The wind on the morning of January sixteenth wasn't terribly frigid but it was enough to make Jeanette Saint-Pierre hurry her step towards the pretty row house on East Thirty-Sixth Street. She sincerely hoped Elaine and Victor Hammond's trio of giant Schnauzhalf-ers were not interested in their usual marathon all the way up to Central Park and back, even though she'd worn her good winter athletic boots - it was just too damn wintery out today.

She smoothed her aubergine tam over her coffee-coloured hair as she jogged up the stairs to the door, but before she pressed the bell Jeanette heard the dogs Alvin Simon and Theodore already barking inside. Concerned, as it was completely out of character for them, Jeannette used her vacation key Missus Hammand had given her to let herself in.

'Madame 'ammond? Is Jeannette,' she called out in her musical Haitian accent. 'If you're home, I'm jus' comin' in to sheck on de dogs.'

She eased open the door and was immediately hit by a metallic, salty scent Jeannette knew far too well - her father had been the town butcher just outside of Port-au-Prince and forever had that metallic, salty scent on his work clothes. Breathing through her mouth, she kept her gloves on as she carefully stepped around Mister Hammond's briefcase and car-keys left on the floor. Odd, but not out of the ordinary. Victor Hammond was a very clumsy person; his wife was forever complaining about their dry-cleaning bills being so high thanks to him forever spilling soup or sauce or coffee on his expensive clothes.

'Madame 'ammond?' Jeannette called again as she reached the townhouse's kitchen and she stopped short: the pristine white and emerald space was painted in blood, like some mad child wielding a disgusting red paintbrush. Face down in a pool of his own blood, his overcoat seeping red, was Victor Hammond. 'Oh! Mon Dieu! Monsieur! Monsieur!'

Panicked as she was, Jeannette fumbled into her pocket for her cellular phone and dialed nine-one-one. 'Oui police assistance please, to t'ree-zero-zero-seven. 'e's been killed.'

Esposito heard his phone go off before his alarm clock and groaned. He wanted another half-hour cozy in bed with his sexy Danish wife, and if he was going to get up early, it was to make love to her so they could both start their day with a smile just like they'd gone to bed with a smile too.

Alas it was not to be as he answered the call. 'Esposito.'

'It's Kate. We caught one over on East-Thirty-Sixth Street. And bring snacks to feed the circus animals.'

'Understood.'

He hung up, kissed Meredeth's smooth shoulder. 'Baby, I gotta go.'

'Okay.'

Meredeth sat up, gave him a kiss. 'Okay. You need food?'

'You don't have to cook this early.'

'No, but it's going to be that kind of day, I can tell and if I don't get up with you now, I won't find another hour and a half to write once the kids are up.'

Esposito nodded, keeping his mouth shut as he kissed her and then headed for the shower. He knew when Meredeth woke up cranky like that, nothing good ever came of trying to charm her out of it. It was one the the many reasons he loved his wife, that he knew when to ease off and when to push without the usual roadsigns most men required.

When he'd showered, shaved and dressed for the day he headed for the kitchen to smell coffee already made and saw Meredeth at the kitchen table with her laptop, fingers flying over the keys in a flamenco-paced rhythm Esposito knew wasn't evenfast enough to keep up with her busy creative brain.

'So I was thinking, why don't you and I have a date night tonight,' he told her, pouring coffee into his travel thermos his twins had given him for his birthday the previous April. Esposito left the mug on the counter and came over, wrapped his arms around her. 'My sister owes me a favour for the girls and Cam's been dying to get Max and Leo over for a boys' night.'

'Already taken care of. They're having dinner here, and then Lili is taking the girls to see Princess and the Paperboy at the Disney theatre for seven thirty, while the boys go to Cam and Lili's to play with Duncan's new chemistry set,' Meredeth replied without looking up, yet she was smiling broadly as she said it. 'And I'm going to make reservations for you and I tonight at the DeHeere Grill for seven-fifteen, but no dessert there.'

'No dessert at the DeHeere Grill?' Esposito looked appalled; DeHeere Grill was known for their desserts, especially the mango-raspberry tartuffo with cinnamon-sugar lady-fingers. 'That's a felony, Mere.'

'I think the judge will give me an excuse.' Now Meredeth looked up at him, tugged him in by his tie for a juicy steaming kiss. 'When dessert is you and me with silk sheets, chocolate dipped strawberries and a yummy Monbazillac to wash it down.'

'You wearing what?' Esposito asked, as if he had to.

'My tattoos and a smile.'

'I like the new one,' he reminded her, poking her on the upper portion of her left butt cheek, where beneath her robe and pyjamas he knew there to be a quintet of hearts, two outlined in white, two in pink and one in red. They represented the birthstone of her husband and four children; when Esposito had asked her why she wanted her third tattoo yet again on her butt, she grinned as he'd held her hand in the chair and told him that while her family was a pain the ass from time to time, she loved them wholeheartedly. 'Though I sometimes wish you'd stop marking up a masterpiece, it's like painting a happy face on the moon in Van Gogh's Starry, Starry Night.'

'I'm not as liberal with it as Shane is.'

'Did you finally talk Lanie out of it?'

Meredeth laughed; Lanie had gotten a little touch of a mid-life crisis when she'd turned forty-one the previous March and had told Meredeth how much she admired her tattoo, and wanted one of her one. The longing to change her look had only increased when Honey-Milk, Beckett and Andrea's came back from a post-New Years diving trip to the Bahamas with shiny new belly-rings. Two days Lanie had announced her decision to get a piercing or some ink for herself, which in turn caused one of the biggest fights she and Dave had ever had. Thankfully, they'd reached detente and Lanie had decided upon a henna tattoo that would wash off in a couple of weeks time.

'Yes, Lanie decided she likes the henna tattoos better because she can move them around and surprise Dave in bed when she gets a new one. Now shush, I am working.'

'But first.' Esposito tilted up her chin to kiss her once more. 'Gimme one for good luck, gorgeous.'

Meredeth smiled when she kissed him. 'Always, handsome.'

'Why don't I give you a shout later, you and Max Power can stop by the precinct for lunch or a coffee and cocoa or something.'

'We'll see. It's Monday which means we only have a week before Tortuga arrives, not to mention getting laundry done for the week, the grocery shopping, exercising for myself, completing my article for Critical Condition, and because it's poker night on Thursday for you this week, I need to make the calzones the boys requested and get them in the freezer too. Oh and look after Max and make dinner tonight too.'

'You'll get it done, Mere, it's why you're awesome and I love you so much.' Esposito gave her one last peck as he heard Kate's Crown Vic pull up and give the horn a single honk. 'See you tonight.'

He headed out the door, and for a moment Meredeth sighed. 'I wish I could believe that this morning.'