“You would kick him out of school over an argument?” I had to wonder if there was some racial profiling going on here. I doubted if Olivia Baylor cursed at a teacher, they’d consider booting her from the school.

“It was more than an argument, Ms. Hughes, it was a verbal assault. And I will say out of character for MJ. I realize he’s only been with us a few months, but until today, his behavior’s been exemplary. I want to believe today’s outburst was a reaction to his distress over the upheaval in his living situation. My hope is once that’s been resolved, his behavior will return to normal.” When I didn’t respond, she said, “You are aware he’s leaving his current foster home?”

“Yes,” I said, “but I didn’t think MJ knew yet.”

“He found out this morning. His homeroom teacher said she could tell he was upset when he arrived, but when she asked him what was wrong, he wouldn’t tell her. After the incident with his English teacher and the other student, our security guard brought him to my office. I insisted he account for his behavior and that’s when he told me.”

This was my fault. I’d intended to ask Aunt Maddy about fostering MJ and Sofia again on Sunday, but then Deena called and all my plans went out the window. What I couldn’t figure out was why Tim and Richard had told MJ without at least giving me a heads up. “MJ’s current foster parents are great,” I said, “but they just adopted a baby and they’re a bit overwhelmed.”

Anna Cooper nodded. “It was MJ’s social worker who told him. He was very upset, understandably, and even more so because he heard it from his social worker instead of his foster parents. I think he felt betrayed.”

Jesus, I really messed this up for everyone. “Let me talk to him. It wasn’t their fault. It was mine.”

“It’s not just that,” she said. “His new foster home is in Solana and the bus doesn’t go that far. I told him if transportation was the only issue, we would work with him to try to find a solution. But we cannot tolerate these kinds of outbursts. It’s not fair to the teachers and the other students. I’ve spoken to our school counselor. She thinks MJ would benefit from outside counseling to help him deal with his emotions in a more constructive manner.”

“I’ve offered to get him a therapist before, and he wasn’t interested. But I’ll talk to him again. I’ll tell him it’s a condition to him staying at the school.”

“That would be helpful,” Anna Cooper said. “We’re all very fond of MJ and would like to see him remain at the school, but we can’t ignore his behavioral issues.”

I nodded and Anna Cooper stood up. She walked me back to the lobby where MJ was waiting. As soon as he spotted us, he put his phone away and stood up. MJ raised his eyebrows but didn’t speak.

“We’ll talk in the car,” I said, and he followed me out of the building.

We walked through the school parking lot in silence. MJ waited until I drove out of the school parking lot and onto the main road before he spoke. “Are you mad at me?”

“No,” I said. His behavior was unacceptable, especially at school, but he had every right to feel angry, including with me. “I’m just sorry we’re in this situation.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“Actually, it is. Partially. I’m the reason Tim and Richard didn’t tell you.”

“You knew?” he asked, his voice rising.

“I found out Saturday. The only reason they didn’t tell you was because they were hoping you and Sofia could move back in with me. Thank you for not telling them about my suicide attempt, by the way.”

He shrugged. “I thought it was a secret.”

“It was, but not anymore. I explained the situation to them and told them I had to talk to my aunt. I’m one hundred percent sure that’s why they didn’t tell you themselves—they were waiting for me to get back to them. So, if you’re going to be angry at someone, the person you should be angry with is me.”

But he didn’t seem angry, or even upset. He seemed resigned. “Aunt Maddy don’t want us no more?”

“Don’t think that, MJ. I didn’t even ask her yet. But I’ll do it tonight, I promise.” Even as I said it, I wondered if it was a promise I could keep. I was supposed to be driving down to LA to meet with Jake’s boss. I’d called on the way to MJ’s school to tell them I was running late, and we pushed the meeting to late afternoon. Then I looked over at MJ and realized I needed to reorder my priorities. Jonah and Amelia were dead and MJ was alive. The meeting could wait.

Chapter 46

I dropped MJ at Tim and Richard’s house without stopping in and drove directly to my aunt’s house. I found her in the kitchen chopping carrots to add to a chicken, which was sitting in the roasting pan.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, wiping her hands on a kitchen towel. “I thought you were meeting with the FBI today.”

