The blood was pounding in her skull, hot and blinding. "An out?"

"So that you could stop writing the column. It obviously doesn't come naturally to you."

The pounding had mellowed into a quaking rage, and Audie stood up over him. "Go to hell, Detective." She turned, knocking over her beer in the process, and barged down the row of seats to get to the aisle.

Quinn was right behind her, climbing up the ballpark steps toward street level. "Audie, wait!"

He had no choice but to look at her lovely round butt, right in front of him. This was not working out the way he'd hoped. Not at all.

"C'mon, Audie! Wait up!"

She was running now, and Quinn had to push himself to keep up with her. She was fast, ducking and weaving through the crowd, searching for an open exit gate. Quinn knew she was probably scared, but a decent lawyer could get the charges dropped. Filing a false report wasn't exactly homicide, after all.

They were out on Addison Street now, and she was slicing through the tangle of pedestrians and souvenir vendors to get to Clark Street and their parking spot four blocks away. He really didn't feel like chasing her, but he'd do it if he had to.

There she went. She didn't even wait for the light, and now she was directly across the street from him. "Audie! Please!" he yelled over the traffic.

She flipped him off and ran faster.

Quinn made a break across the traffic and nearly got a hold of her arm as she made a hard left and headed into the tree-lined streets of Wrigleyville.

He was right behind her, shouting, "I can run all night, Audie! But I'd rather talk!"

She slammed to a halt and turned toward him, and he bashed into her. A wumph escaped her lips as she fell flat on the sidewalk beneath him. Quinn heard the unmistakable sound of a skull hitting concrete.

Her very female body went limp under him, and for an instant Quinn feared she'd been knocked out. But then she screamed something shrill and unintelligible in his ear, pushed him away, and brought a right fist to the side of his jaw.

Quinn went sprawling, half of him in someone's tiny front lawn and half on the sidewalk.

"You jerk! You idiot!" She was on top of him now, pummeling him in the chest and arms.

Quinn put his hands over his head and absorbed the blows until he could sort out the situation. He couldn't remember the last time he had let a female beat him up.

Without warning, the punching stopped and she went still, sitting on top of his legs. She began to cry.

Quinn was paralyzed by the feel of her body on top of his, softly rocking back and forth with her sobs. He opened one eye to peek at her.

"I didn't write the letters, you dumb ass! I want a different detective on the case-someone with half a brain!" She took a gulp of air and rubbed the back of her head. "You hurt me!"

Quinn felt her begin to rise and suddenly knew exactly how to handle this situation. He sat up, grabbed Audie by the hips, and pulled her down into his lap.

"What are you-?"

His mouth was on hers so fast and hard that she didn't have time to catch her breath. It was beyond a kiss-it was a verdict, a claim, an assault-and he tasted like beer and hot dogs and something else, something powerfully male.

Audie was dizzy. Her head hurt. She was crying. And she felt her body catch fire. She took a quick gulp of air and then gave as good as she got, even as it began to go black around her.

She couldn't help it-if it was the last thing she ever did in her life, she had to open her mouth to this man and take everything he could give her. She pressed hard against him now, clutched at his back, felt his moan fill her mouth and his hands tug on her disheveled hair.

Not a word was exchanged between them, and all Audie wanted was the pushing and seeking and taking. She wrapped her legs around his waist and grabbed the back of his neck. She was suffocating. She had to have more of him. She was blacking out…

"Yo, Romeo and Juliet. This is a family neighborhood." A uniformed officer stood on the sidewalk next to them, trying to hide his amusement with a serious frown.

When Quinn pulled his lips from hers in surprise, Audie lost consciousness. She fell backward in his arms, her head hanging limp.

The patrol officer tensed.

"Area Three Violent Crimes Detective Stacey Quinn," he said, out of breath. "My badge is in my jacket pocket. I can't reach it."

The officer still frowned. "Then you might want to ascertain if you just killed your girlfriend, sir."

Quinn nodded. He rolled with Audie until she lay back in the grass. He pulled out his badge and flipped it open, then put it back in his pocket, all the while running his fingers along her scalp.

"She hit her head on the sidewalk," Quinn said, leaning over her.

The officer squatted on the other side of Audie's lifeless form. "Do you want me to call an-"

Audie suddenly sat up, smacking her forehead against that of Detective Quinn.

"Aaaah!" she screamed, bringing a hand to her head. "God! Get the hell away from me!"

The patrol officer stood up and adjusted his leather holster. "Take this inside somewhere, OK, folks?" He turned and strolled down the sidewalk.

Quinn and Audie sat on the grass cradling their foreheads, stunned, breathing unevenly.

Audie started crying again. "How could you do that?" The words were muffled but full of fury.

"I didn't mean to knock you over, Audie."

"Not that!" she yelled. "God!"

Quinn glanced over at her. His jaw was throbbing. "I'm sorry I accused you of writing the letters."

She groaned in frustration. "Not that, either!"

"Then I'm not sure-"

"Why did you kiss me?" she yelled. "Why did you have to kiss me like that?"

Quinn wondered if he looked as wild-eyed and confused as she did-he certainly felt that way. He raised his knees and let his wrists dangle over them.

"God, I'm sorry. That was inexcusable. You can file a complaint, but I… damn, I just had to do it." He rubbed a hand over his jaw and looked up at her with a frown. "Why did you kiss me back like that?"

Audie sat cross-legged in the grass, her head hanging. "Same reason, I guess." She sniffled. "I just had to." She caught his eye. "I didn't write those letters, you know."

"OK." Quinn stared absently at the tidy houses along the north side of Grace Street, his pulse and breathing slowly returning to normal. He could hear the cheers inside the park, not a block away.

"It never even occurred to me to do that," Audie continued. "But it's a good idea."

"What, kissing me?" Quinn was confused.

"No! Writing the letters!"

Quinn nodded, giving her the nicest smile he could manage, given that his face felt like it was broken. "You hate being Homey Helen, don't you?"

A single tear streaked down her face as she nodded slightly. "You could say that."

"Then why do you do it, Audie?" Quinn scooted closer to her on the grass, and she leaned against him, as if it were the most natural thing in the world to do.

"I can't talk about this right now," she said, turning her face into his shoulder. She breathed in the clean smell of him-a mixture of soap and fading aftershave and male summer skin.

"Is it too complicated?"

She laughed a little and looked up at him. "Not hardly, Detective. But my head hurts so bad I can't think straight, thanks to you. I think I should go home."

"Come on. I'll drive you." He was about to get up but paused, kissed her very gently on the forehead, then stood and reached down for her hand.

This time, she took it.