“The night before her supposed abduction, Adam drugged Sophie with GHB,” she says. “I got it from a client who was stupid enough to bring it to court. Of course, I don’t use the stuff. I gave some to Adam for Sophie and kept a good dose for Connor.”

“Connor was drugged too,” I say. “That’s why he can’t remember.”

Kristen lets out a little tense laugh. “You should be a detective.”

She’d be proud of that little retort in front of a jury.

“What happened?” I ask, trying to buy some time. “I need to know.”

Kristen, thankfully, is on a roll.

“Adam brought her down to the basement. I did what I had to do. I snuffed the life out of her because Mr. I’m-Not-That-Kind-of-Man didn’t have the balls for it. Typical male. All talk. Little action. I put some of Connor’s semen from a fertility-collection kit inside her. Done. We carried her body down the tunnel and stowed it there, then shoved her into the canal when the time was right.”

She stops and looks at Adam. “And you, Adam, had one little job to do. You must have screwed that up. The detective is here. That can only mean you either told someone or you didn’t get rid of all of the evidence, did you?”

He doesn’t answer.

“I found the hat,” I say.

Kristen gives a knowing nod. “Of course you did,” she says. “I knew I should have gone back there myself. Stupid me. Stupid me.”

A disconnect infiltrates everything that comes out of her mouth. Her words are delivered with an odd flatness. I’ve never heard such a vile string of words expressed without one iota of emotion. She might as well have been ordering a pizza.

“I had nothing to do with it,” Adam says, urging me to believe him. “You need to believe me. She’s batshit crazy.”

Where are the police?

“You came up with the best part of the plan,” Kristen says, looking at Adam, who’s now silent.

“What was that?” I ask her.

Kristen smiles.

“The blow-up doll.”

CHAPTER SEVENTY-NINE

CHAPTER SEVENTY-NINE

KRISTEN

I’d racked my brain over the alibi situation. I’ve practiced law for more than a decade; I know the keys to avoiding a conviction. Have an unbreakable alibi and never talk about what you’ve done once everything goes down. I’d have Connor, of course, to alibi me, but there was the issue of Adam. In order for us to get away with it, I needed to make sure that even a narcissistic fool like him wouldn’t get caught.

Narcissists are very unreliable.

Adam had to be positioned in that rowboat, and the old man needed to see a struggle. It was as simple as that. Simple is always a good starting point. Complicated only trips up the best—or worst—of intentions.