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Like her cousin.

Livia was mildly amazed by the realization. For the first time ever, she felt sorry for Celeste. The beautiful woman might have a life of luxury, but she would always be at the mercy of her mother. And eventually Winston.

What a terrible fate.

Bryce held out her hand. “Can I have your house key?”

Livia dug into her purse. “Why?”

“I’m going to check out the house before you come in.”

“Bryce.”

Bryce snatched the key from Livia’s fingers, pushing open the door of the SUV. “I’m trained to see stuff you aren’t. And if this is a crime scene we don’t want any evidence disturbed before I call the local police to investigate.”

Livia scowled. “You’re using the same old excuse to try and keep me out of the way.”

“Look, if I decide to buy a house I’ll let you be the expert without trying to tell you how to do your job.” Bryce held her gaze. “Deal?”

Livia released a noisy sigh. “Deal.”

With a nod, Bryce slid out of the vehicle and walked toward the front porch. Her head swiveled from side to side as if she were looking for anyone hidden in the bushes. Or perhaps she hoped the intruder had left behind a clue that would reveal who’d been sneaking around. Then, reaching the door, she shoved it open and stepped inside.

Ten minutes later, she was jogging back to the SUV. “It doesn’t look like anything has been disturbed. Let’s check out the security tape.”

Bryce eagerly joined her friend, hurrying up the driveway and onto the porch before stepping through the open door. Without warning, she found her steps faltering as she was wrapped in the familiar scent of lavender and polished wood. It smelled like home and she winced at the pang of longing that clenched her heart.

The Willows would never be more than a place she was duty bound to visit. The sprawling mansion was as formal and rigid as a museum, with shadows that pressed against her with the threat of a storm brewing just out of sight. The entire estate was shrouded in an ominous atmosphere that Livia had assumed was a product of her overactive imagination.

Now she wasn’t so sure.

With a shake of her head, Livia led her companion into the spare bedroom that she used as a home office. She slid into a seat at the small desk and fired up her spare laptop. The screen flickered to life and she searched for the security program. It took a couple of minutes to get the stupid thing open and the video downloaded, but at last she had what she wanted. Waiting for Bryce to lean over her shoulder, she slowly searched through the footage.

There was nothing to see beyond a few kids cutting through the edge of her lawn and the postman delivering her mail, until the video reached 3:13 in the morning.

“There,” Bryce breathed, pointing toward the figure that stepped out of the darkness to cross her porch. “Can you pause it?”

“I think so. Hold on.” Livia tapped on the keyboard. She didn’t know what she was doing, so she used the old “try everything” approach to stop the footage. At last she hit the right button, freezing the video so they could study the intruder. Livia tapped again, eventually finding a way to zoom in. “There.”

They leaned forward, squinting at the dark image. It was clear enough to make out the shape of a person. It looked too broad through the shoulders to be a woman, but that was about all she could make out. The intruder was wearing a ski mask to hide his face, along with the hood pulled up on his heavy sweatshirt.

“Whoever it is knew they were on camera and were afraid of being identified. I don’t know if it’s because they’re a pro or if they’re afraid you might recognize them.” There was an edge of frustration in Bryce’s voice. “Is there anything you’ve seen before? The hoodie? The shoes?”

“No, I can’t even tell how tall they are or their body weight. It’s all kind of a blur.” Livia was equally frustrated. “So much for my upgraded system.”

“They’re never great. Not even the ones we have at the office. Can you zoom out again?” Bryce leaned even closer to the screen as Livia widened the view to take in the intruder and a portion of the porch. “What’s that?”

The image was frozen at the spot where the man was reaching for the doorknob. It wasn’t until Bryce pointed at the glint of moonlight off a small piece of metal that Livia noticed he was holding something in his fingers.

“A key,” she breathed. “Jacob. It has to be.”

“Let’s watch the rest of the video,” Bryce suggested.

Livia tapped a key and the intruder was once again in motion, bending forward as he tried to unlock the door. There was a hesitation, as if he was confused why he couldn’t get inside, then with an angry gesture, he slammed his hand against the door and turned to stalk off the porch, disappearing into the darkness.

“Why didn’t the key work?” Bryce asked in confusion.

“I had the locks changed at the same time I changed the security system,” Livia reminded her friend. “The key I gave him doesn’t work, but Jacob wouldn’t have known that.”