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Hez took a deep breath and clicked Submit. The brief he just e-filed could decide the university’s fate. He’d done his best, but would it be good enough?

He pulled up the brief and read it for the dozenth time—and of course he found a typo he’d somehow missed despite three rounds of proofreading. He sighed and closed his laptop.

Cody scratched at the door and yipped. Hez had shut his dog out of his home office—now doubling as Simon’s bedroom—two hours ago because Cody insisted on being a lapdog while Hez was trying to focus on the brief during the precious hours while Simon was in school. “Okay, okay.”

Hez got up and walked to the door. “You’ve been patient—or as patient as you get anyway.”

He opened the door and Cody started bouncing on his improbably springy little legs, crooked tail whipping the air. He settled down as Hez bent over and scratched those oversized ears. “Hey, goblin! Miss me? Where’d you get those Great Dane ears, huh? Steal them from an elephant? And what about the tail—did you find that in a landfill? I don’t even want to know where the brain came from.”

Cody grinned and rolled over to present his belly for a rub.

Hez complied. “You’re weird, but you’re the best dog in the world. Don’t tell Marley I said that.”

Cody looked to his left and scrambled to his feet. Hez turned the same way and saw Savannah and Marley emerging from the main bedroom. Neither of them looked happy.

Hez straightened. “Hi, babe. What’s up?”

“Are you still working on the brief? I don’t want to distract you if you need to focus on it.”

“I just filed it. Why?”

“Nora told me there’s proof Jess was involved in the smuggling. Did you know about that?”

He thought for a moment. “Oh, yeah. Hope told me about that a couple of days ago. There were forged provenance documents on Jess’s computer and history department letterhead in her printer.”

Storm clouds gathered in Savannah’s eyes. “Why didn’t you say anything? Why did the Willards’ lawyers find out about this before me?”

He was a little confused. “I didn’t think it was a big deal. We already knew about Jess, right?”

Anger lines formed around her mouth. “I didn’t know about this! I was devastated when I found out—especially since I was at her funeral.”

“I’m sorry, but I figured you could fill in the blanks too—especially after her other betrayals.”

Color crept into Savannah’s cheeks and her voice shook a little as she spoke, but he could tell she was making an effort to control herself. “I gave her the benefit of the doubt. I don’t always assume the worst about her.”

He bristled at the accusation in her tone. Did she really think he should have given Jess the benefit of the doubt too? Her blind spot where her sister was concerned had landed them in this mess. “And we know how that turned out, don’t we?”

His words came out harsher than he intended.

Savannah turned white, and for an instant he thought she was going to lash out. Instead, her eyes filled and tears spilled down her cheeks. “She was my sister. I loved her.”

Hez felt like a jerk. Of course Savannah loved Jess and couldn’t be coldly rational about her, especially while she was still reeling from Jess’s murder. He shouldn’t have assumed that Savannah would connect the dots about Jess’s involvement in the smuggling—and having Nora do it for her at the funeral must have been a slap in the face.

“I apologize for not telling you about the evidence against Jess.”

He stepped forward and took Savannah in his arms. “You were an incredible sister. I know this is hard, and I’m sorry for making it harder.”

He rested his head on top of her hair and held her close, hoping to heal some of the pain she was feeling.

She buried her face in his chest and clung to him as sobs shook her. All the love in the world couldn’t hold back her torrent of grief.

* * *

Savannah’s eyes burned from fatigue and grief as she approached her office door. Her father had been no comfort at the funeral. He showed up at the last minute and hadn’t gone to the interment, claiming he had work to do. When he left she’d breathed a sigh of relief that she didn’t have to deal with him. She wanted to focus her attention on Simon, who was as pale as a wraith and just as silent. He hadn’t been able to focus in school yesterday, and the principal suggested he take today off. Savannah had left him sitting in the library by a window, watching Boo Radley glide through the turgid water of Tupelo Pond.

She greeted her assistant’s sympathetic “Good morning”

with a watery smile. “Do we have a lot on the schedule?”

“Not a busy morning, Ms. Webster.”

Savannah nodded and went into her office. The click of the door shutting behind her steadied her resolve to do what she could for TGU. A small bag was in the middle of her desk beside a hot peppermint mocha. She picked up the bag to read the tag. Here’s a happy to tell you I love you. Nora. The Deep South term for “gift”

was usually something personal meant to bring happiness to the recipient, and Savannah smiled at her friend’s thoughtfulness. The funeral had at least cleared the air and mended their friendship.

