“You could ask your father,” Falco suggested.

Sadie shrugged. “He probably won’t tell me, but I can ask. Apparently, he has requested to see me.”

“Hold on a sec.” Devlin made a face as if she’d just thought of something unexpected. She picked up her cell and started tapping on the screen.

Sadie wished she had eaten something and downed some aspirin. Her head was throbbing with lack of sleep and caffeine overload.

“That’s it.” Devlin turned her phone around for Sadie and Falco to see the screen.

“You planning some landscaping?” Sadie asked, unimpressed with the blue blooming clumps in the photo Devlin pointed at her.

“Irises,” Falco said knowingly.

Devlin nodded. “Taylor’s favorite flower. They’re blooming all around her house. Maybe the lady is in this for more than just the affair.”

Sadie shook her head, making it throb even harder. “Wait. Naomi loved Asher. She wouldn’t be involved in this. She’s . . .”

A cold, hard reality slugged Sadie, pushing the air out of her lungs. It didn’t matter that Naomi claimed to love Asher. Sadie’s father claimed to love her. It definitely didn’t matter that Naomi presented herself as a good person . . . Sadie’s father did the same.

Sadie gasped for a breath. “Holy shit.” Her gaze collided with Devlin’s. “You could be right.”

“We need a warrant for that warehouse,” Devlin said as she scooted off her stool. “The search yesterday was for my missing daughter. No one opened packages or boxes prepared for shipping.”

“I know just the judge to ask,” Falco agreed.

“I’ve got Naomi,” Sadie said, outrage pounding inside her.

“We want her alive,” Devlin warned.

“So do I,” Sadie assured her. If Devlin’s scenario was correct—Sadie wanted Naomi to face her judgment day publicly. What better way to punish an attorney than in a court of law?

Devlin hesitated. “You go,” she said to Falco. “I can’t leave Tori.”

He nodded. “You’re right. No problem. I can handle it.”

“No.”

They all turned toward the newcomer to their party. Tori stood in the doorway.

“I’ve already called Aunt Diana to come pick me up,” the girl said, looking directly at her mother. “Go do your job, Mom. I like it when you get the bad guys.”

Sadie grinned. She liked this kid, and she never liked kids.

47

Noon

Taylor Residence

Eighteenth Avenue South

Birmingham

After stopping by her place to pick up her weapon—leaving this morning without it just went to show how out of it she really was—Sadie made a quick phone call to Angelo and confirmed Naomi Taylor’s location. Apparently, the woman had left the resort the same day she’d been dropped off.

Obviously Naomi had only been playing along with Sadie. Placating her to avoid suspicion. Naomi hadn’t been afraid at all, because she was one of the bad guys.

Outrage boiled inside Sadie.

Ignoring the multitude of blooming irises seemingly mocking her, Sadie knocked on the door. It opened immediately, as if Naomi had been standing on the other side waiting for Sadie’s arrival.

Naomi smiled. “Come in,” she said, opening the door wider.

Sadie’s lips tightened to prevent lashing out at her. She stepped inside. Had to play this right. She wanted the bitch to confess everything. The door closed behind her.

Keep your cool.

Naomi floated past her and toward the living room without a word. Sadie’s nose wrinkled at the smell that wafted behind her.

“Are you . . .” Sadie wandered into the living room. “Are you smoking weed?”

Naomi picked up the generously sized joint and took a long drag. She held the smoke deep in her lungs; then, as she exhaled, she said, “I am. So, I’m outed, am I?”

For a moment Sadie wondered if Naomi already realized just how far she’d been outed.

“You are.” Sadie took a seat across the coffee table from her. The weapon nestled against the small of her back scrubbed at her bare skin. “You aren’t supposed to be here.”

“I couldn’t stay at that lovely resort,” Naomi announced with a big breathy sigh. “Though I do appreciate your thinking of my safety. I was never afraid.”

“Yeah. I get that.” Sadie removed the thumb drive from her front pocket and tossed it on the table. “I thought you might want this.”

Naomi stared at the incredibly small device and laughed. “Well, I’ll be damned. I searched this house from top to bottom and never found that thing. I caught Asher with it once, and I knew he had something incriminating hidden on it, but I just couldn’t find it.”

“I have only one question for you, Iris.”

Naomi laughed again. Probably the weed.

“Did you kill Asher?”

Shock claimed her face. “Of course not! How could you say such a thing? I loved him.”

Images of Asher’s smile, his eyes, flashed across Sadie’s vision, sparking a powerful need for revenge. “Why don’t you tell me who did?”

Naomi carefully tapped out the fire at the end of her joint and settled the remainder on the edge of the ashtray. “I thought Lee had done it.”

“His father?” Surprise trickled through Sadie, though it shouldn’t have. The bastard apparently had a lot to lose.

“I’m sure you’ve established the identity of Harvard.” Naomi said this with a sort of nonchalance that warned she was as high as a kite.

Sadie nodded. “I never could get right with the whole parent-killing-the-kid thing.” Not entirely true but she had to keep the conversation going. Either that or she would put one between the woman’s overly dilated pupils here and now.

Devlin would be pissed. She wanted to solve the whole case, not just Asher’s murder.

“Please, men like Leland Walsh have no true moral compass behind the facade they present to the rest of the world. He would kill his own mother if necessary.”

“The two of you are partners in the distribution game with the Osorio cartel. Asher found out and planned to take you down.” No need to beat around the bush.

“Actually, it was Lana who figured out there was something between myself and her husband. But she was never able to catch us. She was never that bright, you know. Frankly, luring her husband into business as well as my bed was quite easy. She thought she’d married into this fine, upstanding family when, in fact, dear old Harvard is as underhanded as they come. As soon as he figured out what I was doing, he wanted a slice of the pie. Helped cultivate new distribution channels all the way to Canada. Everyone was pleased.”