“Don’t do that on no sleep, Reese,” Tory said quietly. “Don’t make me worry all night.”

Reese sighed. “I won’t. But if it gets really late, I might catch an hour or so at the station and then go.”

“I understand. Come home when you can.”

“Tory…I’m sorry about the way I left earlier…”

“It’s all right, darling. You’ve got work to do.” Tory allowed her fingers to trail over Reese’s jaw before drawing away. “We’ll talk soon. I promise. I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Reese opened the driver’s door of Tory’s Jeep so her lover could slide in. “Kiss the baby for me.”

“Is there anything I can do?” Bri stood by the side of Allie’s desk, her hands in her pockets, her blue eyes dark with worry. Allie was pale and her hands shook as she filled out paperwork. It was three in the morning and they had both been off shift for over three hours, but Allie needed to document the details of finding the dead girl before leaving and Bri had stayed to finish her report on the boy. Now, she lingered out of concern and sympathy for her friend. She wondered how she would have reacted to coming upon a dead teenager in the brush in the middle of the night.

Allie looked up, dark eyes liquid with pain and fatigue. She forced a smile. “No, I’m okay. Almost done.”

“Sure?”

“Yeah, thanks. You go ahead. It’s late.”

“How about I give you a ride home?”

“I’ve got my car,” Allie said, but her expression belied her efforts to sound composed.

“This whole night has been a bummer,” Bri noted truthfully. “I wouldn’t mind company for a while.”

A smile of thanks flickered on Allie’s face. “Yeah?” At Bri’s solemn nod, she said quickly, “Five minutes.”

Even at the height of the season, the small town was deserted in the middle of the night. The bars closed at one and there was nothing much in the way of entertainment beyond that time. Bri, feeling as if they were the only two people in the world, powered the motorcycle through the twisting, narrow streets with Allie clinging to her back. Somewhere, though, she reminded herself, on the other side of the ocean that she could hear in the background even above the roar of her engine, Caroline was just waking. She missed her so much, especially now, when she hurt inside with feelings she couldn’t put a name to. The warmth of Allie’s body was comforting.

Gunning the engine, she took the bike in a low, sweeping dip around a turn onto the road to Pilgrim’s Heights. Allie tightened her hold, and Bri felt a hand press low against the front of her uniform pants. Surprised, she covered Allie’s fingers with her own before they could move anywhere else. She kept her hand there until she needed both to navigate the sharp turn into Allie’s driveway. She cut the engine and put a leg down on either side of the big bike to steady it “I’ll swing by tomorrow and take you to the station to get your car.”

“Can you come in for a while?” Allie asked, sliding off to stand by Bri’s side. She rested one hand on Bri’s thigh in a casual gesture, but her voice trembled. “I’m wide awake. I could fix us a drink or something to eat.”

Bri heard the plea beneath the invitation and realized that Allie must be more upset than she wanted to let on. “Sure, for a bit. Thanks.” She kicked down the stand and swung her leg over the wide tank, then followed Allie up the winding stone path to the small bungalow. Once inside, she waited while Allie turned on lights and rummaged in the kitchen.

“Here,” Allie said, handing Bri a beer. She gestured to the sofa with her own bottle and the two young officers, both still in uniform, sat down side by side. They drank in silence for a few moments.

“You doing okay, for real?” Bri finally asked.

“I’m not so sure,” Allie confessed in a small voice. She kept her eyes down, staring at the beer bottle that she turned around and around between her clasped hands. “It was weird. When I saw her, I thought she was sleeping. I thought, what a stupid place to sack out. Then it hit me. All at once. And I knew she was dead.”

“That must’ve been hard.” They had been in tough situations together, including a life-threatening fire. Bri had been in a takedown that had resulted in gunshots and death. But she’d never walked up on death alone. Secretly, she was glad.

“You know,” Allie went on, “you always read about cops throwing up or something when they find a body, but I didn’t feel that way. I felt…cold.” She shivered, set her beer bottle down, and moved closer to Bri on the sofa. “I still do.”

When Allie took her hand, Bri closed her fingers around Allie’s in silent comfort.

“Reese and Jeff both said I did okay.” Allie leaned her shoulder against Bri’s and pulled Bri’s hand into her lap, holding it between her own. In a low, tortured voice, she asked, “Don’t you think I should feel something else? Like…maybe there’s something wrong with me because I don’t?”

“No,” Bri said comfortingly. “No. I think you’re tired and stressed and maybe…a little freaked out. I think that’s pretty normal.”

Allie laughed shakily. “Jeez, I don’t feel normal,”

“I think you did great too.” Bri squeezed Allie’s fingers. “I’m sorry you had to go through it, though.”

“Part of the job, right?” Allie shrugged and tried to sound tough.

“Yeah. A really rough part.”

“Thanks.” Allie rested her cheek against Bri’s shoulder. “For bringing me home.”

“Maybe you should call Ashley,” Bri suggested tentatively. “Tell her about it.”

Allie shook her head. “No. We’re sort of…cooling things off for awhile.”

“Why?”

“Oh, you know. Things run hot for a while and then…” She shrugged again.

“So you broke up?” Bri tried to remember the last time she had seen Allie with Ashley Walker, the private investigator with whom they had all worked a case earlier in the summer. She realized that it had been a few weeks at least. She’d thought that they were a couple, or at least headed in that direction.

“Ashley said…oh, fuck…” Allie moved one hand from Bri’s, sat up, and grabbed for her beer bottle. She drained it in one long swallow. “Ashley’s decided that she’s too old for me. Do you believe that?”

“So she broke up with you?” Bri’s voice held a note of incredulity. “For something like that? What is she, ten years older or something?”

“About that. So she’s decided that I’m too young to make a commitment and that we should take things slow” She grunted derisively. “In my book, that means screw other people and forget about each other.”

