“Agent O’Toole made good on her promise.” Sabrina automatically reached into a drawer to find a spoon to hand to Hew. “She came to tell me Eddy Torres is dead. Shot in the head.”
Hew stopped in the middle of peeling back the foil on the yogurt, his moss-green eyes darting to Julia’s face. “No shit?”
Julia nodded. “They pulled him out of a marsh last week. He’d been there a while. They had to run his DNA to identify him. Results came in this morning.”
“Good riddance to bad rubbish,” Hew spat, stabbing the spoon into the yogurt in punctuation. He pulled out a small spoonful and purposefully dropped it on the floor at his feet. Peanut pounced on the glob like he hadn’t been fed in a week. “I hope the sonofabitch suffered before they put his lights out.”
Sabrina placed a comforting hand on his forearm, and Julia watched in astonishment as every muscle in Hew’s body softened.
“It’s over,” Sabrina whispered, her eyes glistening up at Hew. “He’s gone. The boogeyman is gone.”
“Maybe now you’ll stop having those nightmares.” Hew’s expression was filled with so much tenderness as he stared down at Sabrina that Julia had to look away.
So…in the end, Sabrinadidget the guy, and all I got was laid, she thought, and then immediately scolded herself for being a jealous bitch. Sabrina had been through hell anddeservedall the love and happiness she could find.
After gulping down half the contents of her mug, Julia grabbed her coat from the barstool beside her and pushed to a stand.
“I need to get back to the office,” she announced. “If I’m gone too long, Agent Douglas hides my FBI star, and then I spend half the day looking for it.”
“An FBI star, eh?” Hew’s New England accent sounded particularly strong in that sentence. “Congratulations.”
“Thanks.” She grimaced. “It wasn’t like I had to do much to get it. Just be in the wrong place at the wrong time when a guy with a gun decided to start spraying bullets.”
“It’s no small thing getting wounded in the line of duty,” Hew returned. “I’m glad the bureau gave you the recognition you deserve.”
Uncomfortable with compliments, Julia fell back on humor. “Thank you, Chief Birch.” She snapped him a jaunty salute. “That means a lot coming from a Nightstalker.”
“FormerNightstalker,” he corrected.
“No such thing.” Julia shook her head. “Just like there’s no such thing as aformerfed. It gets in your blood and stays there even after you take off the badge. Or, in your case, take off the uniform.”
“I suppose you’re right,” he conceded with a dip of his mile-wide chin.
“I’ll walk you to the door.” Sabrina motioned for Julia to follow her from the kitchen. Hew stayed behind to finish his yogurt.
As they exited the short hallway, Julia slipped into her coat and scarf while sneaking surreptitious glances around the shop.
Still no sign of Britt. But Sam had joined Graham at the bike lift in the back. He waved when he saw her. She lifted a hand and then watched him flip down the visor on his welding helmet.
She was too busy shoving on her stocking cap to see the moment he fired up his torch and went to work. But by the time she and Sabrina made it to the front door, the smell of burning metal filled her nose.
Julia held her gloves in her left hand and extended her right. “I’m happy you found a soft place to land,” she told Sabrina, feeling the subtle strength in the woman’s grip. “And I’m sorry the bureau wasn’t willing to do more to keep you safe. We can be real bastards sometimes.”
Sabrina’s soft smile said it all. “I think things worked out for the best. I’m happy here.”
Julia felt the green-eyed monster try to hop on her shoulder again. But she flicked him across the room with an imaginary finger. When she told Sabrina, “I’m so glad for you,” she meant it.
After pulling on her gloves, she allowed herself one more glance around the shop. One more chance to possibly catch sight of Sergeant Britt Rollins.
“He’s not here,” Sabrina said softly.
Julia didn’t bother pretending to be ignorant and askingwho. They both knew who she was looking for.
“Where is he?”
“On week one of a three-week mountain climbing expedition.” Sabrina’s expression was sympathetic. “You know Britt. When he’s not building bikes, he’s looking for his next big adrenaline rush.”
Julia tried for a breezy tone. Tried and failed. “Actually, I don’t know Britt at all.”
