“You lied to me,” Lou said, a faint trace of surprise—or amazement—in her voice. She dropped the fork onto the plate, flipping it upside down.

I licked my lips, feeling the pang in my stomach get worse. “I didn’t—”

“You said you weren’t drinking.” Lou shook her head, staring down at her coffee. Like the sight of me disgusted her. She jabbed at the waffles on her plate with the fork tines. “Stupid me. I actually believed you.”

She started in on the waffles in silence, drowning the fluffy grids in syrup and hacking away at them with her fork. I stared down at the yogurt, its white clotted texture like scooped marrow. My stomach cramped. I pushed it away. Funny how nothing affected Lou’s appetite.

Even if I could work it out with Carrigan—and I wasn’t at all sure that I could—slide the money to the police, tie up all those loose ends without Lou or the Lady ever knowing, I’d still be in the Lady’s debt. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to train another girl without seeing Ellen’s face, her bruised neck, her little blue lips. Even if I worked it all out right, it wouldn’t change the fact that I’d killed someone.

That we had killed someone.

I took a deep breath. “The Lady has to know by now,” I said. Lou stopped with a forkful of waffles halfway to her mouth. The bartender had her back to us, racking clean glasses. “About the last case. What’d she say?”

Lou set her fork down carefully, busied herself with unfolding her napkin. “She wasn’t happy,” she admitted. “She wondered if there’d been something we’d missed with Ellen, something we should’ve caught earlier.”

I bit my lip. The bartender dropped a washcloth and bent over to pick it up, revealing a hamsa on her lower back. If it had been a different day, I would’ve scoffed, pointed it out to Lou. “And me? What’d she say about me? She was impatient for the rest of her money a week ago. It’ll be longer, now.”

Lou wiped her hands on her napkin and turned to face me. I caught a whiff of lemons. “A little more time will be all right, under the circumstances. She said she understood.”

“What? But you said the Lady wanted to . . . retire me.”

Lou rubbed her eyes, fidgeted in her seat. She didn’t want to talk about it. “Extraordinary times. She’s willing to push the debt on to Carrigan, once this all blows over. Really, she does want what’s best for us, Jo. She’s looking out for us. And I don’t know about you, but no one’s ever done that for me before.”

I frowned. “She turned awfully understanding all of a sudden. Not how you made the situation sound at the tiki bar.”