“CONCENTRATE on what you know is right; then everything else will fall into place.”

Abby tried hard all day Tuesday to follow Woody’s advice. She called her aunt and told her about what was going on in her life. Dede prayed with her and expressed excitement that Abby planned on coming home. After their conversation Abby tried to stay busy and occupied, cleaning and organizing her house, anything to keep her mind off Joiner.

By Wednesday morning at seven thirty, she was ready to hit the road, ready to run away. That thought stopped her cold.

Am I really running away?

“Do you mind if I plant things?”

“What?” Abby looked up from the pile of belongings splayed out on her bed and shoved the idea of fleeing from her thoughts, focusing on her friend Jessica Brennan, now also her house sitter. Though Abby was taking Bandit with her, she still liked the idea of someone watching the house and watering the few plants she hadn’t yet killed.

“Like flowers and stuff,” Jessica said.

“Mind? I don’t mind, but you don’t have to go to any trouble. It will put me at ease knowing that you’re here keeping an eye on things.”

Jessica smiled. “No trouble. You forget, I live in an apartment. I can’t muck about in the dirt, and I’d like to. You have a blank canvas in your backyard.”

Abby hadn’t driven to her childhood home in Lake Creek, Oregon, in years. She hated the barren center of the state of California, the hot ribbon of Highway 5 that bisected the Central Valley. It was always a sweltering, dry drive. She preferred the quick, easy, and relatively inexpensive flight to the Medford airport, thirty minutes from Aunt Dede’s house.

But she had a dog now and she had no desire to leave him in a kennel, nor subject him to an airplane flight, so she’d decided to drive. Jessica had interrupted the new dilemma she’d created for herself; suddenly what she’d take with her had become an unexpected knot of a problem.

Distracted by her stuff and the offer, she looked at Jessica. “Can I give you some mon —?”

“No, no, no! It will be my pleasure.” She redirected Abby to the mess of items strewn on the bed. “Finish packing. Are you taking everything?”

Returning her concentration to the pile of stuff in front of her, Abby chewed on her bottom lip. “I can’t decide. When you fly, you can only take so much. Now I have too many options.” Another thing she wrestled with was that she really had no idea how long she’d be gone.

She’d gotten up early and should have already completed packing. Her finishing touches were interrupted by a knock at the door.

“You expecting someone?” Jessica asked.

“No,” she said, frowning. It was early, an odd time for any visitors. She grabbed her handgun and proceeded to the front door.

Jessica looked at the gun and stepped back into the hallway. “I guess you don’t want me to get it.”

“Sorry; I’m a bit paranoid with all the protests about the shooting,” she said as she peeked through the window and nearly dropped the gun.

Bracing herself, she shoved the gun in a side table drawer and answered the door.

“Chief Cox. And, uh, Governor Rollins,” Abby was sure her jaw hit the floor and she did the best she could to recover. “What brings you two to my door this early?”

Lowell Rollins was the last person she expected to see on her porch, and Kelsey Cox was the next to last.

The woman was as close to a personal enemy as Abby had, and the man . . . Abby just wasn’t certain about him. Her last meeting with the governor had been surreal; he’d effectively closed the door on the investigation into her parents’ death. And the last time Abby had seen the then–deputy chief, she’d accused Abby of killing Gavin Kent, though it was Kent who shot himself in front of them both.

“I retired, remember?” Cox smiled a decidedly fake smile, Abby thought, but she was determined not to be antagonistic and said nothing as Cox continued. “You don’t need to call me chief anymore. I work for Governor Rollins now. That’s why I’m here with him today; I’m his security chief.”

Rollins spoke up as if on cue. “Abby, it’s nice to see you again. You look well.” His deep voice registered the concern she saw in his face. “You’ve been through such an ordeal.”

He paused but Abby stayed quiet, not at all sure what to make of this visit.

Nodding to Cox, he said, “Both Kelsey and I, we hope we can put any bad blood you may feel is lingering behind us.”

“Yes, Abby,” Cox said. “What happened the day Gavin . . . Well, that was an emotional day.” She swallowed, and for a second the look on her face made Abby feel sorry for her. The woman was obviously in pain. But the expression passed quickly and Cox went on.

“Governor Rollins heard through the grapevine that you had taken a leave of absence.”

“And since we were in town on a separate issue, I wanted to stop by and find out if you’d decided to take me up on my job offer.” The governor leaned close, taking a conspiratorial tone. “My confidence in you is unshaken by anything I’ve read in the press. On my team you’ll be protected, stood up for.”

Abby rocked back on her heels, nonplussed for a moment. Yes, he had asked her if she’d consider working for him, but that was the furthest thing from her mind in any universe of thought. That she’d still be on his radar in such a high profile way after all that had happened surprised her.

“My leave of absence is for personal reasons. I’m driving home. In fact, I was just packing. I plan on leaving in a few minutes.”

“Home? That would be to Oregon, correct?” he asked.

“Yes,” she answered the governor. But it was Cox whose expression she saw. Kelsey seemed relieved, and Abby wondered why.

“I want you to know that the offer will stay open. You belong on my team. I think you would find that while working for me, your talents would be appreciated, not trashed by uninformed protesters.”

“Thanks,” Abby said, not really knowing what else to say.

The governor nodded once as if to end the conversation. “You have a safe trip,” he said before leaving.

Kelsey smiled as if in agreement, but Abby doubted that. Cox stepped off the porch with the governor, turning back at the bottom. “He’s going to win this election, so don’t forget what an honor it will be to work for a United States Senator.” With that, the pair continued to a waiting car. A shiny, expensive luxury SUV, Abby noted. And Kelsey got behind the wheel. Was the car hers or the governor’s?

“Wow, that was X-Files weird,” Jessica observed as she stepped forward.

“It was, wasn’t it?”

“It’s like they’re checking up on you.”

Abby closed the door and moved down the hall to continue packing. “I guess I better hurry up and get on the road so no one else can check up on me.”

Back in her office, her eye caught the notebook that contained her Triple Seven investigation. Abby had promised herself and her aunt that she would finally let the investigation go, trusting that the killers, if there were more than Gavin Kent, would face God’s justice one day.

But Kent’s vague confession left more questions than it answered.

Had he acted alone?

If he did kill her mother, why?

Two men died with her mother. Luke Goddard had been positively identified, but hearsay said that the male next to her mother had been erroneously identified as her father. What about that? What really happened that day?

She probably wouldn’t even have noticed the book, or at least given it a second look, if Rollins and Cox hadn’t come to the door. Cox had been there when Kent killed himself, so now in Abby’s opinion, Cox was part of the investigation.

On impulse, Abby grabbed the notebook and all the information she’d gathered regarding the murder and threw them into her backpack. Maybe she wouldn’t look at it, but maybe she would.

She put everything she wanted with her in the car, along with Bandit and all the things he needed for the trip. Her trunk was full, and the ice chest with drinks and snacks went in the backseat. She looked at Jessica, leaning against the porch railing.

“Thanks again, Jessica. I’ll call you as soon as I know when I’ll be back.”

“No rush. Enjoy yourself. Don’t worry about anything here.”

Abby nodded and climbed into the car. Before she started off, she sent a text to Ethan, letting him know she was leaving so he’d have a good idea about when she would arrive. It was a twelve-hour drive, so she had a long day ahead of her.

She was still pondering Kelsey’s visit an hour later as she sat on the 405 freeway in traffic, crawling north out of LA.

Governor Rollins wanted her on his team, he said, but she never took the offer seriously. Even if she thought the offer was serious, she wasn’t interested in being someone’s bodyguard.

But what am I now? A homicide cop who can’t do her job.