“I still can’t believe it was someone there, if this is really happening at all,” Amanda said. “But if so...there are a whole lot of people still there who knew my dad. How in the world could you narrow it down?”

“Good question,” Hayley said.

“I’ll just have to be very clever about getting people to talk to me, I guess,” Quinn said.

“I think you’ll just have to show up and you’re in,” Adam said, meaning it sincerely. “You’re golden around there.”

Quinn only shrugged.

“That leaves me, Adam, and Cutter to keep Amanda safe,” Hayley said briskly then. “I think we can manage that, thanks to the Cutter early warning system.”

Adam smiled; he imagined the dog was rather efficient at that.

“I don’t need bodyguards,” Amanda protested. At her sharp tone, Cutter got up and walked over to her. Adam couldn’t see the dog, but he guessed by the way she looked down and slowly smiled, he’d rested his chin on her leg in that way he had, that uncannily comforting way.

“Perhaps not,” Quinn said. “But as long as there’s a possibility...”

“But—” Amanda began again.

“We’re not taking that chance,” Adam said, rather sharply.

He waited for her to light into him, to tell him it was none of his business, that he’d surrendered any responsibility to her the night he’d let her father be murdered. She didn’t say it. In fact, she didn’t say anything.

“Agreed,” Hayley said. She picked up the two odd-looking cell phones that he’d noticed sitting on the table. She slid one across to him, and the other over to Amanda. “These are Foxworth phones. They function like any smartphone, but with a couple of extras. Like that red button there. You tap that and you’ve got us directly, on an encrypted connection.”

Adam picked up the phone and looked at it with interest.

“Now,” Hayley went on, “we just need to work out coverage.”

“I have work to do,” Amanda said. “Consultations.”

“Give us your schedule—we’ll work with it,” Quinn said.

“My clients are already victims,” she pointed out, “and some of them are very uncomfortable having strangers see them grieving.”

“Cutter can help with that, I think,” Quinn said. “And Hayley can cover those times. She’s very good at putting people at ease.”

Amanda studied Quinn’s wife for a moment. Adam knew that she knew her, but didn’t know how well. Then Amanda smiled.

“Yes. Yes, she is.” She skated a sideways glance at Adam. “And she’s less intimidating than Adam would be.”