Page 34 of The Negotiator

“What?” Lauren laughed. “You are not.”

Kayla was incredible and loving, and she had a horrible past that made it hard for her to be anything other than practical and a bit wary. Things had changed a bit now that she was dating Matthias, but people didn’t morph into something new. That was one thing Lauren was pretty clear about. Their general makeup, what mattered to them, stayed static.

“True, but back to Garrett...” Kayla cleared off an edge of the desk and sat there, swinging her leg back and forth.

Dodge.That advice kept running through Lauren’s head. She didn’t know what she was doing with Garrett, so there was no way she could explain it.

“He’s great.” That sounded so ridiculous she immediately tried again. “I’m trying not to overanalyze.”

Kayla’s smile was a bit too happy. “What I’ve learned about Matthias and Garrett and their friends is that you don’t need to overanalyze because they’ll do it for you.”

Lauren had no idea what that meant. “What?”

“If you don’t think you’re the main topic of conversation between them each day, you’re wrong.”

Lauren was pretty sure she swallowed her tongue. “What?”

Footsteps sounded in the hall, then Matthias and Garrett appeared in the doorway. One after the other, they stepped inside the room. With four adults, the furniture and all the files, it was claustrophobic.

“How are we doing up here?” Garrett asked as he moved to stand beside her.

“We have documents and...” Kayla grabbed a stack off the bookshelf. “And more documents. Then we have files and what look like old bank documents. Don’t you get that stuff online like everyone else?”

“Wait.” Lauren reached across the desk and Garrett’s chest and grabbed the file. She held it tight to her as memories of the last thirty months ran through her head.

Garrett frowned at her. “You okay?”

A light clicked on inside her. She’d never experienced an aha moment before but now she knew the sensation. It spun through her.

She turned to Garrett and held the file out to him. “The documents. The bank statements. I’ve kept them.”

Matthias looked around the desk. “It looks like you keep everything.”

“No, you don’t understand.” She opened the file and passed it around for them to see. Showed them the top statement. “I realized the money mess Carl dragged us into when the creditors started calling. The police knew about the money issues and asked what felt like a million questions on the topic. But the bank statements, the fraud... I didn’t share that with the police.”

Kayla frowned. “What?”

“It’s why I went to the divorce attorney right before Carl bolted. I asked questions and Carl wouldn’t answer them, but I knew the statements didn’t make any sense compared to how little money we had left over after expenses and Carl’s credit cards.” Lauren exhaled. “That lie was the one that broke me.”

Kayla’s head shot up. “But why hide this information from the police?”

“Because she didn’t want to paint an even bigger target on her chest. She was already a suspect. Her husband cheats on her, runs up debts and lies to her then disappears.” Garrett put a hand on her lower back. “More evidence might have had the police looking in the wrong direction.”

The tension buzzing in Lauren’s head vanished as Garrett talked. He understood. He wasn’t blaming her or judging. The expression on his face could only be described as pride. “And I needed Carl declared dead. I couldn’t afford—literally—a protracted investigation or more lawyers.”

“All those months of insisting he was dead.” Kayla said the words slowly, as if the importance of them hit her as she spoke.

Lauren rushed to explain. “It was the only way to survive.” She looked around the room, willing them all to understand. “Once I knew Carl scammed me I really didn’t care where he was, but I was terrified of being blamed and not being able to defend myself.”

Matthias nodded. “Smart.”

“Very,” Garrett said right after. “So we’re dealing with someone who knows—”

“Bob.” All the pieces slipped together then. She didn’t know why she hadn’t figured it out the second she saw Carl’s body. She pointed to the business’s name listed as a duplicate address for receiving the statements. “That’s Bob’s old company. It’s changed its name, but it’s him. He’s a financial expert. How did he not know these weren’t real? It was his job to manage our finances, to check.”

Garrett searched through the file. “You said he was the first one to come looking for a loan repayment when Carl disappeared.”

“And he knew about the scam.” Kayla sighed. “According to Maryanne.”

“He might want to get his hands on these before you turn them over...” Garrett’s voice trailed off then he lifted his head. “You are going to give these to the police this time, right?”

So few days had passed since they’d found the body. Detective Cryer had called and insisted they talk again. She needed to do it, but she’d barely had time to think. It was as if an endless parade of people filed in and out of her days. Police questions. Alarms. Garrett.

But she had to concentrate now. She needed her life back and the only way to take control was to grab it. “The police can have them. I actually didn’t think about them until this second. I almost burned them last year.”

Garrett looked at Matthias over the top of the file. “While we’re burning things, I think we should ask to talk with Bob again.”

“You can’t kill him.” Lauren tried to phrase it as a joke, but when no one laughed she was pretty sure she’d failed.

Garrett scoffed. “I’m not promising.”

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