace had done a few jobs for Levi, and each one confirmed Jace had made the right decision. Rory was dragging his feet, as were Liam and Brandon. But they’d come around eventually.
Jace couldn’t believe how many lived and worked here. Levi had invested heavily in living accommodations.
The first of the couples were moving into the finished apartments this coming weekend. Levi had rehabbed one of the buildings to accommodate his men. It was a great idea. And it certainly ensured people would remain with the company. Not that it was an issue as far as Jace could see. Loyalty shone from the men’s faces.
Levi walked in, talking on his phone. “Terkel, I’m putting you on the monitor.”
He reached for the remote below a large screen on the dining room wall as a man appeared in front of them. Jace studied the face and gave a slow smile. “What the hell, Terkel?”
Terkel had been quiet, his gaze roaming the faces in front of him. When he saw Jace, his face cracked into a big smile. “Jace, what the hell, man. You found your way here, like a homing pigeon. Damn, you’re looking good.”
“Well, I got out before I ended up in pieces,” Jace said with a smile. “What the hell are you doing with this lot?”
“I’m always around,” Terkel said. “You never know when or where I’ll pop up. Besides Merk’s been part of this company since the beginning. I have to keep an eye out for my brother.”
“Good thing, considering it’s a third eye,” Merk said with a grin. He leaned back in his seat, raising the front legs off the floor. “What’s with the haircut?”
Terkel shook his head. Long dark-brown curls shifted in waves. “I’m heading undercover.”
Merk sat forward, his chair legs coming down hard. “What the hell?”
Terkel’s face hardened. “Don’t even try to talk me out of it. I can’t explain, as you well know. But I could be a free agent at the end of this,” he joked. “If you’re looking for new hires, I might be in a position to apply.”
Levi’s voice was quiet but clear. “I always have room for you here, Terkel, but I know you. You’d want to have your own supersecret spy agency, working black ops missions off the books.”
“Something that couldn’t happen of course,” Terkel said. “On the other hand, the brass is bubbling in my ear about a similar topic.”
Merk shook his head. “I don’t like the sound of this.”
“It doesn’t matter if you do or not, bro.” Terkel’s face cracked into a smile. “I’ll be fine. Besides, that’s not why I’m calling.”
Levi snorted. “Of course not. What do you know?”
“This is not through my military channels but through my underground network. TxSAR, the Austin Texas Search and Rescue team, was called in to help when Austin’s Blanco River flooded its banks. A bridge went down there on the rivers that feed into it. In the process, two of the TxSAR men were swept away in the floodwaters. Another two members died, not while on duty, but definitely due to foul play.”
Jace studied Terkel’s face. “What happened to them?”
“One death looks like a hit-and-run.”
Several of the women at the table winced.
Jace narrowed his gaze. “But?”
“He was already dead. It was made to look like the vehicle ran over him accidentally. Water is involved in the fourth case, but …”
Levi leaned forward. “And why do you think any of it ties in?”
Terkel gave an approving nod. “All I can tell you is they do. But what I can’t tell you is how. That’s for you guys to figure out.”
Ice snorted. “Terkel, I love your sixth sense, or whatever you want to call it, but I need a little more than that to justify a team looking into these deaths.”
His gaze shifted to Ice, and his face lit up. “Damn, you get better looking every time I see you.”
“Time to get yourself a partner, Terkel,” Levi said jokingly.
He shook his head. “Not yet. Timing is not quite right. But soon.”
“If anyone of us had listened to that same line, none of us would’ve ended up with the partners we have,” Merk said. “I’d love to see you settled down, bro.”
“It’s coming.” Terkel got a far-off look in his eye. “And faster than I had expected,” he admitted. “But it won’t be easy, and it won’t be sweet. She’s in trouble but doesn’t know it.”
The room went silent.
“Who?” Ice asked. “Who’s in trouble?”
“I have no idea.” Terkel laughed. “Welcome to my world. However, that’s not today’s issue. She doesn’t show up for a few more months. And you guys will all be instrumental with helping her.” Terkel’s gaze sharpened. “Right now we have four TxSAR men dead, and I highly suspect there could be more – or if not stopped – will be more. Not all were in paid positions. Several were volunteers.”
