“I trust you with my life.” Max leaned toward her as he spoke, hoping that she could hear the sincerity in his voice.

Niki raised her gaze. “But not your secrets.”

Her words sent ripples of regret through Max. It was so easy to forget he’d been a different man when he was with Niki, so easy to slip back into his old skin.

Max dropped his head and almost pulled the slip of paper back, but Niki placed her hand firmly on top of his. “What do you need?”

“I need to track down the phone attached to that number.” He released the paper.

Niki tapped a finger absentmindedly on the table as she looked at it. “And your probable cause is…?”

“Too weak to take to a judge. But I believe I have exigent circumstances.”

“You believe?”

“I’ve been working this through in my head and I keep coming to one single conclusion. If I’m right… Reed Harris orchestrated the murder of his ex-wife so that he could kidnap his son.”

“But you have no evidence to prove that.”

“No, but it’s the most reasonable conclusion. He had the only motive to harm his ex-wife. She put him in jail for assault and took his son away. He goes out of his way to set up an alibi, going to a casino after a long shift at the bar. If he can convince the world that she ran away, then he’s in the clear. He ditches her car and her clothing and hides his son away until the smoke clears. It’s the only scenario that makes any sense. All he needs is an accomplice to commit the act and stay with the boy. And to communicate with his accomplice, he would need a burner phone, which he has.”

“You think it’s a burner phone. And where’s your proof that she didn’t just run off with another man?”

“She hasn’t called her folks. She didn’t tell any friends. She and her boyfriend were getting along just fine. They were saving up to buy a house together—and she just bought a new couch, four grand, days before she disappeared. And you saw Sandy’s SUV. You saw that Sandy wasn’t the one driving. That driver used her credit card to buy gas, and there’s been no use of it since. She dropped off the face of the earth. Something’s wrong. Reed might have kidnapped her as part of some twisted fantasy, but I don’t think that’s the case. I think she’s dead. Either way, that phone number is the key.”

Marilyn brought their food, set the plates on the table, and refilled their coffee cups. Max was glad to have something to look at other than the doubt in Niki’s eyes. He cut into his steak and took the first bite, the meat tasteless in his mouth.

They ate in silence for a while before Niki said, “This is no small favor, Max.”

“I know.”

“If you’re wrong about this, it’ll come back to bite me pretty hard.”