Niki dropped her head in defeat. “No.”

As Lila stood on the Stone Arch Bridge, she ran through their few remaining moves. Andi would go to the hearing and argue that Sadie’s statements be allowed to go before a jury under a good-faith catchall of inherent reliability, but that argument would fail. With no proof that Gavin helped to plan Sadie’s death, they couldn’t use the lineup or anything she had said without violating Gavin’s constitutional right to confrontation. Andi’s final line of defense remained a dismissal without prejudice. They could refile the charges in the future if they found new evidence, but to go to trial now meant an acquittal and double jeopardy.

Lila looked out over the river, searching for a strategy that might bend fate, but no matter how she moved the pieces, it always ended with the white king tipped on its side. Lila had gone to law school to stop men like Gavin Spencer and to protect women like Sadie Vauk. She had failed, and now Gavin was about to walk free.

He would hunt her. They didn’t have enough evidence to put him away for what he did to her eight years ago, because proving that he was in the state that night was a far cry from proving that he’d raped her. But she was onto him, and he knew it. He would have no choice but to put an end to her as a threat.

If Gavin had orchestrated Sadie’s death, he would have needed an accomplice—like the one he had with him eight years ago. And if Sadie’s killer was that second man in the car that night, was he already looking for Lila?

Lila glanced in both directions across the bridge and spotted a man forty yards away, elbows resting on the rail, his gaze cast toward the churning of the falls. He paid no attention to Lila, but his presence shook her. Was he Silas Jackson? He was about the right age and had a similar build.

Lila looked at the lampposts that lined the bridge, hoping there might be a surveillance camera, but saw none. There were a few walkers passing by, which eased her fear. He wouldn’t try anything with witnesses around, would he? Lila wanted to run, but where would she go? If Gavin wanted to get to her, he would get to her—if not on the bridge then somewhere else.

The flurry of possibilities muddled Lila’s thoughts as she watched the man. Then he turned toward her and started walking, a smile on his face. He raised a hand and waved. Lila shook her head slightly, confused, but then looked behind her to see a woman approaching, her hand in the air, waving back. Lila looked at the man’s face again and saw that he couldn’t be Silas.