The sky was still light pink with shades of bruised purple as I rode the elevators up to my apartment. I was too tired to take the stairs. I just wanted to go home, take a shower, curl up in bed, and sleep for a week.

Unless Henry could come over. Then I wouldn’t need to sleep at all, though I would insist on the shower.

The elevator doors opened and I stepped out to find my stepmother standing in the hallway next to my apartment door.

I blinked twice, sure that I was seeing things, but she was really standing there in white slacks and a pricey black satin blouse. Today she wore a Louboutin purse and over-sized sunglasses.

“Audrey?” I still wasn’t sure she was actually at my apartment. As far as I knew, she had never been here. Besides, I’d seen her and given a report just a few days ago. I had been sure I still had a few more weeks before she would want results.

She was the absolute last person I wanted to see today.

“What in the world are you wearing?” Audrey held up her nose like she smelled something bad. I doubted she could smell me from that far, but I knew I smelled of nervous sweat and spilled coffee.

“I really don’t want to talk to you today,” I told her, putting my key in the lock. “Can we please do this another time?”

“No. We’re doing this now.” Audrey’s polite veneer disappeared. She put her hand on the door, making sure that I wasn’t going to keep her out. She was not in a good mood.

Great. I was going to have to let this crazy woman into my home.

Audrey waltzed into my apartment as soon as the lock clicked. While she looked away, I turned on the recording app on my phone. She looked around and sniffed. She held her bag closer to her as if my cheap things might rub off on her.

“Please, come inside,” I said sarcastically as I followed after her, making sure to leave an easy way out. I knew better than to get between an angry animal and its escape route. I headed to the kitchen. “Would you like something to drink? I’m having wine.”

I pulled out a bottle of wine from my fridge. It was white and from the five dollar bin, so just my kind of wine.

“If it isn’t Chateau d’Yquem, I’m not interested,” Audrey replied. She took off her sunglasses, carefully putting them in her bag. I noticed that her eyes looked different than usual. Tired. Frightened.

I wondered what could do that to her. She usually looked like the epitome of class. Today, she looked haggard.

I poured my wine into a regular drinking class. I had wine glasses, but I knew that putting it in the wrong glass would annoy her.

“I don’t have anything for you today,” I told her, wiping the back of my hand across my mouth.

“That is a shame,” Audrey replied. Her eyes narrowed. “Especially since I know you’ve come into information I requested.”

I thought of my deleted photo, but kept my face smooth. “Then your reports are wrong.”

Fire flashed through Audrey’s green eyes, but then quickly disappeared. “I’m sure you’ve heard about Congressman Smith by now,” she said, changing the direction of the conversation. “It’s a terrible thing.”

I nodded apprehensively. “He was caught selling secrets.”

She smiled, but it was cold and cruel.

“No. I was selling secrets. He’s taking the fall.”

I took a step back, surprised. “What?”

She waved her hand through the air. “I’m not telling you this to brag, dear. I’m telling you to make a point,” she explained. “Smith crossed me. He was supposed to give me the information and I was to be the broker. He decided to cut me out.”

I couldn’t believe she was telling me all of this. Hope sprang up in my chest. My phone was recording all her confession. I had her. I just had to keep looking surprised.

“You told the authorities he did it,” I whispered. “You told them and they arrested him.”

“You are smarter than you look,” she sneered. Her usual elegance was missing tonight. Tonight there was an edge of madness. She was desperate and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know why.

“I don’t have anything for you,” I repeated. “I need more time.”




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