“And when I spent all day long working leads and tracking down suspects in Vanessa’s homicide you thought, hey, he’s probably got nothing better to do? There aren’t any armed robberies or sexual assaults or abused kids that might warrant his attention?”

“Brandon, I couldn’t—”

“You could, but you didn’t! We’re over here chasing our tails trying to solve a homicide and you’re hiding the victim.” He paused. “Is she being kept somewhere against her will?”

“No.”

“Where is she?”

“I don’t know.”

He rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“Really, I don’t. She’s avoiding my calls.”

He stared at her, clenching his jaw. “Don’t lie to me again.”

“I’m not! And I didn’t lie to you yesterday, either. I just didn’t tell you—”

“A lie of omission. Same thing.”

“No, it is not.”

“Oh, really? They didn’t teach you about perjury in law school? You tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, or else it’s lying.”

Her stomach clenched as they stood there, watching each other. His jaw tensed and the veins on the side of his neck stood out, and she remembered the way he’d looked when he’d come to help her after the law firm break-in. A dash of pent-up fury, Javi had said. Only this time, the fury was directed at her.

Guilt churned inside her.

“What? No defense, counselor?”

“I have professional ethics to consider,” she countered. “So do you. That’s why you didn’t tell me about every lead you’ve been working on, because it’s none of my business. And anyway, why are we making this about me? This is about Vanessa, and she has a very good reason for not going to the police after someone accosted her on a highway and made her fear for her life.”

He nodded. “I want to hear it. Where is she?”

Leigh went quiet. She’d walked right into that—the thing she still couldn’t tell him, even if she wanted to.

“Where is she, Leigh?” He stepped closer. “My department spent the past eight days looking for her, wasting time and resources, but you seem to know.”

“I don’t. I told you, she’s avoiding me. But she has a good reason.”

He shook his head and looked away.

“I’m trying to persuade her to go in and explain everything,” she said. “When you hear what she’s been through, you’ll understand that she’s the victim in all this.”

He looked at her. “You know, yesterday we told her sister about the blood evidence and the canine team. Kate Morris thinks her sister is dead now.” He paused. “Or is that bullshit, too?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, is Kate, your new client, in on this? Did she know her sister was alive when she filed a missing-person report?”