Page 285 of The Sinner: James

I motion for the dessert menu.

Soon, we begin reviewing our options.

“Cheesecake for me and chocolate cake for the birthday girl,” Eve says, placing the order.

The waiter nods and walks away.

“So what’s your plan?” she asks.

“I don’t know how much longer I can do this kind of work. I need something to fall back on, a backup plan. I have a few ideas and some capital, but I’m not willing to risk it and lose everything.”

“Maybe one of your rich ’friends’ can help you,” she says, smiling.

“I was thinking about that too,” I murmur, lowering my eyes to my phone and sifting through my contacts.

Moments later, the server sets our desserts on the table.

“I may have just the right person for that,” I say, making a call and raising my eyes.

Eve takes a bite of cheesecake.

The call goes straight to voicemail.

“Hi. It’s me. Call me when you get this. I might need your help,” I say.

“Who was that?” she asks, grinning.

“David Moore.”

She tilts her eyebrows up, a questioning look sliding over her face.

“He was my first client.”

7

JAMES

“The conference room is ready,sir. And Mr. Harrington’s plane just landed. He’ll make a quick stop home before coming here.”

“Thanks, Lynn,” I say, my eyes trained on my phone.

“Is there anything else?”

I raise my eyes.

“No.”

She nods and vanishes out the door.

Sprawled in my chair, I tip my eyes to my cell phone and check my messages.

I open a couple and send a reply before I pull up a message from an unknown number and scan it.

A short message and… pictures?

Sender: I thought you’d like to know about this.

I run my gaze over the snapshots. The quality of the pictures is not great.

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