Though it was officially my day off, I went in to the station. I knew I wouldn’t be able to think about anything besides the case and figured I might as well do something productive while Haven got some rest.

Her face kept popping up in my thoughts, making me more determined than ever to put a stop to those terrorizing my town and the people I cared about.

Yes, I cared about Haven, more than I probably should at this stage of the game, but despite my best efforts, I couldn’t control how I felt. My heart and body were in agreement. My head, which had been stubbornly reminding me of all the reasons I shouldn’t get seriously involved with someone, wasn’t protesting as loudly anymore. In fact, that little voice was eerily silent.

I suspected it had something to do with the fear and the constant parade of “what-ifs” marching through my mind. What if Cal Lindelman hadn’t done what he did? Haven could be in that hospital right now. What if Dom hadn’t gotten them out in time, and they succumbed to smoke inhalation or worse? And the biggest “what-if” of all: what if I lost the woman I was meant to spend my life with before I pulled my head out of my ass and did something about it?

Hannibal and Lecter were with one of our audio-visual techs, reviewing the surveillance footage from Lindelman’s. I pulled up a chair and joined them, rationalizing that I might be of use. Beyond the personal interest I had in the case, I was at the diner practically every night. I knew the regulars and was familiar with the types who frequented the place after “normal” business hours. If there was anyone acting suspicious or didn’t look like he belonged, I had a good chance of spotting him.

They were concentrating on the feed from the last twenty-four hours and would work backward from there if necessary. At one point, Lecter paused the video and pointed to Joel sitting at the counter. The kid had books in front of him, though his focus kept returning to the security camera itself. Hannibal looked at me. “Does the kid usually come in at night like that?”

“No,” I answered honestly, wishing I could tell him differently.

“Hmph.” They resumed the video.

For the next several minutes, we watched people come, go, and move around. Joel seemed more interested in the goings-on of the diner than his schoolwork. I wasn’t the only one who picked up on that.

“Seems pretty convenient, him showing up the same night the place is hit,” Hannibal said.

Lecter grunted in agreement.

“Maybe he was just concerned for his sister. He was a little shaken when I told him about the attack on my brother’s girlfriend.”

“Maybe,” he said, his tone skeptical.

I had to admit it didn’t look great, but I had a hard time believing Joel would put Haven in danger. Just the opposite, in fact.

The more I watched, the more I was convinced Joel’s behavior was more that of someone on high-alert than someone scoping out a place with ill-intent. Especially when I came in. Then the kid seemed to visibly relax. If he had been up to no good, my presence should have made him more high-strung, not less.

Which gave me an idea.

“Pull up the footage from the security cameras south of the diner, starting with the one on Baker Street and going from there.”

“Time window?”

“Around midnight.”

The A/V guy did his thing and, after about fifteen minutes, I found what I had been looking for.

Three blocks down from Lindelman’s, Joel was approached by a couple of guys dressed in dark hoodies. It was impossible to make a positive ID, but they looked familiar enough for me to peg them as some of Slash’s boys. Joel’s defensive body language suggested it wasn’t a friendly encounter.

“Joel is very protective of Haven,” I said, watching the exchange, “and threatening her is exactly the kind of thing Slash would do to keep Joel in line.”

Hannibal sat back, his brow creased in thought. “You think the hit on the diner was a message?”

“Maybe,” I said, feeling the rightness of it in my gut. “That makes more sense to me than the kid bringing trouble to his sister’s doorstep.”

“He’s right.”

Hannibal and I both looked at Lecter, surprised he had actually said something.

“All right. Let’s bring the kid in and hear what he’s got to say.”

My cell phone buzzed. I pulled it out and looked at the display. “Sorry, guys, I have to take this.”

I tapped the screen and put the phone up to my ear. “Haven? What’s up? Everything okay?”

“No,” she said, sounding slightly panicked. “It’s Joel. He’s gone.”

“What do you mean, Joel’s gone?”

Both detectives snapped their gazes my way.

“I mean, I got up to get a drink of water and he’s not here.”

“Maybe he just stepped out to grab some lunch or something.”

“No. His backpack’s gone and ...”

“And what?” I prompted.

“He left his apartment key on the kitchen table with a note that said, ‘I’m sorry’.” She exhaled. “And the hundred dollars I keep in the drawer for emergencies is gone, too.”

“Okay, hang tight. Let me see what I can find out, okay?”

I knew this looked bad for Joel, but my gut still told me things weren’t what they seemed.

“Give me a couple hours,” I told Hannibal and Lecter, who had been listening intently. “If we’re right and the diner hit was meant as a message, the kid might think he’s doing her a favor by blowing town.”

Hannibal nodded. “Makes sense. But if you find him, you have to bring him in. Guilty or not, he knows something.”

“Agreed.”

Instead of heading right to Haven’s, I decided to stop at the bus station first. It seemed to be the logical place for a seventeen-year-old with limited funds to go if he was trying to find the fastest way out of town.

My hunch paid off. I found him slouched in the corner, scowling and trying to look like a badass. He looked more like a lost kid to me.

I sat down beside him. “Haven’s worried about you.”

He shifted. “She’ll get over it.”

“She fought like hell to get you here, and you’re going to repay that by leaving her hanging?”

“It’s for the best.”

“Let me guess,” I said quietly. “You think you’re doing the noble thing. That by walking away, you’re taking the threat with you and keeping her safe. It doesn’t work like that, Joel. Slash doesn’t just let people walk away, not without sending a message. If the first message doesn’t get through, then he’ll send another, and another, until it does. Get me?”

“You can protect her.”

“I can,” I said slowly, “but I can’t be there all the time, and Slash isn’t going to just go away. I know he’s had people watching you, trying to keep you in line.”

His eyes widened.

“Yeah, I know. We’ve got surveillance camera footage of them following you home last night.”

He was quiet for a while. Then he said, “I told them I wanted out. Like you said, they don’t take kindly to that. One of them saw me getting into the car with you the other night. They said, if I told you anything, they’d take it out on Haven.”

“That’s why you walked her to work.”

He nodded. “They came up to me on the way home and warned me to keep my mouth shut. They said, if I did, they wouldn’t hit the place when Haven was there, but if I didn’t ...” He scrubbed his face with both hands. “They fucking lied. Now Haven’s lost both her jobs because of me.”

“Both?”

“She worked at the Cecilton Bean Company downtown, too. Her asshole boss fired her when she got called to the police station the other day.”

“Corporate café? The one in the Wilkins building?” My brother Paulie worked in that building and frequented that place. He said the coffee could rival our nonna’s, which was high praise indeed. I would definitely be asking him about this asshole boss.

He nodded. “And she put her schooling on hold, too, till I graduate,” he said miserably. “I’ve been nothing but trouble for her since I got here.”

I felt for the kid, I really did, but this was a gut-check moment for him, a crossroads of sorts, and I wasn’t going to just keep my mouth shut and watch him walk the wrong way.

“Well, you can run away and feel sorry for yourself, but that seems like a pretty piss-poor way to thank your sister for all she’s done for you.”

He scowled. “It’s not like I have a choice, do I?”

“You always have a choice. Just like she had a choice. And she chose you ... every time. You want to do something good for your sister? Choose her.”

Joel opened his mouth, then closed it. Then he suddenly got up, grabbed his backpack, and started to walk away.

I sighed. I had failed. Now I was going to have to go after him and haul his ass in—

“Hey,” he called, peering back around the corner. “Try and keep up, will you? We’ve got shit to do, and I’ve got an exam tomorrow.”