Beyond The Breakwater

“Bagel? I can toast—”

“Oh god…” Tory bolted off the stool.

Heart in her throat, Reese watched Tory rush for the bathroom. After a moment’s hesitation, she followed, her insides roiling. This hasn’t happened in weeks. Jesus, god…what’s wrong?

“Tor? Love…can I get you anything?” Reese circled her palm aimlessly over Tory’s back as the other woman cradled her head on her arms, her body bent over the sink. Reese’s heart lurched as she felt Tory tremble. “Honey?”

“No,” Tory gasped, not looking at her. “I’m fine. Near miss—no eruptions.”

“Water?”

“Yes, fine. Good.” With a shaky sigh, Tory straightened up and accepted the glass her worried lover filled and handed to her. She traced the curve of Reese’s jaw with her fingers, smiling faintly. “I’m okay.”

“You’re sure?”

“Mmm. I am.”

Reese said carefully, “Shouldn’t we check your blood pressure?”

Tory was silent a long minute, reluctant to add to her lover’s worry. I want this experience to be a joy for her, not a constant source of anxiety.

“It was just a little blip, sweetheart,” Tory said softly.

“I need to be part of this, Tor. Please.”

Tory’d never seen Reese look so helpless, and her heart twisted to see the pleading in her eyes. “Of course. Come on, I’ll show you how to take it.”

Reese was a quick study, and five minutes later they looked at one another and smiled.

“No change since my last visit with Wendy,” Tory reported. “Okay now?”

Reese nodded. “Can you eat something?”

“I don’t think I’m quite ready for that.” Tory wrapped her arm around Reese and leaned into her. “You should get to work.”

“I’m okay for a bit. You need to eat something. The doctor said—”

“I’m a doctor.” Tory heard the temper in her own voice and realized that Reese was just concerned. In fact, she still looks scared. I never thought I’d see anything that could shake up my Marine. “Try not to worry, sweetheart. It was just a bit of left over morning sickness.”

Reese came quickly around the end of the counter and put her arms around her lover. Brushing her lips across Tory’s temple, she said gently, “The most important thing for right now is that you’re okay.”

“As long as I have you, I will be.” Tory tilted her face and kissed Reese, a gentle lingering kiss of gratitude and soft desire. When she drew away, her throat was tight with a combination of wonder and need. “Go to work, Sheriff.”

“I’ll call you later,” Reese whispered, her lips to Tory’s forehead. “I love you.”

Reese was just pulling into the small lot behind the Sheriff’s department when the call came over her radio. The alarm sounded in front of the Fire Department in the middle of town at the same time.

“Fire reported, Bradford and 6A.”

It was Smith’s voice, and as Reese spun the wheel with one hand and floored the accelerator, she flicked her shoulder mike with the other. “Conlon. I’ve got it.”

“Roger, Reese.”

The whole of Provincetown was less than four miles long, and, sandwiched between the Atlantic Ocean and Cape Cod Bay, even narrower. At that time of morning, just before tourist season, there were barely any cars, and Reese was on scene in less than a minute. The Mooring restaurant, a squat, sprawling ramshackle place at the far end of town, was in flames. She pulled her cruiser diagonally across Bradford and got out, thumbing her mike again.

“I need another car out here to block traffic coming west on 6.” As she spoke, she opened the trunk of the vehicle and extracted orange plastic road cones.

“How does it look?” she called to the fire captain as he approached. Alan Peterson was technically in charge of the scene.

“It’s pretty well involved,” he yelled above the roar of the truck engine and the shouts of milling firefighters. “Fortunately, the place is isolated from the surrounding structures by the parking lot on three sides. Unless we get an awful lot of wind, I’m not worried about it spreading.”

“What about civilians?” Reese asked, leaning close to his ear to be heard. “Can your people get inside to make sure the place is empty?”

“Negative.” He spoke something unintelligible into his handy talkie and then turned his attention back to her. “Too hot.”

Reese took a step away from him in the direction of the burning building. She was stopped by a firm grip on her arm.

“Forget it, Sheriff,” he said gruffly. “If there were any way in there, we would have done it already. I don’t want you anywhere near that place. Christ, last time you helped me out, you ended up in the hospital.”

“You’re not pulling rank on me, are you, Alan?”

“Damn right I am. As soon as I get an internal assessment, you’ll be the first to know.”

At that moment, Nelson Parker jogged across the street to join them. “What have we got?”

“Structural blaze,” Reese informed him. “As far as we know, unoccupied.”

“Looks like it’s gonna be a loss,” Nelson remarked as he watched flames lick their way through the cedar-shingled roof and pulse like living beings through the shattered windows into the smoke clouded air.

“Yeah,” Peterson agreed. “A wood building like that, there’s no way to stop it. This is a containment exercise, nothing more.”

“We’ll need the fire marshal’s report,” Reese pointed out.

“It’ll take until tomorrow for the heat to die down enough to comb through the place and probably a couple of days to analyze the forensics, but I’ll send along whatever we find as soon as we get it.”

“Good enough,” Reese said. Turning to Nelson, she continued, “We’ll need to keep someone from the night shift overtime for a few hours to handle traffic around this place. I’ll give Smith a call.”

“He’s back there on Six A. Go ahead and tell him.”

“Roger.”

“Oh, and Reese?”

“Chief?”

“The new kid is waiting back at the station.”

She studied his face but couldn’t read a thing in it. “I’ll head back as soon as I talk to Smith, then.”

“Good.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Within an hour, the fire was out, and all that remained was the cleanup. Reese headed back to the office. When she walked in, the newest member of the department was leaning against the corner of her desk. Reese pushed through the wooden gate and extended her hand to the young cadet in the pristine uniform.

“Officer Parker, welcome aboard.”

“Thank you, Sheriff.” Bri grinned fleetingly and then straightened. “I would have notified you when I got here, but you were already out on a call.”

“No problem. Come on, let’s take a ride through town, and we’ll talk about the game plan.”

When they settled into the car, Reese turned to Bri. “Have you seen your dad?”

“Just for a minute. He told me that my training officer would be along shortly.”

“You know, he needs to distance himself a little bit from your training so that there won’t be any question of prejudice in your evaluations.”

“I know that,” Bri said steadily, keeping her eyes forward. Plus he didn’t seem too keen for me to be here. I guess he still thinks I made a mistake leaving…New York.

She couldn’t think about the fact that she hadn’t talked to Carre in weeks. Once she’d finally gotten over some of her anger and embarrassment over storming out, and worked up the nerve to call her, all she ever got was the answering machine. Eventually, she’d just left a message reminding Carre of the party this coming Friday and left directions… just in case. Yeah, sure. You know she’s not coming.

Reese pulled the patrol car to the side of the road across from the smoldering ruins of the Moorings restaurant.

“Whoa,” Bri exclaimed.

“So,” Reese said as the two of them crossed the street to the rubble-littered parking lot. “Tell me what you want to know about this.”

Bri looked around for a second and then began confidently to ask questions. Reese nodded in satisfaction as Bri succinctly elicited the vital information regarding time, circumstances of the call reporting the fire, initial impressions of the fire captain, nature of reported injuries, and other basic data from her.

“Good. You can write all that up when we get back to the station.” They slowly circled the perimeter, each of them silently studying the scene. Eventually, Reese asked, “How would you approach the investigation?”

Bri took her time, and when she spoke, she sounded thoughtful but steady. “First, we’ll need the fire marshal’s report.”

“What do you think the fire marshal is going to tell us?”

“This place has been closed since last summer. As I recall, one of the big resort consortiums has been trying to buy it to build a timeshare here. The land is worth a lot, but the restaurant has seen better days.”

“Uh-huh.” Reese realized what a benefit it was for officers to have a history with the community that they policed. She was still a relative newcomer, but after three years, she knew a great deal about the inner workings of the tiny town and its inhabitants. Bri, though, had an advantage that Reese would never be able to match. She had spent all of her life in the midst of these people, and her history was their history.

“Since the restaurant hasn’t been functioning in months, it’s doubtful that any of the power was on, which lets out electrical origins. Same for the gas.” Bri stopped walking and put her hands in her pockets, a gesture that unconsciously mimicked Reese’s stance. “No storms lately, so it wasn’t lightning. I’d say this is going to be ruled incendiary in nature.”

“The fire was manmade, you think?”

“Yes.” She didn’t waver in her response.

“But it’s not necessarily arson.” At Bri’s questioning look, Reese continued, “An abandoned building like this would be a good place for vagrants to camp, and an untended fire could certainly have started this. Incendiary and accidental.”

“Right,” Bri said enthusiastically. “So we need to ask around town and find out if anybody has any info on vagrants—especially where they might be congregating. Could be kids, too.” At Reese’s raised eyebrow, she blushed. “Uh, when I was…uh…younger, you know…we’d get together in abandoned buildings to…get together.”

“Okay, good thought.” Reese clapped Bri on the shoulder approvingly while she sighed inwardly. She still had so much to learn about that period of life which she seemed to have skipped over. Then it suddenly occurred to her that in not too many years, it could be her child partying in firetraps like this. Her stomach flipped.“Christ.”

“Ma’am?”

“Nothing, Reese said briskly. “We’ve got several lines of questioning to pursue while we wait for the fire marshal. Let’s get started, Officer.”

Tory followed the scent of barbecue up the driveway toward the rear of her home. She was surprised to hear the soft murmur of voices and tried to recall if they had made plans with anyone for dinner. She hoped not, because she was beat. But her spirits lifted as she mounted the stairs and saw their visitor.

“Bri!” she cried in surprise. Reese and Bri were both in jeans and Tshirts, and a more attractive pair Tory didn’t think she had ever seen. Both of them grinned at her as she joined them. She paused to kiss Reese before giving Bri a hug. “What are you doing here?”

“I forgot to tell you that Bri was starting her field training today,” Reese said with contrite a shrug.

“That’s terrific.” Tory smiled and tried to hide her weariness. “I’m going inside to change. I’ll be right back.”

“She looks great,” Bri commented as she popped open a beer.

“Yeah,” Reese said absently as she followed her lover with her eyes. And she looks worn out. This new guy can’t start too soon for me.

When Tory returned a few moments later, Reese and Bri set the outside table and piled chicken from the grill onto paper plates. Tory grabbed a club soda and sat down with a grateful sigh.

“God, this looks good.” After helping herself to salad and chicken, she turned to Bri. “So where are you staying? With Nelson?”

Bri blushed. “Uh, I’m not sure yet.”

“Where are you staying now?”

“Well, most of my stuff is still in Barnstable. I moved out of the apartment I was sharing this morning and stowed my gear at school. I was going to go up this Friday after work and move it down Saturday.” She glanced at Reese. “If I can take the morning off? I know it’s Memorial Day weekend, but classes just finished and I didn’t have ti—”

“It’s fine,” Reese said. “I’d rather you work nights Saturday and Sunday anyhow. More going on. You need help moving?”

“Nah. I don’t have all that much.”

“Give a holler if you do.”

“I guess you and Caroline will want an apartment for the summer,” Tory said as she reached for more salad. “Now is probably a good time to get one.”

“Carre’s not coming home,” Bri said quietly, staring at her plate.

“How come?” Reese interjected.

“She has a job in New York.”

Tory studied Bri’s profile, noting the tight line of her jaw. “That’s hard.”

“Yeah, well…” Bri cleared her throat. “It’s a real good deal for her.”

“You can bunk here for a while if you need to,” Reese said quietly. “Although I’m sure Nelson would like you to stay at home.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it.” Bri shrugged. “I don’t think Dad and I are ready to be living together right now.”

“No problem.” Reese stood and stacked some of the plates. “I’m going to take these inside and make coffee. Be back in a few minutes.”

“How is Caroline doing?” Tory asked after a few seconds. Bri sat with lowered head, her hands in fists on her thighs.

“Good. She’s good,” Bri replied evenly without looking up. “She got a scholarship to study in France next year.”

“That’s wonderful. The things I’ve seen that she’s done are very good.”

Bri nodded her head, then reached for her fork and turned it aimlessly on the table. “Yeah, she’s terrific. It will be good for her…next year.”

“How long have you two been together? Three years?”

“Four.” Bri’s voice was barely a whisper.

“It’ll take some getting used to—living apart,” Tory said softly.

“I…” Bri looked away. I can’t get used to it. I don’t know how to.

Tory’d never seen Bri look so vulnerable, even in the hospital after she had been viciously beaten. She’d been so heartbreakingly strong then, mostly because she’d probably thought Caroline needed her to be. Tory smiled, remembering the fierce look on Caroline’s face when she’d stormed into the clinic, insisting that she be allowed to see Bri.

Tory forcefully interrupted Caroline’s headlong dash down the hall.

“Wait a minute,” Tory soothed, holding the struggling young woman. “It might be better if you see Bri tomorrow, Caroline. It’ll be hard to see her like this.”

Caroline fixed Tory with a contemptuous glare. “You’re just like all the rest. You think just because we’re young that our feelings don’t matter. Last night right about now, she was making love to me. Do you think that doesn’t matter either?”

“That’s not what I meant, Caroline. I know you care about her.”

“Care about her?” she said coldly. “What if it were Reese in there, Dr. King? Just how long would you wait out here in the hall?”

Tory stared at her, knowing that it could easily be Reese under other circumstances. Just the thought made her ill.

“You’re right. I’m sorry,” Tory said softly. “Nothing on earth would keep me away.”

She watched the pretty young blond, who now seemed so much older than her years, resolutely push through the doors to her lover.

Hearing the uncertainty in Bri’s voice now, Tory realized that all of them, including her, had always assumed that Bri was the stronger of the pair. Probably because she looked it, with her swaggering charm and bold good looks. Appearances. God, how we let them deceive us. You don’t know how strong Caroline really is, do you, my beautiful young one?

“You know,” Tory said gently, “it will probably be even harder for Caroline, being away from you and in a strange new country.”

Bri finally looked at her, a question in her eyes. “You think? It just seems like it would all be so…exciting, that she might…forget.”

Gently, Tory rested her fingers on Bri’s arm. “No, sweetie, I don’t think that will happen.”

That slight, tender touch and the voice, soft with caring, sliced through the tenuous threads of Bri’s resolve. She was so scared most of the time, and so lost. It had all seemed so clear just a few months before. Now Carre was gone…Oh, that can’t be. Not really!

Suddenly, Bri stood and strode rapidly to the rail. She held on to the wood, polished smooth by hundreds of hands, so tightly that her arms ached—trying to get her breath, waiting until she could speak around the tears crowding her throat. Eventually, in a voice held tightly in check, she said, “Reese showed me the baby pictures.”

“Did she?” Tory asked, her own throat suddenly tight. Oh, Bri. Baby, what is it?

“Yeah. It’s so neat. I’m…happy for you.”

Tory couldn’t help herself when she heard the tears in the wistful tone. She crossed the deck, turned Bri around with her hands on her shoulders, and enfolded the young woman in a hug. Brushing her cheek against Bri’s, she whispered. “Thank you, sweetie.”

For a fleeting second, as Bri relaxed in Tory’s arms, nothing hurt at all.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

It was almost ten o’clock Friday night when Bri reached the Breakers, a shore side restaurant and bar in Barnstable where the party for the recent graduates was being held. Fleetingly, she thought of the last time she and Carre had been together, and she thought not of fighting, but of making love. They hadn’t seem each other in weeks, and during the increasingly rare phone calls, they were both tense and awkward.

Fuck, you know she’s not coming.

Nevertheless, the first thing she did when she walked through the door into the big room crowded with classmates, recent graduates, and the usual locals, was to look for Carre. After a minute or two of fruitless searching, she admitted what she had known all along. Carre was not there.

“Looking for someone, Bri?” the honey-smooth voice inquired.

Bri turned with a resigned smile to Allie. “Not anymore, it looks like.”

“Well, glad to hear it,” Allie replied, her tone clearly surprised. “Come on, follow me.”

Allie took her out onto the back deck, which was nothing more than a wooden platform in the sand that edged the beach above Cape Cod bay. The area was dimly lit and almost as crowded as inside the bar, but the noise level was less. Although there wasn’t much to see, the air was clearer outside, and the sound of the surf rumbled not far away. When Allie stopped, Bri asked, “What’s up?”

“Got something for you.” Allie bent down, dug around in an ice-filled chest, and came up with a beer. She handed it to Bri. “This is the unofficial drinking area for the recruits. Technically, we are not in the bar.”

“I believe that would be a very loose interpretation of the law, Officer.” Bri laughed and took a long swallow. It felt good after the dusty drive, and it felt even better not to be thinking about anything at all.

Allie moved a little closer as the crowd grew denser, her arm brushing Bri’s. “Where are you living this summer?”

Bri was aware of the bare skin against hers. Allie touched a lot. “Don’t know yet.” Bri shrugged. “There are usually a lot of single rooms available for summer help. Hovels mostly, but I don’t need much more than a place to sleep. I figure I’ll get something tomorrow.”

“You know, I’m moving into a two-bedroom place between Wellfleet and Truro this weekend.” Allie sipped her beer and considered Bri contemplatively. “And that’s just about halfway between your job and mine. You could always share it with me.”

“Uh,” Bri blushed, happy for the dim lighting. “That’s…nice of you, but I’m pretty sure I couldn’t afford it.”

“I’d bet you could. How does a hundred dollars a month sound?”

Bri laughed. “It sounds like charity, or else you’ve lost your mind. Look, Allie, I really appreciate it—”

Allie put her fingers on Bri’s arm just under the edge of her shirtsleeve, high on her upper arm. “Hey, we’re supposed to be celebrating tonight. Don’t worry about it. I’ll give you my number and if you don’t find something, or you change your mind, the offer’s always open. Okay?”

“Sure,” Bri said with a smile. Allie was hard to resist. Bri leaned down, fished another beer out of the cooler, and opened it. For the first time in weeks, she felt almost good.

Forty-five minutes later, the party was in overdrive, with everyone talking too loudly, most everyone drinking too much, and more than a few forgetting whatever social inhibitions they might once have had.

“Let’s dance,” Allie shouted close to Bri’s ear, grasping her hand at the same time.

“Here?”

“Why not?” Allie moved her hand to Bri’s waist, hooked her thumb inside Bri’s jeans where they rested on the crest of her hip, and ran her fingers back and forth on Bri’s side under her T-shirt. Leaning so close that their thighs brushed, she said, “Do you think they might get the wrong idea?”

Bri could smell her perfume, the same scent she’d noticed that day in Allie’s apartment. Even more distractingly, she could feel the light press of Allie’s breasts against her chest. They were both wearing Tshirts, and neither had anything on underneath. Allie’s nipples were hard, and Bri’s tightened instantly in response. Totally involuntarily, her stomach clenched and a thrum of pleasure shot down her spine. When the jolt of excitement hit home, she got stiff in the space between one heartbeat and the next. “What…idea would that be?”

She didn’t recognize the low, husky timber of her own voice. Or she did, and she didn’t want to think about what it meant. Christ, I’m getting so hot.

“Well, if any of them are half the hotshot investigators they think they are,” Allie murmured, stepping even closer now, edging one thigh slightly between Bri’s legs, “they’ll figure out that I’m trying to get you to kiss me.”

“I don’t…think…”

“Good. Don’t then.” Allie nudged harder with the leg resting against Bri’s crotch, smiling when the unexpected pressure on Bri’s rampantly hard clitoris drew a soft groan from Bri. “And after you kiss me for a long, long time, I’d really like it if you’d make me come.”

“Jesus.” Bri blinked to clear her suddenly hazy vision. Then she found herself staring into the most beautiful eyes she’d ever seen. Eyes so warm, so deep, that just looking into them was like the tenderest of embraces. Her voice was a mere whisper. “Carre.”

Bri had never believed it when people used the expression time stood still , but for that brief instant when her eyes met Carre’s, before Carre turned with a small cry and pushed hurriedly away through the crowd, everything simply stopped. The blood ceased to rush from her heart, the air halted its journey through her lungs, and every thought just…vanished. There was nothing left in her world. Nothing at all.

“Oh my God.”

“What?” Allie asked in confusion as Bri suddenly took her by the shoulders and pushed her aside.

By the time Bri managed to force her way through the crowd on the deck, into the bar where another roiling mass of people awaited, and, finally, to the front door, Caroline was nowhere in sight.

Fuck, where is she?

