No. She broke the contact and stepped back. "You can't be this cruel, Reed."

He was breathing hard. "I hope not." His throat worked as he set the plastic sack on the table next to her gun. He pulled out two little black velvet jewelry boxes and snapped them both open. Both were empty. "I thought we could do this together."

She was losing her patience. "Do what?"

"You take off your chain, I'll take off mine."

Her mouth fell open. He stood there, face expectant. Eyes painfully uncertain. "And then what?"

"I don't know. We play it by ear. One day at time. But this time with strings."

Her heart was pounding. "I don't know how to do strings, Reed."

He smiled. "I do." He slipped his finger beneath the thin tank top she wore and pulled out the old chain. Shook it so the dogtags clanked. "So? What do you say?"

Mouth dry, she nodded. "Okay." And she was astounded when his shoulders settled. He'd actually thought she could say no. "But I have to keep the medic alert tag."

"Thought of that." He pulled a cheap silver chain from the sack. "This will do for now." He put the chain in her hand. The price tag said five dollars. In that moment, it was worth more than all the diamonds in the world. He lifted the old chain from her neck. "Change the medic alert tag now."

Hands shaking, she did, then slipped the new chain on. "It's lighter," she said.

"Pays to dump a little excess weight every now and then." He drew a breath and took off his chain. "Let's do this, Mitchell."

And they did, she closing her box with a satisfied snap, he closing his with a caress of his thumb. "I'll put mine away," he said. "In my safety deposit box."

"I don't know." she answered. "Maybe I'll throw mine in Lake Michigan."

He grinned. She grinned back. It felt good. "So what else's in the sack, Solliday?"

His grin went siy. "Big box," he said and waggled his brows. "Variety pack."

She wrapped her arms around his neck. "You were pretty sure of yourself."

His hands ran up and down her back as he sobered. "I hoped."

Her heart turned over. "Where is Beth?"

"In a room down the hall with Lauren."

"And the puppy?"

"At an all-night veterinary clinic. In a cast and resting comfortably. My family is safe and accounted for." He kissed her sweetly. "Come to bed with me, Mia."

She smiled up at him. It would be this easy then. "Okay."

Sunday, December 3, 7:15 a.m.

How had he managed to lose her again? He'd had her. She'd come to him. He'd been waiting for her at Solliday's house and she'd come. But with another man, not alone. And when she left, she'd checked into a hotel with very good security.

And when she came out this morning, it was with Solliday, who'd checked in a few hours after she did. Solliday's arm was around her shoulders, hers around his waist. He remembered the box of condoms on her nightstand and it occurred to him that if he'd just waited, he might have gotten them both in Solliday's bed.

Now it was too late. He'd have to follow her. Sooner or later even Mitchell had to be alone.

Sunday, December 3, 8:00 a.m.

Murphy tossed a copy of the Bulletin across the conference room table. "Howard and Brooks picked up Getts last night. Page four, bottom corner."

Mia flipped to the article with a smile. "Go team." Reed studied her face. "I thought you wanted in on that arrest."

She lifted a shoulder. "Abe and I figured Carmichael was there that night, that she knew where DuPree and Getts were hiding all along and that she was feeding us information to keep her stories front page. She offered me Getts last night thinking I'd swallow the bait. Even tried to tail me. I decided not to play her game."

Westphalen patted her hand. "Our little girl's growing up."

Mia just grinned at him. "Quiet, old man."

Spinnelli leaned back in his chair. "So, Reed, how's your house?"

Reed grimaced. "Now I'll know what it's like on the paperwork end of an insurance claim. But it was Kates, no question. He came in through a window, went through the upstairs while I was downstairs on the phone. We think he grabbed Beth's puppy on the way back out her window, but dropped him halfway down the tree. Ben Trammel] found residue and egg fragments in both bedrooms." He paused, thinking. "He used an egg at Tyler Young's Friday night. He's used nine now. Assuming he had access to a dozen of them in the art teacher's cabinet, he's still got up to three more."

"What do we know about Tyler Young?" Spinnelli asked.

"His name was in the computer we took from Yvonne Lukowitch's house," Jack said. "Kates found Young's real estate Web site through a high school alumni site."

"I called Tom Tennant from the Indy OFI this morning and got the rest of the story. He said Tyler and his wife died. Both bodies were charred, but the ME found organ damage in the wife consistent with the same stab wounds Joe Dougherty had. She was lying on her stomach, just like Joe Junior. But Tyler was chained to the bed, his throat slit."

"He's getting good at that," Mia murmured, troubled.

"I know. Their ME also thinks that Tyler received multiple stab wounds to the groin."

"I think we know what happened in that house the year Andrew and Shane lived there," Westphalen said. "They were trapped and nobody came to check on them."

"And Laura and Penny had put them there," Mia said. "Andrew must have cursed them every day. But they were there a year, then a big fire. Something must have happened on Shane's tenth birthday."

"Maybe it was the first time Tyler assaulted them," Aidan suggested.

Mia nodded slowly. "Maybe. The other son might know."

"Tennant said they found a number in Tyler's personnel file for his brother, Tim. Tim Young's a youth pastor in New Mexico. He works with underprivileged kids."

Westphalen's brows went up. "That's either an attempt at redemption or a kid in a candy store. We may find out which one depending on what he's willing to tell us."

Reed had thought the same thing. "Tennant informed Tim of Tyler's death yesterday. He's traveling to Indianapolis today. Tennant will call me when he gets here."

"In the meantime," Mia said, "that leaves one person who knows what happened. Andrew Kates. We know he's in town. At least he was nine hours ago. He wanted Laura dead, so much he tried three times. He made mistakes with Caitlin, Niki Markov, and with Donna. And still he didn't get Laura. Ironically, he goofed with Penny, too."

"What do mean?" Spinnelli frowned. "She left him there a year."

"No. That didn't sit right with what everyone had told me about Penny. I went back and checked my notes and Reed, do you remember when we talked to Margaret Hill? Remember when she said she almost lost her mother when she was fifteen?"

"Yeah. She said her mother had been shot by a client. She almost died."

"Margaret Hill is twenty-five," Mia said. "You do the math."

"Oh," Reed breathed. She was right. "Penny Hill went into the hospital right about the time she placed Andrew and Shane in that home. She didn't forget about them. I bet her files got forwarded to other people and the kids fell through the cracks."

Mia nodded. "Then Shane dies and somebody says Oh shit. Andrew gets shuffled to another foster home and Shane gets swept under the rug."

"And his file disappears," Spinnelli said grimly. "This is bad for the state. I'll work it."

"That's fine. But back to Kates," Mia said. "Knowing how much he hates to miss his mark, what if he were to find out he'd goofed with Penny Hill? She never abandoned him. She wasn't even working the year he and Shane were at the Youngs'. Someone else dropped the ball with those boys. Someone else is to blame."