Page 15 of Duplicity

Simon stared at the offered paper.

“You will take it. You’re going to attend four times, and then we’re gonna talk about how your role at Vanguard will work going forward.”

Simon snatched it out of his hand and unfolded the paper. “A trauma survivors group? Are you kidding me?”

“Four weekly meetings. You work this case, and when it’s done, I’ll make sure you still have a job.” Jasper swept past him to the door. He didn’t grasp the handle. He just turned back. “Something happened to you when Harper kidnapped you. Something you won’t even talk to Peter about.”

“I don’t need anyone to worry about me.”

“A lot of people care about you.”

They shouldn’t.Simon didn’t say the words on the tip of his tongue. “I know what I’m doing.”

“I sure hope so.” Jasper grabbed the door. “First meeting is tonight.”

“And if I don’t go?”

“Then consider yourself fired.”

The door clicked shut, and Simon was alone.

SEVEN

Days like today were why Catalina had started attending a group for survivors of trauma in the first place. These days, she went on occasion, but not with any regularity. With Romeo at work tonight, she’d decided to come—after all, her parents wouldn’t want to see her like this.

Okay, maybe they didwantto. But they didn’t deserve her mood right now. They would try to comfort her, then she would break down more. Her father would retreat into his office. Her mom would treat her like a five-year-old with a skinned knee. Having to carry the weight of their concern wasn’t something she could bear on top of her grief.

Cat stepped from the echoey hall into the small room in the community center where they held meetings like this. The group that conversed in sign language met next door because she’d gone in there by mistake once, and now she could sign the wordSorry.

There were a handful of people in the room. Regular attendance was about eight, plus Rebecca, who was the group leader and a family therapist with a specialty in trauma. The department shrink had passed on the information for the group not long after Cat finished physical therapy.

A man in his midtwenties stood talking to Rebecca, but it wasn’t until she handed him a paper and he turned that Cat saw it was him.Sie.Silas Norris spotted her and flinched.

He recovered faster than her and sat in an open seat at the far end of the circle.

Rebecca moved to stand behind her chair. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is Simon Olson. He’s visiting us tonight, and hopefully, more…”

Cat didn’t hear what else Rebecca said. She whirled around and glared atSimon. Heat infused the skin of her cheeks. He’d given her a fake name? That was why his ID had seemed clean. Too clean.

She couldn’t believe this.

Cat headed for the closest free chair. Someone stepped in front of her and took it. Then another seat filled. And another. The only remaining empty chair was the one beside him. Cat kept her head down and settled into it, smiling at the nurse to her left.

On her right,Simonhad his phone in one hand and was tapping it against his leg. Was he going to do that the whole time? The fake name clearly meant that whatever happened at the school was only part of the mission. Was this going to be the real man behind the fake identity?

Rebecca had them go around and introduce themselves. Walter, an older man who had served in Vietnam and then got hooked on drugs and been homeless for a while, talked about his granddaughter’s twelfth birthday party.

At the end, everyone was smiling.

Cat said, “That’s a big change from the last time I was here. I’m glad I came back to listen.”

Walter smiled. “It was a good day.”

Rebecca had a couple more people share, and then she talked a little about positive habits and how to get rid of bad habits—by making them inconvenient. A few of the group members took notes.

Simon’s phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen, and she saw the nameTalia. Probably a woman in his life. Surely, Rebecca had told him there was a rule about not being on a phone during group time.

He typed a reply message.

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