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particular tears, and on this of all days. Today was supposed to have been a new beginning, for her and for Toby, not the resurrection of the worst heartache of her life. The only bright spot in the whole ordeal was the knowledge that Connor was suffering, as well. She’d seen the subtle signs that he, too, still endured very raw emotions where Joel was concerned. Good, she thought with an icy stab of satisfaction, he deserved to suffer.
    Connor and Joel had been friends long before she’d met Joel in college. They had gone to the same elementary school and high school, playing football together and double-dating on weekends. She had heard all the stories of their wild exploits dozens of times. Stories about Joel, the studious, dependable doctor’s son, and Connor, the kid from the wrong side of everything with the massive chip on his shoulder. In college Joel had persuaded Connor to join the same fraternity as him, and it was there they met Adam. The three became close friends, but even within that friendship there was always a special bond between Joel and Connor.
    After she and Joel married, Gaby had done her best to tolerate Connor, and in turn, Joel had been patient with her lessthan-enthusiastic feelings for the man he thought of as a brother. She had even harbored a secret hope that Connor was an adolescent habit Joel would eventually outgrow. That didn’t happen. He’d been a frequent visitor at their home, and occasionally they all vacationed together. Vacation. Ha, Gaby thought, shuddering at the memory of some of the most frustrating, tension-filled weeks of her life. Eventually the three friends, Joel, Connor and Adam, became business partners, as well, pooling their savings to buy a struggling restaurant on the waterfront in Providence, renaming it the Black Wolf. Tavern—the name taken from Connor’s nickname—and surprising everyone by turning it into a thriving operation.
    It was generally agreed that Adam deserved most of the credit for the success of the Black Wolf. He managed the restaurant full-time, while Joel had continued with the accounting firm where he’d been a fast-rising star and handled the restaurant’s books on the side. And Connor...well, Connor just went along for the ride as usual. Technically he was a cop, a highly respected explosives expert assigned to the state police SWAT team, but even that hadn’t been high risk enough to satisfy the man’s insatiable craving for danger, Gaby recalled contemptuously. Motorcycles, mountain climbing, flying lessons, he incessantly sought out ways to risk his neck, and too often for her peace of mind—and Joel’s, as well.
    Joel and Connor. Connor and Joel. They were together as kids, together in business and they were together the day of the explosion inside the Black Wolf. Except that day Connor was the only one who made it out alive.
    Gaby pushed the thought away. During the past two years she’d relived that nightmare more times than she could count. Even on days when she was feeling her most resilient and in control, as if she might actually succeed at picking up the pieces and going on with her life, the memory of that awful day could bring her to her knees emotionally. And at the moment she was far from feeling either resilient or in control.
    Desperate for a distraction from her own thoughts, she turned her attention to the landscape around her. She’d completely forgotten her resolve to pay attention to details in case a chance to escape should present itself. Of course that possibility was appearing more remote with each passing mile. They seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but woods all around them. But at least they were no longer riding uphill, she thought, grateful for the chance to relax her grip for a while.
    They rounded a bend, and suddenly the woods on her left ended, revealing a clear lake dappled with late-afternoon shadows. Gaby felt a flicker of