Love Can Be Murder

a crime in Mississippi."
    He turned to face her while jogging backward. "No, but disappearing with a child to thwart court-ordered visitation with the father is a crime."
    All that without stopping for a breath. She lurched to a halt and dragged her forearm across her sticky brow. "Why are you here, Detective?"
    He stopped and leaned one hand against a tree that had been planted there twenty years ago for his convenience. "I have reason to believe that you work for Rescue."
    "Rescue?"
    He smiled patiently. "You know, the underground network that helps women escape from violent spouses?"
    She shrugged. "Sounds like a good cause."
    "Are you denying knowledge of the program?"
    "No. Are you hassling me for being a knowledgeable citizen?"
    He pulled his mouth down with his hand. "The sooner you answer my question, the sooner you'll be rid of me."
    "What was your question?"
    "Are you familiar with the operations of the Rescue organization?"
    Roxann chewed on the inside of her cheek while she chose her words. "I've heard of Rescue, and I support its mission. Any reasonable person would."
    "Ah, but do you play an active role in carrying out its mission?"
    She crossed her arms. "If you know anything at all about the program, Detective, then you know that if I were involved, I would never tell you."
    "You make it sound as if I'm the enemy here."
    "It's my understanding that the program helps women the legal system have already failed. Maybe this Melissa Cape is one of those women."
    He angled his head. "If so, then according to the exposé in the Clarion-Ledger, your organization would have relocated the Cape woman and her daughter, and given them new identities."
    "It isn't my organization. Besides, I was told that particular article contained inaccurate information."
    "Well, it must have because the description of the woman who apparently talked this lady into leaving her husband sounds like you, only with red hair."
    She seethed. Nanci Harmon was a confused woman whom Roxann had tried to get into counseling because she hadn't seemed committed to cutting ties with her violent ex-husband. Sure enough, the woman had reneged on her relocation and returned to the guy, who then exposed the Rescue program as a man-hating gang of vigilantes. "From what I've heard about the organization, no one gets talked into anything."
    "If you say so. Now, how do I go about finding Melissa Cape?"
    A hollow laugh escaped her. "You must be joking."
    With one blink, his mood changed—for the worse. "I'm deadly serious, Ms. Beadleman. I intend to find the woman, and I intend for you to help me."
    Panic licked at the nape of her neck. This man was someone to be reckoned with. "If Melissa Cape disappeared to escape a psycho, then what does that make the man who would send her back?"
    A rueful smile curled his mouth as he shook his head. "I think that people like you believe you're doing the right thing, but pardon me if I believe the police are in a better position to help Melissa Cape than a bunch of bra-burners."
    Quiet anger sparked in her belly, but she knew he was trying to get a rise out of her, hoping she would let something slip. "If Melissa Cape turned to Rescue for help, she obviously thought different."
    His chest ballooned out with a deep inhale, then he rubbed his shoulder, as if it were bothering him. His knuckles on his right hand were scabbed—she hoped that whoever had been on the receiving end of his punch had actually deserved it.
    "Look," he said wearily. "Your little secret do-good organization is a burr on the ass for people like me, but right now, I couldn't care less about the father's visitation. The Cape woman has knowledge of a crime that can't be prosecuted without her testimony."
    "What kind of crime?"
    "An armed robbery, during which a police officer was critically wounded. We suspect her husband pulled the trigger."
    "All the more reason the louse shouldn't have been granted visitation with his daughter, and all the more reason for him to want Melissa dead—to keep her from testifying." She shook her head. "I can't help you."
    He frowned. "I didn't finish my coffee, so I'm a little cranky."
    "I was just fired, so I'm a little cranky."
    A muscle ticked in his neck, red with razor burn. "At least tell me if the Rescue people relocated her."
    "I know enough about the organization to know its clients are promised confidentiality."
    A mocking light flamed in his eyes. "I guess I could hope that the Cape woman has a change