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“Then you need to keep being honest. In the days before she died, did Astrid say anything that made you think she might take her life?”

“No. No way. She was completely focused on getting you out of that hellhole as fast as possible. No matter what it took.”

“What does that mean, though?No matter what it took? That makes it sound like maybe it was going to take some special effort.”

Dax gaped at me. “Itdidtake some special effort. She had tokillherself for anyone to do anything!”

I frowned. “Do you think Astrid killed Tom?”

“Hell, no.” He seemed genuinely outraged. “Do you?”

“No. So why would she kill herself?”

“Huh? Youknowwhy. She thought—that last visit with you. She thought you were either going to top yourself or crack up completely.”

“But that’s my point,” I said. “Astrid was my best and strongest advocate. She wouldn’t have trusted getting me out of there to anyone else.”

I could see him trying to work it out. He said slowly, “But by taking her own life, shewasgoing to get you out.”

“Maybe. But there was no guarantee that would get me released. She was too smart not to know that.I’mhonestly surprised the charges were dropped. Plus, we’re talking about Astrid. Never in a million years will I believe Astrid thought the only way she could solve a problem was by removing herself from the equation.”

“But if she didn’t kill herself, why did she leave a note?”

“I don’t think it was a suicide note. I think she was apologizing to you for something she was going to do. Something that I think—or she thought—meant the end of your relationship.”

“Nothingwould have ended it except one of us dying.”

I didn’t try to answer that. Dax was grieving. I didn’t need to add to his pain by informing him that he was not the first extra-marital relationship Astrid had. And he probably wouldn’t have been the last. Though, who knows? Her feelings for him had to have been pretty strong for her to poach one of my closest friends. Someone she’d known since childhood.

“Aside from taking her own life, can you think of what she might have meant?”

Dax slowly shook his head. “No.”

“When was the last time you saw her?”

“Two days after her final visit to you. Like I said, she was scared. For you.”

And two days after she’d seen Dax, Astrid was dead.

“Okay, when you saw each other, she was scared but not suicidal. What else was going on with her?”

He seemed to be thinking back. “Not much beyond getting you out…” He was still thinking it over. “There might have been something going on at the bakery.”

“We’d be gearing up for the holidays, so that’s a given.”

“Right. But it wasn’t just that she was busy. I think she was concerned about something. But she never really talked about work.”

She was discreet, that was for sure. Which was how she’d managed to keep her very complicated private life private.

Dax said suddenly, “She had a meeting coming up with one of the managers. I remember now because she got a phone call confirming.” His eyes lightened. “That’s right. It stuck in my memory because they were meeting afterhours and because they were keeping it quiet.”

“Do you know which manager?”

“Personnel maybe? I think it was a personnel issue.”

“A personnel issue that was so private it couldn’t be addressed in the office?”

“I’m partly guessing. All I know for sure is she was meeting offsite with one of the managers and it was supposed to be kept quiet.”