MONDAY MORNING ABBY arrived at the federal building on Ocean Boulevard in downtown Long Beach more nervous than she thought she’d be for her first day on the cold case squad. She saw that Luke’s truck and Woody’s car were already in the lot.

I’m an accomplished investigator. What’s with the jitters?

She knew that she didn’t have to prove anything, but it was important to do great work, to show Orson and —she admitted to herself —Luke what she was made of.

It was a good thing her partners were already there, she thought as she walked toward the conference room. They’d calm her down, she was certain. She opened the door and entered the room. Woody was at the table, sipping coffee and reading notes. Where was Luke?

Then she saw him.

He was off to the right, deep in conversation with . . . Faye Fallon.

What was she doing here?

Faye had a familiar hold on his wrist, and they looked so comfortable with one another, close even. Why did that cause turmoil to erupt in her soul? Disconcerted, Abby stepped over to get some coffee, hoping it would help calm her down. But in a short moment, Faye joined her.

“Oh, hello, Faye,” Abby said as the blogger reached for a cup.

“Hi, Abby. From the look on your face, I guess you haven’t heard.”

“Heard what?”

“About Duke. He had a massive coronary yesterday.”

Duke Keller, a retired district attorney, was the fourth member of their cold case squad —their go-to admin person. “What? Is he okay?”

Faye nodded. “Yeah, he had an emergency triple bypass and is recuperating. I got a call late last night asking if I could step in for him until a replacement is found. No one wants to postpone the start of your first case.”

“I don’t know what to say. I’m glad Duke’s okay.” But are you qualified to take his place? Abby wanted to ask but didn’t. She wondered if this was Luke’s idea, and disappointment pinched. Did he regret breaking up with Faye? If her involvement on the task force was his idea, then she bet he and the beautiful blogger were more than just friends.

Faye chatted on. “Last time we met, you were in homicide. What made you leave that slot? Luke tells me you had a great rep there. Didn’t you like it?” she asked.

Abby cast a glance toward Luke, who at that moment finally seemed to notice she was there.

“I loved it, and I still do. But after all that has happened regarding my cold case, I felt the need to help others in any way I can. This is a temporary reassignment, but it will allow me to get in some training working with and for federal agencies.”

“But your spot in homicide —what about that?”

“Well, it’s still mine when I finish here. The department signed off on me temporarily leaving for two reasons: first, my salary will be paid by federal grant money; and second, it gives them a chance to experiment with a detective rotation through homicide. Bill, my partner, will work with Jack O’Reilly, while Ben Carney, Jack’s partner, volunteered to be a training officer to detectives rotated through on a temporary basis. The department has wanted to give this training method a try for a long time. Now they can.”

“Sounds like a win-win.”

“It is.”

“Bill thinks so as well.” Luke stepped up, standing next to Abby for a coffee refill. “He likes working with Abby, but Jack is a good guy too. And he thinks that giving all detectives cross–homicide training will be a good thing in the long run.” He smiled warmly at Abby. “Faye tell you that she’s temping?”

“Yeah, but I’m shocked to hear about Duke.”

“Me too. Orson hit us with it as soon as we got in.”

Just then Orson strode into the room. “Okay, kids, time to get started.”

Abby wondered how Faye would fit in. She and Woody were the two with law enforcement backgrounds, and Luke was a PI. Keller was tasked with putting together what evidence they dug up into a workable package to present to the involved DA. How could Faye fill his shoes?

Everyone took their seats and gave Orson their undivided attention.

“You’ve all heard about Duke, I assume. We’ve got a card going around for everyone to sign. The good news is, everything is looking up for him. I just got off the phone with his wife. The bad news is, he probably won’t be back to the squad.”

He pointed toward Faye. “You all know Faye Fallon. She’s agreed to step in and cover for Duke until we can find a replacement. In case you’re wondering, Faye has a law degree and worked for a time for the FBI helping agents compile evidence in federal cases, so she is up to the job.”

Abby saw Luke give Faye a thumbs-up. And she admitted to being impressed with the “worked for the FBI” line. She’d thought that Faye was just a blogger. But her heart sank. The case she thought would give her more time with Luke was quickly becoming one that would give her more time with Luke and Faye.

“Here’s the case.” Orson moved on and passed out summaries of their cold case. “We’ll be up in San Luis Obispo. The victim is Ciara Adessi. She was an undergraduate at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 1996 when she went missing.”

Abby picked up the flyer, momentarily distracted from Faye and amazed at this fortunate turn of events. San Luis Obispo was not far from Templeton, she’d noticed. This case would take her straight to the right area to investigate Alyssa’s past. Would Luke be with her on this?

