“What did she want? Hang on a minute,” he says. “Yeah a Big Mac and fries, and a Coke please.”

“Healthy,” I say sarcastically.

“A man’s got to eat,” he replies.

A moment later, he pays, and there’s the crinkle of a paper bag being handed over. “Okay, go on. I’m driving again,” he says.

“She wants to meet,” Samuel says before I can speak this time. “We’ve arranged for Carolina to meet her at eight this evening at a private members club, but I’m thinking we simply send the police.”

There’s a pause. Marcus sighs. “That’s a shitty idea.”

“Why? They want her for extradition. To France. Let them deal with her.”

“It’s hard to make those sorts of charges stick, and if Carolina can get her to say something about what she’s been doing to her, on tape, then she can be charged here if the case in France falls through.”

Samuel scowls. “No way. It’s not safe.”

I hate the idea of her doing this again to someone else. I’m not a coward. Never have been. It’s one thing I can confidently say about myself. “No,” I interrupt. “I want to meet her. How dangerous can it be if you are both with me? She didn’t kill the dog; we know that now. Yeah, she’s messed up, but she isn’t totally crazy. Let me see if I can get her to say anything incriminating.”

“I don’t like it,” Samuel argues.

“Maybe you’re too close to the situation to be able to see it accurately and professionally,” Marcus says.

“Fuck you.” Samuel hangs up.

“What the hell?” I demand. “You’re so heavy handed sometimes.”

“Excuse me for trying to keep you safe.” He huffs out a breath.

“I want to do this.”

“I doubt very much she’s going to give you a confession. It doesn’t work like that. It’s a big risk for a very low likelihood of a payoff.”

“Please, Samuel. It will help me feel as if I’ve taken a little bit of control back over the situation.

He shakes his head, but in the end nods.

When he walks out of the door, he shoots me a few terse words. “Get ready; once I know what we’re doing I’ll come and tell you.”

As he disappears from view, I get a sinking feeling. I need to tell him what I meant when we were talking about a relationship, but the way he closed down has me scared to bring it up again.

I’ll talk to him later, I tell myself. Once I have this meeting with Lexy over with.