Kerri closed her eyes for a moment. “Having kids is scary as hell.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Kerri bit her lips together. Reminded herself that Falco’s personal life was not her business. Didn’t stop her mouth from overriding her reasoning. “People change. Circumstances change. Have you considered talking to your ex about getting to know your kid?”

“He has a dad. He’s happy. I’m not going to disrupt the life they’ve built for him.”

If only her ex would be so thoughtful.

“What’re you going to do about your ex?” He glanced at her as he braked for a traffic light.

How was it possible he could already read her so well? “My lawyer’s working on it. At this point the only thing I can do is wait.”

And lose my mind.

“By the way, you were right,” she told him. “About Tori wanting a summer adventure, I mean.”

He shot her a grin. “Told you.”

“I called Nick and offered a compromise, but he didn’t go for it.”

“Your ex is a selfish asshole.”

“He is.”

“Have you given any thought to putting a hit out on him?”

Kerri laughed. “I wish I could say the idea hadn’t crossed my mind, but that would be a lie.”

Falco laughed. He didn’t do that often. Then again, there wasn’t a lot to laugh about when working homicide.

Red Mountain Terrace South

Thad Gaines and his family lived only a few neighborhoods over from Amelia and her family. The Mustang registered to him sat in the driveway, so hopefully he was home.

Kerri knocked, and Falco scanned the yard, as if he expected Gaines to make a run for his car any second. The door opened, and the eighteen-year-old stared out at them, looking like he’d only just awakened and crawled out of the bed. In fact, based on his attire—a tee and boxers—he probably had.

“Thad Gaines?” Kerri had no doubt it was him; Diana had sent along a pic. But she asked the question and showed her badge to him anyway.

“Yeah.” He looked from Kerri to Falco and back.

“I’m Detective Devlin, and this is Detective Falco.”

“Are your parents home, Mr. Gaines?” Falco asked.

Kerri mentally high-fived him for that one.

Gaines was nervous now. “No. They’re at work. What’s going on, Detectives?”

“Why don’t we step inside, Mr. Gaines?” Falco sounded dead serious.

“Sure. Okay.”

The kid backed into the house; Kerri and Falco followed. Falco closed the door behind him.

“So . . . what’s this about?”

“Amelia Swanner,” Kerri said. “When was the last time you saw her?”

He blinked, obviously confused or surprised by the question. “A week ago maybe.” He shrugged. “It’s been a while.”

“Have you spoken to her or exchanged texts?” Falco asked.

“I text her, but she doesn’t answer half the time. She blows me off, like every day.”

Falco cocked his head. “I thought you two had a thing.”

“I don’t know . . . I guess we broke up. She works all the time. Apparently I’m too boring for her. We haven’t hung out in over two weeks.”

“The last time you spoke, did she mention someone in trouble that she might need to help?”

He shook his head at Kerri’s question. “She doesn’t tell me anything anymore. I’m out. Some other guy is in.”

“Other guy?” Falco echoed. “Who is this other guy?”

“I don’t know. She just said she was working on some special project with a guy.”

“Can you describe this man to us?” Kerri asked.

“I never saw him.”

“She didn’t say anything else about this special project?”

“Nope. I told you she doesn’t talk to me anymore.”

“You don’t know any of her friends who might be in trouble?” Kerri repeated the question. She was so hoping the answer would be a simple one. She needed this to be simple.

He shook his head. “No. I don’t know what else to tell you. Like I keep saying, she isn’t talking to me.”

Falco offered him one of his cards. “Call me if you hear from her or anything about her. Okay, champ?”

The kid took the card. “Okay. Sure.”

“This is important, Thad,” Kerri reiterated. “Call if you hear anything.”

He nodded. “I will.”

Outside, Kerri waited until they were in Falco’s car. “I didn’t get the impression he was hiding anything.”

“Me either.”

“We need to find Ramsey. If he’s the other guy—and that’s a good possibility, considering he fits the description of the guy who showed up at her house on Sunday night—we need to talk to him.”

“Heading to his last known address now.”

