She held up a hand, then adjusted some of the items in the back of the car, mashing them down so that she would be able to see out her rearview mirror. “I know where you stand. You don’t want me to write about any of the cases you worked on. Don’t worry. I won’t tread on any hallowed ground.”

“That’s not it and you know it,” he said. A bit of anger flashed in his deep-set eyes.

Fine. Let him be mad. She was irritated as well. In the last few weeks they’d really gotten on each other’s nerves.

“I’m worried about your safety.”

“Well, don’t be, okay?”

“Cut the attitude. It’s not like you haven’t already been a target.” He met her eyes, and she knew he was reliving every terrifying second of her kidnapping and attack.

“I’m fine.” She softened a bit. Though he was a pain in the ass often enough, he was a good guy. She knew it. He was just worried about her. As always. But she didn’t need it.

With an effort she tamped down her impatience, as Hairy S., her stepmother’s scrap of a mutt, streaked out the front door and chased a squirrel into a pine tree. In a flash of red and gray, the squirrel scrambled up the pine’s rough bole to perch high upon a branch that shook as the squirrel peered down, taunting and scolding the frustrated terrier mix. Hairy S. dug at the trunk with his paws as he whined and circled the tree.

“Shh…you’ll get him next time,” Kristi said, scooping up the mutt. Wet paws scrabbled across her sweatshirt and she received a wet swipe of Hairy’s tongue over her cheek. “I’ll miss you,” she told the dog, who was wriggling to get back to the ground and his rodent chasing. She placed him on the grass, wincing a little from some lingering pain in her neck.

“Hairy! Come here!” Olivia ordered from the porch, but the intent dog ignored her.

Bentz said, “You’re not completely healed.”

Kristi sighed loudly. “Look, Dad, all my varied and specialized docs said I was fine. Better than ever, right? Funny what a little time in a hospital, some physical therapy, a few sessions with a shrink, and then nearly a year of intense personal training can do.”

He snorted. As if to add credence to his worry, a crow flapped its way toward them to land upon the bare branches of a magnolia tree. It let out a lonely, mocking caw.

“You were pretty freaked when you woke up in the hospital,” he reminded her.