Yesterday had been a really shitty day, until last night. Finding the body, first off. It wasn’t lost on her that she’d found both bodies attributed to this psycho. Then Andy falling apart and questioning his career choices. That had come out of left field. But she was also angry because she thought he had her back, and he didn’t. That anger had fueled her for the rest of the day, leaving her both melancholy and frustrated.

Why did she even attempt to trust anyone? She should know better. Years of watching her own back should have taught her that.

Then the clincher—Lex calling and telling her the case she had painstakingly built was falling apart—yet he wouldn’t let her come back to fix it. That fucking bastard David Chen was going to walk—she knew it, in her gut—and there was not one damn thing she could do about it. She wanted to throttle the feds. Why were they being such dicks? Who was behind it? She’d pissed off a few of them, but she never thought she’d made them so angry that they’d negotiate with a human trafficker in order to nail a use of force charge against her.

“I’m having dinner with Brian Maddox and his family tonight.” She needed to change the subject and get her Grams off the topic of where she had been spending her nights—and who she had been spending them with.

“That’s nice. He’s such a nice man. And his wife, Julia—”

“Julie.”

“Right, Julie, she always brings me homemade cookies for Christmas, and a bottle of that port I love so.”

“They’re what you’ve always called good people.”

“I’m sure Mr. Maddox would hire you. He’s in Spokane now. That’s a big city.”

She would have laughed if it wouldn’t have insulted her grandmother. “I like Los Angeles, Em.”

“It’s so far away.”

“Maybe you should move to Santa Monica. There’s lots of things to do there, it never snows, and there’s a seniors community not far from my place.”

Emily scowled at her. “I’m not that old, Kara Leigh.”

She winced. Emily rarely disciplined her, but when she did, she called her by her full name.

“I didn’t say you were old.”

“I’m not leaving. This is my home, young lady, and I don’t want to move to California.”

“I’m sorry, Grams.”

Emily refilled their coffee and sat back down. “I worry about you.”

“Likewise.”

“Will you visit again?”

She almost sounded like a child. Kara felt guilty—she’d spent most of her time working on a case she wasn’t even getting paid for, doing things she didn’t have to do. No one would blame her if she stepped away and spent time with her grandmother.

“I’ll be here for a whole other week.”

“Working.”

“Not the whole time. I think the FBI is close—they’ve been pulling out all the stops.”

“You never liked the FBI.”

“No, because most FBI agents I’ve met are assholes. But the ones here, not so bad.”