We’ll have to find out.

Allie didn’t want to leave. She wanted to keep searching the site.

She was hot and sticky and downright filthy, but she was also charged.

Teaming with Ash the last couple of hours had been easy. More than easy. Fun and exciting. This was the kind of work she loved. This was one of the things that had attracted her to Ash Walker, besides how downright scorching hot she was. They shared a mutual respect for

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their jobs. Ash was an intense, savvy investigator. She was also one of the best. Allie had loved discussing cases with her, and Ash had always been a good sounding board for her. They had connected on a really important level.

Just as Allie decided this assignment might not be so bad, she caught Ash in her flashlight beam as Ash plucked her sweat-soaked shirt away from her chest. She was braless and the hard points of her nipples stood out beneath the thin white cotton. Allie couldn’t look away from Ash’s breasts, picturing Ash braced above her, one hard, lean thigh pumping between her legs, Ash’s bullet-hard nipples just above her lips. A wave of heat coursed through her, and she ground her teeth together. Damn it. She didn’t want the unwelcome memories to spoil what had almost been a pleasant interlude. When she finally dragged her gaze up, she found Ash staring at her, her eyes glittering dangerously in the half-light.

“You’re right, it’s getting dark. Let’s get out of here.” Pivoting abruptly, Allie jumped over a gap in the floor she hadn’t noticed before. When she landed, beams shifted beneath her feet. Her balance wavering, she saw Ash flailing as a mound of debris seemed to pitch upward and then just disappear. She lunged for Ash, grabbing for her shirt. “Ash. Ash!”

Her hand closed on empty air.

• 110 •

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chapteR twelve

Reese pulled into the driveway of a tidy, pale pink one-story bungalow bordering the north side of the Winslow Street Cemetery. A well-kept ten-year-old Toyota hatchback was parked in the gravel drive in front of an open, single-car detached garage. A dusty black Ford pickup, along with stacks of aluminum lawn furniture and a push mower, took up most of the space inside the garage. The buildings appeared to have weathered the hurricane fairly well. A broken window box lying on the grass in front of the low front porch was the only sign of casualties.

Reese preceded Carter across the lawn to the porch and rapped on the pitted metal storm door. The inner door was open and she could hear the drone of a television. After a minute, she knocked again, louder, and saw a shadow pass across the shaft of blue light from the television, and then a woman appeared at the door. In her sixties, she had straight gray hair cut in a short, layered, no-frills style and wore shapeless black slacks with a fuzzy sweater a shade darker than the pink of the house.

When she saw Reese her lips thinned, but she opened the door a sliver and said pleasantly, “Hello, Sheriff. Hot enough for you?”

Her gaze flickered past Reese to Carter, sharp and appraising.

“Feels like August again,” Reese agreed. “Mrs. Everly, this is Officer Wayne. May we come in and talk to you for a few minutes?”

“I don’t see why not.” Her tone was mild but her expression said she wasn’t happy about it. She pushed the door open another inch, and when Reese caught the edge, she turned and walked away, leaving them to follow her through the small living room into an eat-in kitchen. “Get you two something to drink?”

“Thank you, but there’s no need for you to bother,” Reese replied.

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She’d seen no sign of William Everly on her quick walk through the house. No beer cans, no men’s magazines, no sign of any men’s clothing lying around. One plate and one glass in the dish drainer next to the sink. Two doors leading off the living room were closed. Those were presumably the bedrooms. She doubted Everly could be staying in the small house without leaving some sign of himself in plain sight. But she didn’t rule it out. Assumptions got you killed.

“What can I do for you, Sheriff?” Mrs. Everly said, folding her arms under her ample breasts.

“We’re looking for William, Mrs. Everly.”

“Billy?” Her face and voice registered surprise. “Why, you know where he is, Sheriff Conlon. You’re the one who put him there.”

“You didn’t know he was out on parole?” Carter asked, her voice low and tight. Not exactly intimidating, but she was a stranger to Mrs.

Everly, whereas Reese was not. Being questioned by someone she didn’t know might shake the woman up just enough to make her slip up, if she were hiding something.

“Parole! You mean he’s out?” Everly’s mother shook her head.

“He didn’t tell me. Are you sure? We talk on the phone every month, and I try to get down there to see him as often as I can.”

