“What are you doing here?” Luke asks, once they’re practically nose to nose.

“Nice to see you, too.” The flash of hurt in her eyes looks nothing like her usual stony professionalism. Luke instantly regrets his tone.

“Is everything OK?” Luke asks.

“He didn’t want me there,” she mutters. “He’s been throwing up all day . . . and so . . .”

“He’s that sick and he didn’t want you there?”

“He said he didn’t want me to see him like that, and he said it about six times, and when I tried to help him clean up he batted my arm away. So . . .”

“So?”

“I got in my car and came back.”

As if she didn’t already have enough to deal with, around the time the first work crews rolled in town, Mona’s long-term boyfriend was diagnosed with late-stage non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Edward’s a lawyer down in Santa Ynez who spends most of his time defending the local Chumash tribe from the endless barrage of legal challenges the neighbors have brought against their casino. For years now, the two have enjoyed a casual commuter relationship, but ever since his diagnosis, Mona’s been spending more time in Santa Ynez, helping him navigate the ravages of chemotherapy. Being sent away abruptly by the man she loves, the man to whom she’s been giving all her spare time, has got to hurt.

“Why don’t you go home and get some rest and I’ll—”

“Why don’t you tell me why you just arrested Jordy Clements?” Mona asks.

“His girlfriend can help. She’s in the interview room. Her name’s Lacey Shannon, and earlier tonight she—”

“She’s gone.”

“To the hospital?”

“No. She changed her mind and walked out.”

“What?”

Mona raises a hand to quiet him. “Luke, we need to talk about basic protocol with drunks. We’re getting a lot more than we used to, and you can’t always—”

“She wasn’t drunk.”

“Henricks says she’s got addiction issues.”

“Henricks was too chickenshit to go with me to question Clements.”

“I heard you, jackass!” Henricks shouts from the coffee maker.

“Good!” Luke shouts back.

“She was slurring half her words,” Henricks fires back.

“She’d just been beaten up, ass wipe. We’re lucky she could even talk. Who let her walk out of here before she could tell us what happened?”

“Wait, tell you what happened?” Mona asks. “What did she say when she walked in here if she hadn’t told you what happened?”

“It’s complicated,” Luke says.

“Lies usually are!” Henricks barks.

“Why the hell did you let her leave?” Luke barks back.

“There was no stopping her, Luke,” Mona says. “Not if she had a change of heart.”

“About lying,” Henricks adds.

Luke feels his pulse pounding in his ears. He’s staring at the shocked expression on Henricks’s face before he realizes he’s storming through the sea of desks toward the spot where Henricks is backing up against the wall, coffee cup held up against his chest as if it might protect him from whatever’s coming next.

“You went back in the interview room, didn’t you? You let me go to the Gold Mine by myself, and you came back here and convinced her to walk before I got back with Clements.”

“That’s bullshit,” Henricks whines.

Luke can hear Mona saying his name. She’s even grabbing at his shoulder. But as his rage builds, these things feel like the slip and slide of a loose shirt over his skin.

“What is up with you and Clements, Henricks? You guys just fishing buddies, or did he put you on his payroll?”

“Payroll? What the hell are you talking about?”

“Maybe you’re getting an envelope of cash each week from the Clements crew. And that’s why you have such a hard time believing someone with that last name might not be so squeaky clean.”

“You’re paranoid, Luke. You brought that darkness into your house, and now you’re going nuts.”

“Darkness? What the hell are—”

“Don’t come after us just because everything you see’s a horror movie now that you’re banging Burning Girl.”

“You say one more goddamn word about Charlotte and I’ll shut your fucking mouth with my—”

“Enough!” Mona screams.

The station goes still. Deputy Lewiston, a new hire and former member of Martin Cahill’s old contracting crew, looks even more uncomfortable and out of place than usual.

Luke’s expecting to be dragged into Mona’s office by the shoulder. Or fired on the spot. Everyone else in the department knows he sometimes gets special treatment, and they figure it’s due to the long, close friendship Mona and his mother enjoyed before his mother passed away. And they’re right. But what they don’t understand is that this past family connection means that Mona’s just as likely to treat him like a teenager who needs a lesson about losing his temper. On most days, the choice depends on her mood, and right now, her mood’s anything but good.

So when Mona walks past Luke and right up to Henricks, Luke is stunned silent.