Nora Roberts - High Noon

"That sounds like a good idea." She took his hand in hers, pressed it between her breasts.

And within moments, Essie proved right. Phoebe did sleep better with him there.

With Carly curled in her lap, Phoebe rocked and stroked as she used to when Carly was a baby. She knew what it was like to lose a father, to be told he was gone and never coming back. The hitch and jolt of it, the impossibility of the concept of death and forever to a child. But she didn't know, couldn't know, what it was to lose a father she'd never really had. Or to lose anyone to such sudden and stunning violence.

No matter how she'd softened or edited the details, it was still horrible. And those details would eke through, like fetid water through a crack in a wall-widening little by little from the whispers of neighbors, the blasts on television, the questions from other children at school. There was no shoring it all up, blocking it all out. So it was best, always best, to be as honest as possible.

"Did it hurt?" Carly asked her.

"I don't know. I just don't know. I hope not."

"How come he had to die here when he didn't live here?"

"I'm not sure. I'm going to try to find out."

Carly nestled in closer. "Is it bad I didn't love him?"

"No, baby." Phoebe could only hold tighter. "No."

"I didn't love him, but I didn't wish he would die."

"I know. Me, too. I know."

"Poppy's granddad died, and she went to the funeral, where he was dead in a big box. Do I have to go to the funeral?"

"No. I don't know if there's going to be one, or where or when. We weren't… it's not up to us. If I find out and you want to go-"

"I don't. Is that okay? Please, I don't want to."

"That's fine." The quick fear in Carly's voice had Phoebe rocking again. "You're not to worry about that, sweetie."

"What if he hurts you? The man who hurt Roy, what if-"

"I'm not going to let that happen. Carly-"

"The other man hurt you. He hurt your face and your arm." Tears trembled now as Carly rubbed her hands on Phoebe's cheeks. "What if he comes back and hurts you again, or he kills you like Roy got killed? Mama."

"He's not going to come back and hurt me. The police are going to make sure he doesn't. Isn't that what I do, Carly? You have to trust me to take care of you and Gran and Ava, and myself. Even Carter and Josie. We're going to be careful. Don't cry now, listen to me. Listen, okay? We're going to be so careful," Phoebe said gently. "We're going to have police right outside the house for a while, even inside if it makes you feel safer."

"If he comes into the house, will they shoot him with their guns? Will you?"

Oh, well, God. "He won't get into the house. But if he did, we'd do whatever we had to do to be safe. I promise you. We're all going to be careful, right? So you'll remember everything I told you about talking to strangers, and getting into someone's car-even going near the car. No matter what they say to you, no matter what they tell you. What do you do instead of going near the car?"

"I yell no as loud as I can and I run away."

"That's exactly right. We're all going to be fine, baby, because I'm going to find out who did this to Roy. Then he's going to go to prison. And he'll never get out again."

"Will you find out soon?"

"I'm going to try. And Uncle Dave's going to try. All the police I work with? They're all going to try."

Satisfied, comforted, Carly laid her head back on Phoebe's breast. "Are you sad, Mama?"

"I am. I am sad."

"Are you scared?"

Truth, Phoebe thought-but simple truth. "I'm scared enough to be careful, and to work really hard to find out why this happened. You know what happens when I work really hard?"

The smallest hint of a smile curved Carly's lips. "You get the job done."

"That's exactly right." She gathered Carly close, spoke almost to herself. "That's exactly right."

She got the call, and had to go. It was difficult, more difficult than she'd prepared herself for to leave her family. Cops on the door, she reminded herself. But none of those cops was her. She'd consider the control issue some other time, Phoebe told herself. But right at the moment, she wished that she could split herself into two parts, and that one of them could stand watch over the house and everyone in it.

She hated, too, that she'd had to ask Carter and Josie to move in temporarily. It was safer, and more efficient to have the people she considered most at risk under one roof.

But it was still a hell of a thing to ask a couple who were basically still on their honeymoon.

Yet they'd come. There was little, she knew, Carter wouldn't do for her. And less yet, Phoebe thought, he wouldn't do to make sure his wife was safe and sound.

And still, come morning, they'd all have to go on-to some extent-with their lives. To work, to the market, to the bank. She'd keep Carly home from school-just a day or two of indulgence thereuntil she was confident her daughter could be protected outside the house.

For now, she went downstairs to tell her family she had to leave.

And was surprised to see Duncan huddled in the parlor with Carter and Josie. She'd assumed he went home after she took Carly upstairs to tell her about her father.

They stopped talking when she stepped in, and every eye turned to her.

"Plots, plans?" she said, in a halfhearted attempt to keep it light. "Duncan, I didn't realize you were still here."

"Thought I'd hang around awhile. How's the kid?"

"She's a tough little bird. She'll be okay. She went down the back way to see my mother in the kitchen. Carter, Jo… Lousy situation, that's about all I can say. I have a number I'd like both of you to log into your cell phones. Direct line to the precinct, and a situation room set up for your protection. Anything, anything at all strikes you as off, you call it. Duncan, I'd appreciate it if you'd log in the number, too."

"Do you really think this lunatic would try to hurt one of us?" Josie asked her.

"I'm not going to take the chance." Stress, Phoebe noted, around

Josie's usually cheerful eyes. Death threats weren't the norm for a hospice nurse who marries a schoolteacher. "You're on a case now, right?"

"Yeah. I'm taking the seven-to-four shift, cancer patient. Private home on Bull Street."

"Good, close to my cop shop. If you could write down all the particulars, all the names-the other nurses, the people in the house, your routine, it'll be helpful. Same for you, Carter-your class schedule, meetings, everything. Duncan-"

"I'm probably a little less structured, schedule-wise."

"Have you considered private security? Just temporarily."

"I'm not having some hulk walking two steps behind me. My house is covered; I've taken care of it. You've got enough to worry about. I'll worry about me."

"I'm not egotistic enough to say this is happening because of me.

It's not. But I'm pissed enough-and I'm good enough-to say I'm going to find out who's trying to get to me through the people in my life.

And doing that is one of the reasons I have to go."

"You're going out?" Carter moved forward immediately to take her arm. "Phoebe, the point is he's trying to get to you. Herding us up elim inates his being able to hurt any of us. And gives him more reason to go straight at you."

"If and when, I'll be ready. Carter, I've got a child who needs me.

I don't intend to be careless or stupid. Dave's coming by to pick me up, and I'm going into the station house, where I'll be surrounded by other cops."

"Being surrounded by cops didn't stop one of them from sending you to the hospital," Josie pointed out.

"No, and I won't be that easy a mark again. Arnie Meeks is the reason I need to go in. He's being brought in for questioning. I need to be there. I need you to stay here, to keep everything as calm and normal as possible." She touched Carter's cheek. "Roy wasn't prepared. Why should he have been? But we are. And we're going to get through this. It's what we do, isn't it? Get through."