Page 63 (1/2)
Did she understand what I meant? If she wouldn’t come clean to me now—if she hoped any other explosive secrets she had could stay hidden—I had no shot at trusting her
She considered her answer carefully “I changed o”
“Why?”
“A lot of reasons To stay off Lambert’s radar My record My dad’s record I e helps bury search results” She crossed her arms over her chest, but it didn’t look confrontational If anything, she’d done it to try to protect herself “I took my mom’s maiden name after she passed away”
“Anything else?”
She wasn’t happy I was about to dig into her life, but rather than argue or get up and leave, she sat back against the couch like she was getting co I can think of”
Since her posture and attitude challenged me, it left me with no choice but to flip open the folder with a quiet thud I felt her gaze needling into me as I pulled out the stack of papers and evaluated the collection of printouts and photos
On top was the normal stuff There was a copy of her driver’s license and passport Her credit score, previous addresses, and work history She’d continued her education post high school at a coree While she had some social media accounts, she wasn’t active on any of them
Her crile count of petty larceny Although she’d been charged as an adult, I suspected the fact she was sixteen at the tiain She’d paid a fine and done co any jail time
There was a background summary report on her parents, focused primarily on her father, that I skimmed quickly At the bottom of the stack, there were a few brief news articles about how she’d won the Vegas Vault safecracking contest the last two years I paused, lingering over the picture of her holding up the award plaque, grinning as she stood under the contest’s banner
What had ht about that?
I racked the papers and tucked the an even mixture of relief and sadness She’d been truthful, and there didn’t appear to be any other bombshells in her past But I felt for the wole in her life, and I was stunned at hoell she hid it
Like the universe could throw anything at her and she’d survive it
Her tone was biting, probably overco to hide the truth in her question “Did I pass your test?”
I didn’t answer her Instead, I pulled out an to type
Her annoyance and concern grew, e of her seat “What are you doing?”
“Sendinghim to delete any files he has about you” I tapped the ‘send’ button, set my phone down on the table, and pushed the portfolio toward her “This is yours There’s a paper shredder in the office downstairs if you’d like to use it e’re done here”