A high-pitched beep greeted Leigh as she stepped through her front door. She tapped in the alarm code, then kicked off her heels in the foyer, eyeing her running shoes with a twinge of guilt. She’d meant to go this morning before work, but she’d gotten sidetracked with an email. Then tonight she’d gotten sidetracked at the Ice House.

Leigh crossed the living room, dropping her bag on the sofa, and stepped into her kitchen. Opening her fridge, she sighed. Her refrigerator was just as neglected as her running shoes. She grabbed a yogurt and took it into the sunroom that doubled as a home office.

The sunroom had been the primary selling point of her one-bedroom condo. It looked out over a private patio. Leigh had spent her first three weekends after move-in pulling up half the bricks and putting in flower beds so she’d have a slice of nature to look at whenever she worked from home, which was often.

She had overestimated her gardening skills at first, planting azaleas and hydrangeas, even though her mom had warned her they might be difficult to grow. Of course, her mother was right. Not only did she know plants, but she knew Leigh, and by midsummer the plants had withered under Leigh’s sporadic care. At her mom’s suggestion, she had switched to some knockout roses. The heartier flowers didn’t mind when she put in marathon days at the office prepping for trial, only coming home at night to crash and change clothes.

Grabbing her laptop, Leigh turned on the water fountain and stepped onto the patio. Her home faced a busy street, and she kept the front windows covered for privacy, but the patio was her oasis, and the lotus-shaped fountain drowned out the traffic noise. She sank into her favorite chair and turned on her computer. After logging in, she opened the file she’d created after her meeting with Vanessa.

Leigh made notes after every meeting, even those in which the person didn’t commit to hire her, because as Javi always said, A “no” today could be a “yes” tomorrow. Clients could be indecisive as hell. In that respect, Vanessa was typical.

It was everything else that seemed bizarre.

Leigh skimmed her notes, which were written in the choppy shorthand she’d developed her first semester of law school. She’d reviewed everything this afternoon, but she wanted to see if anything new jumped out after her conversation with Brandon.