“And do you each really believe that the other loves you and wants to marry you?” Carpenter said. “Yes,” Palmer said. “Yes, Ido,” Maria said.

“And do you promise to live together in contentment with the past, happiness in the present, and hope for the future?”

They both looked taken aback, but Palmer said, “Yes, I do,” his voice strong, and Maria said, “Yes, I do, too.”

“Then I now pronounce you man and wife,” Carpenter said, his voice ringing out.

“You can do that?” Maria said. “Just like that?”

“Yes, I can,” Carpenter said. “Do you want to kiss the bride, Palmer?”

“Yes, I do,” Palmer said, and kissed Maria. Agnes looked at Lisa Livia, who was crying.

“Did you hear what my daughter said about me?” Lisa Livia said. “Yes, I did,” Agnes said, putting her arm around her. “Damn fine wedding.”

“Damn fine minister, too,” Lisa Livia said, sobbing. “Tip him well for the ceremony,” Agnes said, “as only you can,” and turned to see how Brenda was taking it. Brenda was gone.


Shane had been so busy watching Casey Dean that he missed what happened in the gazebo, although it was evidently good because people applauded and Maria and Palmer came down the aisle looking like they were in love again, and Agnes was up in the gazebo kissing Carpenter, which meant Carpenter had probably saved the day. You can count on Carpenter, he thought, but his focus was already back on Casey Dean.

He pulled out Abigail’s cell phone with one hand as he began to roll the trunk down the dock.

“Hey, Princess,” Shane said when Casey Dean answered. “Come join me. I’ve got the money.”

“Where’s my sister?”

“One thing at a time,” Shane said.

“Fuck you.”

“Funny, that’s what Abigail tried to do.” Shane turned the phone off. He saw she was coming toward the dock, despite her outrage. He could see Agnes now talking to Xavier as they headed with the wedding guests for the reception in the barn.

Shane rolled the trunk down the gangplank and onto the floating dock. He looked out at the boat and saw the shadowy figures on the bridge. He punched in speed-dial 2 on his phone.

Wilson answered on the first ring. “Yes?”

“I’ve got Casey Dean.”

There was a slight pause. “Terminated?”

“No, she’s coming this way right now. I can deliver her to you for questioning.”

“All right.”

“And I have the five million.”

There was a short silence. “All right. I’ll be there in a minute.”

The phone went dead.

No “Atta-boy, good job.”

No “You mean Frankie had the five mil?”

No “Wow, you mean Casey Dean’s female?”

No shit, Shane thought.

Casey Dean arrived, leading with a large-caliber automatic pistol that was aimed right between his eyes. “Shane. Nice to meet you again. Come here often?” She sounded tough, but Shane could tell she was off-balance in more ways than one as she came down the metal ramp, keeping the gun pointed at him.

“I plan on it.” Shane watched as she reached the bottom, easily recognizing the blond princess from the bar, now that she’d lost the dark wig. “So you’re Casey Dean.”

She smiled. “What’s that mean to you, Shane?”

“I heard you were for hire to the lowest bidder.”

“You’ve heard wrong.”

Shane shook his head. “You’re supposed to say, ‘Prove it’“

“Not all of us live in movie-land, Shane.”

“Want a dose of reality? Your client is dead, and your contract is void, so I’m thinking I’m better.”

“You’re not thinking at all,” Casey Dean said with a smile. “I’ve got the drop on you, dumbass.”

“Yeah, but you’d rather have Abigail than shoot me.” Shane smiled. “Plus, my team is still intact. Look behind you.”

“Nice try-” Casey Dean began, but Carpenter’s deep voice cut her off.

“I’d lower the gun, miss.” He was at the top of the ramp, gun pointed at the back of her head.

Casey Dean sighed. “Fuck.” She lowered the gun.

Shane nodded toward the Wilson’s boat, which was approaching. “You’re leaving with my boss-”

Casey Dean laughed. “You really are stupid.”

Shane smiled. “Not anymore.”


