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PROLOGUE

Phoenix, Arizona—August 2005

He did the sa every year

On August 22, at 6:00 p in order to head straight home

He’d have trouble getting to his front door sometimes; phone calls, unsolved cases that suddenly needed his attention, always popped up on this day But he’d ignore them as best he could

He’d ignore the te call of a cold beer after work, and the buddies cla for him to come over to the Starbucks by the station, and the paperwork on his desk and the ht home

He would start a cold shower, put out his clothes—a black Armani suit and a crisp white shirt he had dropped off in theat the cleaners and picked up on his way home—and for this day, the only day in the entire year, he would wear them with a solid black tie

By 6:15, toweled dry and sohborhood florist and purchase two dozen white roses Then he would cli now and then at the petals riding shotgun beside hiht in mid bloom

By 6:30, he would reach the cemetery

This was his destination, and he’d stay here for hours Until the traffic waned, and the hot desert day began to ht

He’d keep his face downcast, his thoughts to hiht on the spot where the bodies of his two parents had been buried

There was comfort in this routine, and maybe there was soht of the graves during the evening Yet today—

The hair at the nape of his neck pricked, and Nordstrom raised his head in puzzlement

He scanned the ce how this one ti an orange glow across the scattered grass, hitting the only tree nearby at an odd angle He didn’t know that what folloould rock his world—for he hadn’t seen her yet

“Oh, is that nice girl with you?” a fe in the direction of the tree

Uncertain of the curiosity prodding hi, Cody stared at her hard, then he glanced back at the tree There, leaning against the trunk, was a … female

“That girl, is she your sister?” the woman insisted

Cody honed in on the girl No Not a girl Too curvy to be a girl

“She coer offered before hauling her bag closer to her chest and walking away, dragging a small toddler behind her

Fixated on the sliure by the tree, Cody narrowed his eyes as he tried to place her Blond hair to her shoulders, brilliant eyes even from afar His pulse stopped

So about her, the way she held so still and quiet as she looked back at him Her skin, the shade of her hair Tiraves and trees and grass