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Madelyn, he’s nearly twice your size. Damn it girl, you’re going to get yourself into a real spot one day walking around like you’re Wonder Woman.”
    “Nichole and I left an hour later,” she continued, ignoring his rant. “The bouncers escorted us out in light of the evening’s events. Jim was nowhere to be seen. We both figured he’d found a quiet place to pass out. We got in our cars—I’d parked next to her—and pulled out of the lot. Nichole turned right toward her house and I went left toward mine.”
    They talked about the crowd, the music, the weather. When Madelyn was thoroughly exhausted with the sound of her own voice Chief got her a glass of water and they went over everything again.
    She tried to keep focused on the task at hand, but restlessness had her eyes darting. Time and again they landed on the man leaning on the wall. The typical island man was more boy than man, long-haired and hippie like. That type was easy to ignore. But this specimen’s brooding presence demanded her attention.
    Her pulse quickened and she flushed with a forgotten heat. Hormones dormant for too long raged. Luckily, sanity body-checked her quick and dirty fantasy of exactly what she could do with that hard mouth.
    When every detail of the night had been picked over like a carcass on the forest floor Chief leaned back in his chair. “Maddy, you’ve given me a lot to work with. I’ll let you know the moment I have any information. Now get out of here. I know Deacon is waiting for you to go for your evening run.”
    Madelyn extended her hand to Chief a little too quickly, betraying her desperation to be free of the suffocating room and all the men inside it. “Thanks, Chief. Agents.” She nodded at the strangers and then stood.
    Agent Kepler hopped to attention. Madelyn turned away before he could say or do anything that would ultimately land her in jail. Through the glass she saw Edna’s tapping foot and the hand on her hip. The woman’s ample behind held open one of the double doors.
    Please not now .
    Before she fully opened Chief’s office door the woman lit into her. “Ms. Garrett, we’ve talked about your beast before. It’s a danger and shouldn’t be allowed on the island. But it is most certainly not allowed in my building.”
    She’d tried letting her pup’s good behavior and loving manner speak for themselves. She’d tried wooing the woman with her favorite goodies. She’d tried a community petition in which she’d logged over three thousand names. Madelyn breathed deeply, pulled the door closed behind her, and smiled. She was done trying.
    “Service dogs are allowed in the building.”
    “He’s a service dog?” Edna scoffed.
    Madelyn conceded with a nod.
    “Oh really?” Her haughty nose rose by the second. “What is his function? You’re obviously not blind. Do you have seizures?”
    “I suffer from multiple personality disorder.”
    The woman’s eyes narrowed.
    “Deacon’s presence keeps Mary Lynn in check. Trust me,” she said sweetly, “you want him around. Otherwise, she would break free and tell you in none too kind words exactly what kind of a bitch you are.” She skirted past the dumb-struck woman. “Have a great day.”
    The tiny triumph she gained from besting mean ole Edna faded by the time she barreled through the station’s main entrance with Deacon on her heels. Heat from the mid-day sun infused her irritation with strength.
    Mr. FBI hadn’t seemed the least bit interested in her or in Nichole’s disappearance. He’d only asked a single question the entire two hours she was being interviewed. And he hadn’t even taken notes. Agent Kepler was all too interested in her legs. He hadn’t stopped inspecting them like bits of fiber under a microscope.
    Bureaucrats just here for a paycheck.
    Madelyn wrestled open the door to her Jeep. Deacon leaped inside and hopped the console to his seat. The pup’s lolling tongue and intelligent eyes only amplified the pain of