Stopping a murder that happened forty years earlier may be the only way to heal a tortured mind ...<br><br>Six months after Jesse Madding is brutally tortured by Marcus Brooker, he is still experiencing flashbacks, panic attacks, and jumping at his own shadow. His lovers, Gideon Keel and Emma Coolidge, would do anything to help him, but Jesse refuses to be hospitalized for treatment, or even visit a therapist. Desperate for a change, Gideon and Emma suggest a radical solution.<br><br> Jesse wants to fix his life. More than anything, he wants to be normal again. He doesn't want to live in fear. He doesn't want to be ashamed of his scarred and mutilated body. He doesn't want to shy away from Gideon's touch. Certain that the holding pattern will kill him, he agrees to Gideon and Emma's proposed solution: travel to an alternative dimension and save Marcus Brooker from witnessing Mary's grisly murder ... in order to save Brooker's soul.

Chaos and Communion

The familiarity of their friendship, of how closely they were working on some agenda, struck a chord deep inside Jesse. It felt like any number of times he had worked with Gideon, or he and Emma had fathomed out a problem, or even discussing a case with Derek. This was his milieu, even if the church wasn’t a familiar setting. There was no reason for him to be frightened.


Then Mary glanced up. When her gaze found him, she smiled.


“You’re not doing anybody any good all the way back there,” she said. “Come on up.”


Jesse pushed the meeting with Michelle out of his mind. It wouldn’t do any good to dwell on it. He had a job to do.


“What have you got there?” he asked as he approached.


Chapter 63