“I don’t know,” Carter said quietly. “I don’t want to jam him up, so if he turns me down, I won’t push.”

“You’ll be careful, won’t you?” Rica knew it was a senseless question, because Carter would do whatever her duty required. But she had to say it. On some irrational level, she believed that by wishing Carter to be safe, to be careful, she could help make it come true. A wave of foreboding washed through her, and she put her arms around Carter’s neck, holding on to her tightly. “I love you. Please be careful.”

“I will. I promise.” Carter kissed her. “I love you too. I’ll be home soon.”

Rica walked her to the door, then turned back to the silent house and the long night ahead.

v

Reese hung up the phone and swiveled on the stool at the breakfast bar to watch Tory finish reading a story to Reggie. Reggie had a favorite

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book now, one with a plethora of farm animals and buttons that she could push to make the book crow, or moo, or oink. When Tory got to the end, Reggie bounced on her lap and said story in a clear and demanding voice while banging on the cover. Reese laughed.

“Want me to take a turn?”

Tory raised an eyebrow. “I’d love it, but don’t you have to go back to work?”

“That was Carter. She’s got a meet set up with Kevin Shaughnessy in Yarmouth tonight. If she gets any kind of lead, we’re going to want to move on it. Until then, we’re in a holding pattern. I can’t get anything about Marilyn or what she and her team were doing here from the FBI.

Maybe in the morning I’ll be able to call in some favors.”

“I’ll never understand why different branches of law enforcement can’t get along. It doesn’t make any sense. You’re on the same side.”

Reese joined Tory on the couch and lifted Reggie into her lap. “We would be on the same side, if upholding the law were our only goal. But law enforcement is politics too. And these days, it’s also bureaucracy.

If I knock on the right doors, I might get someone to talk to me. Right now, everyone is playing deaf, dumb, and blind.”

“And if Marilyn Allen dies?” Tory asked quietly.

“We’ll be in the midst of a deep freeze that won’t thaw this century.” Reese slid her arm around Tory’s shoulders and pulled her close. “How about I give Reggie a bath and put her to bed before I read her the story. You might want to take a little nap while I do that.”

Tory circled her palm over Reese’s stomach, murmuring appreciatively when Reese sucked in a breath and her muscles tightened.

“You have something in mind?”

“Several somethings,” Reese whispered in Tory’s ear. “Several times.”

“Maybe we should put the monitor back on you if you’re going to get fancy.”

“It won’t show anything. Nothing triggered out there today when we apprehended Everly.”

“I know.” Tory nipped at the edge of Reese’s jaw. “When I heard what had happened, I asked Nita to check the telemetry readouts that downloaded to her computer. If I didn’t know any better, and only had your pulse and blood pressure readings to go by, I would have thought you were sitting at your desk filling out reports.”

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“I won’t pretend you don’t make my heart race,” Reese said with a grin, “but you haven’t given me a panic attack. Yet.”

“Is that what you think you experienced?” Tory leaned back to study her intently. “Panic attacks?”

“That may not be the right medical term for it, but I think so, yes.” Reese rescued her tie from Reggie’s clutches and handed her a toy to divert her for a few minutes. “I think I got what happened over there, losing some of my troops, mixed up with losing you. I just have to remind myself that the two are different.” She tightened her hold on Tory and kissed her on the mouth, a long, slow, possessive kiss.

“You’re here and you’re mine and I won’t lose you.”

“Oh God, Reese,” Tory whispered. “I need you and those several things you have planned. Soon.”

Reese got a hot, demanding glint in her eyes. “I’ll meet you in our room in thirty minutes. Go close your eyes.” She skimmed her mouth over Tory’s ear. “If you can’t sleep, you can start without me. Just don’t finish without me.”

Tory’s lips parted and her eyes grew glassy. “I’ll wait. I’ll wait, but God, hurry.”

Reese stood and settled Reggie on her shoulder. “Come on, Champ, time for bed.”

Tory watched them until they disappeared out of sight upstairs.

Then she closed her eyes and waited for her breathing to settle. Thirty minutes had never sounded so long.

v

From the shadows just beyond the circle of light emanating from the window, he watched the woman on the sofa. He knew she would fight him, even with a knife at her throat. When he pinned her down, she would struggle. He would have to hurt her, cut her just a little, to prove he was in charge. His gaze drifted over her breasts and he imagined them pressed against his chest, imagined himself between her legs. He wondered what it would take to put that look in her eyes, the look that Marilyn Allen had had in hers when the knife struck home. He needed to put that look in her eyes, and he was done waiting.

• 226 •

RetuRning tides

chapteR twenty-six

Carter pulled off Route 6 and into the parking lot of the Seaside Diner a few minutes before ten p.m. The parking lot was full, as were most of the counter stools and booths when she walked in.

The place smelled like fish and chips and a mouthwatering hint of hot apple pie. She scanned the length of the long narrow room and caught sight of a broad-shouldered redhead whose close-cropped hair was sprinkled with gray sitting in a far booth. She made her way down the aisle, dodging waitresses and customers, until she could slide in across from her old partner, Kevin Shaughnessy. When she’d been undercover, Kevin had been her contact in the state investigator’s office, feeding her information, relaying her verbal reports, and pretty much keeping her tethered to the real world when there were times she thought she might go under from the pressure of maintaining all the lies in her life. Ten years her senior, Kevin hid a sharp intelligence and fierce loyalty to the badge behind his florid, open face. She trusted him and hoped he still trusted her, even though she’d walked away from her career and the battle they had fought side by side for more than a decade.

“Hi, Kev.” She signaled to the waitress for a coffee. “Thanks for making the trip.”

