Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

Twenty-five Years Ago

West Memphis, Tennessee

When the door from the kitchen into his garage workshop opened, he thought it was his wife coming to tell him she was back home from grocery shopping. Smiling, he continued to run the sander over the wood, thinking of how she would sneak up behind him, wrap her arms around his midsection, and kiss the back of his neck.

She would smell like roses, a fragrance she used in her shampoo, the lotion she smoothed on her skin, and the perfume she dabbed behind her ears and knees. Her small embrace would be a welcome respite from the sawdust and noise in his carpentry workshop. A small break from the work he loved, turning raw wood into beautiful furniture.

It might even lead to other things. They had been married only three years, practically newlyweds. That he, a man of forty, could be so lucky was one of the miracles of his life.

As the footsteps came closer, he whistled one of the Jerone Kern love songs his wife adored.

Wait.

That wasn’t the scent of roses. It was gasoline and axle grease.

He half turned and the garrote came around his neck, tightened until he almost blacked out.

“You took everything from him.” The voice close to his ear was male, deep and gritty. Chilling. “Now I’m going to take everything from you.”