“Our life is no more hectic now than it ever is.” Reese frowned.

“What’s got you backpedaling?”

“Nothing,” Tory said, knowing she was evading. She didn’t want to frighten Reese with her own fears.

“You talked to Nita,” Reese said flatly. “I asked her not to discuss anything with you until I was with you.”

“No…I mean, yes, we talked, but she didn’t go behind your back. She doesn’t have any of the results yet. We only talked in generalities.”

Reese snorted and sat up in bed, her hands tightening on her thighs. “You’re a doctor, Tory. There is no such thing as generalities with you.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to invade your privacy.”

“I don’t care about my privacy. This affects you as well as me. It’s just that…”

“What?” Tory asked softly, curling closer and resting her hand in the center of Reese’s chest. “It’s just what, darling?”

Reese covered Tory’s hand and ran her thumb slowly over Tory’s wrist. “I didn’t want you worrying.”

“Sweetheart. I love you. I’m going to worry…a little…about anything that hurts or troubles you.”

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“What did Nita say?”

“That’s just it,” Tory said. “Nothing. She has to wait until the tests come back.”

“Something came up to make you decide it’s not the right time to get pregnant.”

“I just want to deal with one thing at a time.”

Reese knew she should be relieved that the subject was tabled temporarily, but she wasn’t. She didn’t want Tory to sacrifice anything in her life because of her, and she didn’t want to use an excuse not to be honest with her. She took Tory’s hand. “I need to tell you something.”

“Okay.”

“I don’t know if I want another baby.”

“Okay,” Tory said slowly. “That’s really important information.”

Reese sighed. “It’s not what you think. I’m crazy about Reggie. I think Reggie would probably like a sibling, but—”

“That’s all right, darling. You don’t need to explain yourself. It’s enough—”

“Tory.” Reese gently drew Tory into her arms. “Love. Listen. It’s not that I don’t like the idea. But last time, you almost died. I can’t…”

Reese remembered the ambulance ride so clearly—the blood, the EMTs shouting Tory’s vital signs over the radio, Tory whispering for her to choose the baby, if a choice had to be made. She felt the ambulance careening around the curves, heard the wail of sirens, felt the earth tilt.

Bombs burst, men screamed, and she was helpless, helpless…helpless to help them. She groaned softly.

Tory felt Reese’s heart pound wildly beneath her cheek, so fast she couldn’t count the beats. Reese’s body shuddered lightly all over, as if an electric current were coursing beneath her skin. Tory didn’t doubt if she took her blood pressure right then it would be in the stratosphere.

She sat up, her own heart racing, and took both of Reese’s hands in hers. “Reese. Reese, darling, look at me. I’m fine. You’re home with me, and we’re both fine.”

“Sorry,” Reese said thickly. “I drifted there for a minute.”

“I know.” Tory skimmed her fingers through Reese’s hair. “I know.

It’s all right.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for. Nothing at all.” Tory pushed up higher on the bed and reversed their positions, drawing Reese’s head

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to her shoulder. She stroked her back, waiting for Reese’s breathing to quiet and her heart rate to steady. “All right now?”

“Yes.” Reese closed her eyes. “You know, when Ash went down today, I was fine. Worried, but fine.”

“Why don’t you try to get some sleep? We’ll talk about this tomorrow.”

“You’re not going to pull the plug on me? Declare me unfit for duty?”

“No, absolutely not.” Tory tightened her hold. Nita had said that she was Reese’s Achilles’ heel, and she thought Nita might be right.

She wasn’t certain what she was going to do about that, but she wasn’t going to compound the problem by taking away something that meant so much to Reese. “You haven’t shown any evidence that your command abilities are compromised. And if you did, I know that you would put yourself behind a desk.”

Reese relaxed. “I’ll work this out, Tory. I promise.”

“Oh, sweetheart. I know.” Tory kissed her. “We’ll work it out together.”

v

The town was small enough, only three miles from one end to the other, that he could walk or take the bus for a dollar and complete his circuit in an hour. He enjoyed making the rounds, watching the lights go on and off in a downstairs living room, in an upstairs bedroom. It hadn’t taken him long, just a few days of observing, to discover who was important to her. Who her friends were. Now he visited them regularly.

