Paintings. Furniture. Bookshelves. Her first thought was a hidden safe, but she hoped not, because how in the world would she find that? It didn’t look like a luggage or safety-deposit key. They had a few outbuildings on the property, but she couldn’t exactly ask for a tour of the potting shed.

“This is ridiculous.” She went back to the desk, hoping something obvious would come to her.

The key had to matter, because why tape it to the back of a drawer? Important didn’t mean the hidden lock was in this room. She didn’t know what to try next.

“What are you doing?”

That voice. Retta. In the doorway.

The nightmare scenario. The worst possible ending to this day. Jessa struggled to form words, to come up with a good explanation—any explanation—for standing behind the desk.

Then Jessa remembered that weird little notebook she’d picked up. Where had she put it?

Chapter Sixty-Three
Gabby

Natalie and the fire.

Gabby had spent years avoiding and outrunning this topic. For a long time, she’d thought the secret would burn through her and seep out. But she’d kept it tucked away, separate from every other part of her life. Disconnected from her thoughts. When her mind did wander into the shadows and dip into that day and what she’d heard, she kicked the memory away. Out of the light. Now Liam was trying to reach in and yank it out.

“Gabby? Answer me.”

Telling would ruin everything. Raise questions. Pile on more doubt. Make him hate her. Once she unlocked this box, she’d never be able to slam it shut again.

“The detective is trying to divide us. Work on our loyalty to each other.” And that was true. Detective Schone knew the truth . . . which seemed impossible, or she guessed. She could have had access to attorney records, though Gabby couldn’t imagine Baines sharing any part of this topic with anyone. It gave people power over him, serious power, and he never conceded the high ground.

“Why would she do that?” Liam asked.

“If you don’t have my support, you’re weaker. But if we’re fighting, it plays into her wrong assumptions about us.” Gabby tried to stop talking. She didn’t want to tiptoe through any of this, and here she was stomping her way around the facts.

“Fill me in on the assumptions.”

Gabby went with a version of the truth. The pieces were right, but if he fit them together he’d get the wrong picture. “She tried to get me to agree with her about you and Baines being in a fight. About you killing him. She told me to turn on you to save myself.”

Liam shook his head. “Why do you need saving?”