Bri turned around and sprinted, or rather tried to sprint, toward the parking lot. She was a little unsteady and realized that she’d inadvertently had more to drink than she intended. Plus, it was hard for her muscles to work when there was no blood flowing through her veins. Everything was frozen inside. She’d never been so damn terrified in her life.

Then the cough of an engine turning over caught her attention, and, turning in the direction of the sound, she saw taillights flicker. She raced toward the car as it backed out from between two trucks, and without even giving it a second thought, slammed both palms down on the trunk. “Carre! Wait!”

The car came to a jerking halt, the force of the bumper as it rocked against her legs bouncing Bri back a step. It hurt but she didn’t care. The door flew open and Caroline jumped from the car. Quicker than Bri would have thought possible, Caroline was in front of her, her hands fisted in Bri’s T-shirt, shaking her violently. “Are you crazy? Are you completely nuts? I could have killed you. God damn you, what is wrong with you?”

“Carre, listen…” Bri began desperately.

“No, you listen. I’m sick of it. I’m sick of you pushing me away, and I’m sick of you running away.”

Bri stood with her hands loose at her sides and allowed Caroline to manhandle her. “I’m sorry.”

“I don’t care. That’s not good enough. What were you doing in there?” Finally, Caroline stepped back, staring at Bri with wounded eyes and fury in her face. “Is she why you moved out? Didn’t you even have the guts to tell me?”

“No! God, no.”

“I know what you look like when you’re hot, Bri.” Caroline ran a trembling hand through her hair. “You want to tell me that she wasn’t making you…” her voice broke and she turned away.

Bereft, bleeding at the sound of tears in Carre’s voice, Bri took one tentative stepped forward. She raised her hand but for the first time in their lives together, she was afraid to touch her. “Babe…she’s just a friend.”

“You’re such an idiot, Bri. She was all over you, and you looked like that was just fine with you.” Taking a deep breath, Caroline turned back and studied Bri’s face as if she were a stranger. “I thought you left Manhattan because of this job. Because you needed something for yourself—something that would make you feel better about yourself. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe it was her…or someone like her.”

“No. Jesus, no. You’re wrong.”

“Maybe I’m not wrong, and you just haven’t figured that out yet.” Caroline shook her head unhappily. “I’m going ho…back to Manhattan. Don’t call me for a while, okay?”

“Carre, please,” Bri begged. It felt like her legs were going to go. In another second, she’d be kneeling. She didn’t even care. She’d do anything… “Please, I love you.”

“You know what the worst part is?” Caroline said as she slipped back into the car. “I believe you.”

Bri thought she might die as she watched Carre carefully back the car the rest of the way out and drive slowly away. Carre didn’t look back, not even once.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Bri opened her eyes, blinked in the bright sunlight, and immediately closed them. She lay very still, aware that she was in a strange bed and that she was not alone. The crisp cotton sheets felt oddly rough against her bare nipples. Her shirt was off. Her jeans were on. Her fly was open.

Fuck.

She hadn’t been too drunk to remember what had happened.

“Come in with me, Bri,” Allie whispered as the car carrying the two of them and several of their friends pulled to a stop in the lane in front of Allie’s rented bungalow. “You can stay here tonight.”

She couldn’t ride back to Reese and Tory’s. And the prospect of being alone with her pain was more than she could handle. Allie’s hand on her thigh was soft and reassuring. “Yeah, okay.”

They said nothing as they walked down the path to the front door, but Allie had her arm around Bri’s waist again. It felt strange. Good, though. Solid. Firm. Alive.

“This way,” Allie said softly after she closed the door behind them. She held onto Bri’s hand and led her through the dark living room.

Bri followed, because it seemed the thing to do. She let Allie draw her down onto the bed, saying nothing as Allie lay beside her, facing her in the dark. A hand came to her cheek and stroked her tenderly, then moved around to the back of her neck and pulled her head close for a kiss.

She wasn’t thinking of anything. The tongue running lightly over her lips was supple and warm. When it moved inside her mouth, it was the only thing she could feel. There were no thoughts of the past or the future, only that moment and the firm anchor of hot flesh filling her mouth. She sucked it, breathed in the heat, clung to the taste of passion.

Dimly, she was aware of Allie’s rapid breathing and soft moans. When fingers tugged at the bottom of her T-shirt, Bri shifted and, in the next minute, another barrier was gone. A hand drew her fingers to a full breast and again she heard a small cry in the darkness. Her fingers were closed around a tight nipple, and when she squeezed, Allie whimpered. Bri was sure her heart was beating quickly, but she still couldn’t feel it.

Fingernails rasped down the center of her belly. Her thighs tightened and didn’t relax. She was panting. They both were. She jerked, then lifted her hips when fingers worked loose the snap on her jeans. The sound of her zipper sliding open was so loud in the still room. Soft breasts pressed against her chest, a slender leg slid over her thigh. Fingers pressed inside her jeans. The intoxicating aroma of desire was everywhere.

“Touch me, Bri,” the honey-smooth voice pleaded. Nearly breathless now. “Please. Oh, make me come.”

She knew the words, but the voice was wrong. Make me come, baby. Carre’s voice. But not.

A hand cupped her inside her jeans, fingers closed around her clitoris. The first gripping spasm shot a warning down her legs.

“Oh fuck,” Bri gasped, rolling away. “Jesus. Jesus.”

“What?” Allie’s voice was a choked cry, thin and desperate. “Oh, don’t stop now.”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Carre, god, I am so sorry.

Fists clenched to her center, Bri turned onto her side. She kept her back to the woman beside her and curled in on herself, closing her eyes tightly. Maybe she slept. Maybe she just disappeared for a while.

“I can’t decide whether I’m mad at you or not,” Allie said quietly.

“You should be.” Bri turned her head on the pillow and opened her eyes. Allie was sitting up against the headboard, inches away, nude. Her breasts, full and firm and rosy-tipped, were beautiful. Bri lifted her gaze to Allie’s eyes. “I never should have come here with you last night. I sure shouldn’t have gotten into bed with you.”

“You were turned on at the bar. Here, too.” Allie smiled softly, her expression dreamlike. “You were so wet when I touched you. You got hard between my fingers. You would have come in another second.”

“Yeah.” Bri’s voice was a whisper. She was wet now. But that wasn’t the point. She couldn’t help what her body did. Only what she did about it.

Allie brushed Bri’s arm with her fingertips. “You make me crazy hot, you know.”

Bri said nothing.

“When you wouldn’t touch me last night, I thought I was going to die.” Her voice was husky, her eyes slightly glazed. “I had to make myself come. I couldn’t help it.”

Bri looked away. Her heart hammered wildly.

“Did you hear me?”

“No,” Bri rasped, her stomach clenched so tight it hurt.

“It only took one touch. I imagined it was your mouth.” Allie drew a trembling breath. “I came so hard…”

Bri sat up suddenly and swung her legs outside the bed. She was shaking. Hoarsely, she said, “I gotta go. I’m sorry.”

“I’m not. Next time, though,” Allie rested a palm on the center of Bri’s bare back, “I want it to be you for real when I come.”

Reese came quietly down the stairs, mindful of the blanket-wrapped figure on the sofa. Moving carefully, she crossed to the kitchen and slowly began to assemble the coffeemaker.

“Can I help?” a soft voice asked from behind her.

Turning with a smile, Reese shook her head. “I’m sorry. Did I wake you?”

“No.” Caroline’s eyes were puffy from lack of sleep and too-recent tears. “Is Tory up?”

“Not yet. She’s sleeping in.” Reese pulled coffee from the refrigerator and unwrapped the bag. “I finally talked her into working only a half-day on Saturday. She’s going in this afternoon.”

“I’m sorry that I showed up unannounced last night,” Caroline said in a small voice. She slid onto the stool and propped her elbows on the counter, resting her chin in both hands. “I didn’t think I could make it all the way back to Manhattan, and I didn’t know where else to go.”

Reese stopped what she was doing and came around to take a seat next to the young blond. “Don’t apologize. I’m glad that you came. You can always come here.”

“Bri’s staying here, too, isn’t she?”

Surprised, Reese nodded. “How did you know?”

“Her motorcycle jacket is on the coat tree.” Caroline’s voice caught on the next words. “She never gets very far away from that. I…” Quickly, she turned away as the tears she thought she had finally exhausted began again. In a whisper, she murmured, “Sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Reese waited, wanting to touch her but uncertain if she should, desperately trying to fathom what had happened. Bri had cut out right after their shift ended the night before—said she was headed to Barnstable for a class get-together. She’d never mentioned Caroline was coming in for it. And then Caroline showed up in the middle of the night here, clearly shaken and having been crying. When she’d said she didn’t want to talk, they’d put her on the couch and gone back to bed. What the hell is going on?

Softly Reese asked, “Where’s Bri?”

Caroline shook her head, keeping her face turned away. “I don’t know.”

“What’s going on with you two?”

“Everything has turned upside down in the last four months. I didn’t even realize Bri was unhappy. Maybe I should have,” Caroline said shakily.

“She didn’t say anything?”

“She hardly ever does. She’s always been…she keeps things inside.”

“You knew she wanted to be a police officer, though, right?”

“Yes,” Caroline replied. “I just thought it would be later. We both thought school in New York would be so great.”

“Maybe she did, too, at first. Maybe it took leaving here to realize that this is where she belonged.”

“I thought we belonged together,” Caroline said sadly. Her eyes were liquid with more tears, but she stubbornly held them back.

Reese blew out a breath and wished desperately that Tory were there instead of her. She was certain there were things she should be saying, or something that she should be doing. “She must have thought that leaving New York when she did was the right thing to do.”

“How could that be? How could it be better for us not to be together?”

Caroline’s voice was agonized, her confusion so clear that Reese’s insides twisted. She sighed and rubbed her face with both hands, searching for a way to explain something she didn’t fully understand herself. “If I were Bri,” Reese began as she struggled to put words to the emotions, “I would want to feel like I deserved you. I would want to feel like…you could be proud of me.”

“I’ve always been proud of her,” Caroline said, startled. “She’s strong and brave and…” the image of Bri with the strange woman the night before flickered into her mind. It was so painful that she lost her voice.

“Maybe,” Reese added quietly, “she can’t believe that you could be proud unless she’s proud of herself.”

They stared at one another silently until Reese grinned ruefully. “I’m not too good at this, am I?”

“I think you’re wonderful,” Caroline whispered.

“Look, maybe I can…talk to her.”

“No.” Caroline rested her fingertips on Reese’s knee. “Thank you. Really. But I need to talk to her.”

“She should be back soon. She’s got a shift coming up later this afternoon.”

“Maybe she’s busy,” Caroline said softly, wondering as she had been throughout all the sleepless hours, where Bri had spent the night. Oh, what am I going to do? Maybe I’ve already lost her.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

It took Bri close to an hour to walk from Allie’s bungalow back to the Breakers and pick up her bike. It was just after ten in the morning when she reached Reese and Tory’s. As she sat straddling her bike, staring up at the house, Carre appeared at the top of the stairs leading down from the rear deck. Looking pale and wan, she wrapped her arms around her chest and stared at Bri.

After pocketing her keys, Bri quickly pulled off her helmet and dismounted. She was shaking, and she didn’t think it had anything to do with the lingering vibrations from the powerful engine and the ride down. Taking a deep breath, she walked up the path and climbed the stairs. She stopped one step below Carre, putting them at eye level, and whispered, “Hey, babe.”

“Hi, baby.”

They stared at one another, a foot of space between them, a million unsaid words and a thousand unhealed hurts keeping them apart.

“You look like hell,” Caroline murmured.

“I feel like that, too.” Bri stuffed her hands in her pockets because she wanted to touch her so much.

Caroline looked away, swallowing hard. “Let’s go someplace so we can talk.”

Ten minutes later, Bri slowed and brought the bike to a halt at the far end of the parking lot at Race Point. There were a few cars in the parking lot, but the two of them didn’t walk toward the marked trail toward the beach, but headed instead down a narrow path that lead toward the lighthouse. Ordinarily, they would have held hands, but this time they walked side by side in silence. When they reached the lighthouse, they climbed around to the far side and settled with their back against the wall, close together but not touching. The dunes spread out along the wild coast below and the ocean filled their view.

“I don’t understand what’s happening with us, Bri,” Caroline finally said. “Why didn’t you tell me you were going to leave school? Why didn’t you talk to me about it first?”

Bri stared straight ahead, unblinking, until the tears that trembled on her lashes were carried away on the wind. Her voice was low as she answered. “I was afraid you’d talk me out of it.”

“I might have tried,” Caroline said with a shaky laugh. “You could have waited until the fall, when I…left for France. We could have had all this time together.”

“I had to do it now.”

“Why?” Caroline asked vehemently. “I don’t understand why.”

“Because I was afraid once you left I wouldn’t be able to do it.” Bri’s voice was harsh, wild.

“Why not?”

“Because I’m afraid when you leave I’m going to…” suddenly, Bri put her head down on her knees and laced the fingers of both hands behind her neck. Her words were nearly lost in the rush of air that blew off the ocean. “I don’t think I’ll be able to do anything without you.”

“Oh, baby,” Caroline murmured, putting her arm around Bri’s shoulders. “You can. You can do anything.”

“Not without you.”

“But I’m not leaving you.”

Bri’s head jerked up and her eyes met Caroline’s. “You don’t know that!”

Shocked, Caroline stared at her. Her first instinct was to protest, because it was unthinkable. But then she realized that Bri didn’t know that, didn’t believe that. “I love you. I have never loved anyone but you. I don’t care how long I’m gone, or how far away from me you go. I am not going to stop loving you.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Bri exclaimed.

“No? Where were you last night?”

Bri blinked and her blue eyes darkened. “Jesus, Carre.”

“Did you sleep with her?” Caroline asked, her voice a strangled whisper.

“I…” She wanted to make the truth disappear. She wanted the night to do over again. She wanted not to have felt what she felt. “Almost.”

“Oh Bri,” Caroline moaned. “Oh, god.”

“Carre—”

Caroline got unsteadily to her feet. She moved a short distance away and stopped, her back to the wall of the stark white tower, holding herself with her arms around her body, trembling in the chill sea breeze. “I can’t…I can’t even think about it right now. Take me back to Tory’s.”

Bri finally found her voice and jumped to her feet. “Carre. I didn’t. “

“I saw you, Bri,” Caroline said softly. “I know you wanted to.”

“I don’t know how that happened. I didn’t go there meaning for it to happen. I was…lonely.”

“I’ve been lonely, too. And I wasn’t the one who left.”

Heart sinking, Bri watched Caroline turn and start up the path that led back to the parking lot. For a moment, she considered not going after her. Maybe if they never left this spot, they could turn back time to that magical moment four years before, when a simple kiss had turned on a light in the darkness of her despair.

Eventually, she followed, because there was no going back, no undoing what had been done.

“Caroline?” Tory asked quietly as she sat down on the sofa next to the young woman. “Honey? You okay?”

Caroline sat leaning forward, her arms folded on her knees, rocking softly. “Not really.”

“I heard Bri’s motorcycle earlier. Is she here?”

“Gone.” Caroline bit the inside of her lip. Gone. Gone, and I don’t know if she’s ever coming back.

“Can I help?”

“I don’t think so. Everything is so…crazy.” Caroline shifted and looked into Tory’s eyes. “Bri…oh god, I can’t…Bri was with this other girl…”

“What?” Tory exclaimed before she could stop herself. “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry.”

“What would you do?” Caroline asked desperately. “If…if it was Reese?”

“It would hurt so terribly, I’m not sure what I would do.” She reached out and took Caroline’s hand. “It would depend, I think, on why it happened.”

“What difference would it make?”

“Sometimes, when we’re confused or a little bit lost, we make bad choices. Sometimes we don’t even chose, we just let things happen. People make mistakes.”

“I’ve got to go back to Manhattan anyhow. I keep thinking when I do that she’ll…” Carre took a deep breath. “That she’ll start seeing this other girl. I can’t stand to think about her with someone else.”

The hurt in her eyes was so raw that all Tory wanted to do was hold her close and make all her pain go away. But she knew she couldn’t. “Do you love her?”

“Yes.”

“Then I think the two of you can get through this.”

Reese found Tory curled up on the sofa in an old fatigue shirt of hers and a pair of shorts, reading.

“Hi, love,” she said as she carried two bags of groceries through to the kitchen. “Are Bri and Caroline still here?”

“No,” Tory said with a sigh as she tossed the magazine she had been pretending to read onto the end table. “They’re having problems.”

“I gathered that from what Caroline said this morning.” Reese rubbed her cheek absently across the top of Tory’s head, then kissed the fine wisps of hair at her temple. “She’s really upset about Bri leaving school, I guess.”

“Apparently she’s a lot more upset about Bri fooling around with some other girl.”

Reese stiffened. “What?”

“I got the sense that this whole thing with Caroline going to Europe has really thrown Bri for a loop.”

“That’s no reason to fool around,” Reese growled. “If she were a recruit and she pulled a bonehead stunt like this, I’d have her mopping out every latrine in the barracks. She wouldn’t see a liberty until she was ready for retirement.”

“She’s not a Marine, honey,” Tory pointed out gently. “And she’s scared.”

Reese fell silent. Unconsciously, she stroked Tory’s back and arm, needing her quiet strength. “Of what?”

“That Caroline will leave her behind, I think.”

“So she turns around and leaves instead? If I were worried about losing you,” Reese murmured, her lips close to Tory’s ear, “the last thing I would do is leave you.”

“There aren’t many people in the world as solid as you, Reese Conlon,” Tory said tenderly. “God, I got so lucky.”

“No.” Reese shook her head, pulling her closer. “You’re my life, Tor.”

“And you’re mine,” Tory whispered, raising her head and finding Reese’s mouth. “I love you.”

Reese groaned softly, arching her hips as Tory stroked a particularly sensitive spot just below her navel. “Don’t we both have to work this afternoon?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Then I think, Doctor King, that you should remove your hand.”

“We have to shower, don’t we?”

Reese just grinned.

Tory leaned back into Reese’s arms, sighing as Reese reached around her and smoothed warm lather over her breasts and abdomen with both hands. “I never want to leave here.”

Reese chuckled, holding a full breast in one hand as she ran the other down the prominent slope of Tory’s belly. “The baby is growing.”

“It’s really starting to show,” Tory murmured, her eyes still closed. “Do you mind?”

“You have to ask?” Reese’s voice was husky as she brushed her fingers softly through the downy hair at the base of Tory’s abdomen. “It’s wonderful. And incredibly sexy.”

Tory laughed softly, covering the exploring hand with her own. “I wouldn’t have believed it, but I actually feel sexy—in a different way than before, but good.”

“How?” Reese asked.

“I feel like I’m bursting with something so powerful—life, love—I guess. I look at you and I want you to touch it, touch me, some place deep inside.”

“I love you,” Reese groaned. Tory’s soft skin against her breasts and abdomen was like flame to tinder. She was burning, pulsing with excitement. “Take my hand…take me to those places.”

“Hold me.”

“Always.”

Tory drew Reese’s fingers between her legs, parting the delicate folds that enclosed her most sensitive places. She led her to the warm pools of her desire, drawing Reese’s fingertips gently inside and then upward, until they rested against the undersurface of her clitoris. Her legs were trembling, her breath shallow and fast. “Feel how heavy? How full?”

“Yes,” Reese gasped, her head pounding with the effort it took to let Tory guide her. “Beautiful.”

Tory pushed against Reese’s hand, moaning softly. Then, slowly, she drew her lover inside, resting her weight in the bend of Reese’s body as she was filled. “Ah, so good. You feel so good there.”

Reese closed her eyes tightly, holding very still as she pressed her mouth to Tory’s neck, letting the warm water that cascaded from Tory’s skin run between her lips. Nothing ever made her feel quite so humble or so privileged as when she was inside Tory’s body. Hoarsely, she whispered, “I want to stay here forever.”

“You can.” Fine ripples cascaded through the muscles enclosing Reese’s fingers. Tory tightened involuntarily and the pressure immediately pulsed into her clitoris. She jerked, and Reese’s palm brushed over the swollen shaft. She gave a small cry and arched in Reese’s arms.

“What is it?”

“I want to come.”

Reese gently bit the tender skin below Tory’s jaw. “Can you stand?”

“Yes.”

When Tory reached behind and braced both palms against Reese’s thighs, Reese let the hand that had been encircling Tory’s middle drift lower until she could stroke her. Tory was already too close to tease, and Reese started the circular motion that she knew would make her come.

