“He can try, but the proof is in the pictures. Anyway, now that it’s finally after nine, I need to call the headmaster at Brooke’s school and figure out how the hell she managed to get out of there last night.”

“What’s going to happen with Scotty?”

Sam ran her fingers through her hair, attempting to bring order to it as the long night without sleep began to catch up to her. “I’ll report to Gonzo with what he saw, but I’m going to try like hell to keep him out of it. It’s actually good news that he couldn’t identify the people who dropped her off, even if it makes our job that much harder.”

“I agree. I nearly had a heart attack when he told me what he’d seen.”

“This is exactly the kind of thing I was afraid of when he came to live with us. I never wanted him wrapped up in my cases. I certainly couldn’t have imagined him wrapped up in a case that involves my own niece.”

Nick leaned forward to rest his hands on her legs. “If it turns out that Brooke was somehow responsible for what happened at MacArthur, are you going to be able to live with that?”

“She wasn’t responsible. I saw her on video with three of the vics, and she was out of her mind before they were killed. As sickening as that video was to watch, it’s proof there’s no way she could’ve killed them. She was barely conscious. Someone else did the videotaping, the killing, the posting. We’ll figure out who that was.”

“I know you’ve got stuff to do, and I’ll let you get to it, but I wanted to say...I’m sorry about before. I shouldn’t have made an issue out of the vacation getting screwed up.”

“Yes, you should’ve,” she said with a sigh. “We’ve been looking forward to it, and you’re right to be pissed. I’m pissed too. I don’t want to be dealing with this right now, but I can’t turn my back on Brooke—or Tracy. Especially Tracy.”

“I know, babe. Is it okay to be secretly glad the chief bounced you off the homicide case so you have to work from home?” he asked with a hint of the sexy smile Sam loved so much.

“It’s okay to be glad I got bounced off the case—this one time.” She cupped his face and leaned in to kiss him. Leaning her forehead against his, she said, “I hate fighting with you. It’s the worst thing ever.”

“Same here. I couldn’t sleep when I got home because I was so wound up about how we left things.”

“My stomach hurt all night after you left.”