Had he killed Dan Jeavons? I honestly didn’t know. There was a time when my answer would’ve been an unequivocal ‘of course not’. Not any more. I was almost certain he hadn’t – but that ‘almost’ made bridging the gap to ‘certain’ impossible. What there was no doubt about was that Tobey had a ruthless streak a mile wide. He would allow nothing and no one to get in the way of what he wanted. Including me. But there was no force on earth or beyond that could make me believe that my mum had anything to do with Dan’s death. I didn’t care what Tobey said, or what so-called evidence he reckoned he had. Mum didn’t do it. She wouldn’t. She couldn’t. Tobey was a son of a bitch to throw that one at me. Yet another example of his ruthlessness.

How ironic then that the qualities I had found abhorrent just a couple of days ago were the exact same ones I was now relying on to find Troy and Liberty and bring them home unscathed. What kind of hypocrite did that make me?

The worst kind.

Before Tobey came back into my life and threw a grenade into the middle of it, I’d had choices. Now my options were severely limited. The moment Tobey metaphorically knocked on my door, I should’ve slammed it in his face. What had I done instead? Fallen into bed with him.

Callie, you’re far too smart to be this damned stupid.

And yet I obviously wasn’t ’cause now look at me.

My career was in tatters.

My personal life was shattered.

And I couldn’t even bear to catch sight of myself in the mirror.

Callie, you had no choice. You couldn’t recuse yourself from being his barrister. You did the right thing—

How many times would I have to replay those words in my head before I started to believe them? Both Tobey and Jon, my private investigator, reckoned that this was a better strategy than immediately giving in to the kidnappers’ demands. As Tobey had pointed out, what possible reason would the captors have for keeping Libby and Troy alive if we immediately gave them what they wanted? If they let Troy and Libby go, either or both of them could identify their abductors right down to their shoe size. And, besides, if I recused myself from being Tobey’s defence counsel today, what was to stop me from taking up his case again once Troy and Libby were home safely? Not a damned thing.