Alicia felt her gut tighten as she sagged back against the door. “Oh, great.”

Just what she needed—more legal expenses. And a threat to her job as well. This was scary. What was happening to her life?

“But he said he’d offer to drop everything if you withdraw your child molestation charges against Stevens.”

Alicia stiffened as anger shot through her spine. “Never. I want this creep on record as a pedophile so he’ll never be allowed near kids again.”

Matthews’s smile was tight and grim, but his approving nod bolstered her.

“Good for you. But I hope you know you’ve got a bumpy road ahead of you on this.”

Alicia knew. And she wondered if she’d make it to the end.

“Can I ask you something?” she said. “What’s your interest in this?”

“Oh, a couple of things,” he said, and she noticed that his cheeks reddened as he answered. “I worked Vice for a while, and these kiddie hawks were always the toughest to nail. They tend to have money and can afford good lawyers, their victims make poor witnesses, and they seem to be upright citizens, which makes it—”

“I know all that,” Alicia said quickly, swallowing back the queasy feeling in her gut. “But why this particular case?”

His cheeks reddened further. “Because I like the work you’re doing with those kids at the Center.” A smile, almost embarrassed. “And I like the way you took after Stevens. That took guts.”

Not guts, Alicia thought. I was more nutsy than gutsy.

“And finally,” he continued, “I wanted to give you a heads-up on what to expect from Stevens’s lawyer. So you’d be ready for him.”

“Thanks,” she said. “I appreciate that.” And she meant it.

“And I want to let you know that you’re not alone in this. The system chews up the wrong people sometimes. Even when you’re right, the Barry Finemans of the world can use the courts to punish you instead of their clients. But you’ve got an ally. I’m going to do a little research on Floyd Stevens and see what I can come up with.”

“Will that help?”

He shrugged. “You never know. Sometimes—”

The phone rang. Probably the Center.

“Excuse me,” she said, and stepped past Matthews into the main room. But it wasn’t Raymond’s voice she heard when she lifted the handset.

“Alicia? Jack. We’ve got to talk.”

Jack! She glanced guiltily at the detective cooling his heels in the foyer. She couldn’t exactly discuss arson now.

She lowered her voice. “Um, I can’t talk right now.”

“Well, I wouldn’t want to discuss this on the phone anyway.”

“I’m not going back to that horrible Julio’s again.”

“I was thinking your place.”

Two visitors in one day? That might be a record. She found Jack a little frightening. Would it be reckless to be alone with him here?

“Gee, I don’t know.”

“You going to be around?”

“Yes, but—”

“Good. Your place, then.”

She gave in. “Okay, but how about… later?”