“Ah, this is where it gets dicey.” He stood, wiping his palms on his thighs. “You know Livie Harp never came in to be printed. And with everything that’s been happening, I haven’t had a chance to find out why. So I pulled some prints off the guns we recovered from her.” He swallowed.

Tess froze. “What is it?”

He shook his head. “She’s not Livie Harp; she’s Heather Harrison. LAPD will be all over her if they find out.”

Tess stood and faced him. “You didn’t tell them? Or Bass?” A knee-jerk reaction in her wanted to rush out and arrest Heather Harrison; for years she’d believed the woman was a vicious murderer.

But now, after all she’d learned, was Livie Harp really a cop killer?

“No. I found out after I talked to LA, and Bass is more interested in Redd and the bodies at the Marriott. And . . . well, Tess, I can’t believe she’s a murderer. She saved everyone in Faith’s Place from a couple of cold-blooded killers.”

Tess did a circle on the porch, one hand on her hip, one on her forehead. She remembered the day before, thinking at the time, when Steve was interacting with Livie, that something had sparked. Was that interest on his part? Was it clouding his judgment?

Maybe it’s clouding mine as well, she thought, because I’m kinda glad he didn’t tell the LAPD detectives.

“We have to confront her—you know that. It’s not up to us to decide whether she’s guilty or not. Is there still a warrant in the system?”

“Yes, there is.”

“I knew she was hiding from something,” Tess said, “but I have to admit, I don’t see her as a killer. Yeah, she shot someone, but it was clearly self-defense. She did it to protect everyone at Faith’s Place. To me, there’s a difference.”

“We have to go talk to her. We can’t keep this quiet,” Steve said. “Can you call her?”

“I don’t have her number. Oliver does.”

“I’d really like to talk with her before I say anything to the cold case guys. I know it’s not procedure. If you want to step away, I won’t blame you.”

“I’m as curious as you are.” Tess smiled. “Besides, you covered me over the whole Faith’s Place fiasco. We can drive up there now or—”

She was interrupted by the arrival of Agent Bass.

“Chief, glad to see that you made it out okay after tangling with Smith. I just left one young agent who wasn’t so lucky.” He nodded toward Steve and then faced Tess, his features grim, and Tess imagined that she knew how he felt. She prayed she’d never have to oversee the line-of-duty death of one of her officers.

“Sorry about Ferguson.”