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Tommy, who had also been damaged in the aftermath.
    She fielded the first few questions easily.
    “Do you have any leads on Tricia’s location?” This from a grizzled, middle-age man who was scribbling his notes on an old-school steno pad.
    “We have no new information, but we’ll be setting up a tip line soon for people to call with information,” Kate replied.
    “What about speculation that Tricia is a runaway?” asked a petite brunette who looked like she was still in high school.
    “Right now there’s nothing to indicate that Tricia left on her own. She was last seen heading in the direction of home on her bike, the ATM card her father gave her for emergencies hasn’t been used, and she hasn’t been seen at any of the area bus terminals or along the major roads.”
    “At what point will the search shift its focus to looking for a body?”
    This was from a slim blonde whose perfectly applied makeup didn’t do anything to hide the hard glint in her eyes. Kate knew her type well, the kind of reporter who gained notoriety by provoking her interview subjects into anger or an overly emotional response. “We of course hope it never comes to that. Right now we’re working on the premise that Tricia is alive, and we’re hoping that anyone who has any information about her whereabouts will come forward as soon as possible.”
    Another reporter tried to get a question in, but the blonde’s sharp voice drowned him out. “What makes you think you’ll have any more success helping to get Tricia Fuller back than you did with Madeline Drexler?”
    Kate braced herself against the pain spearing her chest at the mention of eleven-year-old Madeline, the memory of her small broken body covered by nothing but a pile of wet leaves. “I have to be optimistic with every case we get involved in,” she said, hoping the fact that the question had her crumpling inside wasn’t obvious on camera. “I couldn’t do this job otherwise.”
    With Kate’s defenses already weakened, blondie decided to go in for the kill. “Of course, but you’ve had to overcome other tragedies where some would say you had some culpability. Starting with your own brother right here in Sandpoint.”
    Kate felt like she was about to fly apart, like a glass crashing to the ground to shatter into a million shards. She wanted to lash out at the reporter, take her to task for taking the sucker punch. But she knew that while she had to tread carefully with the press on every case she worked on, this time it was particularly important.
    Just the memory of her meeting the day before with RonWeaver, the chairman of the board of St. Anthony’s, was enough to make her cheeks burn with shame.
    After what happened with the Drexler case, we can’t afford to have even a hint of misconduct. Because of your carelessness, we’ve had major donors threaten to pull their funding. If you make even one misstep, Kate, it will be disaster for us and for you.
    She didn’t let the camera pick up any of her turmoil as she forced her stiff lips to form a reply. “Of course I will never get over what happened to my brother and my own guilt for not keeping a closer eye on him that night. But I’m here now to focus on giving Tricia and her family the happy ending mine will never have.”

Chapter 3
     
    F or the last fourteen years, Tommy Ibarra was convinced that if he never laid eyes on Kate Beckett again, it would be too soon. Now, as he pulled his truck into the space next to hers and watched her climb out of her rented sedan, he was still reeling from that first moment he saw her when she walked into Jackson Fuller’s den.
    It was like being punched in the face, addling his brain, making his head ring with the impact. Even though, unlike Kate, he had several hours to prepare himself to see her again, he still wasn’t ready for his first in the flesh encounter with her.
    Probably never would be.
    He didn’t know what it was about her—had never really known. With her