“I still need a reason or something that links them together to make it worthy of a full-scale investigation,” Ice said patiently. “And the TxSAR units have their own ways of investigating issues like this. They will bring in the police if need be.”
He nodded. “All I can tell you is, they are from the same family.”
Jace straightened. “They’re all brothers?”
“They’re all cousins. And I’ll give you the heads-up. The TxSAR organization will call you any moment.”
Ice shook her head. “Not likely. Again they have their own protocol in place within their system.”
Terkel gave her a ghost of a smile. “Oh, Ice. You have so little faith.” And just like that, he hung up, and the screen went black.
Ice turned toward Merk. “He gets a little weirder every day.”
Merk chuckled. “He does indeed. But, as we well know, he’s special.”
Jace said, “Four cousins?”
Levi nodded. “Chances are he’s right.”
Merk and Levi exchanged looks.
“He usually is,” Merk said.
“But it still doesn’t mean we have any right to step in.”
The phone rang in Levi’s hand. He checked it, looked at Ice, then said, “Do you want to talk to TxSAR, or do I?”
She glared at him, snatched the phone from his hand, and introduced herself. “How can I help you?” She put it on Speakerphone.
“This is Conway Dunlap of TxSAR. I have a delicate situation here, and we could use some help.”
She smothered a laugh but took the phone off Speaker and left the room.
Under his breath Jace whispered, “Damn. I forgot how on the mark Terkel so often is.”
Merk, at his side, leaned over. “You have no idea.”
Over the compound’s loudspeaker boomed Stone’s voice. “Incoming.”
Jace knew it would take a while to get used to that. To him, incoming still meant enemy attack. Here it meant company. But they didn’t get a ton of that for Stone to announce.
“A lone female, late twenties, driving a Mercedes,” Stone continued. “And her marital status is single, based on a quick run of her plates and a glance at her social data. Better make sure Jace is around. He’s the only single male left among us.”
“I’d like to stay that way too,” Jace said. “So now that we know she’s likely pretty and wealthy, do we make other guesstimates before she gets here?”
Merk laughed. “It’ll be connected to TxSAR.”
“Terk has been a busy boy lately,” Jace said.
Logan walked in then from the garage. “My father is nothing if not busy too. He just called. He’s sending someone our way but wouldn’t go into details. This could be them arriving now.”
Levi told him about Terkel’s phone call.
“Interesting.” Logan walked over to the front door and stepped out, leaving the door open.
Jace could hear voices, but he raised an eyebrow at the sound of the deep female voice. Smoky and sexy, it hit his libido with a hard bang. And that brought more of the same to mind.
He watched as a tall willowy brunette walked in. Dressed in slacks and a light sleeveless top of sky blue, her stride said she had a purpose.
Logan said, “This is Emily. Dad sent her.”
Emily spoke up. “I’m Emily Leacock. I work for America Plus Life Insurance. I live and work in Austin. Gunner Redding suggested I contact your group.” She frowned as she stared at the sea of faces in front of her. “I’m looking for Levi.”
Levi raised a hand. “I’m Levi. Ice will be here in a few moments.” He motioned at the empty chairs in front of her. “Take a seat.”
“Does this have to do with the four dead TxSAR members?” Jace asked.
Emily looked startled, but she quickly sat down. “I hadn’t heard there were four. I was looking into the death of the first two. We carried life insurance policies on both of them …”
“But?” Jace asked when she hesitated as if she wanted to say more. “Is there a reason not to pay out?”
She gave him a ghost of a smile. “That’s the question. I was closing the files when the third man died. And that’s when I became very suspicious. After checking further, I found the third man had the same amount of life insurance.”
“Of course it’s way too simplistic to consider that all three have the same beneficiary.”
She gave a clipped nod. “Exactly. They are all different.”
Levi leaned forward. “How can we help?”
“I need to know if they’re related, if these men were murdered. Or if they were suicides.”
“Does it make a difference to the payout one way or the other?” Levi asked.
