He hesitated and Faith finished for him, “But you don’t want to move forward if there’s no chance at a future.”

  He nodded slowly. “Yes.”

  Faith smiled and reached across the table, taking her hands in his. “I understand,” she said. “I want there to be future between us. That’s the honest answer.”

  “But?” he asked with a soft smile.

  “But jobs like mine are hard on relationships,” Faith said. “I can be called away at any moment and spend days, weeks, even months being very hard to contact in any meaningful way. I can be moody and withdrawn and irritable, and I’ll have no way of knowing how to explain why to you. Sometimes I might not be allowed to tell you why. It’s a lot like being in the military. Most of my Marine buddies are divorced at least once. It’s very hard to love someone with a job like ours.”

  He nodded. “I know. I won’t lie to you and say I’m absolutely sure I can handle that, but I can say that I want to give it a shot.”

  “So do I.”

  He smiled and said, “Good. While we’re on the subject, I’m going to be an annoying medical professional and tell you that you should definitely talk to a therapist about that.”

  Faith smiled sweetly and caressed his cheek. “I’m going to see a therapist,” she said, “but you are never allowed to ask me about it.”

  He chuckled and said, “All right.”

  “One day,” Faith said, “I’ll tell you all about it, but right now the fact that I have to talk to a shrink is the most irritating thing about my life. I’m going to be very angry about it even when I know it’s helping me.”

  “Fair enough,” David said. “I can wait.”

  The conversation turned to far more lighthearted subjects for the remainder of dinner. Faith shared stories of growing up and wanting to be a Marine like her Daddy. David talked about his childhood dog who inspired him to be a veterinarian.

  Mostly, they talked about nothing, just laughed and joked about whatever came to mind. Faith decided that as long as they could laugh with each other, they’d make it.

  At the end of the night, David walked her to her car. “You know,” he said, when they reached it, “I know the owner of this place. He’ll let you leave your car here overnight. If you wanted to come over.”

  Faith smiled. “I would love absolutely nothing more than to come over,” she said, “but I promised Michael I would be home tonight.”

  Michael was watching Turk for her. Turk still saw her place as free game, and she was hoping Michael would find a way to preserve her furniture so she could enjoy some alone time with David. She had very low hopes of that, but she knew they would appreciate the playdate anyway. Faith was pretty sure Michael wished he had kept Turk for himself. For her part, she was glad he had decided to give him to her. He had literally saved her life. Besides, without him, David wouldn’t be in her life at all.

  David sighed in exaggerated frustration. “I suppose the kids come first,” he said.

  Faith laughed, and David continued, “Horribly awkward time to ask this, but I guess you know by now that I’m horribly awkward. Is Michael okay with us?”

  “Michael?” Faith asked, brow furrowing. “Of course, he is. Why wouldn’t he be?”

  “Well,” David said, “I mean, I know you guys used to date.”

  “Oh,” Faith flipped her hand dismissively. “A long time ago. It ended over a year before you and I met. We both talked and agreed we’re not right for each other. Anyway, he’s dating someone else now, going on four months.”

  “Ah,” David said, “so he moved on first.”

  Faith’s eyes narrowed slightly. “We both moved on at the same time, thank you very much. Anyway, I’m only saying that he’s fine with me having my own love life, and I’m fine with him having his.”

  “Got it,” David said. “It’s not weird? You two being partners?”

  “David Friedman,” Faith said, “are you jealous?”

  “No, no,” he said quickly. “Not at all. Just being horribly awkward.”

  Faith giggled. She leaned up onto her tiptoes and kissed him softly. When she pulled away, she said, “I like that you’re awkward.”

  “That’s good,” he said, “because I’ll never grow out of it.”

  “Promise?”

  “I promise.”

  They parted with another kiss, and Faith drove home grinning like a schoolgirl.

  Michael put on a show of being relieved at Faith’s presence, but he lingered for a solid half-hour while he scratched Turk behind his ears. Turk was clearly upset to see him go, and Faith placated him with a promise that Uncle Mike would come to visit soon.

