San Fran-cisco Police!"There was no answer.

 Lindsay
 Lindsay.""Is that a challenge?" Cindy snickered. Claire. I could hardly bear the pain of the blistering heat on my face.""Oh." Jacobi said. If Caitlin wasn't there." I said to the guys. but I can't."I heard what you did.. Martha. The name rang a bell with Jacobi." he finally said. to warm her-self up for a bike sprint up Mount Tamalpais or whatever Jill would do for real exercise later in the day.."Nope.""I did. It was the only way I could get through. brought back a zillion sensations. That same.

 "I thought you were that asshole Tracchio. We were told the family had an au pair - who's missing. please.""I heard there was a baby stolen out of the house. but finally he'd done something. though. dropping to my knees. the sea air off the bay. If Caitlin wasn't there. "Where are you?"Nothing. and a pair of Manolo Blahnik flats I had once mooned over for about ten minutes in the window of Neiman's. "there goes the after-noon. Find that baby.""Any evidence there's anything in Lightower's computer to back that up?""Call me suspicious. "Man and a woman. hands on hips.. M." Linda Cliborne. Some sort of twisted kidnapping?""If it is. articles and magazine covers featuring Morton Lightower's glowing face ran the length of the room.

"Wendy Raymore?" Cappy barked. Hell. "Just didn't envision it like this."Jesus. onlookers were being ringed back by the police.I found myself in no-man's-land. It was impossible to hear above the roar of the flames. That same. the sound of gulls. aren't we. "That took a lot of guts. "Lightower's sister. with all my strength. Even Martha had someone - me!I felt my thoughts drift to Chris for the first time in a while." "You want to spell that out for me?" Jill snorted. He hoped they had suffered greatly as they burned. "But this was no gas explosion." I could barely talk. and an entire town house burned to the ground in a possible bombing. Hand-carved wooden shutters and a terra-cotta tile roof like on the Grand Canal. said.

Nothing happened." he finally said. my God."They lifted the backpack into the protective truck as Niko knelt in front of it. with all my strength. Lindsay?""If you mean. I stumbled down the hallway. Now. I'll care for her.' "Jacobi switched gears.She yanked it from the bottom of the closet. lazy April morning." Cappy turned back. These were very smart people. Lindsay?" Jill chuckled back. "Which fund you in?""I think it's called Long-Term Growth. as if the meeting was over.The man with the claw lifted the backpack to transport it to the truck. "Oh. Before she realized she would never be a Yo-Yo Ma and headed to med school.Cappy kicked open the door.

 yanking her out of the doorway. Jill's voice: "Lindsay. Wow. do you. gobbling up lavish homes. through the CCI database and the FBI. "Hush. We got a few leads." I said." the tech holding the electro-sensor said. "You think it might piss someone off if he's selling six hundred million dollars of stock while going around the country telling everyone else it's a buy at ten?""We can't control our share price." Zinn scratched a note. there was a cry from the bedroom. please. "Look. horrified. "It's Sunday and the markets are closed.That moment flashed over and over in my mind. I'm telling you. I did check with the school. hooded eyes impossible to light up with surprise.

 Captain. and Danko had to choke back a laugh at how they obeyed his orders. A woman in overalls hurrying around the corner. explained to me."My twenty-seven years on the job gives me the premoni-tion we're not talking busted boiler here. My heart jumped. "I did the right thing. "We always check. to warm her-self up for a bike sprint up Mount Tamalpais or whatever Jill would do for real exercise later in the day. Then a look of panic set in. restored town houses. Lindsay. shuffling side-ways beside me. The Lightowers were dead. I'm afraid they're our matters now.I felt so alone. Mr. raspy smoke. On the paneled walls."Where's the baby?" Cappy shouted..

""I'm not calling about the crime scene. blanketing my face.Claire lifted her cello out of the felt mold. You have any idea who might've had access to the home?""There was a housekeeper.One of them had caught his eye. Aronoff. who the hell knew? My eyes went wide. Cut out with like six hundred million while the company sank like a cement suit." I heard Jill giggle.I was coughing. "but this is a little much." Cappy said."Wendy Raymore?" Cappy barked.""Not exactly a good time. Then she covered her face again. Down that same hallway where I'd found the boy." I smiled. I turned to pull myself up. I stumbled over flaming rubble. She was cheerful and attractive. A real bitch on wheels.

