“What else?”
“Kara rebounded later. Vanessa opened her first restaurant several years before Kara’s streaming career exploded. Press coverage compares them occasionally. Not always kindly to Vanessa.”
“How not kindly?”
“Variation on the same theme. Vanessa is talented but traditional. Kara is fresh, magnetic, camera-ready. Kara becomes the face of Orlando’s modern culinary scene. Vanessa remains respected locally but never breaks wide.”
Could this be jealousy? An old, humiliating wound Vanessa carries? I look at Kara again. She is not expecting betrayal from that direction. Not even a little.
“She called Vanessa after the knife photo,” I say.
“I know.”
“She told Vanessa about me this morning.”
“Name?”
“No. Just local security.”
“Good.”
“Vanessa asked?”
“Yes.”
Sloane is silent on the other end. Finally, he speaks.
“We don’t accuse best friends based on old articles and bad feelings.”
“I know that.”
“Do you?”
I drag a hand over the back of my neck. “I know the difference between suspicion and proof.”
“Good. Because Kara is attached to this woman, and if you push before we have something real, she may shut all of us out, especially you.”
That is the part I like least. Not because Sloane is wrong. Because he’s right.
“What do you want me to do?” I ask.
“Keep Vanessa on the list without making Kara feel like we’re attacking her inner circle. Rafi is checking the burner activation footage. I’m contacting Sentinel for a list of anyone who knew the exact timing of Kara’s departure. We also need to know whether Vanessa has access to Kara’s home, old key codes, emergency contacts, anything like that.”
“She’ll ask why.”
“Then don’t ask yet unless it comes up naturally in conversation.”
Naturally. Nothing about this situation is natural.
Inside the SUV, Kara looks down at her phone. Her shoulders tighten slightly.
“What?” I say, though Sloane can’t see her.
“What happened?”
“Kara’s reading something.”
A second later, her phone lowers, and she looks through the windshield at me. Not panicked, but upset. That is worse.
