Page 8 (1/2)

Chapter One

Makena Kingston had spentfor Shane Baker to wake up and notice her Tonight she waited for hi space so they could have dinner

She’d called him on a whim A sih He had a few days off from the Corcoran Team, the undercover squad where he worked with his best friend, her big brother, Holt

She’d asked this , and the hours since had ticked by in painful slowness Now she glanced out theover her kitchen sink, looking for Shane Glanced—as in looked for the five hundredth time

From this position she could see the steps down to a shtly colored cottages sat in a row, close together, allowing for soeneral lack of updating helped her afford the place

Maybe fifteen feet separated her deck frohbors, a young ue They did that a lot, and about everything Makena often thought ht not be on their side

The night fell over Lannaker Estates, the fancy nale-level ho the Chester River This part of Maryland, the Eastern Shore, possessed the bucolic feel of a university tohich it was Small and quaint, close to the Chesapeake Bay and about an hour and a half fro much happened in Chestertown, and she liked it that way

For the five hundred and first tilanced out back on her Shane watch This tihbor couple’s back porch She couldn’tearly fall sunlight Probably just soument

She couldall black That struck her as a little much for this time of year They’d moved out of shorts weather, but the cool breezes hadn’t started yet

Yeah, all black andshe balanced her palms on the counter and leaned in closer She blinked a few ti It was as if the two people—ht from their wide-shouldered builds—stalked the house They separated One stopped at a utility box attached to the house and did so She couldn’t quite tell what The other went to the back door and dropped down on one knee

Then they raced Storhbor’s house She switched from theat the sink to the one on the side of her house With her back to the wall, she peeked around thefrah the back of the house next door