She settled in her chair and untied the pink ribbon before she lifted out a chocolate eclair and a silver bracelet. The bracelet’s construction of small round beads and longer pieces puzzled her until she read the note in Nora’s bold writing.

The bracelet spells out “best friend”

in Morse code. Anytime you need me, I’ll be by your side. I’m sorry I let other things come between us. I brought an eclair instead of a beignet to save you from a powdered sugar apocalypse on your blouse because I love you.

Savannah sniffled and swallowed past the thickness in her throat. Nora’s friendship was something she never wanted to run the risk of losing again. She fastened the bracelet around her wrist and took a sip of the peppermint mocha before reading her morning reports. Her happy feelings vanished as the bad news began to pour in.

Almost a quarter of the incoming class had withdrawn and asked for their deposits back. She couldn’t return their money because the university was in bankruptcy and funds were locked. Even Jane had called asking if she should transfer Will to Ole Miss, something he didn’t want to do. Ed was scoping out places to go too. He’d asked Hez for a letter of recommendation for a potential employer yesterday. One of the incoming students was already threatening to start a class action lawsuit, and the student’s father was a well-known attorney. Hundreds of students had already applied to transfer. She’d also heard most of the top faculty had begun circulating their résumés—and who could blame them? They all needed paychecks.

She rubbed her forehead. The situation had seemed overwhelming before this terrible list.

The door burst open, and Simon rushed in with a smile she hadn’t seen in days. “Aunt Savannah, Boo Radley has a girlfriend! The students are calling her Pika. Get it? Together their names sound like peekaboo.”

He reached her desk and held out his phone. “I took pictures.”

Her heart warmed as she scrolled through his pictures of the two gators bumped up against each other. He’d taken a video, and when it played, she heard Boo Radley bellowing his mating call while he slapped the water. She handed back Simon’s phone. “I love these, Simon! Boo isn’t alone any longer. Maybe he’ll quit taunting Marley.”

“Maybe. I’m going to go take more pictures.”

She smiled as she watched him race back the way he’d come, slamming the door behind him. At least something had momentarily lifted him out of his funk. She reached for her keyboard and mouse to check social media posts. Students would be all over the gator courtship. She pulled up the TGU account and chuckled at another cute picture of Pika and Boo.

She scanned the entries and spotted her name. There were dozens of ugly posts about her. Those who were trying to be kind said she was in over her head, which she knew to be true. But nasty posts far outweighed the nicer ones. Several accused her of being corrupt or criminally incompetent. One of the posts said she should be arrested, and it had over a thousand likes.

Maybe it was true. She’d stepped into a job she knew little about during the most crucial time in the university’s history. What had she been thinking?

Her door flew open, and her father stepped into view without a warning from her assistant. He stopped in front of her desk and glared at her. “I’ve only delayed this until after your sister’s funeral, but I can’t wait any longer. This bankruptcy completely blindsided the board. We have serious concerns about letting you continue as president and are thinking about replacing you.”

He pointed his finger at her. “You’ve put the university in grave peril, Savannah. I’m very disappointed in you personally as well. My trust payments have plummeted, thanks to Hez and Jess’s spurious claims, and now they’ve stopped altogether. That’s completely unacceptable. I’m your father. I thought you’d look out for me.”

He glared at her when she didn’t answer. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

She sank against the chair’s back. He wanted her to blame all this on Jess, but she couldn’t. Shouldn’t she have known her sister had something planned? Shouldn’t they all have seen this coming? This was all Savannah’s fault because she’d allowed her love for Jess to blind her.

When she didn’t answer, her father said, “The board is meeting on Monday to decide on a course of action.”

Then he wheeled on his black leather shoes and stomped out the door.

Savannah buried her face in her hands. She’d failed everyone—Jess most of all. If only Savannah had realized the depth of her sister’s hatred. Not one of her decisions had been right since she first brought her desk into this grand room. Maybe she should resign without waiting to be fired. The social media haters had the same opinion as her father. Maybe an experienced crisis manager could save the university.

She lifted her head and turned to look out the window at the azaleas blooming in her garden. The problem was her father and the board wouldn’t pick a good manager. They wanted their interests protected and would do whatever they could to ensure that happened. Her father wanted to keep his precious trust-fund dollars flowing into his pocket. None of them cared about TGU and its students and faculty.

What was she going to do? She closed her eyes and prayed for guidance, but the only response was a roar from Boo Radley.