"Those two were as bad as they come. What they did to that girl" He broke off, shaking his head. "The papers didn't print half the details. We didn't want the facts made public and we were trying to shield the parents as best we could."

"It said in the newspaper she was kidnapped from the mall," Elizabeth said.

"That's right. We never found out the exact details. Holly went shopping with a couple of her girlfriends. They got separated you know how kids are. Her friends never saw her again."

"What did the Martinezes say?" Zach asked.

"They admitted to the murder but never gave up any of the details. We tried to play them against each other, but neither one of them ever said much. We figure Holly might have decided to go home early. Maybe the wife offered her a ride home or something. Consuela was five months pregnant at the time. She probably looked pretty harmless."

Elizabeth's eyes widened. "Consuela Martinez was pregnant when she murdered that girl?"

"That's right. Sick, isn't it? She never made it to term, lost the kid while she was in jail. That was the hand of G.o.d at work if I ever saw it."

Elizabeth felt the blood leach out of her face. "She was pregnant, Zach."

"Yeah." He fixed his dark eyes on the detective. "We don't have any proof yet, but there's a chance the Martinezes may have murdered another girl when they were living in San Pico."

"Oh, yeah? You got a name?"

"Not yet. We've got a general description, that's about all." He gave the detective the description of the child Maria had seen, the blond hair and blue eyes, around eight or nine years old, the party dress she had been wearing. The detective made notes on his pad.

"How'd you come across this information?"

Zach took a deep breath. "So far, like I said, it's just speculation."

"Based on ?"

Zach cast Elizabeth a desperate glance.

"We'd rather not say quite yet," she told the detective, "not until we have more to go on. But we'd really appreciate it if you'd take a look at your missing persons file from 1967 to 1971. Those are the years the Martinez couple lived in San Pico. If you run across a child who fits the description Zach gave you, we'd really like to know."

"I'll take a look. Doesn't ring any bells, though. I'll let you know if I run across anything in those files."

Zach extended his hand. "Thanks, Detective. We appreciate your time."

They left the Fresno police department, Elizabeth exhausted and depressed.

"That was even more awful than I thought it would be," she said as Zach drove out of town.

"Yeah." He looked as tired and tense as she was feeling.

"We've got to tell Maria," she said.

"If we do, she's going to be even more frightened than she is already."

She sighed. "Maybe we should tell Miguel. If he knows a pair of brutal murderers lived in his house, maybe he'll move out."

"They didn't live in his house. They lived in another house that was in the same place, and it was over thirty years ago. Even if we tell him about the murder, I don't think it will convince him. He needs his job too badly."

"Maybe we should talk to your brother again."

He flicked her a disbelieving glance. "We need something more solid, something that will force Miguel to believe his wife's story and let her move out of the house. Better yet, something that will convince my brother to let them move."

"We need to find out if the Martinezes murdered another child while they were living in the old gray house."

"Yeah. One with blond hair and blue eyes."

"Then we've got to find out if a child who fits that description went missing somewhere around San Pico sometime between 1967 and 1971."

Zach turned to look at her. "You know this could all just be some weird coincidence."

"It could be. I don't think it is."

"Neither do I." Zach raked a hand through his hair. "I know a guy a private investigator named Murphy. I'll give him a call as soon as we get back, put him to work on this and see what he can find out. In the meantime, we'll talk to the local police. Maybe they can help."

"Maybe we'll get lucky. In the meantime, don't forget tomorrow you've got an appointment with Dr. Marvin."

"I haven't forgotten. I'm supposed to be at Willow Glen at one o'clock."

She smiled for the first time that afternoon. "I'll be holding good thoughts for you."

"I was um kind of hoping you might go with me."

Surprised, she glanced at his profile, taking in his dark skin and lean, handsome features as he studied the road. "I could take a late lunch. It wouldn't be a problem."

Some of Zach's tension seemed to ease. "Thanks."

Elizabeth didn't say more. She thought of the things Gwen had said, but she couldn't seem to make them fit with the man who sat beside her, a man who seemed to need her, as Zach had just then.

She couldn't keep her hopes from rising. Maybe Gwen was wrong. Maybe Zach wasn't the loner he used to be.

Elizabeth knew it was dangerous thinking.

Zach spent the morning chasing down Ian Murphy, putting him to work on finding a missing girl who met the description of Maria's ghost, then he went over to the San Pico police department.

He was given the names of a couple of longtimers who had been in the department since the late nineteen sixties. They remembered the old gray house. Unfortunately, they also remembered Zachary Harcourtor at least the man he'd once been.

"Officer Collins?" Zach offered his hand to a tall man with a slight paunch and Collins reluctantly shook it. "Thanks for taking time to see me."

"No problem." He eyed Zach up and down, a.s.sessing the beige slacks, knit shirt and Italian loafers. "I guess you gave up black leather."

Zach forced himself to smile. "Yeah. Did that some time back."

"You know, we met before," Collins said. "Maybe you remember. I was there the night you were busted for negligent homicide."

Zach kept the smile fixed on his face, though it took a Herculean effort. "Actually, I don't remember a whole lot about that night. What little I do recall, I'm trying to forget."

The other man moved closer, gray-haired and iron-jawed, a sergeant named Drury, according to his badge. "Heard you were a big-time lawyer now. Fancy firm in L.A. somewhere."

"I'm a lawyer in Westwood. Whether I'm big-time depends on your definition."

"So what do you want to know?" the sergeant asked.

"I need to talk to you about a Hispanic couple who used to live in a house on my father's farm. You might remember themHector and Consuela Martinez? They murdered a girl up in Fresno. Hector Martinez got the death penalty for it."

Both men seemed to stand a little straighter. "I remember that case," Officer Collins said. "Bad one. Most of us followed it pretty close, seein' as the two of 'em lived here in town a couple of years before it happened."

