Norah woke, and for a moment she believed that everything had been a dream. She realized quickly that it hadn’t been and she was, in fact, living a nightmare. The old plaid couch she was lying on creaked as she sat to get a better look around the tiny living room. She hadn’t looked much past the table when she had come in last night, and the information Agent Andrews had given her had been shocking enough that it had wiped the energy right out of her. Not Agent Andrews, she reminded herself. He had asked her to call him Harley.

She saw that Harley had placed a glass of water and a bottle of aspirin on the table next to the couch for her. She grateful took two and then stood to find a bathroom. She found it quickly, seeing as how the house only had two interior doors and one led to the room she had woken in last night.

The bathroom was small, as she had expected, with a pedestal sink and tiny shower with a curtain in an ocean pattern. She smiled at the irony of the happy fish swimming upon the plastic. The ocean was vast with unknown depths, and this room was barely large enough for her to move around in. There was no laundry hamper or trashcan, not that there would have been room for either, and when she opened the medicine cabinets she saw only the necessities, and they were all brand new.

She remembered Harley saying that they were the only two who knew where she was. Maybe this was some sort of safe house. But why bring her here? Why not take her to a hospital instead? Norah touched the butterfly strips on her forehead. She had obviously been wounded, and probably could have used a checkup.

Norah splashed some cool water on her face and headed for the door. She would ask him all those questions and more once he woke up. She went and sat back on the couch to study him for a moment.

What was she going to do now? With Clayton gone, she had no idea what she was supposed to do next. Her entire life over the last two years had been orchestrated around him. Who was she without him? He had insisted she quit the two jobs she was working to survive, had pushed her to spend more time with him and not with her best friend. She hadn’t even talked to Reagan in almost a month. Every time she had found time to be at the shelter, her friend hadn’t been volunteering.

He had insisted on paying for everything. She still had her emergency stash of cash she had stocked up before she had even met him. Her apartment had been paid for through the end of the year, so at least she had some time to come up with a plan. What hit her the hardest, though, was that she was going to have to put her future on hold again in order to work to survive and still manage to volunteer. There was no way she could afford school right away by herself, so she was going to have to work to save the money, and she refused to take on so many hours that she couldn’t help at the shelter.

School. She sighed. She had just gotten the courage and put together a backup argument to get Clayton to agree to let her attend school. It had been one of those things they had talked about when they first got together, but it continued to get pushed back until he finally told her he didn’t think it was appropriate for her to want to work. She had of course argued that she didn’t consider it work, but he hadn’t budged.

She had spent days putting together an argument that would prove to him it was beneficial for her to become a social worker. Now that was a moot point. He was dead and she could go if she wanted to. Student loans were an option, she supposed. She would survive without him. She had survived by herself ever since she had been a teenager; she certainly could do it now. Couldn’t she?

Norah looked up when she heard Harley clear his throat.

---

“Morning, Miss McNamara, how did you sleep?” He stood and walked into the kitchen.

“Okay.”

Harley nodded. He stood and watched as the coffee poured into the pot. The scent of the brew made his aching head weep with relief.

“How do you take it?” he asked as he poured the steaming liquid into two mugs.

“Black is fine, thanks.”

Harley handed her a mug and then stood to study her for a moment. She didn’t strike him as a liar, or a criminal. Then again, Clayton Matthews hadn’t looked like one, either. It was the clean-cut criminals that seemed to stay above the radar the longest.

“So tell me about your fiancé.” He took his seat back in the chair across from the couch and watched her face.

“What about him?”

“There must have been a reason someone wanted him dead bad enough that they shot up a charity banquet.”

“What makes you think they were after him?” She was defensive, he noted. Still not an admission of guilt, but it was something.

“He was the only one killed. They continued shooting until they knew he was dead and then took off. Stands to reason he was the target.”

“Not necessarily. Dozens of other donors were there. It could have been any one of them.” She set her cup down and crossed her arms.

“Humor me for a moment and let’s just pretend it was him. Who would want him dead?”

“I have no idea. Clayton stayed pretty under the radar with the public. The only time he made large appearances was at banquets. Other than that he worked from home and held his meetings in his office.”

“Did anyone ever leave angry? Seem to be unsatisfied with the meeting agenda?”

She shook her head. “No, not that I saw, anyways. I wasn’t usually around when he had his meetings. “

“Where were you?”

