When Anna Kiel finally turned off the road, she walked straight into something that looked like an Algerian restaurant, which was located between a nail salon and a business that sold pet food.

Heloise hesitated for a second, and then she followed her. She walked through the door and stopped. She furrowed her brow, looking around the small, dark space that smelled like cinnamon and cumin. One table in the restaurant was occupied by a young couple. A waiter stood behind the bar, an older, dark-haired man, who was pouring a drink into a purple glass. Aside from that, the restaurant was empty.

Heloise couldn’t see Anna Kiel.

She was about to ask the waiter about her when he nodded toward an opening in the far back of the place.

The plastic beads in the ruby-colored curtain rattled together as Heloise walked through the doorway. She was in a back room with orange paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling. The room looked like it was used for parties and other events. There was a massive oak refectory table in the middle of the room with about eighteen to twenty chairs around it. Anna Kiel was seated at the end of the table.

Heloise stood there for a moment, waiting.

Anna Kiel pointed with her chin to the chair next to her. “Have a seat.”

Heloise walked over to her. She stopped three chairs away from her, pulled one of them out, and sat down. Then she flung up her arms.

“You wanted to talk to me?”

Anna Kiel smiled fleetingly. “That actually wasn’t the plan, not to begin with. Nick wanted to talk to you, and my job was to make that happen. I had no idea who you were until he told me about you. But now, since you’re here anyway …” She shrugged. “Why not?”

“So, you weren’t going to use me for anything at all?”

“Not in the beginning, no.”

“So, all of this—the last several weeks where I’ve been running around back home in your footsteps and trying to make some sense out of the Mossing case—there was no point to that?”

“It brought you here.”

“Why did you send those letters to me? You could have just called me up and told me what was going on.”

“Would you have come if I had done that?”

“To get your story? Yes.”

“Would you also have visited your father?”

Heloise was quiet for a moment. “No, maybe not.”

“And then I wouldn’t have had a story to share with you. I wouldn’t have had any documentation.”

Heloise eyed her without responding.

“I’m sorry that you’ve gotten mixed up in this,” Anna Kiel said. “But you have the opportunity to make something good come out of this situation.”

“Something good?”

“Yes, you can help me put away some very bad people.”

“What about yourself?”

“What do you mean?”