As much as Kerri wanted to believe this couldn’t be connected, there was only one logical reason Ramsey would be talking to Amelia.

Sela Abbott.

There was no answer at Ramsey’s condo. If the abundance of mail jammed into his box was any indication, he hadn’t been there in a while. From the deserted condo they headed to Bellemont’s office.

“There he is,” Falco said as he eased to the curb in front of the attorney’s office. He had just exited the side door.

Kerri was out of the car before it stopped rocking at the curb. She met Bellemont just inside the alley. “Headed home?” she asked, noting his briefcase.

The attorney exhaled a beleaguered breath. “Yes, Detective, I am headed home.”

Falco moved up beside her. “We have a problem, Bellemont. Your man Ramsey has been harassing young girls.”

Bellemont looked from Falco to Kerri. “I’ve already told you that Neal Ramsey is completely trustworthy. Whatever he’s done, I can assure you it’s not only legal but ethical.”

“You call stalking and harassing my eighteen-year-old niece ethical and legal?”

The attorney sighed, his shoulders slumped. “Amelia.” He shook his head. “You’re blowing this out of proportion.”

The idea that Bellemont spoke not only as if he knew Amelia but as if he knew her well had a volatile mixture of worry and outrage twisting through Kerri. “How the hell do you know my niece?”

Bellemont shook his head adamantly. “It’s not what you think.”

Falco moved a step closer to him. “I’m reasonably confident you can’t read minds, Bellemont. So since you have no clue what she’s thinking, why don’t you just give us the skinny? Why was your man talking to Amelia on Sunday night? Harassing her to the point that 911 had to be called.”

Bellemont glanced beyond them, as if he feared being overheard. “We needed to ask Amelia a few questions,” he admitted.

“About what?” Kerri demanded, rather than the litany of other things she wanted to hurl at the man. What the hell was he thinking? Amelia was barely eighteen. She was a kid. And this—this was a fucking homicide investigation.

“Some months ago Amelia befriended Sela Abbott. It was after working with her on one of the fundraisers. Sela was impressed with Amelia, so she indulged the girl’s adoration.”

Kerri crossed her arms over her chest. “That doesn’t sound like Amelia. People are usually drawn to her rather than vice versa.”

“Whatever the case,” Bellemont relented, “the two began spending time together. Once we started the preliminary investigation into Sela’s accusations against Thompson, we felt it necessary to keep an eye on her, so to speak. Ben is my friend, and I felt compelled to see that his wife remained safe. To that end, we needed to understand the nature of Amelia’s relationship with Sela.”

Fury kicked Kerri in the gut all over again. “You’re suggesting she was spying on Sela. Reporting to who? York?” She shook her head. “Jesus Christ. Amelia wouldn’t do that. Not to anyone and not to the firm where she worked.” The idea was outrageous.

“I didn’t say that,” Bellemont argued. “Those are your words. All I’m saying is that we were concerned about the relationship, considering Amelia’s employer, and I relayed those concerns to Sela. Like you, she disagreed adamantly, and that was the end of it. Until . . . the murders. We started watching Amelia again at that point. Hoping she might lead us to Sela.”

Kerri stepped in toe to toe with him. Every instinct she possessed warned that Amelia could be in over her head. That this friend in need was Sela Abbott. Goddamn it! “If you’re keeping anything from me that puts my niece at risk, you will regret it, Bellemont.”

He moved his head wearily from side to side. “I would never do that, Detective.”

“Just to be clear,” Falco said, “you and Ramsey have no idea where Amelia or Sela are?”

“I wish we did.”

It bugged the hell out of Kerri, but she believed him. At least on that one point. As much as she wanted to punch the guy for keeping this from her for days now, she turned around and walked back to Falco’s car. He followed.

As her partner drove away, Kerri stared at Bellemont. He stood in that alley looking utterly lost. Whatever this was, it wasn’t going the way he had anticipated either.

Falco asked, “Who’s up next, partner?”

“Thompson—for the good it will do to try and catch him.” Kerri hesitated for a moment. “Then York.”