“I only need a minute.” She looked anxious.

This was about Spence, I thought, my heart sinking. It had to be.

I had a sudden urge to tell her, Don’t sweat it. I just roofied him, and however uncomfortable he made you feel, I bet something worse is coming for him.

“Maybe tomorrow you could call me,” I said instead. “If you want to talk privately.”

Marshall asked, “Should I give you two a minute?”

“No,” Gabrielle said. She touched his arm lightly. “Marshall knows.”

They were friends, I realized with a small shock. Marshall, who had gotten colder and colder toward me, was close with Gabrielle.

“Oh, this is about . . .” Marshall inclined his head back toward Spence, who was now waving an expansive hand a little too close to Mrs. Clausen’s face. He looked like he was assuring them that he was fine. He did not look fine.

Gabrielle nodded. “She saw. So it isn’t my word against his anymore.” She turned back to me, chin up, almost challenging me, her hands twisting together. “If you’re willing to back me up, that is.”

If Marshall knew, then the inappropriate behavior I had seen in the Orchid Center was not an isolated incident. I ought to be shocked by this, and outraged, determined to make it stop. If Gabrielle made partner, she would be only the third woman to reach that pinnacle. The first African-American woman. Spence was putting all that at risk, using his seniority in ways that made me sick. If she spoke out, the blame would fall on her. Even post-#MeToo, the good-ol’-boy network was strong at old, established firms like this one. But right now I was busy watching Spence for my own reasons. Tomorrow, once Robert was safe home, I would care.

Gabrielle, her voice fierce, said, “This stuff with Spence, it’s all him. He started it after things got bad with Charlotte. I want you to know I never flirted with him to get ahead, I never—” She broke off, but I knew what she meant.

“Of course not. I never thought that,” I assured her. I should help her, but all I wanted was to get away and look at the cheap phone, see if the mother had texted me some new instructions. She might need me to intervene and separate Spence from the Clausens. I had to make sure all went well for them, so that it would go well for Robert. “But I can’t really talk about this now.”

Her lips curved down, and she blinked. Disappointed but not surprised. Spence worked so closely with my husband that talking to me at all had been a risk. Now she thought I was shutting her down, taking his side.