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for a closer inspection or checked for errant weeds. Just stared at the headstone as if waiting for some news flash or epiphany.

    His mother had been a soft-spoken woman with the same dark hair and intense gray eyes as her son. She'd insisted time and again at the trial that her son would never harm anyone. That he was a good boy. But no one had believed her. Even Austin's court-appointed attorney hadn't believed her. He'd just done what the court forced him to do, represent a man who couldn't afford legal representation otherwise.

    The judge and the jury had all sympathized with the Baker family... with Emily.

    Emily pushed to her feet. Thought about returning to her car just in case Austin decided to leave, but he still hadn't moved, so she didn't bother. Instead, she watched him.

    His profile could have been chiseled from the same stone as any of those marking these final resting places. Lean, angular features that tugged at long-banished memories. She had loved looking at him... before. Square jaw softened by full lips that had spent most of their time stretched in a cocky grin. Eyes that twinkled with wicked invitation. The way he'd smelled... the way he'd said her name in that teasing lilt had beckoned to her on every level.

    "There isn't a day goes by that I don't miss her."

    Emily spun toward the voice, her heart in her throat. Troy Baker, Heather's brother, moved to her side. Guilt and shame scalded her as if Troy might see that she'd allowed those thoughts for even a second.

    "Troy, Jesus, you scared the hell out of me."

    He threw his arms around her. Emily ignored her jangling nerves and hugged him back just as fiercely.

    "Sorry, Em." He pulled away as if he'd rather not let go and stared down at his sister's grave. "My folks told me what you did at the parole hearing." His gaze met hers once more. "I appreciate that more than you can know. I couldn't be there... I knew what those bastards were going to do."

    She cleared her throat of the emotion lodged there. "It was the least I could do, Troy. Heather would have done the same for me."

    He nodded. "She would've. She loved you like a sister, Em." He laughed softly, the sound painful to hear. "She'd have given me up for you any day of the week."

    Emotion flooded Emily's eyes and she couldn't hope to contain it. "No, she wouldn't have, silly. She loved you, too, even if you were a pain in the butt. Fifteen-year-old guys can't be counted on for much else."

    He smiled, his eyes bright as well. "I don't want him to get away with this, Em, and it feels exactly like he has."

    Emily's gaze moved across the cemetery and settled on Clint Austin once more. It was hard to believe they were all standing in the same place like this. Austin appeared completely oblivious to their presence, but he couldn't be.

    "He's not going to get away with anything," she said out loud. That was a promise. And until she could make that promise a reality her presence would remind him every day that he wasn't wanted here... that he was a murderer.

    "You're right," Troy agreed. "He's not, because I'm going to do whatever it takes to see that he doesn't."

    Emily hadn't seen Troy often since the trial, but she recognized the same resolve in him that she felt.

    "If we watch him closely enough," she proposed, wondering if Troy had a similar plan, "he's bound to make a mistake. All we have to do is catch him. I don't know all the rules related to his parole just yet, but I know Austin never was very good at following rules. He won't be able to toe the line."

    "Maybe," Troy contended, seeming to reflect on something a moment before he went on, "but, personally, I don't think he'll live long enough for us to have to worry about whether or not he makes a mistake."

    The sheer hatred in Troy's voice scattered a cold spray of goose bumps across her skin. She couldn't deny that the thought of killing Austin had crossed her mind. It had. But a part of her always recognized that the notion was