She studied him and her cheeks flushed. “Do you honestly think I killed him? That I thought it would be a good idea to hire someone to shoot up a banquet where I might be killed as well?”

“Thought had crossed my mind.” He lied, he needed to get a rise out of her.

“Then you’re an idiot. I wouldn’t have killed Clayton.”

“Because he was your meal ticket.” Her jaw dropped and her eyes narrowed on Harley. If looks could kill, he would have been joining Clayton in the six-foot-under group.

“No. I wouldn’t have killed him because I am not a murderer.”

“But he hit you.” He gestured to the bruise on her cheek and she immediately covered it.

“That was an accident.”

“I’m sure it was. Listen, there are some things that I need to understand before you can be released.”

“What’s that?”

“Were you aware of any organization that your fiancé was a part of?”

“Yes. He ran over a dozen charity organizations in the city.” The fire In her eyes was attractive, and he was having a damn fun time pissing her off.

“He ran groups that assisted those who were financially unstable. If they were going to lose their homes, he helped; if they couldn’t pay medical bills, he helped. He even ran a scholarship to help kids from low-income homes go to college. There were other various organizations that helped the homeless shelters, the women’s and children’s shelters, and even a few animal shelters. Good enough?” she asked angrily, and leaned back on the couch.

Harley tried to not look at the skin that was bare up to her thigh. He had no business being attracted to this woman.

“For now.” He took another drink of his coffee. Either she was a brilliant actress, or she truly had no idea the type of person she had been about to marry. “Once you’re done with your coffee, I’ll drive you home.”

“You’re going to let me go?”

Harley laughed. “Of course. I’m not going to hold you captive. I just had a few questions, that’s all.”

Turn her loose and see where she runs. He wasn’t going to get anything out of her this way, so maybe if he followed her, she might run back to whomever was running things. He pushed his conscience aside. He would be following her, so she wouldn’t be in any actual danger. Everything would be fine, he assured himself. His mission came first, and he had to know who was in charge.

---

“You’ll drive me home?” she questioned again as she climbed into his car. She had insisted on putting her stained and torn gown back on, and Harley had obliged. Who was he to tell her she couldn’t walk around Seattle looking as though she had walked through a car wash. At least it was finally dry.

“Yes. I’m not going to leave you in some back alley if that’s what you’re worried about. What’s the address?”

“I’m in the apartments on 128th street.”

“All right, I know where you’re talking about. Let’s get you home.”

The first ten minutes passed in silence before she finally broke it.

“How long have you been at the FBI?” she asked, her curiosity pushing back her anger for now. How dare he accuse her of killing Clayton and hurting those people at the dinner? She was not some criminal who got their jollies off on hurting people. I mean, goodness, I spend every hour I can at the shelters!

“FBI?” Even from the backseat, she could see the confusion spread across his face, and fear consumed her. Who was this man? He had said he was an agent, hadn’t he?

“You said you were an agent, right?” she repeated out loud. Oh God, she had told him about all of Clayton’s charity groups. What if he was the one who orchestrated the entire shooting? What if he had only pulled her to safety so he could get the information he wanted out of her?

Harley looked in the rearview and saw the fear spread across her face. Hadn’t they come to the conclusion that he wasn’t going to hurt her?

“I am an agent. Just not with the FBI. I work with a company called Hewitt and Hewitt. We work privately for the government, sort of like freelancers.” He glanced back again and saw relief replace the fear.

“It sounds like a law firm.” She covered her mouth with her hands and her eyes got wide.

Harley bit back the anger and tried to smile into the mirror. He knew the reaction was a direct result of the way Matthews had treated her. “That’s what I thought at first also.” He tried to put her mind at ease. “A friend of my dad’s runs it. After I had been there for a while I understood why they call it that. When you sound like you work for a law firm, people are surprisingly willing to hand over information.”

She smiled lightly and looked out the window and into the cloudy sky.

---

“HERE WE ARE,” he said, and pulled over in front of a large apartment building.

“Thank you,” she said, and started to open the door.

“Here.” Harley handed her a piece of paper with a phone number on it. “If you need anything, give me a call.”

“Will do.” She stepped from the car and hurried into her apartment building ready to wash the night’s events off her.

As soon as she heard the lock click behind her, she breathed a sigh of relief. The coffee scent she had put in her wax warmers filled her nose, and she stood for a moment, staring into the empty apartment. It still looked exactly the same as it had yesterday afternoon.

