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Eve shrugged. “Doubtful. I’m here for a pickup.”

Vera’s gaze narrowed. “Since when did you start doing pickups again? I thought they hired someone for that.”

Eyes rolling, Eve heaved a disgusted breath. “Fine. I hoped while I was here, I could talk to Nolan. Do you blame me?”

Not really, but Vera was not going there. “That would be a huge mistake. We have no idea what he knows about Gates. If you question him, that’s only going to confirm whatever he suspects. You cannot do that.”

Eve’s eyes narrowed. “Did you talk to him?”

“About his abduction, yes,” Vera growled under her breath. “But he never mentioned Gates, and neither did I. He needs to believe we have nothing to fear about that investigation. That we know nothing, got it?”

“Fine.” Her sister’s shoulders slumped. “Have you heard from Russ yet?”

“No, but I will today, or I’ll be paying her a visit. I already told you this.” Then again, that was yesterday.

“Keep me posted, will you? This is driving me nuts.”

Obviously.

“I will,” Vera assured her. “I just need you not to do anything until we know more.”

Eve nodded. “I’ll see you later, then.” She turned back to the hearse.

Vera frowned. “I thought you had a pickup.”

“That was just my cover story in case I ran into Bent.”

Vera shook her head as her sister walked away. “Hey,” she called after Eve.

She turned, her expression expectant.

“Remember to watch out for trouble. I don’t want anything happening to you.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Eve waved her off and got back into the vehicle.

Vera watched her drive away. She wasn’t sure who was worse, her or Eve. The two of them had learned early on that sometimes lies and subterfuge were necessary to survival. But lying to each other was downright dangerous.

Elizabeth Baker’s hateful words echoed in her head. Maybe she and Eve were a little bit evil. Vera headed back to her SUV. She preferred to view it as cautious. The Boyett sisters, at least the two older ones, had learned the hard way that the truth did not always make things better.

Vera had just settled behind the steering wheel when her phone vibrated. She glanced at the screen.Bent.

Oh hell.She hoped he hadn’t spoken to Houser already and learned about her visit. If she was really lucky, the deputy wouldn’t mention it and Bent wouldn’t ask.

“Good morning,” she announced in the most chipper tone she could summon.

“I didn’t wake you, did I?”

Good, he didn’t know she’d left the house yet, which meant that he hadn’t checked in with the deputy he had watching her house or the one watching Nolan Baker. A pang of guilt stabbed at her chest for allowing Bent to believe she wouldn’t go behind his back like this. Then she remembered that he had just up and left her after stealing her heart all those years ago, and the guilt vanished.

“No. No. I’m up.” Truth was, no matter what happened in the past, she hated lying to Bent. Technically, she hadn’t lied yet. Just hadn’t mentioned where she was or what she was doing.

“Can you be at my office at eight? I know it’s short notice, but I just got word that Memphis PD wants a conference call, and they’d like you to be here for it. They’re not wasting any time.”

Cold sliced through her. Vera had warned Eric last night about this new development. She had expected MPD to contact Bent, just not so quickly. Interacting with the folks likely to be on the call wasn’t exactly a treat for her. But there was no avoiding it.

She shook off the dread. “Sure, I can be there. And don’t be surprised at their tactics. Big-city cops—especially the higher-ups—cut their teeth on legalistic-style policing, and jurisdiction is everything.”

“Thanks, Vee. I’ll see you then.”