“I love you, Tor,” Reese breathed when Tory trembled in her arms.

“Can you feel it?” Tory asked urgently as she began to come.

“Yes,” Reese gasped, trying so carefully to go slow, trying to draw out the pleasure as Tory climaxed in her hands.

“Ah,” Tory sighed as she slowly relaxed into Reese’s embrace. “God, you spoil me.”

Reese laughed a bit shakily. She tended to stop breathing every time Tory orgasmed, and her legs had gotten so weak, she’d been worried for a moment that she was going to take them both down. “Believe me, it’s my pleasure.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

That afternoon, Bri and Reese were silent as Reese drove the cruiser west on Bradford. She slowed as they approached the site of the fire two days before. A deep red Durango SUV was parked on the shoulder across the street from the police barricades that had been erected around the property.

“There’s someone walking around back there,” Bri observed.

“Yep, I see them.” Reese pulled up behind Durango.

The two of them crossed the street shoulder to shoulder and circled around to the rear of the burned out shell.

“Sheriff’s department,” Reese announced as she and Bri walked around one of the yellow and blue saw-horses and approached the stranger who was standing in the doorway of the burned out building. “This is a restricted area.”

“I’m an insurance investigator, officers,” a mellifluous tenor voice responded.

Reese raised an eyebrow, surveying the emerald green eyes, flawless lightly-tanned complexion, and the hint of red hair obscured by a baseball cap. “You have ID?”

“Sure.” Moving closer, the stranger reached into a back pocket with one hand and swept off the hat with the other. Thick luxurious, crimson hair cascaded to shoulder level, and the strikingly beautiful woman smiled. Extending a hand with a leather bi-fold ID case in it, she said, “Ashley Walker.”

Reese studied the photo ID on the private investigator’s license. Satisfied, she handed it back. Neutrally, she observed, “Ordinarily, Ms. Walker, it’s wise for a private investigator to check in with the local authorities.”

Ashley swept her eyes from Reese to Bri and back again. The two law-enforcement agents were disarmingly similar with their dark good looks and nearly-matching brilliant blue eyes. The older one was slightly taller and a little more muscular, but in the dark, there wouldn’t be much difference between the two. She smiled slowly. “My apologies. I meant to let you know I was in town, but when I drove by and saw the state of this building, I thought I’d better get a few photographs before it fell down or your town engineers pulled it down.”

“Step outside the barricade, please,” Reese recommended in a tone which implied it was more than a request.

“Fine,” Ashley replied. “I didn’t get your name?”

“Deputy Sheriff Reese Conlon. This is Officer Parker.”

“Pleasure.”

“What’s your investigation about, Ms. Walker?” Bri questioned evenly. “Who are you working for?”

“Just a routine insurance claim.” Unperturbed by the mildly suspicious expression on the young officer’s face, Ashley produced her wallet, opened it, and slid a business card from an inside pocket. Handing it to Bri, she said, “That’s my office address, cell phone number, and pager. Anytime you want to reach me, Officer Parker, for any reason, please feel free.”

“Finished up here, then?” Reese asked as the three of them turned and began to walk back toward their vehicles.

“I thought I’d stay in town for a while until the fire marshal’s report was complete.”

“If you need access to the site, once it’s been cleared, let us know,” Reese advised.

Ashley rested her hand on the handle of her SUV, hitched one hip against the door, and observed them both with a small grin. “Oh, I’ll be sure to do that.”

Then she stepped into her Durango, started the engine, and drove away with a small wave in their direction.

Bri watched the red truck turn right and disappear around the bend toward Herring Cove. Part of her was irritated at the cocky self-confidence of the private investigator, but she found that the woman’s flippant grin stayed with her. “Is that normal?”

“An insurance investigation? Pretty much all the time when there’s loss of property.” Reese opened the driver’s-side door of the cruiser and slid in while Bri walked around the other side and got in as well. “It isn’t usual to have a PI run the investigation though. Usually it’s one of the insurance company’s claim representatives.”

“So what do you think?”

“I think we ought to take a very careful look at the fire marshal’s report, and I think you’re going to have some interviews to do.”

Reese met Bri several hours later, and they drove into the center of town together for dinner. As they walked toward a small sandwich shop on the pier at Commercial and Standish, Reese asked, “Get anything from the interviews?”

“Maybe,” Bri replied cautiously. “The manager of the condominium next door says he thought he saw lights flickering in the restaurant a couple of times late at night in the past few weeks.”

“And he didn’t bother to call us?” Reese remarked in disgust.

Bri shrugged. “Said he thought it was probably just kids and didn’t pay much attention.”

“I suppose we’re lucky he mentioned it to you at all.” Reese was next in line at the order window and put in her request for fish and chips and soda. “I don’t suppose he saw a vehicle?”

“Nope. But it fits with our theory that someone’s been using the place. If so, they’re going to be looking for new digs. I thought maybe we could start keeping an eye on some of the other abandoned places around town.”

“Good idea.”

After they had both ordered, they moved away to await their dinner.

“There was something else,” Bri confided.

Reese raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“I talked to maybe a dozen people this evening, up and down the cul-de-sacs off Bradford and along Route 6 toward the Provincetown Inn. At least half told me that I was the second police officer to interview them since the fire.”

“Interesting. Hold on for a second,” Reese added as their number was called. She and Bri collected their food and drinks and walked out of earshot of the tourists and other diners to a small picnic table on Macmillan Wharf. “I don’t suppose you got a description of the new member of our force, did you?”

“Yep.” Bri grinned. “Red hair, green eyes, late twenties. Female.”

“Thorough, isn’t she?”

“Would you say that’s SOP for an insurance claim?” Bri asked.

“No, I wouldn’t.” Reese regarded her dinner absently. Something was off, and the fact that it involved something as dangerous as the possibility of arson bothered her a good deal. “It looks like we need to pay a visit to Ms. Walker.”

“Fortunately,” Bri said, patting her chest pocket, “I have all her numbers.”

“When you give report to the night shift, make sure you give them the addresses of these places and remind them to do a pass-by several times during the shift.”

“Got it.” Bri felt a sudden let-down as she realized that her time with Reese was coming to an end. It was five minutes to midnight, and they were on their way back to the Sheriff’s department to sign out. In another few minutes, Reese would go home and she would be alone. It was Saturday night, she had just finished an exciting shift at work, and she had no one to share it with.

She could go home with Reese, but the small spare bedroom with its single bed seemed too lonely to contemplate. Carre would be out somewhere with friends, probably having a glass of wine and talking about school, or a film she had just seen, or some project she was involved in. Bri’s heart ached as she wondered if Carre would be thinking about her. I should call her. But she said not to—that she would call me when she was ready. She said she wanted a little time to think. Think about what? Think about whether she still loves me? Think about whether she still wants to be with me? Think—

“Bri?”

Bri jumped. They were sitting in front of the Sheriff’s department. The engine was off and the night was very quiet. She had no idea how long she had been staring unseeing through the windshield.

“Yeah?” she said hoarsely.

“You okay?”

Bri nodded and swallowed hard. “Yeah. Fine.”

“I saw Caroline this morning.”

Bri closed her eyes.

“Have you straightened things out with her?” Reese asked gently.

“Not yet.” Bri didn’t want to talk about it. Just thinking about it made her hurt so much inside she was afraid she would cry. She especially didn’t want to discuss what had happened with Reese. She had a sudden sick feeling in her stomach. Christ, does she know about Allie?

Thankfully it was too dark in the car for Reese to see her shamed blush. The thought of Reese knowing about the way she had fucked up was almost as bad as Carre’s tears. She felt like dying.

“You need to do that, Bri,” Reese said evenly as she opened the door of the cruiser.

“Yeah, I know,” Bri replied softly, all the while wondering how to even begin.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

When Reese and Bri walked into the office, Lewis, one of the summer recruits who had been hired to work the swing shift, looked up from the dispatch counter and nodded perfunctorily. “There are messages for both of you on the spindle.”

Bri looked surprised, and Reese frowned as she asked, “From whom?”

The ruddy-complected, sandy-haired officer shrugged his heavy set shoulders. “The names are on the slips there. Yours just says call home.”

“God damn it,” Reese swore swiftly in a tone that made both Bri and Lewis jump. “If you ever get a call from my partner or anything remotely connected to her again, you call me ASAP.”

He stared at her open-mouthed as she grabbed the nearest phone and punched in her home number. Her body vibrated with tension.

“Tor?” She worked to sound calm. “Are you all right?”

As she listened, her body relaxed, and she settled her hip onto the corner of the nearest desk. A smile slowly eclipsed the worry that had suffused her face. “You’re kidding, right?…I thought that was an old wive’s tale…well, I don’t know that many…no! I’ll do it…I’ll be home soon.”

Still grinning, she hung up the receiver. When she glanced up, Bri was watching her intently. “She’s fine.”

Bri relaxed her tight stance too. “Good.”

“I don’t suppose you know Spiritus’ number off hand, do you?” Reese asked.

“You’re kidding, right? Pizza?”

“That’s what I said, too.” Reese shook her head. “She’s hungry, and pretty cranky about it, too.”

While Reese got the number and called in the pizza order, Bri pulled the pink message slips from the spindle on the counter. There were two for her. Both messages were exactly the same, with one minor difference. Each said call me followed by a phone number. They were signed Ashley and Allie, respectively.

“Everything okay, Bri?” Reese asked as she noted the confused expression on Bri’s face.

Blushing, Bri rapidly stuffed the notes into her pants pocket. “Sure. Perfect.”

“Oh, thank God,” Tory said vehemently as Reese walked in the house. “Hurry.”

Reese grinned at her lover, who was curled up on the sofa in a shapeless, button-up pajama top and what appeared to be striped boxers. “You know, I can remember a time when you only said that in bed.”

“Shut up, Conlon, and give me my pizza.”

Laughing outright, Reese put the box down on the coffee table in front of Tory and walked through to the kitchen for plates and napkins. As she worked, she called, “Is Bri here?”

“No,” Tory said around a mouthful of pizza. After a second, she added, “She came in, changed her clothes, and went right back out again.”

“At this hour?” Reese frowned as she carried a bottle of beer for herself tucked against her side, a glass of seltzer for Tory in one hand, and plates, silverware, and napkins in the other. She carefully set them all down, settled on the sofa, and slid a slice of pizza onto a plate. “What is she doing out?”

“It’s Saturday night, Reese.”

“So?” Reese regarded her with a raised eyebrow.

“Try to remember Saturday night when you were twenty.”

“I remember perfectly well, and I was either studying, or more likely asleep.”

“I forgot.” Tory ran her hand affectionately up the inside of Reese’s thigh. “You were a most unusual twenty-year-old, sweetheart.”

Reese slipped her arm around her lover’s shoulder. “You think Bri and Caroline are going to be okay?”

“I think they can be,” Tory said quietly, “if they come back together soon, and don’t do anything more to add to the pain.”

“Do you think I should go look for Bri before she gets herself into more trouble?”

“Let’s give her a chance to find her own way.” Tory felt Reese stiffen. “She needs to come to her own realization of what she wants and needs.”

“I just don’t want either of them to suffer any more,” Reese said with a sigh. “You didn’t see Bri today. She’s…lost.”

Tory tilted her chin and pressed her lips to Reese’s neck, then reached a hand back to curl her fingers into the thick, black hair. Tugging gently, she pulled Reese down for a proper kiss. When she lifted her mouth away, Tory whispered huskily, “You’re going to make the most wonderful parent.”

By the time Bri rode back to the center of town and parked her bike, most of the stores were closed and the bars were beginning to empty. As was often the case, Commercial Street between the Pied, one of the popular lesbian bars, and Spiritus pizza was crowded with men and women who were not yet ready to end their Saturday night revelry.

As she approached the gathering throng, she remembered Reese coming upon her and Carre in the narrow alley between the ramshackle restaurant and the adjoining storefront one night when they’d been seventeen. They’d been making out in the shadows when Reese had walked up on them, her flashlight beam illuminating them in the midst of passion. Bri’s chest ached just remembering how sweet those first few months had been, and how desperate the last. I miss you so much, babe.

“Unless I’m wrong,” a deep melodious voice announced very close to Bri’s ear, “I believe you’re looking for me.”

Jesus Christ. I’m walking around not paying attention to a damn thing I’m doing. Some cop.

Hoping that her involuntary flinch hadn’t been noticeable, Bri turned to the woman by her side as they continued navigating slowly through the wall-to-wall people. “You did say to meet you here.”

Ashley Walker was wearing a sleeveless black T-shirt tucked into figure-hugging black leather pants and black ankle-high riding boots. Her crimson hair was down and glinted like fire as she casually brushed it back with one hand. “I didn’t think you’d call me.”

“I’m working the same case you are,” Bri reminded her. “You said you might have some information for me.”

Ashley slowed and nodded toward the Pied. “We can probably still make last call.”

“No thanks,” Bri replied.

“All right, then.” Ashley sighed and pretended to look disappointed, but her slightly lopsided grin gave her away. “So I’m guilty of mixing business with pleasure. We can do both.”

Bri blushed. Work. Keep the conversation on business. “Have you been conducting interviews with the neighbors around the Moorings?”

“Yes, I’ve been asking around a bit.” Ashley acknowledged what Bri already knew. “I thought maybe we could pool our resources.”

“Share information, you mean?” Bri followed as Ashley turned down one of the sandy access paths to the beach, and, once there, the two of them settled onto a pile of sun-bleached, wind-weathered pilings that had once been part of a fishing pier. Ashley drew one knee up, wrapped both arms around it, and leaned a bare shoulder lightly against the outside of Bri’s arm. Bri moved an inch away. The touch of skin on her own was unexpectedly warm. “Did you find out anything?”

“Not so fast, hotshot,” Ashley advised, laughing softly. The young officer looked even better out of uniform than she did in one, and that was pretty damn good. The white T-shirt hugged her torso, doing little to hide the swell of her breasts and hint of hard nipples, and the low-riding jeans seemed designed to invite a hand inside. “I’ll show you mine if you agree to show me yours.”

Bri turned until she could search Ashley’s face. Up close, moonlight danced in her eyes. “I don’t think it works that way. See, I’m the law and you’re private. So I don’t have to share what I know with you. But you’re not supposed to keep secrets.”

“Pretty sure of yourself, aren’t you, Officer?” Ashley stood and dusted off the rear of her leather pants, then slid both hands into her back pockets and looked down at Bri. She tilted one hip and stretched, the thin shirt outlining her high breasts and taut nipples. “Want to take a walk on the beach?”

Bri regarded her steadily, then stood. “Sure.”

Reese turned over in bed, awakened by the low rumble of the motorcycle in the driveway. The bedside clock read 3:45 a.m. For a moment, she contemplated getting up.

“Go back to sleep, sweetheart,” Tory whispered as she rolled toward Reese and slipped an arm around her waist. Curling against her lover’s back, she nuzzled into the soft warmth of Reese’s neck and kissed her softly. “She’s okay.”

Reese sighed and laced her fingers through Tory’s, where they lay against her breast. “I hope so.”

CHAPTER THIRTY

At five minutes to seven, Reese knelt to one side of the forty by fifty-foot room with her eyes closed, her hands resting palm up on her thighs. Tory and four students ranging in age from fourteen to twenty-five lined up on the tatami mats in a single line, barely an inch separating them.

After their last visit with Wendy, Reese had gently tried suggesting that Tory suspend her workouts until after the baby was born, but Tory had merely smiled and said that the physical exercise was good for her. Reese was always careful not to choose techniques that involved shoulder lifts or throws, but still, every defense in ju jitsu finished with a take down to the floor. And every time a student took her lover to the mat, no matter how carefully, Reese’s heart lurched. The first time Tory bowed to Bri in invitation to practice, Reese quickly crossed the mat to intercept them.

Reese bowed, dismissing Bri, and indicated to Tory to perform the technique with her instead. When Tory threw a punch, Reese blocked, pivoted, and smoothly guided her lover to the floor. As Reese cradled Tory’s elbow between her knees and applied force on her wrist, effectively pinning her, she leaned forward slightly over Tory’s supine form and murmured, “Everything okay?”

“Yes, sensei.”

“Be careful with Bri. She’s very strong.”

“I will be.” For the briefest instant, Tory smiled directly into Reese’s eyes and murmured faintly, “I’m fine, sweetheart.”

Reese nodded briefly, her gaze a caress, and moved away.

At the end of class, Reese approached Bri, who was carefully folding her gi jacket and brown obi. “It’s good to have you back.”

“It’s great to be here.” Bri glanced almost shyly at Reese and said, “Can I talk to you later?”

“Sure.” Reese glanced at the clock. “It’s about breakfast time. I was going to take Tory to Cafe Heaven. Want to come along?”

“That’s okay. I don’t want to…get in the way.”

Reese laughed. “It’s just breakfast, Bri.”

“Well…”

“Come on, Bri,” Tory said as she joined them. “I heard that. You’re coming, and that’s all there is to it. You can leave your motorcycle here, and we’ll bring you back after breakfast to pick it up.”

The tiny restaurant was situated just up the street from where Bri had met Ashley the night before. It had only a dozen or so tables and was always crowded, but luckily it took only a few moments for them to be seated. Even more fortunately, the waitress recognized them as regulars, so it took only another minute to place their orders.

“So how is the new guy working out?” Bri asked Tory as she finished a large glass of orange juice in three big gulps. “What’s his name?”

“Dan Riley,” Tory said neutrally. “He’s only been here one day.”

“Is he just here for the summer?” Bri inquired innocently as she reached for the basket of bread. She didn’t notice that both Reese and Tory looked uncomfortable.

“That was the plan,” Tory replied.

“So,” Reese interjected casually as she peppered her omelet, “how was your night?”

“Uh…it was…fine.”

“Much activity in town?”

“It was crowded right around closing time, but after that it emptied out pretty quickly.”

“Uh-huh. Not much going on after 1:30 or so.” Reese raised an eyebrow and regarded Bri steadily.

“Well,” Bri said after a second. She’d been wanting to discuss the encounter with Reese, because it still bothered her, and she couldn’t quite work out why. Well, she wanted to tell Reese about most of it, anyhow. “I met Ashley Walker, and we talked about the case for a while.”

Reese stiffened almost imperceptibly. “You talked about the case?”

“Not about the case, exactly. Well, I mean, she wanted to talk about the case. “

“I’ll bet she did,” Reese muttered.

“Who, by the way, is Ashley Walker?” Tory looked from one to the other and tried to figure out what, precisely, was going on.

Aware that they were in a public place, Bri lowered her voice and leaned across the small table close to Tory. “She’s a private detective who’s working for an insurance company.”

“I see. This is about the fire, I take it?”

“Yeah.”

“What did the two of you discuss?” Reese’s eyes were steady on Bri’s face, her voice flat.

“We didn’t discuss anything,” Bri said with a faint hint of disgust. “She was fishing for information about our investigation. I was hoping she’d tell me something. So we both came away with no satisfaction.”

“Does that tell you anything?” Reese speared a strawberry with her fork and waited. You’re good at this, kiddo. Let’s see what your instincts are like.

“I’ve been thinking about that,” Bri replied pensively, her eggs and linguica forgotten. “If she was trying to find out what we knew, then there must be something to know. More than just a fire. It’s only been a couple of days, and no one would expect us to have much on it yet. She was trying to see if we had information on something else.”

“Uh-huh.” Reese moved on to the bananas. “Like what?”

“Like…” Bri hitched her shoulders, worried about looking dumb. “Like another fire?”

“Mmm. Could be.”

Tory leaned back in her chair, enjoying the Socratic exchange. She’d seen Reese work dozens of time. But she’d never seen her quite like this. Usually, when Reese was in the field, she was in command mode. She issued orders, then expected them to be followed without question. She rarely explained, because she saw no need to do so. She had been bred and raised in a military family, where the power was clearly delineated and the authority unquestioningly accepted. Watching her lead Bri through this algorithm of deductive reasoning showed her a fascinating side of her partner that she had never before observed. Suddenly, she had an image of Reese with their child, patiently teaching him or her how to think about the world. To her absolute chagrin, she felt her eyes fill with tears. Oh my God, this pregnancy is doing the strangest things to me.

Reese glanced sharply at Tory, feeling her lover grow tight against her side. “Tor?” she murmured. “What’s wrong?”

