Charlotte put her hand on the brass doorknob, then paused. She slowly turned her head. "Tell me I'm being paranoid, Bon. Tell me the new neighbors will be a nice family with two-point-five children and a gerbil"

"Hmm. Not sure about the gerbil, but I bet you'll love them, whoever they turn out to be."

Bonnie pushed open the door and ushered Charlotte inside.

"Besides. You've got to remember that Ned and I were a bit worried the day you newly weds pulled up in your beat-up Chevette. And look at us now. I can't imagine my life without you and the children."

Charlotte looked closely at her friend, noticing the crinkles at her eyes, the damp sparkle at her lashes, and knew with certainty that she wouldn't have survived the last year without Bonnie and Ned Preston.

***

"Ohio?"

Joe Bellacera's mouth fell open in shock. Then he lanced Roger Hagerman with one of his trademark menacing stares.

But Roger already knew this was not going to be an easy sell.

"Minton, Ohio, Joe." He shuffled some papers on his desktop. "Population of just over twenty thousand souls. An hour or so from Cincinnati. Near the scenic and historic Ohio River. Good schools. Decent, patriotic folk."

"You might as well put a bullet in my brain now and skip the middleman."

Roger winced. "Only living people can testify in a court of law, as you know."

He watched Joe turn up the intimidation level of his stare, and though Roger tried to smile casually at him, he couldn't quite manage it. No wonder Joe Bellacera had a reputation for getting exactly what he wanted-whether it was convincing an informant to talk or a getting a woman he'd just met to eat out of his hand. It was his eyes. They could be pitch-black and threatening one minute and cheerful and sweet the next.