Excerpt
Chapter One

He found it in the freezer, wrapped in newspaper. Not a very original hiding place for a murder weapon, but Lenny the Leech had never been long on brains. It didn’t take any special training to know that.

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Texas Ranger Will McClain smiled as he pulled on thin latex gloves and peeled aside the newspaper to reveal a 9mm automatic. “Beautiful,” he said to his partner. “Same caliber as the gun that killed Stringer. Want to bet the marks on the casings match?”

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“That’s a sucker bet,” Rafe Wagner said. “Let’s bag it and get out of here.” He offered Will a paper bag. “The stench is killing me. There must be a year’s worth of garbage in this dump.”

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Will nodded, stuffed the weapon inside the evidence bag and handed it to Wagner to log. As he folded the newspaper to fit into another bag, a headline caught his eye. He stopped in mid-motion, staring at the yellowed clipping. Wagner’s voice continued from a distance, but Will couldn’t distinguish the words.

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“What?” Will gazed at Wagner blankly.

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“I said hurry up,” he repeated.

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Will shook his head, still unable to concentrate.

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“Hey, McClain, you okay?”

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With an effort, Will focused his attention on his partner. “Yeah, I’m fine. You go ahead. There’s something I need to take care of here. I’ll catch up in a minute.”

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As Wagner left. Will took a seat at the chrome-and-black Formica-topped table. A closer inspection of the table proved the color to be the result of the same grunge that covered the rest of the apartment. Careful not to contaminate the newspaper with oils or fluids from the tabletop, he stretched the paper out to read it. Evidence, just like the gun, but Will didn’t intend to bag it until he’d read the article below the gut-draining headline.

Mystery Bones Discovered Near East Texas Lake Identified

Uncertain, Texas. The mystery of Frannie Granger’s disappearance may finally be solved. The forty-seven-year-old Harrison County woman vanished nineteen years ago this May. Her remains were recently found close to an Indian burial ground near Caddo Lake. She is believed to have been murdered. On March 28 of this year, upon the discovery of human remains obviously not those of a Caddo Indian of the early nineteenth century, archaeologist Theresa Lang turned the skeleton over to the authorities for identification.

This week, dental records proved the bones to be those of Frannie Granger, a widow who was housekeeper for various local residents and who provided foster care for unadoptable children in her own home in Uncertain. Granger was well liked in the community, and her sudden disappearance caused quite a stir. Sheriff Logan Fielder could not be reached for comment. The question remains, who murdered Frannie Granger, and why?

Will’s stomach tightened as his gaze shifted to find the date. Two months old, damn it. And it was only by chance he’d seen it at all.

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The printed lines blurred, wavered. He shifted back, twenty-three years into the past. He’d been thirteen years old. Brash, cocky, a troublemaker nobody wanted, headed to juvie hall after one last-ditch attempt by social services to provide the home he needed.

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He hadn’t wanted it. If he could have managed, he’d have gone back to the streets, or so he told himself. But he’d been too scared to hit the streets again, because even back then he’d known where he’d end up.

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Remembering his youthful bravado, Will half smiled. The last thing he’d wanted was to be sent to another foster home. Another family who took him in for the money and booted him out the minute he gave them too much trouble. And he always did.

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Then along came Frannie Granger. The woman who had saved his life.

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His foster mother hadn’t simply disappeared all those years before. Frannie Granger had been murdered.