Joe Zorn stamped snow off his frozen booted feet as he impatiently jiggled the door handle. Locked. A damn good thing considering that, despite the nationwide manhunt under way, a serial killer was even now finding his way through the storm to this Nowhere, Montana, ranch.

It wasn't a case of if Dwight Treadwell would show. It was a case of when.

Although he was standing beneath the deep porch overhang, the howling wind whipped snow down Joe's collar and snuck under the hem of his coat as it flapped around his ankles. He shuddered with cold. Which didn't bother him nearly as much as finding the place lit up like a damned Christmas tree.

Joe glanced around the porch. His new assignment, party planner Kendall Metcalf, must've bought out every Christmas and craft store between Bozeman and Billings.

There was Christmas crap everywhere.

Might as well have a frigging flashing red neon arrow pointing to the house. Here I am. Come and get me!

Damn it to hell.

He kept one hand in his left pocket, fingers loosely clasping the grip of his custom-made HK Mark 23. He would rather shoot a hole through his favorite coat than have someone open the door to find a large, armed man standing on the other side.

It worried Joe only marginally that he hadn't been able to reach the Camerons before he left the ski lodge, or that he didn't have their cell numbers. High winds and snow storms frequently messed with the phone lines way the hell and gone out here.

Hunching into his coat, he jabbed at the doorbell. "Get the damn lead out, people." When that didn't elicit an immediate response, he thumped his fist on the door a couple of times, making the oversized Christmas wreath...