Both Cookie and Kit gasped aloud. Cookie did that a lot, but Kit was normally so unflappable.

“Charley,” Kit said as Cookie placed a hand on my arm. It was an involuntary reflex when Agent Waters stood to tower over me. Not that he was that tall, but I was sitting down. Our positions gave him a distinct advantage. I’d definitely have to go for the crotch if he swung at me. “Jonny—” She caught herself and started again. “Agent Waters was working in the field office in Dallas when this happened. He’s been there for two years.”

“I’m sorry,” I said to her, still doing my best to egg the man on. I hadn’t been kidding. Until I knew why Jonny felt so guilty about his niece’s disappearance, I was going to have to assume he had something to do with it. “But you two have clearly had a relationship in the past. Your assessment can’t be trusted at this point in time.”

That did it. He came unglued and I prepared for war. Then again, would he really hit a pregnant woman? He lunged forward and I felt certain he would. Reyes exploded into the room incorporeally, his heat like a nuclear blast over my skin. I held up a hand, and though it was meant for Reyes—he had a tendency to sever spines first and ask questions later—Agent Waters stopped instantly. By then, his face was mere inches from mine.

“You are treading in unsafe waters.”

Kit rushed between us, pushing the agent back. It was too bad, really. I wanted to see what he was capable of.

“What are you doing?” she asked him.

The agent turned his back on her, and Reyes dissipated only to walk up to the doorway physically and lean against the jamb. He watched Agent Waters, but I nodded my head toward Mr. Wong, trying to clue Reyes in to his presence as nonchalantly as I could. Reyes didn’t bite. He wasn’t about to let his gaze stray one iota off his target. He had the best attention span.

Agent Waters scraped another hand through his hair, sat back down, then began to rub the palm of one hand with the thumb of the other. “This may be my fault.”

Kit had started to sit down again, but she rose to her feet with his confession. “What do you mean?”

He pressed his mouth together before saying, “I think she was trying to figure out who was following her.”

“You never said anyone was following her.” She snapped up the file and thumbed through it.

“No, I— I didn’t want my brother and his wife to know she’d come to me.”

Kit sank back onto the couch.

“About a month ago, she emailed me. Asked me how to tail someone. Said that there was a strange man hanging out in their neighborhood, and could I run his plates?”

“Why isn’t that in the report?”

“It wouldn’t have helped,” he said, his ire—and guilt level—spiking again. “She never gave me any more information than that. Just that some creepy guy was hanging out near the park she and her friends hung out at. She’s always wanted to join the FBI, and I think she was going to try to investigate this guy on her own.”

“What did you tell her?” Cookie asked.

“I told her—” He bowed his head. “I told her that it was illegal for me to run the plates for her. I told her to let her parents know about the man.”

“That’s not anything to feel guilty about,” I said.

He shook his head. “No, but she emailed me again a few days later. She said she figured out who the guy was and asked if I could come to New Mexico and arrest him.”

“And?” Kit asked.

“And I told her to give all the information she had to her parents and have them call the police. I told her I didn’t have time.”

While it sounded pretty legit to me, Kit bolted out of her chair. “You selfish asshole,” she said, her jaw locked in anger. “You know how much you mean to her.”

Like a dog being scolded, he ducked his head even lower.

“You know how much she admires you,” Kit continued. They definitely had a past. “And you know she would do anything to get you to move back here.”

“Exactly,” he said, raising his head at last.

Kit let that sink in, then scoffed at him. “That’s it, isn’t it? You thought she was just doing all that to get you to come home.”

When he lowered his gaze again, Kit turned away from him in disgust.

“Were you close with your niece?” I asked him.

“Before I moved away, yes. Very.”

The interesting part about that statement was not his emotions, but Kit’s. The rigid line of her back softened and a sorrow swept over her. Kit straightened her shoulders again, then said, “Now tell her the rest.”

For a moment, he didn’t understand her meaning; then his gaze narrowed. “Are you kidding me?” When she didn’t answer, he asked, “What does that have to do with anything?”

She turned back. “Either you tell her, or I will.”

“It doesn’t mean anything, Kit. Why even bring it up?”

She stepped closer. “A year ago, I would’ve said the same thing. Then I met Charley.”

His gaze bounced from Kit to me, then back again.

“Tell her.”

“Jesus Christ.” He stood again as though unable to face me when he gave the next bit of information. “She’s been telling everyone for years, since she was about four, she’s going to die before she turns fifteen.”

I blinked, confused. “And when does she turn fifteen?” I asked.

The next word was spoken so softly, I almost didn’t hear it. “Tomorrow.”

Cookie placed a hand on her chest in shock.

Kit turned to me. “Like I said, a year ago, I wouldn’t have given her premonition a second thought.”

“Then you met me.”

“Something like that. Do you think it has any merit?”

“Let’s just say, I don’t believe in coincidences.”

“I need to get some air,” Agent Waters said. He stood and started for the door, stopping short when he came face-to-face with my husband. My angry husband. As far as he was concerned, Agent Waters had almost attacked me. The agent stopped long enough to let the full effect of Reyes’s glare make its point, then stepped past him and strode out the front door, his movements brusque and sharp.

After he closed the door, I turned to Kit. “All right, what gives?”

“What?” she asked.

“I’m sensing a lot of hostility between you two. What’s going on?”

She glanced toward the door, then said, “Jonny’s my ex.”

“You were married?”

“Don’t act so surprised.”

“No, I’m not. It’s just—”

“You think I can’t land a man?”

“Kit, that has nothing to do with that. You’re just so all-business. I’m a little surprised you took the time.”

“Well, I’ve been married.”

“And to a Fed, no less. Aren’t there rules against fraternizing with the help?”

She lifted a shoulder. “Kind of. Not really. It depends, but yes, he’s a Fed.”

I sat taken aback.

“I like to call him my FedEx.” A tiny smile broke through her severe expression. “He hates that shit.”

“Too bad he didn’t take your name.”

She groaned. “I know, I know. His name would have been Jonny Carson. I can’t imagine why he wouldn’t go for that.”

“Did you ever go by Waters?”

That rankled her feathers. “No, I’d already been established in the bureau, so I kept my name.”

“Maybe that was the problem.” I raised my brows, chastising her with them. They were quite unsettling at the right angle. “Maybe you weren’t totally committed to the marriage.”

Her jaw dropped. “You’re going to give me marital advice? You’ve been married, what? Eight minutes?”

I gasped. “More like eight months.”

“And have you taken his name?”

I cringed, glanced over my shoulder at my totally understanding husband, then said, “We were pressed for time.”

“Ah, yes.” She nodded, taking in the surroundings. “You had to drop everything and get to the ‘safe house.’” She added air quotes.

“Exactly.”

“Are you going to tell me why you’re out here?”

I pulled my lower lip in through my teeth. “You don’t want to know.”