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about me. I should be stronger. I was woman, hear me roar—and all that crap. "Maria called me. Is she okay?" He shrugged. "Fine. A little rattled. She's hitting the cookie dough."
    Uh-oh. Maria had been on a diet for the past month, trying to fit into a wedding dress two sizes too small. "What about the guy?"
    Kevin's steel-toed shoe dragged against the wooden planks. "Gone."
    Ack. She'd gone and killed someone. "Maria won't be charged, right? It was clearly self-defense."
    Kevin's right eyebrow arched. "I can't imagine the guy will press charges, seeing as how he was the one in her house." Blue and red flashes lit the side of his face. Stubble covered his strong jaw and shadowed his cheeks. Dark crescent-shaped lines sat under his eyes.
    He looked like crap.
    It did my heart good.
    "Press charges?" I repeated after his words sunk in. I tipped my head, thoroughly confused. "How can he press charges if he's de—"
    "Nina!" Maria, clad in a silk robe, launched herself at me. "Oh, it was horrible, just horrible."
    Kevin hid a smile behind his hand. "Awful," he murmured. Maria stomped her foot. She stomped better than anyone I knew. "This isn't funny."
    Kevin's sparkling green eyes sobered, but his smile was still cemented to his lips.
    "Really, Kevin, a man was shot." I took Maria's hand. "It's okay. It was self-defense."
    "He was going through my things," Maria explained. "What was I supposed to do?"
    "I know. Now shut up. Don't say anything more. We'll get you an attorney. It was self-defense, pure and simple. When did you get a gun?"
    "What gun?" Maria asked, her pale eyebrows dipping.
    A chuckle escaped Kevin's tightly pressed lips.
    I looked between the two of them, feeling like I was missing something. "What? What's so funny?"
    Hands held up and palms out, Kevin said, "Nothing. Nothing at all."
    Maria pouted in his direction. "I never did like you."
    My radar went off. Maria adored Kevin. "What am I missing?"
    Kevin straightened to his full six-foot-three-inch frame. "There was no gun involved, Nina."
    "What? I thought there was a shooting? What is going on!?" I was not amused. Not at all.
    Maria smiled. "There was a shooting. Technically. I do have the best aim around."
    Kevin wore a cocky half smile. He nudged Maria. "Tell her what you shot the guy with." Maria's bottom lip puckered out.
    "Maria!"
    She murmured something under her breath. "What? What was that?"
    "Hair spray, okay? I shot him with hair spray."
    I closed my eyes, leaned back against a column. This wasn't happening. "Hair spray?"
    Maria managed to whimper and look beautiful at the same time. "It was all I had."
    I looked at Kevin. "And by 'gone,' I assume you literally mean gone, as in he ran?"
    "Faster than Maria from a tag sale."
    "Hey!" she said, stomping again.
    "Did you recognize him?" I asked her.
    "No. He had a mask on, one of those horrible ones that mat your hair and leave little creases on your face."
    "A ski mask," Kevin put in.
    Glancing at him, I found he was smiling wide. I shot him a this-is-not-funny glare, but it had no effect whatsoever. I turned my focus back to Maria and asked, "He take anything?"
    "My peace of mind. I was this close," she held up two fingers, "to forgetting that Nate had run out on me!" Kevin's dark eyebrows shot up. "Nate bailed?"
    I hedged. "We don't know that for sure."
    "Well, he's not back, is he?" Maria paced the small landing. "Where was he when a crazy madman came in and attacked me?"
    "I thought you weren't hurt."
    "Physically no, but emotionally, I'm a wreck. I've been mentally abused." She flipped her hair back over her shoulder and checked her reflection on the front door's glass pane. "Yeah, I can tell."
    This was ridiculous. I'd practically had a stroke when she told me she'd shot someone. I'd rushed over here, breaking several traffic ordinances, and above all I'd lied to my mother about why I was in such a rush to drop her off. And it was just a matter of time before she figured it out and punished