Page 160 of Don't Say a Word

“Because Tess is a romantic at heart and Madison is accused of killing her husband, and Jack doesn’t want to work for anyone who might be guilty. But they also both agree that everyone, even the guilty, deserve a fair trial and proper defense. A good investigator is crucial to a proper defense.”

“Do you think she’s guilty?”

Mom didn’t say anything for a long minute. “To be honest, if I thought she was guilty, I wouldn’t have taken the case.”

“So you think she’s innocent?”

“No.”

“Mom,” I whined.

“I honestly don’t know. That’s what makes this case so interesting. Are my instincts failing me? Can I no longer discern fact from fiction? I’m fifty-nine, I’m not old, but maybe I’m getting there.”

I laughed. “Hardly.”

“I want the truth. I can’t help it. I told the lawyers that we would be their investigators of record. There’s a lot to unpack, and the Scottsdale Police really messed up the crime scene. So we have to recreate exactly what happened, and determine if Madison’s version of the story is accurate, and if we can help prove it, or if she’s lying. And if she’s lying, what is her motivation? It’s not money—she had plenty of money going into the marriage.”

“Maybe she wanted more.”

Mom sighed. “Maybe she did.”

“I’m all in.”

Mom smiled. “Like me, you can’t stand an unsolved mystery.”

A ding sounded in the office, telling us the door had opened. Mom looked up and immediately frowned. She reached under her desk where I knew she had a panic button.

I turned and saw Manny Ramos. He had a gun on Tess.

I jumped up.

“Slowly, Margo,” he called across the office. “Hands where I can see them.”

Peter—Elijah’s friend—came in behind them. I mentally hit myself. Peter was another fatherless kid, given a great work-study job at the Cactus Stop headquarters. How could I have forgotten that fact while everything went down over the weekend? Peter could keep tabs on Elijah and anyone else on campus because he was so normal, so very average.

I’d asked questions—they got back to Ramos. Angie talked to Peter, texted him, and it got back to Ramos.

Angie probably texted Andy and Peter about her conversation Thursday with Parsons, and it got back to Webb—through Ramos.

Damn, I’d missed it.

Because you weren’t looking at his friends, you were looking at his coworkers.

“Peter, get her gun, tie her up, tie up Ava. Ava, dear, please stay seated.”

Peter complied. He had no expression on his face, as if he had no emotions at all.

I didn’t attempt to convince him to turn on Ramos. Peter had my gun. Even if I could get him to listen to reason, I doubted I could do it quickly.

“Why are you here?” I asked.

Peter used zip ties on my hands, but I was confident that I could get out of them when necessary.

But not while Ramos had a gun on Tess.

“It seems my partner was arrested today, and I heard you had something to do with it.”

Did he have a mole in Phoenix PD? Or was it Peter? Or someone on campus who saw Webb being escorted out in handcuffs?