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There was silence on the other end of the line

"You owe ie talk me out of an arrest that would have forever tainted his oldest daughter’s record I’d been a unifore Truth be told, I’d been more than a bit in awe of the ho out of one part fear and two parts respect But I’d changed over the years, and I wasn’t afraid to cash in the favor

He let out the breath hefor the last twenty seconds andnoncommittal before the line clicked dead I went to ie coood man and a damn fine cop And he owed me

Two hours and three-quarters of a pot of coffee later,I trotted to the door, and then checked the peephole before opening it

"Here," Aggie said, thrusting a thick file into et I’ll let you know if I hear anything else" He paused, and an odd look flashed on his face, like he’d s bad "How are you?"

"Fine Thanks"

"Good" He cleared his throat and shifted on his feet "Well then" With those char words of support, he turned on his heel and walked down the sidewalk, heading back to his car

I shut the door behind hi as it slaht me They’d worked fast An initial summary of her activities for the last few days had already been coh there were a lot of blanks Credit card activity for the last thirty days had been pulled Aggie had eventhe initial scene notes frorimace Corey Williams Like Vasquez, Williams was a normal on the freak squad because he’d pissed so with freaks

The oak chair creaked faintly as I sat down at the table I steeledback tears, I checked the initial Medical Examiner’s report I took a deep breath and sed a luh the sparse information She’d been reduced to a victim: female, thirty-five years old, five feet eleven inches tall, single, no children As a cop I had to keep my distance from victims If I pondered the fact that the victims I examined with cold detachment were real people with lives that had come to an abrupt halt, it wouldmy distance in this case was not an option

A loud knock sounded froiveit open without checking the peephole Aidan stood onhis lips

Before I could open o away, he said, "I’m here to help"

I sed hard and nodded

He followed lanced at the small stacks of papers that held the docunored the save at his choice of words and said, "Not sure yet, I was just getting ready to go through her credit card and bank statements"

I pulled out the stack of credit-card bills, and passed half to Aidan The Visa’s last activity eeks prior to Amanda’s death, at Nordstrom The Discover card hadn’t been used at all in the last month Her bank statements were tucked in between her Visa and Discover lists The last purchase was on the day of her death, for twelve dollars at The Grill House

I cursed under ," I said to Aidan

How soon after I’d bantered back and forth with Aidan had she arrived? Hours? Less? If I’d lingered a few er, could I have saved her?

Chapter Six

Aidan followed ether A new aura see, it felt faintly off towas actually different in the air--not being a sensitive I wouldn’t have known it if there was But it see this was the last place A to her bank statement, she’d eaten an early dinner here, only four hours after my inadvertent lunch date with Aidan Byrne The day she stood e to look at Aidan, but finally lost His eyes were serious, but he offeredback

"Table for two?" a voice asked

"Lisa here?" I asked the hostess, pulling one from auburn hair to an almost white-colored bleached blonde Between that and her pale skin, she looked like she’d disappear in a good snowstorm

"Yeah, one sec"

She reappeared with Lisa in tow less than a minute later Lisa’s hair was still blue and spiky, but by next week I was betting it would be red or orange Maybe green