of assignments. But spending the evening with the celebrated Detective Ryan Hernandez was one he happily jumped at. Trembley made up for his lack of experience with an enthusiasm that often bordered on giddiness.
As they sat in the car, Kat chomped down a few fries before moving on altogether from discussing dining habits.
“So Ryan ended up thinking Warren Fischer wasn’t the guy either?” she asked.
“By the time he finished the interrogation, he was as skeptical as me,” Jessie answered. “But he still had a tail put on him just in case. Someone will be following the guy all night.”
“Speaking of all night, is Hannah going to be okay if this thing runs into the wee hours?”
“She’s been on her own through the night often enough that she’s used to it by now. But I haven’t been able to reach her to tell her what’s going on. I think she’s screening my calls.”
“Use my phone,” Kat suggested. “She loves me.”
“First of all, it makes me feel great to know she’d answer your call but not one from her own sister. Second, that’s a fantastic idea. Give me your phone.”
“Wait,” Kat scolded. “Let me call her. I’ll chat her up for a moment, and then hand it over. She’ll be less likely to hang up after talking to me than if she picked up a call from me and you answered. Delay the trickery.”
“That is another great idea,” Jessie admired. “You are getting better at being sneaky every day.”
“Thank you,” Kat said as she called, putting the phone on speaker.
“No,” Jessie said. “Take it off speaker. I don’t want her to think I’m monitoring her every word.”
Kat switched it back just as Hannah picked up. Jessie could still hear her slightly but forced herself not to strain to catch every word. The two of them talked for a minute before Kat pulled the rug out.
“Hey, girl,” she said. “I have someone here who wants to say hi. Hold on a second.”
She handed Jessie the phone, who spoke more hesitantly than she would have liked.
“Hey, it’s Jessie.”
After a long pause that made her briefly think her sister had hung up, Hannah replied.
“Hi. Is this what you’ve been reduced to—putting your friends up to calling me?”
“Something like that,” Jessie said, deciding there was no point in defending herself. “I needed to get a hold of you somehow to let you know I might not be home tonight.”
“What a shocker.”
“I also wanted to apologize.”
Another long silence.
“For what?” Hannah finally asked.
“For suggesting you might have called Social Services,” Jessie said. “I was upset and grasping at straws. I should have never said that.”
She didn’t mention the fact that she still wasn’t certain it didn’t happen. But telling Hannah that at this moment seemed like an unwise move.
“I can’t believe you would ever think that,” Hannah said quietly.
Jessie tried to answer without lying.
“I can’t explain everything that was going on in my head at that moment. And even if I could, it wouldn’t justify what I said. But I had a moment of weakness. After a major lack of sleep and the sense that I was being targeted by powerful forces I couldn’t even identify, much less stop, I lashed out at the person in front of me. I’m not proud of it. I’m hoping that we can work through it and that, if I can professionally survive this investigation, you’ll want to stick around.”
“Maybe if you get me a new pair of AirPods, I could put in a good word…”
“What?” Jessie asked.
“I’m just kidding,” Hannah said after a long, cruel pause. “Of course I want to stick around. You’re not perfect but you’re better than my other options by a long way.”
“Thanks?”
“It’s a compliment,” Hannah assured her. “Anyway, I plan to testify myself. We’ll get through this. That is, assuming you don’t kill me with your scones before I talk to these people.”
“Hey!” Jessie said, feigning hurt feelings, before conceding. “Actually that seems fair. Maybe you could make me some of your scones. It might give me something to look forward to after I get through this night.”
“Sure,” Hannah said, her voice hinting at something more.
“What’s wrong?” Jessie asked.
Hannah’s indecision was almost audible. Finally she replied.
“It’s just, maybe I can do more than bake scones to help. Remember, some of the things I told you about girls I knew at school helped when you were investigating that porn actress who was murdered. Maybe I could offer a different perspective on this case.”
“Is that how you want