“Rica has everything to do with it. We both know who she is, and

• 14 •

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just because her father’s kept a low profile and stayed out of her life for the past six months doesn’t mean he’s going to continue.”

“I won’t let him drag her back into his world,” Carter said. “And I won’t let him contaminate this one.”

“And if he tries?”

Carter set her jaw, knowing the answer would determine Reese’s decision. “If Rica were physically threatened, I’d do anything I had to do to protect her. Short of that, I’d deal with problems through channels.”

“Meaning advise me,” Reese said flatly.

“Right.” Carter sat forward. “Look, we live here. This is our community too. I want to do my part, and that isn’t filing paperwork for a living.”

“Tell me about it.” Reese looked at her desk and winced. Carter laughed. “The hurricane has chewed this place up, and we’ve got more work than we can handle, and will have for half a year or more. I can use you.”

Carter let out a breath. “Good. I’m ready to work.”

Reese nodded. “There’s a bunch of paperwork—in your case, all of it a formality. Fill it out, and I’ll push it through.” She riffled through a stack of papers and pulled out the duty roster, giving it a quick look. “You’ll have the midnight-to-eight shift for the rest of the week. Starting tonight.”

“Riding graveyard.” Carter grinned ruefully. “Always great to be the rookie.”

“We both know you’re not, but—”

Carter held up a hand. “Hey, I get it. I’m the new kid on the block.

I don’t have a problem with that.”

Reese stood and extended her hand across the desk. “Then welcome aboard, Officer Wayne.”

Once Carter left to fill out the necessary forms in the front office, Reese went back to sorting through the incident reports from the previous shift, most of which were the ordinary run-of-the-mill occurrences common in any community—traffic accidents, drunk and disorderlies, assault and batteries, domestic complaints, thefts. The bulk of the work facing her department resulted from the hurricane that had devastated the entire Cape a week before. In its wake, the storm had left washed-out roads, untold property damage, injured and displaced civilians, and dozens of reports of thefts and suspicious fires, all of which needed to

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be investigated. Most of the Provincetown residents who had evacuated were just trickling back into town. As the community repopulated, Reese expected to receive more reports of vandalism and theft.

She rubbed her eyes, her headache firmly in place even though it was only midmorning. She hadn’t slept much in the ten days leading up to and following the storm, and although she was resting better than she had been immediately after her return from Iraq, she was still dreaming.

Still remembering. When she felt the edges of her consciousness start to darken and a tightness settle in her chest, she reached for the phone.

“East End Health Clinic,” a melodious male voice answered.

“Is she free?” Reese asked.

“Is she ever?” Randy, the clinic’s receptionist, responded with a dramatic sigh.

“Two minutes.”

“I’ll be timing you.”

Reese listened to the silence for a few seconds, and then the voice she’d been waiting to hear came on the line.

“Hello, darling,” Dr. Tory King said. “This is a nice surprise.”

“How’s your day going?” Reese asked.

“The town may still be half empty, but we’ve got a full schedule.

How about you?”

“I’m drowning in paper.” Tory laughed, and Reese pictured her leaning against the front of her desk, the phone tucked between her shoulder and her ear, signing off on charts while they talked. She’d be wearing pressed jeans and a cotton shirt under her white lab coat.

Her wavy, shoulder-length auburn hair would be loose, her sparkling eyes shifting between blue and green with her mood. Listening to her, remembering waking up beside her that morning, Reese’s disquiet along with the band of tension around her chest eased. She took a deep breath and let it out, feeling the memories of death and horror slide away.

“What else is going on?” Tory asked gently.

“I just hired Carter Wayne.”

“Good. You can use the help, and Carter is a pro.”

“Agreed. Did you hear from Kate? Are they on their way back?”

Reese was thankful for more reasons than she could count that she’d reconnected with her mother after years of estrangement, and that they lived in the same town now. Kate and her partner Jean were not only

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family and wonderful friends, they provided childcare for Reese and Tory’s one-year-old daughter Reggie.

“Apparently the extended family isn’t done spoiling Reggie quite yet. They’re leaving tomorrow and will be back midday.”

“Good. I miss her,” Reese said. “Do you think she misses us?”

“I think she would, if she weren’t with Kate and Jean. But she spends as much time with them as she does with us, so she feels safe and secure. I’m certain she’ll be very glad to see us.”

“Same here. Well, I should let you go, I promised Randy—”

“Are you okay?”

Reese sighed, embarrassed that she had disrupted Tory’s always busy schedule because she couldn’t deal with her own ghosts. “Am I that obvious?”

“Not at all, sweetheart. But you don’t usually call me in the middle of the day.”

“I’m okay. I just needed to hear your voice.” And she knew if she shut Tory out the way she had done right after she’d returned, they’d both suffer. She’d promised she would try to reach out when she needed help, even though it went against her every instinct.

“I love you,” Tory said. “I’m done at seven. Dinner?”

“I’ll give it my best shot.”

Tory chuckled. “You’re an expert marksman, Reese. I consider that a sure thing.”

v

“So what do you think that’s all about?” Officer Allie Tremont whispered to her partner, Bri Parker.

“Huh?”

Allie was struck again how much Bri looked like a younger, slimmer version of Reese—thick, coal black hair cut long in the front and short around the ears, indigo eyes, and a break-your-heart smile.

Aware that Bri was staring at her with a confused expression, Allie tilted her head slightly and Bri followed her gaze. “Check it out.”