Bri frowned, recalling the attractive redhead who had not seemed like a woman who would be interested in casual encounters, “Did she say that?”

“She didn’t have to. I got the message.”

“Uh, maybe that’s not what she meant. You know, sometimes, women are hard to figure out.”

Allie regarded Bri with a slow smile. “Is that right? I never noticed that you had much trouble.”

Bri blushed. “Half the time I’m not certain what Carre needs. I’m just happy to get it right whenever I do.”

At the mention of Bri’s girlfriend, Allie’s smile wavered. “You’re pretty crazy about her, huh?”

“Yeah. Totally.”

With a seductive purr, Allie leaned close again, one arm sliding around Bri’s waist and her lips close to Bri’s ear. “But you’re not married, right? I mean, she’s going to be gone a long time.”

When the warm breath tickled her ear and a very practiced hand smoothed over her abdomen and came to rest on her fly, Bri felt a familiar spark of arousal. This wasn’t the first time Allie had touched her, and she remembered exactly how good that had felt. The last time they’d been naked in bed together, and she’d almost come while Allie touched her. Gently, Bri covered Allie’s hand as she had done on the bike and moved it up a safe distance. “I’m not into fooling around. But if I was, I’d be begging at your door.”

Allie grew very still, then after a minute, edged away until she could look into Bri’s face. “That was a really nice thing to say. You’re sweet, you know that?”

“Not really. It’s the truth, what I said about you. You’re hot. But I can’t cheat on my girl.”

Curiously, Allie asked, “Even if she never knew?”

“I’d know. I already don’t deserve her.” Bri shrugged and looked away, embarrassed. “But I’m trying.”

“Will you stay here tonight?”

Bri’s head snapped back. “Huh?”

“Not for sex. I just…I’d just like not to be alone.”

“I can’t sleep in bed with you.” Bri wasn’t crazy enough to think that she could sleep next to a gorgeous, hot woman who wanted her and not be tempted.

“You can take the bed, and I could sleep out here on the couch.”

Bri laughed. “The couch will do me fine. But I’m only staying on one condition.”

“What?” Allie asked playfully.

“You’re making the breakfast.”

“Oh, Officer Parker,” Allie cooed, leaning close and kissing Bri’s cheek. “You are so easy.”

Chapter Five

“Uh-oh,” Nelson Parker muttered.

Reese followed her boss’s gaze down the hospital hallway and saw a woman rise from a chair in the seating area outside the intensive care unit and start toward them. Swiftly, Reese took stock. Nearly her height, but not as muscular. Shoulder-length dark hair, looking as if it had been subtly cut to hold its casual style no matter the wind or weather. Light makeup, clear, pale complexion, hazel eyes gleaming even in the dim light. Piercing eyes hard, unreadable eyes. A faint smile that might have been welcome or warning. At just after four in the morning, the woman, dressed casually in tan slacks and a cream-colored short-sleeved blouse, looked remarkably fresh and alert. She also looked, Reese thought, as if she were enjoying herself. Uh-oh is right.

“You must be here about Robert Bridger,” the woman said in a rich, smooth alto, her eyes moving slowly from Nelson to Reese.

“I’m Chief Nelson Parker and this is Sheriff Reese Conlon,” Nelson said. He held out his hand, which the woman took.

“How do you do? I’m Trey Pelosi, the Bridgers’ attorney.” She smiled again, and turned to Reese with an extended hand. “Sheriff.”

“Counselor,” Reese said quietly, “Vacationing in the area?”

“Why, yes,” Trey answered, her eyes sharpening as she gave Reese an appraising glance. “I have a summer home in Truro.”

“Yours must have been the taillights we saw ahead of us all the way up here.”

Trey laughed. “Actually, I’ve been here a few hours.”

His parents must have called you as soon as I finished talking to them, Reese surmised. You probably got here before Robert arrived. Gives a new meaning to the term ambulance chaser

“We called the boy’s doctors on our way up from Provincetown,” Nelson stated. “They informed us that Robert was awake and could answer some questions. Are his parents here?”

“They are. Yes.” She hadn’t moved and her smile hadn’t wavered. She stood comfortably, but quite obviously, in their path. “The doctors were partially correct. Robert is awake, but I’m afraid he won’t be answering any questions.”

“Is there some reason you don’t want him to talk to us, Counselor?” Reese asked in a steady, even tone.

“Are you charging him with a crime, Sheriff?”

“At the moment, we’re simply trying to find out what happened. He’s the only one who can tell us.”

“And at the moment, Robert isn’t up to being questioned,” Trey responded firmly without raising her voice.

“The doctors said” Nelson began.

“I’m sorry that you both came all the way up here in the middle of the night,” Trey interjected, her tone still reasonable. “However, I’m afraid that at the present time I can’t allow Robert to answer any questions. Sometime tomorrow, I expect that his parents will retain permanent counsel. If you give me your contact information, I’ll be certain that you’re notified.”

“You’re not a criminal attorney, then?” Reese asked

Once again, a smile flickered at the corner of Trey’s mouth and was quickly gone. “No, I’m a corporate attorney. Robert’s mother is…an old friend. I was nearby, and they asked me to serve as temporary counsel.”

“Ms. Pelosi,” Reese said sharply, “I have a dead teenager whose name I don’t know. Somewhere, that girl’s parents are wondering where she is. I need to answer their question, and to do that, I need Robert to tell me who she is. That’s all I want right now.”

Nothing showed in Trey’s eyes now as she met Reese’s not sympathy, not irritation, not anger. Her expression remained remote. “I appreciate your situation, Sheriff. I’m certain that Robert’s attorney will do everything possible to assist you at the appropriate time. But for tonight, Robert is unavailable.”