Larry Bassett’s Reviews > Criminal > Status Update

Amanda Wagner was not an affectionate woman. She rarely touched Will in kindness. She punched his arm. She smacked his shoulder. She’d even once pulled back the safety plate on a nail gun and feigned surprise when the nail shot through the webbing between his thumb and index finger.

Of all the horrors Amanda had seen in the last week, this was the worst. How had this happened? Who had thrown away this child?

Amanda reached down to the baby. She cupped her hand to his face. His cheek was warm. He turned his head, leaning into her palm. His hand brushed against hers. His feet came up. They curved as if he was pressing against an invisible ball. He was so impossibly small. And so perfect. So beautiful. WILL FIRST APPEARS?

No matter when it had happened, the possibility had been rendered fact. Sara was deeply and profoundly in love with Will Trent. There was no walking back from it. No denying it. Her heart had made the decision while her brain was making excuses. She knew it the minute she saw him last night. Sara would do anything to keep him.

Amanda caught her reflection in the chrome of the pay phone. She was twenty-five years old. She had touched a dead person last weekend. She had stared down a pimp yesterday morning. Helped examine a dead girl last night.

“Whatever we did, it pissed off someone enough to get us yanked off the street and tied to crossing duty.”

“You know, the GBI can’t find enough women to meet their quotas. They’re going to lose their federal grants if they don’t fill up the slots by the end of the year.” “I work for the Atlanta Police Department.” “You don’t have to.”

“Shut up!” There was a flash of white skin as he jammed the flashlight up Evelyn’s skirt and pressed it between her legs. He warned, “Unless you want that for real, you better do as I damn well say. You hear me?” Evelyn didn’t speak. She could only nod. Her hands shook as they went up in surrender.

Her freaking nose was rotting from the inside, but she couldn’t stop snorting the stuff. Couldn’t stop thinking about the smash cut to her brain. The way it shook through her body. The way it made the world so much more bearable.

“Tell them you’re twenty-four,” Amanda managed. Duke Wagner was wrong about Evelyn Mitchell being pushy and opinionated. The woman was just plain crazy. BACKSTORY ON A COUPLE OF THE REGULARS.