“Oh, I’m worried about more than that right about now.”

Dan studied Randall’s face gravely.

“What happened?” he asked again.

“I was sent on an errand.”

“On purpose?” Dan asked.

“Did I realize it was to get me out of the way? No. But maybe I didn’t let myself think about that.”

“Who sent you?”

“Ramirez.”

“Jesus. What’s he got on you?” Dan asked incredulously.

Randall’s face was sunken like an old man’s.

“Long story, my friend. Long story, from a long time ago.”

Dan pulled over a plastic chair from the desk in the corner and sat down straddling it, looking at Randall.

“Might as well get started,” he said. “Once I know the extent of the problem, I’ll figure out how to handle it.”

SARAH VAN DER VERE PACED AROUND THE MAIN entrance to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, sucking a final drag off her cigarette. It was about to pour, and she just had to be wearing her favorite outfit. She shared the space grudgingly with a tacky-looking secretary on afternoon break, who apparently hadn’t heard that teased hair went out thirty years ago. The woman smiled at her, so Sarah flashed a condescending smile and turned her back. Damn antismoking laws-they really threw you in with the riffraff. If she needed a hit of nicotine before she did this, wasn’t she entitled to some privacy? Even when they planned to execute you, they let you have your final cigarette in peace.

She threw the butt down and stamped on it but still didn’t feel ready to go inside. She stalled for a bit, contemplating the passing traffic. Taxis and trucks sped by, spewing black exhaust into the humid air. All those people, going about their pathetic lives. At this low moment in her personal history, Sarah still thought highly enough of herself that she didn’t envy them. Even if she was possibly about to get arrested, it was still better being her. Arrested. Now, that would be upsetting. But there was no way to turn Dodo in without incriminating herself, and she’d come to the conclusion that she needed to turn him in for her own protection.

But she’d take an extra moment, think it through one more time. Had she missed anything? Any out, any escape valve? She wasn’t in a rush. It wasn’t like she had an appointment. Melanie Vargas might not even be in her office.

If only she didn’t have to worry about Dodo killing her. She’d been worried about that ever since Jed’s murder. It was why she’d approached that prosecutor in the elevator in the first place. But when Melanie Vargas came to her apartment, she’d chickened out. It suddenly occurred to her that giving evidence against Dodo would reveal her own involvement in Securilex. So she made a major scene to get the woman out of her apartment. Sob, sob, like she’d ever let herself cry like that over a man. Hah, fat chance. But it worked. The prosecutor had left her alone. Only now Sarah had changed her mind, after seeing how angry Dodo was yesterday.

The situation was truly maddening. If she hadn’t felt the need to defend herself by launching a preemptive strike against him, she’d be enjoying a normal afternoon. At her desk sipping an iced cappuccino and doing some research, or sneaking out to do a little lingerie shopping. Something pleasant and unremarkable like that. Instead she was about to go confess to a major fraud. Which was rather interesting, admittedly, but damn upsetting. Although maybe it would get her on television. She would like that. She should give a little thought to what she’d wear on her perp walk, maybe get her hair blown and makeup done beforehand. She’d find herself a lawyer with good press contacts, somebody well known-cute, hopefully. Maybe there was even a book deal in this somewhere.

But she should at least consider the possibility that she was overreacting. After all, her fear that Dodo might harm her wasn’t based on much. Only on the belief that he’d ordered Jed killed. Otherwise she had no reason to think he was capable of murder. In his treatment of her personally, he’d never been violent. Okay, maybe when they played S &M games, but that was consensual. And even then he was pathetic. She’d known a lot worse. In fact, she liked worse, she liked rougher. That’s why she’d ended up making him be the bottom, because she couldn’t stand the squirrelly way he whipped her. Earlier, in his office, he’d actually seemed like he might hit her. She wasn’t surprised when he didn’t. Disappointed, but not surprised. Even when he was so upset, he couldn’t. Poor thing, she really did treat him mean. She couldn’t help it, though. He was so tiresome sometimes.

So okay, what made her think Dodo had Jed killed? What was the basis for that belief? She had to admit she didn’t have one shred of proof for it. It boiled down to someone had Jed killed, and who else could it be? Dodo had motive, he had money, and he hated Jed enough to do it. But did that prove anything? Knowing Jed, she was sure that plenty of other people probably wanted him dead, too. Jed was deliciously corrupt, the only person Sarah had ever met whose aura was darker than her own. She was quite broken up by his death. But just because she didn’t happen to know who those others were didn’t mean they didn’t exist. Maybe Dodo was innocent.

If only there were a way to find out, before taking the drastic step of incriminating herself. Maybe she should just ask Dodo whether he’d killed Jed. He’d probably tell her. It was the sort of thing she could imagine him bragging about, if he’d actually done it. Of course, she could imagine him bragging about it even if he hadn’t done it. But no, Dodo was a lawyer at heart. He didn’t like needless exposure to liability, any more than she did. She didn’t really think he’d confess falsely.

She opened her bag. It was that Louis Vuitton one with the pink flowers and the little gold lock that Dodo got for her. She loved pink. Come to think of it, he did buy her some nice things. It was worth giving him another chance. She pulled out her cell phone.

“Dodo. Cell,” she said, enunciating clearly so the voice recognition would register. It rang three times. She was just about to hang up when he answered.

“Sarah,” he said. The way he said her name, he sounded terribly upset. But she wasn’t interested in his mental state right now.

“So, Dodo.”

“Yes?”

“I have a question for you.”

“What?” he choked, almost as if he were crying.

“Did you or did you not order Jed Benson killed?”

The snorting and grunting emanating from the other end of the line was Dodo sobbing, she decided. Really. Couldn’t he just answer the damn question? Crying could mean guilt, or it could just mean he was a pathetic fool. Now she was going to have to coax it out of him, and she was tired of standing out here already.

“Now, Dodo, please. Don’t be so upset. Dodo?”

“I’m going to kill myself,” he sputtered. “I’m driving to the country. I’m in the car right now. And when I get there, I’m going to shoot myself with my hunting rifle.”

“Why on earth would you do a stupid thing like that?” she asked with true bewilderment. Sarah couldn’t imagine suicide. Her survival instinct was much too robust.

“Because,” he choked out, “I hate you. I hate you, and I want to hurt you.”

She laughed, a light, trilling giggle.

He stopped crying instantly. “Why is that funny?” he asked.

“Because, silly. There’s a logical fallacy there. What makes you think it would hurt me if you killed yourself? It would actually solve a lot of my problems.”

“Oh, it’ll hurt you, all right, you ungrateful whore. I’ve made damn sure of that.”

He spoke with such utter conviction that she got nervous.

“Oh. How’s that?” she asked.

“Maybe I did order Jed killed. But maybe it was at your insistence.”

“What are you talking about?”