“I don’t know what he is or isn’t capable of,” she said calmly. “In the past, certainly, he’s had the morals of an alley cat. He cheated on my mother, he cheated on Joan. It’s not that hard to believe he is also ethically challenged. And remember, he hasn’t been in my life, not like a real father, since I was fifteen years old. So I don’t exactly have him up on your typical father-daughter pedestal.”

“Wow.” Ben pushed his chair away from the table. “Talk about unresolved issues.”

“Yeah. But come on, I’m guessing you know him better than me. Do you think it’s even remotely possible that Brice, or somebody else, like maybe even Zee, could have taken a payoff here?”

“No,” he said flatly. “Why would they do that? That’s some crazy conspiracy theory shit. Your dad and Zee don’t need to take payoffs. They’re making huge bank as it is. Brice is probably going to ask for a six-figure settlement for this new slip-and-fall case. That’s one case out of how many active cases the firm has right now? Three dozen, four dozen? The firm is doing great. He doesn’t need to cheat to win.”

“Somebody is covering up something at that hotel,” Drue said. “Jazmin Mayes was beaten and strangled and her body was dumped in a pile of dirty sheets. I can’t get that image out of my mind. I saw the laundry room where she was killed, Ben. I’ve been to the grandmother’s house and I’ve met Jazmin’s daughter. What happened to Jazmin isn’t right. And if I can do something to figure out who’s responsible for her death, I will.”

The waitress paused at their table. “Everything okay here? Anybody need another drink? Or dessert? We’ve got tres leches cake today.”

“I’m good,” Ben said.

“Just the check, please,” Drue told her. She looked over at her friend. “I guess the rats need to get back to their cubes, right?”

Ben hesitated, then touched her hand. “Are you mad at me?”

“No. Disappointed, that’s all. I had to talk to somebody about this thing. And I was hoping that you’d see what I see. And care about it as much as I do.”

She opened her purse, took out two twenties and laid them on top of the check the waitress placed discreetly at the edge of the table. “Anyway, thanks for listening.”

“Any time,” Ben said earnestly.

They stood to go, and saw that the restaurant, which had been half empty when they arrived, was now crowded with the downtown lunch crowd, a line of customers impatiently jostling behind the hostess stand, blocking their way to the door.