“I love her,” she whispered, watching a gull bank steeply toward the ocean’s surface and disappear under the crest of a wave.

“That’s good then,” he said as he started the engine and backed out of the parking place. “Good she’s coming home.”

When Bri and Nelson returned to the office, Reese was there at her desk leafing through a stack of papers. She motioned to Bri to join her and said, “We’re getting some feedback from the feelers you sent out.”

“Oh yeah?” Bri pulled over a chair and raised a questioning eyebrow. “What’s up?”

“There have been three suspicious fires on the Cape in as many months.” Reese pulled out several sheets of paper and passed them to Bri. “In addition, there were four in lower Massachusetts, all in clusters around Providence in the last six.”

“So,” Bri muttered as she rapidly scanned the pages, “do you think we have a serial arsonist?”

“I don’t know. But I think we should pay a visit to Ashley Walker. Would you happen to know where she’s staying in town?”

Bri blushed. “Yes.”

Reese stood and settled her cap down over her brow. “Then let’s go, Officer Parker.”

Ten minutes later, Reese knocked at the address Bri had given her. Ashley, barefoot in a sleeveless red T-shirt and grey gym shorts, opened the door after the second knock. She had obviously just gotten up. Her hair had been hastily finger-combed, and her eyes were still hazy with sleep. Looking from Reese to Bri, she grinned lazily and said, “Come on in.”

Reese removed her cap and tucked it under one arm. Bri did the same.

“Sorry I can’t offer you coffee,” the redhead remarked, “but this place doesn’t have a kitchen.”

“No problem,” Reese replied. “Sorry to disturb you so early, but there were a couple of things I wanted to check with you.”

Ashley carried her coffee to a worn overstuffed chair and regarded her visitors, who were both still standing. “Somehow I don’t think you came here to fill me in on the investigation.”

“Actually, Ms. Walker,” Reese said seriously, “we were hoping that you could provide us with some assistance.”

“Now, how could I do that when I don’t know anything about this occurrence?”

Reese smiled. “Were you a lawyer in a previous life, Ms. Walker?”

“No,” Ashley replied carefully, “as a matter of fact, Sheriff, I was a cop.”

“Then you appreciate our situation,” Reese said without missing a beat. “It would help us if you’d share whatever pertinent information you might have.”

Ashley blew out a breath. “I don’t know that I have any. I called the fire captain first thing this morning, and he promised me a look at the fire marshal’s report tomorrow. If I learn anything that has any bearing on your case, I’ll let you know.”

Reese raised an eyebrow. “That easy?”

Ashley’s gaze flickered to Bri and slowly traveled the length of her body. “Let’s just say it’s a favor.”

As they walked down the street toward the patrol car, Reese asked, “Is there anything you want to tell me about you and Ashley Walker?”

“No, ma’am,” Bri replied stiffly.

“This isn’t personal, Bri,” Reese said softly. “This is business.”

Meeting her eyes, Bri said steadily. “There’s nothing going on of a personal nature. I told you everything that happened the other night.”

Except what you were doing out until quarter to four in the morning. Reese drew a long breath and let it out slowly. “Good enough.”

Once they were settled in the car, Bri said quietly, “Caroline is coming back for the summer after all.”

Reese looked to her quickly in surprise. “When did this happen?”

“She called my dad this morning. She’s going to stay with him.”

“How do you feel about that arrangement?”

“I’m okay with it.”

“And how do you feel about her coming back here for the summer?”

Bri turned her cap aimlessly in her hands. “I wanted her to come before, but she said she couldn’t. Now she’s coming, and we’re not even speaking.”

“There’s a fairly simple way to change that.”

Bri cast Reese a questioning glance.

Reese shook her head with a small smile. “Call her on the phone, Bri.”

Bri hooked a boot heel over the bottom rail of the split log fence that ran between the Meeting House and the building next door. Leaning a shoulder against the side of the payphone kiosk, she listened to the repetitive ringing in her ear. Her heart pounded and her palms were damp. She could’ve called from Reese and Tory’s, but she wanted to be alone. In the middle of Commercial Street at 8:00 at night, she was hardly alone, but somehow the anonymous faces passing by made her feel invisible.

“Hello?”

For a second, Bri couldn’t speak.

“Hello?”

“Carre?” Her throat was so dry it came out barely a whisper.

