Kara stood in the back, in the far corner, away from most everyone. At first Matt hadn’t seen her—she’d dressed to blend, her hair up, little makeup, dark, nondescript clothing. She had a cut on her neck that was healing from being clipped by a shard of glass at the hotel. She had a cop’s face—solemn, serious, almost emotionless.

Matt had tried to talk to her yesterday, but she’d given him an excuse involving her grandmother that he just didn’t buy. At first he thought he’d made her mad, but realized today that she had taken Andy’s death particularly hard. She hadn’t been able to deal with her grief until after Hamilton had been caught.

After the funeral, Matt didn’t feel the need to go to the Knolls’s house. He’d already spoken to Andy’s parents and that would suffice. Instead, he followed Kara to her car on the edge of the church parking lot.

“Hey.”

She looked up at him. Tears glistened in her eyes.

He rubbed her arm. She closed her eyes. “I hate what I said to him.”

“Don’t go there.”

“I can’t help it. I pushed him to be bolder. He should never have gone up to that house. He should have never been put in that position.”

“He was doing his job, Kara. I knew he was checking up on the family. I didn’t think twice about it. We were spread thin and trying to cover every possible scenario.”

“He didn’t have the right training. He didn’t know how to respond to the threat.” Her voice cracked as her eyes drifted back toward the church where Andy’s coffin was being loaded into the hearse.

“He did everything he could have. More training is always a good thing, but he couldn’t have predicted that Hamilton was in the house. Tolliver woke up yesterday, gave his statement. He blames himself as well. Says he should have shot him, didn’t see the knife until Hamilton pulled it out of Andy’s body. Said Hamilton was in a rage, a wild animal, and it happened so fast he could barely react.”

“I’ll be fine,” Kara said, though she sounded forlorn. “Better than his fiancée.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe what I said to her, about the killer preferring knives. I hate myself. I don’t think.”

“Stop. You’re a great cop, Kara.” Matt put his hand on her forearm and squeezed. He wanted to give her peace but didn’t know how when his emotions were just as raw. Yet, in that brief moment, she silently acknowledged their shared pain.

“You’re not half-bad, for a fed.”

“You know, we don’t have any place to be,” he said. “I’ve already wrapped up most of the paperwork. Ryder said you came and signed your statement yesterday. You may need to testify at a hearing, but it’s a formality and it won’t be anytime soon. You really went above and beyond. I’ll make sure your boss knows that.”

“You don’t have to do anything for me.”