  “You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?” Michael said resignedly.

  “Hey, if some detective from Tucson gets to call you Mike, your partner of almost nine years should also have that privilege.”

  Michael grumbled, and Faith patted his cheek. “Grumble, grumble, grumble. Grr, grr, I’m Michael, and I’m a big, strong man.”

  “I’m going to tell your boyfriend you touched me inappropriately,” Michael groused.

  “I’m going to tell your girlfriend you slept with me,” Faith countered.

  “Too late,” Michael said, “she already knows. I told her that a few minutes after I told her she was the best I ever had and a few seconds after she asked better than who.”

  “Ouch,” Faith said drily. “How will I ever recover from that insult?”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Michael said. “Hey, good luck with therapy next week.”

  “Thanks for bringing that up,” Faith said.

  “You’ll be fine,” Michael said. “I looked up Dr. West. He’s a teddy bear. An insufferable teddy bear, but a teddy bear.”

  “Thank you,” Faith said. “I look forward to never needing to see him again.”

  “That’s the spirit,” Michael said, giving her a thumbs up.

  He left, and Faith turned to Turk. “All right, boy. Playtime’s over. Time to sleep. We have a long day ahead of us.”

  Turk whined but went dutifully to the doggy bed in the kitchen that Faith knew he would leave the moment she herself was asleep. She brushed her teeth and dressed for bed, and as she slept, she thought of Jared Greenwood.

  She had a lead on him. It might be nothing, but a security camera had picked up his car outside of a convenience store at a small town in upstate New York.

  If they woke early enough, they could reach that town by lunchtime.

  She closed her eyes, and this time when she dreamt, she was the one holding the knife, and Jared Greenwood was tied to a chair.

  She grinned at him and said, “All right, little man. Let’s see how you bleed.”

  ***

  Michael saw her car as soon as he pulled into the driveway. She had parked it in the driveway this time. He supposed that was an improvement.

  He walked inside and found her sitting on the couch. She smiled at him, and as always, he was utterly staggered by that smile.

  There was no guile in it. It was clear and bright and earnest, and he fell in love with Ellie all over again.

  That made the fact that she had lied to him even harder to handle.

  “Hey,” she said, smiling a little tentatively. “How was babysitting?”

  “Good,” he said. “Turk’s a good dog. I almost wish I had kept him instead of giving him to Faith.”

  “Yeah, German shepherds are good dogs. Bill and I had one for a while before we were dating.”

  “Oh yeah?” Michael asked coolly.

  “Yeah,” Ellie said. “Sorry, I guess I shouldn’t have said that.”

  “No, it’s all right,” Michael said. “You two are married after all.”

  Ellie winced at that, and Michael felt a rush of guilt in spite of the fact that he was absolutely justified in being upset with her. He sighed and said, “Sorry. I just …”

  “No, it’s okay,” she said. “You don’t need to apologize. I do.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest and looked away from him. Michael could hear Faith’s voice in her head telling him not to do anything stupid and get himself hurt, but he couldn’t quiet it in time to keep from crossing the room to her and pulling her close. “It’s okay,” he said. “You don’t have to talk about it until you’re ready.”

  She melted into his arms, and as he pressed her body to his, he knew he was lost. He would never let her go. She might leave him, but he could never leave her.

  He would never admit it aloud to anyone, least of all Faith or Ellie, but a big part of the reason he loved Ellie more than he had loved Faith was that Ellie needed him while Faith didn’t. Faith was strong the way steel was strong. She was hard and cold and unbending, and she utterly refused to open up, at least to Michael.

  Ellie needed him. She was strong, too, in her own way, kind and caring even when the world was unkind and careless with her, but she wasn’t cold and unbending the way Faith was. She was full of kindness, and she needed Michael to be her rock.

  Or so he told himself at least.

  After a few minutes, Ellie sighed and pulled away. She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and said, “I’m not ready to talk about my marriage yet, but I am ready to explain why I lied to you.”

