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Monday

ONE

Will Trent orried about his dog Betty was getting her teeth cleaned, which sounded like a ridiculous waste of money for a pet, but when the vet had explained to Will all the terrible things that poor dental hygiene could do to an animal, he had been ready to sell his house in order to buy the little thing a few more precious years

Apparently, he wasn’t the only idiot in Atlanta as ensuring his pet had better health care thanto enter the Dutch Valley Ani the front door, while several cat owners gave each other knowing looks Will turned back to the street He wiped the sweat off his neck, unsure whether he was perspiring froust heat or fro whether or not he hadbefore He’d never been solely responsible for an ani He put his hand to his chest He could still feel thelike a tambourine as he handed her over to the vet tech

Should he go back inside and rescue her?

The sharp beep of a car horn startled him out of his apprehension He saw a flash of red as Faith Mitchell drove past in her Mini She side Will He was reaching for the handle when she leaned over and pushed open the door

‘Hurry,’ she said, her voice raised over the whine of the air conditioning, which was set to polar ‘A where the hell we are’

Will hesitated before getting into the tiny car Faith’s government-issue Suburban was in the shop There was a baby’s car seat strapped into the back seat, which left approximately thirty inches of space up front into which he could wedge his six-feet-four-inch frame

Faith’s phone chirped with a new text ‘Amanda’ She said the name like a curse, which was how ner was their boss at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation She was not known for her patience

Will tossed his suit jacket into the back seat then folded himself into the car like a burrito He tilted his head into the extra few inches afforded by the closed sunroof The glovebox pressed into his shins His knees almost touched his face If they were in an accident, the coroner would have to scrape his nose off the inside of his skull

‘Murder,’ Faith said, letting her foot off the brake before he’d even closed the door ‘Male, fifty-eight years old’

‘Nice,’ Will said, relishing the death of a fellow hu as only a law enforcement officer can In his defense, both he and Faith had spent the last sevenboulders up some very steep hills She had been loaned out to a special task force investigating the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal, and he had been stuck in the particular hell of a high-visibility rape investigation

Faith said, ‘Atlanta nine-one-one got the call around five this AM’ She had an air of giddiness about her as she relayed the details ‘An unidentified male caller said there was a dead body near those abandoned warehouses off Chattahoochee Lots of blood No ht ‘They’re not releasing cause of death on the radio, so it must be pretty bad’

So inside the car started to beep Will reached blindly for his seat belt ‘Why are orking this?’ The GBI couldn’t just walk on to a case They had to be ordered in by the governor or asked in by the local cops The Atlanta Police Departenerally ask for help Especially from the state

‘The victirabbed his seat belt and buckled him in like he was one of her kids ‘Detective First Grade Dale Harding, retired Ever heard of him?’