Prologue

PROLOGUE

B uzz! Buzz-Buzz-Buzz!

“Who is it?” She screamed from under the covers where she’d fallen asleep on the couch, promising herself to disconnect the stupid doorbell on her first day off.

“Your partner. We’ve got a case,” came Fitz’s gruff reply.

Pulling the blanket from her head, Donatella Hale, known as Hale since she’d joined the police force ten years ago and Nat to her friends for most of her life, groaned aloud as she realized not even the sun was up yet. Throwing her feet onto the floor and making her body follow, she grabbed her robe and threw it on as she made her way to the front door.

Looking through the peephole just to be sure, she unlocked the door and turned the knob, before opening it all the way and grabbing Fitz’s cup of steaming coffee.

“Hey! I just bought that,” he snarled.

“I can tell. It’s still hot and doesn’t smell like your nasty cigarettes.”

Taking a sip as she started up the stairs to her room to get dressed, she called over her shoulder, “What the hell time is it anyway?”

“Four a.m., your Ladyship. Got any food in your fridge?”

“Yep! Stopped at the store last night.” Stepping onto the second floor, a cold chill raced down her spine. The kind a person gets when someone rakes their fingernails down a chalkboard or walks over their own grave. Stopping at the railing and looking down, she asked, “What and where?”

Having worked together since Nat became a detective three years ago, Fitz knew what she was asking and answered, “DB in the Park.”

Closing her eyes, knowing what the answer to her next question was going to be, but needing to hear him say it, she asked, “It’s a girl?”

“Yes.”

“In Manlowe Park?”

“Yes.” Fitz walked into the foyer holding half a ham sandwich and looked up at her. “And?”

“And she’s twenty-one. Her neck’s been slashed. No signs of sexual assault. All her belongings are with her and she has a yellow ribbon wrapped around her right wrist.”

“Yes.” He took a bite of his sandwich. “And?”

“And she’s missing her heart and her liver.”

“You are right again, but then, I never doubted otherwise.”

Blowing out a long breath, she turned towards her room, crossed the threshold and closed the door. Leaning her back against the wood, she ran her fingers through her hair, pulling the scrunchie out as she went, and looked at the picture of her mom and dad she kept by her bed.

Taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling, she crossed the room and picked up the frame, running the tip of her index finger over their faces. Setting it back on the bedside table, she walked into the closet and grabbed her last clean suit.

Laying it on the bed, she looked back at her folks and smiled. “I know it’s not your fault I can see all this shit. Hell, it even helps with my job, but the dreams with the hot guy and the Dragon, those are seriously freakin’ me out.”