“MAYBE SHE FELT ganged up on,” Luke said after Abby stormed out of the room. But in his heart was a real fear that she was letting the case take over. He’d already thought the lead she was following —this idea that Alyssa was hiding a horrible secret —was weak. Abby had put herself in real jeopardy chasing a phantom.

“Could be,” Woody agreed. “But she really took a risk. She’s lucky she only got flat tires.”

Luke sighed, working to calm down. After all, Abby was not Victoria. Was he overreacting? “Tell me the truth, is it something you would have done in her position?”

“I, uh . . .” Woody looked at Luke, expression sheepish. “I hate to tell you the things I got into alone when I was a youngster.”

“Exactly.” Luke shook his head. “I don’t like what she did, walking into an unsafe situation all by herself, but maybe both of us jumping on her like that was over the top.” He sat down on his bed and texted his daughter good night, all the while trying to understand the stark fear that had gripped his heart when Abby nonchalantly told him about confronting multiple people out in the middle of nowhere and then having her tires slashed.

He realized that he couldn’t try to suppress the feelings he had for Abby any longer. He’d overreacted because of them and it was time he told Abby how he felt.

Luke was up early, hoping to smooth things over with Abby before breakfast and explain why he’d reacted the way he had. But when he looked out the window, he saw that she’d been up even earlier. She was dressed to run, and she hit the bottom step and headed out of the parking lot at a brisk jog.

“Man,” Luke moaned as he hurried to put on his own running gear and catch up to her.

“What’s going on?” Woody asked, eyes still half-closed with sleep.

“Go back to sleep. I’m going to try to catch Abby.” With that, he was out the door and down the steps. Luke had brought his running clothes hoping to get in a workout or two because he’d not been able to hit his cardiovascular training very hard lately. The months of test taking and working to clear his business calendar had meant that he’d not been to the gym regularly or made many basketball games.

His breath came fast after crossing the parking lot and reaching the sidewalk. He looked right first and saw nothing. Turning left, he saw Abby a few blocks down, moving at a fast clip.

“Thank you, Lord,” he muttered under his breath as he started running, glad Abby had chosen to start her run downhill, not uphill.

He eased up his stride about a block before he reached her, to give his breathing an opportunity to slow. He also prayed she’d stop when he did get to her because he wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep his pace up. Putting on a burst of speed to keep from being caught at a red light, Luke pulled within a stride’s length of Abby.

“Abby!” he huffed.

She jerked around, startled, slowing somewhat.

He pulled even with her. “Please, I want to talk to you.”

She frowned, pulled up, and stopped. Hands on hips, breathing hard, she faced him. Luke bent over, hands on his thighs, and waited for his breath to ease.

“Thanks,” he breathed and noticed Abby watching him with an unreadable expression. Fear bit that she wouldn’t accept his apology. As soon as he could, he straightened up. “I wanted to explain.”

Besides the fact that she looked totally unaffected by the seven- or eight-block run down the hill, her brows furrowed. “Explain? You and Woody treated me like a child.”

This was not going well. Luke realized that she was still mad.

“I’m sorry if it seemed like that —”

“It was like that.”

“Abby, I can’t speak for Woody, but I was afraid for you. I care about you —a lot —and I don’t want to see you become so wrapped up in the Triple Seven investigation again that you put yourself in danger needlessly.” Luke spoke fast so that she couldn’t interrupt again.

They stared at one another. Abby looked away first.

“I know that you’re not a child. I know you are an incredibly awesome investigator. I don’t want . . .” He was going to say that he didn’t want to see her become like Victoria, but Abby wouldn’t know what he meant. “I don’t want that case to consume you again. At one time you yourself were afraid of that happening.”

She took a deep breath and Luke could see conflicting emotions cross her face. “You’re right. I don’t want that either. You don’t owe me an apology.” She waved him off. “I owe you an apology for acting like a child. I’m sorry. I realized . . .” She stopped and for a second Luke thought she was going to cry.

“Realized what?”

“Maybe it was getting to me. I know I shouldn’t have put myself in that position.” She stomped her foot and he saw the tears. She gave an angry sweep with her hand at one eye. “We’re so close to the end of the Triple Seven, to finally holding Alyssa accountable. I feel it. I also feel like someone trying to grab a brass ring that keeps getting pulled away. I don’t want to be obsessed. I . . .”

Luke couldn’t let her finish. He stepped forward and took her into his arms, holding her close and letting the tears fall on his shoulder.