“KNEES!

ON THE GROUND!

BOTH OF YOU, NOW!” the lead deputy barked, his flashlight sweeping the dim entryway.

Julian, who a moment before had been the most dangerous thing in the room, immediately raised his hands and dropped heavily to his knees on the hardwood floor, the whole performance of menace collapsing the instant it met real authority.

And Valerie let out a pathetic, high-pitched sob, dropping the purse she had been clutching, as a female officer took her firmly by the arm, brought her down, and snapped a pair of steel handcuffs around her wrists.

“Nora Vance?” A sharp-eyed female detective stepped past the officers and came toward me.