Payment in Kind: J.A. Jance

I liked that this story only gave the reader as much information as the detectives had. It was impossible to solve at the beginning because the key player, though introduced, was lost in the search. It wasn't until the end that we see her connection to the murdered victims. The detective is called to a murder at a school and finds a man and woman locked in a closet in what appears to be an affair as both were partially dressed. The facts don't add up, the closet was dark, the apparent suicide wasn't set up correctly and the woman was a lesbian. Luck happens to be on the detective's side when his interviews turn up vital information. A child was out skiing on the night of the murder and saw someone who looked like the deceased woman's daughter. (what struck me as odd here is that the murderer happened to be a receptionist at the school the skiing boy went to...wouldn't he have recognized her?) We learn the deceased woman's daughter was actually kidnapped and the murder is the girl’s sister taking revenge for the life she had to live since she wasn't "saved" from her crazy mother.