But the public outrage at a school director stealing from hardworking, trusting parents was powerful. People were appalled that a nursery school had screwed them. The story was splashy—there were spreadsheets of the embezzlement operation, how brazenly they’d extracted small amounts from more than one hundred parents’ accounts. Piper’s and Carson’s finances had been subpoenaed; the amounts transferred into their accounts correlated to what had been stolen. In a time when so many people were laid off, they were making money—and, ironically, collecting state unemployment payments. It kept them more than afloat during that time—$500 times one hundred parents, after all, was a big chunk of change coming in monthly. It was enough for Carson to buy an Audi. Enough for Piper to assemble a very large closet of designer clothes.

But Lauren tried to put this aside as she stood outside Piper’s room. She had to think of Piper as a person who’d been broken and manipulated by the same man who had broken and manipulated her. Ironic that Piper had pushed Lauren away with that snarky email; had she let Lauren in, maybe they would have figured out the Graham piece much sooner.

The door squeaked open. Inside, a single bouquet of red roses rested on a side table. A tray held an untouched lunch. And there was Piper, sitting halfway up in her hospital cot, staring blankly at her cell phone. She looked pale, and her hair was stringy, and her lips were cracked. She peered up at Lauren with a defeated, expectant look that seemed to say, Oh. It’s you.

“Hello,” Lauren said quietly.

Piper just stared at her emptily.

Lauren pushed her hands in her pockets. She pulled a plastic chair over to the bed and sat down. She focused, as the first time she’d met Piper, on her beauty mark. Had Graham focused on it, too? Had Graham found it sexy? What had Piper seen in him? What had Lauren?

When it was clear Piper wasn’t going to say anything, Lauren cleared her throat. “He had me so mixed up, I was about to check into a mental retreat.”

This got a small eyebrow raise from Piper, so Lauren continued. “I thought Graham was protecting me. I thought he wanted the best for us.” She uncrossed her legs and leaned forward a little. “Was it that way for you, too?” Piper’s situation was a little different. Graham had been abusing her openly. He was stealthier about it with Lauren, using her untrustworthy memory to cover his tracks.

Piper concentrated straight down the bed at her toes. “When we first got together, I thought he knew better about everything,” she said in a small voice.