“You bastard!” she yelled. “That’s my car you’re stealing!”

David burst out in his bare feet and jeans. The situation needed no explanation. “Shit,” he said, immediately leaping toward his Land Rover.

“It’s useless, David. Your beat-up Rover isn’t going to keep up with a Jaguar. Where’s your Ferrari when we need it?”

“I can try, can’t I?”

He had his keys in his jeans pocket. She hopped in beside him. After a few huffs and puffs, the Rover rattled to a start They drove out the backroad to Route 9. Went into town. Drove around. Asked at a few places.

But no one had seen a maroon Jaguar or an injured middle-aged man.

“The police?” David asked. They were stopped at a red light in the center of Amherst. “Your decision, Ash. It’s your car.”

She shook her head. “Not yet. The Jaguar’s replaceable, but Barky’s not. Think I’d know not to trust a jewel thief.”

“Water over the dam, Ash.”

She smiled halfheartedly. “The egg is broken.”

“Yeah. What next?”

She took a deep breath and let it out in a cathartic huff. “I’m flying out to San Diego.”

The light changed. David ground the gears going into first. “Sounds good to me.”

“David, I think you should stay here in case Barky needs one of us or anything else happens. Or maybe Stevens will show up again.”

David was silent.

“I’m not shutting you out,” she said quickly. “This could be a wasted trip—maybe Carruthers didn’t lie; maybe he was lied to. At this point, it wouldn’t surprise me if I got to San Diego and found out there was no such thing as a law firm by the name of Carruthers and Stevens—or not one that has heard of our MacGregor Stevens and Jeremy Carruthers. I don’t know. Hell.” Her jaw tightened. “But I damn well intend to find out.”

“You’re right,” her brother finally agreed. “Carruthers might still be on the East Coast. We have only his word that he left—and we’ve already gotten a taste of how good that is. I’ll stay. But if you see him, Ash, you can tell him I don’t like being played for a fool.”

She called up an image of the green-eyed man in the light shade of the apple tree. “If I see him,” she said ominously, “I intend to make that very clear.”

10

Lillian Parker moved quickly through the city streets, rushing, hurrying away from the fears and doubts she hoped she’d left behind, in her Park Avenue apartment.

Dammit, this time she was going to mind her own business!

Thirty years ago, she’d stuck her nose where it didn’t belong. She’d blamed her budding journalist’s instincts, but now she knew that was just self-delusion. She’d been spoiled, headstrong and dangerously naive.

But she wasn’t twenty-two anymore. She could make a case for forgiving herself for the terrible mistakes of the past, but now she should know better. If nothing else, life should have taught her when the hell to butt out.