She looked his way and caught him watching her. He pointed at the summary and gave her a knowing nod. Smiling and working to get her head back in the game, where it belonged, Abby prayed that this upcoming trip would lead to something positive in her personal cold case, as well as for Ciara. Nervousness gone now, she tuned into what Orson had to say.

Orson elaborated on the case. “Five years ago her remains were found in a shallow grave on the edge of some farmland about twenty minutes from the college. We have cause of death as blunt force trauma to the head, but scant little else because she was in the ground so long.”

“No suspects?” Luke asked.

Orson shook his head. “For a minute, in 1999, they looked hard at a registered sex offender, convicted and sentenced to death for two San Luis Obispo coed murders, in 1998 and 1999. But in 1996, he was in jail on a different arrest. So, as of now, there isn’t a suspect who can be identified with direct evidence. But there are two people of interest. The first is a college groundskeeper, who was also looked at hard at the time.”

He passed a photo around. A surly Caucasian male glowered at Abby when she picked up the photo. He had a mop of curly hair, narrow, close-set eyes, and thin, cruel lips.

“Meet Jasper Harkin. He was fired because the scrutiny brought up the fact that he’d lied on his employment application. He’d been arrested once for sexual battery.”

“Sounds like a good bet for a suspect,” Woody said.

“Maybe, but there were no witnesses who could put him with the girl. They thought they had their man at first. But they could never develop hard evidence, not even probable cause for arrest. Harkin lost his job. He sued the city and the police department for harassment after he got fired. Eventually the city settled and he moved out of San Luis Obispo but stayed close. He bought a mobile home just outside of Atascadero, about thirty minutes from SLO, and still lives there.”

“Who was the second person of interest?” Abby asked.

“Ciara’s fiancé at the time, Chaz Considine.” He passed around another photo. This time a blond-haired, blue-eyed pretty boy looked back at Abby. A hint of arrogance lurked around the eyes, and his smile made Abby think of mockery.

“He was a college kid, local, lived in San Luis Obispo, and had been dating Ciara for about a year. Considine was the last person seen with Ciara, but he’s always claimed he saw her into her apartment and then went home. He also had no discernible motive. By all accounts they were happy and looking forward to getting married.”

“Sounds like a sticky case,” Faye said.

Orson shrugged. “It’s a case that needs to be closed. We have limited cooperation from the locals.”

“Limited?”

“Yeah, this case is a sore point with the local PD and the community at large. There are notes in the file that might explain why. Bottom line, they want the case closed and will give you all the information and evidence, but egos being what they are, that might be all you get. To top it off, there’s the shooting.”

He looked around the room at everyone as Abby cast a glance at Woody. Yeah, everyone knew about the shooting. An SLO PD officer had been shot and killed during a traffic stop last week.

“They caught the guy, right?” Luke asked.

Orson nodded. “They did. But the officer’s funeral is this week. Just a heads-up in case you want to pay your respects.”

“I will,” Abby said. “I called earlier and asked our union about this funeral, didn’t know I’d be up in San Luis Obispo working. I’d like to attend in uniform with the other officers who are going. The Long Beach Police Officers Association said seven officers are going. They’ve been approved to take two patrol cars.”

“That’s fine,” Orson said. “I figured as much, so just work it in.”

“We’ll go, won’t we, Luke?” Woody asked. “You got a good suit? I’ll take mine.”

“Yes, I’ll pack a suit.”

“Good deal.”

Police departments seemed to be losing officers in the line of duty all too often lately. The SLO officer had just stepped out of his cruiser when the driver in the car he’d pulled over jumped out and started shooting. He was killed instantly.

Abby understood and felt their pain. An outstanding Long Beach officer had been murdered in cold blood a few years ago when he and his partner were ambushed while on patrol. A gang member shot up the patrol car with an assault rifle. It was a miracle his partner had survived.

Abby also knew the SLO guys would be hurting and angry. She realized that this might be a tough case to get a foothold on if they had to tiptoe around bruised egos.

“At any rate,” Orson said, “you’ll head up the coast for a couple of days and see what you can do.”

All five of them began considering the evidence and planning their investigation. By lunchtime, they were finished with preliminaries and down to their travel schedule. They’d leave the next morning.

Abby arranged for her friend Jessica to house- and dog-sit for her while she was in San Luis Obispo. She’d gotten so attached to little Bandit she almost made the decision to bring him along but knew that would not be fair to him, especially if he had to be locked up in the car for periods of time.

“Don’t worry about him,” Jessica said as Abby hugged Bandit close to her face. “We’re pals. He’ll be fine.”

“I know,” she said, handing the dog over. “I will miss him, though, and I don’t know for sure how long I’ll be gone.”

“No worries. I love it here. Just go catch bad guys.”