Bradley raised his eyebrow at me and cocked his head to the side. It messed up the collar of his shirt, which gave me a little satisfaction. "Are you threatening an officer of the law?"

I rolled my eyes. "When I threaten you, you'll know it."

A cop wearing a brown uniform-from the county then-took pictures of my trunk with a camera equipped with a long telephoto lens. A bit overkill.

I leaned forward, avoiding Bradley. "We both know you're not going to find anything in my car, Anderson. You're wasting everyone's time while the killer is out there, probably killing more people."

We'd have a freaking serial killer on our hands, and they'd be searching through some random person's car in Portland.

"Shut up, Vonnie," Anderson yelled before leaning over into my trunk. He moved something, and the cop with him straightened his back, standing taller.

What did that mean? Why were they looking in my truck like that?

The front door to my place opened, and Pearl and Anessa came out. They stood behind me in the yard, glaring at Bradley. It was nice to have friends who always had your back.

"Does your mother know you're here, Bradley?" Pearl asked.

Anessa snickered.

"No, Mrs. Ashwood. I don't give my mother updates on my daily work events," he said, finally lowering his arm.

Pearl tsked. "Trust me, she's going to hear about today."

I smirked. Damn, it was great to have Pearl on my side. And terrifying when I didn't.

Anderson had half his body in my trunk. The dogs continued their steady barking in the house as Pearl continued to promise by-the-minute updates to Bradley's mother. We all leaned forward as Anderson pulled himself from my trunk.

In his gloved hand, he had a small black handgun. I sucked in a breath. Anessa wheezed behind me.

"Vonnie, is that a gun?" Anessa asked.

Clearly, it was.

Bradley snorted. "That's a gun, all right."

Anderson's gaze swept over me. "It's the same caliber as the murder weapon."

My lungs seized. I couldn't get enough air into them, even though I sucked in as much as possible. Anessa hit me on the back, but I wasn't choking. I was dying.

Holy shit. How did a gun get in my trunk? What was I going to do? Would they put me in the same cell as my uncle?

Anderson passed the gun off to the other officer and walked over to our group. "I'm going to impound the car for further testing."

I nodded without thinking about it. "Are you going to arrest me?"

"No." He shook his head at my outstretched hands waiting for handcuffs.

The surrounding air grew sultry, and the ground rocked back and forth as if cycling through a mini earthquake. No one else seemed to feel it from their lack of reaction.

Broadrick would have a fit if Anderson took me in right now. I'd never hear the end. He'd probably hit Anderson, too. Then we'd both be in jail. Who would take care of NB?

"No," Anderson repeated. "I'm not arresting you at this time. We'll have to have the gun tested and confirm it's the murder weapon."

"Plus," Anessa said, putting her hands on my shoulder from the side in a sign of solidarity. "You won't arrest until you have a case because of due process."

Anderson, Bradley, and I stared at her.

She shrugged. "I'm really into that ID Channel show you said I needed to watch."

"He won't arrest her because he's got nothing on her." Pearl pushed her way into the center of our group. "Isn't that right? If you have something on her, arrest her right now."

"Pearl," I said, putting my hand out in a please stop gesture.

"Do it. Do it right now," she continued to taunt Anderson. "Take her in if you're so sure she's murdered someone."

"Okay, let's calm down." I pushed in front of Pearl to block her view of Anderson. "Just shut up."

"You have to stay mad, Vonnie. Don't let the po-po push you around. We're not scared of the coppers."

I rubbed at my head to stop the squirming of my stomach. It didn't help.

The officer with the camera yelled something at Anderson, and he held up a finger to wait. "Come into the station tomorrow morning, and we'll chat. The tow truck will be here in five minutes."

"Tow truck," Pearl said around a disgusted snort. "That's what we've come to now?"

"Yes," Anderson said, shaking his head slowly from side to side as he mumbled. "I should have moved when I had the chance five years ago. I'm in too deep now."

He returned to the car's trunk to watch as the other officer snapped picture after picture of my car. A few minutes later, a big red truck with black stripes turned onto our street at the same time as a big black tow truck.

Anessa watched both head right toward us. "I'm going back to the bakery to call Bennett. Really, I'm surprised the guys aren't already here."

I nodded, not sure what to say. Anderson probably gave them advanced notice. But did he do the same for Broadrick? From the way he watched the tow truck pull into the driveway five seconds before him, he did not.

"I'm going to... let you tell Broadrick alone," Pearl said, giving me a pat on the shoulder. She hurried off after Anessa before turning on the street toward her home.

Great. Alone to face the wrath of the United States Marine Corps.

Even the dogs stopped barking when Broadrick hopped out of his truck with a pizza box in hand.

"What's all this about?" He gestured toward the tow truck as it hooked up my car while three cops stood around it.

I tilted my head to one side and then the other before opening the front door. "How much do you know about due process?"

**

Early morning sun hit me as I tucked in my orange T-shirt in front of Pelican Bay's police department. I auto-locked Broadrick's truck as I crossed the sidewalk toward the building. With my car sitting in the impound lot, I offered to ride the motorcycle, but Broadrick's eyes almost popped out of his head at the suggestion. We compromised with him on the bike and me in the truck.

Anderson never gave me a time for our meeting about the gun, but I wanted to get it over with early. I also wanted him to see how badly I looked in prison orange-hence the T-shirt.

I opened the main front doors of the station, and instantly goosebumps popped up on my arms from the air conditioning. The seat behind the main check-in area had my least favorite person in it.

Officer Bradley.

"I'm here to see Anderson," I said as I approached, even though he probably remembered the incident from yesterday.

Bradley barely glanced up from his paperwork. "He caught a case."

Oh nice. I stood up a little straighter and fixed my orange T-shirt in the front, pulling it tighter around the tuck-in job. If Anderson had a case, that meant I might have a case. I liked cases.

Wait.

My shoulders fell. I liked cases when I didn't already have a crap-ton of them. I didn't have time in my day to add another case. Whatever Anderson found that morning had to stay his problem. I had enough of my own. If he didn't solve it before I hunted down Emma's killer, I'd help him out with it.

I turned to leave, but another idea hit me. Since I'd already gotten dressed and made the trip to the station, I might as well use my time effectively.

"Can I visit Taylor Donovon's cell? I have some questions to ask him about his relationship with Emma," I asked Bradley.

He shook his head immediately. "We moved him to county two days ago."

Damn it. The city jail was small and only had about four cells. They relied on the diner to feed people and couldn't contain prisoners for long periods of time. Most people moved to the large county jail if they had a sentence longer than a few weeks. Anything longer than a year, they normally served in state prison.

It was one strike-out after another.

One person still remained in the city jail. They wouldn't move him until his next hearing when they set a trial date.

My uncle.

The ongoing knots in my stomach grew and twisted. "You still have my uncle back there?" I asked, knowing full well they did.

Bradley lifted his head enough to meet my gaze for the first time since I walked in. "Not sure he's up to visitors today."

"Yeah, well, I'm not really sure I'm up to visiting him." I tented my fingers together in front of me and focused on breathing. What would I say to him if Bradley let me back there?

He stared at me for another full beat and then shrugged. "Fine, but don't be stupid back there. I'm sick and tired of paperwork."

Bradley's chair squeaked as he pushed it back and stood. I froze.

Great, Vonnie. Now I had to face my uncle.