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No sense giving her too many details. As sweet as she seemed, she could still be involved. It was, after all, her house.
    And she knew it was vacant at the moment. A perfect setting for murder.
    She shook her head, fingers pressed to her mouth.
    Houston leaned in closer and withdrew his notebook from his pocket. "You can't think of anyone who would be in the house?"
    "Not a single soul. We'd finished almost everything. The only one who was still going by and doing little things was the electrician, because he wanted to change out the dimmer switch in the living room to match the wallpaper better."
    "We?" Maddox cocked his head.
    Ms. Caldwell nodded. "Part of the deal with Hope for Homes is the new owners have to work a certain number of hours. I was there nearly every day."
    "And this electrician . . . he's the only one you know of who still had business at the property?" Houston scribbled in his notebook.
    "Maybe Layla. She kept a careful watch on every stage of the house's progress."
    "Layla?" Houston hovered his pencil over the page.
    "Layla Taylor, the contractor."
    Maddox almost shook his head. A woman contractor? And with a name like Layla? Brought up images of blonde and flighty.
    "Or maybe her sister."
    Now Maddox was thoroughly confused. "Her sister? Why would the contractor's sister be at the house?"
    "Because some of the workers were from Second Chances."
    The work-release group. But it still didn't correlate. "I don't understand what that has to do with being the contractor's sister or being at the house."
    Sally smiled. "Because Layla's sister, Alana, oversees Second Chances. Could be she went by to check on the workers or something."
    "Was that common? I mean, for this Alana to drop by the site?"
    "No. I only met her once. She came by the house to talk with her sister about something."
    He'd just bet. Sounded fishy. Maddox clenched his jaw. These sisters, Alana and Layla, were about to get a visit.
    And they'd better be prepared with some answers.

    THE TINKLING OF THE bell over the main entrance to Second Chances drew Alana and Layla's attention.
    Alana sighed. "Let me go see who that is. If it's Gavin's probation officer . . ."
    Layla allowed a smile to creep to her face since Alana had already left the room. Her sister's determination always amused her. She shook her head, then lifted the paper again, studying it. Fred had pulled all the information for Alana and her, and now they were knee deep in reviewing it.
    The three men Bob had used on the Hope-for-Homes site were Darren Watkins, Sam Roberson, and Kenny Lindsay. All three had been into at least their twelfth week at Second Chances, and all hadn't had a single incident since entering the retreat. Only one had a previous history of violence—Darren. He'd physically abused his girlfriend before his arrest. Beating two men with a baseball bat during a mugging had landed him four months' incarceration prior to giving him the opportunity to attend Second Chances.
    Did Darren have any connection to the site?
    Layla opened her mouth to ask Alana, then realized her sister had never returned. No probation officer would've shown up on a Saturday afternoon. Maybe Fred had come back. Layla shoved the chair back from the desk and stood. If Alana had gotten sidetracked with something minor about the retreat when this was so important, Layla just might scream.
    She walked down the short hall to the front area. Voices reached her before she rounded the corner. Male voices that didn't sound too friendly.
    Layla fisted her hands stiffly and strode into the room.
    Alana stood on the welcome rug, worrying her bottom lip. Clearly uncomfortable. The hair on the back of Layla's neck jumped to full attention as she took in the two men looking down at her sister.
    One man had to be pushing fifty, with thin gray hair. He wore an outlandish print shirt over well-worn khaki slacks. The other man was taller and younger, probably closer to Layla's own age of twenty-nine. He had