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cronies at the bar were with Wayne when he dragged Stoner out behind the bar and threatened to kill him if he didn’t pack his shit and leave. When Clyde heard that he had left the same night, I remember he muttered something about Stoner being scared of far more than Wayne. Do you think he suspected then who we were looking for and decided not to tell us until he had proof?”
    Oh, Crowe really didn’t think that was what Clyde had been talking about. Sometimes Clyde knew his charges far too well.
    â€œHe would have told us.” Crowe shook his head. He wanted them off the subject of Amelia and Stoner as quickly as possible.
    â€œYeah,” Logan agreed as they stepped into the ranch yard.
    â€œI don’t know who or what Stoner may have been scared of, but I highly doubt it was Wayne. I know Archer heard a rumor that either Wayne or Stoner had blackmailed Amelia into that marriage, but no one knew the leverage he used.” Rafer’s comment had Crowe’s tension growing now. “If he could force Wayne to allow his daughter to be abused, then he had some heavy ammunition.”
    Crowe didn’t even know that one.
    After all these years, and the question’s he’d asked, Crowe had never figured out how she had been forced into that marriage. He’d always assumed Wayne had been the one to apply the pressure, though.
    â€œAnyone hear from Stoner since?” Rafe asked after several moments of silence.
    â€œArcher mentioned Wayne has.” Logan nodded. “Wayne’s secretary, Carlotta, said a letter arrived sometime at the office last year, addressed to Amelia. She gave it to Wayne and hasn’t seen it since. She said he was demanding money, and that either Wayne or Amelia receives a letter or phone call every six to eight months or so.” Logan breathed out roughly as they stepped onto the porch and into the house. “I guess they keep him paid off to keep him out of the county.”
    Crowe remained silent. He’d heard the letters had been arriving; he just hadn’t yet tracked them down. He had someone working on it, but so far they hadn’t identified the sender.
    â€œStoner was beating the shit out of Amelia while they were married, according to Archer,” Rafer stated in disgust as the warmth of the house welcomed them. “After Stoner disappeared one of the maids was gossiping about it. I just remembered Archer mentioning that when I came home last year. Archer stopped by the house one night after observing Doc Trynor’s car in the driveway. Wayne had called him to check out Amelia after she fell down the stairs.”
    Rafer rolled his eyes.
    Crowe could feel the killing ice beginning to build inside him. There were days he wished—
    â€œAnd she was refusing to go to the hospital. When Archer demanded to see her, he told her he’d never seen stairs leave the same bruises that a man’s fist would. She just sat there, all ladylike with her hands clasped in front of her, and assured him it was indeed the stairs.” Rafer shook his head as he moved to the counter and the coffeepot they’d prepared earlier. Flipping it on, he turned back to his cousins. “The bruises were bad, though, from what I heard.”
    It hadn’t been the stairs. Crowe knew that for a fact.
    â€œWhy are we talking about two people who have absolutely nothing to do with the Slasher or our parents’ deaths?” Crowe asked coldly, knowing this subject was guaranteed to push him into something damned stupid. Like killing the father who had dared to allow such abuse to continue as long as it had. “Weren’t we trying to figure out what the hell happened to all the files and information he had gathered?”
    Thank God he and Clyde had thought to scan a backup digital copy, in case anything should ever happen to the originals.
    â€œBecause one of them could know something,” Rafer pointed out. “Someone sent all