“Did you know that when you booked this?”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
Sophie looked at Rachel.
Rachel found something fascinating on her tablet.
“I’m surrounded by open communication.”
“You knew the photographs would come up,” Sophie said. “Everyone knows they will.”
“The problem is not the question. It’s what answer you think I should give.”
“I think you should give one that stops people digging.”
“They found Johnson & Calder. They looked for her parents. Someone tried to identify Molly.”
Sophie’s expression shifted.
“We stopped that story.”
“For now.”
“Yes.”
Outside the tinted window, fans crowded behind metal barriers. Some held album covers. One held a sign with a turtle wearing a tie.
The joke had traveled farther than I had.
“I’m not calling Ellie an acquaintance because it is convenient.”
“My job is not the enemy.”
“I didn’t say it was.”
“You looked directly at me when you said convenient.”
“That was normal eye contact.”
Rachel put down her tablet.
“What happens if Savannah refuses to answer?”
Sophie checked her phone.
“More headlines. More speculation. More attempts to identify previous relationships.”
Claire.
The name entered the car without anyone saying it.
I looked at the green bracelet around my wrist.
“Richard believes a friendly denial would make most of this go away,” Sophie added.
“Richard believes repetition becomes truth if he invoices it correctly.”
