Twilight

Leaving her to her thoughts, he turned the corner into the alley behind Yo, Amigo. Dana recognized it. She had crept down it just the night before, staying in shadows, filled with determination and rage. She was calmer now, but no less determined.

Rick stopped the car just a few feet from the back door in a spot clearly marked as his by the scrawled name in bright yellow paint on the brick wall of the building. It was surrounded by fading graffiti. If she’d been paying attention, as she should have been the night before, would she have spotted his car there? She thought back carefully. She couldn’t summon a single image of any car being in the alley. Surely she would have noticed it and checked it out. Her skills weren’t that rusty.

“Where were you parked last night?”

He regarded her innocently. “You were in a very big hurry. Are you so certain I wasn’t right here?”

She thought about it once more, then nodded with more certainty. “I’m positive.”

“Very good,” he praised, though his tone was mocking. “Actually, I left the car at home and hitched a ride over.”

“Why?”

The question seemed to make him uncomfortable for some reason, so she asked it again.

“Because we’ve had a few problems.”

She could see that the admission cost him. “What sort of problems?”

“Unwelcome visitors,” he said tersely.

“Other than me?”

He smiled at that. “I wasn’t expecting you, at least not last night.”

“Truthfully, you weren’t expecting me at all, were you?”

“Your friend seemed all but certain you’d turn up here eventually.”

Dana persisted. “But you didn’t believe her, did you?”

“No,” he admitted. “At least, I didn’t think you’d have the guts to come creeping around here in the middle of the night, since you’d never been inclined to show up with Ken during the day.”

“I didn’t stay away out of fear,” she protested.

“Just disapproval,” he guessed.

She realized that in his eyes that was far, far worse. Compared with her compassionate husband, she had to seem cold and hardhearted. She didn’t want Rick’s opinion to matter, but oddly enough, it did. Even so, she refused to waste time right now trying to change it. Even if she’d explained about the boy she had once trusted, would he have understood? Or would he have said that was just one boy, that others shouldn’t be condemned for his mistakes? Ken had said that often enough, but it hadn’t swayed her. She hadn’t had his capacity for forgiveness or his willingness to risk a second, more dangerous betrayal.

Now, though, she needed to get inside, to start looking at files and talking to people. She had to do something, find at least one solid piece of the puzzle. The compulsion that had brought her back from Florida was stronger than ever. Once again, she had allowed Rick to deliberately distract her. She wondered how many more times she would come up against the tactic as he tried to protect his precious program.

“Are we going to go in or are we going to sit here all day analyzing my psyche?” she inquired testily.

“Analyzing your psyche might be fascinating,” he said. Before she could respond, he added, “But you’re clearly too impatient to get on with your agenda to cooperate.”

She reached for the door handle, but before she could open it, his hand closed over hers. The shock of his touch, the heat of it, stilled her. He waited until she turned to look at him before he said a word.

“One bit of caution—proceed slowly in there. If you go in like a private detective, they won’t talk.” His gaze locked with hers. “I’ve taken a huge gamble by bringing you here. I won’t let you hassle them.”

“You promised—” she began, only to be cut off.

“I promised to bring you here, to let you get to know what we’re all about. If you get answers as a result of that, fine. If you can’t live with that, I’ll take you back home right now.”

She didn’t like the rules. Nor was she certain how she would operate within them. “How will you explain me?”

For a moment he seemed to be weighing the alternatives. “I’m going to tell them who you are,” he replied eventually.

Her gaze narrowed. There was more. She could read it in his eyes. “And then what?”

He smiled. “And then I’m going to say that you’re here to take up where your husband left off.”

She stared at him, aghast by the suggestion—no, the command—that she was going to become a part of the Yo, Amigo program in some way. She felt manipulated, though no doubt the signs of his intentions had been there from the moment he uttered his invitation.

“I can’t do that,” she protested.

“You will do that,” he corrected, then added more gently, “It’s the only way to find the answers you’re after. You’ll have to blend in, become one of us.”

“I don’t shoot hoops,” she grumbled.

“Then tutor them in reading, teach the girls to sew. We have a kitchen here. You can teach them to cook. It won’t matter what you do. It’ll matter more that you’re here.”

Dana didn’t like the gender-based suggestions. More importantly, she wanted to move her investigation along far faster than the snail’s pace he was suggesting. And yet, she conceded reluctantly, she could see the sense of what he was saying. She knew just how distrustful these toughened street kids were likely to be. If she came on too forcefully, demanded too much, they would walk away without a backward glance.

But Rick’s way would also risk getting involved, putting her emotions on the line. She didn’t want to know these ex–gang members. She didn’t want to take a chance that she might actually come to feel something for them as Ken had felt.

No, she didn’t like his plan at all, but she would do as he was demanding. She could tell from his unrelenting expression that he wasn’t giving her a choice.

“Let’s go,” she said through gritted teeth.

This time he didn’t try to stop her from getting out of the car. But when they reached the door that she had used the night before, he blocked her way. Once again, she felt the power of his presence, the heat of his body, his taut strength.

“If you find out anything, anything at all, you will tell me about it first,” he said, his gaze locked with hers.

“You told me I wouldn’t find anything here,” she taunted.

“I don’t believe you will, but there’s always an outside chance I’m wrong. I don’t want you tearing off half-cocked and getting yourself killed.”

“Why? You’d be rid of a serious thorn in your side.”

“No,” he corrected. “I’d have one more death on my conscience. Ken’s already keeps me awake at night.”

There was just enough torment in his voice that Dana had no choice but to believe him. She knew all about that kind of guilt and anguish. She hadn’t had a decent night’s sleep herself since the murder.

Even so, she was far from ready to forgive him, even further from being willing to trust him. He was a means to an end at the moment. He was giving her entry into a world that she might never have been able to penetrate on her own. She would use him, as he had used Ken. If she destroyed him and Yo, Amigo in the process, it still wouldn’t be enough to compensate for the loss of her husband.

6

Apparently it was too early in the day for a big crowd. Inside the Yo, Amigo headquarters, Dana spotted only a handful of boys and even fewer girls. Perhaps it was part of Rick’s tactic to bring her here when there would be only a few people to talk to.