“It wasn’t always like today,” Micky said. “Now men are getting canceled or whatever for this behavior. But this happened to my gi—” Micky wiped his hand over his mouth. “This happened to my friend over a decade ago when she was barely out of her teens. She really thought she was auditioning for a risqué role. When it became clear that the part was a pretense, she’d already gone so far.” Micky shuddered. “Now she has a kid. She doesn’t want to come forward and have her child read horrible things about her mother.”

Once she’d got Micky explaining, his words had come out fast and furious. Imani’s brain raced to keep up. Micky’s friend had a child. Did that mean Nate had an illegitimate kid? Was that what this man was saying? Was that what he’d told Melissa?

Before Imani could ask, a whoosh of air pushed her from behind. A big truck barreled out of its burrow beneath the promenade, its top reaching eye level, its screeching overwhelming any attempt at conversation. Imani’s hands were already in her pockets because of the cold. But her thumb went to the knife’s smooth handle. Micky didn’t seem to want to hurt her. He seemed to be telling the truth. Still, if he planned on doing anything, the time for it would be when traffic could drown out any calls for help.

As quickly as it had arrived, the giant semi vanished into the distance. Micky hadn’t stopped talking, despite the noise. “At the very least, this guy should suffer some marital consequences for abusing his power,” Micky said, already mid-monologue. “I guess I also thought, if she knew, Mrs. Walker wouldn’t ever blame my friend if the news came out. She’d realize that her husband had pressured young women into things using false pretenses of auditions and their desperation to break into the industry. He’d manipulated them. It wasn’t my friend’s fault.”

Micky threw up a hand. “Anyway, maybe you can tell the police that or, I don’t know, tell them that I will tell them that and there’s no need for any sting operation or whatever they’re planning. I don’t have Mrs. Walker, and I never thought if I told…”

Imani had so many questions. But the way Micky trailed off only lent itself to one. “How did Melissa react when you told her?”

A stream of hot air swirled from Micky’s lips like cigar smoke. “Like you’d expect,” he said. “Like she was going to kill him.”