“See if you can convince her to spend the night some where else.” Mac removed the ice and flexed his hand. “Otherwise he’s going to beat the crap out of her.”

Jill was afraid he was right. “You didn’t have a choice,” she said.

He glared at her. “Sure I did. There’s always a choice. But I had a hell of a morning and then this guy showed up, looking for a fight. So I gave it to him.”

“He deserved it.”

“You think that’s what the district attorney is going to say on Monday morning when Andy wants to press charges? I don’t.”

Jill wanted to stamp her foot in frustration. “So Andy gets to treat his pregnant wife like a punching bag, even break a few bones and that’s fine, but when you teach him a lesson, you get in trouble.”

Mac stared at her. “It’s not that simple.”

“I know. It’s just not fair.” She moved close and took his hand in hers. The knuckles were split and swollen. “You clocked him good.”

“I had a lot of practice when I was a kid. I guess that’s something a guy doesn’t forget how to do.”

“I’m sorry,” she said as she touched his shoulder. “Can I do anything?”

“Get me the name of a good lawyer.”

“You think it’s going to go that far?”

“I haven’t a clue. But I do know the second Hollis Bass finds out, there’s going to be hell to pay.”

Jill’s eyes widened. The social worker. She’d forgotten about him. “He already thinks cops make lousy fathers and that you have an anger-control issue.”

“Thanks for reminding me.”

“Oh, Mac, this could be bad.”

“I know.” He turned away and stared out the window. “The thing is, I have no one to blame but myself. I should have walked away. Now the joint-custody agreement is at risk. And for what?”

She felt sick to her stomach. “Is there anything I can do?”

He smiled, but not in a humorous way. “I think you’ve done enough already.”

She didn’t like the sound of that. “What do you mean?”

“Just that your out-of-town friend, the one who is only here looking for a good time, seems to have brought his old ways along.”

Oh, God. What had Rudy done? She braced herself. “Meaning?”

“I closed down a tidy gambling club this morning. It was very nice. Bar, craps table, the whole thing. Of course no one working there claims to know Rudy, but you and I have been around the block a few times. We know who’s responsible.”

He turned cold eyes on her. “Unless you want to convince me that I have it all wrong and that Rudy has changed.”

She didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t think, couldn’t speak. This wasn’t happening.

“It’s a real bummer, too,” Mac continued. “Because Rudy offered me a sizable contribution to my campaign. Not that I expect to be running. What with the mayor in Rudy’s back pocket, I would say my chances of reelection are close to zero.” He stood. “Good to know that Rudy’s a changed man, because I’d hate to meet up with him when he was still breaking the law.”

With that he walked toward his office. Jill watched him go. She felt cold inside. Cold and sad. She and Mac were to have spent the afternoon together. Hard to believe that everything could change for the worst in such a short period of time.

JILL ARRIVED at her office on Monday shortly after nine. She felt as if she’d been run over by a big truck. Everything inside of her hurt and she couldn’t say why.

Okay, lack of sleep had something to do with it. She’d spent most of the previous night pacing. And maybe not eating contributed to her situation. She hadn’t been able to choke down a bite since Saturday morning.

Adding to her being out of sorts was the fact that she hadn’t seen Mac, either. While she’d spent most of Sun day spying out her front window, she’d never seen his truck or his sheriff’s car parked in his driveway. Had he and Emily left town? Had Mac’s ex-wife found out about the fight and taken the girl away and had Mac disappeared who knows where?

Rudy was also missing in action, which annoyed the hell out of her. When she’d returned home Saturday, she’d found a note from her aunt saying she and Rudy had taken off for San Francisco for the rest of the weekend, and that Jill wasn’t to worry. Jill had paged Rudy, but he hadn’t bothered getting in touch with her.

He’d probably figured out that she was very unhappy with him. How dare he tell her he was just in town for some R and R, only to set up an illegal gambling operation. She might not want to spend the rest of her life in Los Lobos, but by God she wasn’t going to stand by and watch Rudy destroy the town.

Plus, he’d betrayed her. As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t ignore that hard truth. She’d known Rudy for nearly three years and, in all that time, he’d been completely aboveboard with her. There hadn’t been a hint of illegal activity. The businesses she dealt with were squeaky-clean enough to be models of what to do to stay on the right side of the law.

Had he been playing her for a fool? Okay, so she wasn’t technically his lawyer anymore, but hadn’t he told her he would bring his business to her when she got settled? She’d been counting on that three million in billing to put a smile on her new employer’s face. It looked as if that wasn’t going to be happening. It had been one thing to represent Rudy when, to the best of her knowledge, he’d been completely legit. Now that she knew firsthand about illegal activities, she didn’t want to have anything to do with him.

She got out of her car and walked to the front door. Okay, technically she didn’t know firsthand, but she knew Mac wouldn’t lie, which meant—

The door was open. Jill had a brief thought that some one had broken into the office before she realized she could smell coffee and hear someone humming. Had Tina decided to show up at a decent time?

