“No,” Helena answered.

“It gives us a lead.

We don’t treat an old friendship as proof.”

I appreciated the distinction, even as impatience burned through me.

Then Helena displayed a calendar entry attached to one Fairhaven invoice.

It described a ‘succession communications workshop’ attended by Preston, Lorraine and two outside advisers.

The workshop date was six weeks before the planted gun.

Its deliverables included a confidential file labeled Executive Risk Contingencies.