Murder. How could this be happening? And why? What had she possibly done that had driven someone to kill?

***

Piper wasn’t allowed close to the crime scene, but that was hardly a surprise. There was evidence to collect. Procedures to follow. A body to move.

A body…

God!

Grady was dead? Truly? When they arrived at the scene—Piper, Ben, Rick and Julia, a ragtag and tense group—the cops had already been there.

Neighbors were out and gaping at the activity. When she looked down the street, Piper saw her home. The side of her house was still blackened from the fire. Yellow tape blocked off the area.

A white van was at the murder scene. She shivered when she looked at the van. The ME? Piper suspected the body would be transported in that big, shady-looking van. Grady’s body.

“What in the hell is she doing here?”

Eric’s voice. And just like that, he was in front of her. She’d been gazing at the van, seeing Grady in her mind, and Eric had stalked toward her with his silent steps.

“Level freaking six protection means she isn’t exposed to danger! Dammit! Rick, Julia, you both know this shit.” Anger rolled in his voice.

Julia stepped toward him. Her gaze held his. “Yeah, well, level six doesn’t mean we get to tie the woman to a chair—”

He flinched.

“And keep her captive until you return! She’s not under some kind of arrest, and she was demanding to be brought here.” Julia’s thumb jerked toward Piper. “So we brought her, and we’re sticking close, and she’s not going to leave without us.”

Eric swiped a hand over his face. His gaze slid over Piper. “You shouldn’t be here. You don’t…you don’t want to see him. Not this way. Trust me.”

“What happened to Grady?” Her gaze darted to the house’s entrance.

A woman strode out, a woman dressed in a black business suit, with her dark hair pulled back in a tight bun. There was a badge clipped to the woman’s hip, and when she strode forward, Piper could see the holster under her arm. Simon followed out behind her, and his expression was darker than Piper had ever seen it before.

“He was…stabbed.” There as a slight hesitation in Eric’s words.

Piper’s arms wrapped around her stomach.

Ben’s hand brushed over her back in comfort. “How long has he been dead?”

“Maybe three days. That’s just my estimate. The ME will tell us for certain.”

Three days? He’d been in that house, cold and dead, all that time?

Simon and the mystery woman were heading toward them. The woman’s gaze had settled on Piper.