WHEN ABBY DISCONNECTED the phone call with Bill, she turned to Luke and told him what her partner had said. Luke couldn’t find his voice for a minute.

“I think it would be important to find out who owned that house twenty-seven years ago,” he said finally, worried about Abby and what this could mean to the investigation that affected them both. The information had rocked her world; he could tell that by the expression on her face.

“Bill said they were looking into it,” Abby said, her voice not even sounding like Abby.

“It’s okay if you want to leave, to go home and be briefed on what’s up with this news,” Woody said. He’d arrived just after lunch, having missed all the action at Barone’s house because he was out with the dog rescue agency. “Maybe I should even drive you.”

Abby looked away and said nothing for a moment.

Luke knew this information was a 9.9 on the Richter scale, but he had no idea how to help Abby deal with it.

“I can fill the local cops in on anything they might be missing,” he said.

After a minute she sighed and turned back to them. She was herself again. The news had unsteadied her but not knocked her down.

“I’ll wait. I want to speak to Molly once more before I head home. That’s the most important thing right now, not me. Bill will call when he has more information.”

Luke relaxed. She was fine. This wasn’t affecting her like an earthquake. He’d been so wrong about reading her lately. Was that a good thing or a bad thing?

“I need to apologize again for keeping the information about Lucy Harper from you. It’s obvious to me that you have peace where that investigation is concerned. Knowing about her would never have thrown you for a loop. I’m embarrassed I ever thought it would.”

“I’m not fragile. Part of me understands a little bit why Woody would have tried to protect me, but not you. I thought you knew me better than that. You should have trusted me with the information when you first got it.”

Swimming in guilt, Luke started to say something but she stopped him.

“You just reminded me —I never read what you gave me. I never had a chance to look at what was in the envelope.”

“That’s right.” Luke looked around. “Where is it?”

“Still in the car.” She stood and left Woody and Luke in the office.

“You didn’t read it?” Woody asked.

Luke shook his head. “It’s for her, not for me.”

“Sorry about reading that situation wrong; we should have told her.”

“Don’t blame yourself. I could have just as easily argued harder. Water under the bridge now.” He tried to swallow the regret he felt but knew it would be a long while before he forgave himself. He prayed that whatever was inside would be good news for Abby.

Abby returned to the room. She sat down and tore the envelope open. Luke held his breath.

“It’s a letter from my dad.” She frowned. “‘To whom it may concern.’” After a second she looked up, amazement on her face.

Kelsey was almost home when her phone buzzed, startling her. When she saw that it wasn’t the chief, she relaxed. She was in the back of a cab, having dumped the rental car in a rough section of LA and hailed a taxi to take her home. Quinn had rented the car; there was nothing in it to connect to her, and she had no interest in explaining the broken window. She’d taken his bag of C-4 with her but wasn’t certain what she’d do with it. The phone call was from an old PD friend, and she answered it.

“There’s something up at Gavin’s old house.”

“What?”

“You know, the place he had on Granada. The people who live there now dug up the patio to put in a pool —”

Kelsey went numb and barely heard the rest of the sentence.

“Anyway —” he was still talking —“turn on the TV. You’ll see the pictures from the helicopter circling above.”

She thanked him for the information and disconnected as the taxi pulled up in front of her town house.

Her friend had been wrong on one count. The house on Granada had not been Gavin’s; it had been hers. He’d lived there with her when they were engaged. But what had just been dug up in the backyard was the reason she had him move out, the reason they’d eventually canceled the wedding. She’d lived there only another year before selling. She’d lost track of how many times it had changed hands since then.

It was only a matter of time before a connection to her was made.

She opened the front door, stepped inside, and closed it, leaning back against the solid wood as fatigue crushed her like a hammer. Kelsey couldn’t think; she couldn’t plan. It was the proverbial rock and hard place. Her life was over if she turned on her employer, but would her employer help her if suspicion crouched on Kelsey’s doorstep?

After what seemed an eternity, Kelsey mustered the strength to take the bag of C-4 to the garage. There she unlocked the large gun safe. There was only one gun in the safe; the rest of the shelves were home to a paper trail. Some of what she had here might save her from some trouble, but a lot of it would damn her in more ways than one.

A question plagued her, something she couldn’t answer at the moment: what was she going to do with all of it?