Officers from other Stations around the county were covering as the City Council went through a massive hiring process.

The framing of Ty and subsequent harassment, the bungling of the serial killer case that had swept up Laurie, Tate and Jim-Billy as well as enquiries into the death of Misty Keaton were the focal point of the charges brought and reasons for discharge. This was also primarily what the media fed on. There was more, of course, and many Carnal citizens had no problems standing in front of a camera or with a reporter taking notes and letting them know what went down in Carnal.

It was all out there.

Except whoever financed, covered up and protected Fuller and his men’s activities.

In other words, nothing on any powerful men, including Trane Keaton, had leaked.

I didn’t know if this meant another shoe was going to drop or if they were just powerful and rich enough to make their problems go away. All I knew was that Ty was so famous, it was very doubtful anyone would touch him or me. The reporters might have gone away but the story hadn’t. Ty even had a listing on an on-line encyclopedia. Laurie called me, told me to fire up my computer and showed it to me. The pictures they included were hot. The fact it existed was not.

But… whatever.

I was married to the man I loved, his name was clear, he was free, I was carrying his baby and the restitution Nina negotiated meant we didn’t have to worry too much about their college educations and I could get my reading area in our bedroom (which I did plus a rug for under the bed).

So all was good in my world.

But there were loose ends in Carnal.

Rowdy Crabtree had not been found.

And Misty Keaton’s murder had so far gone unsolved.

I had been right. Misty’s friend in Maryland, Tate discovered, was indeed the woman in the tape. She was also, back then, the mother of a three year old boy and the woman whose ex was a serious ass**le. She’d kicked him out and divorced his ass but he was the kind of man who felt he could come over whenever he wanted, shout the house down, slap her around and take stuff, such as the money in her wallet or things of value he could sell.

She had a job as a waitress in a bar in Gnaw Bone called The Dog, was not close with her family as in, she never spoke to them, and her ex kept stealing all her tips therefore she needed out and to get out she needed money and it was the kind of money she didn’t have and had no hope of getting especially when her ex-husband kept taking the little she had.

So she got that money by doing sick-ass shit with Trane Keaton. In fact, she got two hundred thousand dollars for doing it, blackmail money direct from Trane which I didn’t think was enough but that’s just me.

Still, it got her out of Colorado and nearly a continent away, it set her up and her ex, being an ass**le and lazy, didn’t put up the effort to trail her and continue making her life miserable so it also bought her peace.

Until Misty died.

She confirmed to Tate that Misty was as messed up as Misty was. Misty had doting parents, good looks and had grown up wild because her folks didn’t know how to say no so she pretty much did whatever she wanted to do whenever she wanted to do it. She wasn’t used to getting no for an answer so she didn’t mind doing what she had to do to get what she wanted.

And she wanted Chace. Like, a lot (obviously).

And he made it clear he wanted only one thing from her and that was only part of what she wanted from him.

Seeing as she’d convinced herself her talents in bed (something for which he kept coming back for more) and her looks would eventually win him around, she successfully set about trapping him, thinking, insanely, that he’d eventually get over her sick, twisted power play and fall head over heels in love with her.

This was not a lie. This was what Miss Maryland told Tate, straight out.

It was a f**ked up play by a pretty, spoiled girl who, personally, I thought needed mental help.

But she was dead so that was impossible.

Though, I did make a point of noting this. I had no blood family, didn’t have a mother-figure until I was thirteen and could see myself falling in the trap of giving a child I loved everything she or he wanted because I had to wade through a whole lot of shit to get what I wanted and it took thirty-four years. Upon learning this about Misty, I decided on the motherhood course of Do What Ella Would Do in order not to f**k up my kid by loving them so much it made me weak and them stupid.

Misty’s friend, by the way, was terrified. Tate, by the way, was a straight talker and told her she had reason to be and if she had any of that two hundred grand left, she needed to get herself safe.

Being Tate and checking up, the next time he called, her number was disconnected.

No more was heard from Misty Keaton’s friend. Arnie Fuller was out on bail and keeping his head down as in, no one saw him ever. Gossip was dying down and the City Council was acting fast to clean up. But people weren’t used to living out from under small town tyranny. They were guardedly happy yet braced. The boat had rocked and only those who deserved to get thrown in the water got drenched.

But after what happened to Ty, Misty and Rowdy, everyone knew anything could happen.

So they were breathing easier but that didn’t mean they weren’t prepared.

Chace Keaton had weathered the storm. What he did was known, very much so. Handsome, well-dressed and having a confident manner, he was the poster boy for the IA and pushed in front of the cameras to show that Carnal wasn’t entirely infested, there were good, brave men serving the community. You could tell he didn’t like it but again, as it seemed was his curse, he put up with it.

I just hoped for him, like it had for Ty and me, it would eventually die down.

In the diner that day, I quickly looked away from Chace and walked to the counter, taking a stool so I could do what I did when I picked the diner for lunch. Order takeaway and take it back to the salon so I could gab with Dominic, Kayeleen and their clients as I ate lunch. I knew exactly what I wanted so I waited for the busy waitress behind the counter to get to me. And while I waited, my eyes went everywhere to avoid going to Chace.

Then they honed in.

And they honed in on a woman I knew. She was the librarian in town. She went to see Dominic and Dominic declared that her hair was the third best head of hair in Carnal behind Lauren Jackson’s and my own (though, I wondered if he was being nice, still, he said it like he meant it). It was a thick, shining sheet of real auburn, dark, hints and highlights of red and rust, it was gorgeous. And with her pale skin, bright blue eyes, fantastic cheekbones and that hair, she was extremely pretty.