Chapter 14: Trenton Alone

I texted Trenton at six the next morning from Margo's porch.

Showroom. Seven. Alone. You'll want to hear this.

He answered in under a minute.

I'll be there.

Keele Imports was a long brick warehouse by the river, with a showroom full of other people's furniture in the front.

Elliot parked across the street and turned off the engine.

"Door stays unlocked," he said. "If I hear a raised voice, I'm inside."

"You'll hear one."

"Then I'll be inside."

Trenton was waiting among the dining tables, in running clothes, with his hair still wet from a shower.

The overhead lights were off, and he stood in the gray light from the windows.

He looked at me, and he looked past me at the empty door.

"Where's your bodyguard?"

"Outside."

"Brynn thinks I'm at the gym."

"Good. Sit down."

"I'll stand."

"Then stand."

I put my phone on a walnut table between us and pressed play.

I had decided not to watch his face.

I watched his face.

At first he looked bored.

Then Brynn's slurred voice said, Do you know how long I waited for Trenton?

His head came up.

When she got to the quad and the words tell him yes, his hand found the back of a chair.

I paused it there.

"That's enough," Trenton said.

"It isn't."

"It's a recording. You can fake anything now."

"Then listen for the name."

"Dean paid someone."

"Dean works in a print shop," I said. "He can't afford the lights."

"You hate me. You'd say anything."

"Trenton." I kept my voice flat. "Where was she standing when she told you?"

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