Hanover House: Kickoff to the Evelyn Talbot Chronicles

Prologue

"The psychopaths are always around. In calm times we study them, but in times of upheaval, they rule over us."

--Ernst Kretschmer

California...

He'd found what he needed. At last. After twenty years of waiting, of planning, of purposely blending in to escape notice, he had the thread that would lead him back to the only woman who'd ever really mattered in his life.

The only woman who'd ever been a challenge.

The only woman who'd ever gotten away.

Once his parents had finally gone to bed, and long after anyone would expect for them to have a visitor, Jasper Moore stared down at the envelope he'd recovered from his father's desk. Inside was a letter from Evelyn Talbot's father, pleading with Stanley and Maureen to come forward if they possessed any information on Jasper's whereabouts. It said that Evelyn had been through enough. That the Moores should finally do the right thing and divulge any information they possessed. But they never would. They were the ones who'd helped him escape in the first place, all those years ago—and they told everyone they hadn't seen him since before the murders, even though, in recent years, he'd risked a furtive visit now and then, if he could do it safely.

Anyway, it wasn't the letter that concerned Jasper. He didn't give a shit about the Talbots' emotional plea for justice and closure.

He was far more interested in the return address on the envelope.