“What?” She jumped. “Oh. Sorry. I was thinking about a case file I misplaced,” she said quickly, and forced a smile to her face as Banks brought Grace around to her desk.

“This is Grace Charles. Grace, this is Clancey. She holds down the office when I’m not here and keeps the files in order.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Clancey said, smiling. “I’ve heard a lot about you from Mr. Banks’s sister. I go to church with her.”

“Yes, I know Brenda,” Grace said with a sigh. “It’s easy to go to church, you know. It’s a lot harder to live by the tenets we learn there.”

Banks bristled just a little, but quickly erased the irritation from his expression. “I’m taking Grace to lunch. I’ll be back late, if anybody calls. If it’s important, tell them to call my cell phone.”

“Do you have to wear that firearm everywhere you go?” Grace asked Banks worriedly. “It’s an instrument of violence, you know, Colt.”

“I carry it so that other instruments of violence won’t triumph over innocent lives,” he returned with a faint smile.

“Yes, but—” Grace began.

“Lunch,” he interrupted her, taking her elbow in his big hand. “Let’s go.”

Clancey looked after them with a sinking heart. Grace didn’t like what Banks did for a living and made it clear. She hated guns. She thought Brenda Banks wasn’t living a truly good life, when Brenda was one of the kindest, most religious people Clancey knew.

She felt rather sorry for Banks. It was obvious that he’d idealized the woman for years and was caught up in a helpless passion for her. Clancey remembered how sweetly he’d kissed her, remembered the feel of his strong arms around her, the scent of his spicy cologne in her nostrils, the taste of him as his mouth ground into hers.

She’d never felt so hungry for a man in her whole life, and it had to be a man who was in love with someone else. It seemed unfair, somehow. Her whole young life had been one of violence and terror. She was facing the worst terror right now. Morris was on his way home and she was scared to death. She had to get Tad and her precious few things out of that house today. In fact, they’d have to go directly to the homeless shelter after work, after they took a cab to Cal’s office and left their treasures with him. She groaned at the thought of how much the cab would cost. But it had to be done. She had no time left for apartment hunting. She had to get somewhere that Morris wouldn’t look for them.

She phoned Cal a minute or two later.