“It depends on who ends up receiving the money at the end of the day. If they were accidental or murdered by another party, then the payouts are not an issue. If any of the beneficiaries have a hand in a person’s death, then, yes, it makes a huge difference. However, if it was suicide, then there is no payout. Hence the great lengths some people go to hide their actions so their loved ones receive the insurance monies.”
Jace leaned forward, studying her face. “What else?”
She looked startled for a moment but recovered quickly. With a glance around at the sea of faces, she locked onto Jace’s and asked, “Why does there have to be something else?”
“Because of the fear I see in the back of your eyes. Something deeply unsettles you about this.”
“Murder is an unsettling business.”
Jace narrowed his gaze. “You’re hedging.”
She gave him a flat stare, definitely trying to put him in his place and shut him up, but that wasn’t happening.
He leaned back to open his body language and stop her from feeling quite so threatened. “Did you know the men?”
She took a deep breath and nodded. “Yes, and you’re right. That’s a huge issue for me.”
“How well did you know them?” Merk asked.
She turned her gaze on him, but still Jace could see the whisper of pain cross her face as she said, “Very well.”
“All of them?” Jace asked incredulously. Again that stare of hers was turned in his direction, and he realized how his comment had come across. Still, to think she had an affair or a relationship with four cousins was a bit much. Or was it?
“I was married to the first victim,” she said. “Straight out of high school. We were divorced one year later. In the small community we were from, divorce was frowned upon. I headed for college. He went off and did his own thing. In college I had a relationship with the second victim. I didn’t know he was related to my ex-husband as they hadn’t lived in the same town at the time I was there. That relationship lasted about six months. A couple years later the third victim and I met at a party. He introduced himself as my ex-husband’s cousin. We were engaged until I found him in bed with another woman.” She shrugged. “I didn’t know anything about a fourth murder until I got here. So I’m really hoping it’s not somebody I know.”
“I don’t have any names yet,” Levi stated. “But you’re extremely involved. Possibly in the center of it all.”
She nodded. “It’s quite possible that I am,” she confessed. “And that’s terrifying. And that’s why I need someone independent to investigate these cases. I can’t appear to be biased in any way.”
Silence descended on the group.
“A large insurance settlement is involved in each case. This needs to be resolved. If nothing criminal is involved, that’s perfect. I’ll close all these files and write checks so people can get on with their lives and try to deal with the loss of a loved one. However, if something else is going on …”
Jace heard the pain threading through her coming out in her voice and thought about the position she was in.
She settled back. “I’m hoping you can help me.”
“You shouldn’t be handling the cases at all,” Jace said bluntly. “Not if you know these men personally.”
She nodded. “Normally I wouldn’t, but we’re crammed with claims right now from the two recent hurricanes, and we’re terribly short-staffed. So my boss is overseeing my work on this one. And, yes, he knows about my personal relationships with each.”
Ice studied her for a long time.
Jace knew both Levi and Ice would decide, but, when it came to assessing people—particularly women—well, that was all Ice’s specialty.
Ice said, “We need more information. And why did Gunner send you to us?”
“He said you can make discreet inquiries and get to the bottom of this fast,” Emily said bluntly. “I’m hoping he’s right.”
“TxSAR has already asked us to look into it,” Ice said. “Naturally we would’ve uncovered your relationship with the three men, so it’s good you’re here.”
“My company is also prepared to hire you. We need to know what happened.”
Ice stood. “Come to my office.” She picked up her cup, realized Emily didn’t have one, motioned to the pot, and said, “Bring a cup with you if you want.”
Emily nodded gratefully. She stood, walked over to pour a cup of coffee, then turned to Ice, cup in hand. “Lead on.”
The two women disappeared from the room. Jace sat there for a long moment, then said, “Anybody else think that’s weird?”
“It’s weird, but it’s not that weird,” Merk said. “Most people have relationships with those they know. And that usually means the extended family of those they know. That’s how people meet. You go to a family gathering or a party and meet somebody. You have a relationship with them, but, in the process, you meet their extended family and friends, so the circle of who you know widens. Within that group you meet someone else. But she’s been in a relationship with three who have died with possibly large insurance payouts. That is weird. And puts her right in the middle of it all. But what we need to do is get the names of the latest deceased and find out if she knows the fourth man.”