Jill stepped inside. Sure enough her assistant/secretary/receptionist was already behind her desk and hard at work. Papers spit out of the computer printer, the copy machine zipped back and forth fast enough to make the entire stand shake and, surprise of surprises, the “to be filed” box was empty.

“Morning,” Tina said cheerfully as Jill carefully stepped into the office.

Had aliens descended and abducted Tina, only to put a perky look-alike in her place?

“Morning. What time did you get here?”

“Eight. My husband’s staying home with the kids this morning, so I thought I’d get an early start.”

Jill didn’t know what to say. As she crossed toward her own office, she noticed several packing boxes and—her breath caught in her throat—fish filling the boxes. Fish that were no longer on the walls. There was a serious absence of fish.

“You’re taking them down?” she asked, trying to sound casual and not at all as if she wanted to break out some rusty cheerleading routines and root for the home team.

“Yeah. I called Mrs. Dixon yesterday and she’s ready to have us take them down and bring them to her.”

“Fine by me,” Jill said as she walked into her office and came to a complete stop.

Here there were almost no fish and the netting was gone, too. Aliens, she told herself. It had to be aliens. Or a cult.

She put down her purse and returned to the reception area. “Okay, I’m still leaving. I have a couple of inter views lined up and I’ve already turned down two offers.”

Tina smiled. “I know. It’s really a shame you have to go. You’ve done so much for the town.”

Her smile was sincere, her pupils weren’t dilated and there weren’t any scales or horns sticking out anywhere Jill could see. So what was up?

“Oh, you have a FedEx package on your desk.”

“Thanks.” Jill walked back into her office, then returned to stand by Tina’s desk. “Okay. I can’t stand it. You’re being nice. What is it? Do you want a raise?”

“Well, sure. I wouldn’t say no.” Tina smiled. Then her humor faded. “But that’s not the reason. I heard what happened. You talked to Mac and he gave Andy a taste of his own medicine. Someone should have done that years ago.”

So that’s what this was about. Revenge on a bully. Jill thought about mentioning that Mac was in some serious trouble for what he’d done. He could lose his job and his daughter.

“The whole town is talking about it,” Tina continued. “Everyone is really happy.”

“It’s too bad no one bothered to intervene before,” Jill told her. “Andy’s been using his wife as a punching bag for a lot of years.”

Tina sighed. “I know. It’s just…”

“Right. No one wanted to get involved.”

Mac had, she thought glumly. But in the wrong way.

“I’ll be in my office,” she said.

“Oh, you have an appointment at nine-thirty. Riley Whitefield will be in to talk about his uncle’s will.”

That was fast, Jill thought as she moved toward her desk. It had been a long time since she’d last seen Los Lobos’s favorite bad boy and the guy who had broken Gracie’s heart. She wondered how time had treated him and what he would say when he found out about the terms of his uncle’s will.

“I DON’T HAVE A CHOICE,” John Goodwin said. It was only nine in the morning, but the Los Lobos district attorney had already discarded his suit jacket, loosened his tie and rolled up the sleeves of his long-sleeved white shirt. “I’m sorry, Mac.”

“Me, too.” Mac slouched in the chair and reminded himself he’d started the trouble with Andy Murphy and it looked as if he was going to have to see it through.

“I’m not saying I don’t agree with you,” John told him. “I do. I think Murphy’s a bastard. But with his wife unwilling to press charges and no one else coming for ward as a witness to the beatings, my hands are tied. He wants to file charges and I can’t ignore that. I’ll go as slow as I can. We’ll need to do a thorough investigation. But the best I can do is buy you time.”

“I appreciate that.”

John, a big bear of a man, slapped a file on his already overflowing desk. “You’ll need a lawyer. Get a good one. I can give you some recommendations.”

“Thanks. I know a few people.” He was sure Jill would have opinions on who would do a good job. For a second he thought about contacting Judge Strathern, but he didn’t want to disappoint the old man by telling him what had happened. The judge would hear in time—he seemed to hear everything. But later was better than sooner.

“I want you to fight this,” the D.A. told him. “You’re a good man and good for this town.”

“Tell that to Andy Murphy.”

“He doesn’t get a vote in this.”

Mac glanced around the office and thought about what would happen when word got out. Hollis wasn’t going to be happy.

“Seems to me he’s getting a vote all right. He’s calling the shots.” Mac rose. “Not that I didn’t earn it. I hit him and now I have to deal with the consequences.” He’d given in to his temper and now he had to pay the price.

“I’ll do what I can,” John told him. “But I also have to do my job.”

“I know and I appreciate the support. Let me know when the hearing is.”

RILEY WHITEFIELD APPEARED to be one of those men who got better with age. He’d been a dark, dangerous teenaged boy who wore black T-shirts tucked into his jeans, motorcycle boots and a gold hoop earring. At seventeen he’d been sexy enough to get any girl he wanted; at thirty-two he’d moved on to women, but Jill was willing to bet they were just as available.