Free Mercy by Jodi Picoult

think you're making a statement."
    Allie pulled away from him and opened the refrigerator, pretending to searc h for something. "But what if I did?"
    "What if you did what?"
    "What if I wanted to make a statement?"
    Cam sank back into a chair. "Allie, even if you killed someone, I'd have to tur n you in." He ran a hand through his thick hair, spilling it over his face. "I'
    d still be the police chief."
    Allie nodded, briefly imagining Cam's own hand locking her into the small, d ark cement cell in the center of town. "Yes," she said, "but you'd also stil l be my husband."
    That was Cam's breaking point. He bolted upright, knocking the chair behind him onto the floor. "This is not what I came home for. This is not what I need from you."
    A switch snapped in Allie. She dropped the dish towel and closed the refrig erator door and moved right in front of Cam, pushing past his frustration a nd anger to wrap her arms around him. "No, of course not." Cam let Allie guide him to the chair and gently press him into it again. He clenched his fists and closed his eyes, wishing he could be anywhere else bu t in Wheelock, Massachusetts. Instinctively, his mind began to picture his f avorite places. He envisioned a white elephant in Thailand, splashed with a bucket of water to turn a dusky gray; the shutters of nine hundred shops fla pping
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    open in Cairo's souk; the pink stone cathedrals of Mexico City. Something brushed across his leg and he jumped a foot.
    "Excuse me," said a voice, and Cam opened his eyes to see the woman who h ad been sleeping on the couch the night before.
    "Oh, Mia," Allie said, turning around with a smile. "Was there enough hot w ater?"
    Mia nodded. She was staring at Cam, seeing him as he had looked when he'd s tepped into the living room and stretched toward the rafters like a sleek a nd stunning mountain cat. She stuck out her hand. "Hi," she said. "I don't think we've really met."
    Allie stepped behind Cam and placed her arm around his waist. "You're righ t. We got sidetracked yesterday. Cam, this is Mia Townsend, my new assista nt. Mia, this is--"
    "The police chief of Wheelock," Mia interrupted, a smile lighting her eyes. She gripped Cam's hand firmly.
    "Assistant?" Cam was speaking to Allie, but he kept his gaze trained on Mia, even as she pulled her hand away and bent over the bowl of cereal that Alli e, like a mother, had placed in front of her.
    "Well," Allie said, "there's just something about her. Wait till you see what she can do."
    There's just something about her. Cam swallowed, reaching up to find Allies hand on his shoulder. It was warm and small and smooth and he knew all its knobs and textures. It felt completely different than Mia's hand had, mome nts before. "I can't imagine it being any better than your stuff," Cam said.
    "Oh, just wait."
    Cam shifted his weight. This stranger had come to Wheelock and in a single day had charmed Allie, had infiltrated her way into his own house. He insti nctively tensed, realizing that every time he'd been in the vicinity of the woman, he'd felt a nervous energy, a hunch that she wasn't quite comfortab le in her own skin. And a niggling sense that he had spoken to her, or seen her, or been somewhere near her before.
    Suddenly Mia jumped to her feet. "My cat," she explained. "I think I left h im in the bathroom." She darted her eyes overhead. "He's probably clawed yo ur shower curtain to shreds."
    Allie laughed. "Eat your breakfast. I'll get the cat." i Jodi Picoult
    Mia remained standing several seconds after Allie had left the room. Then s he smiled hesitantly at Cam and sat down.
    Cam watched her pour milk into the cereal. She scooped the corn flakes up to ward the back of the bowl, the way he'd seen the English eat soup. "What's t he cat's name?" he said, willing to call a truce.
    "Kafka."
    Mia did not look up.
    "Kafka?" Cam pressed, amused.
    She nodded. "He'd rather be anything but a cat."
    "And how do you know that?" In spite of himself, Cam found that