Caprice assessed her condition with a single glance and got to her feet.

‘Peach, what happened to you? Are you okay?’

Diane remained seated. She had half-glasses on her face, and she studied Peach from over the tops of the frames as if she were looking at a homeless waif who had dropped into her parlor. Peach realized what she must look like in her bedraggled disguise. She tried to talk and couldn’t. She felt overwhelmed. It had seemed so important to be here, and now she had no idea what to say.

‘You’re hurt,’ Caprice went on. ‘What’s going on? Does Deacon know you’re here?’

Peach shook her head mutely.

Garth and Diane traded looks across the room. ‘You want me to get her out of here?’ he asked.

Caprice interrupted sharply. ‘Don’t be stupid, Garth. This girl works for me. Peach, do you want to sit down?’

‘No,’ she said finally. Looking around the elegant room, she decided that she didn’t belong here. ‘No, he’s right. I’ll go. I don’t know why I came.’

‘Something happened to you. What is it?’

‘I just wanted to ask Ms Fairmont something,’ she stuttered. She looked at Diane and found the question spilling out of her. ‘I wanted to know if Justin was working on a project for you when he was killed.’

Peach didn’t know what she expected. She didn’t know what Diane would say. She had no idea how much it would hurt when Diane looked at her blankly and said, ‘Who?’

She didn’t know who Justin was. He’d worked for her, he’d lived, he’d died, and he was still a stranger to her. To Peach, it was as bad as a slap in the face.

‘Justin was part of our research group,’ Caprice explained softly. ‘He was killed recently. The police suspected drug trafficking was involved.’

Diane’s face tightened, as if blood and air had been sucked from her cheeks, and her eyes grew hard. ‘If he sold drugs, he’s no loss to this world,’ she snapped, her voice bitter.

‘They’re wrong about him,’ Peach said. ‘I think his death had something to do with a man you know. Frank Macy.’

Peach wasn’t prepared for Diane’s reaction. The woman shut the cover of her laptop so hard that it sounded like the crack of a gunshot. Her entire body shook with fury as she jabbed her finger at Peach. ‘Frank Macy? How dare you say that name to me? Do you know what that man did to me? To my son?’

Peach felt staggered. She wanted to turn and run. ‘He said you should be afraid of him. I thought I needed to tell—’