I thought back to that man in our house, to the paper he’d dropped. It hadn’t occurred to me until right now that it could be important. What if those statements were a clue? And who’s to say that man hadn’t gone back to the house later to get the one he dropped or look for more of them? It wasn’t any more secure than the night I sneaked in with Dabney and Chloe. Maybe I would tell Oliver. Later. Not in front of Dad. He would just worry. Or, well… Chloe, Dabney, and I had made pretty good detectives so far. Maybe we could handle this.

I kissed Dad goodbye. “I love you,” I said.

“I love you too, honey.”

I pointed to Oliver. “Work faster.”

He smiled at me. “I hope we have some really good news soon.”

At that happy thought, I bounded back out to the parking lot. “What are you so excited about?” Merit asked when I got in the car.

“It’s just always good to see my dad,” I said. “I miss him, you know?”

Merit gave me a withering look.

“Of course you know,” I said. “Your dad is in Tokyo.”

“He wants Emma and me to come for spring break, but I don’t know that I really want to fly with my twelve-year-old sister to Tokyo. It seems like a lot of responsibility.”

“Your mom wouldn’t fly with you?”

Merit pulled out of the parking spot and then looked out the windshield, taking a long time to answer. “Mom can’t be around Dad,” he said. “I can’t go back to that.”

“Back to what?”

“Never mind,” he said. “Well, as promised, you were very fast. Did anyone threaten you while you were in there?”

“Ha-ha,” I said. “I didn’t even see anyone else.”

“Maybe you should consider wearing a longer skirt next time you visit.” He gave me a scolding look, and excitement that he had noticed my skirt length zipped through me.

“Maybe you should mind your own business,” I said.

“I will start minding my own business when you quit needing my Uber services.” Merit squeezed my shoulder, his hand lingering.

I thought back to Sophie, to her friend implying that she and Merit basically just talked. And I had the fabulous thought that that was because he didn’t love her. He loved me. Now all that was left to do was figure out a way to make him confess.

Charlotte Crystal Clear

Work had been so busy today that I had barely had time to obsess about the fact that, this close to Bill’s first pretrial conference, discovery should be coming in any minute. Oliver had texted me earlier: Nothing yet.