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“Charlotte told me.”

Stephanie’s eyes narrowed. “Why is that something she would know?”

“If you sit down, I’ll tell you.”

Begrudgingly, Stephanie sat on the chair on the other side of the cold, dark fireplace. It still smelled faintly of ash from when Charlotte insisted on roasting marshmallows two weeks before when life was altogether di erent.

With gritted teeth and an increasingly flushed face, Stephanie listened, interjecting occasionally to ask questions. When she knew as much as Alex did, she sat back and crossed her legs.

“I’m going to kill her,” Stephanie decided with disturbing aplomb.

Alex raised an eyebrow.

Stephanie glared. “Well, I’m going to fantasize about killing her. I knew we couldn’t trust her. I hate to say I told you so—”

“Now who’s lying?” Alex tried to joke. “You love to say I told you so.”

“I just had a feeling, Alex. I knew something was o about her. The way she wormed into you.”

“I know you did,” Alex admitted. “But I wasn’t listening.”

“Do you think she’s playing at something. Trying to jam us up even further?”

Alex shrugged. “I’ve been thinking about it, but I can’t see how it’s any kind of trap. Why would they use Eric when

they have her?”

Leaning forward, Stephanie uncrossed her arms and rested her elbow on the armrest. Her eyes tracked the room as her brain moved at the speed of light. She was probably running through the same possibilities Alex had considered earlier.

“I can’t see it either, but that doesn’t mean it’s not there,” she grumbled. “What do we do now?”

“I’m going to make some calls. There might be so

meone who can help for a hefty price.”

“What the hell am I supposed to do? Just sit on my hands?” Stephanie protested.

“No. I want you to get everything out of the rooms. But send it out with the laundry. I don’t want anything to look out of the ordinary. We have some time. Once it’s all clear, we’ll cancel all appointments for a while. Tell everyone but Eric and the Thatchers that it’s going to be hot for a bit. I’ll come up with something that won’t spook them and call our weak links myself.”

“Are you going to fire Charlotte or have Linda do it?”

Alex shook her head. “We can’t a ord to have that much change. If we fire her, the cops will know something is up for sure. I want to keep them in the dark as long as possible.”

Stephanie agreed but she wasn’t happy about it.

“And one more thing,” Alex said as she stood, gathering steam for the road ahead. “Charlotte said the police chief is the driving force behind this. He’s a dog with a bone. See if you can find out what that’s about.”

Nodding, Stephanie stood and lunged forward. The embrace was sti , but Alex accepted it warmly.

“We’re going to get out of this,” Stephanie promised.

Not unscathed. At least not me.

CHAPTER 42

AN AGONIZING MONTH went by with Charlotte forced to do absolutely nothing but wait. If this was the start of the new year, she was horrified at what awaited her for the remaining eleven months.

Locked out of everything but the accounting programs, Charlotte was still working at Ataraxia but relegated to complete darkness. The day after she confessed to Alex, the laundry was sent out ahead of schedule. She guessed it was some way to smuggle out anything potentially incriminating.