“I need to hear what’s staying between us before I agree to anything.”

Faith gripped a pen with both hands.

Sam had never seen the usually cool, unflappable prosecutor so undone.

“I want to help you find the person who shot your father, Sam, but I’m not talking about Gardner.”

“Then I’ll go to Forrester,” Sam said, referring to the U.S. attorney. “I’ll ask him why a slam dunk rape case was thrown out by one of his AUSAs before it ever got to court.”

“Don’t.”

“Tell me why I shouldn’t.”

“For Christ sake, Sam! Just leave it the hell alone! You’re wading into something you can’t even begin to understand.”

“You’re seriously saying that to me? What the fuck, Faith? What waters do you think I won’t understand after twelve years on this goddamned job?” The other woman’s hands were now visibly shaking. “Whatever it is, you can trust me with it. You know that.”

When Faith looked up at her there was none of the hard-nosed prosecutor Sam had come to know and respect. Rather, she looked into the eyes of a very frightened woman. In a low, soft tone, Faith said, “He threatened to have my baby niece Molly killed if I didn’t drop the case.”

Sam tried to digest that. “And you believed him? Surely you’ve been threatened before.”

“Not like this. There’s something truly evil about this guy, Sam. You bet your ass I believed him.”

“Who knows about this?”

“You and me. Hope had just had Molly. I couldn’t exactly share this with her or Charity. If Forrester ever found out, it would end my career—and theirs, if they knew. I never told anyone why we declined to prosecute.”

“What did you tell Forrester?”

“That I didn’t think we could win. He’s a politician. He wants wins. It didn’t take much to convince him to dismiss the charges.”

“How about the special victims detectives?” She could only imagine what her police colleagues had thought about their solid case being tossed.

“Gardner claimed the sex was entirely consensual. I told the SVU detectives it would turn into a he said, she said in court.”

“And you knew that wasn’t true.”

“The pictures from the victim’s rape kit haunt me,” she said with a defeated sigh. “Nothing about that encounter was consensual. I have no doubt I could’ve gotten a conviction.”

“Why didn’t you come to me?”

Faith’s green eyes flooded with tears. “They said they’d chop up the baby and send her back to us in pieces.”

Fury, hot and potent, streaked through Sam. “Start at the beginning. Don’t leave anything out.”

“Sam, please. I’m asking you as a colleague and a friend—leave it alone.”