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It was amazing that so few were seriously injured.

The man known as Max Conroy, and his attacker, were killed instantly.

TESS WAS QUIET. Max felt sick inside. They left the bar and walked on the beach, this time with the full moon over their shoulders. Warm down here in the subtropics, even in February. The waves came in. Endless waves, washing onto this beach, and onto the beach far north of here—in LA.

Max had suspected that Shaun wouldn’t give up. He’d suspected she was going to try again. He’d gone as far as to hire a security firm.

But you didn’t hire one for Dave.

How could he have known what would happen?

He didn’t.

That could have been me, Max thought.

Instead, it was Dave Finley.

“You knew,” Tess said.

“No. I didn’t.”

Tess stared at him.

“I thought at some point she would get to me. I never imagined she’d do it on the red carpet at the Oscars.”

“You didn’t?”

“No.”

She held his gaze. There was still a question in her eyes. He didn’t blame her. It looked bad.

Either she would believe he was the kind of man who would set his best friend up to be killed in his place, or she would not. He knew he couldn’t sway her—she was too smart for that.

Abruptly, he thought of their motorcycle shop, and the realization finally came home. His best friend of almost twenty years was dead. He thought of all the adventures they’d had, how they’d grown up together. The many times Dave had had his back.

Now Dave was dead in his place. And he was culpable.

Tess said, “That woman. She was like a mother bear. You killed her cub. You never get between a bear and her cub.”

“Wish I’d known that.”

“She would never have given up until she got you.”

“She got me.”

“No. She got Dave.” Tess crossed her arms and stared out at the ocean. “You realize what this means?”

“What this means?” Max asked.

“Yes, what this means.”

Tess was beautiful. He didn’t know where this would go, but he hoped, whatever happened going forward, his life would include her. The breeze lifted a strand of her hair (at least here, she didn’t wear it in a neat bun) and he reached over and pushed it away from her face. She stared into his eyes, defiant. “You’ll have to go back. There’ll be an investigation and the police will want to talk to you.”

He knew she was right—there were plenty of loose ends. But he would no longer have to look over his shoulder, thinking that at any time Shaun would jump out of the shadows, intent on killing him.

Dave took care of that, didn’t he? The voice inside his head told him—the voice he knew he would be living with for the rest of his life.

Tess said, “What will you do now?”

“I don’t know.” But that wasn’t entirely true. He wanted to continue his acting career. He’d lost track of that over the past few years, drowning his troubles in drink and drugs, but he was stronger now. It was as if he’d been given a second chance.

The strand of Tess’s hair came loose again. He reached over and pushed it behind her ear once more.

She said, “You know this—”

“Shhh.” He touched a finger to her lips. But he knew what she’d been about to say, that it wouldn’t work. He would go back to his old life, and Tess McCrae would stay a cop. They belonged to different worlds.

“We can still see each other,” he said. Painfully aware of the urgency in his voice.

She looked away.

Max said, “Long-distance relationships do work. We could try it out and see—”

“I guess we could try,” she said. But there was enough doubt in her voice to sink a battleship.

He pulled her in to him. As they kissed, he could feel the beating of her heart.

Max closed his eyes and enjoyed the moment. Yes, he thought. They could try.

THE END

About the Author

Photograph by Ian Galley, 2011

J. CARSON BLACK IS the best-selling, critically acclaimed author of eight books, including the Laura Cardinal crime fiction series. Born and raised in Tucson, Arizona, Black has found inspiration for her writing in everything from real-life horrors to the headlines screaming today’s news. She is currently working on her next thriller.

ALSO BY J. CARSON BLACK

The Shop

Darkness on the Edge of Town

Dark Side of the Moon

The Devil's Hour

Dark Horse

Darkscope

The Desert Waits

The Tombstone Rose

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Text copyright ©2012 by Margaret Falk

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Published by Thomas & Mercer

P.O. Box 400818

Las Vegas, NV 89140

ISBN-13: 9781612182704

ISBN-10: 1612182704