In the Shadow of Evil by Robin Caroll Page A

day.

    "BALLISTICS CAME BACK." HOUSTON grinned across the desks at Maddox.
    "Hey, don't keep me in suspense."
    "Slugs taken from our John Doe match the Smith & Wesson found at the scene."
    Maddox leaned back in his chair. "Big surprise."
    "Forensics can't pull the serial number. Too much damage."
    "What about registrations to Dennis LeJeune?"
    "His wife was right—only rifles and shotguns had been registered to him. Not a single handgun. So that's a dead end."
    "Unless it was an illegal and he's been hiding it from his wife."
    Houston shrugged. "Then we'll never know."
    Maddox glanced over the random pieces of paper covering his desk. "Dental records?"
    "Delivered late yesterday afternoon. Casteel says he'll call us today as soon as he knows one way or the other."
    "Guess we just wait now."
    "We did get the reports back on the Taylor sisters."
    Maddox wove his fingers together and supported the back of his head in his hands. "Do tell."
    "Alana Taylor, twenty-five, has a bachelor's in psychology. Father died about nine years ago. Mother's mentally ill and lives in Westneath Nursing Home." Houston flipped a page. "She was right about when she opened Second Chances, but what she didn't volunteer is that the land it sits on was once the family home."
    "She got the house and land?"
    "Her sister and her. Layla signed it over to her a few years ago."
    Maddox dropped his hands to his desk and sat up straight. "She gave her sister the family real estate to use for the rehab program?"
    "Looks that way." Houston turned to another page. "According to federal records, everything about Second Chances is on the up-and-up. Files the right paperwork on time. Only has licensed employees. Properly accounts for all federal funds."
    "So, the program is clean?"
    "Looks that way. She and her sister are members of Eternal Springs Christian Church."
    Great. Religious women. Maddox suppressed his moan.
    "Oh, and she's engaged."
    "Really? I didn't notice a ring."
    "Well"—Houston tossed the stack of papers across the desk—"according to this report, she's been engaged to Cameron Stone for four months."
    Name didn't ring any bells. "Should I know who he is?"
    "Some computer genius type. Writes software programs. Works in Lake Charles."
    "Like Bill Gates? Is Stone rich?"
    "Not really. Makes about ninety grand a year."
    Maddox scrubbed his face with his hand. "Interesting."
    "Yeah." Houston reached for another stack of papers. "Now, about Layla. Twenty-nine years old, licensed contractor. Opened her own business five years ago."
    "Yet she signed over the family real estate to her sister."
    "Her father apparently left her some land on the bayou just outside of Eternal Springs. She built a house there just before she opened Taylor Construction."
    "She lives out in the bayou alone?"
    "It would appear." Houston flipped to the next sheet. "Better Business Bureau has no open complaints on her. She's a member of several of the local business-owner organizations. Has a good reputation in the industry, which is really saying something since she's a woman in such a male-dominated field."
    "I'd say."
    "But she followed in her father's footsteps. He was a contractor, worked for various locals over the years."
    "He never hung out his own shingle?"
    "Nope." Houston rubbed his chin. "As I recall hearing around town, Layla worked summers with her dad back when she was in high school." He glanced at the report again. "Must've gone straight into the business after she graduated. All her licenses and registrations are up to date and current."
    "You said their dad died about nine years ago . . . from what?"
    Houston shuffled the papers. "Massive heart attack."
    "Ouch."
    "Yeah. And their mom was admitted to Westneath about a year or so after that."
    "Tough break for the girls." Maddox didn't want to feel empathy for them. They were suspects, after all. But with his own past, he couldn't help it.
    "Reports show Alana goes every week to visit the mother."
    "And Layla?"
    "This