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were specks of blood under two of them.
    “It’s just one visit to the prison.” Torrance was watching him carefully. “Just to find out what Maddox knows. And what she wants. Did you see the other thing on the body that was carved beneath her name? Come on, let’s go back into the room.”
    “Fuck that.”
    “Come and look at this first, and then you can tell me to fuck off.” Torrance was moving down the hallway before Jerry could say anything else.
    He didn’t want to follow. The image of the dead girl was already etched into his brain permanently. While he felt awful about her death, there was nothing he could do to change it. Getting involved wouldn’t help anything, other than to make his life worse than it already was. He’d already been scarred by Maddox, and in more ways than just the four-inch-long welt across his neck.
    On cue, his scar screamed, and he scratched it again, drawing more blood. His personal life was already in the toilet. Work was busy and stressful. The last thing he needed right now was face-to-face contact with the psychotic bitch who’d tried to kill him.
    Down the hallway, he saw Torrance reenter room 1521. Whatever it was that his former partner wanted him to see, it couldn’t possibly change his mind about talking to Maddox. Right?
    Shit .
    Two seconds later, Jerry was striding toward the room.
    What was that thing about curiosity killing the cat?
    Yeah. That.

chapter 3
    MORRIS DIDN’T WANT to marry her. It was becoming painfully obvious. Dr. Sheila Tao was a professor of psychology, an expert on human behavior, and yet somehow she had missed all the signs. Because she hadn’t wanted to see them.
    She picked at her small bowl of honeydew and orange slices, which may as well have been cardboard, for all she could taste. Across the table in the brightly lit restaurant, her fiancé ate his own fruit contentedly, blue eyes focused on the giant flat-screen television mounted above her head. She sighed. She should have known better than to agree to eat brunch at a place that had TVs in it, especially when they needed to have a serious talk about the wedding. Unfortunately, Morris didn’t seem to be in a talkative mood.
    Their server refilled Morris’s coffee, her pierced eyebrow raised at the sight of Sheila’s barely touched fruit. “Is the melon okay?” she asked.
    “It’s fine.” Sheila forced a smile. “Just not as hungry as I thought.”
    The server topped off Sheila’s coffee. “I’ll have your eggs out in a minute.”
    If Morris was listening to this exchange, he didn’t show it. Clearly ESPN was much more interesting. Sheila had no ideawhat game he was watching, or even what sport, and she didn’t care enough to turn her head to find out. Being a former NFL offensive lineman for the Green Bay Packers, Morris Gardener still loved football, but the man would watch anything with a score.
    She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirrored wall behind him and saw that she looked pissed off, her full red lips pursed into a thin line, the space between her dark, almond-shaped eyes crinkled. Smoothing her hair, she arranged her features into a less hostile expression and turned her gaze back to her fiancé.
    A few more moments passed before he finally broke away from the TV, and he smiled in surprise to find her watching him. “What’s up, darlin’?”
    “What’s up?” Sheila knew she sounded pissy, but there was no way to pretend she wasn’t pissed off. “What’s up is I’ve been watching you watch TV for the past twenty minutes. If I wanted to watch you watch TV, we could have stayed home.”
    “Whoa, Nelly.” Morris put his fork down and wiped his mouth with a napkin. “It’s just sports highlights. Steelheads game doesn’t start till noon. What did I miss?”
    Reaching into her oversize purse, Sheila pulled out her wedding planner. She placed it on the table between them, moving the little tray of condiments out of the way so he would have a clear view