Page 3 of The Advocate’s Ultimatum

“Where do you live now?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

That was odd. But Sabre let it go for now. “You were my client?”

The girl nodded with quiet certainty. “You told me if anything ever happened, I should come find you.”

Sabre felt the same chill as she had in the courtroom. Was this girl actually remembering her? Or had someone told her that story?

“Who told you not to say where you live?” Sabre asked gently.

The girl lifted her eyes again. “My guardian.”

Sabre’s instincts sharpened. “What’s his or her name?”

Bay hesitated longer this time, then shook her head. “He told me not to say.”

Sabre nodded. “Okay. We can come back to that.”

The girl watched her carefully. “He said you’d ask that first.”

Sabre felt a ripple of unease move through her. “Did he tell you what I’d ask next?”

The girl thought about it. “Yes.”

Sabre waited.

“You’re going to ask about the man I killed.”

Sabre folded her hands in her lap. “That seems like a reasonable question.”

The girl looked down again. “He deserved it.”

Sabre paused. “Did you know him?” she asked after a moment.

“Yes.”

“How?”

“He was part of what happened to the other girl.”

Sabre’s pulse quickened. “What other girl?”

“The one who had disappeared.”

“Tell me about the other girl.”

“I can’t.”

Sabre sat very still. This was no longer a confused teenager making things up. Someone had given her a script. And whoever that someone was knew Sabre well enough to predict her questions.

Sabre looked at the girl carefully. “Did you ever have a different name? A different last name, maybe?”

The girl hesitated, then said, “No.”

“How old are you?”

“Fifteen.”