  “All right,” he said, “if you’re ready.”

  They sat on his couch, and Ellie started, “I didn’t expect to meet someone so soon. When I found Bill with Christy, I just … I …”

  She looked away a moment, then looked back at Michael. “I was devastated,” she said. She chuckled and said, “It’s funny. I knew that Bill and I were falling out of love. I would look at him, for years I would look at him and try to remember what it felt like to be in love with him, but I couldn’t. I still can’t. I knew our marriage was over, but I guess … I mean, I always thought it would come back around. My parents went through a rough patch, you know. For a long time. Almost all of my twenties, they were just bitter and angry with each other all the time, but now they’re like kids all over again. I guess I thought Bill and I would be the same.

  “Then he cheated, and I knew immediately that it wouldn’t change. We were well and truly done. That was two years ago. We, um …” she took a breath, and Michael noticed her eyes flicked to the left before she spoke again. He hated that he noticed that.

  “We haven’t divorced because a lot of our finances are still bound up together. The house, in particular, is a tough spot; I’ve told you that.”

  “Yes,” Michael agreed.

  “So, I haven’t pushed it because I didn’t think it really mattered how fast it ended. I didn’t think I would meet anyone, and Christy is fine being his little plaything on the side.”

  There was the slightest touch of bitterness in her voice when she said that. Michael hated that he noticed that as well.

  “So, I just haven’t pushed for it,” she said. “Then I met you, and suddenly I had a reason to want this to be over.”

  She smiled at him, and once more, he was powerless to resist that smile. “I lied to you because I didn’t think you’d want me if you knew I was married. So, I said I was in the middle of a divorce, which was sort of true but not completely.” She hung her head. “I should have been honest with you.” She lifted her head and stared at Michael with her big, blue, earnest eyes. “Can you forgive me?”

  He didn’t answer right away. When he did, he asked the question that he himself knew was the most foolish question he could possibly ask. “And now? Have you talked to him about finalizing the divorce?”

  “Oh yes,” she said, bobbing her head up and down. “Yes, we’re going to meet with our lawyers soon and start finalizing everything. I can’t promise it will be an overnight thing, but we’re definitely moving forward.”

  You would make an excellent politician, Michael said, once more hating himself for not being able to turn off the detective.

  “That’s good,” he said.

  “So?” she asked. “Can you forgive me?”

  He hesitated a moment longer. Faith’s voice screamed at him to say something, anything that would make it clear she needed to follow through on her promises, but all he could manage in the face of those earnest eyes was, “Of course, I do.”

  She sighed and threw herself into his arms again. He pulled her close to him, and when she began to kiss him softly just behind his ear, he sighed and yielded to her desires.

  Even as he moved with her, though, he could feel doubt weighing down his belly like a stone.

  EPILOGUE

  Faith watched Jared leave the store and smiled inwardly. If Jared was a serial killer, he was a poor one, at least as far as hiding from the law went. He shopped at the same store at the same time every week. He parked his car right in front of his apartment on the town’s main street and paid with a credit card.

  It was fairly common for copycats to be less careful about their MOs than the originals. They were, after all, imitators, and the need to honor their idols was greater than their common sense.

  Well, that worked just fine for Faith.

  She didn’t follow Jared this time. She waited five minutes after he left, then drove to the address where she knew she would find him.

  She reached the apartment and found his car parked right in the street as usual. She got out of the car and let Turk out, then strolled casually to the gate. The lock was broken. Faith had verified that earlier. No doubt the owners didn’t feel a need to replace it because this was a small town, and if anyone intended to rob someone else, they would have to do it looking over the barrel of a shotgun.

  Faith steadied herself and prepared for a confrontation. She knocked on the door. Turk tensed slightly, his tail switching back and forth.

  “Who is it?” Jared’s voice called from inside the house.

  “22E,” she said, naming a unit she knew was vacant. “I just moved in. I was hoping you might help me with some of the furniture. It’s really heavy.”

