I check the peephole before I open it.

Bierman, his eyes impassive as usual, the light hard on his sunburned face.

“Hi,” I say, and then take a step back, motioning for him to come inside.

He takes a few steps, just beyond the threshold. “Good evening, Ms. Maxwell.” He shifts and looks at me directly. “As you’ve been informed, the charges against you have been dropped.”

I don’t say anything. I let those words hover there in the air between us until they feel solid, sure.

“I’ve just finished speaking to Mei Kwan and Jared Burke, who both admitted to conspiring to murder Mr. Van Doren,” he continues. “We will no longer be pursuing you as a suspect.”

I swallow. “So they’ve been taken into custody? Just them?”

He nods. “About an hour ago. You are no longer in custody of the state,” he says, like that’s supposed to make this all better. “Sorry about all of this.”

With that, Bierman turns to leave, and I almost run after him. “Did they confess? How did this happen?”

He pauses at the door, turning to face me, and nods. “They’ve confirmed their involvement.”

“But—”

“We tracked down the dealer who sold Ms. Kwan the cyanide.” Bierman shifts closer to me, and when he speaks again, his voice is resigned. “The doorman confirmed he saw Mr. Burke outside the building the same day the footage was deleted. Burke also admitted to sending the emails.”

I can’t stop my head from shaking. “Taylor is the one who orchestrated this whole thing. She wanted her father dead because she feels like he’s the reason her mother killed herself. She was also the sole recipient of his will, which you didn’t want to consider because I’m the easier target. You just couldn’t resist going for the low-hanging fruit.”

“I don’t think that’s fair.”

“I heard her spelling out their plan the night we met. There was a big party at her house.

“That’s why she tried to put this all on me. I knew too much. She wanted to get rid of me. She had to,” I say, wishing Nate was here to back me up. “Mei’s and Jared’s parents will hire some million-dollar lawyer and buy their way out of those cuffs. They’ll hardly even do community service, and when it all blows over, they’ll have millions from Simon’s estate to play with.”

“Ms. Max—”

“Someone laced his glass,” I snap. “Someone had to actually be there and make sure he drank the scotch. And someone framed me. It was Taylor.”

“Ms. Maxwell, listen. Kwan and Burke confirmed their involvement. They told us about Taylor masterminding this, but we don’t have enough to bring her in right now. We’re working on—”

“That’s bullshit. You have to arrest her. She did this.”