She had studied Marcus’s grief and his guilt and his work schedule and his trust in her.

She had anticipated the discovery and pre-poisoned Lily’s testimony against it.

She had built a plan so complete that it very nearly worked.

And there was exactly one variable her entire strategy could not control, one thing no amount of planning could account for, and it was the possibility that a six-year-old girl would find the courage to whisper the truth, and that her father would find the grace to believe her.

That was the gap in the machine.