He paused and seemed to be considering his words carefully. “I want to add that in addition to the sorrow we all feel over Mr. Vasquez’s untimely death, I find it totally appalling that supposed fans of our hometown baseball team reacted to the team’s unfortunate loss with violence. It would be my hope that in the future our citizens might consider the health and safety of their city before they take to the streets to vent their frustrations about a game. That’s all.”

“Well stated, sir,” Sam whispered as she turned off the TV and reached for her phone to give Carlucci and Dominguez their marching orders. She got Gigi on her cell phone. “Listen up,” Sam said, her eyes closed as she told them about the video surveillance and what they were looking for. It would make for a long, boring shift for the detectives, but it needed to be done. “Make sure patrol continues to look for the blood and the car.”

“We’ll take care of it, LT.”

“Thanks.” She ended the call and dropped into the abyss.

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

“Is Sam okay?” Shelby asked oh-so-hot Avery Hill, who’d watched Sam walk away with an odd expression on his face.

“She will be when she gets some sleep. She was getting kind of loopy, so I drove her home.”

“That was good of you. So how’ve you been?”

“Good. Fine. You?”

“Great. Loving the new job.”

“And how’s your other ‘project’ going?”

Shelby frowned at the reminder of their earlier conversation when he’d come to interview her fertility doctor in an investigation and discovered that she was trying to have a baby. “Nothing to report, unfortunately.”

“Sorry to hear that.”

She shrugged. “It’ll happen if it’s meant to.” She couldn’t think about the alternative. One way or the other, she was going to be a mother. Having Scotty around had gone a long way toward easing the craving, but she had to remind herself every day that he wasn’t hers. “Sam said you might want to get together for coffee sometime.”

“Um, sure, if you’d like to.”

“I thought you were supposed to be moving.”

“That was the plan, but the director had something else in mind for me that will keep me in town.”

“I’m glad you’ll be sticking around.”

“Oh. Well, I ought to get back to work.”

“Thanks for bringing Sam home.”

“It was no problem.”

Shelby faced a rare bout of indecision. Should she push him to commit to the date or let him leave and try again the next time? He was so good-looking. Dreamy. Those eyes, that hair, that accent... She wanted to jump all over him, a thought that nearly made her giggle.

“Well, I’ll be seeing you,” he said.