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She stu?"

He scowled for a variety of reasons, one of which was that her arrasp when she’d stopped abruptly "Why would I?"

"Is he a recent parolee?"

"Escapee," he corrected "Seventeen years ago He torched a bathroo and escaped in the ensuing clusterfuck Haven’t seen hide nor hair of him since But the supervisory deputy marshal in the Seattle office helped to apprehend Merkerson the first tinized the pattern"

Darcy’s frown cleared "Merkerson That’s it! I’ve been trying to place the MO He ay before my time, but we studied him briefly in school What the hell has he been up to all these years? How has he stayed under the radar?"

"He ht have been incarcerated under a false naht have trained a junior asshat to follow in his nutjob footsteps It doesn’ther elbow again, Jared urged her toward the fire station

"The hell it doesn’t matter In just three weeks, he’s torn this town apart"

He heard the fury underlying her words andti the effects While his brain orking the case, his body was straining toward hers, wired and revved and hot to screw her raw

They were about to cross the street to the fire station when he urged her into a corner diner instead

"I ar, not his hor his corab a shake"

Another ht not be counting every daroaned as visions of other things she could do with her h his testosterone- too hard and not playing enough, he had it now He should take the blond deputy up on her offer and ease hirabbed a lance over the lier-and-fries joint, with a couple salads thrown in for the calorie-conscious

A waitress in a ’50s uniform with "Ginny" embroidered over her heart approached with her notepad and a sht the Fed with you Bet Miller’s in a snit I kno he gets when outsiders coenuinely impressed "I just found out that the Marshals Service was here not ed "Prime location for news Welcome to Lion’s Bay, Marshal"

"Deputy," he corrected, his attention returning to the ?" Darcy asked Ginny with the easy familiarity of old friends

"Better Just had a new security syste It’s supposed to sense heat and alert the alar fire alar is working properly" Ginny jerked a thuh the kitchen pass-through "Ti on the insurance if the place burned He slept on the couch last night for that one"

"Oh, hell Ginny, I’m sorry I--"

Jared stepped into the conversation before she could say anything further "Proactive, thoughtful steps, Ginny Good job If your burgers are half as good as your planning, I’ll order a double"

Ginny grinned at the praise "Big strapping estions?"

"Depends Hot or sweet?"

"Both I’er and fries co on it?"

"Yeah And two of whatever kind of shake Inspector Michaels wants All to go"

Jared paid the bill, waving off the five-spot Darcy pulled out of her pocket

Closing the register, Ginny stepped away to riestured her over to a red vinyl booth by the

"So," he began when she sat "How often has Lion’s Bay had cause for the Feds to come in?"

One of her brows arched and she sized hie Da, long tiot her beneath hientle…

Fuck that What the hell was he thinking? He was not going there