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September said, surprised that she felt so strongly about it. She liked working with Wes, but she missed Gretchen’s abrasiveness. It was like being thrown into ice water and sometimes that’s what it felt like she needed to sharpen her senses.
    â€œWhen you talk to D’Annibal,” Gretchen said as they were leaving, “tell him to get his head out of his ass and let you stay on the case.”
    â€œYeah, I’ll do that. Then we’ll both be out of the department.”
    â€œSo, what are you gonna do?”
    â€œPull up the Ballonni file and go over it again.”
    â€œI called the wife twice, but she wasn’t interested in reviewing the case. She didn’t like Chubb much,” Gretchen said.
    September nodded. And she hadn’t liked Gretchen much, she would bet. Her partner’s bullish style definitely took some getting used to. “But now there’s been another attack. I’ll meet with her, if D’Annibal lets me stay on the case.”
    â€œKeep me informed.”
    â€œI’ll try,” September said.

Chapter Three
    Lieutenant Aubrey D’Annibal signaled for September to come inside his office, a cubicle of glass tucked into one corner of the squad room, almost the moment she returned from her locker. She’d intended to check the Ballonni file, but now that was going to have to wait.
    â€œClose the door,” he said as she stepped inside, and she did as he requested, then took a seat across his desk from him.
    D’Annibal was lean, gray-haired, and his suits were sharp and neatly pressed. Everything about him was neat, in fact, and he’d intimidated September her first few months on the job before she learned that, though he strictly stuck to protocol, he was fair and listened more than a lot of men in his position did.
    Now he gazed at her directly and asked, “How are you doing?”
    â€œFine.”
    â€œYou could have taken more time off.”
    â€œI know.”
    â€œYou’re moving a little slowly. Maybe you should be part-time, like Pelligree, until you’re at full speed.”
    â€œI’m okay. Really. I’ll dial it back if it gets too hard.”
    He thought about that, then nodded. “All right. We’re shorthanded around here and with the hiring freeze . . .”
    She wanted to ask him when her brother would be back full-time from his gig with the Portland PD, but decided to keep her thoughts to herself. Auggie liked working undercover more than straight detective work, no matter what he might say differently. There was an even chance that he would be moving into a position with the larger police force full-time, and she didn’t feel like facing that yet.
    â€œWhat about this stun gun/robbery/kidnapping this morning?” the lieutenant asked her. He’d been standing, but now he seated himself across from her.
    â€œThe victim, Stefan Harmak, is my ex-stepbrother,” she said. “I didn’t know it until I was on scene, but I probably would have gone anyway. The MO is almost identical to the Christopher Ballonni case: victim drugged, tied up, left with a placard in his own hand. Ballonni’s was I MUST PAY FOR WHAT I’VE DONE , and Harmak’s is I WANT WHAT I CAN’T HAVE . We’ve never known for certain if it was a homicide, or possibly an assisted suicide, but Harmak says that the doer forced him to write the message, so I’d say Ballonni’s death is a homicide.”
    D’Annibal steepled his fingers and said, “I agree. He died of exposure after being tied to a pole.”
    â€œWhoever did it let Stefan live.”
    â€œWhat does he have to say about it?”
    September recounted her hospital conversation with Stefan and added what Wes had told her about the crime, too. “This man, this avenger, takes an awful lot of extra time just to make his point.”
    â€œDid you ask him if he knew why the doer wanted him to write on the