He saw the bed made when he hit his bedroom. His clothes from last night, which he’d thrown on the floor, had disappeared. His shorts were in the laundry hamper. He got another pair and noticed her journal, pen beside it, on the nightstand. A book, the title he couldn’t see, on top. Some tub of something next to it. He smiled to himself as that warm feeling swirled deeper through his chest.

She was in the kitchen when he walked out carrying the blanket and pillow that either Feb or Jackie put away in the hall closet.

She eyed the blanket and then her gaze came to him. He didn’t see relief. He saw something else, not disappointment exactly, but close.

She’d turned out the lights in the den and now she left the kitchen, flipping that switch too.

“‘Night, Colt,” she murmured as he flicked the blanket over the couch. She didn’t quite meet his eyes but she wasn’t avoiding them for the same reasons she used to and he smiled to himself again.

“Nice night, Feb,” he replied and her eyes jerked to his, a small movement indicating either embarrassment or the depth of some unknown emotion but it was there. It was solidified when she lifted her hand and tucked her hair behind her ear, self-conscious definitely and maybe even shy. It made the woman Feb was seem almost girlish and Colt liked that too.

She nodded. “Yeah, it was good,” she looked away and finished, “sleep well.”

Colt settled in and Feb closed the door behind her. He listened to her going about her business but even when the noises stopped, the light didn’t go out. Either she was reading or writing in her journal. He doubted it was the journal. She’d think twice about sharing her thoughts with the page now thanks to Denny Lowe, the sick fuck.

Colt’s mind went from Denny to Amy.

Instinct told Colt they were both caught up in this shit with Feb. How Amy factored into it, Colt didn’t know and he couldn’t imagine knowing the little he knew about her. But both Denny and Amy had disappeared, Denny for a murder spree, Amy into thin air.

That morning on his way to Indy, Colt had called Dave Connolly at the bank. Dave said Amy called in sick again and she sounded it. But, Dave told him, she did it through voicemail, left a message on Sunday, saying she was real bad and was going to see Doc on Monday. Colt had asked Dave if Amy had any particular friend at the bank, a customer she seemed to chat with more than others, a colleague she seemed partial to, even if it was just a might.

Dave’s answer was chilling. He said she talked with Angie when she was in sometimes they’d chat for a good long while if they weren’t busy.

Other than that, if Amy was close to anyone, it was Julie McCall.

Colt hadn’t had time that day to stop by Amy’s place, call Doc’s to see if Amy came in or go to the bank to talk to Julie McCall, but he scratched it on his mental schedule to do first thing tomorrow.

On that thought, the light switched out in his bedroom.

Ten minutes later, he was still awake when his phone rang.

He picked it up, glanced at the display, flipped it open and put it to his ear. “Sully.”

“Got the stressor,” Sully said.

“What?”


“Marie Lowe’s next door neighbor is also a close friend. She was freaked when she found out Marie was dead but, even freaked, Chris thought she acted like she wasn’t really surprised. Chris called me in and it took awhile, she waited for her husband to come home from the gym, he wasn’t happy we were there. There were words, they had a private chat, but finally we convinced her to spill.”

“What’d she spill?”

“Part of it we know, Denny Lowe’s a sick fuck in the sex department. Couldn’t get it up when they first got married, honeymoon was a disaster, by the way. She didn’t fuck him before they got married. Makes a case for trying out the goods before you buy.”

Colt clenched his teeth at Sully’s innocent comment.

He’d never had sex with Feb even after all those years together. They’d done everything but the deed and he didn’t let her take him in her mouth and he never took her with his. They slept together and screwed around all the time. He made her come with his fingers, she’d made him come with her hand. He’d had his mouth nearly everywhere on her, same with Feb on him. But Colt had made the decision, a stupid one he thought after she broke it off, that he respected Jack too much to fuck his daughter before he put a ring on her finger. Feb was a hot little piece even back then, she didn’t like his decision but she respected it and gave into it. This left him, essentially, a virgin at age twenty-two, something he didn’t mind in the slightest when Feb was in his life, something that pissed him off royally when she waltzed out of it, went wild and started screwing everything that moved.

Sully took him from his thoughts by saying in his ear, “It came out later when Denny suggested they try things.”

Sully stopped talking and Colt’s body grew tight. “What things?”

“Marie didn’t get it, not at the time, since they were livin’ in Chicago. She wouldn’t get it until about two years ago.”

The warm feeling at his chest evaporated and that weight in his gut got heavier.

“What was it?”

“Role play, Colt. Prepare, my man…” Sully paused, giving Colt time, “he made her call him Alec and he called her February.”

“Holy fuck,” Colt whispered, forgetting the weight in his gut as he felt a shiver creep along his skin.

“Gets worse, man,” Sully said quietly.

“Give it to me.”

“Role play changed, got kinky, rough. Marie didn’t like it but she did it because she loved him. Role play leaked out into life. There was a reason no one knows Marie Lowe and her best friend is her neighbor. He got to the point where he barely let her go out, not without him. Thinkin’ about it, man, I’d see them around, but I never saw her by herself. Not even at the store.”

Colt hadn’t either.

“The neighbor, name’s Carly,” Sully went on, “said that Marie finally figured it out. Marie came over one day, an absolute mess, cryin’ and carryin’ on. Carly calmed her down and Marie said she had an appointment at the hair dresser but popped into Meems’s to get a coffee. It was morning, Feb was there. You came in and before you left, you said something like, ‘Hey February, tell Morrie so and so,’ and Feb said, ‘Sure, Alec.’ It freaked Carly out so much, because it freaked Marie out so much, she remembered what Marie told her, word for word.”

