Chapter 5: Goldie

I didn't take Cade's file, and I didn't take his help.

I took the one thing he had said that I could test on my own, and I messaged the woman I had hugged in the parking lot.

I wrote from my real account, under my real name, with no profile picture.

"We met outside a building on New Year's Day. I need to talk to you about your silent partner. Please come alone."

She answered in ten minutes.

"omg the fan!! Is this a prank? lol. Where?"

I named a diner on the east side where Theron would never be seen.

She arrived on Friday at two, in sunglasses she took off the moment she sat down.

"Okay, you're being very mysterious." She laughed. "Are you a journalist? Because I'm not ready for that."

"I'm his girlfriend," I said.

She kept smiling for another second.

"The roommate habit," I said. "That's me."

Her face went still, and then she slid her sunglasses onto the table very slowly.

"No," she said. "You told me you were a fan."

"I am a fan. I've been one for months, which is how I found out."

"This isn't funny."

"I know." I took my phone out. "I'm going to call him on speaker. Say nothing."

"Wait."

"Say nothing, Brynn."

It was the first time I had used her real name, and it made her go quiet.

I had found it in a tagged photo from her sister's wedding.

The phone rang twice.

"Hey, babe," Theron said, warm and a little distracted. "I'm in the middle of something. Everything okay?"

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