"That's why I'm here. I'm trying to find out if it's possible they might have committed another murder here in San Pico before the one in Fresno. I was hoping you might be able to take a look at the missing persons files, see if there were any young girls who came up missing in this area between 1967 and 1971."

"I can tell you right now there aren't any," Sgt. Drury said. "We checked our files real good when those two were arrested, checked this whole end of the San Joaquin Valley. Nothing turned up. No missing girls, no unsolved murders, nothing that might point to the Martinezes."

"How about the sheriff's office? The house they lived in was on the farm, which is in the county."

"The departments work together on stuff like this. We traded information, came up with a big fat zero."

"I imagine it was harder to check the records back then."

"A whole lot harder," Collins agreed. "No computers back then, but we did our best."

"I don't think we missed anything,'' the sergeant said. "At least not around here."

"But they could have s.n.a.t.c.hed someone in L.A."

"Like Officer Collins said, we didn't have the fancy computers we've got today. We mostly stuck with the San Joaquin Valley. So it's possible, I suppose. To tell you the truth, bad as those two were, I was surprised no other victims turned up."

"Well, thanks," Zach said, "I appreciate your help."

"No problem." Drury mustered a smile but it didn't reach his eyes, and the curve of his lips looked insincere.

Zach walked away, taking a deep breath as he headed down the hall, d.a.m.ned glad to be finished and out of there. He had more than enough bad memories of the place. He would be happy to get outside, even if it was over a hundred degrees.

Making his way to the front of the building, he stepped out into the heat. It was just after noon. He was meeting Elizabeth at Willow Glen at one. He clung to that thought as he strode down the cement steps and crossed to where his Jeep sat waiting in the parking lot.

Elizabeth sat in the lobby of the Willow Glen Retirement Home. Expecting Zach to walk in, she stood up from the overstuffed sofa only to realize the man shoving through the front door was blond, not dark, his features handsome, but not the sort to make her heart thrum the way Zach's did.

"Elizabeth." Carson Harcourt came to a stop in front of her. "I guess I'm supposed to say it's good to see you. If circ.u.mstances were different, I'm sure it would be. I gather you're waiting for Zach."

"I'm here because Zach asked me to come."

Carson frowned, a little surprised it seemed. "I'm sure he'll be here any minute. We're both eager to hear what Dr. Marvin has to say."

"I hope the doctor's bringing good news."

Carson smiled. "We all do."

Zach walked in few minutes later. His jaw tightened when he saw her talking to his brother. Elizabeth gave him a rea.s.suring smile and walked over to greet him. "I got here a few minutes early. So did Carson. He's anxious to hear what the doctor has to say."

Zach flashed him a look. "Is Marvin here?"

Carson walked over to the receptionist station and the woman directed them into a conference room in the C wing, where the doctor would meet them as soon as he finished a brief visit with their father.

The room was empty, but as nicely decorated as the rest of Willow Glen, in shades of dark green and burgundy. They sat down at a long walnut conference table, Zach next to Elizabeth, Carson on the opposite side of the table.

Zach reached over and squeezed Elizabeth's hand. "Thanks for coming."

"I'm glad you asked me."

He smiled and something melted a little inside her. Where was the wall she had vowed to resurrect? Instead of pushing Zach away, she was letting him get even closer. She couldn't afford to let that happen but she couldn't seem to find a way to stop it.

She glanced his way, saw him stand up as the door swung open and the doctor walked in. Carson rose, as well. Two brothers. One dark, one fair. So completely different.

"Carson. Zachary. It's good to see you." Dr. Marvin was perhaps mid-forties, a thin man with spa.r.s.e brown hair and wearing a suit instead of the white coat she had expected.

"This is Elizabeth Conners," Zach said, making the brief introduction. "She's a friend."

Dr. Marvin's smile looked sincere. "It's nice to meet you, Elizabeth."

The doctor sat down in the chair at the head of the table and both of the brothers sat back down. "I'm glad you all could come. The news I have to share is extremely exciting. It involves an incredible new surgical technique that has recently been brought to my attention."

"Exactly what sort of surgery are you talking about?" Carson asked.

"It's an extremely delicate laser technique for surgery in the brain. At this point, it's been successfully performed enough times that I believe it may be viable as a means of helping your father. Currently it's being performed by a handful of doctors, two of which I can personally recommend."

"Go on," Carson said, leaning back in his chair.

"The procedure uses a new type of biomedical, microlaser technology. The technique utilizes optical energy called photonics. It's an extremely accurate, far less invasive method that allows precise alterations of patient tissue inside the brain. This new technology allows the surgeon to remove tiny bits of foreign matter that have been embedded in the brain through some kind of trauma."

"Like a fall down the stairs," Zach said.

"Exactly. In your father's case, the technique would be used to remove the bits of bone currently lodged in the cerebrum and cerebellum. These tiny skull fragments are pressing on vital areas, causing much of his memory loss, as well as hampering his motor functions. Once the bone is removed and the pressure is released, there is a very good chance that in time he'll return almost completely to normal."

Zach's hand caught hers again. She saw that he was smiling. "That sounds terrific, Dr. Marvin."

"What's the down side?" Carson asked.

"The odds are about eighty percent that the surgery will be completely successful. There is a ten percent chance there will be no measurable improvement or perhaps it will be extremely minimal."

"And the other ten percent?"

"Any surgery is dangerous. In this case, there is a ten percent chance the surgery could be fatal."

Carson stood up from the table. "Ten percent is too much. There's no way I'm taking that kind of risk with my father's life."

Zach stood up, too. "What are you talking about? There's an eighty percent chance Dad could have his life back and only a ten percent chance he might die. There's no question the operation should be performed."