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Stefan. I’ll give you a call later.”
    She and Wes left the hospital together and as they walked to the parking lot outside Emergency, she asked him, “So, how do you like my stepfamily?”
    â€œLove ’em. Lucky you.”
    September smiled faintly. “You haven’t met Rosamund yet.”
    â€œDo I want to know Rosamund?” Wes asked.
    â€œDoubtful. She took Verna’s place as my current stepmother. She’s younger than I am, and she’s pregnant, due in January. You know the whole deal with my family and the names.”
    â€œYou’re all months.”
    â€œMy father’s idea,” September said. “My oldest brother’s March, then my sister, July, then May, then Auggie and me. We do have a half brother who escaped the craziness, and although Rosamund thinks she’s going to name her little girl Gilda, we’re all betting on January.”
    â€œI thought my family had its issues,” he observed, “but you Raffertys beat us all to hell.”
    â€œWe beat everybody,” September said on a sigh as she reached her silver Honda Pilot. “You know the fire at my father’s house—the one that was done with gasoline and a match?”
    â€œHave you got a suspect?” he asked with sudden interest.
    â€œNo, no. Not really. My father and half brother saw someone running away but they couldn’t see who it was. My sister July wants to believe it was Stefan.”
    Wes had been peeling off toward his Range Rover, but now he stopped short. “Why?”
    â€œWhy does she think that? Because she doesn’t like him. Or, why would he do it?”
    â€œWhy would he do it?”
    September shook her head. “Why did someone make him write I WANT WHAT I CAN’T HAVE under the threat of being Tased by a stun gun, drug him, and tie him half naked to a pole outside the school where he worked?”
    Wes shook his head slowly, then mused, “What does he want that he can’t have?”
    â€œWhat did Christopher Ballonni, professed all around great guy, do that someone made him write I MUST PAY FOR WHAT I’VE DONE ?”
    â€œI was waiting for you to tell Harmak about Ballonni,” Wes said.
    â€œNot until I talk to D’Annibal. There’s a connection. Stefan’s story parallels Ballonni’s too closely, but I didn’t feel like letting that out yet.”
    â€œIt’ll be on the news. There are leaks everywhere, and the Ballonni story was big.”
    â€œI’m going to talk to D’Annibal today,” September assured him.
    Wes nodded and headed toward his car while September climbed carefully into her SUV. She didn’t relish talking to her lieutenant; she knew he would probably take her off the case and she was trying to come up with some excuse to stay on it.
    Her cell phone rang and she pulled it out of her messenger bag and read the caller ID. Sandler, her partner. Ex-partner, actually, until she was reinstated.
    Smiling, September answered with, “How’s that forced vacation going?”
    â€œLike shit.” Gretchen had never been known for holding back her thoughts. “Where are you?”
    â€œStarted back this morning and there’s already been an interesting development in the Ballonni case.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œAm I supposed to talk to you?”
    Gretchen swore under her breath for nearly half a minute, and September grinned. It was so easy to rile her up.
    â€œMeet me at Bean There, Done That, and you’d better be ready to talk,” she growled.
    â€œI can only stay a minute,” September said, putting the vehicle into gear.
    Bean There, Done That wasn’t the closest coffee shop to the station, but it was the one used most often by September and her partner. It took her a while to find a parking spot and by the time she pushed through the door she found that Gretchen had snagged one of the prime booths.
    â€œI had to