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attractive.
    â€œWhy me?” Melanie asked after a moment. “Why the full-court press to recruit me? I’m sure you have plenty of bright young lawyers beating down your door begging for work.”
    â€œI do, but—” He hesitated. “It’s the chemistry. We met and we clicked. Honestly, I thought you were extraordinary. That’s the only explanation I can offer.”
    â€œThank you. I’m flattered, truly. But why didn’t you just…” She hesitated.
    â€œAsk you out?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œI considered it.”
    â€œAnd?”
    â€œI thought you’d turn me down. I didn’t feel like hearing that I was too old.” He looked her in the eye. “But now I think I’m ready to go there. If that’s a problem for you, I’ll understand. You can be honest.”
    There was a pause.
    â€œI’m confused,” Melanie said. “Are you asking me—”
    Lester’s words tumbled out in a rush, as if he’d been holding them back. “If you don’t want to work for me, fine. I’d rather date you anyway. Would you go out with me, or am I too old for you? And if I am, please, tell me the truth.”
    He looked nervous as he waited for her reply.
    â€œNo, it’s not that. I’m seeing somebody.”
    â€œAh, the FBI agent,” he said.
    â€œYou know about him?”
    â€œUh-huh. I have to confess, I asked around about you.”
    â€œYou snooped on me?”
    â€œâ€˜Snooped’ is so pejorative. I investigated. Wouldn’t you? We’re neither of us careless people.”
    Melanie sat with that one for a moment.
    â€œAre you angry?” Lester asked.
    â€œNo, actually, I’m sort of flattered. What did your investigation reveal?”
    â€œThat your life is complicated. Recently divorced, young child at home. And the FBI agent is seen as a rising star but also…difficult.”
    â€œHuh.”
    â€œIs it serious between you and him?”
    â€œIt was. We’d been talking about getting married, but we’ve hit a rocky patch. At the moment we’re taking things one day at a time.”
    Lester went silent for a moment and seemed to contemplate the view. Then he smiled and gave Melanie’s fingers a little squeeze. From that small gesture of resignation, she saw how much he liked her.
    â€œI’ll hope for your happiness, but if things don’t work out, I want to be the first person you call. Now, tell me about the interesting cases you’re working on.”
    Â 
    I n the dream, the noise was a siren and Melanie was screaming. She was back in the afternoon, back in the bombing. But from far away, she heard the telephone ringing in her bedroom, and knew that this time, the smoke and the flames were in her imagination.
    The ringing was real. Melanie rolled over and fumbled in the darkness for the telephone. The clock on the bedside table said 3:20. It must be bad news. What else could it be, at this hour?
    â€œHello?”
    There was a slight delay, a buzzing on the line.
    â€œMelanie?”
    The voice made her sit bolt upright in bed. Rough and sweet, with that unmistakable New York accent.
    â€œDo you know what time it is?” she demanded.
    â€œSorry to wake you. Where I am now, it’s hard to predict when I can get to a phone,” Dan O’Reilly said.
    The timing of the phone call wasn’t what made Melanie angry. It was the fact that he’d called at all. She was doing well. She was moving on with her life. But hearing his voice was enough to set her back. Melanie had met Dan O’Reilly on a case and fallen hard for him, right in the midst of her painful split from her philandering ex-husband, Steve Hanson. She’d survived her divorce with flying colors, only to let Dan break her heart.
    â€œWhat are you doing calling me? We’re not speaking,” Melanie said.
    â€œYou said that. I never