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of worse. “Keener was a valuable tool when worked right. Now we have to replace him. In the meantime . . .”
    Peabody heard the light pat on the stall door, watched it ease open a crack. The sweat dried to ice on her skin, and she balled her fists again.
    Through the crack she saw part of an arm, a glimmer of red high heels, and a flash of blond hair.
    “No more locker room meets,” Renee said, tone cool now, crisp. Commanding. “You keep your head, Garnet, and you’ll keep enjoying those island breezes. Now, I’ve got a hot date, and you’ve made me late. Walk me out like a good boy.”
    “You’re a piece of work, Renee.”
    “I am. I am one fine piece of work.” Her laugh trailed back, echoed, faded.
    And Peabody closed her eyes, stayed where she was, forced herself to count slowly to a hundred. In her mind she reconstructed the locker room, gauged the distance to the locker where she’d stowed her weapon.
    She eased the door open, scanned, sucked in her breath, and made the dash to the locker. She didn’t release her breath until her weapon was in her hand.
    Still naked, she crossed to the door connecting to the gym, eased it open an inch.
    Dark, she noted. The lights would go off when the room was empty over a minute. Still she searched, made herself be sure before she backtracked.
    She kept the weapon in her hand as she pulled out her ’link.
    “Hey, She-Body!” McNab grinned at her, then gave her a green-eyed leer. “Hey, you’re naked, and so, so very built.”
    “Shut up.” The shakes started; she couldn’t hold them off. “I need you to come, meet me at Central. Outside the south entrance. Come in a cab, McNab, and keep it. Make it fast.”
    He didn’t grin, didn’t leer. His eyes went from lover to cop. “What’s wrong?”
    “Tell you then. I gotta get out of here. Make it fast.”
    “Baby, I’m practically there.”

3
    ROARKE GAVE EVE TIME TO STEW, SINCE THAT was obviously what she was in the mood for. He enjoyed the rest of his dinner, and the company, the conversation.
    He liked, very much, hearing stories of Summerset’s past, hearing the angles and details of them from old friends of the man who’d become a father to him. And it pleased him to watch Summerset engage with them, laugh with them. Remember with them.
    As long as they’d known each other, as much as they’d shared since Summerset had taken in a battered, beaten, half-starved boy, there was, Roarke discovered, a great deal yet to be learned.
    He indulged in coffee and brandy, a bit of dessert before he said his good-nights.
    The house monitor told him he’d find her in the bedroom.
    She’d changed into the cotton pants and tank she favored during her downtime. He could smell her shower on her as he bent down to kiss her head. She sat brooding over a slice of pizza.
    “You missed a lovely dinner,” he told her, and peeled off his suit jacket. “And truly delightful company.”
    “I had things.”
    “Mmm-hmm.” He loosened his tie, removed it. “So you said in your thirty-second appearance.”
    “Look, it was a long day, and I didn’t expect to come home to a dinner party. Nobody told me about it.”
    “It was spur of the moment. I’m sorry,” he continued, brutally pleasant, “am I supposed to check with you before I join Summerset and a couple of his old friends for dinner?”
    “I didn’t say that.” She took a sulky bite of pizza. “I said I didn’t know about it.”
    “Well then, perhaps if you’d contacted me, let me know you’d be very late coming home I’d have informed you.”
    “I got busy. We caught a case.”
    “Earth-shattering news.”
    “What are you so pissy about?” she demanded. “I’m the one who came home and found a party going on.”
    He sat to remove his shoes. “It must’ve been quite a shock—the brass band, the drunken revelers. But then, that kind of madness happens when adults leave the children on their own.”
    “You want to be pissed at me, fine. Be