"A Daughter's Quest"

**Immediately follows "Blinded by Hate"**

"My father said there were two kinds of people
in the world: givers and takers. The takers may
eat better, but the givers sleep better."

Marlo Thomas

**Dedicated to my mom and dad, who gave me a love for mysteries. I love and miss you.**

CHAPTER 1

NOVEMBER 17, 1983….

"Parsons Law Firm." Edward James Parsons had been about to walk out of the door of his office and head home when the phone on his desk rang. It had been a less than spectacular day for the 29 year old attorney and he was ready to retreat to the comfort of his home to spend time with his wife Cathy and their five year old daughter CJ.

"Mr. Parsons – glad I caught you."

"Actually I'm on my way out the door. How about we talk first thing in the morning?"

"This is an urgent matter. I need you to meet with me tonight."

"Are you sure it can't wait until morning?" Parsons silently cursed himself for answering the phone.

"I'm very sure; it's a matter of life and death. Meet me at the quarry on New Sulphur Springs Road in twenty minutes." The caller hung up.

Eddie Parsons looked at the receiver momentarily before slamming it down. Giving a heavy sigh, he picked the receiver back up and dialed his home. "Cathy, I'm going to be late…Yeah, I know…I've got to meet a client…I'll call you when I'm on the way…I promise. Love you, too. Goodbye."

As he headed east, Eddie couldn't figure out who the caller might be, although the voice did sound familiar. Twenty minutes sure isn't much time. The fourteen mile drive was going to take more than twenty minutes. And why meet at a rock quarry? If he wasn't having such a rough time getting his practice established he sure as hell wouldn't have been spending his time going to meet the guy when he could have been spending time with his family.

Parsons squinted as a large truck closed in on his back bumper, its headlights on high beam. "C'mon, man! Give me a break!" Tapping his brakes, the lawyer couldn't believe that the driver of the vehicle got even closer. "Fine. You…" As he worked to find some place to pull off he felt a *THUD* as the truck hit his bumper. "Damn!" Struggling to keep the car from running off the road, Eddie stomped on the gas and breathed a sigh of relief when he put some distance between himself and the truck. It was then that he spied Foster Road and began slowing down for the four-way stop. The truck, however, didn't slow and struck the back of Parson's vehicle going about seventy miles per hour. As he tried to make the turn the car rolled numerous times and impacted the gas pump of a corner store causing the car to burst into flames and explode. The driver of the dump truck continued heading east, never slowing until the bright orange-red glow in the Texas sky was no longer visible.

PRESENT DAY...

"CJ, I'm fine. Would you please quit?" Mattlock William Houston stepped off of the elevator at his penthouse office.

"I really think you should take a few more days off, hon." CJ Parsons-Houston followed her husband of almost two years into the lobby.

"Good to see you, Boss." Chris Chase, the secretary for Houston Investigations gave him a big smile.

"How ya doin', Chris? I see that baby bump is comin' right along." He gave her a little hug. "You look great."

"Thanks."

"My raccoon eyes are about gone now..." The PI went cross-eyed as he gave the secretary a goofy expression. Matt had suffered a broken nose several days earlier when he had been forced to battle with both a rogue cop and a disgraced former FBI agent.

CJ rolled her eyes at Matt's shenanigans. "I tried to get him to take off a little longer."

"Any longer and Sheila would be ready to kill me." He put an arm around his wife and gave her a peck on the cheek.

"I'm starting to see a little baby bump on you." Chris smiled as Matt patted on his wife's belly. "How do you think it's going to be with two little Houstons running amok?"

"About like a zoo." The lawyer-turned-PI smiled.

"Oh, I almost forgot – a package came for you earlier. It's on your desk."

"That's strange - I didn't order anything. Thanks." She headed up into her office as Matt poured himself a cup of coffee behind the bar and brewed a cup of peppermint tea for his wife. As he started for her office the elevator chimed and Lt. Michael Hoyt of the LAPD entered.

"Howdy. Coffee's hot." Matt went in and set the mug on CJ's desk. The pair was joined by Hoyt a minute later.

"Good morning, Counselor." Giving CJ a smile he looked at the box on the desk. "Ordering diapers already?" He winked at Matt.

"Yeah – those are yours, Gramps." The PI snickered as he sat down on the loveseat.

"Keep on and I'll thump you on the nose, PI."

"He hasn't been here five minutes and there he goes threatening me, Babe. I feel a lawsuit comin' on."

CJ didn't answer, but suddenly sat down. Matt was instantly by her side as was Michael. "Babe – you okay?"

