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Maybe she could even have his baby.
    Maybe she was pregnant now. The thought sent a thril through her, the likes of which she'd never experienced. She doubted that what she'd emptied out of that discarded rubber would bring her the baby she craved, but there was always the possibility.
    Either way, they'd be together eventually.
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Chapter 4
    L ate Wednesday morning, Ava spoke to the neighbor who'd driven Kalyna Harter to the hospital. They met at a smoothie place located just off base. Maria Sanchez was the first person to see Kalyna after the attack, so Ava was eager to speak with her. But Maria didn't want to get involved.
    When Ava had first contacted her, she said she was too busy. After several calls, she'd allowed Ava to talk her into meeting, but only for a few minutes.
    She'd come late, and she wasn't smiling when she approached the table.
    "Hi." Her expression wary, she removed a pair of sunglasses to reveal wide-set brown eyes. "Are you..."
    Ava held up the smoothie she'd bought while waiting. "Your juice date? Yes, I'm Ava Bixby from The Last Stand. You must be Maria Sanchez."
    She nodded.
    "Thanks for coming." Hoping to get Maria to relax, Ava offered her hand. Kalyna's neighbor clasped it reluctantly, briefly, and Ava indicated the empty side of the booth. "What can I get you?"
    "Nothing, thanks," she said as she sat down.
    "You don't want a smoothie?"
    Maria didn't even glance at the list of drinks posted on the wall. "No, there's a lot more sugar in fruit smoothies than you might imagine."
    The airman looked as if she took exercise as seriously as diet. Short and stocky, she had enough muscle mass to rival most men. "You're into health food?"
    Ava could tell Maria didn't want to be drawn into a friendly conversation. She preferred to get through their meeting and be done with it. But she mumbled an explanation that was partially drowned out by the high whine of the mixers. "Everything I eat is organic."
    "My friend Skye is constantly at me to improve my eating habits. I thought I was doing well by adding wheatgrass juice to this," she said with a laugh.
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    Maria fidgeted with the keys she'd carried in with her. "The wheatgrass juice is healthy, all right. It's the sugar you gotta watch."
    "My problem is coffee. I'm too busy to slow down and eat properly."
    She glanced at the door as if she couldn't wait to escape through it, but she didn't bolt. "Caffeine wil kil you."
    Making another attempt to put her at ease, Ava indicated the cooler next to the cash register. "Are you sure you wouldn't like something?
    Maybe some plain juice?"
    Maria relented enough to get a bottle of water, and Ava paid for it.
    "You've probably guessed why I want to speak to you," Ava said as they returned to the table.
    "Kalyna mentioned that you might be calling. But Major Ogitani already met with me. So did a man named Pledge McCreedy."
    "McCreedy's the defense attorney."
    "He was kind of a jerk."
    Ava had never been particularly interested in the smoothie she'd ordered. Now that it didn't sound as healthy as she'd thought it was, she was even less interested. "It's his job to protect the defendant."
    "He acted as if he didn't believe what I had to say."
    "I'm not surprised." Notorious in Sacramento, Pledge McCreedy rarely lost a case, which made Ava more than a little defensive of her client.
    The moment she'd heard that Captain Trussell had hired Mr. McGreedy, as they referred to him at The Last Stand, she'd become that much more determined to increase her own efforts.
    "But I don't have any reason to lie. Like I told him and Ogitani, I don't know Kalyna very well," Maria said. "She lives in the apartment next to mine. We bump into each other in the hall, keep each other's spare key in case we ever get locked out, and she feeds my cat when I'm out of town.
    She doesn't have a pet so I don't have to return the favor, but I have her over for a drink now and then to thank her. That's about it."
    Ava studied her. Why was Maria so