“But what if she doesn’t pick him out?”

Niki tapped a finger to her lips as she played out that possibility. “Then we do the photo lineup later and hope the jury understands. But don’t forget.” A small smile crept across Niki’s lips. “We have an ace in the hole.”

Chapter 19

From his seat in the back of the unmarked police car, Gavin watched the two bootlicking public servants through the rearview mirror. He wanted to think of his interaction with the detectives like a chess match, but that would be a mischaracterization. In chess, you watch your opponent move each piece—their tactics exposing a strategy. But this was like playing chess blindfolded. For each move he could discern there had to be dozens kept from him. The challenge was to figure out the moves that took place in the dark.

And so far, from what little he could deduce, they didn’t know as much as he’d thought they might.

Sadie must have been able to draw a line from the salon to the wedding, but she didn’t remember being at his house, or in his Bronco; otherwise they would have shown up with a search warrant. That told him that the drug had done its job.

Gavin understood GHB. He had researched the subject at a level reserved for PhD candidates. On the street, they called it liquid ecstasy. Colorless, odorless, and tasteless, a capful in your drink and the world became a wonderful, euphoric place. A few capfuls in someone else’s drink and you had complete control over them. Afterward, amnesia set in and covered your tracks.

A part of him wished that the detectives could see the true depth of his work. They would surely admire his attention to detail. But he knew it was for the best if they didn’t. Now all he had to do was get through the lineup without Sadie recognizing him. If he could manage that, their case would come crashing down.

The male detective, Lopez, drove Gavin to the lineup, but at the house it had been the female who seemed in charge. At first Gavin hadn’t been sure how he felt about sparring with a woman; he wanted to fight a giant. But the more he thought about it, the more he wished that they had put him in her squad car. It might have been fun to play a little cat-and-mouse with her on the drive.

At the jail, Detective Lopez gave Gavin a form to read, advising him that he had the right to have an attorney present. Gavin gave some thought to that option but decided against it. The lineup was part of the plan regardless of how it turned out. Gavin signed the waiver.

After that, they waited in a small room with plastic chairs and a metal table anchored to the floor. The female detective, Vang, would be rounding up decoys to stand in the lineup with Gavin. But would she get men with shaved heads or men that looked more like Gavin’s driver’s license photo—the Gavin Sadie knew?