"I..." She pointed to the sheet of paper on her desk. Leaning over, Matt began reading.

CJ Parsons,

It's been 31 years since the death of your father. I'm dying and am trying to

set things right. I heard that you are a private investigator - that's why I'm

sending you this information. If the wrong people find out what I've done

they won't hesitate to kill you or anyone else. Maybe by doing this I can ask

God for forgiveness.

Good luck and be careful.

"Michael, have you got gloves?"

"Yeah." The detective slipped on a pair.

"Let's make a copy of it." Matt opened the top on the machine and pushed the button. "Do you mind getting the lab to check for prints on this stuff?"

"Not a problem."

"Babe..." He knelt down next to her. "Here – drink." Handing the tea to her he slowly rubbed her back. "Do you need to lay down?"

"No, I'm okay – just surprised."

"Let's take this to the lab and see what we can find, okay?" Michael patted her shoulder.

"Yeah...okay." Picking up her purse she and Matt followed Hoyt to the elevator.

After stopping at the front desk of the police station to get CJ a visitor's pass, the three went up to the lab and were greeted by Cheryl Crawford. "Hi stranger! Long time no see." She and CJ shook hands. It was then that she noticed CJ was slightly pale. "You okay, hon?"

"Yeah, fine, thanks."

"Maybe you ought to have a seat. Here." Matt pulled out one of the stools that was nearby and helped his wife to sit. "You need anything?" He worriedly took her hand.

"No, I'm good." She gave his hand a squeeze.

"So what have we got here?" Cheryl put on a pair of gloves as the three explained. "Wow, no wonder you looked pale. That's enough to do it." She watched as the couple exchanged a smile and CJ nodded to her husband.

"She's also got a couple of other reasons – in the oven so to speak." The PI gave his friend a big grin.

"Oh, my gosh! Twins?! Congratulations you two!"

"Thanks." CJ blushed slightly and Matt put an arm around her.

"Alright, so we want to see if there are any good prints on here. Do we need to exclude any?" The tech began removing items from the box.

"Just CJ's on the note." Matt looked back down at his wife to make sure she was okay.

As she started in on the piece of paper Cheryl looked over at the couple. "So when is the blessed event?"

"September 24th." Both spoke at the same time.

"Christmas this year really will be exciting, huh? What does Miss Catey Rose think about having a couple of babies around?"

"We haven't told her just yet." CJ watched as the tech quickly brought up several prints on the paper.

"Okay we've got some good ones here. Let me bring up yours…"Cheryl punched several keys on the computer. "So…this one here…" She moved the mouse. "…And these four on this side are yours. But…the rest of these belong to someone else. We'll see if we get a hit in IAFIS."

Looking at the other items on the counter she made a thoughtful face. "Are we printing everything?"

"We didn't look to see what all was in there." CJ eased off of the stool and walked over to the table.

"It looks like some files, a journal, and a ring of keys."

Matt saw the look on CJ's face. "That's Daddy's…my mom…" She started to get choked up. After taking a deep breath she felt Matt's arm protectively go around her again. "I remember she was looking for it after he died. Mom swore something had caused the wreck. DPS said it was speed…" She shook her head and tears started to flow. "He was a good driver. I remember…"

Hoyt brought the stool over and Matt had her to sit down again and took her in his arms as she lost it. Cheryl got choked up as well as she watched Houston rock her in his arms. "Easy, Babe." When she started to calm down he pulled back slightly, stroking her cheeks as he looked into her eyes. "We'll get to the bottom of it, Babe." She pulled him back to her, her arms around his neck as Matt closed his eyes and kissed the top of her head. Even Hoyt was getting misty-eyed.

After a minute she calmed down. "Cheryl, you print whatever you think needs to be printed."

"Okay, hon. It may take a while."

"That's fine." CJ straightened back up and put a determined look on her face.

"It's a good thing you calmed down when you did." The tech gave the couple a wink. "Michael just about needed a tissue."

"Oh, hush. You've been around this PI too long." Hoyt cleared his throat and straightened his tie just before his phone rang. "Damn. Yeah Sanchez? Uh huh…Alright, I'm on it." He hung up. "Got a call – two idiots decided to start shooting at each other. Will you two be okay?"

"Fine. Thanks, bud." Matt nodded.

Reaching for the cop, CJ gave him a big hug. "Thank you, Michael."

"You're welcome…but for what I don't know. I'll check on you later. Take good care of her, PI."

"You know it."