A.L. and Rena exchanged a quick glance but neither spoke. Finally, Leah turned back to them. “There wasn’t any client or any meeting.”

A.L. thought about the Whitmans’ relationship and figured Leah’s next sentence was going to be that she’d met a man. That she was having an affair.

“What were you doing, Leah, that you needed to leave the house early?” Rena asked. Her tone was still polite but less gentle than before. It was time to cut the bullshit.

“I drove to the Wildwind’s Casino. I...expected my mother to be there. She’s a gambler. She has a problem.”

Neither A.L. nor Rena acknowledged that this was old news.

“You were meeting your mother?” A.L. said. Elaine had said nothing about this.

Leah pursed her lips. “No. I wanted to be there, in place, before my mother arrived.”

In place. What the hell? “For what purpose?” A.L. asked, careful to keep his tone neutral.

“Well, if you must know, I was videoing her. She has a favorite spot and I wanted...a good angle.”

A.L. considered his next question. “What were you going to do with the video?”

“I don’t know,” she said.

She was lying. A.L. was pretty confident. “So you got up early to video your mother, without having any express purpose for the video?”

“I don’t like how my mother spends her time and money,” Leah said. “I don’t expect you to understand. It’s hard for other people to...get it.”

“Maybe not as hard for us as for others. We know about your mom’s criminal conviction,” Rena said. “We know that you spent some time in a foster home.”

“I don’t like to talk about that. It was a long time ago,” Leah said.

But not forgotten. Or forgiven? A.L. leaned forward. “So you left your house before 6:30. And you drove directly to the casino?”

“Well, I stopped for coffee on the way. But, essentially, yes,” Leah said.

They’d be able to verify her time of arrival. “Did you talk to your mother at the casino?” A.L. asked.

“No. After she left, I waited another five minutes and I left. I drove straight to work. You can ask my boss about that.”

We will, A.L. thought. But he was pretty confident that they were getting the truth this time. “Have you shared the video with anyone?” he asked.

Again, Leah took her time in answering. “With my attorney. That same morning.”

“I thought you said that you didn’t know what you were going to do with the video?” Rena asked.

“I don’t. But I know that I went to a lot of trouble to get it and I wanted to make sure that there was a safe copy.”

“You work at a law firm,” A.L. said. “Are you using an attorney from your own firm?”