“I’m trying to protect both of us.”

She reached for the phone. He stepped away. Their voices rose through the call. Martin wrote something on his legal pad. “What is he doing?” I asked.

“Exactly what we expected,” Martin said.

Claire had predicted Ethan would make a call before opening the door. She’d predicted he would offer me Lauren in exchange for the lockbox. It was the same strategy he’d used after the Mercer company collapsed — he’d survived by giving investigators someone else to examine.

The bookkeeper lost his job and spent two years fighting accusations. A contractor declared bankruptcy. Claire’s father accepted responsibility for accounting failures he hadn’t created.

Ethan walked away untouched.