She took the piece of paper Luke handed through the doorway. On it was the alphabet and she held it up in front of Jane Doe’s face, running her finger across each letter slowly. “Blink when I get there.”

Susannah kept her eyes fixed on the girl’s face, feeling a surge of satisfaction when the girl blinked. “M? Your name starts with M? Blink twice for yes.”

The girl blinked twice, some of the fear in her eyes was replaced with determination.

“Next letter then.”

“I’m sorry, your two minutes are more than up,” the nurse said.

“But-” Luke tried.

The nurse shook her head. “This patient is critical. If you want any information, you need to let her rest.”

Luke’s jaw tightened. “With all due respect, the lives of maybe five girls are at stake.”

The nurse’s chin lifted. “With all due respect, the life of this girl is at stake. You can come back tomorrow.”

Susannah could see the fury snapping in Luke’s eyes from where she sat, but he kept his cool. “One more yes/no question,” he said. “Please?”

The nurse blew out a breath. “One.”

“Thank you. Susannah, ask if she knows an Ashley.”

Susannah leaned in close again. “Do you know a girl named Ashley? Blink twice if you do.” The girl blinked twice, very deliberately. “Yeah. She does.”

He nodded once. “Then we’re on the right track.”

Susannah caressed the girl’s face, swearing the brown eyes that stared up at her snapped in frustration. “I know. I’ll be back tomorrow. Don’t be afraid. There’s a guard right outside and he won’t let anyone in that’s not supposed to be here. Sleep now. You’re safe.”

Luke retrieved her shopping bag from the floor. “I’ll take you to Daniel’s house,” he said when they were outside of ICU.

Susannah shook her head. “No, that’s okay. I have a hotel. Please,” she said when he opened his mouth to protest. “I appreciate your concern, but… this isn’t your concern.” She smiled as she said it, trying to soften her words.

He looked as if he wanted to argue, but he nodded. “Fine. Do you want to change?”

“I’ll wait. I’m… I want to clean up a little first.”

“Fine,” he said again and she knew it was anything but. “I’ll take you to your hotel, but first I want to check on Daniel.”

She followed him across the ICU floor because she knew she’d feel ashamed if she did not. He entered the room while she stood at the doorway, watching Daniel’s big chest rise and fall, still shallowly. He’d nearly died today. And I would have been alone.

Which was ridiculous, because she’d been alone for the past eleven years, ever since he’d walked out of their house, her life, never looking back. But deep down, she’d always known she was never truly alone. Today, she almost had been.

“How is he?” Luke murmured to Alex, who’d been keeping vigil by Daniel’s side.

“Better,” Alex said. “They had to sedate him. He started thrashing, trying to get out of bed. He nearly pulled out all his tubes. But he’s only here for observation now that the breathing tube’s been removed. They’ll let him go to the floor tomorrow.” She turned, looked over her shoulder with a tired smile. “Susannah. How are you?”

“I’m fine.” And if her words were abrupt, Alex Fallon didn’t seem to notice.

“Good. I wouldn’t care to live through another day like today. I have the keys to Daniel’s house. I know he’d want you to be comfortable there.”

“I’m going to a hotel.” She forced her lips to curve. “But thank you.”

Alex’s brow furrowed slightly, but she nodded. “Get some rest. I’ll watch over him.”

You do that, Susannah thought, unwilling to deal with the tightness in her throat. “And the girl,” she murmured.

“And the girl. Don’t worry. Susannah, tomorrow will be better.”

But Susannah knew differently. She knew what lay ahead, what needed to be done. Tomorrow would be, to borrow Luke’s word, difficult. Very difficult. “Yes. Better,” she said quietly, because it was the socially appropriate response.

Luke touched her arm, the briefest of contact, and when she looked up, it was understanding she saw in his dark eyes and not the criticism she’d expected. “Let’s go,” he said. “I’ll drop you off at your hotel on my way back to the office.”

Ridgefield House, Georgia, Friday, February 2, 9:45 p.m.

Bobby hung up the phone, satisfied. It was wise to have one’s eggs in multiple baskets. Luckily there were several hospital employees on the potential personnel list. One of them had been dispatched to take care of Captain Ryan Beardsley and Bailey Crighton. Bailey’s demise would please Bobby on a number of levels.

It would have been more pleasing to kill Bailey myself. But it was best to keep personal feelings out of such things. Passion led to mistakes and enough mistakes had been made for one day.

In a matter of hours all the loose threads would be snipped and business could return to normal. A car door slammed outside. Speaking of which…

Haynes was here. It was time to make some money.

Atlanta , Friday, February 2, 9:50 p.m.

“Luke, these are for you.” Leigh Smithson, Chase’s clerk, put a stack of folders on the conference room table. “Dr. Berg sent these over. And Latent identified your dead guard. I pulled his priors for you.”

“So who’s our mystery man?” Chase asked, putting two cups of coffee on the table.

“Jesse Hogan,” Luke read. “Assault, B &E. Beardsley did the world a favor.”

“He’s awake,” Leigh said. “Captain Beardsley, that is. His father called a few minutes ago. Beardsley says you can come interview him any time. I gave him your cell.”

“I’ll go back over to the hospital when we’re done. Anything from Missing Children?”

Leigh shook her head. “No. They’re supposed to call you or Chase directly if they find any matches to the prints of the victims. But they said it might take a while. Most of the prints were taken at schools and shopping malls when the kids were smaller and if they were younger than four or five…”

“Their prints can change,” Luke said. “We’re crossing our fingers. What about missing girls named Ashley O-s-something?” He’d phoned her with the partial name from the cot frame as he’d driven to the fire scene.

“They’re searching. I also sent requests to missing persons departments in the surrounding states.”

“Thanks, Leigh.”

She turned for the door. “I’ll stay until your meeting is over, then I’m going to call it a night. I’ll be back tomorrow and three stenos just came on shift, answering calls. The phone’s been ringing off the hook since the press conference.”

“We expected that,” Chase said. “I’ve assigned more admin coverage for tomorrow. We’ll need to evaluate every call that comes in.”

Leigh tilted her head, the argument between two people growing steadily louder-one deep booming voice and one quieter, more melodious. “Pete and Nancy are back.”

She left as the two came in, Pete giving Nancy an exaggerated “after you” gesture. “He’s a stubborn fool,” Nancy declared. “The man has nine stitches in that cueball of his and he won’t go home.”

Pete rolled his eyes. “I got worse playin’ football. Chase, tell this woman to hush.”

Chase sighed. Pete and Nancy bickered like old married people. “What did the doctor say, Pete?”

“That I’m cleared for duty,” Pete said, disgruntled. “I even got a goddamned note.”

Chase shrugged. “Sorry, Nancy. Doctor trumps.”

Pete sat down, satisfied, and Luke leaned sideways to mumble, “Did you really get worse playing football?”

“Hell no,” Pete mumbled back. “And this hurts like a bitch. But I’m not telling her.”

“Smart.” Luke was saved from Nancy ’s ire by the appearance of Ed, Nate Dyer, and ASA Chloe Hathaway.

Chase seemed surprised. “Chloe. Didn’t expect you.”

Chloe sat, crossing her long legs. Luke thought the move was habit on her part, but he was certain she knew the stir it created. “My boss says I’m part of the team now. He wants to be sure every piece of evidence we bring in will stand up in court.”