THEY WERE ON the way to the last vineyard of the day before Abby had to drop Luke off at the train station when her phone rang. He’d taken a cue from Gunther and was taking the train home tonight, to be in Long Beach Thursday for Maddie’s party and returning on Friday.

“It’s Pastor Terry. Maybe he’s found Mike.”

She eagerly answered the call as Luke sat back and watched her. Her excitement was off the charts.

“We can meet with him tomorrow,” she said, holding the phone down. “What do you think?”

“I won’t be here tomorrow.”

She slapped her forehead and asked Terry if Mike would be around until Friday.

He could tell by her face the answer was no.

“Me taking an hour out of the day tomorrow won’t hurt anything,” she said.

“Abby, we agreed: first things first. I don’t want you to go by yourself.”

“Woody, maybe?”

“Then you’re pulling him away from the job he has to do. Maybe this just wasn’t meant to be.”

She went back to the phone and he could see the irritation in her body language. “Terry, I’ll call you back.”

The look on her face confirmed Luke’s worst fear. She was letting this pipe dream consume her.

“Luke, you don’t really believe we’re going to find Napier. I will be very careful if I meet with Mike.”

And what if Mike says something that leads you down a rabbit hole? he thought. But said, “I’d really prefer you leave it alone. We can try to find him again when our cases are finished.”

He saw the anger simmering, but this was as important to him as it was to her. He did not want her to become Victoria.

“I don’t want to lose this chance.”

Now Luke’s hackles rose. He would be leaving shortly for Long Beach. Woody was busy. He could see her going to talk to Mike without him.

“Abby, I didn’t say that I wouldn’t go with you. I just want to wait.”

“Well, I don’t want to wait. He’s in the area —who knows where he’ll be when we finally finish with this search.” She threw her hands up in the air.

Luke bit back what was on his mind as they pulled into the winery parking lot. Why couldn’t she see that what she was doing was exactly what she said she wouldn’t?

They went into the tasting room of the seventh winery and followed the script, but he could feel the ice forming around Abby. Oh, Lord, he prayed, she’s letting it consume her. Please help me know how to snap her out of it.

They met briefly with Woody and Orson at the hotel when they went to pick up Luke’s belongings for his trip home.

“We saw a lot of activity at Considine’s house,” Orson told them. “Winnen visited him early, and then later a couple of guys dropped by who looked like lawyers.”

“We might just catch two birds with one stone,” Woody said. “I wondered if they both had a hand in Ciara’s murder.”

Abby tried to put her snit with Luke away after hearing that it was looking like Considine was nervous and felt pressed, along with Winnen. But Padre Mike was on her mind. She felt like the brass ring was in her grasp and she was not going to lose her focus this time —this time she would grab it and hold on.

Driving Luke to the train station was an excruciatingly quiet ride. After a frosty drive she walked him to the platform.

Trying to brighten the mood, she said, “Maybe we’ll wrap this up by the weekend, find Mike, nail Alyssa, and get on with our lives together.”

His jaw was set and she could tell that he was still upset. “Abby, what about us being a team? Keeping each other safe? If you go looking for this guy by yourself, you blow all of that off.”

Abby’s own frustration flared. “The man isn’t dangerous. He’s just a transient, hard to find. What about striking while the iron is hot?”

“What about honoring first commitments first?”

“I will honor my commitments,” she said through gritted teeth. “But you know how important this is. This could be the nail in Alyssa’s coffin. Isn’t that worth something to you?”

“Maybe not. I just can’t buy into this fantasy that this one man holds the key to bringing down a woman like Alyssa Rollins. It’s flimsy. You’re pinning your hopes on a phantom wish, not hard, cold facts.”

Abby turned on her heels to leave, but Luke grabbed her arm. She looked at him, angrier than she could remember being, but his expression stopped her from saying a word.

“Abby, please, I care about you. I don’t want to see you obsessed and eaten alive by this case. We may never have total justice where the Triple Seven is concerned this side of heaven. Let it go.”

She jerked her arm from his grasp. “You sound just like Ethan!”

Luke stepped back as if struck, but Abby couldn’t stop herself.

“That’s all he could say about my parents’ case: let it go. For your information, I’m not obsessed. This might just be my last chance.”

“Then you’re lying to yourself. And to me.” He turned and climbed onto the train, leaving her seething on the platform.