“That’s why no one can claim I bought him.”

Now Reese held the fifth seat. Margaret’s sworn testimony had already been accepted. Clare’s documents proved Crestwood had tried to manufacture evidence through Adrian’s company.

Their case was collapsing.

Then Diana entered.

She was seventy, with short white hair and a charcoal suit, and she looked neither cruel nor unstable — which made her more frightening. She looked like someone’s elegant aunt arriving for a museum fundraiser.

Her eyes found Adrian first. Then Lena. For three seconds, her composure failed. She had planned for them to arrive angry, isolated, and suspicious. She had not planned for them to arrive together.