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similar to the feeling he sometimes experienced when he thought about his sister. But he was there to cheer up Alicia, not to be a gloomy bastard. He forced a smile and picked the conversation back up.
    He talked baseball with Alicia for a few more minutes, making a point to draw Dr. Halperin into the discussion as much as he could. When the doctor announced that she had to be leaving, he promised Alicia he’d be back in a day or two and followed Halperin out into the hallway.
    “Doctor, can you tell me anything more about her prognosis?” He knew Alicia had congenital heart disease, but couldn’t seem to pry much information out of anyone.
    Halperin’s face went carefully blank. “Luke, I’ve really said all I can, especially since you’re not a relative. You know she’s been in and out of hospital since she was a baby. Hopefully, sometime very soon, if she gets stronger, we’ll be able to do another surgery. It’s a difficult procedure, though. I won’t sugar coat it.”
    “I’m sorry I said that dumb thing about her being Commissioner of Baseball someday. I’ve been around this hospital long enough that I should have known better.”
    “No need to apologize. It’s not wrong for Alicia to think about growing up. She needs to have hope for the future.”
    “That doesn’t sound too good to me,” he said, rubbing an ache in the back of his neck that had sprung out of nowhere.
    “Right now, she needs to recover further from this latest setback, and gain more strength before we operate. We’re going to try a new medication we hope will help.”
    Luke hadn’t felt this angry and frustrated for a long time, and he wasn’t exactly sure why. He’d been visiting the kids at this hospital for years, and a lot of other children’s hospitals, too. He’d met his share that had terminal and life-threatening diseases. Why was Alicia Trent’s situation affecting him so much?
    “I understand. Thanks, Doctor.”
    The elevator pinged and the doctor held the doors open as she met Luke’s gaze. “She really treasures your visits, you know, so I hope you’ll be able to keep them up. I’d hate for her to be disappointed, because I’ve seen it happen too many times to these kids and it really hurts them. Alicia has no one, after all.”
    Luke’s gut took a sickening dip again.
No one
. He knew exactly how that felt. The three people he’d loved in this world were all gone. And with his sister dead, he knew he’d never have a niece or a nephew. “I know. Right now, she’s a ward of the state. And that totally sucks.”
    “Indeed,” Halperin said, finally letting the door close.
    God, how much was one little kid supposed to take?
    “Doctor, nothing short of a Cat Five hurricane is going to keep me away,” he shouted through the nearly-closed doors. “You can count on it.”

 
    6
----
     
    Thursday, July 29
    9:05 a.m.
     
    Amy glanced up as Jenn Ryan’s blue Taurus screeched to a stop on the narrow park road. Ryan practically tumbled out of her car, ducked under the tape, and marched straight toward the corpse. DeSean Washington, the junior detective who rode with her, fell in behind, but stopped momentarily to sign into the scene. Amy noticed that the other member of their squad, Adrianna Scarpelli, had arrived just before them, and was deep in conversation with Sergeant Knight.
    Ryan looked ready to breathe fire. “A word, Robitaille,” she snapped, beckoning imperiously with her index finger.
    Amy groaned inside, rolling her eyes just enough to send a message, but she followed Ryan to a clump of trees bordering the lake. Right on her heels, Poushinsky and Washington hurried to catch up. Obviously, Ryan wanted to talk out of range of Sergeant Knight’s hearing.
    “I don’t like to be interrupted while I’m working, Detective,” Amy ground out as they came to a halt beneath a towering oak.
    “It looked like you were done there,” Ryan snapped. “Cramer gave you a nice head start.”
    Amy raised