He fingered his half-empty cup. “I always thought it was the best answer. The only sane answer, as insane as it was. But it still takes you back to the original question, doesn’t it? Why?”

I looked at him.

“Why conduct such a ritual?” he said. “No one seemed interested in answering that. I suppose, if they tried, they’d just list the usual reasons people commit regular old murder all the time. Money, power, revenge . . . But none of that fits your parents. Anyone who spent five minutes with them knew they weren’t interested in that. They only cared about each other. And of course—”

His gaze went to mine and he stopped himself, as he realized what he was about to say, to imply. That there were only two reasons the Larsens would commit murder. For each other. And for me.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

If Gabriel was seething before, he’d hit a roiling boil when I refused to answer my phone. I wasn’t trying to piss him off, but the angrier he got, the more annoyed I got.

I texted him. I really am working. I’m a big girl, Gabriel. I can handle this. Talk later.

I arrived at my next destination: lunch. I had one final stop on my schedule, and I needed sustenance for that one. I was eating a sandwich when my phone rang.

“Gabriel called you, didn’t he?” I said as I answered the phone.

“Yeah,” Ricky replied. “I’d say you must have seen an omen, but with Gabriel, you don’t need them. Apparently, you took off and can’t be trusted to survive alone in the big city.”

I answered that with a few choice words, then said, “I left to do some legwork, and apparently I forgot to ask permission and deliver my minute-by-minute itinerary. I’m not making a statement—I’m just trying to get some damned work done. I’ll text him.”

—

I sighed as I approached the prison’s front doors. “The point of texting to tell you where I was going was to assure you I was fine. It wasn’t an invitation to join me.”

Gabriel didn’t say a word, just bore down on me with a look that made me consider an end run around him. There were guards with guns inside. Surely they’d protect me.

“Stop right there,” I said, putting up my hand. “If you’ve come to give me hell, head back to your car and save it for morning.”

“Are you coming to work in the morning?” he asked.

“Of course. Why wouldn’t . . .” I trailed off. “You thought I quit?”

“I suggested you weren’t doing your job properly, and you walked out.”