He was bluff and hearty, but I had interrupted something that smelled an awful lot like a lawsuit. I was honestly surprised. When another local firm had been nearly destroyed by a series of harassment lawsuits, he’d said, “Even I know better than to shit where I eat,” in his typical vulgar fashion.

At the same time, I was almost glad. I was going to drug him, after all, and let the daughter get whatever she needed out of him. Information, documents, some kind of an admission—I had no idea. It might cost Spence and my husband their big case. It could even cost Spence his law license. But even if it hurt Trey or crashed the whole firm and we lost everything, even if we had to move in with his chilly parents, I didn’t care. Not considering the stakes. But it did make my job a little easier, to find Spence being such a predatory asshole.

I said to Gabrielle, “I’m glad I ran into you. Rick Janeway is looking for you.”

Her smile was grateful. Rick was her direct supervisor. “I better go see what he needs. Please, excuse me?”

Spence didn’t move, so she had to scrape her body past his. The contact set her mouth in an angry line.

As soon as she was gone, I whispered, “What was that, Spence?”

He had the grace to look a little bit embarrassed. “What was what?”

I gave him mom eyebrows, stern but much more loving than I felt toward him. As if he were being nothing more than naughty. “I think you know.”

He shrugged, faux sheepish. A boy with his hand in a cookie jar. “I was flirting. I’m six inches from single, so what’s the harm?”

“You’re her boss, for starters.” Still not stern. More amused, though I wanted to smack him. Gabrielle was talented, but he was a named partner and a rainmaker. In a he said/she said, the firm’s bottom line would listen to him. At the very least, he owed her an apology. But I had to get him in the mood to have a friendly drink with me, and quickly. Something irreplaceable, more precious than a woman’s career or dignity, was at stake here. A life. Robert’s life.

He blew out air like a frustrated horse. “Yeah. I know. I do know better. I was talking about the divorce, and she was being sympathetic. . . .” His ruddy cheeks flushed deeper red.

This felt like an opening. “Well, nothing happened, really. Let’s have a drink and forget it.” If the mother had her way, he would forget a lot of things tonight. And she was going to have her way. I pulled the flask out. “I packed a little of Trey’s Pappy. I have a shot left. . . .” I shook it, tempting him with the slosh of it.