I glanced up into the rearview mirror; luckily, there was no one behind me. I started driving again slowly.

The woman didn’t notice me as I crept by because she was looking down at her phone, her forehead scrunched in a frown. I leaned forward and felt my breath catch.

It was her.

It wasn’t just the sharpness of her blond bob or her small, delicate features. It was the way she held herself, the power in her frame.

It was definitely her.

I could’ve kept going.

I should’ve kept going.

But there was something empowering, something dangerous, something absolutely irresistible about the fact that I knew something about her and Ryan Hooks that I wasn’t supposed to know.

And I had a feeling that nobody else knew.

At the end of the block, I made a U-turn and circled back to find parking.

You’re losing your mind. You’re actually crazy. This is not a normal thing to do.

Chapter 6

Stay in the car, Paula!

The voice of reason was screaming at me, shrill, high-pitched, and desperate, but I ignored her. I opened my car door and stepped out onto the gravel surface, shutting it behind me. I had seen the tall, blond woman for only a few seconds on the night that I dropped off Hooks.

But I know faces. I knew the brushstrokes that would make up her face—short, curved flicks for her high cheekbones, light, feathery strokes for her skin. The moment I’d seen her standing outside the entrance to the small park, I’d known for sure—it was her.

It was a hot day, and I pulled my T-shirt away from my body as I walked from my car to the edge of the park. As I crossed the street, I knew I had a problem—I did not have an endgame for this little excursion. Some part of me just wanted to get closer, to see her face more clearly, to remove any last, miniscule shred of doubt.

Still, I couldn’t exactly walk up and ask her.

Was that you I saw in the window staring down at Ryan Hooks two nights ago?

Yeah?

Cool.

Well, thanks.

My feet moved me forward anyway, and suddenly I was approaching the entrance to the park where she was still standing, talking to someone on her phone. When I was about five feet away from her, she looked up and smiled, the slight, unassuming, and uninterested smile reserved for strangers.

“Yeah, we’re going to be at Klein’s Boutique on Halsted,” she said into the phone. “Their stuff is gorgeous and really well made.”