“What can you find?” she asked.

“Ethan had a first wife,” I said. “Melissa.”

Emily’s grip loosened slightly.

“She died,” Emily said. “They told me it was a skiing accident in Colorado.”

“The Prescotts tell a lot of stories,” I said. “I’m going to find out the real one.”

I left Kane standing guard by the front window, his shotgun resting against his thigh.

I got back into the sedan and turned on the heater to dry my clothes.

Using my secure military tablet, which was routed through an encrypted satellite connection, I bypassed the local network.

I logged into a secure database and ran a search on Melissa Vance Prescott.

The official death certificate listed the cause of death as blunt force trauma consistent with a fall.

But there was an addendum in the medical examiner’s report that had been sealed by court order.

I used a decryption protocol to bypass the seal.

The secondary report noted old fractures in various stages of healing.

Ribs, wrist, orbital bone.

The exact same injuries Emily had suffered.

I scrolled down to the emergency contact information.