Since he’d arrived right after the storm had passed through, he’d come to realize that the residents were all focused on disaster relief and the law officers were spread thin and overworked. He’d gotten tired of breaking into empty houses, and rented a room in a bed and breakfast on a small quiet street north of Bradford. Clean sheets and breakfast in the morning. No one paid him any attention at all.

So he was surprised when he realized that he was being followed.

At first, he thought the man was just another man like him, walking aimlessly down empty streets after midnight. It wasn’t until he’d started walking toward her house that he sensed the man somewhere in the

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shadows, behind him. Then he began to wonder how long he’d been there. Long enough to see him watching her through the window? Long enough to suspect? Abruptly, he changed directions, skirting down a narrow gravel alley barely wide enough for a car. When he reached the most shadowed spot, he stepped off and pressed against the side of a wooden fence. He waited, listening to the silence.

Then he heard the quiet, nearly inaudible crunch of careful footsteps on stone. The man was good. A professional. A cop, maybe?

But his survival instincts were better. As the man drew nearer, his anger escalated. He would never again be the hunted. He was the hunter.

So when the figure glided into view, he took down his prey with a single long slice of the blade.

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chapteR sixteen

This is Conlon,” Reese said when her cell phone rang sometime in the middle of the night. She felt Tory come awake next to her and automatically put a hand on her shoulder to urge her back to sleep.

“It’s Carter. We’ve got a homicide.”

Reese got out of bed and headed toward the closet for a fresh uniform. “Where?”

“An alley between Franklin and Creek—Clover.”

“Who do you have on the scene?”

“I assigned Smith and Chang to secure the scene. Bri’s canvassing witnesses. We’re starting to draw a little bit of a crowd.”

“Suspects?”

“Nothing yet.”

“ETA five minutes.”

“You’ll tell the coroner?”

Reese glanced at the bed where Tory was now sitting up. “I’ll tell her.”

“What is it?” Tory said as she got out of bed and Reese ended the call.

“Carter has a homicide. I don’t have the details.” Since Tory was also the county coroner, Reese didn’t have to elaborate. Tory would need to examine the body, not only to declare death, but to document the evidence. She gave her the location as she pulled on her pants.

“I’ll call Kate and see if she wants to come here,” Tory said. “I hate to wake the baby up now.”

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“Okay. Thanks.”

“Homicide. Unusual for here.” Tory grabbed a pair of comfortable jeans, hoping she’d actually get home before she had to go back to the office.

“Yes,” Reese said. Bar brawls, muggings, vehicular manslaughter—

those were the violent crimes she usually dealt with. Homicide in their small seaside village, even during the height of the tourist season, was very unusual. “You should probably take your own car. I’ll be out there the rest of the night.”

“Good idea.” Tory paused while buttoning her shirt. “Reese, Nita will probably want to see you in the morning. She wants you to wear some monitoring devices for a few days.”

“Why?”

“Your blood pressure was erratic and quite high at times. She wants to see how it fluctuates over the course of your normal activities.”

Reese shook her head. “I’m going to be really busy tomorrow.

Can’t it wait?”

“No,” Tory said evenly. “It can’t wait.”

“Monitoring devices. All the time?”

“Not in the shower.”

“What about when we’re having sex?”

Tory smiled. “You know you have a one-track mind?”

“I’ll take that as a yes.” With a sigh, Reese started for the door.

“I’ll find time, if she calls. I’ll see you at the scene.”

v

Reese parked behind a cruiser, with its light bar flashing, blocking the alley generously called Clover Street. Carter had already rigged a portable floodlight, and Reese could make out figures moving within a cone of bright light halfway down the narrow gravel pathway.

Fluorescent yellow crime scene tape marked a generous perimeter all around the area. Civilians, probably awakened by the lights and activity, milled around. Chang, one of the part-time officers, was talking to the onlookers, taking notes.

Ducking under the plastic tape, Reese played her Maglite over the ground in front of her, taking care not to tread on footprints, tire tracks, or anything else that might be evidence. Carter stood in the circle of

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light, alternately regarding the body at her feet and scrawling in a palm-sized spiral notebook. Her face was all sharp angles and shadowed hollows in the flat, harsh glare. She looked up when Reese stopped a few feet away. A man lay on the ground on his back, a black puddle beneath his head and shoulders. The source of the puddle appeared to be a wide gash that bisected his neck halfway between his chin and the collar of his blazer.