Miller redirected the central point of the scope to sweep by the other women, who’d also started to drink from their own cups. All three women were laughing at something, faces obscured by sunglasses, but mouths all curved in broad easy smiles. Handsome men, beautiful women, relaxed weekend day in a luxe estate. The setting could have easily been a scene from a fashion magazine spread hawking anything from watches to fashion to cars to real estate.

The Fergie song from the workout mix that her daughter had surreptitiously added to her iPod, and which Miller listened to as she ran her customary 5-6 miles in the morning, popped into her head seemingly out of nowhere. “G-l-a-m-o-r-o-u-s, yeah,” Miller rapped under her breath, along with Fergie.

She panned back to zero in on the women. Once she’d fixed on one of the blondes, who’d flipped her sunglasses up, Miller’s blood ran cold. She drew a sharp breath and uncharacteristically allowed the rifle to slip from her grasp.

Tina Kennard!

What is she doing here?

She re-positioned the rifle, and willed her instincts to take over, using muscle memory to get her shoulders back in position and her fingers moving. She discovered that the scope automatically picked up the last settings that she’d punched in.

A million questions swirled around her mind as her heart pounded.

Wait! Is that where the ”Kennard” of Bette Porter’s name comes from?

Jackson had kept out details of Bette’s family from the dossier, and had focused instead on the brunette and her activities. After she’d gone over the brief, Miller had been fascinated, felt drawn even, to the mysterious woman and was intrigued by the “double-life” the woman had been leading recently. Apparently not for any purpose other than to work on something that she’d been asked to take responsibility for. Who does that anymore? Miller had wondered after re-reading Bette’s file.

But now Tina was in the scene. Could it be? Tina married a woman? After all the things she’d said about me almost a lifetime ago?

Damn, she still looks gorgeous. No, not merely gorgeous ….. she’s blossomed into a beautiful woman, and was glowing. From something. Slight bump in the otherwise flat stomach Miller remembered well.

Wait! Is Tina pregnant?