Even When You Lie by Michelle Cruz

Author:Michelle Cruz
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CROOKED LANE BOOKS

CHAPTER

18

THE CLOCK IN my car says it’s just after eleven when I start the ignition. I’ll arrive at the office in time for lunch, and I wonder if I can sneak away with Cade, because he needs to hear this latest development, and I want to see his face when I tell him.

A text message from Rafi pops up on my phone. I wait until I’m at a stop light to read it. PAPERWORK FILED. THANKS FOR YOUR HELP.

I one-hand a response. YOU’RE WELCOME.

Cesar is dead, murdered just outside a club owned by the Holcombes. Heather is dead, moments after she left the envelope with proof of Cesar’s parentage at Cade’s office. If she knew Bridger Holcombe was Cesar’s father and she suspected that might be a factor in Cesar’s death, why would she walk through the front doors of Holcombe & Donaldson and come to Cade?

I tighten my grip on the steering wheel. None of this makes any sense.

The office’s parking garage is quiet, the city sounds more muffled than usual. Or maybe it’s just that my footsteps echo louder to my ears. I find myself checking over my shoulder, one hand clutching my backpack and the other on my hip, as close to my holster as I can get without it being too obvious. I race through the back, onto our floor, and lean back against the door to catch my breath and relax.

I’m safe, I tell myself. No one would dare try anything at the firm.

A brief memory of Heather in our office surfaces, her face flushed and sweating, and I try not to think of what happened to her only a few hundred feet from the building’s main door.

I smooth my jacket, make my face blank, and yank open the door to the firm’s side entry right as Kirby Donaldson pushes it.

Our shoulders brush. “There you are. Been out on business?”

“Running down a lead,” I say. “Was someone looking for me?”

“We were all just in Cade’s office and you weren’t there,” he says. “I’d stay, but I’m late for a meeting. So late, I snagged a pen and a notepad off your desk.”

“It’s purple,” I call after him.

“It’ll do,” he says. “Hope you don’t mind!”

I do, actually, but he hurries down the hall before I have time to object.

The security guard in the lobby barely glances up as I pass, and the receptionist scribbles on a piece of paper at her desk. I dash to Cade’s section before I let myself sulk over why Kirby couldn’t have taken one of her pens.

Bridger, Colleen, and Sylvie Holcombe stand between Evangeline’s desk and mine, chatting with Cade. While Cade no longer wears his tie, his collar is open, and his shirt sleeves are rolled back, Bridger still wears a jacket, all three buttons fastened over his vest, and Sylvie wears soft slacks and a sweater, even in the July heat. Next to the three of them, Colleen appears casual and underdressed in her strappy maxi dress with wedges,

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