The man nodded. “In the meantime, you need to destroy the evidence.”

“I will,” JD said. “What’s going on with Lydia’s new driver?”

“I’m watching her.”

“Any issues?”

Kline shook his head. “She’s doing everything as I’d expect.”

“Good. Let’s see what Lydia thinks of her.”

“She shouldn’t be the final judge,” Kline said. “If I suspect something with Ms. Gunning, she’s gone.”

“But you don’t.”

“Not so far.”

JD stared at him, then changed the subject. “Why don’t you go get some rest. I’m sure tomorrow will be a long day.”

“Aren’t they all?”

Kline headed for the door, letting himself out. After it clicked shut, JD sat and smoked for a long time, and then he put the cigar on a crystal ashtray and went to his desk. He sat down heavily, then unlocked a drawer and pulled out a USB drive.

He drew in a breath as he inserted the drive into his computer and opened the contents, then began looking at photos and notes that Trent Fontenot had gathered. As he did so, he thought about what Kline had said. Keeping the USB drive was like looking at a trophy from his crimes, and he did get a certain thrill out of it. However, as usual, Kline was right. JD needed to get rid of this evidence.

After looking at notes for a few minutes longer, he ejected the USB drive and put it back in the drawer, which he locked. Then he sat back, staring into space. He’d get rid of the evidence.

But not yet.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Lydia stood at the end of the hallway, hearing her husband and Kline arguing. Their voices were raised, easily carrying to her. Was something going on at JD’s work that had him so frustrated?

Then she heard something about an NDA agreement. What for? Wait, what else had he said? Something about a woman. Lydia’s eyes widened. The NDA agreement was with a woman?

She kept listening, now about how the woman wouldn’t talk. Lydia put a hand to her mouth and choked back a sob. JD wasn’t talking about his work. This was something else, her worst nightmare realized, all her denials coming to the forefront.

Her husband and Kline kept arguing, now about a drive. Or a driver? Her mind was a jumble, trying to understand what they were discussing. Did Kline mean Jo? She hoped he wasn’t trying to talk JD into letting her driver go already. In the little time she’d spent with Jo, the woman seemed like a person she might be able to trust—maybe the only one she could trust. No one else around her had been kind lately. Even JD had been cool and distant.

Their voices broke through her thoughts again—something about evidence. What evidence?

Lydia narrowed her eyes. JD was covering up something, obviously. She could ask him about it, but then she snorted. He’d never tell her anything. It was always “Things are fine. Don’t worry about it, love.”

As if him saying that could work now.

Kline swore and said to shut the door. Lydia darted around a corner and tiptoed toward the kitchen, her heart beating a furious staccato. If JD had seen her, he would come after her. She took in deep breaths, waiting. But he didn’t come.

She quietly took a glass from a cupboard and got water from the refrigerator dispenser. Taking a drink, she swallowed, then moments later spit it up, her stomach sour. Lydia set the glass down and gripped the edge of the sink, feeling lightheaded. It felt as if a bulldozer had knocked her senseless.

She’d been right to suspect JD. He’d been seeing other women. Lydia looked at her reflection in the kitchen window, not liking who stared back at her. She’d turned a blind eye to his behavior, but she couldn’t deny it anymore.

But what had he really done? There had been rumors, of course, things that she’d dismissed. Even tonight, at the banquet, she’d had to fend off the gossip. That was what the new driver had seen. Mackenzie Potts had hinted that JD had his eyes on someone. Lydia wouldn’t have expected anything else from Mackenzie. The woman delighted in rumors, and specifically in taking others down. Lydia thought she’d handled it well. She’d told Mackenzie that she was wrong, but the encounter had gotten under her skin. When Mackenzie had continued to heckle her, she’d excused herself to go to the bathroom. With Jo’s encouragement, she returned and let Mackenzie know that everything was fine with JD before she left.

Except that it wasn’t.

Now she would look like a fool in front of Mackenzie and others—if she wasn’t already being mocked behind her back. They’d probably been laughing at her for years, as she continued to make excuses for JD. Lydia’s eyes narrowed. She had lived a long time in a lie, not wanting to deal with the reality of her marriage, of who her husband was. She had her own excuses for that. Someday, she would look at her choices more closely, examine why she had allowed her husband to run around behind her back. Regardless, she wasn’t going to put up with it anymore.

Lydia drew in a deep breath, smelling the roses in a vase on the island counter. The scent did nothing for her. She thought about storming back into the office to confront JD, but she stopped herself for a couple of reasons. One, she wasn’t going to air her dirty laundry in front of Kline. He probably knew too much as it was, and he got paid to smooth things over. And two, JD would lie to her, as he seemed to have done all this time. She shook her head. No, before she did anything rash, she would gather evidence. She was not going to give JD any kind of an out. She would know for sure what he’d done before she talked to him.

