“Ask Ted,” she said now, with a casual shrug of her shoulders, but there was a hammering in her chest. Ted had had twenty years to share the honors with Phoebe, and he hadn’t done it yet—there was no way he’d start now. But she was betting Scott wouldn’t get the chance to ask. She didn’t see Ted or Holly anywhere. In fact, neither of the party’s hosts appeared to be hosting it. Where were they?

“Badass!” Scott said, and then he raised his baby bottle high in salute.

25

Zanne

Zanne stood in the empty garage, running out of time to decide what to do. Outside, the party was in full swing, and not a single Stabler was present.

She’d caught James before he left, shutting off his computer and putting his wallet and keys into the pockets of his slacks.

“What?” he’d said, his shoulders dropping in that way that meant he knew that his plans for the evening were about to be ruined.

“It won’t take long. I need you to go to Malibu Pier and bring Holly home.”

“Seriously? What am I supposed to do, Zanne? Take her by force?”

“She’ll come with you, James.” Even Zanne wasn’t sure it was the truth. She now knew there were men who could go with him, if it came to that, but James would never be a part of any plan that involved goons. “Please. I need you on this. I didn’t tell you the good news. There’s a doctor at Cedars-Sinai who can help Nikole. I checked him out. He trained at Cornell and worked at Sloan Kettering before he came out here. I’m waiting for Ted’s sign-off, and then we’ll make a call and Nikole can see him right away. Maybe even tomorrow.”

James had been pacing, humming with energy, but he froze. He clenched his hands into fists at his sides and then released them. “Wow. You actually just did that.”

“No, James, I didn’t mean—”

“I’m going home,” James said.

He went to his desk and grabbed his jacket. Zanne followed him to the side door.

“James,” she said. “James.”

He stood at the open door, the sky shading a ruddy pink behind him. He looked at her long and hard and Zanne knew, finally, how it felt to disappoint someone you respected.

“You’re gonna be the best chief of staff, Zanne.”

And then he left, and Zanne was alone. What had she done? Had it been a threat? A bribe? Why had she lumped the two ideas together, the favor for her and the favor for Nikole, the quid and the quo, if not to leverage James?