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hanging down her back. They danced welltogether, a snappy two-step, and when the song ended, they returned smiling andbreathless to the table. The man pulled out a wallet and tossed bills onto thetable, then wrapped his arm around the woman.

Apparently, they were leaving,waving goodbye to her friends, weaving their way across the bar to the exit.As they passed by Trey, he got a look at the man's face.

Trey's reflexes were slow due to hisexcessive alcohol consumption and it took a minute before he realized SheldonBarnes had just walked past him. Escorting a woman out of the bar.

Trey jumped unsteadily to his feet. Shit.Shit, shit, shit. He started after them, knocking a chair over in hisinebriated haste. People were looking at him, but he didn't care. Adrenalinekicked in. He stumbled out of the bar into the dark parking lot and saw a brownFord leaving.

"Shit!" he yelled, and ranfor his own vehicle.

His heart was going to explode outof his chest. He grabbed the cell phone clipped to his belt and made the urgentcall for back-up. Even as he stabbed the key into the ignition, he knew thiswasn't a good idea, but desperation and determination to stop that psychokiller, to save that woman from God knew what, overrode his common sense.

He squealed out of the parking lot,trying to keep the Ford in sight. They turned left at the first lights and hefollowed, narrowly missing an oncoming vehicle that blared its horn at him asit swerved. Fuck. He pressed on the gas pedal, trying to catch up tothem, trying to talk on the cell phone, trying to focus on the road ahead ofhim.

"I'm on Market Street," heyelled. "Coming up to Park Boulevard. He's about two blocks ahead ofme."

There was too much traffic. Heblinked, trying to clear his vision, and pulled out to pass the vehicle infront of him that was impeding him. He pulled into the oncoming lane just as aJeep Liberty turned from a side street right in front of him. The lightsblinded him and with wrenching metal, exploding air bags and squealing tires,the collision was head-on.

Chapter22

The words came out a lot easier thanhe'd expected. "I wasn't sure if I was ready to have kids, but, hey, it'd happened,so I was kind of getting used to the idea. Actually"--he gave a mirthlesslittle laugh--"I'd started to look forward to it. It was kind ofcool."

Marli was still studying his face,and he pushed her head down against his chest, unable to bear the pity he knewhe'd see in her eyes. "It was pretty tough," he said, in outrageousunderstatement. "My marriage was destroyed, I was no longer going to be afather, and my brother had betrayed me. That was almost the worst thing. It washumiliating, even at work. People felt sorry for me. My family was devastated.They were pissed at Travis, which they should have been, and they felt sorryfor me and it was brutal."

"It must've been." Herfingers moved on his shoulder in warm, comforting circles.

"I was hurt, angry, sad. I wasso furious, I was mad at the whole world, not just Lisa and Travis."

"Oh, Trey. How do you possiblyget through something like that?"

"Not very well. I was stupid. Ididn't give a shit about much, except for catching Sheldon Barnes. I worked allthe time and like I told you, if I wasn't working, I was drinking." Hepaused. "I could almost numb the pain with enough booze."

"Did he...kill her? The womanin the bar that night?"

"No. Lucky for her, she gotaway. But..." He couldn't say it.

"What about the people in theother car? Were they okay?"

"Yeah, lucky for them, too. ButI got suspended from my job, lost my license for six months, went throughtorturous rehab. When my suspension was up, I could drive again, so I bought anew vehicle I couldn't really afford and decided to take one more month and gosee Kent in San Francisco. 'Course, I never made it there."

"Oh, Trey, you've been throughhell." She was silent, stroking his shoulder softly. "Is this thefirst time you've talked about it?"

"Basically, yeah. The bureausent me for counseling, but it was too raw to talk about it back then. I had noone else to talk to. I couldn't face my family. I wasn't going to work, andthat was fine because it was humiliating just to see the look of pity oneveryone's face."

His marriage was over, but therereally had been no closure. He'd never spoken to Lisa again since that night,even though she had now given birth to his brother's child. Lisa wasirrevocably a part of their family, whether married to him or not, whether heliked it or not.

He'd gotten the e-mails and voicemails from his family, telling him he now had a nephew, but he'd neverresponded to them. Didn't know what to say. Couldn't bear to see the pity in everyone'seyes, couldn't face Travis who was now a father to what should have been hisbaby. He waited for the familiar ache in his chest that always accompaniedthat thought. But it wasn't there. Huh.

"And you still haven't talkedto your family about it?"

"Christ, no. Don't you see whata fucking mess it is? Lisa had the baby a month ago. He's part of our family. She'spart of our family."

"But you're divorced,right?"

He hesitated. "Um...no. No,actually."

Marli went very still."Oh."

She'd been sleeping with a marriedman. She was in love with a married man. She drew away from him, takingthe sheets with her to cover her nakedness. She pushed back and sat up.

"I went to see a lawyer rightafter it happened," Trey explained. "He was going to start working onthe divorce. Then all that other shit happened and I just didn't care enough tobother with it."

"Oh," she said again."Were...are you hoping you two will get back together?"

He ran an agitated hand through hishair and leaned his head back against the headboard. "Christ, I don'tknow."

That wasso not the answershe'd wanted