Her coffee cup still sat on the same place on the table next to the Self magazine she had been reading. How could everything still look the same when her entire world had changed? What was her next step? She knew she needed to contact the authorities to see about funeral arrangements. She needed to start notifying Clayton’s friends that he had passed and figure out how to handle his affairs.

“Just start with a shower,” she murmured to herself. A knock sounded on her door. Surely it wasn’t Harley; she hadn’t even told him what apartment she was in.

The pounding started again and Norah looked through the peephole. Two large men stood on the other side wearing dark suits.

“Open up, Norah, we know you’re in there. We just want to talk.”

“Who are you?”

“FBI.” The man held up a badge so she could see it. She opened the door slowly and he smiled at her. “Good afternoon, Miss McNamara. We would like to ask you a few questions.”

Alarms went off in her head. Something wasn’t right, and she could swear she had seen these men before. “Can I see your badge again?” she asked, and irritation flashed across his face.

“Look, Miss McNamara, this won’t take long.”

“Then I will come down to your office, we can talk then. I would like to shower and change now.” She started to shut the door, and the man who hadn’t spoken yet put his foot in the way.

She didn’t know much about FBI agents, but she was pretty sure they didn’t typically have gauged ears and neck tattoos.

“We could have done this the easy way.” They pushed into her apartment and she screamed.

---

HARLEY WAS JUST about to take a sip of coffee when he heard the scream. It was loud enough that he was pretty sure anyone nearby would have heard her. He pulled the gun from his holster and bolted up the stairs in the direction she had gone.

Another scream tore into the silent afternoon, and he rounded to head back towards where it had come from. Had they found her already? Damn, he was an idiot!

“Where is it?” A large man with a neck tattoo blocked the door while another even larger man gripped her by the hair and yelled at her.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” she insisted, and Harley felt his anger snap when the bastard smacked her.

“I’m going to ask you one more time,” he growled.

“Hey fuckers,” Harley said, and charged the man blocking the door. His mass alone was close to double Harley’s, and it took more strength than he would have thought to bring the bastard down. Once he had, he flipped around and pulled him into a chokehold. Once he was sure the man was unconscious, he started towards the man holding Norah.

“Let her go.”

“You have no idea who you’re dealing with.”

“I think I have a pretty good idea.” Harley walked closer to Norah. Her eyes were wide and her cheeks were red and tear-stained. “Now let her go.” He pulled the gun from his holster. He would prefer not use it and alert anyone else nearby, but if it came down to Norah or this bastard, he had no problem pulling the trigger.

The man shoved her to the floor and she moved quickly to Harley’s side.

“We’re coming for her, Andrews.”

When Harley’s own eyes widened with surprise, the man laughed. “Yeah we know who you are. We know everything about you and your mother in, where is it? Oh yeah, Texas.”

Harley ignored his comment. He needed to focus on getting them out of there alive and before neck tattoo woke up.

“Give her to us and we won’t mess with either of you. Norah is the one we want.”

“Not a damn chance. We are leaving. If you so much as step out of this apartment before we’re gone, I’ll put a bullet in you. If you go anywhere near my mother, well, then, so help you, because she won’t be as nice as I was.” Harley backed towards the door along with Norah and then pulled her as quickly as he could down the steps.

Once they were safely in his car, Harley put his gun back in his holster and peeled away from the curb. How could he have been so stupid! He had almost gotten Norah killed, and for what? On the off chance she knew something?

“What had they been asking you for?” Anger flared in his voice, and he didn’t bother trying to hide it.

“I don’t know,” she whispered, and brought her knees up to her chest.

“Dammit, Norah, focus! They wanted something, what could it have been?”

“I don’t know!” she yelled back. “I have no idea what the fuck is going on! My fiancé is dead and my entire world has turned upside down in the matter of twenty-four hours, and I have no fucking clue why!”

Harley pulled into the parking lot of a gas station and pulled his phone out. He had turned it off and taken the battery out last night, so it took him a moment to get it working.

He dialed up the only number he knew better than his own and smiled when his mom answered on the second ring.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Ma, it’s me.”

“Harley, what number are you calling me from?”

“A friend’s. Listen, I need to ask a favor of you.”

“Of course, what is it?”

“You know that savings account information I gave you?”

“Yes. Is everything all right, Harley?”

