We walked into the Carters’ home, where finger foods and sweet treats filled the table. Harlow greeted us, with Lila Kate holding on to her leg as she peered up at everyone with a curious expression. The second Grant walked into the house, though, she let go of her mother and squealed, lifting her little arms up for her daddy.
“There’s my baby girl,” Grant said, dropping a bag by the door and picking up Harlow’s Mini-Me.
Lila Kate patted his face with both hands, grinning brightly. “Daddy!” she announced to everyone.
“She pouts when he leaves every morning. When he gets home, it’s her favorite part of the day,” Harlow said, smiling at her husband and daughter.
“That’s ’cause she’s her daddy’s girl,” he said with pride as he kissed her chubby little cheek.
“Without a doubt,” Harlow agreed. Then she turned her smile to us. “I got a little carried away making some afternoon snacks for y’all.”
“I’m starving. That looks amazing,” Mase said, stepping forward and pulling his sister in for a hug. He whispered something in her ear, and she squeezed him tighter in response. Watching them together made me wonder about Nan. Why didn’t she want this closeness with them?
“Puddywun,” Lila Kate told Grant as she continued to pat his face.
“I’ll join in a moment. Go ahead and start without me. Lila Kate wants some pudding. It’s our thing when I get home,” he explained.
He walked over and kissed Harlow sweetly on the mouth and told her he loved her before taking Lila Kate back to the kitchen.
Harlow turned to watch him walk away as if she’d never seen him walk before. When she turned back to us, her cheeks were flushed. They were living the fairy tale I wanted for myself.
Mase
Harlow had taken Reese shopping with the girls today. She hadn’t wanted to leave me at first, and I wasn’t going to make her. But Harlow was so excited about it, and Reese began to relax some. In the end, she had assured me she was fine. I told Harlow I didn’t want them leaving Rosemary Beach; I wanted to be close by if she needed me. Harlow had promised they wouldn’t go far, saying she just wanted to take Reese’s mind off of everything.
I was headed out to play golf with Grant and Rush at Kerrington Country Club when my phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number and hated the fear that came with that. I shouldn’t have let Reese go without me.
“Hello,” I answered, my heart in my throat.
“Mase Manning?” It was a man’s voice.
“Yes.”
“This is Detective Northcutt with the Fort Worth PD. Marco Halls has been found.”
Relief washed over me. They had found him. The bastard wasn’t running free. “We’ve pressed charges, and Reese has a restraining order. What’s the next step?” I was ready to end this. I wanted the man behind bars. I just wasn’t sure that was going to happen.
“He’s dead,” Northcutt said.
Inhaling deeply, I let it sink in. The son of a bitch was dead. Holy shit.
“He was found this morning by the maid at the motel he’d been staying at. He’d been dead for a couple of days. No one knew. He’d paid for the room up front and asked for privacy; she only went in there because he was supposed to check out today.”
“How?” I asked, reeling from pure relief. He’d never get near Reese again.
“Gunshot to the head. Single shot,” he replied. “You were, of course, the first suspect, but we’ve been to your house to question your relatives. We spoke with Mrs. Colt and Mr. Colt, along with a Major Colt, who informed us that you and Reese didn’t leave the house for two days and that you recently flew to Rosemary Beach, Florida, to visit your sister. We will be checking into that, but as of right now, you’re no longer a suspect. It appears this man had more than one enemy. Signs show he was involved in drugs, and we believe this could have been someone he owed money. Any information you have on him would be helpful.”
“Of course. But Reese hadn’t seen him or her mother since she was sixteen, when they kicked her out. When she ran into him at the grocery store, that was the first time she’d seen him. It really shook her up. We don’t know anything about the man except what he did to Reese when she was growing up.”
“That’s what we assumed. The killer didn’t seem to act on emotion. It was well planned and well covered up. This has all the markings of a professional kill. Which means we may never find out . . .” His voice trailed off. I could tell by his tone that he didn’t want to know. He had Reese’s statement, and he knew what that lowlife fucker had done to her.
But a professional kill? Who the hell had this man pissed off? And what if they knew about Reese? Would they think she had something of his that they wanted? Fuck. My relief turned to fear again quickly. “If this was professional, could they be after Reese next, thinking she knew something?” I had to get her and bring her to safety. Wherever she was, I needed to find her.
The detective cleared his throat. “There was something left behind that leads us to believe Reese is safe. It’s also something that connects him to the drug trade. We’ve seen this calling card before,” he said in a lowered voice.
“What? What do you mean?” I pulled the phone away from my mouth and looked at Grant. “I need to get to Reese—now.”
He nodded and turned the truck around.
“There was a note. It had no prints on it, and it wasn’t written by hand. It simply said For My Little Girl.”
I let out a heavy sigh and closed my eyes as my head fell back. What the hell had happened? Whose little girl had that sick bastard messed with this time?
“Once you’re back in Fort Worth, we need you both to come in and answer some questions.”
“Yes, of course,” I replied. “Were there prints anywhere?”
“Like I said, it was a professional job. There was no trace left behind. All we have is this note. Which . . .” He paused. “The note is a calling card explaining the reason for the death.
It’s something that we’ve seen before. Many times. We’re positive it’s the same stock and ink. It’s gone through testing. I just can’t tell you more.”
That note. The only thing I had to hold on to that told me Reese was safe. Whoever had killed Marco wouldn’t have a reason to come after Reese. I doubted anyone even knew she was a part of his past.