"I need everything," I told Lena. "Who knew she was coming, who had access to her contact details, who on the staff has been here long enough to have history with Gerald. All of it."
Lena did not write anything down. She never did. She looked at me with the particular focus she brought to things that mattered, nodded once, pulled her phone from her pocket.
"How fast?" she asked.
"An hour ago," I replied.
She left without another word. That was one of the things I valued most about Lena. She did not require explanation, motivation, or context beyond what was necessary to do the job. She simply moved.
I closed the door to Richard's study, the room I had been using since the gathering ended, walked to the window, stood there without looking at anything outside it.
Sophie's voice in the
