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help, his own eyes pleading.
    “Daddy has an important case he’s working on and he might not be able to get away,” Bond tried.
    “What’s more important than one of our birthdays?” Stephanie asked.
    “Nothing,” Chase said. “You tell me what time and I’ll be here.”
    Stephanie’s face clouded. “Daddy, does it matter that David never lived here with us?”
    Chase pulled his youngest daughter’s face up to see into her eyes. “We’ve talked about Santa, right? How he always knows where we are?”
    He got a nod.
    “Well, David knows the same way Santa does. He’s connected to us. Forever.” A catch in Chase’s voice made that last word hard to hear.
    “Forever, Daddy?”
    Chase and Bond both spoke one word at the same time: “Forever.”
    Angela, quiet through this exchange, focused on her family. “Tomorrow would be a big one. Eighteen.” She drilled in on her father. “It’s an important birthday. We’re home from school by three o’clock. Let’s say four-thirty to release the balloons.”
    “You’ve got it, honey,” Chase said. “Now I’ve got to head out.”
    He kissed Bond goodbye, and she double-checked his wallet to make sure he had enough cash for sustenance while he worked until who knows what time on this case. Chase had already called Butz to ask for the full squadon this and received a grudging okay. Bond wanted to kick ass when Chase told her about how his lieutenant responded to his request. A little bit of help would get him home sooner and maybe not dead on his feet.
    Chase told her that Terri Johnson would join him and Daniel first thing tomorrow morning. Their caseload—her husband’s own missing boy case, a bank embezzlement Daniel had all but wrapped up, and a dead-in-the-water attempted assault case of Terri’s—would be handled by a couple of patrol officers who knew what they were doing. The three detectives would continue their involvement on their cases as needed while they focused on the murders and trying to find Rachelle Benavides.
    Bond could be in for several evenings on her own. But Chase’s job sure helped her keep her priorities straight. And highlighted the importance of giving her husband a soft place to land. Or crash-land as necessary.
    “Tell Jax I said hi,” Bond said as Chase walked to his SUV. “When this case gets settled, we should all get together for dinner.”
    Chase called over his shoulder. “When she’s not working I’m not sure she comes up for air, even if Scott’s with her.”
    Marriage to a man who’d used her hadn’t soured Jax on love. After Jax’s divorce, she and Scott Ortiz had begun seeing each other. They protected their fresh romance as if it were a soap bubble. After-hours belonged to the two of them.
    “Fine,” Bond laughed. “Tell her when this case gets settled, we should have a girlfriend lunch.”
    Her husband rewarded her with a chuckle as he swung his lanky frame into the SUV. He flashed the hand sign for “I love you” and drove away.
    Bond spent the rest of the evening thinking about David and how badly she wanted to hold him again in her arms.

Chapter Eleven
    Office of the Medical Examiner
    Thursday, September 20
    The Aspen Falls Medical Examiner’s office boasted almost state-of-the-art equipment, especially impressive considering they were a small mountain community. Thankfully, the tax base of Aspen Falls was made up of wealthy residents and major year-round tourism, which allowed them to enjoy a more generous budget than other towns.
    Every time Chase Waters walked into the autopsy room, the lack of holding drawers made him do a double-take. Modern ME offices stored their bodies on shelves. It might not be as dignified as one of those huge stainless steel vaults, but it sure utilized available space a lot more efficiently.
    A visit he’d made to a morgue in Tucson was locked into his brain. Shelf after shelf filled with the bodies of loved ones who’d been so desperate for a better future