Jessa focused on one thing—she’d won this round, but she had to move or Darren’s family would lose the next.

Chapter Seventy
Gabby

Gabby paced. She’d been pacing for what felt like hours. After receiving the emergency SOS from Jessa and having a brief conversation about her finding some vault, all communication ceased.

In any other circumstance, Gabby could console herself, saying Jessa needed time to extricate herself from the office and call again. But between the truncated visit with Retta and Liam’s ongoing legal issues, the danger and uncertainty ratcheted up.

Gabby’s inbox had been flooded with nasty emails and requests for interviews. Some true crime podcast already jumped in and speculated she and Liam had killed Baines to get him out of the way, and now an army of social media warriors were running with the unfounded garbage. Picking through their lives. Drawing conclusions from random photos they found online.

She wanted to say, Well, at least Kennedy is out of the fray, but her school had already called. Other parents were concerned about Kennedy’s attendance. The administration didn’t know if it could keep the students from bullying Kennedy. The dean even used the phrase young women can be mean. Yeah, well, some older ones sucked, too.

In only a few weeks, every wall had come crashing down, each carefully placed brick, all the outer barricades of protection. Baines had stolen business secrets. Baines had moved money. Baines likely had killed his sister. But everyone demanded she pay the price.

She couldn’t stay here and wait. She needed to do something, even if that meant bothering Jessa.

Gabby picked up her purse and her cell and headed for the front door. She’d stake out Jessa’s house and . . . Wait. She still didn’t know where Jessa lived. That left driving around in circles, repeatedly texting Jessa in a pathetic grab for attention.

Fine. She’d do it. She’d do whatever she had to do.

A knock at the door stopped Gabby’s mental sputtering. Liam lived in a security building. People couldn’t get upstairs without being buzzed in.

“Mrs. Fielding? Open the door.” Detective Schone’s voice.

No, no, no. Gabby’s heartbeat turned to a gallop. It pounded through her, in her ears, in every muscle. A tiny warning voice in her head told her not to open that door. Not to go anywhere near Melissa Schone until Jessa called with more information.

Gabby backed away. She’d never ignored law enforcement before, but she was going to this time. The detective was here for the group, not on official business. Jessa repeated that fact in her head as she drifted down the hall, not making a sound and never breaking eye contact with that front door.

Another knock. This time louder.