New York to Dallas

and I.”
    “Yeah, we will. I—we—need to get home, pack.”
    He merely turned to the ’link again. A few seconds later, Summerset appeared on screen.
    “Eve and I are leaving for Dallas on urgent police business. I’ll need you to pack for both of us as quickly as possible, and have the luggage sent to my short-range shuttle at Transportation.”
    “Right away. Will a week’s wardrobe be sufficient?”
    “That should be fine. I’ll contact you with other instructions once we’re on our way. Thank you.”
    Even through the rush, the worry, she had room for a good scoop of appalled. “Summerset’s going to pack for me? Like, my underwear?”
    Roarke glanced at her, smiled. “You seem more disturbed by that than with the idea of facing down McQueen.”
    “The first is humiliating, and I’m looking forward to the second. But I’ll suck it up. It saves time.”
    “Spend it sitting down. Take a breath. I need to go consult with Caro for a few minutes.”
    “Roarke.” She remained on her feet. “I know you probably think going with me on this kind of deal is part of the marriage rules.”
    His lips curved in easy amusement. “You do love your rules.”
    “When I know about them, and understand them. I know I give you a lot of grief about owning the world, or buying up planets. It’s not that I don’t get how much work, time, responsibility it takes to run everything you run. I do. So I know you’re putting a hell of a lot on hold for me. I don’t take it for granted.”
    “Eve.” He waited a beat. “I once stood in a field in Ireland, alone, a little lost, and wishing for you more than I wished for my next breath. And you came, though I never asked you, you came because you knew I needed you. We don’t always do what’s right, what’s good. Not even for each other. But when it counts, down to the core of it, I believe we do exactly that. What’s right and good for each other.
    “There’s no rule to that, Eve. It’s just love.”
    Just love, she thought when he stepped out. She may have been going into her own personal hell to face a killer, but right at that moment she considered herself the luckiest woman in the world.

6
     
    E ve spent the first part of the quick flight reviewing the rest of Whitney’s data, then pacing. Thinking, working out an approach. Until Roarke completed whatever he was doing on his PPC and set the device aside.
    “Tell me what to expect when we get there.”
    “Can’t be sure.” And it left her unsettled, edgy. “Ricchio, Lieutenant Anton, is Detective Jones’s direct superior. He runs Special Victims, so they deal with a lot of sex crimes and abuse to minors. Jones aimed her arrow right there.”
    “And her twin aimed hers toward abuse and rape counseling. I imagine they’ve worked together.”
    “Melinda counseled a number of vics in the SVU files,” Eve confirmed. “Ricchio’s a twenty-year man. Married—second time—twelve years. He has a son, eighteen, from marriage one, and a daughter, age ten, from his current. Comes off steady to me, gives his detectives some room. He’s partnered Jones with his most experienced detective, Annalyn Walker. Fifteen years on, the last eight in SVU. Single, no marriages or offspring. She’s got a good record. Those should be the main players we’ll deal with.”
    She broke off when her ’link signaled. “The feds,” she said, reading the display before she answered. “Dallas.”
    “What happened to cooperation and sharing all data?” Nikos demanded.
    Steamed, Eve thought. Very steamed.
    “I’m working against the clock here, Agent Nikos. You can get all data from my commander and from Detective Peabody, who now has the lead in the department’s investigation.”
    “If McQueen’s in Dallas, with a hostage, Laurence and I should be in Dallas.”
    “Your travel and coordination with Dallas police isn’t my call.”
    “It’s handled. We’re about an hour behind you. You could’ve offered us a ride.”
    “Look, Nikos, I’ve got just a little more important things on my mind than your transpo. McQueen’s got a hostage, and he has every reason to inflict harm on one who got away. I’m not going to give him any reason to inflict that harm. We believe his partner is one Suzan Devon, current address Baton Rouge. My partner and her team are trying to track her.”
    “I’m aware. We also have resources—considerable—and in using them have determined one Sister Suzan Devon didn’t exist