Jeffers let out an exasperated sigh.

Gray wasn't going to volunteer anything.

Not unless he asked him point-blank.

So what else was new?

Gray was more close-mouthed than a statue when he wanted to be.

And he obviously wanted to be now.

Asking never bothered Jeffers.

"Where do you know this woman from?"

Graham banked down a wave of memories that threatened to engulf him.

He didn't want to remember.

Any of it.

"From a long time ago."

Jeffers shrugged haplessly.

"Talkative as usual."

Whether Gray gave him an explanation or not, this woman had obviously gotten under his skin.

And they were partners.

"That meant understanding without knowing why.

"You want me to take over the case, Gray? I can get Munoz to work with me."y Graham had never asked anyone to cut him slack before, and he wasn't about to start now, though he appreciated the offer. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly." No, I can handle it.

Thanks.

The last word did a lot to erase the annoyance Jeffers had felt at being shut out.

He sighed.

"You know, it'd be nice if you shared once in a while."

They did, Graham thought.

More than he would have guessed they would when he had first been

matched with the feisty detective.

"We spend time together, Ben, off and on the force."

He looked at Jeffers pointedly.

"Don't get in my face about this."

Jeffers raised his hands in the universal sign of surrender.

"Consider your face abandoned."

He knew that if and when Gray wanted to talk, he would.

If he didn't, nothing he could say was going to force Redhawk to take

him into his confidence.

"Have it your way, Chief."

The slight curve transformed into a grin.

"I usually do, paleface."

Ben Jeffers was as good a friend as he could have asked for.

He hadn't meant to snap at him.

Seeing Caitlin again after all these years had brought back a myriad of

emotions he thought he had gotten over long ago.

Some things, he mused as he turned and walked into the store again, a man just never got over.

He supposed that included his first love.

Graham paused, holding the door open until Jeffers followed him

inside.

Caitlin was standing in the store, he noted, talking to a customer.

A mild relief whispered through him.

He hadn't wanted to reenter that cubicle.

Not while she was in it.

Though what they had once had was dead, he didn't believe in

masochism.

"Ms. Cassidy," he said formally as he approached her.

"Are you ready to come downtown with us?"

He saw the annoyed look flash in her eyes as the woman next to her

exchanged glances with another customer.

The older woman, clutching an absurd scrap of red material, placed a motherly ]land on Caitlin's arm.

"Is anything wrong, dear?"

Too bad Caitlin's mother hadn't been like that, he thought.

Maybe if Caitlin hadn't been raised by a piranha, things might have

turned out differently for them.

Caitlin shook her head, her smile wide and surprisingly genuine, Graham thought, for one he assumed was just pasted on.

Her eyes became steely only when she turned them on him.

"The detectives just want me to look at their collection of

photographs."

She nodded at the teddy the woman had decided on.

"You enjoy that and let me know how your husband liked it on you.

Have a happy anniversary."p "I will," she promised, blushing.

Graham saw Jeffers raise a brow in his direction, but his expression

remained professional and unchanged.

For his part, Graham didn't understand why women wasted so much money on things no one saw.

Caitlin focused her attention on Jeffers.

She was determined to avoid looking at Graham as much as was humanly

possible.

This entire episode had shaken her up more than she was willing to admit.

Having Graham appear out of nowhere after all this time made things that much worse.

She was beginning to wonder if Kerry had been right.

Maybe she would have been better off not reporting this to the police.