Gavin had a backup plan should Jack fail him—Gavin always had a backup plan—but that plan came with a high level of risk. Jack would do what was needed, Gavin was sure of it, but time was running out. He needed to get out before they could build up any of the other cases—especially Lila Nash’s. She had seen his face and heard his voice all those years ago. Was the fog of her amnesia somehow lifting?

He needed the plan to move faster. He needed to get out so he could take care of things himself—do it right.

He deleted the text from the phone after he sent it. Then he removed the SIM card and slid it into its hiding place in the green folder. Reecey sat sideways at the table, his eyes studying the cinder block wall, as though his act of looking the other way—literally—somehow absolved him of his involvement in Gavin’s offense.

“Did they give you anything else?” Gavin asked. “Reports about other women?”

“Other women?” Reecey turned a shade whiter. “What other women?”

“None—never mind.”

“Are there others? No, wait. Don’t answer that. I don’t want to know.”

“Of course there’s not, Leo. I didn’t kidnap Vauk, but they’re accusing me of that, aren’t they? So who’s to say they won’t try to tag more on for good measure?”

Reecey accepted Gavin’s answer with the blind eye of a politician taking a bribe. “We have a fighting chance tomorrow,” he said. “But don’t be disappointed if the judge keeps the lineup in. Even if the judge kicks it, they’ll bring Ms. Vauk in at trial to point at you. We’ll use the faulty lineup to show how they planted your lisp in her head. We’ll turn their best evidence against them.”

Gavin was barely listening. He didn’t want to hear the man’s glass-half-full assurances. This had to end the way Gavin had planned it. If the case made it to trial, he would lose. Jack had to put an end to it.

The guard opened the door and ushered them into court, Gavin doing his best not to acknowledge that Lila Nash sat at the prosecutor’s table. How far down that path had the detectives traveled? They hadn’t charged him, so there had to be a hole in the case. Were they re-interviewing witnesses from the party? Had they talked to Jack yet? All he needed was another twenty-four hours. If things could go his way for one more day, he’d be golden.

Gavin stared at the wood trim on the judge’s bench for the entirety of the proceeding, hearing very little of what was said. It was a sideshow as far as he was concerned. Leo Reecey was a joke. The man had few skills and could do no more to set Gavin free than the Tooth Fairy.

The lead prosecutor, Andrea Fitch, handled the hearing that day, and the confidence in her voice raked across Gavin’s nerves. He calmed himself by fantasizing about that moment when her case would fall apart. The thought of her smug face crushed in defeat as he walked out of court pleased him. He would smile at her but not say a word, letting his silence echo off the walls as a final fuck you.