Chapter 5: The Man Who Left

Hattie stepped between us with the sheet pan up again.

"No. Who is the flannel?"

"Tiernan Kenmare," I said. "He used to be Warner's partner. He introduced us."

"The one who introduced you." Hattie lowered the pan an inch. "I have questions."

"Ask them in the truck," Tiernan said.

"Warner's driver is parked at the corner with his lights off. He used to play first base on my softball team."

"He texted me at midnight to ask if I remembered your friend's address. That's how I knew it was bad."

"And you came to do what?" Hattie asked.

"Not to rescue anybody."

He looked at me when he said it.

"Warner's lawyers can reach a phone in a day and a hospital server in an hour."

"Don't keep that video on one thing he can touch."

I looked down at the phone in my fist.

The caterer had sent me the file in the precinct lobby, before Hattie even started the car.

"I have a copy," I said.

"Then you have one copy." Tiernan held up a small black drive on a key ring. "Let me make you a second."

Hattie crossed her arms over her avocados.

"Willa, I trust you. I don't trust a man who carries a spare drive at three in the morning."

"I carry one because I used to work for a man who deletes things," Tiernan said.

"I'm on at seven," Hattie said, and her voice lost its edge. "I can't go."

"I'm going," I said.

"His driver knows where I sleep, Hattie. So does his mother's lawyer."

She looked at me for a long moment.

Then she went inside and came out with a coat, her clogs and a banana, and handed them over one at a time.

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