Tory shook her head and smiled wanly. “Nothing, sweetheart.”

By the time Tory composed herself, she caught only the tail end of the conversation. “It’s a holiday weekend,” Tory pointed out, suddenly feeling much more herself. “I imagine you’ll have a hard time tracking people down, if it’s anything like it is around here. You hardly have anyone in the office, and the ones who are there don’t seem to know a lot about what’s going on.”

Grinning, Reese ran her fingers lightly down Tory’s forearm and squeezed her hand. “Well, our guy Lewis knows a lot more about it now than he did last night. The next time you call, I’ve got a feeling you’ll be getting priority treatment.”

“Good.” Tory bumped her shoulder softly into Reese’s. “And rightly so, too.”

The three of them laughed and finished breakfast, speaking no more of medicine or law enforcement.

On Wednesday morning as Reese and Tory were both preparing for work, Tory asked casually, “So, did Bri find anything out from her computer searches about the fire in town?”

Reese was halfway through tying a precision knot in her tie and waited to finish before answering. “Not yet. I think today will probably be more productive. You’re right. We had a hard time connecting with anyone the last couple of days, especially with all the traffic leaving the Cape after the holiday. Everyone was in the field.”

“What’s this investigator like?”

“I can’t say for sure. She seemed confident, and the fact that she picked Bri to question also suggests that she’s clever.”

“Because Bri is a beginner, and she thought Bri was a likely source of information?”

Reese nodded. “I’m sure she knew she wouldn’t get anything from me.”

“It could be she was just using it as an excuse to see Bri socially, you know. Did she look like the type who might be interested?”

“I didn’t really notice.”

Tory smiled fondly. “How lucky for me. Describe her for me.”

“I thought that didn’t work,” Reese protested. “Besides, wouldn’t you have to see her to get…you know, some kind of vibe or something?”

“Talk about old wives’ tales.” Tory laughed out loud. “Just tell me about the way she looked and what she said when the three of you first met.”

Reese complied as Tory listened intently. When she finished, Tory shook her head knowingly. “Just what Bri needs is another woman interested in her. She sounds cute, too.”

“I don’t know.” Reese shrugged and clipped her badge to her left breast pocket. “I guess so.”

“Do you think there’s an arsonist at work?”

Surprised by the sudden change in topic, Reese turned from the mirror and regarded her lover. “I don’t have any evidence to suggest that.”

Tory sat on the edge of the bed and patted the place next to her. “Sit down for a minute.”

Immediately, Reese moved to her side and took her hand. “What is it?”

“We haven’t talked about this very much,” Tory began carefully, holding Reese’s left hand in hers. Absently, she turned the wedding band on her lover’s ring finger. “You know I wouldn’t change anything about you, don’t you?”

“Tor,” Reese breathed. She turned her head and kissed the tip of Tory’s shoulder, which at the moment was exposed where the night shirt she still wore had fallen down her arm. “What is it, love?”

“I’m not sure what it is exactly. I don’t know if it’s my pregnancy making me a little sensitive or the fact that…” She swallowed and waited a beat to make sure her voice was steady. “Or the fact that you almost died less than three months ago.”

“Ah, love, it’s over now.” Reese turned fully and drew Tory into her arms, cradling her as she rested her chin against the top of her head. “I don’t want you to worry.”

“That’s just it. I do worry. I’ve always worried a little about you getting hurt—I don’t think anyone whose lover does what you do for a living doesn’t. If you’ll recall, sweetheart, it was a gunshot wound that finally brought us together.”

“Tor—”

“My point is, Reese, that you do have a dangerous job. It would scare me under any circumstances, but now…” again, she drew a shaky breath. “I keep thinking how important you are. You’re everything to me. I wouldn’t want to live without you. But now, it’s even more important that you’re safe, because there’s going to be another life depending upon you.”

Reese’s chest tightened, and she drew Tory near. “I’ll be careful. I promise. You don’t have to worry about that, Tor. My family means more to me than anything in the world. I won’t do anything to risk it.”

Swiftly, Tory wrapped both arms around Reese’s waist and pressed against her, needing to feel her. Needing to know the solid reassurance of her unwavering presence. “I love you so much.”

“And you can count on it,” Reese whispered.

“Good, because I do.”

“Don’t we have a doctor’s visit coming up this week?” Reese asked gently.

“You don’t need to come with me every time.”

“What about your blood pressure?” Reese tried not to ask her about it very often, but it was on her mind every day.

Tory sighed. “There’s still a persistent elevation, but nothing approaching critical.”

“I’m going with you.” Reese tried hard to sound unconcerned, but her insides turned to ice.

“Reese—”

“I’m going with you. Friday, right?”

Tory threaded her arms around Reese’s neck and kissed her. Amazingly, as her breasts and stomach brushed against Reese’s hard body, she felt a swell of arousal. She kissed her longer than she had meant to, because Reese’s lips were soft and full and her mouth was so warm. The strong hands moving the length of her back and gently rubbing the muscles below the swell of her hips urged her blood to run faster and her muscles to tense. When she reached the point that she knew she needed to stop or go forward until she had satisfied her rapidly escalating desire, Tory pulled her mouth away. Gasping shallowly, she murmured, “Can you be late?”

Breathing rapidly herself, Reese shook her head regretfully. “I shouldn’t. Bri will be expecting me.”

Tory tightened her hold and rested her face against Reese’s shoulder. “I suppose this is good practice.”

Aware that her thighs were trembling faintly, Reese laughed hollowly. “Practice for what?”

“Coitus interruptus.” Tory leaned back, her eyes dancing. “I have a feeling that we’re going to be experiencing that a little more often once we have a third person in the house.”

Reese quirked a brow. “You know, maybe there are a few things about this baby thing we should have discussed in a little more detail.”

“Regrets, Sheriff?” Tory kissed Reese’s chin.

Smiling softly, Reese ran one finger along the edge of Tory’s jaw, ending with a light caress along her lower lip. “Not a one, Dr. King.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

When Bri walked into the station house thirty minutes before her split shift was due to begin, her father and Gladys were the only two people present.

“Hi, sweet cakes,” Gladys called. She’d called Bri that all Bri’s life and apparently wasn’t about to stop now.

Bri grinned and sketched a small wave in the air. “Yo, Gladys.”

“What say we take a ride,” Nelson suggested mildly before Bri had a chance to sit down.

“Yes, sir,” she responded, trying to hide her surprise as she followed him out to the cruiser.

“Caroline called me this morning,” Nelson announced without preamble. He spun the wheel and turned into the lane that led to the ranger’s kiosk at the entrance to the parking lot at Herring Cove.

“Is she okay? Has something happened?” Bri exclaimed, unable to keep the alarm from her voice.

“She’s okay, as near as I can tell.” He fixed his attention straight ahead, his hands curled around the steering wheel. “She sounded pretty upset.”

“Dad—”

“I didn’t get you out here to lecture, Bri,” Nelson said gruffly. “God knows, I’m no expert at this kind of thing. She asked me if she could live with me this summer.”

“What?” Bri shot up straight in the seat, staring at him in amazement. “She has a job in Manhattan this summer! She’s not coming home. That’s how this whole thing got started.”

“What whole thing?”

Bri blushed. “This whole…mess…between Carre and me. I thought she was coming home for the summer before she went to Europe, and then she told me that she was going to stay in Manhattan. When I heard that, I…I got a little crazy.”

“A little crazy?”

“I…we had a fight. It was my fault. It was stupid.”

“Well,” Nelson said, finally turning to watch her, “she wants to come home now. She said she got a job with one of the artists in town…something about a special deal she arranged with the chairman down there.”

“She’s coming home,” Bri whispered, her heart sinking as she tried to understand what that meant. And she didn’t call me.

“You know, Bri, I think a lot of her. Hell, I love her.” He cleared his throat again and searched his shirt pocket for his Tums. When he found one, he pulled it out, tore off the wrapper, and chewed it vigorously. “I know she doesn’t have anywhere else to stay here, not with the way her old man always treated her. But…you’re my daughter. If it’s going to be a problem—“

“No!” Bri shook her head. “No, it’s no problem. It’s fine.”

“I don’t know what’s going on between the two of you, Bri. But if you…if you love her, you should try to make it right.”

Bri was momentarily speechless. It was the most he’d ever said about her and Caroline’s relationship. He’d given them a home and given them his protection when they’d needed it, but he’d never really said very much about their being together. Him saying it now brought unexpected tears to her eyes, and she had to look out the window and blink.

“I love her,” she whispered, watching a gull bank steeply toward the ocean’s surface and disappear under the crest of a wave.

“That’s good then,” he said as he started the engine and backed out of the parking place. “Good she’s coming home.”

When Bri and Nelson returned to the office, Reese was there at her desk leafing through a stack of papers. She motioned to Bri to join her and said, “We’re getting some feedback from the feelers you sent out.”

“Oh yeah?” Bri pulled over a chair and raised a questioning eyebrow. “What’s up?”

“There have been three suspicious fires on the Cape in as many months.” Reese pulled out several sheets of paper and passed them to Bri. “In addition, there were four in lower Massachusetts, all in clusters around Providence in the last six.”

“So,” Bri muttered as she rapidly scanned the pages, “do you think we have a serial arsonist?”

“I don’t know. But I think we should pay a visit to Ashley Walker. Would you happen to know where she’s staying in town?”

Bri blushed. “Yes.”

Reese stood and settled her cap down over her brow. “Then let’s go, Officer Parker.”

Ten minutes later, Reese knocked at the address Bri had given her. Ashley, barefoot in a sleeveless red T-shirt and grey gym shorts, opened the door after the second knock. She had obviously just gotten up. Her hair had been hastily finger-combed, and her eyes were still hazy with sleep. Looking from Reese to Bri, she grinned lazily and said, “Come on in.”

Reese removed her cap and tucked it under one arm. Bri did the same.

“Sorry I can’t offer you coffee,” the redhead remarked, “but this place doesn’t have a kitchen.”

“No problem,” Reese replied. “Sorry to disturb you so early, but there were a couple of things I wanted to check with you.”

Ashley carried her coffee to a worn overstuffed chair and regarded her visitors, who were both still standing. “Somehow I don’t think you came here to fill me in on the investigation.”

“Actually, Ms. Walker,” Reese said seriously, “we were hoping that you could provide us with some assistance.”

“Now, how could I do that when I don’t know anything about this occurrence?”

Reese smiled. “Were you a lawyer in a previous life, Ms. Walker?”

“No,” Ashley replied carefully, “as a matter of fact, Sheriff, I was a cop.”

“Then you appreciate our situation,” Reese said without missing a beat. “It would help us if you’d share whatever pertinent information you might have.”

Ashley blew out a breath. “I don’t know that I have any. I called the fire captain first thing this morning, and he promised me a look at the fire marshal’s report tomorrow. If I learn anything that has any bearing on your case, I’ll let you know.”

Reese raised an eyebrow. “That easy?”

Ashley’s gaze flickered to Bri and slowly traveled the length of her body. “Let’s just say it’s a favor.”

As they walked down the street toward the patrol car, Reese asked, “Is there anything you want to tell me about you and Ashley Walker?”

“No, ma’am,” Bri replied stiffly.

“This isn’t personal, Bri,” Reese said softly. “This is business.”

Meeting her eyes, Bri said steadily. “There’s nothing going on of a personal nature. I told you everything that happened the other night.”

Except what you were doing out until quarter to four in the morning. Reese drew a long breath and let it out slowly. “Good enough.”

Once they were settled in the car, Bri said quietly, “Caroline is coming back for the summer after all.”

Reese looked to her quickly in surprise. “When did this happen?”

“She called my dad this morning. She’s going to stay with him.”

“How do you feel about that arrangement?”

“I’m okay with it.”

“And how do you feel about her coming back here for the summer?”

Bri turned her cap aimlessly in her hands. “I wanted her to come before, but she said she couldn’t. Now she’s coming, and we’re not even speaking.”

“There’s a fairly simple way to change that.”

Bri cast Reese a questioning glance.

Reese shook her head with a small smile. “Call her on the phone, Bri.”

Bri hooked a boot heel over the bottom rail of the split log fence that ran between the Meeting House and the building next door. Leaning a shoulder against the side of the payphone kiosk, she listened to the repetitive ringing in her ear. Her heart pounded and her palms were damp. She could’ve called from Reese and Tory’s, but she wanted to be alone. In the middle of Commercial Street at 8:00 at night, she was hardly alone, but somehow the anonymous faces passing by made her feel invisible.

“Hello?”

For a second, Bri couldn’t speak.

“Hello?”

“Carre?” Her throat was so dry it came out barely a whisper.

“Bri?” Uncertain, hopeful.

“Hey, babe.”

“Hi, baby.”

There was silence again, and Bri thought she could hear Carre breathing. Finally, she forced herself to speak. “My dad told me that you’re going to stay with him this summer.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I thought…I thought you had a job in the city?” Bri cradled the phone between her head and shoulder and stuffed her hands into the pockets of her leather motorcycle pants.

“I did. I mean, I was going to have one.”

“So, what happened?”

Caroline laughed shakily. “You happened, Bri.”

“Huh?”

“You happened to me—about four years ago. I took one look at you, and I thought you were the hottest girl I’d ever seen in my life.”

“Jesus, Carre,” Bri murmured, barely breathing. From two hundred miles away, the sound of Caroline’s voice made her skin flush.

“And then these last few months, you’ve been different. Gone, sort of. And I didn’t even realize that I’d let you go.”

“No, you didn’t…I…”

“But you’re there, and I’m here. Isn’t that what you said would happen when I went to France?” Caroline’s voice was stronger now. “That I’d be there and you’d be here, and everything would change? Well, it already has changed, Bri.”

“I don’t know how it happened,” Bri said desperately.

“Neither do I. But it’s not going to get any better unless we do something to change it.”

“But what about school? Your job?”

“I talked to my adviser and the chairman. I told them that I had a family emergency and that I needed to be home for the summer. They found me someone to work with…a preceptor kind of thing.”

Bri blinked, her eyes suddenly burning. Unconsciously, she brushed moisture from her cheeks with the back of one hand, reaching for the phone with the other and gripping it tightly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for you to have to do that.”

“What did you mean, Bri? For me just to go away and that would be the end of it?”

“I thought…” She ran a shaking hand through her hair and tried to ignore the queasy roiling of her stomach. “I thought you would go away and when you came back, if you still wanted me, then it would be like it was before.”

“If I still wanted you.” Caroline’s voice was cold. “You didn’t think I would?”

“I was afraid you wouldn’t.”

“It hurts to know you didn’t believe in me, Bri. That you didn’t have any faith in what we have together.”

“That’s not it,” Bri protested sharply.

“Isn’t it? Think about it, Bri.”

Bri was silent. Eventually, she said in a low, broken voice, “Can I see you when you come home?”

“Not if you’re seeing anyone else.”

The pain and tears in Carre’s voice that couldn’t be disguised made Bri bleed inside. “I’m not. I swear.”

“I’ll be moving to Nelson’s the second Saturday in June. Call me sometime.”

“I love you, babe,” Bri said softly.

“Take good care of yourself, baby.”

The soft click signaling that Carre had hung up was like a lifeline being severed. Adrift, Bri stood for a long time listening to the dial tone, thinking about faith.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Bri leaned back in the large overstuffed chair, her hands resting on the threadbare arms, her legs spread to make room for the woman kneeling in front of her. She wore only an unbuttoned shirt, parted down the center. A pale arm stretched upward over the length of her abdomen to enclose her right breast. Fingers rhythmically squeezed her stone-hard nipple as a soft tongue encircled the swollen prominence of her clitoris, working her slowly and carefully, keeping her on the edge but not allowing the release she ached for.

Her irregular breathing was the only sound.

The room was nearly dark, and it was difficult to see more than shadows shifting in the hazy half-light. The chair where she sat, however, was speared by a shaft of moonlight, and when she looked down, she caught glimpses of the woman’s eyes gazing upward, avidly watching as the effect of what she was doing with her mouth rippled across Bri’s face in the flickering illumination.

As the pressure coalesced into a fist deep inside, Bri’s thighs quivered and her fingers clenched. With each long sweep of the warm tongue, the muscles in her abdomen contracted. She arched her neck and groaned softly as the escalating strokes beat against a particularly sensitive spot. Staring into the mesmerizing eyes, Bri watched the golden head rock between her thighs.

“Carre,” she whispered.

There was no answer.

Relentlessly, the perfect rhythm drove her ever closer to explosion. When her hips lifted and white heat spiraled along her spine, she muttered hoarsely, “I’m gonna come in your mouth.”

The insistent lips sucked at her, pushing her beyond volition. Her body tensed, grew rigid, then crumpled as she shouted sharply in surrender. Gasping, she twitched helplessly as the orgasm ripped through her.

“Bri!”

Thunderous pounding on her door pulled Bri awake, the last remnants of her nocturnal climax still humming through her veins.

“What?” she croaked. She glanced around the room in confusion. The night through her window was pitch-black. She cleared her throat and sat up quickly. “Yeah?”

“Un-ass that bed, Officer,” Reese said sharply. “We need to roll.”

Still a bit shaky, Bri grabbed the nearest thing she could find, which turned out to be a pair of faded blue jeans, and slid them on. Getting her feet under her finally, she grabbed a corduroy shirt from over the back of a chair and shrugged into it. Buttoning it with one hand, she jerked the door open with the other and stared up at Reese. The sheriff wore jeans as well, with a khaki uniform shirt. Her badge was clipped to the shirt pocket, her automatic holstered on her right hip.

“What’s going on?”

“Grab your equipment,” Reese ordered. “There’s a fire in Truro, and they’re asking for help.”

Well before they screeched to a halt behind a long row of official vehicles, it was easy to see the flames shooting into the sky from a totally fire-engulfed building. Fire trucks fronted the burning structure, a confusion of hoses spewing water in crisscrossing arcs onto the disintegrating roof. Firefighters, EMTs, and law enforcement officials hurried back and forth in the parking lot in front of what had once been a three story structure.

The Truro police chief spied Reese and waved her over. “Conlon! Good Christ, this place has gone up like a matchbox in less than five minutes. We haven’t had time to evacuate the neighboring motels. I’ve got people working on both sides of the street, but the main priority is that motel right next door. They’ve got forty-five units, most of them full, and we’re not sure everyone’s out yet. I don’t have enough people for a room-to-room.”

“Roger. We’re on it.”

Bri followed Reese as they ran toward the adjacent motel. People streamed past them carrying suitcases and belongings in a mad exodus. A cluster of cars inched along bumper-to-bumper trying to get out of the narrow parking lot, creating a logjam at the exit to Route 6.

“Bri!” a familiar voice called.

Bri looked to her right and saw three other officers rushing toward her, one of whom she knew well. “Allie!”

“What’s the plan?” Allie asked breathlessly, falling into step along side Bri. “We’re with you, my chief said.”

Just at that moment, Reese stopped suddenly and started issuing orders. “You two,” she pointed to the two officers in Wellfleet uniforms, “start on the far end of the ground floor and check every unit. Every unit. Break the doors down if you have to. Tell anyone still in there not to bother with their cars, but to proceed on foot to the highway.” She looked at Bri and Allie. “You two take the upper floors,” she indicated with a nod of her head toward the outdoor hallway running the length of the second floor of the motel. “Make it fast. The wind’s picking up, and there are already sparks on the roof.”

Within minutes, men, women, and children in various stages of undress began pouring from the last of the occupied motel units as officers pounded on doors and shouted instructions. In the distance, approaching sirens signaled that more fire trucks and emergency personnel were enroute.

“Bri, look at the roof,” Allie cried as they jogged down the corridor from the unit they’d just checked toward the next.

Glancing up, Bri was shocked to see almost the entire cedar-shingled surface dancing with flames. “Jesus, it’s moving so fast. Hurry up!”

Smoke poured from the units where doors stood open, but there were at least a dozen rooms which were still closed and presumably occupied.

“Why aren’t they coming out?” Bri shouted as her eyes began to burn with the thickening clouds of smoke that roiled around them.

Coughing, Allie replied, “Maybe some of them partied too much tonight and didn’t hear the sirens. Or maybe there’s more smoke in those rooms than we think. Maybe they can’t get out.”

“There’s just a couple more,” Bri gasped. “Let’s get them open.”

