“You’re spent?” Brice said in disbelief. “This is the second night in a row I’ve been up with you at one-thirty in the morning. It reminds me of when you were fifteen, the last summer you lived with me and Joan.”

Drue scowled. “Or as I refer to it, my very own bummer summer.”

“Under the circumstances,” Brice said, “I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to take you home. You’d better come back to my house.”

“Noooo, Dad,” Drue protested. “Ben’s not coming back to the scene of the crime. He’s too smart for that. Just take me home, okay? I haven’t slept in nearly twenty-four hours.”

“Uh, Brice?” Jonah said quietly. “I caught a ride to the hospital with Corey, so my car’s still at Drue’s place. If it’s okay with both of you, I could hang there, on the sofa, in the off chance Ben does come back.”

“Great idea,” Brice said.

“Absolutely not,” Drue said. “I don’t need a babysitter.”

“Overruled,” Brice said, starting the Mercedes.

Traffic was nonexistent at that hour. Drue had almost dozed off when Brice’s voice, low and urgent, startled her awake.

“Will you answer one question? Honestly?”

She knew what the question would be, and was already dreading having to answer.“Yes.”

“What makes you think my oldest friend, and your colleague, is capable of blackmail? Of actually being complicit in the cover-up of a murder?”

Drue moaned. “Do we really have to hash this out right now?”

“Yeah. We really do. It’s bad enough that you thought I would do something like that. Jimmy’s like family, he’s like a brother to me.”

“Look. It was a mistake, a terrible judgment call on my part. It’s just that Zee gives off a weird vibe, you know? Always dressed in black. And he never answers a direct question. After Yvonne Howington walked into the office, I guess I became obsessed with figuring things out. I mean, we’re the Justice Line, right? So, where was the justice for Jazmin? And Yvonne and Aliyah?”

“You could have come to me with your suspicions.”

“I tried!” Drue said. “You told me bad stuff happens. You told me you’d done your best, but boom, case closed, next case.”

“And you can’t take no for an answer,” Brice said, giving her a sideways glance. “Never could.”

“And it turns out I was right. There was something there. Just … not what I expected. Or who I expected would be behind things.”

“But why blame Jimmy? What else did you have against him?”

Drue stared out the window. “It wasn’t just the Jazmin Mayes case. There was something else. Colleen Boardman Hicks.”

“That again?” Brice’s voice was sharp. “The woman’s been gone for forty years. What’s she got to do with Jimmy? Or me?”