“It’ll take a bit longer than that.” Pulling out the bag of meth he’d purchased on the way over, he tossed it in her lap.

A gleam of anticipation lit her eyes. “So this is gonna be a party.”

“All night long, baby. And the dope’s free.”

On Monday, Jane made herself go to the office after driving Kate to school. So many things had piled up while she’d been focused on finding Latisha. There was mail that needed to be sorted, calls waiting to be returned, projects she was overseeing that the volunteers still had to finish, banking to do. Normally, she stayed on top of the clerical stuff, but last week she’d been too busy.

With Skye and Ava coming in this afternoon, she wanted to get caught up. They’d be more likely to let her take on her own cases if she was able to maintain her usual workflow until they could hire a part-timer to replace her.

She managed to get a few things done, but she was having trouble concentrating, moving at only half-speed. Every now and then, she’d find herself staring off into space, thinking about Sebastian and the way they’d made love last night. Had she ever been this happy? She couldn’t have been. This relationship was so different from any of her others, so unexpected and yet…fulfilling. It could go bad; it could always go bad. But for now, it was perfect.

Thoughts of Wendy occasionally crept in. Jane wondered if Sebastian’s words had made any difference-besides escalating her sister-in-law’s hatred.

By the time the staff meeting came around, Jane was eager to see Skye, Ava and Sheridan but even more eager to see Sebastian. The day already seemed long. She preferred to be out looking for Malcolm, as David was doing, watching the casinos or calling his ex-wife and former friends to see if anyone had heard from him. She wanted to tell his family that he was alive, to enlist their support in the search. Although the DNA at the ranch house had yet to be analyzed, which would take a while, there was proof that he was still living, in the form of that handwriting expert’s report-at least, enough proof that the authorities should listen.

Sebastian had sent her text messages throughout the day. He’d spent the morning calling every hotel and motel in town, asking for a Wesley Boss as well as a Malcolm Turner-but had found nothing. This afternoon, with David’s permission, he was out interviewing people who lived in the general vicinity of the ranch house where Malcolm had kept the girls. Sebastian thought he might find someone who’d spoken to Malcolm or befriended him in some way, someone who might have let him move in. But for all they knew, Malcolm was sleeping in his van. Once again, he seemed to have disappeared from the face of the earth.

She heard someone unlock the back door. “Jane?”

It was Skye. She’d arrived before Ava and Sheridan.

Excited to see the person who’d saved her life and then helped her through the darkest period of it, Jane went to the reception area to greet her. Most of the volunteers had already left for the day, but there were two in Sheridan’s office, finishing up a big fundraising mailer. They poked their heads out to say hi, but when they went back to work, Jane and Skye stepped into the conference room for a few minutes alone.

“It’s about time you came back,” Jane said. “It’s so great to see you.”

“It’s good to be here.” After a tight hug, Skye held Jane at arm’s length. “You look fabulous.”

“Stop it,” Jane said, laughing. “It’s only been a couple of weeks since you saw me. I look the same.”

“No, you look better.” She lowered her voice. “You must have your groove back.”

“Hi, everyone.” Ava peered into the conference room before Jane could respond. “Where’s Sheridan?”

“She’s not here yet,” Jane told her.

“Darn. I can’t wait to see the baby.” She turned to speak to the volunteers who’d once again come out to the reception area to say hello, then did a double-take when she focused on Jane again. “Wow, you look great!”

Exasperated, Jane rolled her eyes. “That’s crazy. I don’t know what you guys are talking about.”

Skye leaned close to Ava so the volunteers, who were already returning to work, wouldn’t hear. “Don’t let her fool you. She’s got her groove back.”

“That has to be it,” Ava agreed as she took the chair next to Skye. “I heard about your new man.”

They peppered her with questions until Sheridan arrived, and after that, the baby drew all the attention. Relieved to be out of the spotlight, Jane sat through the meeting, listening but adding little. She didn’t tell them about her case, didn’t mention wanting to take on more. She was reluctant to do anything that would make the meeting last longer. They’d be in tomorrow, and the day after that and the day after that-there’d be plenty of time to discuss everything that had gone on during their absences.

Although she loved seeing them all, she was glad when they left. One volunteer remained behind, a high-school boy named Rick who was trying to finish up the mailer, but he wasn’t planning on staying much longer. Neither was she. She had just one more meeting; her domestic-abuse victim would be in shortly.

Then she could go home to Kate and Sebastian.

Sebastian had come to California to catch a killer-and found a second family. As he sat at the pizza parlor with Kate, listening to her talk about her day and her friends and how badly she wanted a dog, he could hardly believe that so much had changed, and so fast! For the past twelve months, he’d been consumed with the thirst for revenge. In fact, he’d feared that if he ever found Malcolm, he’d become a killer himself. He’d almost welcomed it.

But he didn’t feel like that anymore. He’d do the right thing because that was the only way he could protect Jane and Kate from suffering more than they already had. If he didn’t, he couldn’t be part of their lives.

“Leonard asked me to go out with him today,” Kate said, acting shocked that this boy could have so much audacity.

Sebastian hid a smile. He could see himself back in seventh grade, thinking Kate was cute, maybe even working up the nerve to see if she might like him. He’d never been particularly shy. “Where did he want you to go?” he asked, taking the question literally on purpose.

She shook her head. “No, that just means…you know, that we’d be together.”

He nodded. “Right. You’d go out together. But where?”

“Stop it!” she giggled. “You know, he’d be my boyfriend.”

“Oh! I see. So he won’t be borrowing his folks’ car and taking you to the movies or anything.”

“No, silly.”

“That’s good, because he has to be at least thirteen before I’d ever let you ride with him.” The words were out of his mouth before he realized how fatherly they sounded, but she didn’t seem to mind.

“Thirteen?” she echoed.

“And only if he can grow a mustache by then.”

She continued to laugh. “Boys can’t grow a mustache at thirteen.”

“Then you’d better tell him no.”

“Really? You want me to say no?” She nibbled the crust of her second piece of pizza.

It was hard for him to imagine that any boy could be worthy of her, but he figured he was being overprotective again. “That’d be my initial reaction. But I don’t know him,” he said. “What do you think?”

“He’s kinda cute.”

“Okay. I guess you could say yes-” Sebastian pushed his plate away “-if he’s willing to speak to me about his intentions.”

She giggled again. “You’re funny.”

He sobered as she pushed her plate away, too. “And you’re going to have a whole string of boys who’ll want to go out with you. Unless you really want to say yes, I say, what’s the rush?”

“There is another boy I’d rather go out with.”

“Then give him a chance, okay?” He slid from the booth. “You ready to go?”