Mourad. Holy fuck, the Arkoun brothers wanted to come to this dinner! Melhaney looked at April and opened his eyes wide. That would have been a coup.

“Mourad?” Linda sounded genuinely puzzled.

“That’s Aziz’s younger brother. He—well, I’m with him now. We’re together.”

“What happened to Rafik?”

“Rafik is involved in some things. It just got to be too much.”

“What things?”

Good girl, April thought.

“The main thing is, Aziz and Mourad, they wanted you to have this. It’s not the full amount, but it’s close. Mourad had a good job; he worked at the airport. And Ghazi has a good business. So.”

Melhaney and the technician were looking at April. Ghazi? Ghazi? Did April know who someone named Ghazi could be?

Sound of ripping envelope. Riffling noise. Waiting. Waiting. “Heather. There’s thousands of dollars in here. Cash money!”

Jesus Christ. Jesus Fucking Christ. April could not believe it. This was not just a dinner. This was going to lead to so much more. They wanted to make things right with Linda. This could mean April might get the Arkoun brothers on tape in English. April could listen in on them! And they’d told her this was one of her wild gooses.

“It was wrong, what we did. I think—when I was with Rafik—I did things—well, that I wouldn’t do now. And Aziz, well, Aziz is not that type of person. He and Rafik—they don’t speak anymore.”

They don’t speak! That put Arkoun way out of this. April could see Melhaney trying to concoct a way in which Heather had been tipped to the wire. He had always been gunning for Abdelaziz Arkoun. Fingerprints were all Melhaney believed in.

“I never much liked Rafik,” Linda said.

Wrong, April thought. Tell her you don’t get why they broke up. Coax her. At the risk of changing the expression on Linda’s face, April had to say something. Linda, don’t let your face change. It’s me, April. Be cool here, Linda. Be cool.

And then what happened was what always happened: Linda started talking to April.

“I’m cool.”

“What?” Heather said.

“Nothing. I mean.”

Don’t talk to me, Linda.

“Yeah,” said Linda. Always happens. Melhaney looked at April like Maybe you should shut the fuck up.

“I wonder where dinner is.” That was Heather.

Get her to talk about the breakup.

“So, the breakup. I mean, you know, what happened and everything?”

“It feels like a long time ago.”

“You were so in love.”

Good, good.

“I was young.”

“So good-looking. Rafik.” Linda made a smacking sound.

“Looks aren’t everything.”

“Heather.” Linda was doing her best conspiratorial whisper. “What was he into?”

“Linda, it’s really—it’s in the past—”

“Drugs?”

Oh, no. This was a question that could be answered either with nodding or head-shaking. Not recoverable on audiotape.