“That’s because it’s freaky, Sully,” Colt spoke the truth.

“Well, yeah,” Sully agreed, “this is where it gets scary, though these two couldn’t have known it would.”

“Go on.”

“They decided to find out what the deal was with Denny, Feb and you. Carly said Marie was allowed to go out, get her hair done, manicures, stuff like that, shit Denny wouldn’t want to do with her. Marie asked questions, so did Carly, they found out a lot about you two.”

Colt wasn’t surprised. Townsfolk talked, Colt knew that and no matter how many years slid by, Feb and Colt were always a favorite topic of conversation.

Sully continued. “They never understood it, or at least not what it had to do with Denny. Marie got fed up playing sleuth and told Carly she was gonna confront Denny with it. Find out. She was getting ready to leave. She was done with the rough sex, the games, him only gettin’ hard if she called him your name. Him never saying hers when he was doin’ her.”

“So she confronted him and he went into a rage.”

“That’s what I figure.”

“You find anything in the house?”

“Big house, lots to go through. No shrines to Feb, no pictures of her, nothin’ that would link him to her, though they’re still at it. And we don’t know why he was withdrawing money which started awhile ago, before he killed Marie. Andy thinks Marie’s been dead over a week. We found out their cleaner was in Texas last week, visiting family. Denny must’ve forgot about her Monday visits.”

“Denny probably didn’t hire her or think about the house gettin’ cleaned,” Colt noted.

“Yeah,” Sully said.

“That all you got?”

“Bit more, nothin’ big. Marie was liked in the ‘hood. Neighbors were upset, said she was sweet. Made good cookies. Always remembered their kids’ birthdays and would get them cards and generous gift certificates. She went visiting a lot, considerin’ her whole world was mostly that street. Denny, not so much. He’d attend a dinner party but mostly they said he was quiet and he wasn’t popular, always choppin’ wood.”

Colt could imagine.

“Anything else?” Colt asked.

“Her parents are comin’ down, spendin’ the night at the Holiday Inn by the highway,” Sully answered. “We got an interview set up first thing tomorrow. And Feds are at Denny’s office as we speak. Took the head man away from his dinner table to go open up the offices. I’ll know more tomorrow.”

“What’re they doin’ about findin’ this guy?”

“APB. Got his picture circulating, description, info about his car, had agents all over stop by different places Feb worked, asking questions, flashing his picture, leaving warnings. So far, nothin’. Nowakowski called, said it wouldn’t hurt if Feb made another list.”

Colt clenched his teeth again, not looking forward to asking Feb to do that.

“Got anything else for me tonight?”

“Nope, but I’ll call you when I know more tomorrow.”

“Thanks.”

“How was Reggie’s, beer and Feb?” Sully asked, his tone deceptively casual, sharing serious information work voice gone, he now sounded nosy.

“You turn into a woman since I last saw you?” Colt asked back.

He heard Sully’s chuckle before he said, “Just curious.”

“Like I said, you’ll know when I know.”

“Shit, Lorraine’s gonna be pissed. She told me to get something meaty.”

“Tell Raine she’s goin’ empty-handed to the coffee klatch tomorrow.”

“Like I said, she’s gonna be pissed.”

Colt didn’t try to stop his smile.

“Later.”

“Later.”

Colt looked to the hall before he dropped his phone on the table and settled back, half expecting to see Feb standing there. But she wasn’t probably because she took one of Doc’s pills.

Therefore it was a surprise when, not a minute later, the door opened and he heard Feb’s soft footfalls on the carpet in the dark.

He expected she was going to the kitchen for a glass of water or coming out to find out about the phone call.

She didn’t do either.

She stopped, he reckoned, at the doorway to the hall and didn’t move further.

He got up on both his elbows. “Feb?”

“Colt.”

He waited. He didn’t intend to share with her any of the shit Sully shared with him. And her new list could wait for the morning.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

“No.”

“Trouble sleeping?”

She moved; he saw her silhouette come forward. She stopped by the side of the couch and he felt her eyes as she looked down at him.

“The phone call –”

“It’s all good, February,” he lied before he told the truth. “They’re makin’ progress.”

She pulled in breath. Then she let it out.

Then she suddenly sat down on the couch by his hip.

“Feb –”

He saw her arm move and then he felt her hand land dead center on his chest.

“Colt,” she said, her voice a voice he never heard from her before. Lower, so husky it was almost scratchy, communicating need.

He didn’t know if he was reading her right and he didn’t care. He’d deal with the consequences later if they were bad. If they were good, he wasn’t missing the opportunity.

He pushed up to sitting, her hand sliding up his chest and he wrapped a hand around the back of her head. He pulled her mouth to his and felt her head tilt in his hand, preparing, ready.

Fucking brilliant.

The instant her lips hit his, they opened and he slid his tongue inside. As he felt his cock start to get hard at the mere taste of her, he felt her fingers curl around his neck, tight, holding on, just as she pressed her chest against his.

She wanted it, she’d come looking for it and she was going to get it.

He’d take her mouth on the couch but he was going to fuck her in his bed.

He broke free of her mouth and tossed back the blanket, throwing his legs over the side of the couch, straightening. She came up with him, turning toward him.

“Colt –” she started.

But he yanked her into his arms, his mouth came back down, hers opened back up and there it was. The need in her kiss, the same he expected she felt in his, so much, she moaned in his mouth and just like the first time she did it, it felt fucking unbelievable.