  She kept her voice lilting and soft, putting just enough flirtation into it to suggest that if Jared helped her, she might be willing to reward him with something later. It worked. She heard him shuffle to the door. When he opened it, he said, “What the hell are you doing at my house? If you want …”

  He stopped when he saw who he was talking to. His eyes widened. “You.”

  “Me,” Faith said.

  She planted her hand on his chest and shoved him hard. He was close to twice her size and all of that weight was muscle, but he was caught off guard and stumbled backward. By the time he recovered, Turk was standing in front of Faith, growling and snapping, driving him backward into the apartment.

  Faith entered, closing the door behind her. She walked forward, allowing Turk to back Jared up until he sat heavily down on an ancient, corduroy easy chair.

  The rest of the apartment was similarly dilapidated. It looked like a picture of a pot dealer’s house from the eighties with mismatched furniture, posters of bands that hadn’t been popular since Faith’s parents were teenagers, and even a lava lamp.

  “Hey there,” she said cheerfully. “Let’s talk.”

  “Fuck you,” he snarled.

  Faith smiled mirthlessly. “If you aren’t honest with me right now, I’ll have Turk here make sure you can never fuck anyone again.”

  His face went white as a sheet, and Faith felt a thrill knowing she had this much power over him. “So,” she said, “big fan of the Donkey Killer, huh?”

  “The what? What the hell are you talking about?”

  Faith clucked her tongue. “Lying to me? Not good, Jared.”

  “I don’t know who the Donkey Killer is,” he said, “but if I’m stepping on his toes, I am truly sorry.”

  Faith blinked, confused. “Stepping on his toes?”

  “Yeah,” he said, “look, I’m from Philly. I saw you out there, and I thought you were a cop, so I ran away. I’m just holing up here until … well, I guess there is no suspicion to hide from. Anyway, look, I’ll stop selling here. I don’t want any trouble. I’ll go back home and just sell to my neighborhood in Philly. I’m small time, man, you don’t have to worry about me, and neither does the Donkey Killer.”

  Faith’s smile faded. “What exactly do you sell, Mr. Greenwood?”

  “Dope mostly,” he said. “Blow, a little crank. I used to sell crystal, but you can’t get that anymore unless you buy from the bikers, and I don’t mess with them.”

  Faith sighed and rubbed her temples. “I see,” she said.

  “I’ll stop, though,” he assured her. “I don’t want trouble with anyone.”

  He looked at Turk and swallowed. Turk looked at Faith and seeing her expression, he sat and calmed.

  “Mr. Greenwood,” Faith said, “I …” she gritted her teeth, “… I owe you an apology. I’m not an enforcer. I’m not a cop either. I’m an FBI agent.”

  His brow furrowed. Then his eyes widened. “Hey, you can’t use any of that!” he said, pointing an accusing finger at Faith. “That was obtained under duress! That’s an invalid confession!”

  “I’m not going to bring you in for drugs,” she said. “I came here to ask you about a series of murders in the Philadelphia area.”

  He blinked. Then his eyes widened again, this time in understanding. “Oh God,” he said, “the Donkey Killer? You mean that big, hillbilly guy? Tramwell?”

  “Trammell,” she said. “Yes, there’s someone out there copying his MO. I liked you for the copycat, but … I’m guessing that isn’t you.”

  “Hell no,” he said. “No, I sell drugs, but I never killed no one. Wait.” His brow furrowed again, then once more his eyes widened in understanding. “It’s because of my father, isn’t it? Because he was the Weed Killer, you thought I was the copycat killer.”

  Hearing how thin and foolish her case against him was thrown back in her face sent a pang of embarrassment through Faith. “Yes,” she admitted reluctantly.

  Jared scowled in rage. “Hell no!” he said again. “Fuck him! I don’t want anything to do with him! He left me and my mom when I was six years old! I never thought he’d turn out to be a killer, but when I saw that story in the papers, I promised myself I’d never associate myself with him again. I don’t even carry his name anymore.”