The Lure of the Lie: A Modern Detective Anthology (*On Hold*)

Prologue

I stood at the neon bar, pulling down the hem of my dress. Though far more modest than most of the apparel the women in this bar were wearing, the tight skirt was a far cry from the bush jackets and khaki trousers I had been wearing for months. I nodded gratefully at the bartender and gathered the three glasses he'd given me before turning and making my way back toward the front, where my two best friends from college were leaning across a high table three away from the window.

Kacey Adams was sucking on the lime from her previous mojito, eying the man at the table behind us who had been staring at her all night. Remy Williams had one finger in her ear while the other hand pressed her cell phone to her cheek. Her red hair swung in front of her face as she frowned in irritation. I approached and set the glasses down, catching the tail end of Remy's conversation.

"I don't know when I'll be home, I told you," she snapped. I caught Kacey's eye but she only shook her head and tossed back her drink. "Goodbye Dylan."

Remy hung up and slammed her phone down on the table, letting out a grunt of anger. I raised a brow as she took a sip of her whiskey ginger.

"Everything okay?" I asked carefully.

Remy looked up and that infectious smile of hers returned, though I noticed it didn't reach her eyes.

"Of course, yeah. Everything's fine. Don't worry about me. It's your night after all," Remy answered cheerily, patting me on the forearm as Kacey gave a flirtatious little wave to the guy she'd been staring down. "Kacey."

Kacey turned back.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Are you done fighting with your degenerate boyfriend?" Kacey inquired in her signature careless drawl. Remy's jaw tightened but she didn't deign to answer. After a moment, Kacey moved on. "What about you, Mads? How's Cameron?"

"I wouldn't know," I muttered, taking another sip as my best friends met one another's eyelines over the table, brief spat forgotten out of concern for their friend.

"What happened?" Remy asked carefully.

I sighed, preparing myself to tell them what I'd been avoiding discussing for months but Kacey beat me to it.

"He couldn't wait for you to go off and save the world?" Kacey guessed correctly, a sad, knowing smile on her lips.

"He didn't understand why I had to fly halfway around the world to save it," I answered and received encouraging hand holding on both sides as I did. "Nor why it would take an indefinite amount of time to do so."

"But you're back now," Remy said happily, squeezing my hand in her excitement to have me back. I smiled back at her.

"Why are you back?" Kacey asked, ever the astute one. "I mean, no offense. We're so thrilled you are but it was supposed to be an indefinite amount of time and you were only gone for what? Four months?"

I took a breath, ready for part two of my explanation.

"I was offered a job," I told them. "Here, in DC."

They glanced at each other again, this time smiling. I had anticipated this reaction. I knew they'd be happy to have me home. For good.

"More important than counseling child soldier victims in South Sudan?" Kacey inquired, raising a brow again in recognition of the fact that I could never do work I did not think was meaningful.

I opened my mouth to answer but never got the chance. An explosion sounded from somewhere in front of me. The blast drowned out every other noise in the crowded bar and temporarily blinded us. I grabbed Kacey and Remy by their shoulders and used the combat training I'd been given upon entering an active war zone as well as my own instincts to toss them onto the ground and hover over them, arms spread wide in a shield.