A young woman's skeleton was found buried on the campus grounds. Contractor Trevor Whittaker couldn't get the cold-case murder out of his mind. Who was the woman? Why was she killed? And did his lovely boss' father, a wealthy, secretive benefactor of the college, have anything to do with it? Family and friends warned Alumni Director Stephanie Kessler to stay away from her new employee. They said Trevor was still the same bad boy he'd been ten years ago, but Stephanie wasn't the same mousy girl. So, this time, they both had something to prove.

Leave while you still can The warning had been spray-painted on Lauren Owens' walls. And whoever had vandalized her house meant business. But Lauren couldn't—wouldn't—leave the Magnolia College campus. Not when she'd fi nally found her way back to Seth Chartrand, the single father who'd broken her heart years ago. And not when the cold-case murder everyone was talking about remained scarily unsolved—including the young woman's identity. Because Lauren had a sinking feeling she knew exactly who the victim was….

Who, what, where, when and why. Those were the questions journalism professor Jameson King lived by. But the murder of his prot?, a young newspaper reporter, remained a mystery. One that Jameson—and the reporter's grief-stricken sister—vowed to solve. But working with Cassie Winters wasn't easy. A former student ten years his junior, the stunning redhead was too young, too full of life, for a man like him. A man with a secret concerning her brother…a secret that might tear them apart forever.

All eyes were on Dee Owens—including a killer's.The publicist's job was to assure the Magnolia College community that the campus was safe...despite two murders. But someone was watching Dee too closely, following her, making anonymous phone calls in a voice that sounded eerily familiar. And every time she turned around, there was her boss, handsome Brazilian Edgar Ortiz. He insisted on protecting her. And now it wasn't just fear sending those chills racing up her spine....

Did he kill Josie Skerritt? Everyone—including the police—suspected Parker Buchanan of the ten-year-old murder. They even had incriminating evidence against him that Parker couldn't—or wouldn't—explain away. But Kate Brooks knew the brooding loner couldn't have done it. He was her young son's hero, and Kate had fallen hard for the reclusive author. Kate knew proving his innocence would take all their faith and fast thinking combined. Because the real killer was setting them up for a double murder…their own.

A DNA test revealed that Mason Grant had a nine-year-old daughter. He'd had no idea that the woman he'd loved and so tragically lost had been pregnant. Or that his own child had been in the custody of the woman's murderer all these years. Now the killer wanted Mason to pay—in more ways than one—for the return of the girl. And for daring to fi nd love with old friend Jennifer Pappas. But the only payback the cold-blooded murderer would get was fi nal justice.