“When did you last speak to him?” Carter asked.

“Let me see…about the first of August, I’d say.”

“And he didn’t mention he was no longer in prison?” Carter let her incredulity show.

“No,” Mrs. Everly said, smiling politely. “I’m sure I would have remembered that.”

Reese changed tack. “Do you know where he might go if he didn’t come home? Friends or a girlfriend, maybe?”

Mrs. Everly narrowed her eyes. “You don’t know where he is?”

“He hasn’t checked in with his parole officer in several weeks.”

“I only knew his friends in high school and that was some time ago, as you know. He had a girlfriend, more than a few,” she said with a faint trace of disapproval. “But I don’t think any of them have been waiting around for him.”

“Would you remember any of their names?”

“The girls? Oh my, no. As to the fellas, Billy was popular. On the football team and all that. He had a lot of friends.”

“If you talk to him, it’s very important that he contact his parole

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officer immediately,” Reese said. “The longer he goes without checking in, the more problems he’s making for himself.”

“I’ll do that, Sheriff. I’m sure he doesn’t mean to be causing any trouble.”

“No,” Reese said. “Of course not.”

Carter wanted to push her more, but when Reese turned and signaled they were leaving, she followed. If she let her temper get the best of her, Reese was going to shut her out of the investigation. She couldn’t let that happen. She couldn’t sit back and leave it to someone else to figure out what was going on, not when Rica was involved. Not even Reese, whom she respected more than anyone she’d ever worked with.

“I’ll never stop being amazed at the powers of denial,” Carter said when she slid into the front seat of the cruiser and slammed the door. “Of course he doesn’t mean to cause any trouble. At least she didn’t start in on what a good boy he’s always been.” She thumped the dashboard with her fist. “God damn it.”

“We don’t know Everly has anything to do with what’s happening here in town.”

Carter tilted her head back and closed her eyes. She’d just promised herself she wouldn’t lose her temper, and she already was. “I know.

Sorry. I’m just strung a little tight about this. Rica…” She shook her head. “Thanks for letting me ride along.”

“We’ll have a patrol car swing by here, couple of times a shift.

His mother may not be expecting him, but odds are, he’ll turn up here.”

Reese started the engine and backed out of the driveway. “I want to take a walk around your house.”

“Sure. Now?”

“Is Rica home?”

“No, she went to the gallery.”

“Then this ought to be a good time.”

Reese’s radio crackled to life and the dispatcher said, “All available units. Code eight—officer needs assistance. Fifty-six Commercial.”

“This is Conlon,” Reese said as she hit the sirens and made a tight, fast U-turn in the middle of the street. “What do we have?”

“It’s Tremont. Building collapse. Paramedics are on the way.”

v

• 113 •

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“Ash!” Allie had been knocked to her knees when half the floor collapsed. Now she edged toward the gaping pit where Ash had just been standing. The bitter taste of bile flooded her mouth and she swallowed around her terror. “Ash?”

She heard a muffled groan and her heart soared with relief and gratitude. “It’s all right. Help is on the way. It’s all right, Ash.”

“Allie, get out of here.”

Ash sounded strained, as if each word was a struggle.

“Are you hurt?” Allie eased her weight forward onto what looked like an intact section of plywood subflooring. The floor tiles had all cracked into fragments from the heat or been burned away. As she put her hand down, she felt the floor shift beneath her with an ominous grating sound. “Oh shit.”

Ash’s voice was stronger now. “Get the fuck out!”

“Just shut up, will you,” Allie barked back. “I’m not leaving you down there. Are you hurt?”

“I don’t think so. But I can’t move without risking more collapse.

You’re not safe up there.”

“I’m coming to get you.”

Allie heard sirens approaching from all directions. It was totally dark inside now and everything looked different as she shone her Maglite in front of her. Nothing was where it had been five minutes ago. Sweat trickled into her eyes and her lungs screamed with every breath. Her hands were bleeding, but they didn’t hurt.

“Allie. Please. Listen to me, baby, I—”

“What did I tell you about calling me that?” Allie couldn’t ever remember Ash being scared, but she sounded scared now, and that scared Allie more than the thought of falling into the blackness. She moved another few inches. Something sharp tore through her pants and she muffled a cry at the sudden pain.