He felt clear and alert, but he knew it was an illusion. Just his body tricking him with adrenaline. It would be easiest just to push through until his shift tonight.

It would also be a bad idea. He figured he needed at least a couple more hours today, just to keep the tanks from going bone dry. He didn’t want to let that happen.

Worth offered a smile to the woman when he stepped off on Gwen’s floor. She didn’t seem to notice that anyone else was there.

“Knock knock.”

Gwen’s face brightened the moment she saw him. “Hey.”

“Hey.” He smiled back. “How are you feeling?”

“Better,” she said. “Lots better.”

In the time it took for that, Worth realized that over the past few days he’d stopped thinking about her like a person. Gwen had become a situation.

Seeing her smile, a fresh start in her eyes, he remembered why he’d done what he was doing.

“You look great.”

“Yeah, right.” She made an attempt to arrange her gown, then waved off the effort. “Do you guys know each other?”

Worth nodded to the detective from the Domestic Violence Squad he’d spoken with early Saturday morning. Kendrick. Kendall?

“Hi,” he said. “Didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“You didn’t. We were talking hair.”

Kenna. She stood up, shouldered her Softsider, and gathered her coat and scarf. She patted Gwen’s toes through the sheet and said, “I’ll keep in touch. Call if you need me. Okay?”

“I will.”

Detective Kenna caught Worth’s eye. She glanced toward the door. Worth looked at Gwen—back in a minute—and followed.

Outside the room, Kenna pulled the door closed behind them. “It’s Matt, right?”

“Good memory, Marly.”

“Not bad yourself.”

It wasn’t impressive. Back when they’d still been trying, early on, he and Sondra had gotten one false positive from a home pregancy kit; a few days before she’d started her period, almost two weeks late, they’d sat up past midnight picking baby names. Marly had been Sondra’s top choice in the Girl column.

He didn’t mention it. “I don’t mean to step on your toes. I was just in the neighborhood, thought I’d check up.”

“Jesus. My toes?” She had a likable laugh. “Step on ’em. It’s refeshing.”

“Anything happening?”

“They’re discharging her today. The warrant on James came through this morning.” She glanced over his shoulder, and they both moved out of the way of a nurse pushing an EKG cart. “There’s a vacant one-bedroom in a building over near Creighton University.”

“Good,” he said. “That’s good.”

In the ten years since Tiffany Pine, the department’s DV Squad, the Domestic Violence Coordinating Council, and local shelters had worked together to create a county-funded network of safe apartments across town. Cases the squad deemed high risk were given temporary shelter on an individual basis. This was the news he’d been hoping to hear.

“She made me talk her into it,” Kenna said. “But look, I’ve been doing this awhile, and I’m not seeing a girl who wants to go back to her apartment.”

“I don’t suppose she does.”

“I’ll be honest,” Marly Kenna said. “I’m not liking this one.”

“Anything in particular?”

“Just one of those bad feelings. You know?”

“I know exactly,” he said. Thinking: You have no idea.

“Basically where we’re at is, the girl’s barely back on her feet, shithead’s in the wind, and I’m up to my tits in casework.”

Worth felt his eyes flicker down to the front of Detective Kenna’s sweater. It happened before he could stop it. If she noticed, she didn’t make it an issue.

“Plus half the town’s been cooped up without utilities for the last, what?” She looked at her watch. “Forty-eight hours? And counting?”

“I take it calls are up.”

“You’d think it was Christmas.”

Careful, now. “Anything I can do?”

“Well, as long as you’re offering…when’s your next shift?”

“Tonight,” he said. “Just came off two, so I’m on the next four.”

“If the radio gets slow, think you could roll by the place, maybe?” Her face clouded as soon as she said it. Apologetic. “But you’re not in the field. Sorry, I forgot.”

“It’s no problem.”

“Hey,” she said. She touched his arm; Worth sensed that the gesture embarrassed both of them. “Not for nothing, but I’ve heard of some bullshit details, you know?”

He waved it off. “One of those things.”

“Then again, it’s probably lucky for Gwen in there that she knew right where to find a cop she felt she could trust.”

“Give me the number, I can check in on her,” he said. “Any problems, I’ll radio dispatch, have them send a unit over.”

“I’d appreciate it,” Kenna said. “I’ll tell Northeast to be aware of the location, too. But you know how it goes.”

“Northeast assholes,” another voice said. “They just want to chase bangers. Find guns and whatnot.”

The guy walking toward them carried gloves in one hand, a corduroy coat on his arm. Tall, nice clothes. A clean smile.

When Marly Kenna saw him, her eyes flickered, then hardened a little. But only a little.

She smirked. “Spoken like an asshole.”

“Marly Kenna. You look great.”

“I know.”

“Who’s on bullshit detail?”

Kenna glanced at Worth. He saw in her expression that she didn’t want to embarrass him further, wasn’t sure what he’d want her to say. He extended a hand and spared her the awkwardness.

“Matt Worth,” he said.

“Hi.” The guy had a friendly grip. “Ray Salcedo.”

“Good to meet you, Ray.”

Salcedo tilted his head. “Worth?”

“That’s it.”

“Any relation to…”

“Kelly,” Worth said. “Brothers.”

“No kidding.” Ray Salcedo gave a nod of respect. “Our sergeant talks about him. Highly.”

“Thanks,” Worth said. “Nice of you to say. Who’s your sergeant?”

“Levon Williams.”

Kelly’s FTO. A good man. “Tell him I said hello.”

Marly Kenna checked her pager, then dug into her bag. “Nobody sick, I hope, Ray?”

“Not like that,” he said. “My partner’s downstairs getting his head stitched.”

“Yeah?”

“We’ve got a CI with a stab wound up here.” Salcedo made a gesture to indicate the floor in general. “Figured I’d check in on him, as long as I was waiting around.”

“Same guy?”

“Who?”

“The guy who stabbed your informant,” Kenna said. “Same guy who cracked your partner’s head?”

Ray Salcedo chuckled. “The CI was stabbed by a girl. Tony just forgot ice was slick.”

“Oops.”

“He remembers now.” Salcedo nodded toward Gwen’s door. “Who’s yours?”

Marly Kenna gave him the basic rundown on Gwen and the warrant for Russell James. Her voice had gone a little further toward the chilly side, Worth thought.

While she talked, she scribbled an address and a phone number on the back of one of her own business cards. She handed the card to Worth.

“That’s the safe unit,” she said. “My info’s on the other side.”

“Got it,” Worth said.

“Listen, we’re on tonight,” Ray Salcedo said. “Give me the place. Maybe we can look in.”

Kenna raised an eyebrow to that. Then she shook her head, warming a little, trying not to show it. She scribbled on another card and handed it to Ray.

To Worth, he said, “Baker Thirty-five, if you want to hit us direct. When do you go ten-eight?”

“Eleven o’clock,” Worth said.

“Got a make on the hitter’s vehicle?”

As Worth described Russell James’s one-in-four-hundred GTO, he realized that he didn’t particularly like giving Salcedo information.

Maybe he was picking up on Kenna’s initial demeanor, adopting it instinctively. Or maybe he suddenly felt more than the general paranoia he’d been carrying around for three days now. Maybe even more than the basic protective urge toward Gwen, in overdrive since the break-in at the house.