I went up and said to her, “That baby gets placed somewhere nearby with daily visitation rights. And by the way, I didn't see anything going on here that was worth putting on file... You?” The caseworker gave me a disgruntled look and turned away.

Suddenly, my beeper sounded, three dissonant beeps punctuating the tense air. I pulled it out and read the number. Jacobi, my ex-partner in Homicide. What did he want?

I excused myself and moved into the staff office. I was able to reach him in his car.

“Something bad's happened, Lindsay,” he said glumly. “I thought you'd want to know.”

He clued me in about a horrible drive-by shooting at the La Salle Heights Church. An eleven-year-old girl had been killed.

“Jesus... ” I sighed as my heart sank.

“I thought you might want in on it,” Jacobi said.

I took in a breath. It had been over three months since I'd been on the scene at a homicide. Not since the day the bride and groom case ended.

“So, I didn't hear,” Jacobi pressed. “You want in, Lieutenant?” It was the first time he had called me by my new rank.

I realized my honeymoon had come to an end. “Yeah,” I muttered. “I want in.”

Chapter 2

A COLD RAIN STARTED TO FALL as I pulled my Explorer up to the La Salle Heights Church on Harrow Street, in the predominantly black section of Bay View. An angry, anxious crowd had formed - a combination of saddened neighborhood mothers and the usual sullen homeboys huddled in their bright Tommys all pushing against a handful of uniformed cops. -

“This ain't goddamn Mississippi,” someone shouted as I forced my way through the throng.

“How many more?” an older woman wailed. “How many more?”