At Close Range by Jessica Andersen

his arm disappeared at the elbow beneath her shirt. “Hey, guys. I was…we were…”
    She faltered, too aware of her friends’ shock and the fact that Varitek had barely reacted at all. He stared fixedly over her shoulder, jaw clenched as though he was furious. At her. At himself. She wasn’t sure, but his response tightened something sick and unsettled in her gut.
    “I can see you were,” Alissa said, voice strangled. “And here I was thinking you were in trouble after you phoned. I called Maya and we decided to come home. You sounded so strange, like there was something going on.” Her eyebrow rose. “I can see there is. When did Special Agent Varitek get into town? That is Varitek, right?”
    That brought him off the ground with something between a curse and a roar. He reached down and hauled Cassie up as though it was no effort whatsoever—leading her to wonder whether she’d won their wrestling match after all, or whether he’d let her win. She glanced down and was grateful to realize that her shirt was more or less retucked and his fly was fastened, though she wasn’t sure when he’d managed either.
    Varitek shoved his hands in his pockets as though that would camouflage his physical state. “Yeah, it’s me. And regardless of what you just saw, we’ve got a serious problem. The Canyon kidnapper’s partner has surfaced. He’s graduated to murder, and he’s targeted Cassie.”
    “Cass?” Alissa took a step forward as Tucker moved to guard her back. “Are you okay?”
    “I’m—” fine she started to say, but Varitek interrupted.
    “Her brakes were tampered with and her house was nearly flattened last night with her in it. She won’t be fine again until we find this guy. Hell, nobody in Bear Claw will be safe until we do.” He pushed away from her and stalked past the others. Once he was through the door, he turned back and glowered at her. “Stay here with your friends. Tucker, you’re with me.”
    Then he was gone, his retreat marked only by angry bootfalls on the stairway.
    Tucker glanced at Alissa. “I’ll deal with him and see what the chief has to say. You three watch each other’s backs, okay?” And then he was gone.

    After Tucker’s footsteps faded upstairs, Cassie was left facing her two best friends, who looked like they couldn’t decide whether to razz her about getting caught making out with Varitek or yell at her for not telling them that the task force had been reinstated.
    Suddenly overwhelmed by the events of the past few days—danger, the stress, the lack of sleep and the heat that had soured so quickly in the face of Varitek’s anger—Cassie leaned against a wall, put her face in her hands and began to laugh like a banshee.
    It was either that or cry.
    But when she felt her friends’ hands on her shoulders, one on each side, she pulled it together, knowing she was better than this. Stronger than this.
    She sniffed. “Okay, guys. Let’s get to work. We have a class ring to identify.” Then maybe she could catch a few hours of sleep on one of the cots they’d stashed in the back room. She was suddenly exhausted.
    But the case had to come first. They had a murderer to catch before he struck again.
    IN THE DEEP DARKNESS before dawn, when Bear Claw City slept, the hunter took to the streets again. He was utterly, arrogantly sure that his prey would be alone this time. He knew because he’d been the one to stand her up. It was Saturday night. Date night. He had offered to get her into the Natural History Museum—still closed for renovations—and give her a sneak peek at the new exhibit.
    She’d seemed more interested in the privacy than the artifacts. Slut.

    Well, she would get her date now—on his schedule, not hers.
    He eased his vehicle to the curb outside her house, parked and left the engine running. The main house was empty this time. She’d told him her father had gone back east for the weekend on business and her mother had tagged along for a change