She looked at her hands.

What the hell just happened?

Had it only been her imagination?

Ben held out a hand to help her back up to her feet. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

She swallowed hard. “I will be — you know — eventually.”

He squeezed her hand in his. “Good.”

She definitely needed a drink. A big one. Straight up.

She knew she should have stopped for some lunch earlier. A piece of toast and a glass of juice nine hours ago was not enough for proper mental alertness. She shook away the strange feeling and tried to relax while Ben got on his phone and called for backup.

Constable Santos ran in and swept the room with one look. “Eden! Damn, you sure work fast! You found the killer!”

That she did. And now the killer was killed.

But she still felt like she wanted to hurl. Missing dogs were much easier to deal with than serial killers. That was the lesson of the day.

At least it’s over, she thought wearily. She’d be very happy to go back to her regular life now.

No more traumatic experiences for her, thank you very much.

CHAPTER 2

Ben was too busy for that dinner date after all. In fact, other than a few concerned looks cast in Eden’s general direction, he mostly ignored her once the rest of the cops got there.

He asked Constable Santos to give Eden a ride home, but she had him take her to her day job instead. Fifteen minutes later she arrived at Triple-A Investigations, a small, low-end detective agency.

Why Eden currently worked there was very simple.

Her mother, may she rest in peace, loved to play poker. And drink. And neglect her only daughter whenever possible, but that was another story. Recently, she’d won half the agency in a poker game with the owner, Andy McCoy. When she died last month she’d left her share of it to Eden, along with a pair of small diamond-stud earrings.