Coming Undone

PROLOGUE

JARED HAMILTON DIRECTED the cabbie through dark Denver streets to the old Craftsman-style bungalow that housed Semper Fi Investigations. The taxi pulled into the agency's small parking lot and he climbed from the cab, then watched as the departing vehicle's rear lights grew smaller, blinked red and finally disappeared around a corner two blocks away. Flipping up his collar against the late-spring chill, he turned and climbed the covered front porch to let himself into the dark reception area. Down the hallway a single light glowed through the frosted-glass transom over John Miglionni's door. Bypassing his own office, he stuck his head into his brother-in-law's. "Hey. What are you still doing here at this hour?"

John clicked a command on his keyboard and pushed back to look up at him. "I was actually waiting around hoping to see you."

"Why? What's up?" Dropping his overnighter to the floor, Jared flopped down on the chair facing John's desk. "Must be something work-related. You wouldn't be here at eleven forty-five on a Thursday night if anything had happened to Tori and/or the kids."

The other man gave him a faux paternal look. "Haven't I always said you're brighter than the average Joe?"

"Yeah, yeah. So I ask again-what's up?"

John flashed his famous I'm-so-good-someone-really-oughtta-bottle-me smile. "A very lucrative, high-profile assignment came knocking at my door yesterday."

"Way to go, Rocket!" Congratulations just seemed to call for the military handle his brother-in-law had earned years ago in the Marines.

"Yeah, it's a good thing. Except Willie, who was going to handle it, landed in Rose Medical with a busted appendix this afternoon. And I'm eyeball deep in the Sanderford case."

Stretching out his long legs in front of him, Jared folded his hands over his stomach and gave John a cocky smile. "Guess it's lucky for you then that I just wrapped up my case."

"You might not think so once you discover who we've been hired to find."

Unable to imagine such a scenario, he merely raised both eyebrows in inquiry.

"Wild Wind Records retained us to find your old friend Priscilla Jayne."

Jared's heart gave a single heavy slam against the wall of his chest. He knew it was merely the surprise of hearing that name out of the blue-an assumption that was validated when his heartbeat promptly settled down again. "P.J.?" He met Rocket's gaze levelly. "Why would I have a problem with that?"

John gave him an ironic don't-try-to-kid-a-kidder look. "Well, let me see. Maybe because you two shared a couple of the most intense weeks of your lives?"

"Yeah, we did-fifteenyears ago. Lotsa water under the bridge since then, big brother." He shoved himself a bit straighter in his seat. "So what's the story with country music's hottest new diva? I thought everything was coming up roses for her. How did she come to be missing?"

"Nobody seems to know. But apparently it started Monday when she fired her mother as her manager."

"No shit?" A fierce surge of satisfaction filled Jared. "Good for her.There's a comeuppance that was long overdue." He'd detested P.J.'s mom fifteen years ago and he'd bet the family manse the woman hadn't improved appreciably over the years.

"I don't know how good it is for Priscilla's career though, at least in the short term, since her mom's talking trash to every country-music magazine and yellow journalism rag in the country. P.J.'s due to start a big tour in about two weeks and WildWind Records is getting very nervous that no one seems to have a clue where she's gotten herself off to. If you accept this case, your mission is going to be twofold. First to locate little Miss Priscilla Jayne. Then to accompany her on herSteal the Thunder tour to make sure she doesn't disappear again."

Jared whistled. "The entire tour? Those things can run pretty long-months and months, some of them." He eyed John warily. "How much time are we talking about?" He wasn't sure how he felt about giving up his privacy for several months of babysitting P. J. Morgan. Their friendship might have been the most important relationship of his existence the summer he was seventeen, but that was a long time ago.

"Five weeks, give or take a stop or two."

Okay, he supposed a little over a month was doable. "Does Wild Wind have any idea how much this could end up costing them?"

"They should. I made a point of spelling it out for them in minute detail. They seemed a lot more concerned about how much it will cost them if their million-dollar baby takes a powder."

"That seems pretty unlikely, don't you think? This sounds like P.J.'s big break. It seems to me she has a vested interest in turning up for something that shows every sign of boosting her career right into the stratosphere."

"Like you said, a lot can change in fifteen years. I've heard more than one report claiming she's butted heads with the big dogs in Nashville pretty regularly the past couple years."

Jared could hardly argue with that. Everything he knew about P. J. Morgan these days he'd gleaned from the occasional television report or newspaper article. And those hinted that she could be difficult and demanding.

So who was he to say differently? Their relationship had been intense but brief, and was ancient history long before this assignment had come along.

For all he knew, the sweet, feisty little girl he'd once known could very well have grown up to be a stone-cold bitch just like her mama.