“Bri?” Uncertain, hopeful.

“Hey, babe.”

“Hi, baby.”

There was silence again, and Bri thought she could hear Carre breathing. Finally, she forced herself to speak. “My dad told me that you’re going to stay with him this summer.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I thought…I thought you had a job in the city?” Bri cradled the phone between her head and shoulder and stuffed her hands into the pockets of her leather motorcycle pants.

“I did. I mean, I was going to have one.”

“So, what happened?”

Caroline laughed shakily. “You happened, Bri.”

“Huh?”

“You happened to me—about four years ago. I took one look at you, and I thought you were the hottest girl I’d ever seen in my life.”

“Jesus, Carre,” Bri murmured, barely breathing. From two hundred miles away, the sound of Caroline’s voice made her skin flush.

“And then these last few months, you’ve been different. Gone, sort of. And I didn’t even realize that I’d let you go.”

“No, you didn’t…I…”

“But you’re there, and I’m here. Isn’t that what you said would happen when I went to France?” Caroline’s voice was stronger now. “That I’d be there and you’d be here, and everything would change? Well, it already has changed, Bri.”

“I don’t know how it happened,” Bri said desperately.

“Neither do I. But it’s not going to get any better unless we do something to change it.”

“But what about school? Your job?”

“I talked to my adviser and the chairman. I told them that I had a family emergency and that I needed to be home for the summer. They found me someone to work with…a preceptor kind of thing.”

Bri blinked, her eyes suddenly burning. Unconsciously, she brushed moisture from her cheeks with the back of one hand, reaching for the phone with the other and gripping it tightly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for you to have to do that.”

“What did you mean, Bri? For me just to go away and that would be the end of it?”

“I thought…” She ran a shaking hand through her hair and tried to ignore the queasy roiling of her stomach. “I thought you would go away and when you came back, if you still wanted me, then it would be like it was before.”

“If I still wanted you.” Caroline’s voice was cold. “You didn’t think I would?”

“I was afraid you wouldn’t.”

“It hurts to know you didn’t believe in me, Bri. That you didn’t have any faith in what we have together.”

“That’s not it,” Bri protested sharply.

“Isn’t it? Think about it, Bri.”

Bri was silent. Eventually, she said in a low, broken voice, “Can I see you when you come home?”

“Not if you’re seeing anyone else.”

The pain and tears in Carre’s voice that couldn’t be disguised made Bri bleed inside. “I’m not. I swear.”

“I’ll be moving to Nelson’s the second Saturday in June. Call me sometime.”

“I love you, babe,” Bri said softly.

“Take good care of yourself, baby.”

The soft click signaling that Carre had hung up was like a lifeline being severed. Adrift, Bri stood for a long time listening to the dial tone, thinking about faith.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Bri leaned back in the large overstuffed chair, her hands resting on the threadbare arms, her legs spread to make room for the woman kneeling in front of her. She wore only an unbuttoned shirt, parted down the center. A pale arm stretched upward over the length of her abdomen to enclose her right breast. Fingers rhythmically squeezed her stone-hard nipple as a soft tongue encircled the swollen prominence of her clitoris, working her slowly and carefully, keeping her on the edge but not allowing the release she ached for.

Her irregular breathing was the only sound.

The room was nearly dark, and it was difficult to see more than shadows shifting in the hazy half-light. The chair where she sat, however, was speared by a shaft of moonlight, and when she looked down, she caught glimpses of the woman’s eyes gazing upward, avidly watching as the effect of what she was doing with her mouth rippled across Bri’s face in the flickering illumination.

As the pressure coalesced into a fist deep inside, Bri’s thighs quivered and her fingers clenched. With each long sweep of the warm tongue, the muscles in her abdomen contracted. She arched her neck and groaned softly as the escalating strokes beat against a particularly sensitive spot. Staring into the mesmerizing eyes, Bri watched the golden head rock between her thighs.

“Carre,” she whispered.

There was no answer.

Relentlessly, the perfect rhythm drove her ever closer to explosion. When her hips lifted and white heat spiraled along her spine, she muttered hoarsely, “I’m gonna come in your mouth.”

The insistent lips sucked at her, pushing her beyond volition. Her body tensed, grew rigid, then crumpled as she shouted sharply in surrender. Gasping, she twitched helplessly as the orgasm ripped through her.

“Bri!”