Without stopping to think, she dropped her skirt and shinnied up the tree the way she had when she was little. “Stay, Atlas,” she called over her shoulder. “I might be up here awhile, so stand guard.”

The shepherd cocked his head to one side and then the other, uncertain what his mistress was doing. He dropped to his haunches, his eyes alert, and waited.

While Cady sat nestled in the branches of the oak tree struggling to remember the events of that long-ago day, a police patrol car called in to report to the new chief. “It looks to me like a young woman in her underwear is sitting in a tree by the pond. Her car, a Mercury Mountaineer, is parked at the top of the embankment. When I didn’t see anyone, I got out my binoculars. I’m sure she’s in her underwear. I see a dress or something on the ground, and there’s a big dog sitting at the base of the tree. I have a healthy respect for dogs that look like that. Yes, Chief, the signs are up. You don’t want me to check it out? Do you want me to fill out a report or put a ticket on the windshield of her car? Okay, Chief, you’re the boss.”

Mac Ward leaned back in the swivel chair. The fit of the chair was starting to feel right, like he’d really found his niche. Now he was about to blow it all to hell.

It was time to make his phone calls. He wished now he’d done it days ago. Hell, he wished he’d done it years ago. Until now, he’d been looking forward to his date with Cady. He reached for his private cell phone and dialed Pete Danson’s number.

“It’s Mac Ward, Pete,” he said curtly when Pete’s secretary put him through to the lawyer. “Let’s meet tomorrow morning for breakfast. You call Andy, and I’ll call Amy. No, Pete, it isn’t a request, it’s a goddamn order. One of my men just called in to tell me Cady is at the pond and up a tree in her underwear. I’m assuming it’s the tree where you guys had your tree house. This is just a hunch on my part, but I think she’s starting to remember, if she hasn’t already. We should have done this years ago. I, for one, am sorry we didn’t. We all had our reasons, Pete. Those reasons don’t matter any longer. We’re responsible adults, or at least we’re supposed to be. Seven-thirty sounds good to me. Eva’s. I’ll call ahead to make sure she saves us a table in the back.”

The chief’s next call was to Amy Chambers. He breathed a sigh of relief when her answering machine came on. He ended his message with, “Be there, Amy. This isn’t a request, this is an order.”

Mac Ward stared at a picture of the president of the United States hanging on the wall across from his desk. He was an honorable man. A man dedicated to running the country and keeping it safe for all the citizens. In his own way, he was trying to do the same thing but on a smaller scale. He thought about the secrets he’d lived with all these years. He wished, just as he had a million times before, that he had never met Jeff King.