Hell by Hilary Norman

said. ‘Decent security.’
    â€˜I’m not sure she’d have the space, let alone the inclination.’
    â€˜But you don’t hate the idea?’ Sam asked.
    â€˜I hate all of it,’ Grace said.
    â€˜Will you call her?’
    â€˜We’d have to look at our insurance policies.’
    â€˜Sure,’ Sam said. ‘So will you call her?’
    Grace smiled at him.
    â€˜First thing tomorrow,’ she said.
    The rest of the evening was almost pure pleasure. Daniel was glad to let Sam and Saul lend a hand with the cooking, while Grace and Claudia sipped wine and ate themselves to a standstill. Mike and Robbie and Cathy swam and ate and laughed a lot and everyone took turns to go upstairs to check on Joshua, and even the dogs hung out happily together.
    â€˜It’s so beautiful out here,’ Grace said to Sam.
    â€˜Sure is,’ he agreed.
    He was trying not to stare out past the white, alarmed, monitored fence to the dark bay beyond, trying not to imagine Cooper out there somewhere with a long-range night scope trained on them – maybe even a high-powered rifle sight – almost the entire Becket family laid out for him in one fell swoop . . .
    â€˜Stop it, Sam,’ Grace told him quietly.
    Which told him it was nothing she hadn’t considered too.
    Both their imaginations running riot.
    â€˜We have to live,’ she said. ‘Make the most of this.’
    Sam nodded. ‘Special time.’
    â€˜And not just because it could get taken away,’ Grace said. ‘OK?’
    They’d spoken in the past about whether or not they might have benefited from therapy after what they’d gone through a year ago, and Sam had been offered counseling through the EAP, but had turned it down because, shaken as he was, he’d felt so damned happy to be alive. And they both knew, more than most, what damage could be done by unresolved post-traumatic issues, yet still they’d both stubbornly, perhaps foolishly, chosen to get by on the sheer relief of survival.
    Lately, though, Sam had become increasingly concerned that it might have been the wrong decision for Grace. Not just because her jumpiness was so uncharacteristic – if justifiable – but also because it seemed to him that she was up and down, in and out of denial.
    Which was not healthy, and not like her.
    Another reason, perhaps, why working with Magda might be a good plan, because if anyone could persuade Grace to get some counseling before things got out of hand, it was Dr Magda Shrike.
    Yet this evening, here and now, Grace was the one making sense.
    The way she almost always did.
    Sam lifted his beer bottle.
    â€˜Damned straight,’ he said.

FIFTEEN
    April 29
    T hey all went about their business Thursday morning – all except Grace, who was waiting for Magda to return her call, and as things stood, she guessed it would be Monday before she could even hope to start seeing patients again.
    It was all so very wrong, she thought, then rebuked herself, because here she was, safe in her sister’s stunning home, which meant that her biggest concern right now was making sure Joshua kept away from the pool.
    â€˜There’s no way he could wander outside on his own,’ Claudia had already assured her.
    Biometric systems on all exits, not just the front door.
    No concerns at all, then, Grace told herself, as her sister brewed fresh coffee.
    Unless she counted their psycho stepbrother.
    â€˜Hey,’ Claudia said, seeing her face. ‘Can’t you at least try and think of this as a vacation?’
    Grace looked at her sister and gave herself a swift kick.
    â€˜You bet I can,’ she said.
    Nothing had come of Cutter’s and Sheldon’s nightclub trawl, but Sam and Martinez were planning to continue it tonight.
    With Cal the Hater’s old hunting grounds in mind. Hot-Hot-Hot and Menagerie two of the killer’s favorite clubs – not forgetting the