She smiles way too knowingly.
How I hate people like her.
No one is above the law.
No one.
But what she says isn’t another lie.
“I didn’t think so,” she says. “I was right about you. But even behind all your perfect righteousness, you are human. And humans have secrets. Secrets they try to bury on a construction site in the middle of South Carolina on a Tuesday night in March of 2007, just before the concrete sealed the sins of that day seven hours later.”
All the blood in my body rushes to my feet.
I am falling.
Falling from a plane without a parachute.
How can she possibly know?
I stare at her while I see nothing.
I am back there.
Back in my childhood town.
When—
No—
My mind zooms in on the one mistake I ever made. The one time, the reason why I never break a rule. Because rules are there for a reason.
Suddenly, there is a bang.
“Well, isn’t that a cozy sit-in?” I hear a woman say. It takes me too long to realize someone has entered my office. Not just someone, but Hedda Lagner.
Gun pointing at me.
I was consumed by what Avery did; my entire body was on hold.
I want to draw my gun?—
“Freeze and hands up,” Hedda says.
There is no point.
I do as she says.
She throws a handcuff key at Avery.
So theyareworking together.
Avery frees herself.
Her gaze is self-sufficient, that of a woman who knows she wins every time. A glare I want to hit out of her face. Not that I would, but damn, the desire is there.
She walks over to me, leans in way too close, and grabs around me to get to my holster.
So close that I can feel the warmth of her body radiating over me, I am rendered completely speechless.
