She doesn’t say anything to that.

“Did he lead you on? Encourage your feelings? He seems the type.”

What does this man know about her and how does he know it? She finds some courage and uses it in her voice. “And what would you have done if I’d brought the police and they arrested you for trespassing?”

“I’m a professional. I would have submitted myself to arrest, my lawyer would have me out in a matter of hours, and then you and I would still have to come to an understanding.”

“I can’t do what you want me to do. I can’t be your point of contact for these drug sales.”

“It’s risky to approach someone else. You already know the business.”

“Only because he confessed it to me and I tried to talk him out of it, mister, please,” she says, her voice rising.

“But you still helped him. You couriered, what, merchandise four times for him.”

“He didn’t tell me that’s where I was driving him until later.” She was mad at him about that, but he shrugged it off, telling her as long as she hadn’t seen the drugs or touched any cash, she wasn’t involved. She was pretty sure now a lawyer or police officer would disagree.

“Then it’s his word against yours, isn’t it?”

“Please. I want out.”

“I just need you for a little while. Ned’s been the middleman. I need to be…not dealing directly with consumers. They’ll trust a fellow student. Me, not so much. But you, you’d be golden. No one would suspect you.”

“I can’t. I won’t tell the police on you, for Ned’s sake, for my sake, but I can’t be involved. I shut it down for Ned.”

“You’re going to restart it,” Marland said in a steady voice. “You have his account password for the game.”

“Fine, yes. And I’ll give it to you if you’ll leave me out of all this.”

“What do you think happened to his mother?” Marland asked suddenly.

The shift scares her. She’s alone in this house with this man. Her parents and most of the neighborhood are at a meeting about security and the Danielle investigation right now. If she screams, likely no one will hear her.

She doesn’t answer him.

“It’s an absolute tragedy,” Marland says. He sips at his bottle of water, offers her a cold one on the counter. She just shakes her head. “I understand she was an adoption consultant. There must have been so many families she brought joy to. But, see, there’s one family that would be really upset with her. Yours.”

“What…?”