My pulse quickens. I stand as still as possible, hoping she doesn’t notice how desperate I am to know what she’s uncovered. After weeks of nothing from Emi, I’d dismissed her as another person using me.

“It wasn’t easy. Someone’s put quite a bit of money into hiding this one.” Emi shifts her purse straps as if we’re talking about something futile. She then pulls her phone from her pocket and flips through it. “Jeremiah Dopney’s parents, Alicia and Alex Dopney, are this quaint, wholesome couple from Brunswick, Ohio. Jeremiah is their only child. However . . .” Her eyes and thick lashes flash up at me, drawing out the reveal. “He was adopted—something that was not easy to find—and born here in Chicago, at Prentice. Again, not easy to uncover.”

She pauses like I should hail her as some sort of god for figuring this all out—like she doesn’t have a team of research assistants helping her. My hand slips from the desktop keyboard.

“His father’s name isn’t on his birth certificate. His mom is listed as Sydney Baker.” She steps toward me, leans against the blond wood table.

“Am I supposed to know who that is?” I try to sound indifferent, but my head grows light anticipating the connection that made Dopney a target and got him killed.

“Less than a year after Sydney Baker gave her baby up for adoption, she married Frank Cornell.”

“Get to the point.” My mind reels. Sydney Cornell sounds familiar—she’s someone I should recognize.

Emi’s eyes go flat. She breathes through her nose as if I’m the one annoying her. “Let’s not forget I did this for you.”

Emi Vega doesn’t do anything without something in it for her. But I’m too eager to hear the rest to get into it.

She straightens her posture. Crosses her arms. “Sydney Cornell is an infamous Lake Forest socialite who just happens to be the chairperson for the Save the Parks Gala.” She raises both of her eyebrows and presses her dark-red lips together.

“The gala raising money to shut down the next phase of the Lakefront Project.”

Emi smirks. Her eyes ignite. “Exactly.”

I’m caught in a moment of sheer disbelief. She did it. What she found links the attacks to the Lakefront Project. It’s the connection my dad needed. Authorities can use this to incriminate Mayor Henking and anyone else involved. “They need to reopen my dad’s case,” I whisper.

The excitement drops from her face. Emi shakes her head. “Easy, there. You won’t find a prosecutor who’ll touch this. Not unless you have something else to offer.”