Wyatt managed a small smile and shook his head. "I'm afraid not."

The two men eyed each other steadily and, like Lily, the sarge realized Wyatt was not here to pay a social call. "Guess I'll run, then," he said. Turning to Lily, he added, "You're getting too good. Be ready for me to try out one or two new tricks on you next time."

"Anytime, anywhere," she said with a genuine smile. The man was a true friend. He'd helped her regain not only her physical strength but her mental strength as well. Because the more confident Lily became in her ability to defend herself, the more sure she was that she would, eventually, leave this place. Go and have that real life for herself.

"Let me walk you out. I want to get a cold drink, anyway," Lily said. She headed for the door, brushing past Wyatt, touching him ever so lightly, arm against arm.

Whatever that drink was, she didn't imagine it would be cold enough to wash away the small flash of heat still singeing her arm where it had brushed her former boss's. Nor to douse the confused warmth that arose when his eyes flared the tiniest bit and his handsome mouth opened on a surprised inhalation.

He'd felt the spark, too.

She led Devlin to the door, smiled her thanks, then closed and locked it behind him and headed for the kitchen. Wyatt had remained outside on the patio, but Brandon had come in. The refrigerator door was open, and he was half-visible behind it as he rooted around inside.

"Sorry, you won't find any Mountain Dew." As if he needed it. The young man was a cyclone of energy. She had often felt exhausted just watching him work in the office they'd shared.

"Don't need it. This’ll do fine," he said, pulling out two bottles of water.

He tossed one to her. Lily caught it in midair, the condensation slick and cooling against her hot skin.

"Wyatt?" he asked, glancing past her at the doorway. "Want one?"

She hadn't needed Brandon to confirm Wyatt's presence behind her. Her whole body had grown tense and aware the moment he'd stepped inside off the patio. The very air had felt different as it parted and shifted around him. The subtle scent of his masculine cologne teased her nose and she felt warmth fill her cheeks.

Not embarrassed warmth, as she'd often experienced with the man in the old days. Rather, her body's warm, womanly acknowledgment of how he affected her.

"No, thank you," said that deep voice. "Lily, we need to talk to you."

Opening her bottle, she drank deeply of the cold water, then pulled out one of the kitchen chairs and plopped down onto it. "Phone broken?"

"It's serious."

She knew that. She'd known that from the minute she realized Wyatt had brought reinforcements on this visit. She'd known by the way her heart kept thudding at the look of undeniable concern in Wyatt's deep blue eyes.

This was bad. So bad, she'd needed to sit down to listen to it. She just hadn't wanted him to know she'd already realized that much.

"Okay. Shoot."

Wyatt and Brandon exchanged a look, then took seats with her at the table.

"After I left here Sunday night, what did you do between then and Tuesday night when I called you about my trip to Virginia?"

She tapped a finger on her temple, as if thinking about it. "Hmm, I had the girls over for a game of Bunco, and I performed in the local community theater's production of Annie, and I bought a round for the guys down at the bar." She managed to avoid rolling her eyes. "What do you think I did?"

He didn't rise to the bait, remaining on subject. "You stayed here, alone, no trips to the store, nothing?"

"Nothing. I did some shopping last week and had plenty of supplies."

"Any visitors? Was the sarge here on Monday?"

"No. Because of the holiday, we changed our schedule to Tuesday afternoon and today."

"But he called you Monday to do that?"

She shook her head slowly. "No, we arranged it last

Friday when he came. You must have been inside at the time."

His taut jaw grew even tighter and she wondered if he was going to crack his own teeth by clenching them so hard.

"Did you go for a walk on the beach? Any chance anybody drove by, saw you jogging, maybe waved?"

A low throbbing began in the base of Lily's skull as she shook her head. "No. And that's enough questions. I want to know why you're asking them."

He hesitated, exchanging another of those glances with Brandon. Then, with a low sigh, he admitted, "Because a long-distance truck driver from North Carolina was murdered and dismembered in a Pennsylvania hotel sometime between midnight Sunday and Tuesday morning. The coroner hasn't given us the time of death yet."

Not understanding what that could possibly have to do with her, she mumbled, "That's very sad, but what does it have to do with me?"

He thrust a hand through his thick hair, more visibly anxious than she'd seen him since those first days after he'd rescued her.

"Lily," he finally informed her, never looking away as he hit her with the rest of it, "your badge was found clutched in his bloody hand."

Jackie Stokes had known for weeks that something was up with her boss and her coworker Brandon Cole. But she hadn't even begun to imagine it might have anything to do with Lily Fletcher, her late friend. Now, though, she was beginning to wonder. Because today,

Brandon and Wyatt were both gone, and Lily was all anyone was talking about.

"Can you friggin' believe this?" Kyle Mulrooney snapped as he-as all of them-watched Tom Anspaugh and one of his goons dig through the box of personal effects from Lily's desk. They’d kept her things, since there was no one to give them to. And Anspaugh apparently knew it. He'd also demanded access to case files from any investigation she'd worked on.

"It's like watching a gorilla sort through a china tea set," Alec Lambert murmured. "The destruction doesn't matter, just finding whatever it is he's looking for."

Wasn't that the truth?

Anspaugh had shown up here a couple of hours ago, claiming the team-the Black CATs, as they thought of themselves these days-needed to hand over every bit of information they had on Lily Fletcher. When Jackie, who was again acting as supervisor in Wyatt's absence, demanded to know why, Anspaugh had snarled something obscene. He'd then handed her the phone, asking her if she wanted to call Deputy Director Crandall and question him directly, or if she just wanted to get out of his way.

She'd called, of course. Screw Anspaugh. Lousy little scumbag. None of them had ever gotten over how badly he'd messed things up with his Lovesprettyboys investigation, letting one of his own agents, as well as poor, sweet Lily, pay the ultimate price.

But Crandall had confirmed the other agent's story. Jackie had been told to give the man full cooperation. Considering Anspaugh had gotten slapped pretty hard over the balls-up in Virginia, she had to wonder just what it was he had that Crandall wanted so badly.

Maybe Wyatt knew something. Crandall seemed to think so, because he'd ordered her to get her boss in from wherever he'd gone off to and have him report to the DD's office by the end of the day.

Good luck with that. Wyatt was in Maine-he'd told her that much when she'd called him to tell him what was happening. And he didn't seem to give a damn that Crandall wanted him back.

"What's going on?"

Christian Mendez, who'd been with them for about a month now, walked into the office, having just returned from interviewing a witness in a murder-for-hire case they were investigating. The agent, with his sultry Latin looks, was good at talking to witnesses. As good as Alec had been before he'd gone so gaga over his new fiancee and seemed to lose any interest in flirting with other women.