“Undersheriff Young, may I have a word in private with Sheriff Song?”

“Of course,” Amanda said.

She cut a quick worried glance at Spenser before backing out of the office and closing the door behind her. Maggie dropped into the chair in front of her desk, laid her palms flat on her thighs, and stared at her in silence for a moment. Her office was so quiet, Spenser could hear the clock on her wall, each tick sounding like another nail being pounded into the coffin of her career. The silence was quickly growing unbearable.

“So, are we going to talk or stare at each other?” Spenser finally asked.

“You’ve seen this morning’s Dispatch?”

“I have.”

“And?”

“And what?”

“What do you have to say to that story?”

Spenser picked up the paper, looked at the story again before dropping it again like it was a piece of trash. She looked at Maggie and shrugged.

“At least it was below the fold?” she said.

“Spenser, this isn’t a joking matter. I’ve already gotten calls from four of our five city council members who are asking questions,” Maggie said, her tone stern. “This is serious.”

“Are they really taking a tabloid story seriously, Maggie?”

“Seriously enough to be asking questions about its validity.”

Spenser ran a hand over her face. “This is ridiculous.”

“Walk me through this, Spenser. Tell me what this is all about.”

Her chair squeaked sharply as she leaned back and blew out a long breath, her frustration levels rising. This was starting to go well beyond ridiculous.

“Maggie, this story, if that’s what we’re calling it, is a plant by Alex Ricci—”

“Alex Ricci? You mean, your old partner’s brother?”

“One and the same,” Spenser replied. “For reasons I haven’t figured out yet, Alex Ricci is waging a PR campaign against me instead of killing me—”

Maggie’s eyes widened and her mouth fell open, her features painted with shock. “Killing you? Excuse me? I think there are some things you need to catch me up on.”

“I guess there are.”

Spenser took a few minutes to fill Maggie in on everything that had been happening in this game of cat and mouse with the Ricci brothers, up to and including the bullet she found on her porch. The mayor listened to it with the surprise on her face giving way to something that looked a skosh short of anger. Mixed in with it all, though, was an undercurrent of worry. The council blowing her up about the article was obviously getting to her and because she was still trying to wrap her own mind around it, Spenser had no idea what to say or how to calm her down.

“And he’s been threatening you?” Maggie asked.

Spenser nodded. “Not that I can prove it, but yeah. He’s made it clear that he wants to see me dead for what’s happening to his brother.”

“How does him going to a reporter with his story make sense?”

“It doesn’t. Listen, Maggie, I’ve got no clue what he’s up to. I have no idea what this new strategy is. Not yet. But I promise you I’m going to find out.”

Maggie leaned forward, looking her in the eye. “Spenser, if this really is Alex Ricci behind this story, is there any truth to what he’s saying?”

“Not a syllable.”

“Alright, I’ll talk to the council. I’ll explain to them what you’ve told me about this all. In the meantime, I suggest you figure out what’s happening on your end and what Alex Ricci is up to with all this.”

“I will.”

“Good. Now, what’s going on with Seth Hamill? Doc Swift says you won’t let him sign off on the death certificate. Why is that?”

Spenser’s lips curled down as she felt a spike of irritation that he’d gone to Maggie and tried to talk her into closing the Hamill case. She wasn’t surprised. But she was irritated all the same.

“I found an injection site on his body and he’s not diabetic, nor a known IV drug user,” Spenser told her. “I want to get a blood panel back and see what’s on it before I’ll feel comfortable signing off.”

“Okay. Fair enough. Doc Swift is anxious to clear this. You know how he is.”

“All too well.”

“Good. Okay. I’ll let you get on with it.”

Maggie gets to her feet and heads for the office door, but Spenser stopped her, prompting the woman to turn around. Her anger was starting to boil over and she felt like she needed to say something to let them know she wasn’t going to take this lying down.

“Let me just say if the council wants to impeach me over this garbage, they’re going to have one hell of a fight on their hands,” Spenser said. “I love my job, I’m great at it, and this story is absolute crap. Ricci’s only intent by spreading this garbage is to ruin me.”

Maggie smiled. “That’s my girl. Then find Ricci and figure out what his game is.”

“Believe me, I’m on it.”

“No news is good news,” Ryker said.

“Not always,” Spenser replied.

“I never figured you to be such a fatalist.”

“I’m not a fatalist. I’m a realist.”

“Which is the thing most fatalists like to say.”

Spenser laughed softly and picked at her salad. It had been about a week since Spenser had heard anything from Maggie or the council and with every day that went by, she got even more nervous. She tried to put it out of her head, but that seemed an impossible task.

Cotter’s Café was a cute little spot a couple of blocks from the town center and her office. There wasn’t much going on that required her attention that morning, so when Ryker popped by to see if she wanted to grab some lunch, Spenser had been happy to get out of her office for a while. They sat at a table on the patio out back. It was a warm, sunny day. The sky overhead was a deep, beautiful azure, dotted with small patches of cotton candy clouds.