“I got it,” reported the officer she had passed as he joined the others outside. 

     “You found out who she is?” Kai asked anxiously.  

     “You should sit,” his team member said.  

     The officer sat on the stairs to the cabin before he continued, but Kai remained standing. Nothing surprised him anymore.  

     “Her name’s Melody Taskle and she was attacked on New Year’s Eve by the serial rapist over in Philadelphia, the one they named ‘Devil’s Advocate’. She’s the third victim and the only one who survived. 

     Her family reported her missing two days ago to the detectives in charge of the investigation. She left a note to her mother stating she needed to get away because the media is camped out at their residence. Her mother’s worried because the detectives believe he’s found her.” 

     “Damn!” Kai exclaimed. That explained everything. “Are they sending anyone to escort her home?” 

     “Well, sir, there’s something else.” 

     He waited for the young officer to go on and wondered about the expression on his face. 

     “The Society knows we’re here,” he continued.  

     “How the hell did that happen?” Kai roared. “We checked and double checked for leaks. Everyone on this case is so far above the line they could be God!” 

     “The captain doesn’t know, but it’s being looked into,” was the answer. “In the meantime, we’re to stay here. No one can leave.” 

     “What do you mean, ‘no one’?” came an irate feminine voice from the doorway. 

     Everyone turned to see Melody fully clothed with one floral tapestried suitcase in hand and the other hung over her shoulder. She had put on a pair of bleached jeans, a white long-sleeved blouse, and white sneakers. Her hair was brushed back and sparkled in the rays of the sun. 

     Kai let his gaze linger a bit too long before answering.  

     “They could be surrounding the cabin as we speak,” he replied. “There’s no way of knowing for certain until we have all the surveillance equipment up and running.” 

     “Well, I’m leaving,” Melody stated without room for debate.  

     She stepped down on her way out, but Kai stood in her way.  

     “Look, I don’t care what you have going on around here. I just want to go home,” she said determinedly. 

     He didn’t move.  

     “Until we know what these people are up to, ma’am, we can’t leave this property,” he told her, not moving an inch in either direction. “They could be waiting down the road to ambush us. They may have already tampered with your vehicle. We won’t know anything for a while, so we’re stuck together until we figure things out.” 

     “I’ve been here for three days without a whisper of trouble,” she argued. “You brought it here. You can make it go away by leaving.” 

     Kai only folded his arms without a word or motion to suggest he would comply. Melody stared him squarely in the eyes, made easier from her stance three steps above the ground.  

     “Arrest me if you want,” she seethed. “Otherwise, I’m leaving. I’m not about to stay one night in this place with all of you. Not even an hour.” 

     She pushed him aside and hurried down the rest of the steps to the drive. She half-walked, half-ran to her Jeep as she heard his booted feet walking briskly behind her. 

     “Harrison, get me her case file,” Kai ordered as he started to follow. 

     If they were going to be staying together for the unforeseeable future, he wanted to know what he and his all-male team would be dealing with in terms of cohabitating with a victim of sexual violence. 

     As Melody reached the door to the garage, she set her bag down to open the door. When she reached for the handle, he rested his hand on the frame and prevented the door from opening. 

     “I know what you’ve been through, Miss. Taskle,” he said to her surprise, “but no one here will hurt you. You have my word on that.” 

     She took her hand from the door and stared up at him in disbelief. His tone was compassionate, his words sincere, but how did he know?  

     “How did…”  

     In answer to her unfinished question, he removed her driver’s license from his shirt pocket and handed it to her. 

     Infuriated he’d gone through her things, she snatched the plastic card from his hand and shoved it into her purse.  

     “You had no right!” she fumed at the invasion. 

     “You were trespassing on government property. I had every right,” he countered. 

     She glared into his eyes as she lifted her bag from the ground.  

     “How long had you been standing above me when I woke up to find you gawking?” she seethed. 

     She didn’t really want an answer. She was sure it had been long enough. She just wanted to throw another accusation in his face to make him shut up. She wheeled around and headed toward the cabin. 

     Kai sighed as he watched her walk away. He looked skyward and shut his eyes, wondering how they were going to do their job with her around. 

     She hurried up the cabin steps and past the other officers on her way to her room. As soon as she reached it, she stepped inside and shut the door. Flinging her designer suitcases onto the bed, she walked to the window and started to speak quietly to herself.  

     “Stupid Sgt. Kai Pierce,” she grumbled. “I just want to be left alone. When will I get that? And on top of everything else, a freaking house of men!” 

     She sighed and shook her head. 

     “Amy and Bridgette would be falling over their tongues if they were here. They’d treat this like a house party with hot cops. Probably not this Kai. He’d be too strait-laced for that, I’m sure.” 

     She chewed her lip when she thought about him, then groaned at herself and shook her head in frustration. 

     “Why? Why now? Why does someone so interesting have to come into my life now? 

     No, stop!” she ordered herself. “I shouldn’t have thoughts like that. It isn’t right. Something has to be wrong with me to be interested in anything after what happened. It just isn’t normal. Is it?” 

     “What isn’t normal?” came that deep soothing voice she was beginning to dread. 

     She swung around and stared at him in annoyance. “What is it with you? Do you have a problem keeping your distance?” 

     “Pardon me, Miss. Taskle…” 

     “It’s Melody!” 

     “Pardon me, Melody, but this is my room. I need the view for the equipment.” 

     “’You need the view for the equipment’,” she repeated in doubt. “I bet that’s the first time a housemate has ever used that one!” 

     He couldn’t help but laugh out loud at her wit.  

     “I can see why you would doubt me,” he replied. “This room does have the best view, which allows us to see the people we’re watching.” 

     Melody folded her arms and looked out the window again. She peered through and squinted to see across the water aglow with the afternoon sun. She sighed and had begun to lose herself in the scenery when a thin stream of smoke caught her eye.  

     “What’s that?” she asked, fearful it was a forest fire. 

     He walked over to the window and looked out. As soon as he saw the smoke, he took a pair of binoculars from his bag and looked through them.  

     “They’re praying,” he said frankly. 

     “They’re what?” she asked. 

     He handed her the binoculars so she could see for herself. When she looked through the lenses, she saw a large group of people in white robes holding hands around a bonfire.  

     “Is that the KKK?” she asked. 

     “No,” he answered. “They’re a cult that showed up in Pittsburgh last summer, probably derived from an ancient one no longer in use. We followed them here to see what they’re doing in the park. We think they’re responsible for farm animal mutilations, missing pets, human trafficking, torture, and abductions.” 

     Melody’s head snapped around at the mention of torture and abductions. Her hand went discreetly to her left breast as she remembered her ordeal yet again. 

     Will nothing let me forget? she wondered miserably. 

     “I have to help my team bring up the equipment so we can get set up,” he told her, pretending not to notice her strange action. “If you see anything suspicious, anyone being hurt, you call me.”

     She watched him walk from the room. He was so tall, another couple of inches would have his head meeting up with the top of the doorjamb. He turned around as he stepped out and flashed her an encouraging smile. His eyes twinkled with the sunlight and she quickly looked away. She could have done without the way he just looked at her. 

     She looked through the binoculars at the crowd for a moment, then looked around the river and trees lining it. One of the officers had said there could be people outside of the cabin. She huffed at her situation and decided to seek out a new room. Setting the binoculars down, she grabbed her bags, thinking he could do his own police work.