From the ground, coordinating the evacuation efforts, Reese watched Bri and Allie race toward the last four units on the end of the building which was most heavily involved by fire. She turned to the motel owner who had been pacing anxiously by her side. “Are those units occupied?”

“Just the one on the far end,” he said, his voice high-pitched with tension. “I can’t remember who’s in there.”

Even as they spoke, part of the roof fell in.

Reese grabbed a megaphone from a nearby fire captain and raced toward the stairs that led up to the second floor exterior hallway about fifty feet from where she had last seen Bri and Allie.

“Parker,” she yelled into the megaphone. “Parker, clear the area ASAP. Parker, do you copy?”

By the time she reached the second floor, her lungs were burning and her eyes were streaming with tears. The smoke was so thick she couldn’t see through it, so she ran in the direction she had last seen the trainees.

From the ground, the fire captain couldn’t see anyone at all on the second floor when the rest of the roof collapsed in a plume of sparks and flying ash.

Tory was on her way to her Jeep when the cruiser pulled into her driveway. Reese had only been gone ten or fifteen minutes when Tory had decided that if the fire were serious enough for them to call out reinforcements, they might need her as well.

“Nelson,” Tory called as he stepped from the car and walked toward her. “I was just getting ready to go.”

The security lights had come on under the eaves of the house when he had pulled into the driveway, and she could see his face clearly in the falsely bright illumination. His expression caused a cold hand to close around her heart.

“What is it?” Tory cried, trying and failing to keep her voice level. She braced her hand against the side of her vehicle, her legs shaking nearly uncontrollably. This can’t be happening. Not again. I can’t do this again.

“There are four buildings involved already.” Nelson’s voice was flat, his eyes eerily empty. “A lot of minor injuries. The motel next to where it started is almost gone.”

“Nelson,” Tory said harshly, recognizing that he was very nearly in shock. She wanted to scream, feared that she might. “What’s happened?”

“Bri…”

“Oh no,” Tory gasped, sagging slightly against the Jeep. We can’t lose Bri.

“Bri and another girl…another cadet…they were trying to evacuate the upper floors…when it collapsed.”

Forcing herself to act, to think despite the panic eclipsing her reason, Tory went to him and put her hand on his forearm. “Nelson, is she hurt?”

“Missing,” he rasped. His hands were trembling as he rubbed them over his face. “She…didn’t come out.”

“Let’s go,” she said urgently, but before she could move, the rest of it hit her. Nelson had come for her. She drew a sharp breath as pain lanced through her. If Bri is missing, then where is…but you know, don’t you? Reese would go after her. She would never leave her injured in the field. Especially not Bri. Reese would never leave Bri.

“Oh god, Nelson…not both of them!”

He could only nod, his terror boundless.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

As Nelson rocketed the cruiser east on Route 6, covering the few miles between Tory’s home and the scene of the conflagration, Tory stared straight ahead through the windshield, one hand on the door handle, the other beneath her sweatshirt, resting against her abdomen. Beneath her fingers, hope swelled even as an agony of despair hammered at the edges of her consciousness. She could see the fire now and the dozens of rescue vehicles and great clouds of dark smoke billowing into the night sky.

Don’t leave me, sweetheart. I can’t do this without you. Please, darling, please.

Nelson slammed to a halt, and Tory was out of the vehicle almost before it had stopped. Then, she faltered, realizing she had nowhere to go. The scene was one of barely-controlled pandemonium. Frantically, she searched for someone recognizable and finally saw Jeff Lyons, one of the officers from the Provincetown force.

“Jeff!” She rushed toward him as quickly as her unfamiliarly heavy body and her cumbersome leg brace would allow. “Have you seen Reese or Bri?”

He shook his head, his expression dazed. “Not since they went off to evacuate the Gull Crest Motel. What does the chief say?”

“He doesn’t know anything either.” Impatiently, she turned away. Panic threatened to choke her. “God, isn’t anyone in charge around here?”

As if by instinct, she made her way through the masses of milling people and ended up near the EMT transport vehicles. Where are you, Reese? Where in God’s name are you?

After five fruitless minutes of searching, her hair was drenched with sweat, her face was covered with soot from the ash-filled air, and her control was in tatters. A horrific surge of desolation swept through her and tears overflowed her stinging lids without her even being aware of them. I can’t do this. I can’t, I can’t.

From close by, a man shouted, “Somebody get a gurney. We’ve got walking-wounded coming.”

Tory jerked around at the sound of his voice and frantically searched the edges of the beach forest that bordered one side of the access road where most of the rescue vehicles had parked. It was difficult to see through the haze created by the combination of emergency lights and swirling smoke, but eventually she could discern a lone figure emerging from the artificial mists, carrying some kind of bundle. She blinked the tears and smoke from her eyes and was able to make out that the bundle was a person, and the grime-covered apparition carrying the victim was Reese.

The relief was so acute that Tory couldn’t breathe. Even seeing her lover more clearly with each step wasn’t enough to banish the terrible ache that had seized her heart. She started to run.

The EMTs reached Reese well before Tory did and relieved her of her burden. Still, she had barely relinquished the frail, elderly man to the care of the rescue team before Tory flung herself into her arms.

“I thought you were dead,” Tory gasped. Her hands were all over Reese, stroking her chest and her back and up and down her arms, searching for injury. “Are you hurt? Are you hurt?”

“Tory, I’m all right.” Reese grabbed Tory’s hands, stilling her frenzied motion, and then gathered her close. Tory’s heart was beating wildly against her chest, and with her lips close to her lover’s ear, Reese said gently, “Tory, listen to me. Stop, love. Stop. I’m all right.”

The sound of Reese’s voice, low and steady and calm, brought instant surcease to Tory’s terror. Suddenly, she regained control and, after taking a long slow breath, was able to separate herself enough from Reese to look into her face. “Where’s Bri?”

“Back in the forest. She’s with an injured officer. Bri wouldn’t leave her, and I had to get this fellow to the EMTs.” Reese framed Tory’s face with both hands and kissed her swiftly. “Tory, I need to go back for Bri.”

With every second, Tory was feeling stronger, more in control. Reese was safe. And there was still much work to be done. Her work. “I’m going back to the ambulances to see if I can help out.”

“You shouldn’t even be here. You sure shouldn’t be working.” Reese grabbed for her hand. “Go home, Tor. Please. It’s crazy out here.”

Finally, Tory smiled. “You’re a fine one to talk, Sheriff. Go do what you have to do and come back as soon as you can.” She rested her palm for an instant against Reese’s cheek. “Please don’t be gone long. I can’t stand it right now.”

Forty-five minutes later, Allie sat with her back against the tire of an EMT van while Bri crouched beside her, holding a cup of coffee.

“Are you sure you’re not cold?” Bri asked worriedly.

Allie shook her head and smiled wanly. “Not really. You don’t have to stay with me, you know.”

“That’s okay.”

“Boy, I’m never going to live this down,” Allie said in disgust. “My first big assignment and I end up falling on my ass.”

“I don’t think anyone is going to put you down for twisting your ankle while jumping from a burning building.” Bri swiped sweat from her face and grimaced as she brushed against the burned spot on her neck. “Besides, it could happen to anybody.”

“Sure.” A second passed, then Allie said, “You haven’t called me. I kind of thought it might be because of that girlfriend you mentioned.”

“Yeah.”

“Because, you know, I thought things were pretty hot between us.”

Flushing, Bri thought about waking up with Allie naked beside her. She remembered it almost as a dream, and the memory was exciting. Her eyes moved slowly over Allie’s face, appreciating how attractive she was. Even scratched and sweat-streaked, she was sexy. “Yeah, it was hot. You’re hot. Totally.”

“But?”

“But I’m in love with someone.”

“It wouldn’t have to be anything real serious, you know.” Allie brushed Bri’s hand with her fingertips. “Just a little fun. I think about you…a lot.”

“I can’t,” Bri said. And it didn’t feel like a sacrifice at all.

“Tory,” a male voice said from behind her.

Tory turned, frowning, and then exclaimed, “Dan! What are you doing here?”

The solidly built, dark-haired man shrugged, grinning a bit shyly. “Reese called me and said that you might need relief about now.”

“Oh, she did, did she?” Tory raised an eyebrow, uncertain whether she was actually angry or not. She was tired, and she had a headache. It must be after five in the morning, and she was working on very little sleep.

Dan Riley frowned as he took in his new employer. She was clearly exhausted and the fingers that brushed absently at the strands of damp hair clinging to her cheeks trembled faintly. “Well,” he said briskly, “let me finish triaging the remaining patients. You should go home.”

Before Tory could respond, another voice interjected, “A very good suggestion, Dr. Riley.”

Reese stepped closer to Tory and kissed her cheek. “Hello, love.”

Smiling despite herself, Tory touched her fingertips to Reese’s chin, brushing at a trickle of dried blood. “You’ve cut yourself, Sheriff.”

“Nothing major.” Reese turned to Dan Riley and murmured something before adding, “As soon as I collect Bri, check in with the chief, and make sure that the rest of my people know what they’re supposed to be doing, we can get out of here.”

As Tory watched Reese hurry off yet again, Dan said, “Let me take your pressure, Tory.”

“What?” Tory asked in surprise.

“Let me check your BP.” His eyes were kind as they met hers. “You’ve been on your feet all night.”

“Did she ask you to do that?”

“I know how she feels,” he said, avoiding the answer. He pulled a blood pressure cuff from inside the truck and wrapped it around Tory’s left upper arm. “When my wife was pregnant the first time, I had morning sickness every day for five months. I felt completely helpless and equal parts ecstatic and terrified. You can’t blame her for worrying.”

A minute later, he took the cuff off and regarded her steadily. “One-forty over ninety-two. Is that unusual?”

Tory drew a shaky breath, and then shook her head. “It hasn’t been consistent, but for the last few days it’s been in that range. Listen, don’t say anything to Reese, all right, Dan?”

“Of course. Like I said, it’s not my business.”

At that moment, Reese and Bri returned.

“Everything okay?” Reese asked, looking from Tory to Dan.

Tory took Reese’s hand. “Everything is fine. Let’s take Allie back to the clinic, and after that, maybe we can all get some breakfast.”

The four of them trudged through the water-soaked, litter-strewn fire site toward the highway where Reese had left her Blazer, Allie supported between Reese and Bri. Halfway there, Reese noticed someone on the outskirts of the crowd and said quickly, “I’ll be right back.”

Tory watched Reese approach a woman and speak to her briefly. “Who is that?”

“That’s Ashley Walker,” Bri said.

“The private investigator?”

“Yes.”

After a minute, Reese and the redhead turned and walked back to where the others were waiting.

“Officer Parker,” Ashley said with a slow smile when she recognized Bri.

“Ms. Walker,” Bri said with a small tilt of her chin.

“Hello,” Allie said, extending her hand to the newcomer. “Allie Tremont.”

“Ashley Walker,” the redhead replied languorously, her throaty tenor slightly raspy from the smoke, her green eyes flickering downward once before returning to Allie’s face. “Are you all right?”

“I will be,” Allie replied, never taking her eyes from Ashley’s.

Tory watched the exchange which, although completely innocent, held a note of intimacy that almost made her feel like a voyeur. “If we’re all done with the introductions,” she interjected dryly, “perhaps we can get back to the clinic so I can decide how Officer Tremont is doing.”

“I’ll follow you in my car,” Ashley said.

“Don’t get lost,” Reese advised.

“I wouldn’t think of it.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

“You can use my office,” Tory said to Reese as the small group proceeded down the central hallway of her clinic toward the X-ray room at the rear. “Just help me get Allie up onto the table so I can get these films.”

Reese, Bri, and Ashley Walker left the small radiology room and crossed the hall diagonally to Tory’s office.

“Sit down, please, Ms. Walker,” Reese instructed while pointing to one of the two chairs in front of Tory’s large wood desk. She leaned her hips against it, but remained standing. Bri stood a few feet away also, off to Ashley’s right. “I want to know exactly what you’re investigating.”

After a moment’s deliberation, Ashley Walker nodded slightly. “I’m looking for a man named Stanley Morris. He was a claims investigator for the company which hired me.”

“The insurance company?”

“Yes,” she said. “Six months ago he was forced into leaving, ostensibly due to downsizing. Shortly thereafter, the first of what would turn out to be a series of fires occurred in buildings that are insured by the company.”

“Some kind of retribution?” Bri asked.

“That’s what we think. Morris’s area of specialty was fire investigation, and the timing seemed right. But the company didn’t have any proof.”

“So they hired you,” Reese surmised.

“I worked Missing Persons when I was a cop in Providence,” Ashley informed them. “But, I haven’t been able to find him, although it seems like I’m always close.”

“Can you place him anywhere around here?” Reese asked.

Ashley shook her head. “No. The last place I can put him is in Falls River six weeks ago. But that doesn’t mean he’s not here on the Cape, paying with cash and lying low.”

“All right. We’ll get an APB out to the other divisions on the Cape today,” Reese said. “Is there anything else we should know about this guy?”

“When he lost his job, his wife left him. He’s angry, and I’m not sure he’s entirely stable. I would consider him violent and recommend caution if he is to be apprehended.” She hesitated. “I’m not sure it’s relevant, but he was an explosives expert in the Army.”

“So noted.” Reese pushed off from the desk and glanced at her watch. “I’ll get this out on the wire as soon as we square Officer Tremont away. Are you going to be staying around for awhile?”

“I’m planning on it.” Ashley stood as well. “Maybe he’s coming undone. I might as well stay here until I can pick up some trace of him.”

The three of them walked back to the radiology suite, where they found Tory placing a soft cast on Allie Tremont’s left lower leg. Tory looked up when the others walked in.

“There’s a very small chip fracture of the distal fibula. It shouldn’t be a problem long term, but it needs to be immobilized for three or four weeks.”

“Great.” Allie looked frustrated as well as worn out. “I don’t even have any way to get home.”

“I can take you,” Bri said quietly.

“Why don’t I do it,” Ashley Walker volunteered. “I’m sure that you have work to finish up here, Officer Parker.”

Bri looked at Ashley in surprise, but she didn’t argue. “Okay. Fine.”

“And I should take you home, Dr. King,” Reese said quietly.

For a brief instant, Tory thought about protesting, but she didn’t argue because she couldn’t deny that she was exhausted. At the very least, she needed a shower and something to eat. Nodding her head tiredly, she said, “All right, Sheriff.”

“Tory, love. We’re home.” Reese gently shook her lover’s shoulder. “Time for you to get some sleep.”

“Time for me to take a shower. God, I’m grimy.”

Reese got out and walked around the front of her SUV and opened Tory’s door. She extended a hand and said, “I’ve got an even better idea.”

“Oh?” Tory asked, raising an eyebrow. “I love you beyond imagination, Sheriff. But I couldn’t make love right now if my life depended upon it.”

“Really?” Reese said as she slipped her arm around Tory’s waist. “Actually, I had something else in mind.”

Five minutes later, Tory, clad only in an old T-shirt of Reese’s, since hers no longer fit comfortably, was tiredly brushing her teeth in front of the bathroom mirror. Reese came in behind her, lifted the hair at the back of her neck with one hand, and kissed her on the ultrasensitive spot just below her hairline.

“Mmm,” Tory murmured, closing her eyes. “God, that feels good.”

“Just wait.” Reese whispered. She nuzzled Tory’s ear before moving away.

The next moment, Tory heard the bath water running and turned as Reese began to strip. She rested her hips against the counter and watched as Reese unsnapped her jeans and pushed them off. Reese was halfway through the buttons on her shirt when Tory murmured huskily, “You are so gorgeous.”

“No sex, remember?” Naked now, Reese reached down to test the water temperature and then opened a small bottle that rested on a ledge on one side of the tub. She poured the vanilla scented essential oils into the water, capped the bottle, and replaced it. Turning with a smile, she held out her hand. “Your bath awaits, my lady.”

With an appreciative groan, Tory steadied herself on Reese’s shoulder and stepped into the tub. As she lowered herself into the soothing heat, Reese pulled the shades and quickly lit several candles that stood on the bathroom counter. Then, she sat on the edge of the tub and reached for the shampoo. “Wet your hair.”

Lids half closed, Tory tilted her head back until her hair was below the surface of the water. When she pushed herself up, Reese leaned forward and massaged the shampoo into her hair.

“You have the best hands,” Tory murmured, closing her eyes completely.

Reese took her time, smoothing the lather down the back of Tory’s neck and over her shoulders, massaging the tense muscles. Eventually, she directed softly, “Go ahead and rinse.”

Once again, when Tory lifted herself from the water, Reese was waiting, this time with a body sponge which she used to spread a fragrant bath gel over Tory’s back. When she’d finished massaging her from shoulders to hips, Reese stepped into the tub behind Tory and settled down with a leg extended on either side of her lover’s body .

“Lean back,” Reese whispered in Tory’s ear.

The tub was deep, and the water came to just above Tory’s breasts as she reclined in Reese’s embrace. Allowing her head to fall back against Reese’s shoulder, she closed her eyes.

Tenderly, Reese reached around and spread the soothing lotion over Tory’s upper chest and down the swell of her breasts. Tory groaned faintly and lifted her breasts into Reese’s palms.

“Remember,” Reese murmured, “no sex.”

“God, you’re evil,” Tory muttered, even as she realized that she wouldn’t be able to follow through with the distant pulse of desire in her depths. The sensation of want was pleasant, nevertheless.

When Tory opened her eyes again, she realized that she had been asleep, cushioned within the curve of Reese’s body. Astonishingly the water was still warm.

“How long have I been asleep?”

“About twenty minutes,” Reese said quietly. She was resting with her back against the wall and her chin on the top of Tory’s head. “I’ve been turning the water on now and then to keep it warm. You didn’t even realize when I recycled it.”

“I can’t remember the last time I was this out of it,” Tory said with a sigh.

“Let’s go to bed now, love. I thought I’d lie down with you for a while,” Reese said, hoping that would entice Tory to stay home from the clinic.

“You know that’s an offer I can’t refuse, don’t you?”

Smiling to herself, Reese kissed the top of Tory’s head. “That’s what I was hoping.”

An hour later, Reese slipped from the bed, quietly dressed, and walked downstairs. Bri was sitting at the kitchen counter, drinking orange juice and eating a bowl of cereal.

Halfway around the counter toward the kitchen, Reese stopped, turned, and walked back to Bri’s side. “You’ve got a pretty big burn on the side of your neck.”

“I just realized it,” Bri replied. “I guess that happened when that drape caught on fire as we were going out the window.”

“You did a fine job back there.”

Tears stung Bri’s eyes as she murmured huskily, “Thanks. And thanks for coming after us. I’m not sure I could’ve gotten him out of there.”

“You could have,” Reese said with certainty. “As soon as you’re done eating, report to the clinic and have that looked at.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Reese watched Bri jump from the stool, grab her motorcycle jacket, and hurry out. Smiling, she shook her head and tried not to think about how close she had come to losing not one, but two, cadets earlier that day.

When Bri returned to the house an hour and a half later, she grabbed the portable phone from its cradle on the breakfast counter and took it with her into her small room. Holding her breath, she punched a number and waited. A minute later, the familiar voice answered. “Carre?”

“Bri?” Almost as if she could hear something in Bri’s voice, Caroline added anxiously, “What’s wrong?”

“I know you asked me not to call, but I…”

“Are you hurt?”

“No, not really. Just a little bit of a burn.”

Caroline took a deep breath. “There was a fire?”

“In Truro. A big one.” Bri hesitated, then said very softly, “I love you, babe. I miss you so much.”

“Something happened, didn’t it,” Caroline said, the concern still sharp in her tone. “Tell me what happened.”

“Nothing,” Bri said quickly. “It was crazy for a little while, and we almost got trapped in this burning room, but we went out the window…”

“And you got burned,” Caroline said in an unnaturally calm tone of voice. “Where?”

“Just the side of my neck and a little bit on my shoulder.”

“Has Tory looked at it?”

“She’s upstairs asleep. Her associate checked it. I’m okay.”

There were a few seconds of silence as they listened to one another breathe.

“If something happens to you, Bri, I’m not going to be able to stand it,” Caroline said softly. I still haven’t forgotten the first time you were hurt.

“Nothing is going to happen,” Bri said just as quietly. “It’s just…I thought about you when, for a minute there…” Bri took a long breath. “I just wanted you to know that you’re the only girl I’ve ever loved. And the only one I want.”

“Promise me you’ll be careful.”

