Oliver pursed his lips. “Char, I’m not going to sugarcoat it: I don’t know yet what the feds have on him. They conduct these investigations in secret, and I don’t have any of their evidence yet.” He paused. “But at the indictment, Bill was charged with wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracies with companies known and unknown to the grand jury.”

I looked at him blankly.

“Meaning other people were likely involved, and they know it. They just haven’t made arrests yet.”

I nodded. “But how can they just keep him there?”

“Look, I’ll level with you. Sometimes people are free on bond who probably shouldn’t be, and sometimes they keep people who it seems kind of ridiculous to keep.” He sighed. “But the prosecutor had concrete reasons to keep him.”

That fired me up. “Well, what about…” I searched my brain and pulled out the only legal term I could think of. “… habeas corpus!”

“The prosecutor is arguing that he can be detained until trial because letting him out would give him the opportunity to cover his tracks, get his story straight with his staff, flee to another country.… And, Char, I hate to remind you, but he has a previous charge.”

“Wait. Habeas corpus was the right term?”

Oliver laughed a little out of his nose. “Look, Charlotte, between us, I’m worried about how high-profile this has gotten.”

I flicked Oliver on the shoulder, and he looked surprised. “Oliver, you are the fixer. When things are bad, you make them better. I need that right now! Come on!”

He smiled half-heartedly. “Charlotte, my dear, it is all going to be right as rain! I will wipe this away like it never happened.”

I nodded. “That’s more like it.”

We both tried to laugh, but it didn’t quite take. Nothing was funny. I wanted Bill. He was the one who took care of me. I wasn’t sure I could face all of this without him. My head began to pound.

Oliver pulled up to the beach house and turned to look at me seriously. “Charlotte, the indictment was very clear, so I waived Bill’s preliminary hearing.” He put his fingers to his nose, backing up, since I obviously looked confused. “It will take two or three weeks for the discovery—basically the evidence against Bill—to come in. And then we will exercise our right to a speedy trial.”

Trial. My stomach rolled, and I felt like I might be sick.

“And if we go to trial…”

Oliver didn’t have to finish the sentence. I knew what he meant. Without concrete proof Bill wasn’t involved, if we got to a court date, the outcome was anyone’s guess. Even if Bill was innocent, could we prove it?

Oliver said, “Look, Charlotte, Bill isn’t one hundred percent sure how he feels about this, but I have to tell you…”

My stomach turned.