Agnes had followed the wedding party to the barn, which wasn’t easy in her mother-of-the-bride dress, and made sure that everything had started well there. Garth had everything hopping, dazzling his date, Tara, with his expertise and general command, and Agnes stopped long enough to say, “Garth, you’re amazing, what would we do without you?” which probably set him up for the next school year. Frankie dominated the room like a father of the bride, charming the hell out of everybody, and Maria and Palmer were so dazzled with each other that it would have been almost embarrassing if they weren’t the bride and groom. Jefferson Keyes was embarrassing, no almost about it, but after Xavier told Agnes that a morose Hammond had taken Brenda into custody for questioning, he’d picked up two flutes of champagne and gone over to Evie, and Evie’s sad face had blushed and brightened as she’d taken her glass from him, so Agnes was fairly sure that Jefferson’s payback was coming at him shortly. Lisa Livia was beaming happily at her baby girl, forgetting for right now that she was broke, even forgetting for the evening that Frankie had deserted her for twenty-five years, patting his shoulder when he stopped to kiss her cheek, so it looked like for the space of the afternoon, everybody in her family would get their happily ever after. Only Carpenter and Shane were missing.

Shane, she thought, and felt the chill again. She looked around the reception hall one more time and then left and went down the path to the house. He was standing on the dock talking to Wilson on the boat, and if she stayed by the porch steps, it was too obvious that she was watching, but if she went into the kitchen, she could see from the window, even from the open door. And maybe finally finish her damn column. That would be a real sign that things were back to normal: meeting her deadline tomorrow.

She opened the porch door and went in, trying not to think about everything that could be wrong down on the boat, and at the last minute, as she went into the kitchen, she turned back to look at him, only to jerk back as she felt a cast-iron skillet miss crushing her skull by inches.


Shane saw Joey walking down the dock from the reception as Wilson’s boat bounced against the bumpers. He grabbed the rope Wilson threw and secured the boat as Carpenter held his gun on Casey Dean.

Wilson stepped onto the dock and nodded. “Good job.” He glanced at the locker. “The money?”

“Yes,” Shane said as Joey came down the metal walkway.

Wilson motioned to Casey Dean. “Take care of her and let’s go.”

Shane heard her suck in her breath. Yeah, he’s not much for loyalty, he thought. Sorry about that, babe.

“Shane, you can’t go with this guy, he’s got no soul,” Joey called out. “You’re not like him, you’re like me.”

“That’s touching,” Wilson said to Joey. “But you’re his past. I’m his future. And it’s a very lucrative and rewarding future. What can you give him? A diner? He’s not your heir, he’s mine.”

“The hell he is.” Joey pulled his gun from his waistband and held it on Wilson.

Shane thought, Another gun. I’m sick of guns.

“I had to take family away from him once to save him,” Joey said. “If I have to kill you to give family back to him, I will.”

“No,” Wilson said. “I’ve got you covered from the boat. You’ll never make it off this dock alive.”

“You can’t just shoot him down,” Shane said to Wilson, his voice tired.

“Of course I can,” Wilson said. “In the interests of national security, I can do anything. You have to understand this if you’re going to take my position. You must weigh the benefits of the many against the needs of the few. I’ve been doing it for decades. When you are National Security, you are the ultimate power. You are above the law. You must grow comfortable with that, making the difficult decisions easily and quickly. People are expendable; security is not.”

“This might be that aspect we’ve been uneasy about all week,” Carpenter said mildly from beside him.

“Difficult decisions,” Shane said to Wilson. “Like murdering my mother and father in order to make my uncle the power in the family.”

“Ah,” Wilson said, staring at him. “You’re letting personal feelings cloud your judgment again.”

Joey growled and raised his gun, and Shane reached out and took it away from him.

“Enough.” He looked between the two old men. “I’m not either one of you. If I ever have a kid, no, when I have a kid, nobody will ever take him away from me. I’ll kill any son of a bitch who tries.” He stopped. “Not that I’ll have to. Anybody who wants him will have to come through his mother first, and God help that poor bastard.”

Wilson’s eyes grew even more wintry. “I gather you’re refusing the promotion.”

Shane prodded Casey Dean forward, her slender body rigid with fury now as she stared at Wilson. “Yes, but I’m giving you your Princess back.”

Wilson blinked at her. “You’re leaving her alive? Knowing that she’ll come after you again? That makes no sense. You’ll be looking over your shoulder for the rest of your life, which for one of you will be short. Is that what you want?”

Shane looked into his uncomprehending eyes. “What I want, when I’m done here, is to go back to the house and tell Agnes about my day, find out what happened during hers. That’s always interesting. After that, I don’t know. We’ll think of something.”