“Even I don’t believe in that much happenstance.” She walked to the floor-to-ceiling windows and looked out at the front of the building.

Police. The word flashed in her brain as she watched two police cars pull up. Then a van turned into the horseshoe-shaped entrance. She couldn’t read the side of it or the jackets of the people scurrying around down there, but she made out the word forensics as police filed into the building.

A woman got out of a sedan. She flashed something and talked with two men in suits. When she glanced up toward the window, Gabby jumped back, out of sight.

Melissa Schone, way out of her jurisdiction this time.

The police were here. At Liam’s building. Walking into the lobby. Were they coming for her here? This didn’t feel like another turn at asking her questions about Rob’s death. The forensic squad suggested something bigger. Something other than a break-in and death that touched her tangentially but was not about her.

An itchy sensation of being watched, hunted, filled her. Hot, on fire, restless. Each one rolled through her.

I have to warn him, just in case. She reached for the phone to call Liam right as the doorbell chimed.

Chapter Forty-Nine
Jessa

Thriving. Jessa couldn’t think of a better word to describe how her life had turned. Being a partner came with a huge raise. More responsibility but less pressure for billable hours. She had lawyers beneath her now. People who answered to her.

She put a deposit down on an apartment. She loved Faith, but living together in a one-bedroom would get old fast.

She leaned back in her big chair and looked around her office. The bouquet on the edge of her desk, delivered less than an hour ago, came from Retta and Earl.

She’d spent her entire life on the outside, looking in. Never the smartest or the most popular. Attractive but not the prettiest or the thinnest. Always aching to be a bigger presence, more in control of the conversation—the person other people looked at and said, I want to be her.

Getting here required sacrifices. She’d made some decisions others would find questionable. She saw them as necessary. The climbing, the worrying, the jealousy. It had all paid off. Finally.

That’s why the idea of being in a club and not knowing the rules didn’t bother her. She’d work around them, follow them, or defy them, as needed. Being on the inside gave her that clout. Opened up possibilities.

She heard the knock on her office door and smiled. Her two-o’clock appointment had arrived, and she couldn’t wait for this face-off.

Stan, Darren Bartholomew’s attorney, stepped inside. He’d left his usual blowhard, you’re not worthy of my time persona on the street, because this Stan was a subdued Stan.