She thumbed through the clothes on the rod until she found the item she needed. Along with the red shoes she'd mentioned to Jake and Kerry Anne's photo was Kerry's white high school graduation dress. Kerry had given it to her the day she left for college. Those three things were all she'd brought with her to her new life. Had she known that someday this moment would come? Had the subconscious "path finder" been able to see this far ahead and anticipate this moment?

She fingered the soft white organdy, releasing a faint whiff of Kerry Anne?s flower scent, and a host of memories, into the air around her. Phoebe lifted the sleeve to her cheek and closed her eyes, letting the whirlwind of the past engulf her in its part-pleasure, part-pain embrace.

Their mama had been an incipient drunk before, Montgomery Justice, the man now known as Peter Harding, entered their lives. Phoebe had wondered what he saw in their mama back then. Mama had been Junior League, but her drinking had made sure her daughteR's weren't invited to join. Now, when it was too late, she knew what he'd seen, what he wanted. Had her mama known, too, at the end? Had she accidentally fallen down those stairs like the newspaper said? Or had Justice finished his work of destruction and simply moved on, thinking he'd left the past behind?

"He's wrong, Kerry," Phoebe said, the dress as soft against her cheek as Kerry's hand had been the day she died. "Neither of us can escape our past."

Her internal tightrope gave a quiver that almost tumbled her off, but Phoebe managed to steady herself, inside and out. She took out Kerry's picture and propped it on the mirroR's ledge, pretending she couldn't see the cracks to the past that showed in her eyes and in the tension around her mouth.

Moving slowly, steadily, she began the process of remaking herself in the picture's image, taking care not to look down, pretending she didn't notice the chasm opening at her feet.

As Kerry Anne began to edge out Phoebe, apprehension was edged out, too. By the time she was ready for the contact lenses, her hands were steady enough to insert them. Kerry's eyes were blue and had always been true. She'd died trying to be true to her little sister. Now her little sister would be true to her.

The outward changes she was making seeped inward, changing her walk, the way she used her hands. Memory gave her back her sister, or maybe Kerry Anne?s gentle spirit invaded Phoebe's soul, to aid her this one last time.

She smiled her sisteR's smile, then took that image with her as she left, to keep at bay the other image of her sister. The one with slashed wrists and blood spreading across white tile.

Outside she got into a small car and turned it toward Denver where Dewey waited for her.

Stern's cell phone buzzed discreetly. "Mr. Stern?" Billy's voice was muffled. "I got a problem."

Stern gave a silent sigh. Billy had been Harding's uninspired pick for their team. As usual, Stern was the one having to fix the mess it was causing. "It?s not your job to have problems, just to collect information."

"Can't do nothing if you don't bail me." Billy sounded sulky and a bit threatening.

A tiny crease appeared between Stern's eyes. He didn't like being threatened. By anyone. "Bail you?"

"I got stopped by a local yokel. Claimed I had a taillight out, but I know the bastard kicked it hisself."

"Why would a broken taillight require bail?"

"It don't." Feet shuffling were audible despite background noise. "Bail?s for punching the hick cop."

"I'm glad you kept your head." Sarcasm was wasted on Billy, but Stern used it to vent his own frustration. "What did you find out about the bar?"

"You gonna bail me?"

"If you give me what I want."

"The manageR's a woman-Phoebe I think they said. Foxy-could get my rocks off on her, I'll tell you-"

"I'm not interested in who-or what-gets you hard." Stern kept his voice even with an effort. "How did you give yourself away?"

"I didn't do nothing. I asked her about a job, and she told me she didn?t have any openings. I did the nice and left, then waited for her to come out. Was following her when I got copped by the brownie."

"Not the information I was looking for."

"It could be her."

Stern could tell by the man's voice there was more.

"Give it all or you'll need protection from me."

"She had heat with her. Not a local lame-ass. A Fed."

Billy didn't have to tell him the Fed had made him. Sounded as if half the town had made him. "You just made bail."

Stern rang off without adding that Billy's employment was going to end very soon.

"Okay, I got it." Jake wrote down the MUD address Matt had gotten him, then eased the drifting car back into his lane. Good thing Bryn Wasn't with him or there'd be a coup d'etat initiated on the driver. "Tell Sebastian thanks for me, Matt. I'm just outside Denver now. Gonna go check it out before I come in."

"Bryn and I'll meet you outside the building," Matt said.

"You don't-"

"I don't care if they are computer geeks, You're not going in without backup. Now wait for me."

"Yes, big brother."

"You wait or I'll kick your ass."

"Kiss my-" Before Jake could finish, Matt broke the connection. Jake grinned as he stowed the phone, then keyed the address into his laptop, his fingers tapping the steering wheel until a map came up. He was close. That was good, gave him reconnoiter time before Matt and the troops got there.

Peter Harding felt like a god as he looked out the window at the gathering below. This was it. This was the beginning of his rule, his first step into Denver society as Audrey's fianc?The day he declared for governor with her powerful father standing behind him. They didn't know it yet, but they were there for him. It was as it should be, as it was always meant to be. He was destined to be supported by lesser lives, to absorb their strength to power his own.

How he'd hated the years of hiding, the sneaking around like some common criminal. He Wasn't meant to live in shadow. Now, today, he was stepping into the light. True, it was borrowed light from Audrey's father, but that wouldn?t be for long. Power was fluid, a liquid-gold energy that continuously sought the one most qualified to wield it. He was that person.

Norma Jean Beauleigh and her daughters had been a mistake. He could admit that now. He'd let himself be sucked in by the small perfection of Kerry Anne and Nadine. He hadn't learned to take the long view back then.

A small tremor of unease disturbed the surface of his satisfaction at the thought of Nadine. She had to be the one sending the notes and now the black rose that had come this morning in the box that was supposed to hold his white lapel rose. But if it was she, why had it taken her so long to act? Had she, like he, been consolidating her power?

His first reaction had been to cancel today's event. What if she showed up at the party? Stern, in that damned enigmatic way of his, said he hoped she would.

Now that he was here, he hoped she did, too. How could he fear her when he was at the apex of his power? There was no way a mere woman could take it away from him. No way in hell. He stroked the black rose pinned to his lapel and smiled.

Behind him the door opened. Reflected in the window, he could see Audrey, dressed in the trappings of her fatheR's wealth.

"Are you ready, darling?" she asked.

He smiled before he turned to face her. "Oh, yes."

Jake pulled his truck to a stop across the street from the apartment building and checked it against the address Matt had given him. It matched, so he got out and looked around. It was a quiet street, sort of middle-class. Clean, but the trees were on the scraggly side. Looked like they could use water. Still, it was a long way from the low-life place in Montana.

No sign of Matt or Bryn. He looked up, but the angle was wrong for him to see anything but the sun reflecting on the windows of the apartment. All the buildings within the immediate area were similar, but the apartment house to the right of this one was a twin, right down to the trim around the windows. A narrow alley separated them. Both walls had fire escapes snaking down the sides and fire doors across from each other. It got Jake thinking. He decided to check out the non-MUD building, just for the heck of it. He had a few minutes to kill. If the buildings were identical on the outside, chances were, they were identical on the inside, too. He could get a feel for the layout without tipping his hand to anyone who might inhabit the apartment they were interested in. And have a chat with the super.

Dewey was waiting for Phoebe next to a sleek black limousine. Phoebe shook her head, Dewey was a character, but he was a character with style.

She parked her car in the mall lot next to him and got out, feeling Kerry?s dress drop softly into place, feeling Kerry all around her as she walked toward him. With each step the soft fabric whispered against her calves like echoes from the past, soothing her fear and shoring up her resolve.