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In a sea of unlabeled file cabinets, they knew just where to go and how to get what they needed, fast, trashing the place afterward as a cover-up

And thatsystem, or someone who at least knehere he kept all the paperwork relating to Dead or Alive

At the top of that list of suspects were the four ical choices: Ben Martino, Wallace Johnson, Leo Fox, and Phil Leary

Sloane had actually winced when Derek said their naued vehe-term friendship, partnership, and trust with these men To that, she added the ammo that if Matthew had been connected in any way, either to the art cri’s operation, all four of his partners’ butts would be on the line as well So ial would mean their onfall

But even as Sloane argued her case, she knew she was fighting with herself, not Derek The funda was totally subjective Friends turned on friends every day And her argument was flimsy If one of Matthew’s partners had cooperated in a scheme like this, he would have done so only under coercion—out of fear of retaliation froh motivation for anyone, close friend or not

The truth was Ben, Leo, Phil, and Wallace were thewith the break-in In the guilty party’sXiao with the necessary inforet hurt And no one could have anticipated that Rosalyn would interrupt the Dragon kids and wind up in the hospital

Sloane had wrestled with this all night, wishing the pieces didn’t fit

She tried not to reht of the poker gaet how reluctant Phil had been to leave her alone with her father at the end of the evening She tried to forget how overly generous Leo had been about redecorating her cottage, and how hard he’d pressed her to get started She tried to forget the untouched bottles of O’Doul’s on the table, and how Ben had practically been vibrating with tension, talking a et how sore Wallace had seemed when he stood up, how stiffly he’d ns of chills, he’d worn a heavy, perspiration-drenched turtleneck sweater on a warht—none of which added up to the onset of the flu

She’d tried

And she’d failed

Derek had left for the office earlier than usual thisSloane didn’t ask why She didn’t need to He wanted to get started running background checks on her father’s friends She could have asked to take part in the investigation Derek would have welcomed it, since Sloane could provide personal info on each of theofficial that Derek could scrounge up At soht have to volunteer her services for that But not yet She just couldn’t bring herself to do it—not until she’d explored her less likely but infinitely more tenable theories

She’d explored little and acco

Her parents hadn’t been available to talk to They, and their FBI bodyguards, had been out for the day Her ital publishing seallery to hammer out the final details of a purchase Not only did Sloane need the two of them to help compile her list of everyone who had access to their apartate all those on the list

They weren’t going to like this

But they’d like the avenue Derek was pursuing even less—if she told the that It would only cause a lot of eood reason