“I promise.” Bri closed her eyes. I promise never to hurt you again. I promise to love you forever. Please let me.

“I’ll see you soon, baby,” Caroline whispered.

“Okay.”

When the dial tone signaled that Carre was gone, Bri pushed the off button and curled onto her side with the phone still in her hand, falling asleep with the image of Carre in her mind.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

June, Provincetown, MA

“I can’t believe how much she’s moving,” Reese whispered to Tory. She was sitting at the head of the exam table, her cheek resting against the top of Tory’s head, and they were both watching the ultrasound image as Wendy Deutsch moved the probe over Tory’s abdomen. “Can you feel all that?”

“Mmm.” Reese’s arm rested around Tory’s body, just below her breasts, and Tory had laced the fingers of her left hand with those of Reese’s right. “Most of the time.”

“Fetal size and movement look excellent,” Wendy commented. “You’re both doing beautifully.”

Reese kissed the top of Tory’s head, her eyes still watching the image on the screen.

Wendy removed the probe and set it aside. “Come on back to my office when you’re ready.”

A few minutes later, Reese and Tory were once again seated in front of Wendy’s desk.

“Everything seems fine with the baby at this point,” Wendy reiterated. She held Tory’s gaze and said quietly, “We need to talk about your blood pressure.”

“I know.”

“The elevation is persistent and substantial, although still in a range that I would consider mild hypertension. We have to consider this preeclampsia.”

“Yes.” Tory’s voice was very calm.

Reese’s heart plummeted but she managed to sit absolutely still.

“Most experts agree that at your stage, the only management is expectant.” Wendy shrugged. “Salt restriction and plenty of rest can’t hurt. I don’t ordinarily treat my patients with anti-hypertensives because they haven’t been shown to be of any value in terms of the outcome.”

“I’ve read the same thing,” Tory said. In fact, she’d been searching the literature for the last few weeks, ever since she had first noticed the slow progression of her gestational hypertension. She probably knew as much as Wendy about preeclampsia at this point.

“As long as there’s no progression of the symptoms,” Wendy said, her eyes still solemn and riveted on Tory, “we’ll induce labor at thirty-seven weeks if conditions are optimal.”

“So let me get this straight,” Reese said, hoping her voice didn’t shake. “As long as nothing changes, we just wait until the baby is big enough to be delivered, right?”

Tory smiled and reached for Reese’s hand. “Right.”

“And if the other things develop,” Reese persisted. “The…protein in the urine, or headaches, or visual disturbances or abnormal blood tests…then Tory is admitted to the hospital until the baby can be delivered?”

“That’s possible, yes,” Wendy said. She looked at Tory again. “Weekly visits. No excuses. Take your blood pressure every four hours and twice weekly blood screening.”

“Done.”

“Good,” Wendy said briskly. “I’ll see you next week.”

On the plane ride back, Reese sat in the window seat with Tory leaning quietly against her shoulder. They held hands, but they didn’t speak. When they landed at the small air strip at Race Point, it was still early afternoon.

“How about I drive over to the beach, and we take a look at the ocean?” Reese asked as they walked through the tiny terminal.

“I’d like that.”

A few moments later, Reese parked in front of the ranger’s station and helped Tory climb from the Blazer. “Do you want to walk down to the beach, or to the lighthouse?”

“The lighthouse, I think.”

They held hands and took their time walking down the winding sand path between low scrubs to the lighthouse that stood at the curve of the tip of Cape Cod as it stretched out into the Atlantic Ocean.

Reese smoothed the sand free of pebbles and needles at the base of the stone structure and asked, “Is this okay?”

Tory eased down with a sigh. “Perfect.”

Reese settled beside her and slid her arm behind Tory’s shoulder. For a few moments, they were silent, basking in the June sun and watching the sailboats and larger crafts track across the ocean in front of them.

“Tell me how worried I should be about what’s happening,” Reese said at length.

“For now, not too,” Tory replied quietly, resting her cheek against Reese’s shoulder. She turned slightly so she could thread her arm around Reese’s waist, drawing her knee gently over Reese’s thigh until she was reclining in her arms. “Everything has been stable except for the blood pressure, and that hasn’t really changed very much.”

“How long until the baby has a good chance?”

“God, you always go right for the heart of things, don’t you, Sheriff?”

Reese tightened her hold on her lover. “I don’t know the things you know. But I need to understand, because I want to be prepared.”

“Like Wendy said, thirty-seven weeks is usually the point when labor is induced in situations like this. But many times a few weeks earlier and the baby will do fine.”

“So we need at least another eight or nine, right?”

“That would be good.”

“I don’t want you to train anymore,” Reese said quietly.

Tory was still for a moment, and then she tilted her chin and kissed the underside of Reese’s jaw. “Okay.”

“And you’ll do half shifts at the clinic?”

“Yep.”

“Do know how much I love you?” Reese asked, looking into Tory’s eyes.

“I do.” Tory kissed her, slow and deep and thoroughly. When she drew her head back, she smiled, knowing from the way Reese’s eyes had darkened that the kiss had had its intended effect. “Do you know how much I love you? “

“I can make a pretty good guess,” Reese murmured softly, running her free hand up and down Tory’s arm.

“Make sure you get home on time from work tonight, and you won’t have to guess.”

“Anything new on the firebug?” Nelson asked.

“No,” Reese said, frowning. “We’ve got his description out to all the departments on the Cape.”

“Any reason to think he’s still around here?”

“Not that I can figure out,” Reese said. “If there’s something keeping him around here, I don’t know what it is.”

“You know, it’s often some trivial detail that you never find out until you catch the guy,” Nelson observed. “It could be something as simple as he used to vacation here every summer. Who the hell knows? The guy is nuts.”

“Yeah.”

“Bri graduates, formally, in a couple of weeks,” Nelson said, squaring the papers on his desk into neat piles.

Reese looked up from her own paperwork and studied him. “I know.”

He met her eyes and grinned sheepishly. “I put in for her to be assigned here permanently.”

Reese grinned back. “Good. I was going to suggest it, if you didn’t. She’s a good officer, Nelson, and this is her home. She’s good with the people, and she’s happy here.”

“Caroline’s going to be here the end of this week,” Nelson remarked.

“Then I’d say that might be the only thing Bri needs to be really okay.”

“Jesus,” he said softly. “I hope so.”

When the door to Bri’s room opened a little after seven on Friday night, Tory looked up from the couch where she sat reading a magazine.

“Nervous?” Tory asked kindly.

“Jesus, yes,” Bri said in a tight, clipped voice. “Dumb, huh?”

“No.” Tory shook her head. “I don’t think so. I think it’s pretty sweet.”

Bri blushed furiously. Then, softly, she asked, “Do I…uh…look okay?”

Giving the question due respect, Tory took in the new black jeans, the polished black boots, and the crisp white shirt. Bri looked like Bri always looked, lean and sleek and slightly dangerous. “You look great. I’m sure the only thing that’s going to matter to Caroline is that you’re there to see her.”

“It feels pretty weird visiting her at my dad’s,” Bri said. “At my own house, where we used to sleep in my bedroom together.”

“Things have changed now, Bri. You were kids then, and you’re not any longer.”

Bri settled a hip on the arm of the sofa and regarded Tory solemnly. “If you were Caroline, what would you want from me now?”

“Trust is a terribly fragile thing,” Tory said gently. “You know that, right?”

Bri nodded. She had become very still and every ounce of her attention was riveted on Tory’s face.

“The first step is to tell her what you feel, everything that you feel, as honestly as you can. If you’re scared, or not sure of how you feel, or even if you’re not sure if you love her…”

“No,” Bri said vehemently. “I am sure.”

“Then tell her all those things.” Tory waited a beat, and then continued softly, “I have faith in you. Both of you.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Bri parked her motorcycle in the narrow driveway and walked up the steps to the front porch. The door opened and she was face to face with her father.

“Hi,” she said quickly.

“Hey, Bri.” Nelson made a motion with his head toward the interior of the house. “You want to come in?”

“Yeah, sure,” Bri said, following him into the living room. She rocked uneasily from foot to foot. It had been almost two months since she’d seen Carre.

“Hi, Bri,” a soft voice said from somewhere quite close by.

Bri jumped, startled, and looked toward the stairs from the second floor. Carre stood halfway down, dressed in a scoop-neck black Lycra top and hip-hugger bluejeans. A thin silver belt of interlocking links was looped around her waist. The end trailed down one thigh.

Bri’s mouth was suddenly dry. “Hi, ba…Carre.”

Nelson cleared his throat. “So, you two doing anything interesting?”

“Uh,” Bri said, her eyes devouring Carre even as she stood rooted to the spot, “I was wondering if you’d like to go to the movies? They’re showing Bound again at the Cinema Arts, and I know you’ve seen it, but—”

“I’d love to go,” Caroline said quickly, coming down the stairs and crossing the small room to Bri’s side.

“Uh-huh.” Bri lifted a hand, automatically reaching for Carre’s, and then stopped. Softly, she said, “We should go.”

“Okay,” Carre replied, her eyes holding Bri’s.

Nelson coughed, then said heartily, “Well, you two have fun. And be careful.”

Once outside, they walked to the motorcycle and climbed on. When Carre wrapped her arms around Bri’s waist from behind, automatically sliding warm palms over Bri’s stomach, Bri shivered and dropped the keys. When Carre tightened her hold and rested her cheek against the back of Bri’s leather-jacketed shoulder, Bri spoke without turning around. “You look beautiful.”

“You look great, too.”

Bri’s entire body twitched as she felt Carre’s hot breath against the back of her neck. Then she put one leg down and leaned over, groping on the ground for her keys. When she found them and managed to get them into the ignition with shaking hands, she said, “Hold on.”

She couldn’t hear Carre’s reply as she started the engine.

“Oh, don’t worry, I will.”

After the movie, Carre asked, “Do you want to walk on the beach?”

“Okay.”

A few minutes later they reached the water’s edge, not far from the tumbled-down pier where Bri had sat that night with Ashley. It was Carre who broke the silence. “How’s work?”

“Good,” Bri said quickly. The nights were cold by the water, even in summer, and Bri removed her jacket and draped it around Carre’s shoulders. “I like it.”

Carre turned, snuggling into the jacket, luxuriating in the heat left behind by her lover’s body. “So you’re glad about the decision that you made?” Carre’s voice trembled slightly with the question.

“I’m glad that I went to the academy when I did.” Cautiously, Bri placed her fingertips very lightly on either side of Carre’s waist beneath the bottom of the jacket. “I’m not happy about leaving you, though. I’m sorry for screwing up.”

“Have you been seeing anyone since you’ve been here?” Carre spoke quietly, so quietly that her words were nearly carried away on the night wind.

“No. Not once,” Bri replied vehemently. “I love you, Carre. I won’t ever hurt you again. I promise.”

“I’ve missed you so much, Bri,” Carre said softly.

“I love you, babe. Do you believe me?”

“I’ve always believed you.”

“Is it enough?” Bri was holding her breath.

Carre turned her face and pressed her lips to the spot where she could feel Bri’s heart pounding beneath her cheek. “I always thought it would be…before. I’m not sure now. But we’ll find out.”

Tory had just awakened from a nap on the couch when Reese walked in. Smiling, Reese leaned down and kissed her softly on the mouth. “Hi, love. How are you doing?”

“Other than feeling like a narcotized whale, I’m doing just fine.”

“You don’t look like a whale,” Reese commented as she lifted Tory’s feet, sat down, and settled her lover’s legs into her lap. She began to massage Tory’s feet.

“Are you trying to seduce me?”

“Do I have to try?”

“No.” Tory nudged her heel between Reese’s thighs, eliciting a groan from her. “To tell you the truth,” Tory said somewhat irritably, “I feel like sex, but I’m not sure my body is up to it.”

“Whatever you want, whenever you want. You’re the boss.” Reese leaned sideways until she was reclining next to Tory, taking care to support herself on one arm so that she didn’t put her weight on her lover’s body. “This is enough for me.” As she spoke, Reese ran her fingers over the swell of Tory’s belly, and then brushed lightly over the curve of one full breast. “You get more beautiful every day. And when I feel the baby move, it’s just about the most thrilling thing I’ve ever experienced.”

“This is heaven,” Tory murmured. “But once in a while, Sheriff, I miss the wild sex.”

Reese laughed out loud. “I need to shower. Then what do you say we get in bed and see what happens?”

“See? I knew you were trying to seduce me.”

When Reese emerged from the shower, she crossed to the bed and reached for the bedside light.

“Just turn it down low, but leave it on,” Tory murmured. “I want to see your face.”

“Okay,” Reese said softly and slid beneath the sheets.

“You know what I love about sex with you?” Tory said pensively.

“What?” Reese asked, her eyes fixed on her lover’s. Tory’s expression was both whimsical and tender.

“You don’t hold anything back.”

“I love you with everything I am,” Reese whispered, gently resting her palm on the arch of Tory’s hip. “You own me.”

“Mmm. I love that about you, too.” Tory nestled her cheek in the bend of her arm and ran her other hand over Reese’s abdomen. “I want to watch you come,” Tory said steadily, running her fingertip between Reese’s breasts, then fleetingly over her nipples. She gave a murmur of satisfaction as they hardened to her touch.

“Aren’t you tired?” Reese was having trouble keeping her breathing steady or her legs still as Tory caressed her.

“I said I wanted to watch.” Slowly, deliberately, Tory drew Reese’s fingers down the center of Reese’s body and between Reese’s thighs. “Okay?”

Reese’s lips parted with a soft groan as Tory urged her to touch herself. Throat tight, Reese murmured, “I said anything you wanted.”

“I want.”

Tory kept her fingers lightly in contact with Reese’s so that she could feel Reese move. Her own heart beat faster, watching the tension grow in Reese’s face. Beneath her palm, Reese’s hand circled gently. “Are you hard?”

“Christ, yes.” Reese found it almost impossible to talk. It wasn’t as much the pleasure spiraling from beneath her fingers, but the look of hunger in Tory’s eyes that fueled her excitement.

“Slow down,” Tory said softly.

“I don’t…think I…can,” Reese said through gritted teeth. The muscles in her stomach danced in anticipation. “Oh God, Tor. It feels so good.”

“Make it last,” Tory urged. She enjoyed watching the pleasure ripple through Reese’s body too much to end it too quickly. “You’re so beautiful right now.”

“I want…to come,” Reese gasped desperately, her vision dimming. “Can I…come?”

“Hold on as long as you can.” Tory shifted her fingers lower, gliding over Reese’s fingertips as Reese fondled herself. “Tell me when you’re coming.”

“Soon…oh, soon.”

“Wait…wait, baby.”

“Tory,” Reese cried sharply. Her eyes opened wide, then the pupils flickered rapidly as her limbs grew rigid. “I’m gonna come.”

“Yes, sweetheart,” Tory murmured as she slid into her in one single motion. “You are.”

Reese choked out a cry as she flung her head back, forcing the orgasm on with each frantic stroke of her hand. When it seemed the convulsive contractions were almost over, Tory withdrew nearly completely and then entered again, setting off another round of spasms.

Dimly, Reese heard Tory’s voice close to her ear. “Again?”

“I can’t, I can’t.” Sweat streaked Reese’s face as she pressed her cheek to Tory’s breast. She still cupped herself with her palm, but Tory had withdrawn. “God, I’m wasted.”

“I adore you.” Tory pressed her lips to Reese’s forehead, then drew her lover’s head back to her breast. “Now go to sleep, sweetheart.”

With a sigh, Reese slid her arm over Tory’s hips and closed her eyes, doing as her lover bid.

A little after midnight, Bri walked Carre to the door of what she now thought of as her father’s house, not hers.

“Can I see you tomorrow night?” Bri asked, grasping Caroline’s hand as she leaned back against the porch post.

Carre stepped closer until she was nearly between Bri’s legs. “I’d like that.”

“Carre,” Bri whispered just before she kissed her. The kiss was nearly as tentative and tender as the first time she had dared to put her mouth on Carre’s skin. Their thighs brushed lightly, and they joined fingers, clasping hands as their lips met.

Slowly, Carre pressed closer until the front of her body pressed against Bri’s, her hips sheltered between Bri’s thighs, her pelvis rocking softly in time with her slowly thrusting tongue. She whimpered quietly and Bri moaned.

Abruptly, Bri broke off the kiss and pulled her head back. “Babe,” she whispered urgently. “I have to stop.”

“We’re just kissing,” Carre teased gently.

Bri shook her head. “You feel too good. I’m too excited. I want to save it.”

“For what?” Carre tilted her head and studied Bri’s handsome face, dark now with tension and desire.

“I want the first time we’re together again to be special,” Bri whispered, resting her forehead gently on Carre’s.

With a small cry, Carre wrapped her arms around Bri’s waist and pressed her cheek to Bri’s shoulder. “I love you.”

“I love you,” Bri whispered. “So fucking much.”

Carre ran her fingers lightly along the edge of Bri’s jaw. “I should go in. Be good, okay?”

“You mean I can’t go home and take care of myself?”

“I’d rather you waited for me,” Carre replied, her voice soft and low.

“Does it count against me if I come in my sleep?”

Carre seemed to give this some thought, her smile widening. “Depends on who you’re dreaming about.”

“Babe,” Bri answered seriously, “I only dream of you.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

When Reese stopped by the clinic to pick Tory up after her half day shift was over, Randy was nowhere in sight, so she walked through the door that led to the examining rooms and Tory’s office. As she passed an open room on her right, she automatically glanced in and saw Dan Riley bending over a woman lying on the examining table. Reese stopped abruptly, her pulse suddenly racing. The woman was Tory.

“Tor? Are you all right?” Reese walked around the far side of the table and grasped Tory’s right hand. “What happened?”

“Nothing,” Tory said quickly. “I had a bit of a headache, and Dan insisted that I lie down.”

“Headache.” Reese said the word very calmly as she studied Tory’s face. Inside, the roaring in her head was making it hard for her to think. Headache, visual disturbances, protein in… “Did you call Wendy?”

“It’s not necessary.” Tory shook her head and sat up on the side of the table. “My pressure hasn’t changed. It’s just an ordinary headache. It happens.” She spoke very slowly and kept her eyes fixed on Reese’s. “Sweetheart, everything is fine.”

Finally, Reese shifted her gaze back to Dan, and he nodded slightly before speaking.

“Her pressure’s high, but no higher than what she tells me it’s been for the last few weeks.” He smiled, the kind of smile doctors give patients to reassure them. “But…her shift is over, so I recommend an afternoon of taking it easy. I think that will probably solve the problem.”

“Well, that’s what we’ll do then,” Reese said, forcing a smile of her own. “Let’s go home, love.”

Tory kissed her, then said, “Let’s call Kate and Jean and invite ourselves to dinner tonight.”

“That sounds like a great idea.”

“Go to work, Reese,” Kate said. “It’s almost time for your shift. We’ll drive Tory home.”

“Okay,” Reese said, “if you’re sure. Tory?”

“Its fine, sweetheart. I’ll see you later at home.”

Reese frowned faintly. “Don’t wait up. It’ll be after midnight before I get back.”

“Then wake me up,” Tory murmured as she put her hand behind Reese’s neck and pulled her head down for a kiss. “Now get out of here, Sheriff.”

Kate waited until Reese had left, then tilted her head and asked kindly, “Is something wrong?”

“Do you and Jean have any plans to be away in the next few weeks?”

“We were going to go to Jean’s brother’s for fourth of July weekend. He and his family live near D.C.” Kate rested her hand on Tory’s knee. “Is there some reason we should cancel?”

“I hate to ask you,” Tory began hesitantly.

“What is it?”

“Hopefully, nothing,” Tory said with a small sigh. “I’m having just a bit of a problem with the pregnancy, and I might go…early.” Tory explained while Kate listened calmly.

“Could this be dangerous?” Kate asked when Tory had finished.

“There’s probably nothing to worry about but…Kate, in case anything were to…happen to me, Reese…” Tory’s voice trailed off, and she had to wait a few seconds before she could continue. “Reese would need help for a while.”

“Tory,” Kate said tenderly, taking both Tory’s hands in hers. “We’re not going to let anything happen to you. You or the baby. But no matter what, I promise that Reese will be fine. This time, I’ll be there for her.”

“Thank you, Kate. For everything.”

Bri raised her head and whispered, “Did you just hear a car?”

