"Sure," I said, holding them out.

"I need to check for gunshot residue too," he added.

"You'll definitely find that."

Solomon stepped behind me, giving the uniform space to work as he scraped under my nails and swabbed my hands before asking me to press my fingers onto an ink pad and then a card.

"Should I get an EMT to come look at you?" he asked.

"No, I'm fine, thank you. Is there any news on Penelope Cera?"

"And that is?" the uniform asked as he bagged the evidence.

"The other woman who was shot."

"In the alley? Not yet. Lieutenant Graves said he'll come over to take your statement in a few minutes. He's just finishing up with the owner of the house."

I thanked him again and he nodded at me, then at Solomon before leaving, carrying his little forensic packages with him. "What happens now?" I asked. "And where's Maddox?"

"He walked Garrett through his entrance into the house, and now he's helping the uniforms dust for anything the assailant might have touched."

"Did they find the ax?" I asked, remembering Juliet.

"Embedded in the bathroom door."

I shuddered. "Wow."

"It was embedded so hard, it cracked the door. I suppose it got stuck right as you and Maddox disturbed them."

"Lucky timing. What if she still has my gun?" I asked. "If she went after Juliet at night with an ax, what might she do with a gun?" When Solomon didn't say anything, I asked, "How's Juliet?"

"I'm fine," said a voice from the doorway. "I've had better nights, but I'm fine. Rob will be home in a few minutes, and I have to tell him about all this. I can't help thinking how relieved I am that Robbie didn't stay over, and glad that Penelope said it was a bad idea. What if I hadn't listened to her?"

"It's a good thing you did," I said.

"What happened to Penelope? I heard someone say she was hurt; and I just spoke to Lieutenant Graves and Agent Maddox. No one will tell me anything."

"She was coming to visit and taking a shortcut. Your attacker escaped from the house and ran out across the garden and climbed over the fence and surprised her. She was shot," I told her.

Juliet's hand flew to her mouth. "Is she...? Is..."

"She's fine," said Solomon. "She has a superficial gunshot wound to her leg, but nothing life-threatening."

"And you? Lexi, you're bleeding."

"I was shot in the scuffle. It's nothing, it's healing already," I insisted, feeling a wave of dizziness cresting inside me. "Really, absolutely noth..." I slid off the stool, planting both feet on the ground. The ground suddenly wobbled and gave way. Solomon caught me as I fell.

Chapter Seventeen

"I don't know where to start." Solomon and I were sitting on my couch. I was wearing my pajamas, printed with bumblebees. He had on black jeans, a black shirt and smelled delicious. I, however, was recovering from a GSW that landed me a fast trip through the emergency room and then home to bed. Solomon was lucky I decided to get up at all. In honor of my injury, Solomon kindly turned my living room into our command center.

"Let's start with last night," he said. "All the security lights were unscrewed at the rear of the house; and given that my surveillance didn't see anyone enter by the front, we can be sure the intruder entered from the rear."

I picked up an invisible notepad and invisible pen, pretending to write as I said, "Note to self, add surveillance to rear. Hey, why didn't you do that in the first place?"

"My guy who walked the perimeter assumed the rear was inaccessible. Plus, like I explained before, we were only ensuring Juliet stayed put, not looking for assailants."

"Duh. And what happened to the security cameras and the alarms?"

"Another screw-up. Juliet swears she activated the alarm when everyone left, but it wasn't in operation when I checked, so it was either not activated, or disabled. As for the cameras... we don't know for certain yet. My guy says they went down too, and he was coming over to check when he saw all the commotion."

"Total disaster," I concluded.

"Not a total disaster. You and Penelope got a look at the intruder."

"But our accounts differ. Penelope thinks it's a man; and I'm positive it's a woman."

"She said it was a man when I interviewed her at the hospital this morning, and she said the same thing to Garrett. I have Lucas scanning traffic camera footage in the area to see if there was any unusual activity. We might pick up a speeding car heading away from Juliet's house."

I raised my hand, showing crossed fingers for luck. "I feel so guilty she got shot."

"Don't. You couldn't have foreseen it."

"I'm not sure if I feel worse because I originally accused her of being the stalker. At least, I didn't say it to her face."

"You had a hunch. It didn't play out. Don't beat yourself up about it."

"Do you have someone watching the house still?" I asked, grateful he was right.

"Yes, and there's a squad car sitting out front too, but I don't think they'll make a move any time soon. We need to use this window to collate all the data Lucas gleaned, and match Juliet's movements to it."

"Don't you mean, prove there's no match?"

"That works for me too." Solomon passed me a stack of paper and picked up his coffee cup. "I need more coffee. You?"

"Yes, please." I reached for my cup, wincing as my side pulled.

"Stay put and don't move," ordered Solomon, lifting the cup from my hand and landing a kiss on the top of my head. "Don't pull those stitches."

I listened to him stride into the kitchen, turn on the faucet, and rinse the cups. The refrigerator door opened. "You have a lot of food," called Solomon.

"For tonight's family dinner," I replied as I shuffled the papers on my lap. There were hundreds of times and dates for phone calls and texts, with locations listed. Once again, Lucas astounded me; I had no clue how he managed to collate all the data. I just hoped I didn't miss anything while comparing all the pages of computer logs to her phone logs.

"That's tonight?"

"Yes. You didn't forget?"

Solomon appeared next to me and set down the fresh mug. "I never forget."

"You forgot!"

"It might have momentarily disappeared from my memory."

"Tsk. Everyone will be here at eight except Garrett, Traci, and the kids because Sam has chicken pox."

"Sounds like a quiet night."

"With my family?"

"Without Sam."

"It will be nice to get through a family dinner without wondering what he might say. All I need now is for my mom to not mention us getting married or having kids."

"What if moving in together comes up?"

I blinked. Smooth move, Solomon, I thought, great segue into the conversation we so far haven’t concluded. "What if it does?"

"What would you say?"

"I would say I'm giving it serious thought."

"How long would serious thought take you?"

"Depends on how many thoughts arise."

"It's really not that hard a question."

I pushed the papers further down my legs and fixed Solomon with my full attention. "I think it is a big question. It's definitely a big question for me. Can we live and work together?"