with all the medical bills. That’s why you can count on me to be very popular.”
He pondered that and seemed to find it compelling.
“What about tomorrow?” he asked.
“Tomorrow’s perfect,” she said. “I can totally make that work.”
Rico glanced over at Elodie, who gave him a pleading look of her own. Her commission must be pretty nice to stick her neck out like this.
“Fine,” he said. “Same time, same corner. Just you and me, got it?”
Hannah nodded.
“Thank you,” she said.
They drove back to the corner near the school, this time taking a much more direct route. When they got out, Elodie leaned in through the passenger window to have a private word with Rico.
Hannah stepped back, as if she was giving them space. But the real reason was to get a clear look at his license plate. She would have liked to have snapped a photo of it but knew that was out of the question. Instead she silently repeated the combination of numbers and letters until Elodie joined her.
Rico pulled away and the two of them walked back to campus.
“Good job,” Elodie said. “Other than the grandpa thing, I think that went well. And even that’s not so bad.”
“Why do you say that?” Hannah asked.
“You need money for his bills. That makes you desperate. They like desperate.”
Hannah wondered how they’d like it when they got busted because of her. She couldn’t wait to tell Jessie.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
Jessie was paranoid.
After what happened with the thumb drive and Detective Parker’s secure locker, she had to assume her movements were being monitored. That’s why she took forty-five extra minutes to get to her destination.
First, after they left Percy Avalon’s castle, she had Karen drop her off near the busy intersection of Sunset and San Vicente. Then she made the short walk to the Book Soup bookstore a block away. She walked through the front door and wandered a few aisles, keeping an eye out for tails. When she was confident she wasn’t in anyone’s line of sight, she darted out the back door to the parking lot where she’d ordered her rideshare. The car was waiting.
She was dropped off several miles south at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, a place she knew all too well due to multiple, injury-related stays. After getting out, she hurriedly navigated multiple halls, stairwells, and elevators, ultimately emerging just across from the Beverly Center shopping mall.
She joined the crowds there, exiting on the east side and hopping into another rideshare waiting for her on La Cienega Boulevard. Only then did she proceed to a house a block from her actual destination: the rented cottage of Beto Estrada.
Once she got out, she walked slowly, eyeing every car that passed by. No one slowed down or gave her a second glance. Still, she cast nervous looks over her shoulder as she walked up to the front door and knocked. It took much longer than she liked for him to respond.
“Go away,” he said through the door. “You can’t be here.”
“We need to talk, Mr. Estrada,” she insisted.
“It’s not safe—for either of us.”
“I took precautions getting here, Mr. Estrada. I wasn’t followed. But if someone guesses that I was coming here and they see me on your front porch, all that effort is for nothing. Please let me in.”
There was no answer. Jessie began to think that he’d simply walked away and planned to ignore her presence.
“Go the side gate,” he said. “I’ll unlock it.”
She darted over quickly to the wooden gate. While she waited, an unpleasant sense of guilt overcame her. It wasn’t until she had decided to come here to see him that she started to think about taking evasive measures. And even then, she hadn’t considered the extent to which he might be freaking out.
At least she had the support of the LAPD behind her as she fought the power of Jasper Otis. Beto Estrada might be a successful attorney, but ultimately he was just a private citizen going up against a billionaire with unlimited resources and apparently, few scruples. He must be terrified.
When Estrada got to the gate, he opened it just enough for her to slide through. Without a word, he led her to the small backyard.
“Wouldn’t you rather go inside?” she asked.
He shook his head.
“I don’t think it’s secure,” he said. “Besides, you won’t be staying long. Why are you here?”
Even before she’d arrived here, Jessie suspected that Estrada would be reluctant to sign on to what she had in mind. Looking at him now—exhausted, grief-stricken, and