couldn’t recall how many months it had been since she’d thought of that heinous name. The bastard had died last October, but his devilish machinations had continued for months afterward. The ordeal finally culminated in the world being rid of those who’d conspired with Leberman to ruin the Colbys.
Despite having lived through that nineteen-year nightmare, it still seemed impossible to Victoria that one man could harbor such immense hatred toward another.
“Victoria, I’m not getting an answer. Shall I keep trying?” Mildred’s voice floated from the intercom, tugging Victoria from the troubling memories.
She pursed her lips thoughtfully for a moment before making a decision. “That’s all right, Mildred. I’ll try from home later.”
Victoria turned her attention back to the newspaper and attempted to put her concerns about her son and his fiancée out of her mind. It was possible that Jim had had an appointment today that Victoria had forgotten. Tuesday was Tasha’s usual day off. Perhaps she was overreacting.
She unfolded the paper on her desk and spread it open. A quick scan of the major headlines before turning the page drew her up short. She dropped the page into place and let her gaze zero in on one particular news article.
Local Homicide Detective Murdered.
Victoria read the accompanying story, regret churning in her stomach.
Carter Hastings…
What on earth?
The name swept her back nineteen years as easily as Leberman’s had…back to the night she had realized her son would not be found in the woods near their home. He was gone, had vanished, seemingly into thin air.
Homicide Detective Hastings had shown up at her door and Victoria had fallen apart. She had not wanted to believe that her son might be dead, but obviously Chicago PD had considered that possibility.
Hastings and his partner, Madelyn Rutland, had worked hard to prove Victoria’s son had merely wandered off or perhaps had been abducted by someone who wanted a son of their own. Everyone at Chicago PD had wanted to help the Colbys overcome their tragedy. The Colby Agency had already earned a respected place amid local law enforcement. No one wanted to see Victoria’s family suffer.
But there had been nothing anyone could do. The vile bastard Leberman had been behind little Jimmy’s abduction. And it would be eighteen long years before Victoria would know what really had happened.
Just three years after that horrific tragedy, Victoria’s husband had been murdered, and Carter Hastings had once more come back into her life. He had insisted on being the lead investigator. She would never forget the way he comforted her and worked diligently to bring James’s murderer to justice. But Carter had been searching for a ghost…a man more elusive than he could have imagined. Still, she had appreciated all his hard work and his endless emotional support.
The time between Jim’s abduction and James’s murder still carried a measure of guilt for Victoria. Hers and James’s relationship had not been the same after their son went missing. They’d struggled to hold things together those final three years, but it hadn’t been easy. For years after James’s death, she had worried that she should have done more to make things right between them, but she just hadn’t been able to get past the pain. Living with the reality that she might never see her son again, that he was likely dead, had been too monumental a burden to allow her to contend with anything else—even her beloved husband’s needs.
Lucas had helped her to get past those haunting months and years. He’d reminded her over and over how much James had loved her, how very well he had known that she loved him. The loss of a child brought hardship upon even the best marriage. Maybe that’s part of what had made Victoria fall in love with Lucas. Or maybe she’d been a little bit in love with him from the very first time she’d ever met him.
A wistful smile tugged at her lips. No matter the harsh realities of her past, her life was wonderful now. She had her son back and the man she loved beside her.
That nagging feeling she’d suffered last night at the gala filtered into her thoughts.
Victoria shoved it aside. She refused to be plagued by worry any longer. She had worried enough in the past for a dozen lifetimes.
This was her time. She deserved this happiness and she would not waste any of it borrowing trouble.
She picked up the phone and put through a call to Chicago PD. Carter Hastings had been incredibly helpful to her all those years ago. The least she could do was offer whatever help her agency might be able to provide for him.
“Chief Holmes, this is Victoria Colby.” She listened as the chief of Chicago’s homicide division parlayed the usual pleasantries. “Yes, it was good seeing you and Karen at the gala last night.”
Chief Marvin Holmes reiterated how no one he knew was more deserving of the honor of Woman of the Year than Victoria. She appreciated the sentiment. “Thank you, Chief. I was actually calling about this terrible news I’ve just read in today’s paper about Detective Hastings.”
Victoria’s posture stiffened at the abrupt change in the chief’s tone. It was as if the call had suddenly been diverted to some other office and some other man.
She tried to make another inroad, offering her condolences and suggesting that certainly all of Chicago PD was shocked and determined to bring this killer to justice. But the chief wasn’t biting. The change in the whole tone of the conversation was so extreme that Victoria felt uncomfortable continuing to attempt to discuss the topic.
“Don’t hesitate to let my agency know if there is anything at all we can do to facilitate this investigation.”
Chief Holmes hurried to end the call after that, insisting that he had a meeting. Victoria dropped the receiver back into its cradle, her mind reeling with questions and mounting confusion.
Why in the world would the chief be so evasive, so downright uncooperative about a case? She understood that this one was particularly sensitive because one of their own had been murdered, but why would her help—at the very least her condolences—not be welcome?
Before she could dwell upon the puzzling questions, her door opened and Tasha appeared. Victoria instantly set aside her troubling thoughts and offered her future daughter-in-law a warm smile.
“Tasha, what brings you to the office on your day off?”
Jim’s fiancé didn’t have to answer. As the younger woman quickly closed the door behind her and strode straight up to Victoria’s desk without pause, Victoria could see that something was wrong.
“We have to talk.”
It wasn’t so much the words, or even the expression on her face, but something Victoria saw in Tasha’s eyes sent her apprehension rocketing to the next level.
Every instinct Victoria possessed, had honed over the last decade and a half, warned that the shift in her world had just occurred.
CHAPTER SEVEN
TASHA HADN’T WANTED TO COME TO Victoria this way. She had hoped to work out the situation on her own, just her and Jim. But when she’d awakened this morning, Jim had been missing and last night’s incident had morphed into a whole other dimension. She’d