Carre, who reclined between Bri’s legs on the sofa, murmured breathlessly, “No. Don’t stop.”

“I think Reese is home,” Bri insisted, sitting up a little. “Besides, if we keep making out like this, I’m going to have some kind of serious nerve damage. I’m walking around permanently hard.”

“I could fix that, but you keep saying no.” Carre slid her hand under Bri’s T-shirt and let her fingers drift just below the waistband of Bri’s jeans. She smiled at Bri’s swift intake of breath and the rapid tensing of the abdominal muscles. “So it’s your own fault if you’re suffering.”

At that moment, Reese walked in. “Hi, you two. Tory asleep?”

“It was all quiet when we got here about ten,” Bri announced as she and Carre bolted upright.

“Good.” Reese headed for the stairs, ignoring their frantic rearranging of clothing. “I’ll see you in the morn…”

The phone rang and, turning back quickly, Reese grabbed for it. “Conlon.”

She was silent for a few moments, and then said, “You are actually closer to me than the Sheriff’s office. Why don’t you come here.”

Reese recited the directions and hung up the phone. She turned to Bri and said, “That was Ashley Walker. She says she knows where our firebug is.”

“Holy shit.”

“What’s going on?” Tory asked from the top of the stairs.

“Nothing,” Reese said quickly. “Just a call from work.”

“Do you have to go back out?” Tory, in a loose top and baggy sweats, descended to the living room and made her way into the kitchen. She opened the refrigerator, drew out a carton of orange juice, then pulled a glass from the dish drainer by the sink. “Hi, Caroline. How are you?”

“Just great.” Carre smiled brilliantly, resting her hand on Bri’s thigh.

Tory watched Reese check her watch for the second time, and repeated, “What’s going on, sweetheart?”

“We might have some information on the arsonist. Ashley Walker is on her way over.”

“Really.” Tory did some quick calculating. “Can I talk to you out on the deck?”

“Of course,” Reese said immediately.

Once outside, Tory turned to Reese and said, “Will you tell me what’s happening after you talk to Ashley?”

“Will you promise to go back to bed and try to get some sleep if I do?”

“God, you’re difficult.” Tory’s voice was a mixture of frustration and tenderness. “Yes, I promise. As long as you promise to come home unscathed.”

Reese pressed her lips to Tory’s forehead, and then her mouth. When she drew back, she whispered huskily, “I promise.”

“Then we have a deal,” Tory said as she rested her cheek against Reese’s shoulder. A moment later, she said softly, “I think that was the doorbell.”

A moment later, Caroline walked out onto the deck carrying Tory’s sweatshirt. She was wearing Bri’s leather jacket. “Do mind company while they’re talking?”

“No,” Tory replied with a smile as she reached for the sweatshirt. “Thanks, sweetie. Now…what’s on your mind?”

“Bri hasn’t said anything about me living with her when I finish school,” Caroline said in a small voice.

“Do you want to?”

“Of course. I love her. I’ve always wanted to live with her.”

“Have you told her that?” Tory asked gently.

“No.”

“Why not?”

Caroline was silent for a long moment. “I guess because…I’m still mad at her for making plans without me. For leaving me alone for the last four months.”

“Then you two have some more talking to do.” Tory brushed her fingers over Caroline’s cheek. “Don’t wait too long, sweetie. Time is precious.”

The sound of the sliding doors from the kitchen opening caught their attention as Reese came out and said, “Bri and I are going in to work in a bit.”

Caroline got up suddenly and started toward the house, Tory’s words echoing in her mind.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

“What is it?” Tory asked as she sat up on the lounge chair, making room for Reese next to her.

“Ashley Walker has been running deep background checks on everyone in Morris’s family, as well as his wife’s. She turned up something on an Internet search tonight.”

“What?”

“Morris’s wife’s great grandfather was one of the early 20th-century Provincetown art colonists.”

Tory stared at Reese. “He lived here?”

“He did.” Reese’s eyes glinted in the moonlight. “In a dune shack.”

The dunes shacks where just that, ramshackle buildings built in the shelter of the dunes on the Atlantic side of the tip of Cape Cod, opposite the village. Writers, painters, and photographers had built rustic shelters in this isolated location and often returned to them summer after summer for decades. Most were only accessible on foot. Many of the buildings had been lost to weather and neglect, but some still remained. They were only rarely occupied in modern times.

“Oh my god, do you think that’s where Morris is?” Tory said. When Reese nodded, Tory’s stomach lurched. “What are you going to do?”

“Nelson is waking up the museum curator right now so we can study the dune shack maps. Once we’re certain we know which one we’re dealing with, we’re going to take a ride out to check.”

“Tonight?” Tory asked, her heart pounding.

“At dawn.” Reese shifted and slid her arm around Tory’s waist. “He won’t expect us. Besides, the guy is an arsonist. He’s not likely to put up a fight.”

“Of course,” Tory said evenly, knowing Reese would go, regardless of her fears. This was what Reese did. “Who else is going?”

“Bri, Ashley, and Nelson.”

“Ashley?” Tory said with surprise.

“She’s been chasing this guy a long time, and she’s an ex-cop. She’s probably better trained for this than Lyons or Smith. I cleared it with Nelson already, and she’s earned it.”

“When are you going?”

“We’re supposed to meet at 2:00 a.m.”

“Soon then.” Tory took a slow steadying breath. “Will you call me as soon as it’s over?”

“I don’t suppose there’s any chance that you’ll be able to sleep, is there?” Reese lifted Tory’s chin with her fingertips and kissed her softly. “Maybe just a little?”

“I’ll lie down when you go,” Tory murmured, her mouth against Reese’s. She wanted to fist her hands in Reese’s shirt and keep her next to her forever. “But I might not sleep until you get back into bed.”

“Then I’ll be home as soon as I can,” Reese breathed before she kissed her again.

When Caroline stepped inside, she immediately saw Bri and Ashley leaning against the breakfast counter on the far side of the room, facing one another as they talked. She also noted in one quick glance that Ashley had placed her left hand on Bri’s forearm where it rested on the back of a chair. Without hesitation, she walked to them and put her arm around Bri’s waist. “Hi, baby.”

“Hey, babe,” Bri said softly, resting her hand lightly on the back of Carre’s neck.“Uh, Carre, this is Ashley Walker.”

Caroline extended her hand. “Hi. I’m Carre, Bri’s girlfriend.”

Ashley nodded, her eyes searching the pretty young blond’s. If she hadn’t been too busy with her own love life to pursue the sexy Sheriff’s officer, the look in Bri’s girlfriend’s eyes would have been enough to dissuade her. “Got it.”

“Well,” Bri said, looking from one to the other a bit uncertainly. “I should get ready.”

“I’ll come with you,” Caroline said, smiling at Ashley.

Inside Bri’s bedroom, Carre sat on the side of Bri’s bed and watched her lover change. “We should go apartment hunting.”

Bri stopped abruptly and regarded Carre in the dim light of the bedside lamp. “We should?”

“Uh-huh. You can’t stay here forever, plus I don’t think we can make love in here without waking Reese and Tory up. It doesn’t make sense for both of us to move back to Nelson’s. We need our own place.”

“We do?” Bri’s throat was dry and her heart was beating two hundred times a minute. “Our place?”

“Yes,” Carre said as she rose and walked to Bri. She brushed the jet-black strands of hair off Bri’s forehead, then threaded her arms around Bri’s waist.

“Here?” Bri felt incapable of full sentences.

Carre smiled. “This is where you’ll be, right?”

Bri nodded. She had to go to work. Reese had said ten minutes. But the world had stopped and all she knew was the thudding of her pulse and the warmth deep in her belly. This was what mattered. This moment. “You’ll live here…with me?”

“Of course,” Carre replied, her lips soft against Bri’s cheek. “I love you. I can’t live anywhere else.”

“Carre—”

“Shh,” Carre murmured gently just before she kissed her.

Just before dawn, Reese, Nelson, Bri and Ashley turned onto a narrow trail in the sand that ran parallel to the Atlantic ocean and beach. After a mile, Nelson cut the lights and glanced at Reese in the front seat opposite him. “Think we should proceed from here on foot?”

She nodded. “He’s probably asleep, but nevertheless, vehicles out here are unusual. He’s likely to be suspicious about anything he hears.”

Turning in the seat to look at Bri and Ashley in the rear, she advised, “I’ll take point, and when we get there, Nelson will circle around to cover the rear. You two watch my back. I’ll be going through the door first. Questions?”

No one had any.

It took them fifteen minutes climbing up and over sand dunes, skirting low cranberry bushes and scrub, before they reached the shack which they had been identified on the archival museum maps as once belonging to Albert Reims, Stanley Morris’s wife’s ancestor. There were no lights, no vehicle, nothing to indicate that the single-story building was occupied.

As they approached, Reese directed the small group with hand signals. She counted off five, holding up one finger at a time, indicating to Nelson that they would give him five minutes to get into position on the far side of the building before moving in. Once he disappeared from sight, she hunkered down, checked her watch, and drew her weapon.

When she checked her watch again, exactly five minutes had passed. She held up her left hand, the fingers closed. Behind her, she heard the faintest shifting as Bri and Ashley drew their weapons. Slowly, Reese extended three fingers, one at a time. On three, she was up and running.

Reese hit the door with her right foot, her weapon in two hands at shoulder height as she pushed through shouting “Police”. There must have been a sensor on the door, because a blinding light struck her full in the face the second the door flew open. She didn’t even have time to search for a target through the glare. The blow to her chest was so powerful her body was blown back through the doorway.

The next thing she knew, she was lying on her back, staring into the sky, completely unable to breathe. Her chest was on fire; it felt like her lungs were exploding. She couldn’t move her arms or legs, and when she tried to speak, she couldn’t make a sound. The sky tilted and she finally realized someone was dragging her over the sand. Distantly, she heard thunder. Incongruously, she wondered if it was going to rain.

Bri’s face came into view, white and terrified. Bri’s lips were moving, but Reese couldn’t hear her. Her vision was blurry and every sensation was eclipsed by searing pain. She was aware of her stomach and chest muscles straining, contracting violently, as she desperately fought for one breath. Suddenly, air blasted into her chest as if a vacuum seal had been released, and she groaned with a combination of relief and agony.

“Reese!” Bri shouted. “Jesus Christ, Reese!”

Reese had one thought. Only one. Struggling for air, she whispered, “Don’t…call…Tory.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

Tory was awakened by the sound of the front door closing.

“Reese?” she said groggily as she sat up. Caroline stirred beside her and sat up as well. “Honey? I thought you’re going to call?”

“Thought…you might…be asleep,” Reese said deliberately as she walked carefully to the breakfast counter and deposited her keys. Bri was behind her, carrying a duffel bag.

“What time is it?” Tory said as she rose, running her hands through her hair.

“A little after 8:00,” Bri replied hoarsely.

Tory stared at the two of them, abruptly wary. Bri was white as a sheet. For some reason, Reese wouldn’t look at her. S he suddenly realized that Reese was wearing only the dark green T-shirt that she often wore beneath her uniform shirt. “What’s going on? Reese, where’s your shirt?”

“Tory,” Reese said gently. “We’ve all been up all night. What do you say we go to bed, and I’ll give you all the details later.”

“Fine,” Tory said sharply, her eyes riveted on Reese’s. There was something very wrong.

“Bri is gonna take me home now, right baby?” Caroline added quickly.

Bri glanced at her in surprise, but said nothing.

“Fine,” Tory said again, not looking at them as they headed for the door. She walked to Reese and rested a hand lightly on her lover’s back. “You’re hurt, aren’t you?”

“Just bruises,” Reese said firmly. It hurt to talk, and she was sweating with the effort to keep her voice level.

“How badly?”

“I’ll be fine after I lie down for a few hours.”

“C’mon then. Let’s get you upstairs.”

Once in the bedroom, Reese methodically unbuckled her belt, unzipped her trousers, and let them fall to the floor. She didn’t bother removing her briefs. The T-shirt was going to be a challenge. When she tried to raise her arms, she grunted involuntarily at another swift surge of pain.

“Let me do that,” Tory said stiffly, her stomach in knots. “Just tell me what happened.”

“He was prepared for us. I took a round, but I was wearing a vest. I’m okay.”

Tory’s heart clenched. I took a round.

“Just hold still until I get this off.” Tory’s voice rang hollowly as she finally managed to lift the shirt over Reese’s head. “Oh my God.”

“Tory…”

“Oh my God, Reese!” Tory placed both hands on Reese’s shoulders, suddenly dizzy. There was a fist-sized bruise in the center of her lover’s chest, the skin, swollen and raw, already darkening to purple. “Why didn’t someone call me?”

“I’m okay,” Reese insisted, putting her arms around her lover. “C’mon, let’s sit down on the bed.”

Tory’s eyes were blazing. “Don’t you dare patronize me, Reese Conlon. Why didn’t someone call me?”

“Because I didn’t want you to be scared,” Reese said steadily. Wendy said you should take it easy. “The vest stopped it. It’s just a bruise.”

“Have you seen Dan?”

“No. I wanted to get home.”

“We need to go to the clinic right now.” Tory’s tone was frigid. “You need an EKG and a chest X-ray. For all we know, you could have a cracked sternum or cardiac contusion.”

“Tory, please,” Reese pleaded. “I just need a little sleep, and so do you. I promise I’ll go later if you still think I should.”

“For God’s sake, Reese, what were you thinking? Look at you!” For a moment, Tory was too angry and too frightened to think. She knew that it was only good fortune that Reese hadn’t been shot with something that would have penetrated her vest. From the location of the bruise, it would’ve been fatal. “I can’t stand this.”

Tory turned away, trembling.

Tenderly, Reese placed her hands on Tory’s shoulders and rested her cheek against the top of Tory’s head. “It’s okay, love. I’m fine. Let’s just go to bed. I need to lie down, and I need you beside me.”

“Yes, all right.” She couldn’t keep arguing with her when she was hurt. They were both too exhausted.

Together, they walked to the bed and slipped beneath the sheets. Tory settled into a comfortable position and Reese fit her body to her lover’s.

“I love you, Tory,” Reese murmured, her eyes already closing.

Tory found Reese’s hand and enclosed it in her own, drawing it between her breasts. Closing her eyes, she held the heat of Reese’s skin against her heart. Softly, she whispered, “I love you, too. You’re my life.”

At Nelson’s, Bri kicked the stand down on her bike and settled her right foot on the ground.

Caroline regarded her steadily, her hands still loosely clasping Bri’s waist. Bri’s blue eyes were almost black, wounded looking. “You don’t have to go right back, do you?”

Bri shook her head. “Not till this afternoon.”

“Come inside.”

Mutely, Bri followed Carre into the house and up the stairs to what was once her own bedroom. “Uh, I should probably take a shower…or something.”

“I’ll take one with you.”

“Okay.” Bri had this strange numb feeling, like her insides were frozen. “Sure.”

They hadn’t been naked together since the last time they’d made love, weeks before, and they were both quiet as they undressed. When Carre stepped close to her and wrapped her arms around Bri’s neck, Bri moaned faintly. “You feel so good.”

“Mmm,” Caroline sighed, resting her cheek on Bri’s shoulder. “Are you gonna tell me what happened?”

“Later,” Bri muttered. The sweet rush of arousal chased the horror from her consciousness. “I can’t think right now.”

“Are you sure you want a shower?” Carre’s voice was husky, and her hips had begun a subtle undulation that was totally involuntary. Her nipples tightened as she brushed her breasts lightly against Bri’s.

“Oh man,” Bri groaned, twitching with urgency. “Let’s jump in fast, because I can’t wait very long.”

Trying to stay connected, they scrambled into the shower and soaped each other quickly in a tangle of arms and legs. They stopped frequently to kiss, their hands hungry…touching, teasing, tormenting. Then, they hurriedly stepped out and grabbed blindly for towels, still exploring one another with their mouths. In another minute, they were in bed.

“I don’t want to hurry,” Bri gasped, grasping Carre’s hand as it slid down her belly, stopping her.

“I can’t do slow right now,” Carre muttered, opening her legs as Bri fit her thigh between them. “I’m already too excited.”

“So am I,” Bri groaned, her lips moving over Carre’s neck, bracing herself on one arm as she squeezed a stone-hard nipple with her other hand. “I’m so ready it hurts.”

Carre arched her hips, pressing hard against Bri’s thigh. “I wanna come.”

“Me too,” Bri gasped, but she rolled off her lover, breaking the exquisite contact.

Carre cried out in protest and turned on her side to face Bri. Her pupils were huge, unfocused, hazy with need. “Please, baby.”

Bri stroked a finger down Carre’s cheek. “Let’s hold on…as long as we can.”

“I can’t,” Carre pleaded, her lids flickering as her breasts heaved with each erratic breath.

“Kiss me for a while,” Bri urged as she brought her mouth to Carre’s. The heat sent a jolt of pleasure down Bri’s spine and her hips jerked in response. Carre was whimpering steadily, writhing against Bri frantically as they drank one another’s passion.

Abruptly, Carre pulled her head away and grasped Bri’s hand, forcing it between her legs. “I have to. Oh, I have to.”

“I love you, babe,” Bri cried as Carre thrust against her palm, hot and hard and wet.

“Oh, I’m coming,” Carre cried.

“Yes, yes,” Bri whispered urgently, pressing hard with the heel of her hand as she slid her fingers into Carre’s depths.

Carre cried out again, and her head snapped back, her body jerking. Bri stroked her through her climax, then stayed inside her, thrusting gently as the internal spasms gradually abated. Eventually, Carre quieted in Bri’s embrace, her head tucked into the crook of Bri’s neck.

“Oh my god,” Carre murmured. “You’re so good.”

“I love you so much,” Bri gasped, her voice choked and rough.

“Good.” Carre was barely moving, almost stuporous in the aftermath of her orgasm. “Did you come?”

“No.”

Carre tilted her head back, her eyes cloudy and her lips smiling softly. “Playing hard to get?”

“I wanted to watch you.”

“Wanna now?”

“Oh man, yes,” Bri moaned, shivering as Carre licked her neck.

Laughing softly, Carre slid her fingers between Bri’s thighs, gliding under and around and over the blood engorged tissues. “You’re so hard.”

Bri couldn’t speak. She couldn’t even breathe. When Carre touched her in just the right place, with just the right pressure, as only she could do, Bri gave one hoarse shout and came. The near crippling waves of pleasure seemed endless, and by the time she could think again, her body was slick with sweat and her face wet with tears.

“Oh baby,” Carre crooned, pressing Bri’s face to her breasts. “It’s okay. It’s okay.”

“I was so scared,” Bri gasped. “I was so scared.”

Carre wasn’t sure what Bri was talking about, but she could feel Bri tremble, and that was enough to scare her. She had no idea what to do, so she stroked Bri’s hair and face, kissed her forehead, wrapped her arms and legs around her so that every inch of their bodies touched. “I love you, I love you,” she said over and over and over.

Eventually, Bri quieted and managed a long shaky breath. “It happened so fast. So fast.” Bri shuddered. “One second I was running, and the next thing I knew, there was a shot…Christ, it sounded like a cannon…and Reese came flying back through the doorway. I thought she was dead. She wasn’t moving, and there was a hole right in the middle of her shirt.”

“I’m so sorry, baby,” Carre murmured, running her fingers through Bri’s hair, petting her.

“I couldn’t think. I forgot all about the guy in the building. All I could think about was Reese. Ashley shot Morris as he was coming through the door with a fucking automatic in his hands. If she hadn’t been there, he would’ve killed me and Reese.”

“Oh my god.” Carre’s heart almost stopped beating then, and everything inside of her turned to ice. “Is he…dead?”

“Yeah.”

“And Ashley and your dad are all right?”

Bri nodded, sighed, and closed her eyes. “I’m so tired, Carre.”

Carre shifted a little and cradled Bri’s head against her breast. Most of the time Bri held her while they slept, and it felt so special to hold her protectively now. “I love you, baby. Go to sleep now.”

When Reese awoke, it was night. Tory lay close to her, her hand resting on Reese’s hip. Slowly, Reese drew a deep breath. It hurt, but she could manage it.

“How do you feel?” Tory asked from out of the dark.

“Sore, but nothing feels broken.”

“I’ve been lying here listening to you breathe. You sound okay.”

“I can’t believe I slept more than twelve hours.”

“You needed it.” Tory softly stroked the length of Reese’s thigh. The silence stretched between them, and finally she said gently, “I know you were trying to protect me.”

