Page 170 of His Good Girl

She lifted her chin. “We caught them.”

“Explain,” I said.

Avery opened the notebook. Her handwriting filled page after page. There were timelines and contact points. There were lists of what Jules had been asked, what she had answered, what they already knew, and what they wanted confirmed. Her notes were comprehensive.

Benjamin leaned over the desk.

After three seconds, he whispered, “Beautiful.”

Avery looked up.

He cleared his throat. “Distressing. Dangerous. But structurally pleasing.”

Jules unlocked her phone with shaking hands. “I was contacted by a woman named Becca. She called again last night.”

My attention moved to her.

“She thought I was still scared,” Jules said. Her voice trembled, but she kept going. “I was. I am. But I recorded the call.”

Jules pressed play. A woman’s voice filled my office through the small speaker, smooth and soft and poisonously professional.

“Jules, we need you to understand the position you’re in.”

Jules’s recorded voice answered. “You said if I cooperated, the photos would go away.”

“They will, provided everyone remains reasonable.”

“What does reasonable mean?”

“It means Ms. Hale should not complicate Mr. Rowe’s decision regarding Hartwell.”

Avery’s eyes stayed on mine.

Jules’s voice shook in the recording. “What happens to my pictures if she doesn’t?”

Becca sighed, as if disappointed by a child. “No one wants unnecessary exposure. But if you stop helping us, we can’t protect you.”

“Protect me from you?”

Another pause, but it was longer this time.

“From consequences.”

The recording continued. Becca asked whether Avery had discussed the deadline with me. Whether she seemed likely to influence my decision. Whether Jules could get Avery alone before Monday morning. Jules, coached by Avery and probably terrified enough to deserve a medal, gave them almost nothing and made Becca say more. When the recording ended, no one moved.

“That,” Benjamin said softly, “is useful.”

I looked at Avery. She was watching me, waiting for anger. She deserved some of it, but the truth was that I was insanely proud of her.

“You should have told me before you let her take that call,” I said.

“I know.”

“You put yourself in the middle of it.”

“I was already in the middle of it.”

For a second, I saw Robert in Avery’s face. I saw the refusal to let someone else determine the course of their life.