Page 35 of The Mood Board

“What are you doing?”

I froze, suddenly aware Tom was behind me, looking at the screen over my shoulder.

“Umm—” I didn’t have an answer for him. At least, none that I wanted to share.

“Is that”—Bianca popped up over my other shoulder, leaning close and pointing at the figure in the photo—”Janelle?”

What was I going to tell them? I should have been more careful, should have waited until I got home to do the search. I only had a vague feeling about Janelle, but nothing I could share with them, yet. Tom worked with Janelle, and I didn’t want to blow anything up at the worst possible time.

Well, okay, I didn’t have anything. The image on the screen was pretty damning evidence. Or, at least, evidence of something.

“Janelle doesn’t have a twin, does she?” I asked Tom instead of answering his question.

“Not that I know of, but I guess I don’t know her that well.” He sounded distracted, reading the information on the screen.

I didn’t have to say anything after all—the page said it all.

“Why were you looking up this information?”

“Because she came over yesterday morning,” I admitted with a sigh, my shoulders falling. “She brought me a bagel from my favorite place and told me to relax and she would make me breakfast.”

“What? Why?” Bianca asked.

I shrugged. “I have no idea. To be nice, I thought, and I was too tired to argue. But then I fell asleep, and when I woke up, she was in Liam’s office.”

“Why?” Tom’s eyes narrowed with suspicion.

Shaking my head, I shrugged. “The police took everything important anyway, but she said Liam sent her there to find something.”

“Liam?” Tom repeated, his eyes narrowing further. “How did she talk to Liam when none of us have been able to?”

His lawyer hadn’t visited with him until this morning, which meant he couldn’t have relayed anything to her, either.

The three of us looked at each other, then I looked back at the screen. The name of the last company Janelle had worked for—the rival company—jumped out at me.

“Wait. Didn’t that company go bankrupt?” I asked, pointing to the spot on the screen.

“It did,” Tom agreed. “But it restructured and came back as this company called Horizons. New CEO and all that.”

I looked at Liam’s best friend, then back at the laptop before I grabbed it and stormed out of the office.

“Bailey?” I heard Tom calling after me, followed by Bianca’s surprised echo.

Janelle looked up as I stalked into her office, her eyes widening the narrowing as her gaze settled on my face and no doubt my expression. “Bailey?”

“What is this?” I demanded, aware I should have thought this through before doing anything rash. But I was here, and I wanted answers—the heated anger pounding through me was too much to ignore.

“What is what?” she asked. I hoped I wasn’t imagining her nervous swallow.

“This.” I dropped the laptop on the desk and pointed to her picture, the articles, and the names.

A swell of exultation followed a rounding of Janelle’s eyes. For once, her perfect mask dropped, and this time I had no doubt I saw her convulsive swallow.

“Who is Mallory Parker, Janelle? And don’t tell me she’s your twin,” I said, glaring.

“Let me explain—” she started.

“Please do,” I interrupted her, too angry to care about being petty.