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She refused to plead her case to Faith and went with a simple explanation instead. “Baines was a wild card. He had started paying someone to follow my sons. Stolen medical and academic records. Invaded their privacy, and if the photographs we saw were any indication, his investigator got far too close to my boys.” That was the piece that had tipped Earl over into action. He could handle being stalked but refused to let anyone near his sons. “Baines, out of whatever mixed-up business hatred he had for Earl, also hired someone to dig around for dirt on Earl and on me.”
Faith shrugged. “These are personal problems.”
Retta saw the danger as far more pervasive. “The investigationcould have led back to the group. Look what happened with the reporters.”
“Okay, but your guy killed Baines with a witness in the room, and then that witness—the ever-present and determined Gabby Fielding—went on a rampage that could ruin everything.”
Retta couldn’t argue with the timeline, so she pivoted to the more obvious point. “Gabby isn’t that powerful.”
“You should tell her that, because she’s acting like she is. Thanks to her, a reporter and Jessa are dead.” Faith poured a cup of tea. “Which makes me wonder why Gabby is still alive. Enlighten me.”
“We’ve had too much collateral damage. We’ve failed to keep a low profile and follow our own rules. Both of us. If this continues, someone will start poking around, and we won’t be able to pivot out of it.”
“You mean someoneelse. Gabby is already poking.” Faith stared at Retta over the rim of her teacup. “I told you about our confrontation at the funeral.”
One more thing to keep Retta’s anger in the almost unmanageable range. “She’s not going to talk. She has too much to lose. Too many family secrets she wants to keep buried.”
“You exposed the biggest one. The one about her daughter’s real father.” Faith snorted. “It didn’t even slow her down.”
“I was trying to do damage control when I had my man contact the daughter at school.”
Faith rose in her chair before settling in again. “Youcreatedthe damage!”
“You’re lashing out. We had been tracking Jessa, but she’dalmost snuck away. She wanted to hide and thought she could, but you gave her a phone that let us track her one last time. And then you sent Trent.” Retta admitted lulling Jessa into thinking she could have privacy then exploiting that trust had been brilliant. “You set her up then knocked her down.”
Faith’s bravado took a hit. “You would have done the same thing. You didn’t see her after Darren attacked her. She’d unraveled. She wasn’t going to keep any of our secrets.”
Retta could guess how that played out. Letting him loose might have been too much. She’d assess that later when she assessed every other move she’d made. “Listen, we’ve been doing this for years without a problem. We can correct the current trajectory and fix this.”
“It’s too late to handle this only between us. We need to be honest about the choices we both made outside of the usual process.” Faith slowly lowered her teacup to the desk. “I’m also asking for a vote to wrap up the one remaining loose end so that we can move forward with some sense of stability.”
“Gabby.”
Faith nodded. “We both know what needs to be done.”
Chapter Eighty
Gabby
Gabby conceded to the body search. Not that she had much of a choice. Retta had picked Woodend Nature Sanctuary in Chevy Chase as the location for the meeting and brought a bodyguard with her. Wisely, not Trent.
When the man took Gabby’s bag and cell phone then started the patdown, Gabby eyed Retta. “Is this necessary?”
“Clearly.”
Retta looked out of place at the picnic table in her designer pantsuit and thin diamond bracelets. The table had been moved away from the Sanctuary’s mansion and all the trails until it was nestled in a circle of trees. Children ran in the distance, screaming with excitement as adults watched. They were far enough from crowds to have privacy. Gabby assumed Retta had called in a favor or was part of the Audubon Society that ran the place. Either way, it was just the two of them and her enforcer.
Gabby waited for the spot check to finish before sitting across from Retta. “I was surprised you called.”
“There have been some developments,” Retta said.
Gabby hated that wording. It suggested her fears had been warranted. “Let me guess. Faith is upset you let me live?”
Retta made a sound that came close to a groan. “Blame your stunt at the funeral for that.”
Stuntseemed strong, but Gabby didn’t deny it had happened. She’d intended to spill the truth that day. Between the grief and the guilt, she’d wound herself into a mental frenzy that she couldn’t snap out of and find her balance again. But that was a week ago. The bit of distance had grounded Gabby. Made her smarter... she hoped.
“You talked about the Foundation,” Retta said. “It sounded to her as if you were trying to expose the group.”