And if he was doing what she suspected, she would take him down.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

When Jo reached her apartment complex, the parking lot was full, and she found a space several down from her building. It was almost ten o’clock, and although there were lights on in numerous apartment windows, she didn’t see anyone out and about. However, as she walked to her building, she noticed a dark sedan backed into a parking place thirty yards from her building.

Was someone in the driver’s seat?

Moonlight lit her way as Jo walked to her door and let herself inside. She flicked on a light and looked around. The room appeared just as she’d left it.

She took in a deep breath. Was there something in the air, an odor that hadn’t been there before? She went to the living room window and closed the blinds, then tuned the TV to a news station, turning up the volume. With that cover in place, she began a check of the apartment.

The kitchen and living areas seemed the same. However, when she went into the bedroom, she noticed something off. The one listening device remained behind the headboard of her bed, but when she checked the drawers, she saw that her clothes had been moved. Slightly, but enough that she noticed.

Jo smiled. As she’d suspected, Kline had searched the apartment while she’d been gone. She finished with the bathroom and didn’t find anything else out of place. Then she returned to the bedroom, changed into running clothes, and spent a few minutes stretching. After that, she shut off the bedroom light and stood by the window. She carefully parted the blinds and peeked out, staring at the dark sedan in the parking lot. A few minutes of watching left her certain that somebody was in the vehicle.

Kline, surveilling her?

If that was the case—and Jo was pretty sure it was—she would need to remain cautious. She went into the kitchen for a drink, then shut off the TV and stepped outside. She’d told Kline that she liked to run, and that was true.

She started a slow jog down the middle of the parking lot, passing in front of the sedan. She kept her gaze forward, but out of the corners of her eyes, she saw the driver slink down low. Pretending not to notice, she kept running, loving how she felt. Not only was running empowering to her, she liked the solo endeavor. Jo didn’t do marathons, didn’t want to be around people when she ran. She never wore earbuds—no music, no distractions, just her. One foot in front of the other, setting a rhythm. A good feel in her legs, the air sucking in and out of her lungs. Tonight, though, that rhythm eluded her. Too much on her mind, too much to be wary of.

As her heart rate rose, she cut between a truck and another dark vehicle, then started down the sidewalk.

Kline wanted to keep tabs on her, but her saying that she liked to jog had put him in a dilemma, especially if she ran at night. Her tail had several choices to make, none of them good. If the driver left his position and followed her with headlights on, she would easily see him. He couldn’t very well drive slowly behind her without her knowing. Conversely, if he tried to follow her with the headlights off, she would still likely notice him, and she’d be even more suspicious of the car.

He could try to tail her on foot as well. However, nothing would draw more negative attention to him than him trying to keep up with her, stalking her in the darkness. In any of the scenarios, he would risk her calling the police, or Kline. She tried to think as he would, and she figured he would stay put, probably just reporting to Kline that she was out for a run.

Even with that, she didn’t trust that Kline had left surveillance of her to only the one driver. There could be someone else watching her. It also would’ve been easy for him to place cameras in trees around the apartment complex, or on one of the buildings. He was a man with resources, and he probably got away with a lot.

She kept running, feet pounding the concrete at a steady pace. She paid attention to the vehicles, noting makes and models, looking for the kind of small details that the average person would miss. That type of training had kept her alive on many missions.

When Jo reached the end of a long block, she hadn’t noticed anyone in the cars parked on the street. There were a few lights on in houses, and the sounds of road traffic carried from the surrounding streets.

Jo kept running, and a few minutes later, she approached a wooded area. She ran along the edge, then darted off the street and into the trees. After a moment, she glanced over her shoulder to see if anyone was following. The trees clawed toward the sky, the moonlight a gray glow. She ran for thirty more seconds, then stopped by a large tree and stretched.

Taking a deep breath, she ran for another minute and stopped again. In the distance, a bridge spanned a small creek. Jo kept to the shadows, still not seeing anyone. She hooted softly, and three figures materialized out of the darkness to her left. Jo checked behind her again. Only the trees. The figures approached and halted several feet from her. Jo didn’t recognize the two big men—both with crew cuts and an ex-military look. They acted as if they knew how to take care of themselves. The third person was a tall woman with long hair pulled into a ponytail. All three wore dark clothing and light jackets, and all three had guns in shoulder holsters. The woman drew near and spoke softly.

“Were you followed?”