From the corner of her eye, Alyssa watched Cord and Mack shift, and she darted a quick look in her partner’s direction before leaning forward, her pulse kicking into high gear. ‘Grace, you don’t know that you could’ve prevented this, and you can’t think that way. So, I need you to focus. Addis and Emerson’s lives may depend on it. Now, I need you to think back. I know you said you were distracted, but did Gabriel hint at what his concerns were, aside from them involving one of his cases?’

After several steadying breaths, Grace answered, her courtroom persona finally seeming to kick in and take over. ‘Not exactly. But here’s what I do know. A few weeks ago, Lydia was out of town, and Gabriel invited me to dinner. Over dessert, he confided that he’d been approached by a woman in her mid-twenties hoping to uncover the truth about what had happened to her high school sweetheart. He wanted to pick my brain since this wasn’t anything like his typical cases.’

Alyssa fought the need to drum her fingers on the table, unused to the non-direct approach the district attorney was taking.

‘The woman claimed that seven years ago, she and the father of her unborn baby had planned on running away and hiding out until she turned eighteen so they could legally marry before she gave birth. According to Gabriel, the woman’s parents were quite zealous in their religious beliefs, as in borderline Puritanical – so finding out she’d been having an illicit relationship before a proper marriage – the client’s words, not mine nor Gabriel’s’ – she rolled her eyes and shook her head – ‘would’ve sent them over the top. They figured if they married before she gave birth, it might soften the blow, so to speak.’

Mack interrupted, the tone of his voice similar to what Alyssa had seen on sound bites when he was in the midst of cross-examining a witness he didn’t believe or who threatened to damage his client’s chances of an acquittal. ‘And do tell, what was this mysterious woman’s name? Or for that matter, her missing boyfriend’s?’

The same question had been on the tip of Alyssa’s tongue, so she was quietly glad he’d asked.

Grace didn’t hide the fact she was rolling her eyes. ‘In order to maintain confidentiality on the slight chance he agreed to take her case, he never gave either name. Anyway, the night of their “great escape,” as Gabriel called it, the boyfriend never showed, and in fact, was never heard from again. Unable to locate his vehicle and with no evidence of any criminal wrongdoing, the authorities closed the case and ruled that he’d voluntarily disappeared, hinting that he probably realized he hadn’t wanted to be saddled with a wife and kid at such a young age.’