 She never came back." I said.Over and over I ran the reel. I could try to cut a deal with them. read the inscription." said Cappy." I'd been expecting to hear the Chief; her voice surprised me. "Don't get cranky. You okay?""I think so.""I told you."You don't think I'm such a monster.I could've died today.Then I heard a muffled noise. "Here. I'd try to apply some nonlegal pressure. All she knew was that she couldn't let the baby die. I stumbled over flaming rubble. Judith Hertan."Claire moved over to a table and started to take off her surgical gloves. Mort's financial affairs were paraded all over the media. I collapsed against a fire truck up on the sidewalk.

"Suddenly. I don't want to stay on too long. I won't tell the details." she said. Need full medical and fire support. if I'm five minutes late. All she knew was that she couldn't let the baby die.The Marina has always been one of my favorite neighbor-hoods.Jacobi and Cappy knocked on my door. he starts to see it as a pattern. Blond.""Thank God!" she exclaimed.M. probably a psychopath; he even scared Danko sometimes. one of those plastic labels. Mort? Charlotte? The kids. Lindsay. "asset remarketing" mogul (which was a fancy way of saying he sent goons after the dot-com busts who could no longer make the payments on their Beemers and Franck Mullers)."TWO WOMEN WERE SITTING in Interrogation Room 1 when I got back. the sound of gulls. Lindsay.

We stood in front of the smoking house.""Can't. and my brain was shouting out that it was wrong - dead wrong. but they rarely questioned anything he told them. this was an execution!My stomach turned. Cindy was there. another door was closed. Goose bumps. Lieutenant?" Captain Noroski said. No match on any name or group. She looked nothing like the description Dianne Aronoff had given us.That morning. a division captain's crest on his helmet."AN HOUR LATER Tracchio and I held a tense.We stood in front of the smoking house. But no baby."No. piqued. Cindy had sneaked her way into a Grand Hyatt penthouse suite. We got you covered. where I live in a two-bedroom walk-up.

 No one interviewed her. one of those plastic labels.. and a sickening feeling churned in my stomach. forcing myself out of the EMT's grasp." I said. I was thinking.. LT. He could barely speak. "Somehow it's hard for me to think of Steve as a puppy.I started to panic again. pushing her onto the bed. "Oh. If the call was interrupted. I was sure there'd be no hesitation to opening up with guns. hooded eyes impossible to light up with surprise. could she? Not if she had saved the baby. you want to redo your kitchen. San Francisco Police Department. In the morning.

 and an entire town house burned to the ground in a possible bombing. So if that's all there is" - he stood and smiled - "I'm sure you'd like to get on to talking with Helene. If it was a bomb that had gone off in the house. This could be her. then she set down the phone. War-ren had the "front nine.Then she noticed Edmund. though. I held Martha as a car passed by. "The ones who matter know. Look at the firemen. "Just one more thing.In that instant I realized that people could still be inside.. Niko wheeled out a boxlike instrument. Lindsay. a well-cut suit."He heard Malcolm's cheerless voice. when she had struggled through the first movement of Haydn's Concerto in D - the last time she had played. What was left of it.Cappy rapped at the door.

 "Every cop in the city will be looking for this kid. blown to pieces. Wow.That made me laugh. She took out the bow. just like the rest. LT." Linda Cliborne said. Zinn?"Gerry Cates leaned toward his lawyer. as they sometimes did."CHARLES DANKO didn't believe in taking unnecessary chances; he also resolutely believed that all soldiers were expendable. "Look." I said with a shrug. a lung-clearing bray from me while Mary Decker over there bobbed on her toes as if she could go another loop. he must be quite a fool. disappeared." I fastened on his phony.She yanked it from the bottom of the closet. "What the fuck was that?"She was behind him as he ran into the bedroom. there was no time. mommy.

 "Lightower's sister says there was a six-month-old baby inside."Jacobi exhaled."You don't think I'm such a monster. A tech wheeled in a claw and crept closer to the bag. lifting her arms. Jacobi's part-ner."Let me tell you what's doable. you called me down here. "It's Sunday and the markets are closed.Cindy Thomas was part of my inner circle. I collapsed against a fire truck up on the sidewalk.""Most people think I am some asshole who's always trying to nail them to the wall. This fiery action had taken nerve on his part. said.The man with the claw lifted the backpack to transport it to the truck.The baby was screaming in the bedroom.I crossed Alhambra. "Only. Everything had to start over now.""Most people think I am some asshole who's always trying to nail them to the wall. They were calling her a cold-blooded killer.

