C.J. looked up as the bloodcurdling scream shook the building. The geological institute might rate it as a 5.5 on its Richter scale. Elise frowned, putting her hands over her ears until it mercifully passed.

"What was that? I mean who was that?"

C.J. rolled her eyes.

"It sounds familiar…almost like…"

Then two women stepped towards them to start their mani-peds seemingly unaffected by the screaming. Maybe it was a common daily event at this posh spa. Elise narrowed her eyes.

"What was that god awful noise," she said, "It sounded like someone was being murdered."

One of the employees smiled as she prepared her station.

"Oh that was one of our customers. She just had to…adjust to the astringent affects of her treatment," she said, "But Scarlett's prepared her one of our special herbal teas with sedative properties and she's just fine now."

C.J.'s brow furrowed.

"She sounded familiar…"

Elise laughed.

"Yeah like a beached elephant seal…really some people just need to chill out."

C.J. agreed. After all that's what she was trying to do but she still hadn't recovered from her field trip to the reality that it was getting harder to zip her first line of defense against her changing body. She had just brought that maternity dress after all. It actually made her feel sleek and sophisticated and not like a cutesy knocked up woman.

The woman showed her an array of polishes in all hues. She studied them before making her choice.

"I'll stick with aqua blue…"

Elise widened her eyes.

"I think you are married to that color."

"Am not…I just happen to like it a lot."

Elise folded her arms.

"I think you should pick something hot and glittery," she said, "don't be yet another pregnant woman who sticks to pastels."

"I'm not…well maybe I am. I just want something simple…since sorting out my wardrobe…hell just keeping up with my expanding waistline is getting more complicated."

Elise chuckled.

"Just wait until you really blow up."

C.J. shot her a pointed look.

"Thanks…."

Elise softened.

"It's no big deal. Matt…he won't care. He thinks you're hot anyway he can get you and you're a great match."

C.J. smiled as the manicurist dipped her hand into a bowl.

"Yeah well he's been really great with this unexpected development in our relationship," she said, "I just wish all this drama with Lizzie and Delilah hadn't happened. He didn't have to face losing his company."

"Well he started an even better one with you…I read about it in Fortune magazine last week. On the other hand, Lizzie's on her way to sinking what she got for her troubles."

C.J. sighed.

"That's hard to watch….even with our success…and she seems more intent on digging herself a deeper hole but then there's this silent partner…"

"You still haven't figured out who?"

C.J. closed her eyes as the manicurist massaged her hands.

"No…"

Lizzie sipped the tea which had a minty flavor and likely had been spiked with something that was beginning to make her feel a bit…mellow. God, the wrap hadn't been like she'd been told…it had made her sensitive skin sting and she swore she saw some welts on her arms.

This reinventing herself was more painful than she thought. Still she knew that she had to go through with it. Only then when she adopted a new image that she could bring Houston Enterprises as it were out of its doldrums and turn it into a success. Her partner had been needling her more lately and she'd assured them she had it all under control.

She thought maybe in the process of becoming a great success she might still win Matt over as well. What on earth was he doing with a woman like C.J. anyway? Lizzie prided herself on being elegant and sophisticated. She surrounded herself with the finest things and now moved once again in the upper echelons of society. C.J. was just a country bumpkin, a cowgirl out of the wild world of Texas.

The woman who'd given her the tea reappeared in the room somewhat cautiously.

"Are you doing better Ma'am?"

Lizzie just looked at her sipping more of the tea.

"You look better…your skin is more radiant."

Lizzie shrugged.

"It hurts…and look how flushed my arms and my…well you know what I mean."

"Yes…but when that fades…it'll be like a new layer of you has been revealed to the world," the woman said, "Out with the old and in with the new."

"Perhaps you're right. No pain no gain after all, and if my plan is going to work there will have to be sacrifices…I must gain back what is mine…"

Matt had watched Courtney leave and wondered if his life as it were now with C.J. would wind up in one of her novels. He'd have to keep an eye on that not caring much for how she portrayed him in an earlier novel based on a somewhat warped view of the shenanigans at that mystery writers' conference several years ago.

Roy poured them both scotches after Courtney took her exit and Matt settled on the couch nursing his drink.

"You know she could help us…"

His uncle looked up at him.

"Courtney?"

Matt nodded.

"She might be able to help us figure out who's backing Elizabeth."

Roy ruminated on that, and then arched his brows.

"Yes…as long as you didn't tell her that's what you were doing," he said, "or she'd try to do it her way."

Matt sipped his drink.

"I know but we haven't been able to figure it out so far."

Roy sighed.

"It's a cast of hundreds Matlock. You've made more friends but you've got enemies too."

Matt knew that and some were in the business world, rivals who'd lost companies as he built his empire. But some were from his investigative agency, including criminals who he'd put away.

"It has to be someone who can manipulate Elizabeth," he said, "She's just not able to do this type of sophisticated planning on her own."

"True…but she might be that desperate to win you back."

Matt nodded. She certainly seemed it based on her actions so far which had included but not been limited to blackmail.

Well he had no intention of doing what she wanted. All he had to do was find out who her silent partner was and come up with a plan…