“Yes.” Reese found Tory’s hand and linked their fingers. “Are you still angry?”

“Mostly still scared.”

With effort, Reese rolled onto her side, ignoring the shaft of pain that started in her breast bone and penetrated through to her back. In the pale moonlight, she could just make out Tory’s face, luminous in the silvery shadows. “I told you I wouldn’t take any chances, and I didn’t. I wore the vest.”

“I know,” Tory whispered. “And we both know if it been a few inches higher, it could’ve been your throat.”

“Tor…”

“It’s just that I love you so much,” Tory murmured. She kissed her with the gentle, tentative touch of a first kiss, amazed at how precious their love still felt. “Can you tell me about it now?”

“Tor,” Reese said tenderly. “You might not want…”

“I want, Reese. Knowing is always better than wondering.”

After another kiss, Reese proceeded to outline the morning’s events. She spoke concisely, as if she was giving report, until she reached the point where she went through the door. Then her tone grew guarded.

“When I was first hit, I wasn’t entirely certain what had happened.” Reese’s voice trailed off, and for the first time, she considered her words before speaking.

“Go ahead, sweetheart,” Tory said gently. “I’m okay.”

“I couldn’t move, and I couldn’t get a breath, and I wasn’t sure how badly I was hit.”

Tory struggled to keep her voice even. “Were you frightened?”

“Not for me, so much,” Reese said quietly. “I was worried about Bri, because I couldn’t see her. I was worried about you, because…”

“Because?”

“I didn’t want to leave you alone.” Reese sensed Tory tremble and moved closer to her. “You know I never would, right?”

“I know that,” Tory whispered, blinking back tears that she didn’t want Reese to see.

“When I finally realized I was pretty much okay, the only thing I could think of was that I didn’t want an officer showing up at our door, because I knew what you would think.”

“If you’re hurt,” Tory said firmly, “I want to know about it.”

“I don’t want anything to upset you. Not now,” Reese admitted fervently. “I just want us to get through the next few months, and for you and the baby to be all right.”

“We will be.” Tory kissed Reese again. “I promise, sweetheart.”

As Reese sighed and closed her eyes, Tory desperately hoped that she could keep her promise.

July, Provincetown, MA

“I don’t think spending the evening in town is exactly what Wendy meant by bedrest,” Reese said pointedly. She was in uniform, having stopped home in the middle of a Saturday to see how Tory was doing with her new routine.

“She didn’t say strict bedrest,” Tory pointed out irritably. She got up from the couch and started to pace. “She didn’t even say bedrest. What she said was ‘rest at home’.”

“I know what she said,” Reese said, leaning against the counter and trying not to raise her voice. “She said your blood pressure had edged up another five points, and it was time for you to cut back on everything.”

“I’ve agreed not to work for the rest of my term. I can’t be any more sedentary without risking a psychotic break.”

Reese felt like she was living with a ticking bomb. The visit to the obstetrician two days before had scared the hell out of her. The preeclampsia was worsening, and Wendy said that they couldn’t wait the full term. As soon as there were clear signs of fetal maturity, Tory would need a Caesarian section.

“I know you won’t take chances.” Reese rubbed her cheek against Tory’s hair, then kissed her temple. “But it’s going to be a mad house with the fireworks at the monument tonight.”

“I feel fine, sweetheart. Since I haven’t been going to work this past week, my pressure has really settled down. I don’t have any new symptoms. Let’s just go out tonight, okay? I promise just for a little while.”

“Sure.” Reese wrapped her arms around her lover from behind.

“I promise I’ll let you do all the shopping and the barbequing for the Fourth of July, okay?”

Reese laughed. “Now there’s a deal.”

Laughing, Reese stepped away, collected her keys, and headed for the door. One she had gone, Tory stretched out on the couch with a sigh and put her feet up. She hated to admit how tired she was, even to herself. Within minutes, she was asleep.

Reese slid in behind the wheel, started the engine, and pulled out of the department parking lot. Glancing at Bri, she asked, “Are you and Caroline pretty much settled in the new place?”

Bri grinned.“ Other than the fact that we don’t have any furniture, we’re doing fine.”

“So you’re all right with Paris?”

Bri shrugged. “It still…scares me some. But I love her, and I know she loves me.”

“You must be really proud of her.”

“Yeah, I am,” Bri said, meaning it.

Reese watched the road, scanning passing cars, checking out the yards that they passed, looking over the pedestrians crowding the sidewalks. “Have you heard from Ashley or Allie?”

“I talked to Ashley the day the final report on the shooting was filed. She said she was headed back to Rhode Island.” Bri grinned.“She also said she expected to be around a fair amount this summer, because Allie is going to be stationed permanently in Wellfleet.”

“Huh. Guess that worked out too, then.”

The radio crackled to life, and Gladys’ voice filled the car. “Reese?”

“Go ahead.”

“There’s an emergency call for you. It’s Tory.”

“Patch her through to my cell phone,” Reese said sharply, pulling the mobile from her belt. It rang an instant later, and she snapped it open. “Tor?”

“I just called the paramedics,” Tory reported, her voice tight. “I’m having some bleeding.”

“I’ll be right there.” Reese tossed the phone onto the seat, flicked on the lights and siren, and slammed her foot down on the gas pedal.

CHAPTER FORTY

When Reese careened into her driveway, the EMT van was already there. The door to the living room was open, and as she pushed through, the paramedics were just strapping Tory onto a stretcher. Just seeing Tory like that made Reese’s stomach twist, and for one terrible second, she thought she might be ill. Then, Tory turned her head, their eyes met, and everything inside of Reese settled.

“Hey, love,” Reese said gently as she reached for the hand that Tory extended. “How are you feeling?”

“You need to call Wendy,” Tory said urgently. “She’s going to need to talk to whoever is on call at the local hospital, because I can’t make it to Boston.”

“Tell me what’s going on so I can tell her.”

Tory bit her lip and squeezed Reese’s hand so hard that the band on Reese’s ring finger pressed painfully into the bone.

“Tor?” Reese asked, trying unsuccessfully to keep the panic from her voice. “Baby? What is it?”

“I’m having…some pain.”

Tory’s face was white and her skin clammy.

Reese looked at the two men. “I think we need to hurry here.”

“Don’t worry,” one of them grunted as he pulled open the back of the ambulance. “We’ll be flying in just a minute.”

Once the EMTs had Tory secured inside the van, Reese knelt by Tory’s side on the corrugated floor, one hand cradling Tory’s head and the other gripping her hand. Within seconds, they were rocketing east on Route 6.

“Put the fetal heart monitor on now,” Tory instructed the EMT.

“Let me get you lined up first,” he said calmly.

“Check the baby’s heart rate first.” Tory gasped as another wave of pain began. “Hurry.”

“Sure, Doc. Just try to relax, okay?”

“Then call ahead and tell them…you have…an abruption coming in.”

The EMT hesitated, his expression darkening. “You sure?”

Tory gritted her teeth and sweat broke out on her forehead. Finally, when the cramp passed, she gasped, “Yes.”

“Tory,” Reese said urgently. “What’s happening?”

“I—” Tory clenched her jaws as another wave of pain coursed through her abdomen. “I think the placenta is separating from the uterine wall. That’s what’s causing the bleeding.”

Neither of them spoke for a moment as the EMT situated the external fetal heart monitor. The seconds it took for him to get a reading seemed endless. “Heart rate’s normal.”

“Watch it carefully for decelerations,” Tory instructed as she drew a shaky breath. She looked into Reese’s eyes and said, “They’re probably going to have to section me quickly, especially if the baby’s heart rate drops.”

“Can we wait for Wendy?” Reese asked hoarsely.

Tory shook her head. “We could try to wait, but there’s a danger for the baby if the hemorrhage worsens.”

“What about you?” Reese whispered, her insides so tight she could barely breathe. It’s you, Tory. Only you. You’re my heart. My soul.

“I’ll be okay.”

Reese had never been so scared in her life. She had to rely on what Tory was telling her, because she didn’t understand what was happening.

“They’ve called the OB guy to come in,” the EMT reported as he pulled a syringe and medication vial from the red tackle box that contained his emergency drugs.

“What is that?” Tory asked.

“Mag sulfate.”

“What’s it for?” Reese questioned.

The EMT hung the drip. “Helps prevent seizures from the hypertension and premature labor.”

Seizures. Jesus Christ. Reese thought her head might explode. “What about her blood pressure?”

“As soon as I get this drip going,” he said calmly, “I’ll give her a dose of nifedipine. That should take the edge off.”

“No,” Tory said forcefully. “Not until we’re in the emergency room. If my pressure drops and the baby becomes hypoxia, we need someone who can section me stat.”

“You’re still bleeding at a pretty good rate.” He regarded her solemnly. “That might settle down some if your blood pressure were a little lower.”

“We’ll be there soon, won’t we?” Tory asked, her face tightening as yet another wave of pain began to crest.

“ETA 6 minutes.”

“Then we wait.”

Tory closed her eyes, trying to gather her strength. Reese lifted her lover’s hand to her lips and held a kiss against the pale skin. The only comfort she could find in the nightmare world of the rocking van was the steady, rapid beat of the fetal heart monitor.

The instant the EMTs shoved the stretcher through the double doors into the emergency room, both men started shouting.

“…placental abruption…hemorrhage…hypertension…thirty-three weeks…OB stat”

A tall, thin balding man in a white coat approached on the run. “I’m Dr. Saunders, the emergency room physician. I called the OB attending. He should be here in forty-five minutes.”

“That might be too long,” Tory gasped. “Is there an OB resident in the house?”

“A second year,” the ER physician advised. “Not senior enough for what you need. I consulted the in-house general surgeon, just in case.”

“I’m expecting her obstetrician to call any second,” Reese stated as several nurses assisted the EMTs in moving Tory to a gurney. “When I tried to reach her earlier, I got her service.”

“Fine. We’ll alert the operating room to prepare for an emergency Caesarean section. I’ve called in the pediatric intensivist from home.”

“What have we got?” a deep voice questioned from behind Reese.

Reese turned as K.T. O’Bannon’s dark eyes fell on Tory. “She’s bleeding,” Reese murmured quietly, almost choking on the words.

K.T. nodded to Reese, then leaned over the bed and briefly ran her fingers over Tory’s cheek. Gently, she said, “Hi, Vic. I thought it had to be you when I heard that a pregnant doctor was coming in. I always seem to be on call when you roll in.”

“Just your luck,” Tory whispered.

“What’s the situation?”

“I think I’m getting ready to deliver this baby,” Tory gasped, her green eyes almost all pupil, her brow running with sweat. “I’m bleeding pretty rapidly.”

“Pressure’s up there too,” K.T. murmured as she quickly scanned the monitors surrounding the bed. She glanced at the OB resident, a freckle-faced, blond-haired boy who looked to be about fifteen, as he hurried up to the bedside. “Can you give me a status check on the baby?”

With a surprising degree of aplomb, the young man dragged over a portable ultrasound, checked the monitors, and did a quick evaluation. “Can’t tell the extent of the abruption. Fetal heart rate’s good with no dips, though. And there’s movement.”

Reese rapidly searched the faces clustered around Tory, frantically trying to decipher the medical shorthand. Sharply, she asked, “What does that mean?”

“It means the baby’s alive,” the resident said flatly.

Reese felt as if she’d been shot. It took her a second to get her breath. “You mean there’s a chance it might not be?”

“With a moderate to severe placental abruption, the fetal mortality rate is very high,” the resident dutifully reported.

“Christ, will you shut up,” K.T. snapped. “All I want you to do is stand here and monitor the baby. If you see a problem, tell me. Otherwise, I don’t want to hear anything from you.”

Purposefully, she turned partly away from him and looked steadily into Reese’s eyes. “The baby’s fine. The baby’s going to be fine as long as we keep a careful watch on things.”

“What about Tory?” Reese clutched the bed rail so hard her fingers ached. In a strangled voice, she repeated desperately, “K.T., what about Tory?”

“I’m not going to let anything happen to Tory.” K.T. angled back to Tory. “We may not be able to wait for a phone consultation with Wendy. You ready for that?”

“Yes,” Tory said, struggling with pain and fatigue and fear. “K.T…can you do this?”

“Of course I can,” K.T. said with absolute certainty. She tilted her chin toward the OB resident. “I’ll bring Junior here along for back up.”

“Then go ahead.” Tory closed her eyes.

“I won’t let you down, Vic,” K.T. murmured. Then she gestured to Reese and said in a low voice, “I need to speak with you over here.”

Reluctantly, Reese released Tory’s hand, stepped away from the stretcher, and followed.

“I’ll have to take Tory to the operating room very soon,” K.T. reported. “She could start bleeding more heavily at any minute, and that’s not only a risk to her life, but to the baby’s.”

“Okay,” Reese said hoarsely. “Whatever you need to do.”

K.T. nodded. “Good. I’ll need you to sign the consents.”

Reese complied, then walked on wooden legs back to Tory’s side. “I love you, Tory.”

Tory’s lids fluttered open. She smiled softly. “You’ve given me everything I’ve ever wanted, sweetheart. If…if I—”

“Don’t.” Reese stopped her with a kiss. When she drew back, her blue eyes were calm. “We’re not saying goodbye. Not now. Not ever.”

“I lov—”

“We’ve got a dip in the fetal heart rate,” the OB resident called out.

“That’s it,” K.T. said firmly, grasping the bottom of the stretcher and propelling it out of the small cubicle as the resident grabbed hold of the other end. “Let’s move, everybody.”

Reese ran beside the gurney, trying to hold Tory’s gaze. Her lover’s eyes were clouded with pain and worry. The elevator doors slid open, most of the people piled on along with the stretcher, and Reese was forced to step back.

When the doors closed with a quiet swush, she was left alone in the suddenly still hallway. She had never felt so empty in her life.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Kate stood in the doorway of a small waiting room down the hall from two windowless, gray metal doors marked with a red sign that proclaimed No Admittance - Labor and Delivery. Her daughter sat alone, head bowed, face hidden in her hands

“Reese?” Kate said softly as she approached. “Honey?”

Reese looked up, her eyes hollow pits of pain. “Mom?”

Kate slid onto the vinyl sofa beside her daughter and put an arm around her waist. “They told me downstairs that Tory was in delivery. Any news?”

Reese shook her head. When she spoke her voice was rusty, as if she hadn’t used it in a long time. “What are you doing here?”

“Bri brought me. She and Caroline are outside in the hall.”

“I’m glad you’re here,” Reese whispered. “They’ve been in there half an hour. Shouldn’t they…shouldn’t something have happened by now?”

“I’m sure they’re all busy, honey.” Her voice was gentle now as she slowly rubbed her hand up and down Reese’s back. “It doesn’t mean a thing.”

Reese met her mother’s gaze. “I don’t want Tory to die. I don’t care about anything else—god, not even…” her voice broke, her eyes flooding with tears. “She’d hate me if she knew.”

“No, honey,” Kate murmured. “She wouldn’t. Tory would understand. I know she loves you that much, too.”

“But she’s all I can think about—”

“It’s natural for you to fear for your lover’s life. There’s nothing to feel badly about.”

Reese cleared her throat, making an effort to focus. “Did you say Bri was here?”

“Just outside with her girlfriend.” Kate stood. “Shall I get them?”

“Yes. Thanks.”

A minute later, Bri and Caroline entered.

“Hey,” Bri said quietly, stopping a few feet from Reese, her hands in her pockets.

Caroline leaned down, kissed Reese on the cheek, then settled close to her on the couch. She rested one small hand lightly on Reese’s forearm. Gently, she asked, “Any word on Tory and the baby?”

“Not yet.”

When Caroline linked her fingers through Reese’s, Reese held on gratefully, then met Bri’s eyes. The young officer looked worried but steady, and Reese found her familiar presence a comfort. “Thanks for bringing Kate.”

“No problem.” Bri didn’t know what the hell to say. It made her insides turn to water to see Reese looking so scared and trying to pretend she wasn’t.

Caroline must have seen the edge of panic in Bri’s expression, because she held out her other hand. “Sit down, baby.”

Bri reached for Carre and did as she was told. The three of them were sitting pressed together in silence when K.T. appeared in the doorway. Reese jumped to her feet and rushed across the room. The surgeon murmured something and Reese sagged, then steadied herself with a hand against the doorjamb. After a second’s hesitation, K.T. put a hand on the back of Reese’s neck, leaned close, and spoke into her ear. Reese nodded, squared her shoulders, and disappeared around the corner.

“Oh fuck.” Bri stared at Carre. Her voice was high and tight. “What do you think is going on?”

“It will be okay, baby,” Caroline said gently, putting an arm around Bri’s waist. She kissed her temple. “Nothing will happen to Tory.”

Bri closed her eyes and leaned into Carre’s certain strength. “I’m so glad you’re here,” she whispered.

“Me, too,” Caroline murmured. And I always will be.

Tory was the only patient in the small recovery room. Reese stepped inside, a yellow cotton cover gown over her uniform, and swallowed hard when she saw how pale and still her lover appeared.

“Tor?” she whispered softly.

Tory moaned faintly and opened her eyes with effort. Her pupils were dilated and unfocused. “Reese?”

With her free hand, Reese smoothed Tory’s damp hair back from her forehead. “We have a baby daughter,” Reese informed her gently. “K.T. says everything went fine.”

Tory and the baby are stable. Tory bled heavily but the hemorrhage has stopped for now. If we can keep her pressure down, she might make it without a transfusion. The baby was a little slow to breathe but she seems okay now. The neonatologist is evaluating her.

“What…was…her…Apgar?”

“I don’t know, love. The pediatrician has her right now.”

“Have you…seen her yet?” Tory blinked, and her eyes seemed clearer.

“I’m going to go see her in a few minutes. The doctors have to check her out first.” Reese leaned over and kissed Tory’s forehead. “You did great, Tor.”

“Might have been better…if I’d waited a bit longer,” Tory said with a weak smile. “You okay, sweetheart?”

“Yeah, fine,” Reese said huskily. “I love you.”

A nurse approached with a practiced smile.“I’m sorry. Dr. King needs some rest. You can come back in a little while.”

“All right,” Reese replied, although she made no move to leave. She was uncertain if she would be able to force herself away from Tory’s side. She wasn’t yet convinced that something wasn’t going to happen to take her away. “You’ll be okay?”

Tory smiled again and squeezed Reese’s hand harder. “I’ll be fine. Go see our daughter…come back…and tell me.”

“I love you,” Reese whispered again.

“Love you too,” Tory murmured as she closed her eyes.

In yet another sterile ante room, Reese scrubbed her hands and donned a green gown.

“Can I help you with something?” a dark haired, middle-aged nurse in pale blue scrubs asked just a bit suspiciously.

“I’m looking for…uh…baby…uh…baby girl King.”

“And you are?”

From behind them, a deep alto voice answered, “The other mother.”

“Oh,” the nurse exclaimed brightly, her smile genuine.“She’s in the isolation room with Dr. Newman.”

“The isolation room?” Reese repeated. Now the knots in her stomach tied themselves into yet another layer.

“Relax, Reese.” K.T. put her hand on Reese’s shoulder. “It’s standard, especially with a baby this small. Come on. I’ll take you back.” She hesitated a second. “Unless you don’t want me to.”

Reese met K.T.‘s eyes. “I owe you. And I think Tory would like you to see the baby.”

K.T. blushed, an almost reportable event where she was concerned. When she spoke, her voice was low and thick. “I’d like that. I was too busy earlier to do more than hand her off.”

A minute later the two of them stared wordlessly into the heated, plastic-enclosed bassinette at the tiny red face, nearly obscured by the small knit cap on her egg-sized head and the cotton receiving blanket dwarfing her miniature body. An IV ran into her impossibly small foot, which was taped to a wooden tongue blade no bigger than a Popsicle stick for support.

Reese blinked and then unself consciously wiped at the tears that suddenly appeared on her cheeks. “She’s beautiful.”

“Yes. She is.” K.T. cleared her throat. “I’ll check with the pediatrician and give you an update in a minute or two. Congratulations, Reese.”

“Thanks,” Reese said, her eyes still fixed on the baby. When she looked up, K.T. was gone.

When Tory awoke, the first thing she was aware of was the sharp pain in her abdomen. She drew a surprised breath. Then she remembered. C-section. Incisional pain. Okay. Not too bad.