PROLOGUE

"You never stop snooping around, do you?" The woman's eyes glared as she pointed the revolver at James Dunreith's head. "I'll shoot you where you stand, you feeble-minded fool!"

James stared in terror. "That's my mom's house! You people got no rights in it! What you're doin's wrong! Please, don't hurt me!"

"Run, you fool!" The woman clicked the hammer back and watched James Dunreith trip over a log, scramble to his feet and run breathlessly toward Delivery Road.

James fell backward on the slippery slope. He righted himself. The gun was pointed at his head again.

"Run!"

James ran into the road. The car drew closer, closer. Now it was picking up speed. James fell forward as the car thudded into his body. The impact drove his head into the pavement. He was dead.

"Let's go!" the woman with the gun said. She slammed the door behind her. "We have one more matter up ahead of us to deal with. We can't allow this kind of interference."

"It was nice of her to leave the keys for us," the driver said. "Where is he?"

"Down there, by the creek. Pull over here!"

The tall woman got out first and walked down the pathway toward the man, who had seen them coming. "Don't move!"

The man stopped, stood up and stared at the revolver.

"Go around behind," the tall woman told her friend, who walked around the man, picked up a board and sent it crashing into the man's skull. The man collapsed into a lump.

The tall woman fired a shot into the man's skull. "Shove him in!" She walked back to the car, tapped it into drive and eased it down the embankment into the creek. She eased the car into neutral, got out, closed the door and gave the car a shove. "Father will be pleased, I think."

. . .