“All set for school?” Alexa asked sweetly, as Savannah put on her coat.

“Yeah, I guess so,” she said, as Thad picked up her book bag.

“I thought maybe we could say that I’m your cousin from California, and I’m here for a few months. They’re going to see me every day,” he suggested with a boyish smile.

“Yeah…okay…” Savannah said as they opened the door to the apartment.

“I should probably warn you, I suck at history and math. I think it’s some kind of learning disability or something. But I did okay in Spanish, if you need help.”

“Thanks,” Savannah said, smiling slowly. She glanced over at her mother cautiously, and Alexa nodded.

“Have a nice day,” she said as the door closed. She called the school to explain the situation to them, and then called Jack. He had done exactly the right thing with Thad.

“Okay, so how come you never send guys like that for me? The last time I needed protection, you sent me some old warhorse who weighed four hundred pounds. This kid is mighty cute.”

Jack laughed. “I thought you’d like him. What did Savannah think?”

“She didn’t have time to tell me, but she had almost forgiven me when she left. He was offering to do her Spanish for her and carrying her bag. He’s her cousin from California. He looks about fourteen years old.”

“He’s twenty-one, and a really nice kid. He’s the oldest of nine children, and his father, grandfather, and brother are cops too. A nice Polish family from New Jersey. Hell, maybe they’ll get married. She could do worse.” Alexa was laughing at the other end.

“You have it all figured out. Protection and a son-in-law all wrapped in one. Do you do windows and floors too?”

“Anytime, ma’am, if that’s what it takes.” He was teasing her, but there was always the faintest hint of flirtation in his voice when he talked to her about anything other than work. But he knew better than to try. She’d have run like hell, and he’d have lost a friend. “Anyway, problem solved.” He was happy to take the worry out of Alexa’s life. She had enough.

By the time she left for work that day, Alexa was relieved to know that Savannah was well protected. And by the end of the week, Thad was having breakfast with them before the two of them left for school. Savannah said he was a really nice guy. She said he had a girlfriend he’d gone out with since high school, they’d been together for seven years. He was a solid, reliable kid, and Jack said he was a good cop. Alexa had the sense that he and Savannah were becoming friends, although he kept respectful boundaries with her. And for the moment, there were no more letters. Everything was in control. Alexa hoped that the letters would stop, whoever had written them. She had enough on her plate without that. Jason Yu had checked the letter for fingerprints when she took it to him in the lab, and once again, whoever had addressed the envelope and handled the printed computer sheet had worn gloves. There were no fingerprints on it at all.

At the end of the following week, Alexa sat in on another interrogation of Luke Quentin, and this time she was in the room. She asked no questions, and only observed, but he never took his eyes off her. She had the feeling that he was undressing her with every move. Nothing showed on her face. She looked icy cold and entirely professional, but by the time she left the room, she was shaking and totally unnerved.

“You okay?” Jack asked her in the hallway. She looked pale.

“I’m fine. I hate that sick sonofabitch,” she said, trying to calm down. They had linked two more murders to him. The house of cards had come down. His number of victims was at fifteen.

“Don’t worry, he hates you too. Those looks he gives you are just an act to throw you off. Don’t let him get to you, that’s what he wants. He’s not getting out of prison in this lifetime. He can’t do anything to you.”

“He acts like he can have any woman he wants.”

“He’s a good-looking guy. I guess it works for him.” He had looked right into her eyes, and ever so subtly licked his lips. Just watching him made her feel sick.

“It didn’t work so well for his victims,” Alexa said tersely and went back to her office. She had work to do. And Savannah was leaving the next day for a week in Vermont with her father over ski week. He was picking her up after school, while Alexa was at work. So she wouldn’t have to see him, which was fine with her.

Alexa and Savannah had a nice dinner that night, and said goodbye to each other the next morning, as Thad stood by, holding her books. Her bags for Vermont were all packed and waiting in the hallway. Alexa had helped her pack the night before.

“Have fun with Daddy,” Alexa said kindly. They had told Thad he had the next week off, and he was going back on regular duty for a week. Alexa didn’t need him. None of the letters had been to her, only Savannah.

“I’ll call you from Vermont,” Savannah promised as she hugged her mother and she and Thad walked out the door.

Alexa was sad to see her go, and she’d miss her, but she knew she’d have fun skiing with her father. He was a fabulous skier and had won races when he was younger. He had taught Savannah to ski when she was three, and it was still her favorite sport, probably because of the memories she’d shared with him.

Alexa worked late at the office, and came home after seven, braced to find an empty apartment, and was stunned to see Savannah still sitting there, looking glum. Alexa instantly tensed. Clearly, Tom had flaked on her again.

“What happened to your father?” Alexa asked gently, not wanting to upset Savannah any more than she already was.

“He’s late. His plane was delayed in Charleston. He won’t be here till nine. He said we’d still drive up tonight.” She sighed and smiled at her mother, who wondered if he’d really come. And as Alexa started to make something for them both to eat, she realized that she’d be there when he arrived. She told Savannah over dinner that she would stay in her room when he came. She didn’t want to break a perfect record and see him for the first time in ten years. She wasn’t ready for that. And wouldn’t be for another hundred years, no matter what her mother said. Screw that. And him.

“Come on, Mom, be nice.” Savannah didn’t say it, but she wondered if they saw each other now, and it wasn’t too awful, maybe her mother would let him come to graduation in June. She didn’t want to seem like a traitor to her mother, after all she did for her, but secretly Savannah wanted him there. And he had already said he would come, if it was okay with her mom, but not otherwise. He was respectful of his ex-wife’s feelings about him, and knew all the reasons why she felt that way. He couldn’t say she was wrong. He had been a total cad.

“I am nice,” Alexa said tartly, putting their dishes in the machine. “That doesn’t mean I have to see your father. Not tonight.” Or anytime soon. Or maybe in this lifetime.

“All you have to say is hi and bye.” Alexa didn’t say it to her daughter, but she was still thinking more along the lines of “fuck you.”

“I don’t think so, sweetheart. I want you to have a nice time with him. We both love you. But we don’t have to be friends.”

“No, but you could at least be polite. You won’t even talk to him on the phone. He says he would, but he understands why you won’t.”

“That’s big of him. At least we know his memory is still intact,” Alexa said, and walked out of the room. Savannah knew that her father had gone back to his first wife after leaving her mother, and they had had another child, whom Savannah had never met. She had never met his wife either, or seen her half-brothers in ten years, although she still remembered things about them. She knew none of the details of the divorce or why it had happened, and her mother refused to discuss it with her. Alexa didn’t think it right to explain it to her. Even if she hated Tom, he was Savannah’s father after all. Savannah remembered her paternal grandmother vaguely, and being slightly scared of her. She had never heard from her in all these years either, not even a birthday card. There was a rift a mile wide between the two sides of her family, and her only contact with her father was when he appeared. He rarely called her and had told her years before that she could never call him at home, only in the office, but she never did. She had correctly sensed that it was okay for him to visit her, but not for her to go anywhere near his Charleston life. It was a silent pact between them, and the kind of thing a child knew, without ever having it spelled out.