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But Montgomery saw her straighten her shoulders. Cayman hadnotgone well. So no new clients, unless she’d lied about the trip. And lying was definitely in Hartley’s skill set.
“Hey, peeps,” Georgia said as her image appeared in the window next to Becca’s.
He hadn’t seen Georgia in quite a while, since she preferred to work out of Stone’s condo downtown. She looked a lot different these days, having ditched the buttoned-down librarian look to let her curly hair be free and wear bright colors. It suited her.
“Who else is joining us? Fontana? Or Nita?” Georgia asked.
“Or Lindsey?” Becca suggested. “Nita’s in Chicago. I know that much.”
“I gave Fontana, Nita, and Lindsey an early and extended Christmas break,” Hartley said. “I’m keeping this to the core team.”
“Oh, about that…” Claire said, holding up her hand. “Lindsey gave me notice last night.”
“What?” Hartley asked, looking toward the ceiling. “She knows more than anyone else about running the estate. Can we get her back? Pay her more or something?”
“After she heard about Lawrence, she was pretty much done,” Claire said. “But the fact that we all think Rogue is behind this… Well, she couldn’t take it.”
“Shoot, that’s right,” Becca noted. “She and Rogue had a thing.”
“She should be a suspect too,” Spencer said, glancing at Hartley before pulling out a small notepad. “Maybe I should talk to her.”
Montgomery watched Hartley wave a hand at Frank in anogesture.
“Too late,” Claire said, shooting him a grim look. “She’s gone home to Ohio. I mean, follow up on her if you want. I have her cell number. But she’s staying with her parents and told me, and I quote, ‘Forget you ever knew me.’”
“Shit.” Georgia shook her head. “I liked her. But I can’t blame her.”
“Well…” Claire said with a sympathetic shrug. “She was really upset. She didn’t even want me to update her on whatever happens with Rogue—uh, Lucas, that is. Can we just skip the codenames for now?”
“Yes,” Hartley said, staring at the middle of the board table, lost in thought.
“Sorry I’m late,” said a short, muscular man as he strode into the room.Jackal. An apt codename for the wiry, tattooed ex-Cavendish employee.
“Thank you for joining us so early,” Hartley told him, and her words relaxed a tension he’d been wearing like a suit.
But Montgomery sensed a tension filling Hartley and glanced over at her. He remembered the night she’d fired Jackal, when Becca had stumbled upon the kill kit with the knife and rope. Her wedding ring had been in it, and they’d had a savage fight about that piece of evidence.
His gaze flashed to her left hand, only to find the ring finger bare.
That’s to be expected,he thought, flattening his bare left hand on the table. He’d taken to keeping his ring in his wallet. Probably time to end that habit as well.
“Lindsey quit,” Hartley told Jackal, who took a seat at the far end of the table, two chairs away from Spencer. “And we’re going to skip using codenames.”
Jackal’s eyes flitted to Hartley in surprise, but he nodded and tightened his lips in acknowledgement.
“In that case, I’m Karol. With a K,” Jackal-now-Karol said, sweeping the table in a steely look, as if to challenge anyone who thought his name was funny.
“Thank God. I could never remember everybody’s names, although I had the best one,” Becca said, flinging her black hair dramatically. “Obsidian.”
Claire chuckled and rolled her eyes. “I can see Hollywood’s gone to your head.”
“Rogue’s name is Lucas,” Hartley said. “Today we’re discussing how to find him. Karol, I heard you’ve been able to track him for a while.”
“No way! I thought he was long gone!” Becca exclaimed, leaning closer to her camera.
“If you’re patient, people show up. And he did after a couple weeks,” Karol explained, leaning back in his chair. “He holed up in a condemned motel north of Lake Union. I tracked him here just before the last engagement, but then I lost him.”
“Shit,” Georgia muttered. “But good work.”
