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emotional,” said Evan. “He’s always even keeled and never gets excited about anything. You’re basically right, Abby, but you don’t know him like I do. He’s always been that way. On Christmas mornings when we were kids, Paul and I would be losing our minds when opening presents, but not Grey. He’d be excited as hell on the inside, but you’d never know it from what he shows on the outside.”
    “I get it, he’s your friend,” said Abby. “But he couldn’t care less about Kate and Caleb. All he’s ever had or wanted in his life are you and Paul. If one of you were lying in that recovery room, he’d kill the guy who put you there without a second thought.”
    “Not only are you wrong, but that’s not fair,” said Evan. “He loves Kate and Caleb as much as I do. The guy who did this to them has no idea the amount of pain that’s coming his way. I guarantee it, Abby. This is what he’s good at and I wouldn’t want anyone else on the planet in my corner or Paul’s. Please just give him a chance.”
    “Special Agent Collins,” said the FBI agent posted at the door, “These are Detectives Joel Pembrook and Carol Stein of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.”
    “Pleased to meet you both,” said Grey.
    “Is there somewhere we can talk that’s a little less crowded?” asked Carol.
    They walked down the hall to the elevator lobby. ”Agent Collins,” said Carol.
    “Please, call me Grey. Do you guys have anything?”
    “We have some promising evidence collected from Kate,” said Carol. “A very persistent CSI was able to get a fingernail scrape off of her while she was in the ER. We got a call that the lab was already able to determine that it is human skin with trace amounts of blood. We don’t believe either of those belong to her.”
    “That’s impressive,” said Grey. “It would’ve taken our labs a couple of days to come back with those results.”
    “We’ve also recovered saliva off all three forks from the dinner table at the scene. It’s going to take a few more days to process the evidence for DNA, but we wanted to keep you informed.”
    “I have to tell you, I didn’t hold high hopes this case would make it to the fast track,” said Grey. “I didn’t exactly get a warm welcome from the locals at the scene.”
    “Two minutes after we were assigned to the case, we received a call from Chief Tony Hill,” said Joel. “He asked as a personal favor that we keep you in the loop without seeming too friendly. I’m guessing he told you about Sheriff Doyle, correct?”
    “Chief Hill is a good man, and yes, he did,” replied Grey.
    “Well, off the record, Sheriff Doyle is an asshole,” said Carol. “On the record, he’s one of the most popular and respected law enforcement officials we have in the state. He just hates the feds after they smeared some egg on his face.”
    “The bottom line is, the guy runs a tight ship in one of the richest counties in Florida,” added Joel. “His county is second only to Disney for annual revenue generated for the state. Keeping things quiet and the wealthy property owners in the Keys happy makes him a very powerful man. Trust me when I say he knows it. If he knew we were talking to you, we’d be checking parking meters until we retired.”
    “I appreciate it,” said Grey. “I really do. I had to promise my own boss I’d steer clear of the investigation, but that man sitting over there is more like my brother than my best friends. He’s had a bad couple of days, and I need to find the guy responsible for that. I hope you can understand.”
    “We do, Grey,” said Carol. “As soon as we find out anything, you’ll be our first phone call. Consider it a professional courtesy, but in return we have to ask two favors from you.”
    “Shoot.”
    “You don’t flash your credentials to anyone,” said Joel. “If you have to poke around, you do it like a ghost. If you have to ask anyone a question, you go at them soft. When the