“Yeah, I just want you to take a trip for me.”

“Harley, what’s wrong?”

“Mom, please just listen to me.”

“I will once you tell me the truth.”

“I’m in a bind with work. A job went bad and I need to go into hiding for a little while.”

“Are you in danger?”

“Not much, just helping a key witness hide out. I just want to make sure they can’t track you down and use you to get to me or my witness.”

“Harley, I’m sure that I’m safe here.”

“Mom, please. Just promise me. Empty out the savings account and use cash. Get out of town and go somewhere where there’s a lot of people. How about that casino you’re always talking about? Maybe take Keith and you guys have a nice getaway.” Harley mentioned his mom’s new husband. He was an ex-marine—granted, he’d been retired for about fifteen years, but he was still someone who could help keep her safe.

“I don’t need your money for that.” Harley heard some rustling around and Keith’s voice came through the phone.

“Everything all right, son?” Harley cringed. He hated it when Keith called him that. Not because he had anything against him—Keith was a good man—but because it had been what his own dad had called him.

“Yeah, like I told mom, I’m needing to go into hiding for a little while with a witness. I need you two to get out of town and use the cash I have stored in that savings account I gave mom.”

“So cards can’t be traced.”

“Yes. Please keep her safe, Keith.”

“I will.”

“Can I talk to her again?”

More rustling and then his mom came back on the line. “Harley, you had better stay safe.”

“I will. I told you, Mom, I’m just helping keep someone else out of trouble.”

“All right. We’ve been wanting to get out of town anyways. I love you, Harley.”

“Love you too, Mom.”

The line went dead, and Harley rested his forehead against the steering wheel. His mom would be safe, Keith would see to it. Now he just needed to keep himself and Norah alive long enough to figure out what in the hell was going on.

“Your mom is okay?” He barely heard her, and from the way she recoiled in her seat, the frustration and anger he felt was plastered all over his face.

“Yeah, she’s fine. She and my stepdad are going to go out of town for a while.” He rubbed his hand over his face. “Listen, I need you to think really hard about what it was they could have been looking for. Did Clayton ever give you any files? A thumb drive? Anything at all that someone might want?”

“No. Other than flowers when we first started dating, the only thing he gave me was a bracelet. It was expensive, so I guess it’s possible that’s what they were looking for.”

Harley shook his head. “No, they weren’t jewelry thieves.”

“Then what could they have wanted?”

Harley put the car in drive and headed back towards the safe house. He had no damn clue, but he had better find out. He could call Tom from there and make a plan. His phone rang, and he looked at the screen. The man’s ears must have been burning.

“Andrews.”

“Harley.”

He heard Tom Hewitt let out a breath when he answered. Tom had been his dad’s best friend growing up, and Harley had always seen him as an uncle. Tom took his father’s company over, and when Seattle PD had fired Harley for beating up his mom’s abusive ex, Tom had brought him on.

“Damn, it’s good to hear your voice, boy! Where ya been?”

“I had to take cover for the night.”

“Pretty good cover too, I guess. No one has seen you since the shooting. I’ve been scrambling around all day trying to make sure you were alive and not lying unidentified in some morgue somewhere.”

“Sorry about that. I left my cell in the car with the battery out and only had my burner on me so I could get in contact with Marshall and Lang.”

“No need to apologize, I understand. I’m just glad you’re all right. I heard about Matthews.”

“Yeah. I’m sorry, I should have—”

“Let me stop you right there, Harley. No need to apologize. Shit happens. Marshall said you got the fiancée, though?”

“Yeah, I managed to pull her out of the way. Two thugs just tried to snag her at her apartment also. What’s going on?”

“Hell if I know. Seems we have ourselves the beginning of some sort of shit storm. Tell me she knows something at least?”

“I thought so at first, but now I’m not so sure.” Harley stole a glance at Norah, who stared blankly out the window. “I was actually going to call you. I have no idea what our next move should be. She’s obviously not safe, and I can’t just hide and wait for someone to find her.”

“Where are you now?”

“In route back to the safe house.”

“Why don’t you come here? You two will be safe, and we can figure out what to do next.”

“Sounds good, we’ll be there in twenty.” Harley hung up the phone and tossed it into the center console.

“Where are we going?”

“My office. You will be safe there while we try and put together the pieces of this fucking puzzle.”

Norah nodded and looked back out the window.