Carter Wayne leaned against the waist-high counter that separated the work area, where Bri’s desk and three others were pushed together, from the real heart of the department—the communications center

• 17 •

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presided over for the past twenty-five years by Gladys Martin, a civilian aide. Gladys screened incoming calls, relayed dispatch orders and information, and pretty much controlled everything else that kept the department running smoothly. Carter, a dozen years older and thirty pounds of muscle heavier than Bri, looked relaxed and casually self-confident as she rested an elbow on the counter and filled out forms. Bri knew as much of her story as anyone, but she didn’t really know her.

Carter was a lot like Reese—a seasoned cop, about the same age, and they’d both reached the top by being tough, and by being the best. Carter was Reese’s equal in a way that Bri hoped to be one day. Secretly, she was a little bit jealous of Carter, even though she knew that was crazy.

She couldn’t help the way she felt.

“It looks to me like she’s coming on board,” Bri said tightly.

“Yeah,” Allie said contemplatively, her soft Southern accent becoming more accentuated. “That’s how I read it too. So, you think she’ll end up partnering with one of us?”

Bri stiffened. “Why? You and I are partners. Reese won’t split us up.”

“I don’t know. We’re still the rookies, even if we have been doing this for a year. And Carter—well, Carter’s gonna have rank on us.”

“I guess it would be up to Reese.” Bri stood abruptly. “Come on, let’s get out of here. Take a tour around town.”

“Hey, fine by me. I’ll tell Gladys.”

Bri watched Allie saunter over to the counter, knowing without being able to see her face that she would be cruising Carter. Allie cruised every woman, gay, straight, single, or married. With Allie’s statuesque physique, her wavy mahogany hair, and her deep dark soulful eyes that promised fantasies come true, Allie generally got cruised back. Bri had only ever been in love with one girl, but for a few crazy weeks a year or so ago when her head was all turned around, she’d almost given in to Allie’s charms. That was behind them now, and she and Allie were partners at work and tight friends. She was probably one of the only people who really knew that Allie was a lot more than just a beautiful flirt. Allie was both beautiful and a flirt, that was for sure, but she was also loyal and tender and, underneath her bad girl image, lonely.

Carter looked up when Allie approached, smiled and said a few words Bri couldn’t hear, and then went back to her paperwork. From

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where Bri was standing, Carter seemed to be immune to Allie’s charms.

But then, Carter was rock-solid married. Like Reese. Like her.

“All set,” Allie said when she returned to collect her gun from her desk drawer.

“Learn anything?” Bri settled her hat low over her brows and slid her weapon into her holster. She held the door open for Allie as they walked out the side door into the small parking lot.

“Nope,” Allie said, passing Bri and starting down the stairs.

Bri was right on her heels and when Allie abruptly stopped on the last step, she plowed into her and almost bowled her over. “What the fuck, Al.”

“What the fuck is right!” Allie sounded both shocked and angry.

“Uh-oh,” Bri muttered, finally noticing the redhead standing on the blacktop path ten feet in front of them, her face set and her eyes riveted on Allie. Bri hadn’t seen Ashley Walker for the better part of a year, not since Allie and Ash had split up. Ash looked thinner than she remembered, the lines around her eyes a little deeper, her body pared down to tight muscle and bone. She’d cut her thick, slightly curly crimson hair to just above her collar, and the sleeker look accentuated the tight planes of her cheekbones and jaw. Ash’s blue eyes flickered over Allie’s body and then resettled on her face.

“Hello, Allie. Bri,” Ash said in a low, throaty alto.

“Walker,” Allie said coldly. “What are you doing here?”

“Working a couple of dozen cases down this end of the Cape.”

Ash slid her hands into the pockets of her khakis and swallowed around the dry, hard knot in her throat. She had known this first meeting would be tough, and she’d thought she was prepared for it, but she’d been wrong. She’d underestimated just how hard it would be to see the anger in Allie’s eyes and hear the loathing in her voice. In the eight months since she’d seen her, Allie had changed. She’d cut her long, dark hair to collar length, but that wasn’t it. She’d lost the sheen of innocence that had shimmered beneath the sexual allure that was as natural to Allie as breathing. She was still beautiful, even more so now because of the edge in the sculpted planes of her face, but she also seemed remote, untouchable. And that was right, wasn’t it. Ash had been the one to walk away.

“That doesn’t answer my question,” Allie snapped.

• 19 •

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“Courtesy call.” Ash tried not to wince when Allie snorted rudely.

“I’ll just head in to see Nelson.”

“My dad’s out on indefinite sick leave,” Bri said. “Reese is chief now.”

“Oh, damn, I’m sorry,” Ash said. “Is Nelson okay?”

“He’s doing better.” Bri’s mouth thinned. “He had heart surgery about a month or so ago.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. I didn’t know.”

Allie strode down the path directly toward Ash, forcing Ash to sidestep hurriedly or risk getting knocked on her ass.

“Why should you know?” Allie said as she passed, a slight hint of DKNY’s Be Delicious trailing in her wake. “You’re not part of anything around here.”

“Tell Nelson I said hello,” Ash said quietly as Bri hurried after Allie.

“Sure. Thanks,” Bri mumbled.

Ash heard a car door slam, then another, and forced herself not to turn around and watch Allie drive away. She’d already seen her walking out of her life every day for the last eight months, and she heard what Allie didn’t say. You’re not welcome around here.

v

“I can’t believe she just showed up like that. Like she could just walk right in,” Allie fumed.

Bri wheeled the cruiser out onto Shank Painter Road and headed toward Bradford, carefully keeping her eyes on the road although she could have driven it blindfolded. Allie sounded mad, but underneath the mad was a little bit of quaver that sounded like tears. Tears just ripped Bri up. “She said she was here on business.”