"Yes, Mom," he sighed, wondering if she was telepathic, or just seemed that way. He walked away from the table and around the side of the house, hiding from prying eyes. "Hello?"

“Jeremy?” said Sarah. Jeremy stopped. Even through the phone he could tell Sarah was upset. Her voice was high and tense with strain.

“Listen. You have to come over here. Right away."

“What?" He Looked around.

“Sarah, I'm at a cookout with my family. I can't just Leave.”

“Jeremy, you have to leave. My mom says it's a matter of life and death. She-" her voice cut off suddenly.

“This is Rachel, Jeremy." He froze. Rachel's ordinarily cheerful voice was hard and cold. The only time he had ever heard her sound that way before was in the middle of a case, when she had an uncooperative witness on the stand. "I'm not going to argue and I don't have time to explain. You need to leave now. You're in terrible danger. You, and everyone around you. The only way I can protect you is by getting you over here at my house.”

His jaw flapped uselessly.

“But if everyone around me is in danger-"

She cut him off firmly.

“Everyone around you is in danger because of you, Jeremy. Once you're gone, they won't have anything to worry about.

I think." The qualifier was more than a little disturbing. Her voice gentled slightly.

“Jeremy, I promise I will explain everything as soon as you get here. But you have to leave now.”

He swallowed.

“ALL right, Rachel. I'm on my way." He hung up the phone, discovering patches of cold sweat at his temples and his upper lip. He wiped them away with the sleeve of his shirt.

What the hell is going on? He had worked with Rachel Wainwright for four months. He had seen her happy, cheerful, depressed, angry, and enraged. But he had never seen her scared.

And that's what she was. She was terrified. He plastered a false smile on his face and sauntered back around the corner of the house.

"I have to go," he said.

“That was Sarah. She says she has an emergency at home and needs my help.”

His sister Karen raised her eyebrows while trying to remove barbeque sauce from her son Connor's face.

“Karl and I used to have that sort of emergency too, when we first started going out. Just remember, buddy,” she said as he glared at her. "No glove, no love."

“Gotta remember to wrap that rascal," put in Alicia from a few feet away.

“If there's gonna be affection better cover your-"

“Enough, Frances," his mother said, though her eyes danced with suppressed glee.

“I hate you all,“ Jeremy said solemnly, smiling as they all burst into giggles. He bent and kissed his mother on the cheek.