"Glad to see me?" Caroline laughed and gave him a quick, hard hug. "You two decide to take a swim? Delia sent me down to-"

"Go on back up with Dwayne." Tucker wanted her as far away from death and misery as possible. "Go on up and wait for me."

"I'll wait for you." Drawing back, she saw by his face that there was trouble. Cautious, she looked from Tucker to his brother. Dwayne's lip had opened up again, and the blood was dark against his pale face. "Have you been fighting? Dwayne, you've got a split lip."

He ducked his head. Delia'd give him hell about it. "I'll call Burke."

"Burke?" Caroline grabbed Tucker's arm when he tried to nudge her along. "Why do you need Burke?" Her heart did a slow roll in her chest. "Tucker?"

She'd know soon enough, and it might as well come from him. "We found her, Caroline. In the pond."

"Oh, God." Instinctively, she looked toward the water, but Tucker shifted to block her vision.

"Dwayne's going up to call Burke. You go with him."

"I'll stay with you." She shook her head before he could protest. "I'll stay, Tucker."

When Tucker merely shrugged, Dwayne took off in a half run. A whippoorwill began to call, sweet and insistent, for a mate.

"Are you sure?" Even as she asked, Caroline knew the question was foolish.

"Yeah." He blew out a long breath. "I'm sure."

"God, poor Happy." She had to ask the rest, but it took a moment to force the words from her throat. "Was it like the others?" Caroline took his hand, holding tight until his gaze shifted to hers. "I want to know."

"It was like the others." Firmly, he turned her away from the lake. With his arm around her waist they listened to the night bird's song and watched the lights of Sweetwater glow against the dark.

The official process worked with callous efficiency. Men crowded around the pond, their faces washed white by the harsh spotlights hooked to Burke's truck. Pictures were taken to record the scene.

"All right." Burns nodded toward the water. "Let's pull her out."

For a moment no one spoke. Burke pressed his lips together and unhooked his gun belt.

"I'll do it." Surprising himself, Tucker stepped forward. "I'm already wet."

Burke set his gun belt aside. "It's not your job, Tuck."

"It's my land." Turning, he took Caroline by the shoulders. "Go inside."

"We'll go in together when it's finished." She kissed his cheek. "You're a good man, Tucker."

He didn't know about that, but as he slipped into the water, he was certain he was a stupid one. Burke was right, it wasn't his job. He didn't get paid to deal with this kind of horror.

He eased his way through the cool, dark water toward the hand, white as bone, fingers curved beckoningly.

Why did he feel it was his responsibility to drag a dead woman out of the water? She'd been nothing to him in life, shouldn't she be less than nothing to him now?

Because the pond was Sweetwater, he realized. And he was a Longstreet.

For the second time, he curled his fingers around the lifeless wrist. As the head rose, he watched her hair float and spread toward the surface. His stomach lurched. He tasted acid in the back of his throat and ruthlessly forced it down. Using his feet to tread, Tucker hooked an arm around the torso.

There was silence on the bank, the kind so deep you could hear your own heartbeat. A graveyard silence, he thought while he struggled against the weight that was trying to drag him and his burden down.

His grip slipped, and when he shifted and tightened it, her head lolled back on his shoulder. Tucker stiffened, but it wasn't revulsion that filled him. It was pity.

Tucker looked toward the bank. White faces stared back at him. He saw Dwayne, with an arm around Josie. Their eyes looked huge in the flood of light. Burke and Carl already hunkered down, ready to reach out and take the burden Tucker was dragging over. Caroline, her face wet, stood with her hand resting on Cy's shoulder. Burns stood back, observing, as though it were a moderately interesting play.

"Something's tied to her legs," Tucker called out. "I need a knife."

"That's evidence, Longstreet." Burns stepped forward. "I want it intact."

"You son of a bitch." Tucker managed to haul her another foot. "Why don't you come on in and get your fucking evidence yourself?"

"I'll help you, Mr. Tucker." Before anyone could stop him, Cy was running over and slipping into the water.

"Christ, boy, get back from here."

"I can help." Slick as an otter, Cy paddled over. "I'm strong enough." His face blanched when he swam close, but he reached down to take part of the weight. "We can do it."

"Keep your eye on the bank," Tucker told him. "And try not to think."

Cy scissored his feet. "I'm thinking about what an asshole that FBI man is."

"Even better."

It was a short and grisly swim. When they reached the bank, both Carl and Burke hooked hands under Darleen's arms.

"Look the other way," Tucker ordered Cy. "There's no shame in it." He would have done so himself, but the angle was wrong. So he saw what had been done to the body. As it was dragged effortfully out and onto the grass, he saw everything. "Go on over with Caroline now, Cy. No." He caught the boy's head before Cy could turn it. "Don't look this way. Go over with Caroline. You did good."

"Yessir."

Tucker hauled himself out. He sat there a moment, his feet dangling in the water. "Dwayne, give me a smoke."

It was Josie who brought him a cigarette, already lighted. "After that, I figure you deserve a whole one." She laid her cheek against his. "I'm sorry it had to be you, Tuck."

"So'm I." He took a greedy drag. "Burke, don't you have a blanket to put over her? This isn't right."

"If you civilians would go into the house," Burns began, "this area will remain off limits until the investigation is completed."

"Goddammit, we knew her," Tucker said wearily. "You didn't. Least you can do for her is cover her."

"Go on, Tuck." Burke reached down to help Tucker to his feet. "There are things we gotta do. It's best if you went on while we get to it. We'll be as quick as we can."

"I saw what was done to her, Burke," Tucker said in a raw voice. "You can't be quick enough."

"You will stay available," Burns put in. "You and your brother. I'll need to question you shortly."

Saying nothing, Tucker turned away to walk with Caroline and Cy back to the house.

Caroline wasn't much of a cook, but she heated up some soup to go with the roast beef Delia had sliced. Soup, it seemed to her, was one of those nerve-soothing foods. By the way Cy plowed through his, she decided it worked.

Dwayne scraped his bowl clean, then seemed embarrassed by his appetite. "That was mighty tasty, Caroline. I appreciate you putting a meal together."

"Delia did most of it before she left for the Fullers'."

"We do appreciate it," Josie put in. "Though I don't know how Dwayne can eat with that fat lip. Run into a door, honey?"

"Tucker and I had a tussle." He reached for his iced tea. He didn't feel much like getting drunk tonight after all.

"Tucker hit you?" Smiling a little, Josie rested her chin on her hand. "That man's been using his fists more these past few weeks than he has his whole life. Now, what could y'all be fighting about? Don't tell me you've taken a shine to Caroline here?"

Josie winked at Caroline to include her in the joke.

"Nothing like that." Uncomfortable, Dwayne shifted in his chair. "We just had a disagreement, that's all. That's how it happened. We started wrestling and ended up in the pond. Guess we stirred up the water quite a bit between that and racing to the far bank and back. Then Tucker… he practically bumped right into her."