pearls off of that one. He was a good-looking, confident man—no question about it. And Sarah had no trouble believing that those qualities worked for him more often than not.
Ryan handed one sheet of paper to Joe and another to Sarah. “Here’s my proposed schedule. You can look it over and give me your thoughts later.”
He had been sitting next to Sarah, but now Ryan got up and moved to the chair at the end of the table where the court reporter had been sitting, so that he had an equal view of Sarah and Joe.
“Now. There’s something else I’d like to discuss with you two.” He gazed from one of them to the other, his posture still as relaxed as ever, but there was something in his eyes, Sarah noticed. A look of excitement. Pleasure.
“I find I’m in an interesting position,” Ryan said. “As Sarah knows, I like to do my homework. Your law firms’ websites—even your old one, Sarah—had very nice photos of both of you. So I knew who I might be looking for. Which means that as of last night, I knew who you two were, but you didn’t know me. So you didn’t realize I was on your flight.”
Sarah’s heart thudded in her chest. Her skin went cold. Every nerve in her body felt on high alert. Had she seen him last night? He was right, she wouldn’t have known what he looked like—she didn’t even know who he was until he showed up at the deposition that morning. He could have been sitting right next to them in the airport, and she might not have noticed.
Had he overheard something? Seen something? She remembered letting her guard down when she saw that Marcela wasn’t there. For all she knew, Wendy the replacement court reporter had been on the flight as well, but Sarah had been too wrapped up in Joe to notice.
She wanted so badly to look over at Joe then, to see his reaction. But she forced herself to keep her eyes on Sollers instead. She needed to play this whole situation as coolly as possible.
“I thought it was interesting that you both graduated from UCLA Law the same year,” Ryan went on. “I wondered if you two knew each other back then. You did, didn’t you?” he asked Sarah.
She didn’t say a word, but sat frozen, watchful.
“Doesn’t matter,” Ryan said. “That part’s history. I’m more interested in the present.”
He pulled out his phone. “I didn’t realize there’d be anything to see,” he said, swiping his finger across the screen, “but that’s the nice thing about modern technology—you always have a camera with you.”
Now Sarah did lock eyes with Joe. He subtly shook his head, as if warning her not to say anything. She already had the same instinct.
“Nothing too incriminating at first,” Ryan said, looking through his pictures. “Just a few smiles, some laughter—the same sort of thing someone would have seen at our lunch today, Sarah. Ah, but then,” he said, smiling, “we get to the rental car counter.”
Sarah tried to swallow, but there was no moisture left in her mouth. Her eyes burned into Joe’s.
“A nice photo here,” Ryan said, still not showing any of them to either Sarah or Joe. “The two of you standing so close. But I can see how someone might still interpret that as two old law school friends catching up. So we’ll let that go. Even this one, Joe, where you have your hand so nicely against her back as the two of you head for the garage. Very nice. But maybe you were just being a gentleman—I can understand that.”
Sarah thought of Sollers making that same gesture as the two of them walked to their table in the restaurant. She hadn’t mistaken it for the touch of a gentleman.
Ryan swept his finger across the screen again, then sat back with a satisfied grin. “And then . . . oh, yes, these really are the best ones. The lighting in the garage wasn’t great, but still . . . ” He looked up at Sarah and Joe. “You know, you two really should be more careful.”
Sarah’s skin felt cold and sweaty. Her heart pelted against her chest. She didn’t dare look at Joe now, for fear that the panic would show in her eyes.
“This is all very interesting,” Joe said calmly, “but what do you want?”
“Wait,” Ryan answered, holding up a finger, “there’s more. I thought I should at least introduce myself to you last