“I rescheduled. We need to talk about MJ and Sofia.”

“Why? What’s happened? Are they okay?”

I took her worrying as a hopeful sign. “They’re fine. Sort of. Long story short, they need a new place to live.”

Aunt Maddy didn’t immediately say yes. But it took less arm twisting than I thought it would. First, I had to point out the odds of MJ and Sofia getting a great foster home three times in a row were astronomical. Then I reminded her even if Maria did regain custody, which was not guaranteed, it didn’t mean she couldn’t maintain some sort of relationship with the kids. I pointed out she had told me Maria had been friendly to her when she supervised their visit. There was no reason to think she couldn’t work something out with her as I had with Tim and Richard. And when Aunt Maddy asked what would happen if Maria refused, which I had to acknowledge she had the right to do, I promised I’d get Alex to convince her. Then I reminded her Alex was the one who said MJ and Sofia would be better off living with us.

I didn’t know which one of my arguments persuaded her or if my arguments had no effect and she was just feeling guilty. Or maybe it was seeing Sofia again last week. Whatever it was, Aunt Maddy agreed and that’s all I cared about.

I immediately texted MJ the good news, then called Tim and told him too. He invited my aunt and me over for dinner tonight. The roasted chicken would have to wait.

But the FBI waited for no one, apparently.

Chapter 47

Assistant Special Agent in Charge Roberto Diaz called me while we were eating dinner at Tim and Richard’s house. I figured if he was calling it must be important, so I excused myself from the table and took my phone outside.

“Is there any way we could meet tomorrow instead of Friday?” he asked.

“Probably.” I had a court appearance scheduled for tomorrow. It was my final status meeting for Janelle. But I was sure if I called her and told her I couldn’t make it, she could easily find an associate at her new law firm to take my place. “Why?” I asked. “Did something change?”

“A little birdy told me the SEC’s going public with their investigation into your husband’s former firm this week. I want to make sure we have our ducks in a row before it happens.”

“But I thought Brian wasn’t involved with the Russians.” That’s what Jake had told me.

“He wasn’t,” Agent Diaz replied. “We believe his death may have been a suicide. The medical examiner found no evidence of foul play, and if Sullivan knew the SEC was closing in on him, it’s possible he would’ve wanted to end things.”

“Then why the rush?”

“Because if we’re going to end up in a turf war with the SEC, we want to be able to say we have an active investigation too.”

Agent Diaz was shorter than I’d imagined he’d be when we spoke on the phone. He was about my height, but broad and muscular. That was apparent even though he was wearing a suit. The buttons on his white shirt were strained at the chest, not the belly, and I wondered if he’d been a wrestler in his younger days.

Agent Diaz led me into a generic conference room whose wall of windows overlooked the 405 freeway. At this hour the cars were still moving. If we kept this meeting short, I might be able to make it out of the city before the freeway turned into a parking lot.

We sat down at the end of a long conference room table where a laptop was already sitting open. “May I see the flash drive?” Agent Diaz asked

I pulled the flash drive out of the zippered compartment of my purse, but I didn’t hand it over. “Can you tell me a little bit about your investigation? Obviously, I’m not asking for anything classified.”

Agent Diaz glanced down at my clenched fist where the flash drive remained, then back up at my face. He kept his expression neutral. “What would you like to know?”

“Jake told me you shut it down after Jonah was killed.” I assumed Jake had told his boss about our conversation on my aunt’s patio and that I refused to give him the flash drive. Presumably, that’s why Agent Diaz asked me to bring it to our meeting today.

I had no reason to distrust Agent Diaz. But when I woke up this morning, it occurred to me the timing of the supposed imminent announcement from the SEC seemed awfully convenient. Was I being paranoid? Maybe. But when I checked all the business news sites, I didn’t see any mention of Brian Sullivan or the management firm. After learning Jake had lied to me for years, his boss concocting a story about an imminent SEC announcement to get me to hand over the flash drive didn’t seem so farfetched.

“We had to shut it down,” Agent Diaz said. “The Russians thought they’d killed Jake and we wanted them to keep thinking that.”

“I understand that,” I said, “but why did that mean the investigation had to end? Couldn’t you just send in another undercover agent?”