“I figured since you called, it must be important,” he said while forking up a bite of apple pie. He made the word called sound like an insult.

Carter felt herself blush. She hadn’t kept in contact with him even though they’d been more than partners. They’d been friends. She hadn’t thought it would do Kevin’s reputation in the department any good if

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people thought they were still tight. Plenty of her former colleagues believed that her involvement with Rica, the daughter of a mob boss, meant that she was on Alfonse Pareto’s payroll now. She also knew if she tried to explain that to Kevin, he’d blow her off. So she’d just stayed away.

“So you’re back policing,” Kevin said when the silence stretched between them.

“Couple of days—I guess you must know that’s why I’m here.”

“You need something.”

“Damn it, Kevin,” Carter muttered. “You’re lucky you didn’t lose your badge when the feds went after me. I’m not exactly healthy to be around.”

He put his fork down and nailed her with a hot stare. “So you’re saying you dropped out of sight to protect me.”

“Hardly out of sight. You know where—”

“Don’t play your smart lawyer word games with me,” Kevin growled. “Do I look like some kind of pussy, I need you to take my hits for me?”

Carter grinned. “Fortunately, not like any I’ve ever seen.”

Kevin laughed. “You always were a dick.”

“No argument.” Carter gestured to his plate. “You going to eat the rest of that pie?”

“Damn right I am. Get your own pie.” Kevin cleaned his plate in two fast bites and picked up his coffee cup. “So what’s going on?”

“We’ve got a dead FBI agent—and another one in surgery right now who probably won’t make it.”

Kevin’s brows drew down. “That’s major.”

“More than you know. The one in surgery is Marilyn Allen.

Somebody put a knife in her chest late this afternoon.”

“Holy shit. Who?”

“I was hoping you’d be able to tell me. According to Allen, the feds were in town chasing a source who might finger some drug dealers.”

“I can’t see Allen or any of her team running down that kind of intel personally,” Kevin said, frowning. “That’s the B-team kind of assignment.”

“We figure the same thing.” Carter pushed her coffee aside. Her stomach already felt like she’d been dining on battery acid. “Have you heard any noise about Allen gearing up to go after Pareto again?”

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“I don’t think she ever stopped,” Kevin said, “but if she’s moving on him, she’s not sharing with us.”

“What about Rica?”

“Same story. You always hear rumors, but nothing I can confirm.”

Carter leaned forward. “Look, we’re in the dark. Right about now, rumors sound pretty damn good.” When Kevin didn’t answer, Carter sighed. She and Kevin didn’t play on the same team anymore. Maybe he didn’t think she played on his side at all. “Okay. Sorry to put you on the spot.” She started to rise. “Thanks for driving down—”

“Oh, for Christ’s sake, sit down and get the stick out of your shorts.”

“That’s not a stick.”

Kevin grinned. “Yeah, you wish.” Then his expression grew serious. “I don’t have anything that’s going to help you. Since the joint task force tanked, we haven’t really been in the loop. We bump into some of the feds now and then when our territories cross, and I’m pretty sure Allen is still set on nailing Pareto. Obsessed with it, really. I heard after she lost her inside man—Rizzo—she turned another one of Pareto’s top guys. That’s all very hush-hush. I don’t know who it is.”

Carter rubbed at the headache pounding in the middle of her forehead. She didn’t really care if Marilyn Allen had another informant in Pareto’s organization. That was all part of the game. Alfonse Pareto could take care of himself—he had to know he was always vulnerable to someone in his organization betraying him. She wouldn’t lose any sleep, other than for the pain it would cause Rica, if Pareto went to jail.

“Rica’s name hasn’t come up?”

“Not that I heard.”

“I can’t see a connection between the mob investigation and what’s been going on over here,” Carter finally said.

“I don’t see it, either.”

Carter took out a twenty for Kevin’s pie and left it on the table. “If you hear anything, let me know.”

“Same goes.” Kevin grasped Carter’s arm. “Watch your back.”

“Always.”

v

• 229 •

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He waited thirty minutes after the downstairs lights went out and another went on upstairs, then he slipped through the shadows to the corner of the rear deck. He climbed over the railing, pressed his back to the wall, and sidled next to the sliding glass doors, listening, waiting.

Even though excitement rippled through him, he didn’t mind waiting.

Now that he was so close, he wanted to savor every second. The anticipation of touching her, of hearing her moan, of hearing her beg, was only going to make his ultimate pleasure all the more sweet. He slid the glass cutter from his pocket and, after applying a short strip of duct tape from the roll he carried in his other pocket, he cut out a circular section of glass large enough for his hand to fit through next to the lock.

And then he was inside. The kitchen was dark. A faint glow emanated from somewhere in the front of the house. Slowly and carefully he made his way forward until he could scan the living and dining rooms.

Empty. Off to his left, stairs led up to the second floor, and judging from his observations from the beach, she was in the bedroom at the rear corner of the house. Now he was only a minute away from her. He reached into his pocket one more time and came out with his pistol.

He’d save the knife for later, when she was helpless. Silently, he started up the stairs.

v

Carter drove home frustrated and tired. She’d been hoping Kevin would have something for her—a name, a connection, some kind of lead. But Marilyn had obviously decided she didn’t need the assistance of the state police and had cut them out of whatever her team was doing. Carter wasn’t surprised. Marilyn had never wanted to work with the locals—she only tolerated Carter and Kevin because Carter’s cover was so solid she could get inside Pareto’s organization when no one else could. Marilyn had needed her. Now the agent had apparently found another informant inside Pareto’s organization.