Plus, there was the little matter of this being her job, and she always did a thorough job.

When Tucker finally called her back, they arranged to meet at an outside burger joint in the center of town. Surrounded by tourists doing some summer shopping and college students on break, Holly pulled out the e-mail she’d gotten from her contact, the one that outlined the contents of the mysterious powder packet.

Tucker read the e-mail, then pushed it back across the table toward her, his face inscrutable. “What are you asking?”

“I got the packet out of your duffel bag. The duffel bag you brought to Pace’s.”

“Did you?”

“It . . . fell out.”

He laughed. “Uh-huh.”

“What do you use it for?”

“That’s not any of your business.”

“You don’t play ball,” she said.

Something in his eyes changed at that, chilled. Hardened. “I do not, no.”

She knew his background, that he could have been a great player himself except for his accident, so she tread carefully. “I just don’t see why you’d be taking stimulants.”

“No? I have a bum leg, Holly. The powder in that packet is a natural growth stimulant, from plants and herbs.”

“So you’re saying you use?”

“It’s not a manufactured drug, it’s natural.”

“Semantics, Tucker, and you know it. If the commissioner had known of its existence, it’d have been put on the banned list. It will be put on the banned list.”

He took a bite of his burger.

She sighed and tried another angle. “You and the guys on the Heat are all close friends.”

“Yeah. So?”

“Ty had your vitamins on him when he was arrested.”

“True. They’re good. They really work for him and his needs.”

“You’re right,” she agreed. “And I’m wondering what else works for him. I’ve done the research, Tucker. I know that with some of these new high-tech, drugs, if you’re not tested in the first twenty-four to forty-eight hours after taking them, it won’t register. Which means Pace must have ingested one to two days before his blood work.”

His amusement faded. “Are you accusing Pace of using?”

“No. The opposite. I believe he tested positive only because he ingested by accident.”

Tucker set down his burger. Leaning forward, his eyes filled with a genuineness that couldn’t be faked, he said, “Pace and I go way back. I’d never do anything to hurt him.” His voice cracked slightly. “Never.”

She could feel his grief, just as she felt something else—he was holding back on her. Was he protecting himself, or someone else? “I know you care about them,” she said softly. “That you’d never hurt them. But whether by accident or not, someone did. Someone hurt Pace. And it could happen again.”