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Ice slid through her body. She had to call Vera.

“Who did this?” Suri cried.

Fury blasted Eve, seared away the icy chill. Just what the hell she needed. Life was complicated enough without this shit. She stepped tothe sink and used both hands to swipe the words away. “You son of a bitch!”

“Eve! You shouldn’t do that ... it’s evidence,” Suri wailed. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

Eve fell back a step.Shit.Suri was right. “I’ll call Vee.” She turned to the woman she loved more than life itself. “Don’t worry. Vee will know what to do.”

“Let me finish drying and get dressed and I’ll be right there.”

Eve nodded.

“Don’t close the door,” Suri urged. “I don’t want anything between us right now.”

“I won’t.”

Eve hurried down the short hall to the living room and then to the small kitchen. She’d put her cell phone on the charger. She grabbed it from the counter and touched the screen, but something made her pause before selecting the phone app. She frowned and glanced around the room to figure out whatever the hell it was that wasn’t right. The dishes she had washed were drying on the counter. Chairs were all pushed into place at the table. Their boots sat on the floor at the back door.

She looked again. That was it. The door was ajar.

What the hell?

They always locked it immediately when they came in and kept it that way. Frowning, she stepped in that direction.

Something pinched the back of her neck.

When she would have twisted around, a powerful arm locked around her chest, and a hand closed over her mouth.

“Don’t move,” a voice warned.

Male. Not familiar.

Her heart lunged into panic. The room started to spin, and her cell phone clattered to the floor.

The sound of the hair dryer down the hall followed her into the darkness.

28

Boyett FarmGood Hollow Road, Fayetteville, 11:00 p.m.

The hum of the hair dryer seemed ridiculously loud.

But Vera was grateful for the noise ... for the humdrum action of attending to her hair after a long hot shower. She gritted her teeth and swiped at the mirror with her free hand to clear away the last of the fog and the lingering streaks of detergent the bastard had used to leave her a message. Still not satisfied, she unrolled a wad of toilet paper and scrubbed some more. Her life was a mess ... the past kept coming back to haunt her, and ...

She’d left Bent in her bed.

Good God. What had she been thinking? Sounds and sensations flooded her. She closed her eyes a moment and blocked the vivid recap. Deep breath. Not an easy feat. She forced her eyes open. The idea of how far across the line she had thrown herself shook her. Hadn’t she learned her lesson about personal involvements with colleagues? Sadly, it was done now, and there was no going back.

They had made love.

She andBent.

And it was amazing.

Twenty-two years! Before the crash and burn in Memphis that had sent her running back home, she had not seen him or heard his voicein more than two decades. Well, the truth was, the crash and burn had only preceded her coming home. The remains found in that damned cave were the reason she’d had no choice but to come rushing back here. Otherwise, she might have attempted to ride out the storm in Memphis. But then what? It wasn’t like she’d had any place to go in Memphis once the dust settled. Within two weeks of the tragedy that had taken down her team, she’d resigned her post there. In the end, coming back here had been the right decision. It was all like falling backward in time.

And if that wasn’t twisted enough, she’d been working with her first love ever since.