“I think he just wants his privacy,” Hannah says.

“Well, just because he doesn’t want to talk doesn’t mean there’s no story there.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Find out what you can,” Ashley says. “Talk to his friends. Find out where he works. See where he’s from. It’s possible to write a profile on someone even if they don’t participate.”

“I don’t know,” Hannah says. “That doesn’t feel—”

“And who knows,” Ashley says, pretending she didn’t hear Hannah’s objections, “if you tell him you’re doing the story with or without his input, maybe he’ll cooperate.”

Hannah feels sick to her stomach. As a journalist, she’s never had a problem asking hard questions. She’s interviewed the family members of murder victims, people who’d lost their homes to wildfires, public figures embroiled in controversy. But she’s always respected a person’s right to say no. She’s never tried to manipulate someone into speaking to the press when he didn’t want to.

“I think we should just let the story go,” Hannah says. “He saved a girl’s life. I don’t think we should punish him by plastering his face all over the newspaper if he doesn’t want that.” Ashley stares at her, and Hannah thinks for a moment that the two of them might have their first real conflict. Hannah has always admired Ashley’s ability to fight for what she feels strongly about, and now she psychs herself up to do the same—although it feels weird to prepare to fight with the person she’s modeling her tenacity after.

A tense few seconds pass. Then Ashley shrugs and says, “I’ll tell you what: just do some digging. See what you can find. If you still think there’s no story, we’ll bag it. I trust you.”

A compromise, Hannah thinks. I can agree to that.

“Who knows?” Ashley adds. “Maybe this guy’s hiding something. Maybe that’s why he won’t talk to you.”

“Maybe,” Hannah says, rising from her chair.

But Ashley’s suggestion is ringing inside her like a struck tuning fork. You don’t know what you’ve done, Logan had said. He’d mostly played himself off as a normal guy who simply wanted his privacy, but she suspected there was more to his secrecy than he’d let on.

“Wouldn’t that be some shit?” Ashley says, cracking a smile. “What if our hero turns out to be some criminal?”

Hannah returns to her desk, thinking about the possibility. What does she know about him? Not much. Just that he’s independently wealthy and likes his privacy.

If he is hiding something bigger, that would actually make sense. She never quite thought the trust-fund story fit him. But does being a criminal on the run fit him either?

Hannah opens up her laptop and begins to dig.

CHAPTER 12