“It’s a good thing she’s the one writing the checks, not the one cashing them.” Jace snorted. “She’d be at the top of our list.”
When Levi’s phone rang, he got up and left the room to answer it.
Jace watched him leave, but his mind was spinning with all they didn’t know. “We also need to find out if any other men from the same family are in the TxSAR ranks. And do any of them have a large life insurance policy? While we sort out the victims, we have to make sure there aren’t any more potential targets.”
*
Emily took a seat in Ice’s office, a large space with six desks in the room and still vacant space for more.
“This is quite the operation you have here,” she said.
“It’s coming along nicely,” Ice responded. “I’m sorry you’re in this mess. It appears you’re in the center of it all.”
“And that’s not where I want to be,” Emily said, her voice thin, wan. “Who would?”
“True enough.” They fell into a discussion of what Emily’s company needed from Legendary Security. Finally done, Ice turned her light-blue gaze on Emily. “Before you leave, is there anything else you need to tell us?”
Startled, Emily looked at her. “What do you mean?”
“Through this investigation we will get into everybody’s lives. And although I’m sure you telling us about the three men wasn’t the easiest, if there’s more, things you don’t want to tell us, we will find out. So it’s much easier to tell me now.”
Emily winced. “It’s not even bad.” She groaned, then studied Ice. “It’s just, growing up, I went through many different stages. This is my natural hair color now. When I was younger, I hated who I was, so I was always changing, trying to be someone else. Each of the men knew me as somebody else.” She shrugged. “I don’t even think it’s important that you know that. But it’s something I didn’t do particularly well. So, when you hear about their wives, girlfriends, know that one was a redhead, one had black hair, and one was blonde, but they were all me.”
Ice nodded, pulled out her notepad and jotted this down.
Emily found this painful, going through the names of the men she’d been with.
“The other thing is they all have different surnames. They don’t look alike. They don’t act alike. You wouldn’t know they were related.”
“And no need to feel bad even if you could tell they were related,” Ice said firmly. “We’re not in the Victorian times where you’re not allowed to have relationships out of wedlock.”
Emily laughed. “A darn good thing. Otherwise I would be in jail or worse.”
“So would most of us. Now let’s get to the men, one at a time. Can you remember what hair color you were using with each?”
“In high school I was a redhead. That was with Ronnie.”
“Ronnie?”
Emily pulled a notebook from her purse. “I made notes myself to figure out what the hell was going on at each time.” She flipped to the right page. “Ronnie Williamson was my high school sweetheart. We married one week after graduation. Split one year later.”
Ice nodded. “Next?”
Emily went to the next page. “That was Howard. His last name was Waterton. We only dated for about six months. I went with black hair at the time. Very short, cropped, like a pixie cut.”
Ice smiled and kept writing.
“The third man was Lyle Cowichan. And I was a blonde then.”
Ice laughed. “Did you find it made any difference?”
“Not one bit,” Emily said. “I still couldn’t change what was on the inside.”
Ice studied her. “Why would you want to?”
Emily winced. “I’ve always blamed myself for my little brother’s death in a house fire when we were growing up. I hated myself. So I spent decades trying to change into someone other than the person I saw in the mirror. The horrible big sister who couldn’t save her baby brother,” she said quietly. “I went through a number of shrinks and relationships where I tried to outrun my past. Finally I came to terms with the fact that I was only ten, and I probably wasn’t capable of doing very much more than I did, which was to get myself out.”
Sympathy filled Ice’s gaze. “The trials of childhood. They seem to follow us right into adulthood, no matter what we do.”
“In my case it didn’t help that my parents blamed me. They reminded me of it day in and day out for the rest of my growing years. Until my father drank himself to death, and my mother remarried. But I was part of her painful past, so let’s just say that I don’t see her at all.” Emily shook her head. “Why am I telling you this? I guess maybe it will help you understand why I need to know what’s going on with these cases. To make sure that three men I cared for, however briefly, who are now dead, have not died because of me.”
