“Thank you for that.”

“As you can imagine, the scrutiny has been damaging. I’ve decided to retire to prevent it from going any further.”

Gonzo felt sick again. With Morton out of the picture, all the scrutiny would be on him, which it would be anyway now that Lori was dead. “That’s probably for the best.”

“I just want to say, despite all this, I appreciate, we all appreciate, what you did for our family so long ago. My parents were able to rest in peace knowing Eva’s killer had been brought to justice, and for that I’ll be eternally grateful. I’m sorry it’s come back to haunt you in this way.”

“It’s not your fault, so please don’t sweat it. We’ll figure it out.” He hated to think about Lori’s murder in terms of the upside—the end of the custody battle. That is, if he wasn’t arrested for her murder.

“Well, I won’t keep you any longer. My best to your fiancée and Happy New Year to you both.”

“Same to you. Thanks for calling.”

“Least I could do.”

“Take care.” Gonzo ended the call and sat staring at the floor, thinking about what the judge had said.

“Who was that?” Christina asked as she came back into the room, carrying the monogrammed backpack her parents had given Alex for Christmas.

“Judge Morton.”

“Seriously? What did he say?”

“That he’s sorry about what’s happened but still grateful for what I did for his family years ago.”

She sat next to him on the bed. “That’s nice of him.”

“It was.”

“Did you tell him about Lori?”

“I didn’t see any reason to. He’ll find out soon enough. The whole world will.” He put his arm around her and kissed her cheek. “Let’s finish packing and get the hell out of here before the shit hits the fan.”

* * *

At HQ, Sam went directly to the morgue where Lindsey McNamara had begun the autopsy on Lori Phillips. “What’ve you got for me, Doc?” Sam asked as she stepped into the cold, antiseptic-smelling space that always gave her the creeps.

“Nothing much so far. I just started.”

“Tell me you’ve got fingerprints on her neck. Tell me this was an act of rage and not something premeditated enough that our perp gloved up.”

Lindsey glanced at her. “Are you going to tell me who she is?”

“If I do, you’ve got to help me keep it quiet for a while.”

“How come?”

Sam blew out a deep breath. “She’s Gonzo’s baby mama.”

Lindsey’s green eyes widened with shock. “The stuff in the news, about his connection to the judge...”

“It’s a shitstorm that’s about to get a whole lot shittier.”

“Does he know?”

Sam nodded. “I saw him earlier. He’s a fucking mess.”

“But he didn’t... Well, of course he didn’t. But he probably wanted to, and the press will be all over him.”

“Which is why the rest of my squad is currently digging into Lori’s life, looking for motive somewhere else.”

“Damn.” Lindsey gazed down at the naked woman with the visible bruising on her neck and the stretch marks on her abdomen that indicated she’d once carried a child.

Was it weird that Sam was envious of stretch marks on a dead woman? Yeah, it was very weird, but she’d become accustomed to the odd longings that went along with her infertility. They struck at the strangest times.

“First he gets shot and now this,” Lindsey said with the empathy Sam had come to expect of her friend and colleague. That empathy was one of the reasons she was such a first-rate medical examiner. “The poor guy is having a hell of a run of bad luck.”

“I know. He was already down before this with the wound taking so long to heal.” Sam was worried about how much lower Gonzo could get before he’d hit rock bottom. “Anyway,” she said, shaking off those glum thoughts, “how was the anniversary celebration?”

Before her eyes, Lindsey blushed like a schoolgirl. “Great.” She, too, had met her boyfriend, Terry O’Connor, at Sam and Nick’s promotion party the previous New Year’s Eve. Terry was now Nick’s chief of staff, since Christina stepped down after the campaign to spend more time with Alex and Gonzo.

“That’s it? That’s all I’m getting?”

“There is one thing I could tell you.”

“I’m listening.”

“We got engaged.”

“That’s huge news! Congratulations. I’m so happy for you guys.”

“You’ve come a long way from the days of ‘Why does Nick’s world and my world have to collide?’” Lindsey said drolly.

“I like to think I’m maturing in my old age.”

Lindsey snorted with laughter. “That’ll be the day.”

“So how did he ask?”

“He kept it very simple and sweet. We went to dinner and then came home, and he asked me there.”

“So where’s the ring?”

“At home where it belongs, same place yours is when you’re working.”

“What’s it look like?”

“It’s gorgeous. A big solitaire surrounded by smaller diamonds and a diamond band. I love it.”

“Were you totally surprised?”

“Not totally. We’ve talked about it a few times, but I didn’t know last night was the night. I cried my eyes out when he asked, and he did too when I said yes. It was very... It was lovely.”

“I’m feeling a little misty myself just hearing about it.”

Lindsey cocked an eyebrow at Sam. “You? Misty?”

“I know! Don’t tell anyone.”

“Your secret is safe with me.”

Sam looked down at the waxy remains of Lori Phillips. “Are we weird to be standing here having this conversation with a dead body laid out in front of us?”

“Most people would probably think so, but this is what we do and who we are. If we couldn’t be normal in the midst of all this senseless death, we’d probably be locked up in a loony bin by now.”

“True.”

“And I have no doubt whatsoever that you’ll get justice for this poor girl. No matter what she was putting our friend through, she didn’t deserve this.”

“No,” Sam said with a sigh, “she didn’t. Let me know when you’ve got your report done.”

“Don’t I always?”

“Thanks, Doc.” Sam left the morgue and headed for the stairwell to the second floor. Coming down the stairs as she went up was Sergeant Ramsey from the Special Victims Unit. He scowled at her as she went past him. “Always nice to see you too, Sergeant.”

“Fuck off.”

Sam spun around. “Excuse me?”

He kept going down the stairs. “You heard me.”

Sam stormed up the remaining stairs and took a left to go to SVU when she’d planned to go to IT. She walked through the rows of cubicles, drawing the attention of every detective she passed as she made her way to the lieutenant’s office in the back.

Without knocking, she strolled into the office of SVU Lieutenant Davidson and slammed the door.

“Help you with something, Lieutenant?” Davidson asked without looking up from what he was doing.

Sam refused to talk to the top of his dark head, so she waited until he finally looked up at her. “Ramsey.”

“What about him?”

“He just told a superior officer to fuck off.”

“Did he?”

“He did.”

“Okay.”

“What do you plan to do about it?”

“I’ll talk to him.”

“See that you do.”

“Um, yeah, I said I would. Anything else?”

Sam knew she ought to quit while she was ahead, but what fun was that? “You know what they say about tone at the top?”

“What about it?”

“You might want to let your people know that insubordination is unacceptable around here and isn’t good for their career development.”

“You might want to get your own house in order before you start butting into mine.”

“My house is in fine order, thank you very much. Yours, on the other hand, could use some work.” Satisfied to have the last word, Sam opened the door and went back the way she came.

Detective Erica Lucas raised a brow in Sam’s direction as she passed Erica’s cubicle.

“Lieutenant,” Erica said.

“Detective. Nice to see you.”

“You too. How’s your niece doing?”

“Much better. She’s going back to school in Virginia to finish up her senior year.”