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shake the feeling that he had spent the last fifteen years trying to get back to Rainshadow to see if she was still here.
    She had definitely grown up in the years they had been apart, but he would have recognized her anywhere. The elements of the woman she was meant to become had all been in place that summer, waiting to bloom. And the final result was everything he had sensed it would be. Intelligence, energy, and the promise of a passionate nature had illuminated her brilliant hazel eyes that year and those qualities were more luminous than ever now.
    Some things had certainly changed, he thought. Gone was the awkward, shy, painfully vulnerable fifteen-year-old girl. In her place was a sleek, savvy, sophisticated woman. Her hair was cut in a shoulder-length style that framed her fine-boned face. She still wore glasses but the new ones were a trendy-looking pair that made a perfect frame for her spectacular eyes. Everything about her, including her energy, thrilled his senses.
    He had known that day that he wanted her more than he had ever wanted anything in his life. He had also known that she was the one thing he could not have.
    The Shadow Bay Police Station was located at the far end of the street in the town square. The headquarters of the volunteer fire department sat directly across the small park. The post office and the office of the part-time mayor, Fletcher Kane, completed the picture-perfect small-town scene.
    It was enough to drive anyone who hated small towns as much as he did mad, Slade thought morosely. He really had to get moving on his new career path.
    Devin Reed was sprawled on one of the stone benches in the park, legs shoved straight out in front of him. He was dressed in a pair of logo-splashed running shoes, jeans, a gray hoodie, and the new sunglasses he had invested in recently. In addition he wore the utterly bored, world-weary air that only a thirteen-year-old boy could pull off. The thing was, Slade thought, in Devin’s case, he had a right to the attitude. The kid had gotten some tough breaks.
    Rex bounded ahead and hopped up onto the bench seat.
    “Hey, Rex.” Devin patted the bunny and then peered at Slade through the new shades. “Hey, Chief Attridge.”
    “Dev.” Slade stopped. “What are you doing this afternoon?”
    “Nothing much.”
    “How about last night between midnight and dawn? Do anything much then?”
    “Huh?” Devin jerked his hand away from Rex.
    “You broke into the antiques shop.”
    “I didn’t break anything, I swear it.”
    “You went inside.”
    “I found the door unlocked,” Devin said quickly. “I just wanted to make sure everything was okay inside.”
    “Take anything?”
    “No.”
    “That’s good. I wouldn’t want to have to arrest you. It would break your grandmother’s heart.”
    Devin was stunned. “You wouldn’t arrest me.”
    “In a heartbeat.”
    “I don’t believe you.”
    “Try me.”
    Devin’s expression closed down into a sullen scowl. “I was just doing Miss Enright a favor, that’s all. I just checked to make sure there was nothing wrong inside the shop.”
    “Right. Next time you’re out wandering around after midnight and you find an unlocked door, you call me or Officer Willis.”
    “Yeah, sure, whatever.”
    Rex moseyed off to investigate the stone-and-tile fountain. He liked to play in water.
    Slade propped one booted foot on the bench and rested his forearm on his thigh. He was no guidance counselor, but Devin definitely needed some advice. Whether the kid took it or not was another problem.
    “Does your grandmother know you snuck out of the house last night?” he said.
    “No.” Devin looked uneasy now. “She’d think I was doing drugs or something.”
    “I know why you went into the shop, Dev.”
    “I told you, I just—”
    “You can sense the energy in there, can’t you? I feel it, too. It hits you like a shower of small sparks of lightning, doesn’t it? Jacks you up a little.”
    “Huh?” Devin went