“Understood. I need your full name and the contact information for these men if you have it and how they’re related.”
“Their family tree is a little complicated. They are first cousins. Six daughters with eighteen children between them. All married so have different surnames. Several family members have since died.”
“Right. So I’ll draw a family tree. Do you have that information on you?”
Emily picked up her briefcase to pull out her file. “This is what I pulled together from the records.” She held out a copy. “You can keep it.”
Ice picked it up, took a look, and nodded. “This is helpful.” She turned toward Emily. “And how much are the payouts?”
“One million each for the three men.”
Ice nodded. “Do you know if any other family members are in TxSAR? And do you know if any other family members have life insurance policies?”
“I don’t,” Emily said. “I don’t have access to answer your first question. And we have hundreds of thousands of policies to sort through, with different surnames in the mix. I’ll look into it when I return to the office.”
“And how many children did the eighteen children have?”
“Twenty-two.” Emily laughed as Ice winced. “Exactly. And I don’t have all those names either. I’m trying to build that level of the tree. Then I’ll see if we hold policies on anyone else in the extended family.”
Levi walked in then. Emily turned and smiled at him. He leaned against one of the desks close to them. “Do you know a Richard Manton?”
Emily looked at him and frowned. “I’m not sure. I know several Richards.”
Levi gave a nod. “Maybe that’s a good thing.
“Why’s that?”
“He’s the fourth victim. The one they know was definitely murdered.”
Inside she could feel relief blossoming through her. That meant these men weren’t targeted because of her. “I’d have to see a photo of him to be sure, but the name isn’t ringing any bells.”
“I’m bringing up a photo now.” He tapped the tablet in his hand.
“This is what I have.” Ice turned the laptop her way. “Do you know this man?”
Emily looked at it and gasped. “Oh, my God! I do.” She sank back in the chair, a look of horror on her face. “He’s dead?”
“Yes. How do you know him?” Ice asked.
She shook her head. “Because Lyle had to get a restraining order against him for his wife.”
“Lyle, your ex-fiancé, the third dead man?”
“Yes. His wife was the girlfriend I found him in bed with. But apparently her ex-boyfriend wasn’t done with her yet. That’s him.”
“So you’re involved but not on a personal level this time. Good,” Ice stated. “How did you hear about the restraining order?”
“Friends in common. He was pointed out at a restaurant we were at one evening.” Bewildered she added, “I’m not sure what you mean by that first part, but, if you’re asking if I ever slept with Richard, the answer is no.”
Levi nodded. “Good enough. Make sure we have a way to contact you at all times. Everyone and anyone could be involved. We don’t know exactly what’s going on yet,” he said with a sharp look at her. “Stay safe.”
A little shaky she rose, shook hands with both of them, and followed Ice to the kitchen, Emily’s mind washed in pain. She understood Levi’s need to warn her, but it never occurred to her that this killer could be a threat to her. She didn’t love easy. To know three of the dead men were people she had cared about—two deeply—was a blow she struggled with. Knowing the fourth man was someone she knew also, well …
In the dining room again, she mustered up a smile for those gathered at the table. She didn’t quite understand how, or even if, they all belonged to this place, but she’d heard from Gunner that they were a large team.
As she walked toward the front door, one of the men hopped up, walked over, and held it open for her. In a low voice he asked, “Are you okay?”
“I’m not sure,” she admitted. “Levi said I needed to make sure I stayed safe. There could be a connection, and the killer could be coming after me.”
“I’m sure he was saying that more as a warning. You’re not in TxSAR, and you’re not a part of the same family.”
She took a deep breath, nodded, and smiled. “Thank you for that.”
He held up his hand. “I’m Jace. If you need to get a hold of anybody here, you can contact any of us. We’ll be happy to help.”
She smiled. “Thank you.” She walked on alone to her vehicle.
He still stood there when she reversed out of the lot and headed to the main road. Once again she wondered at the wisdom of doing what she’d done. Should she have contacted them? Or had she opened herself up for a whole lot more pain?