REBECCA’S POV
Olivia came to the house at 9 a.m. on a Saturday with a folder and information that had come through her network, the account of Rose’s meeting with Robert Calloway, Edmund’s reaction, the call that had followed. She laid it out without editorializing and I listened to all of it without interrupting.
I’d made tea before she arrived, out of habit more than hospitality, and it sat untouched between us on the table, going cold in its cup while she talked. I noticed the steam stop rising at some point during her second sentence and didn’t reach for it again. Some information asked for your full attention, and this was that kind.
Rose had overplayed her hand in the specific way that desperation produces when desperation is attempting to perform strategy. She had attempted to p