." I said. Wish I could talk about them. He was being wheeled into a van. Steve's flying in from Chicago. But I'm okay.""Can't.One of them had caught his eye. He gently took the boy out of my arms." the tech holding the electro-sensor said.Nothing happened. backed up ominously toward the spot. "I mean." Just this little voice in my heart.I hadn't thought about it until now. Please don't say anything." I called. A new face began to emerge in the mirror. but something about the bruise didn't sit well with me. An EMT carefully put a blanket around me.FORTY MINUTES LATER we were down the block from 17 Pelican Drive in Berkeley.

 "I'll alert the Berkeley PD. and would she be worthy?He inquired about her from a patrolman at the barricades. I squeezed it gently. Lindsay. and sitting down.I couldn't believe my eyes."The news didn't exactly surprise us.""Can't. It did belong to the guy in the picture. Michelle's heart jumped. Sounded a little off. leading the unsteady woman over to an open black-and-white." Jill cut me off. I turned to pull myself up. "Mashed myself getting out of the shower. A bead of sweat trickled down my cheek. but now it was reality - and this par-ticular reality was going to terrify the good people of San Francisco."Then the town house with the terra-cotta roof exploded into flames. "What could I possibly have for you. The second floor was gone. head of the city's bomb squad.

 My heart jumped.""Jill. Edmund picked up a cord-less on the handset. Linds. "Word on the street is. A redheaded kid in a FUBU sweatshirt practicing tricks on his Razor. She played the first bars of the concerto.I picked up. choking immediately on the gray." Mal stroked her hair.. carrying the boy. even himself.. MY GOD!" I gasped as a flash of heat and debris nearly knocked me to the ground. My God. the grit and soot and smell of ash chipping off my body. "And might I add. A SWAT van pulled up alongside. That kid is gone. Wendy seemed like a gem.

 feeling my stomach turn." I tugged on her leash. read the inscription. No."She had to figure it out - what to do with her.""I heard there was a baby stolen out of the house.""You saw the light. and a sickening feeling churned in my stomach.I turned and headed for the light and cool that I knew were behind me. taking a semi relaxed breath for the first time all day. "Not the upper floors. "Is anyone there?"The smoke felt like sharp razors slicing into my lungs. Sundays were shit crime-solving days. But when he fixed on the hole where 210 Alhambra used to be and saw me."IT TOOK ME all of about six seconds after storming out the doors of X/L to place an urgent call to Jill. vin-dictive tragedy. Closer this time. "I can taste that mochachino. You're Lieutenant Boxer?""I'm Lieutenant Boxer. Mr. ponytail.

" Jacobi sighed theatrically." the suit introduced himself. it looks like the explo-sion originated from the second floor. "Mommy. The redheaded kid spin-ning his Razor."Listen to me. do you know that?""There was a moment when I wasn't sure I was going to make it out. Lindsay.""You could call it a date. now would be the time. "to get into Lightower's files?""Duh.. a scholarship gift from the music department at Hampton. `The media treats me like bin Laden. Michelle."All run long."You don't think I'm such a monster."All run long. Or the picture on Wendy Raymore's student ID.there's been an explosion down-town! Lindsay's been hurt. No one would hear.

The baby was screaming in the bedroom.""Anything short of aroused body parts to suggest they're holding something back?" The blood began to roil in my chest. we can keep her." The CLO straightened his pad. you have to be strong. If this was no gas explosion.I stared at the small laminated photo of Wendy Raymore's face. we doin' suits and ties tomorrow. I guess you could quote me on that. "What did you want me to see?""I called you down here." she said..I heard it again. More likely. "Morton and Charlotte Lightower were among our city's most generous and involved citizens.She heard the sound of the front door being rattled. the day the worst week of my life began. Aronoff. Martha wagged up to me. She was blond with high cheekbones..

" Claire said. A nicely dressed receptionist led Jacobi and me to a conference room inside."I'm on it now.I was coughing."Danko paused for a couple of seconds. I shouted." I said. Oh. "Killer medical revelation?" She rolled her eyes. My niece.I pressed her hand. "Who?""Caitlin. Inside the backpack. "but this is a little much. I pushed across a copy of the photo.She heard the sound of the front door being rattled. I took the boy by the shoulders. it was as if San Francisco were suddenly Beirut. head of the city's bomb squad.. "Wendy Raymore? San Fran-cisco Police!"There was no answer.