Barbara Phinney - Fatal Secrets

They were both searching for their family. In a way, she’d found a kindred spirit. “I’m sorry, Zane.”

“It’s all right. I’ve built a good business here in Montana, and searching for my brother is something I do when I have the time. I have even less information on him than you have on your mother so I always knew I might never find him.”

“So you’re back to square one now?”

“I have one much weaker lead out there, but I’m not expecting anything to come of it. Like I said, I may never find him.”

He watched her as if he was also looking for understanding. Her heart lurched. He was hurt, too. He was struggling to find a connection with his past. And like her, he might never find his family.

PROTECTING THE WITNESSES:

New identities, looming danger and forever love in the Witness Protection Program.

Fatal Secrets—Barbara Phinney, May 2010

was born in England and raised in Canada. She has traveled throughout her life, loving to explore the various countries and cultures of the world. After she retired from the Canadian Armed Forces, Barbara turned her hand to romance writing. The thrill of adventure and the love of happy endings, coupled with a too-active imagination, have merged to help her create this and other wonderful stories. Barbara spends her days writing, building her dream home with her husband and enjoying their fast-growing children.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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With God we will gain the victory,

and he will trample down our enemies.

—Psalms 60:12

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

LETTER TO READER

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

MEMO: Top Secret

TO: FBI Organized Crime Division; U.S. Marshal’s Office

FROM: Jackson McGraw, Special Agent in Charge, Chicago Field Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation

DATE: May 10, 2010

RE: Operation Black Veil

Vincent Martino has escaped custody. We have received new information from our “Martino Mystery Witness.” Vincent Martino has discovered Eloise Hill’s daughter lives in Montana. He knows her first name only and he is now believed to be in Montana searching for both mother and daughter. Salvatore Martino is dying and the family is stepping up efforts to find both women.

All police services have been informed.

The Marshal’s Office is requested to ensure all women in the Witness Protection Program in Montana who fit Eloise’s description are protected. The investigation is continuing on all fronts, including previous deaths, and the daughter (location on a need-to-know basis only) will be informed and told to stay vigilant. Protective custody not required at this time.

Contact SAC McGraw with any information that could assist the FBI in its case against the Martino crime family.

Nothing is harder than leaving my precious baby girl.

For the past five months, Kristin Perry had hung on to the words her birth mother wrote to FBI agent Jackson McGraw all those years ago. Written just before she’d left.

Eloise Hill was out there somewhere, and in her note to Jackson, she’d said she loved Kristin enough to give her up to keep her safe, something in which Kristin should find comfort.

Comfort didn’t come easily, though, Kristin decided as she sat in the café and fought back the first sign of tears. Her new identity, as both orphan and adoptee, was still sinking in, displacing any comfort. She’d lost both her adopted parents five months ago, and the ache inside had yet to ease. Only after discovering the contents of her father’s safe did she learn of her adopted status. She’d found her real birth certificate, and a note from her birth mother.

But visiting Jackson McGraw, the man to whom her mother had written, had done nothing to solve the mystery of where the woman might be. His last contact with her had been the note Kristin had since memorized.

Dear Jackson:

Nothing I’ve done, from testifying against a Mafia kingpin, to starting over in the Witness Protection Program, is harder than leaving my precious baby girl. Kristin almost died because of the path I’ve needed to take. I love her too much to risk her life. For her safety, I must give her up, though it breaks my heart. Please see to it she’s placed in a loving, Christian home.

Yours,

Eloise.

Kristin lingered over and over such parts as “nothing is harder” and “breaks my heart.” And each time, the ache increased. She needed to find her mother. Her only family now. Or did she now have brothers, sisters?

The mere thought of a big family gripped Kristin. She’d been an only child, with grandparents that were now just a faint memory to her. When her aging parents, Anna and Barton Perry, had died in that terrible car crash last January, she felt so alone.

Not so much now, though. She had a mother somewhere, and while sitting in this downtown coffee shop near her Westbrook, Montana, university campus, watching one particular man enter, Kristin knew she was that much closer to finding her.

Was that Zane Black, the man she’d asked to meet her this Monday morning? With a demeanor that spoke of control, the man threw open the door and strode into the café. He really didn’t look as if he belonged in her small town, despite the jeans and sheepskin jacket. Maybe a big city or even Kalispell just south of here, but not in little Westbrook.

Was this the private investigator she’d called? Kristin was about to stand when her cell phone rang, the soft version of “Ein Kleine Nachtmusik” barely heard in the busy café. Turning away from the man, she answered it.

On the other end was an unexpected caller, Jackson McGraw. “I—I was just thinking of you,” she said to him shyly.

“Really? Kristin, I have something that needs your attention.”

Hope flared in her. “You’ve found my mother?”

A distinct pause followed. “No. I’m sorry. I’ve told you all I know. I haven’t learned anything new since that day I last saw your mother. She left that night.”

Sagging, Kristin raked her fingers through her hair, then quickly smoothed the right side down carefully, as she always did. Beneath the straight brown hair that was cut in such a way to conceal it, lay a thick scar, long and white, devoid of hair. Jackson had told her how she acquired the scar, but for now, she set that thought aside.

“I wish I had better news for you.”

Disappointment bit at her, and she blinked back the subsequent tears. “Then why are you calling? I got the impression that we wouldn’t contact each other again because Witness Protection made everything too dangerous.”