Eric stalked inside. He pulled a chair close to Piper and sat next to her. His shoulder brushed against hers.

The detective’s brows rose, and she nodded. “Good to know where we all stand.”

Ben leaned forward. “Piper isn’t a killer. She’s—”

“Yes, yes, I’m sure she’s all sunshine and light and stardust.” The detective rolled her eyes. “Do you know how many men think they know a woman? Like, really think they understand her?” She waved her hand toward Piper. “But they only understand jackshit.” She smiled. “The emails were sent from your computer, Ms. Lane. And notice I said emails, as in plural.”

“Piper,” she whispered. It seemed weird to be all formal when the other woman was accusing her of murder.

“I’ve got all kinds of techs who can figure stuff out for me. They say the notes were definitely sent from your computer, from your email address.”

“You should talk to my assistant,” Piper blurted. “Jessica had access to my computer, and she—I just found out that she lied to me. She was supposed to be visiting her mother but—”

Eric’s hand closed around her knee and squeezed. She shot him a frown. Why was he stopping her when she was just telling the truth?

The detective cleared her throat, drawing Piper’s attention. Then the detective gave her a sweet smile. “How do you know she was visiting her mother?”

“She texted me and said that she was.” Piper shook her head. “But she wasn’t. Eric’s team found out that Jessica’s mother died last year.”

The detective glanced at Eric. “True,” Detective Lopez said. “Her mother did die.” A pause. “And so, I’m afraid, did Jessica.”

Jessica wasn’t dead. Piper shook her head. “No, she’s—”

“Her car was found this morning. It had been totaled. Jessica Bromley was inside.” A pause. “When did you get the text from her? Exactly?”

Nausea rose within Piper. “She’s dead?”

“Yes. I’d like to see your phone, please. I mean, if you have nothing to hide, you can hand it over and let me see this text that you got from her.”

“Piper…” Ben’s voice held a warning. “Let’s wait for Kendrick to get here.”

“I don’t have anything to hide.” She pulled her hand free of Ben’s. A moment later, she unlocked her phone’s screen and pushed her phone across the table.

The detective scanned through her text messages. Her eyes narrowed. “That’s interesting.”

“What?”

She looked up at Piper. “You received the text at least a day after she died. According to what we’ve got from the medical examiner in Florida, anyway. You see, Jessica’s body was in that car a while. She’d gone off the road. No one noticed.”

Okay, the nausea was worse. So was the fear. And the grief. Jessica is gone.