"Oh, little boy," she murmured, experiencing a rush of something that felt suspiciously maternal. Nicky sat at the kitchen table, eyes closed, one freckled cheek plastered to the wood veneer, clutching something in his fist, next to his cheek. He was guarded by two hairy soldiers, Cindy Lou at his feet and Jim behind his chair. Jim lifted his head and Jenna swore the dog smiled.

Jenna took a tiptoed step closer to see what Nicky held in his hand and frowned. It was a rubber worm. A fishing lure. She turned around to find Steven looking stricken.

"What's wrong?" she whispered.

"Last Friday I promised I'd try to take him fishing this weekend," Steven replied, his eyes glued to his little boy. He swallowed hard. "But I can't. I have a staff meeting at eight."

Jenna could practically touch the tension coming from him, and thought about all the responsibilities on his head. Three teenaged girls, two gone forever, one missing. A serial killer out there somewhere, still stalking his victims.

On the other hand, his own little boy was just starting to show sparks of life again after his own traumatic experience six months ago. His own little boy who he was going to have to disappoint. Feeling a bit like Solomon, Jenna put her arms around Steven's neck and hugged him hard. "Go to your staff meeting, Steven. Do what you need to do to keep our girls safe. I'll take Nicky fishing. When you're done you can come and meet us at the lake." She pulled back to find doubt written all over his face. "Don't worry, I am a very capable fisherman." She smiled up at him. "We might even catch something."

He shook his head. "Of that I have no doubt. There isn't much you can't do, Jenna. But are you sure you want to take an active boy fishing? You don't have to."

Jenna looked back to where Nicky sat sleeping. "I know I don't have to. I want to." Then a disturbing thought seized her. "But if you don't want me to, I'll understand. I know you're worried he'll get attached too fast."

Steven crooked his finger under her chin and pulled until she looked up at him and her disturbing line of thought was squashed by the look in his warm brown eyes. "He already is, Jen. So am I." He covered her mouth with his. so gently, so… lovingly, her heart clenched. A wave of wanting hit her, so intense she felt paralyzed in her tracks. Not sexual want-ing. He'd more than satisfied her in that way. This was more, this was a wanting of everything he represented. The man, the children, the instant family.

A family who would need her as much as she needed them.

A family she could love. A real family of her very own.

She wanted it, wanted it all so intensely she could only stand there, her heart pounding as he kissed her in his kitchen, as if she belonged there. When he lifted his head, his eyes narrowed slightly in concern. "Are you all right?"

Jenna drew a trembling breath, feeling the literal earth moving under her feet. "I'm fine. I'll be fine." She made herself smile at him. "Go get ready for work. I'll make you breakfast."

Sunday, October 9, 8:05 A.M.

He should have been exhausted, Steven thought, but he wasn't. In fact, his skin still tingled from her good-bye kiss. There was certainly something to be said for the rejuvenating powers of sex. He felt like he hadn't felt… ever. But playtime was over. His team had assembled themselves together early on a Sunday morning to find a murderer and hopefully to keep him from raising their tally of dead teens to three. Steven wasn't sure how close they were to doing either. "Good morning," he said and the murmuring quieted. "What do we know?"

Harry opened his notebook with a yawn. He'd been responsible for following Rudy all night. "Well, Rudy had quite an evening. Three parties, none of them keggers." He looked up with a baleful glare. "I really wanted to arrest him for underage alcohol consumption."

"That would have been too simple," Steven said dryly.

Harry shot him an amused look. "He left the last party with a girl who looked a lot older than high school. They went to her place and Rudy didn't come out until three a.m. Looking very rested I might add. The girl dropped him off at his house just before four a.m. and he didn't leave again."

Steven looked over at Davies who looked frustrated but said nothing. "He's had Alev Rahrooh for two days now," Steven said thoughtfully. "He kept both Lorraine and Saman-tha just under a week. I doubt Alev's already dead, so he'll have to go to her sooner or later. That's still assuming Rudy's our man. Sandra, how far did you get with the list of athletes with priors?"

Envies now looked both agitated and frustrated but still said nothing.

"About three-quarters of the way," Sandra answered. "No obvious connections. But I did check the cheerleading schedules of each of the vics' high schools. All three played Roosevelt High at Roosevelt within a week of each girl's disappearance. That makes a pretty strong case for Lutz."

Davies's smile was just the tiniest bit smug. "It's him. I know it."

Steven pushed back fiorn his chair and walked over to stare at the photos on the bulletin board feeling his own frustration grow. "Davies, any progress on the tattoo design?"

Davies's smug smile faded. "No. I've asked every cop I know. But I know it's him."

Steven gritted his teeth. "We have a prime suspect and we can't touch him. Dammit. I think we all need to take a break from the case," he said. "I know there's someplace I'd rather be today. See everybody tomorrow morning." Everyone filed out, Davies bringing up the rear, fidgeting with the change in his pocket.

"I called Jenna this morning to make sure she was all right after last night," Davies said.

Steven's defenses went straight up. "What about last night?"

"You were pretty angry when you left the bar. I wanted to be sure she was all right. That nothing happened. But she wasn't home."

Steven felt a smug smile of his own curve his lips and watched Davies's black eyes flash with fury. "Whatever did or didn't happen is none of your business," Steven said, "but if you must know, she's not home because she took my boys fishing. Which is just where I'm planning to go myself." He'd made it to the door when Davies spoke. Bitterly.

"Did she take her fiance's ring off while you did it?"

Steven froze. She hadn't. He'd noticed. He'd also told himself she'd take off Adam's ring in her own time. Steven might be jealous of Davies, but he'd be pretty low to be jealous of a dead man. Making his feet move, he walked away without dignifying Davies with an answer.

He'd made it to the parking lot and was seconds from getting away when he heard someone clear his throat. He turned to find a holy man with a very worried expression on his face.

"Agent Thatcher? I'm Reverend Monsignor Brennan of the Raleigh Dioceses. I was wondering if you could take a few minutes to talk about Father Mike Leone."

Steven sighed. He'd figured this would be coming sooner or later. "Of course, Monsignor Brennan. Let's go up to my office." He didn't bother glancing at his watch. He figured it would be after noon before he got done clearing Mike's name. Fishing would have to wait.

Sunday, October 9, 8:25 P.M.

Weary beyond measure, Steven entered his house only to have Helen, Matt, and Brad lift their respective fingers to their lips and shush him. The three stood around the bottom of the steps and Helen pointed upward. "Jenna's putting Nicky to bed. Sshh."

"But I'm not tired," came Nicky's whine from upstairs and Steven's heart stuttered. Most parents hated that whining tone, but he hadn't heard it out of Nicky since before his abduction. His baby had obeyed automatically for so long that a whine about bedtime sounded like an angel's choir.