Lindsay was confident that Hope wouldn’t break. She’d sit in silence. If they even asked her if she was hungry, she’d say “lawyer.” If Lindsay had to guess, the police might wait three hours, four tops, before pulling the plug. They’d either cut her loose when she didn’t incriminate herself or initiate the full booking process—in which case Hope would be photographed, fingerprinted, and held overnight. Lindsay would not see her again until shortly before her first court appearance the following day at the East Hampton Town Justice Court, where they’d learn whether the district attorney planned to pursue charges. If so, she would likely be remanded to the Suffolk County jail in Riverhead, where she’d be strip-searched by a female guard and given a set of dark-blue scrubs to wear.

That meant that Lindsay had three hours, four tops, to find some exculpatory evidence. She didn’t need to solve Alex Lopez’s murder or prove Hope’s innocence to a certainty. She just needed to rattle Decker’s cage hard enough to keep him from booking Hope. If that failed, and they kept her overnight, she’d take a second bite at the apple in the morning to persuade the district attorney’s office not to file charges.

She hopped into her car and started the engine to get the air conditioner running. The cottage’s Wi-Fi signal was fine from here. If the Lincoln Lawyer could run an entire law practice from the back seat of a town car, she could manage this for a few hours.

There was so much she didn’t know. She started with a Google search of Richard Mullaney.

The results were still loading when her phone rang. It was Scott.

“Hey,” she said.

“Did you get my text? The closing’s all done. I’m already in an Uber. I’ll be there in ninety minutes.”

It would be a $400 car ride, if she had to guess. “You didn’t need to do that.”

“Of course, I did. I want to be there for you. To help you, even if it’s just—to be there.”

“They arrested her.”

“Who? You mean Hope? They found her?”

“She came to the cottage right after we talked, after the police press conference. We were getting ready for her to turn herself in when the police came. They had a warrant, and I couldn’t stop it. She looked so damn scared. I don’t know what to do.” The words were tumbling out of her faster than she could control them.