“Okay, I guess. It’s been rough.”

“Of course, child. We all miss Lacey. She was such a lively little thing.”

“Thanks,” Emma said quietly. “She was special.”

“She sure was. How can I help you?”

“I’m writing thank you notes. You know, to the people who sent flowers, the ones at the memorial service, too. I have the book you all signed, but I don’t know some of these people, and I thought maybe you—”

“Well, you know me, and I know everyone else. Who do you need?”

“Just two right now. A …” she paused as if checking her list. “Tammy Dietrich? I think that’s right. It’s hard to read some of these signatures.”

“Well, Tammy Dietrich I know right away. In fact, let me give you her address.”

Emma scrambled to find a pen as Betty rattled off the office address of a law firm she’d never heard of. Not that this was a great surprise. Lawyers littered the capital like trash after a parade, and she ought to know since she was one of them.

“And what’s the other?” Betty asked.

Emma had found a pen, gotten it to work and was trying to catch up with Betty’s recitation of the address. “I’m sorry?” she said absently.

“The other name,” Betty said patiently. “You said there were two.”

“Oh, right. I’m sorry. The damn pen didn’t work right away. Yes, the other one is something Slayton, I think. The first initial is V, as in . . . Victor.”

“Slayton,” Betty repeated thoughtfully. “Slayton. You know, I think she worked here for a bit. Only a month or two, which is why I’m not sure she’s the one. I don’t know that she and Lacey would have met, but . . . yes, here she is. Violet. That’s a lovely name, isn’t it?” Betty mused briefly. “Violet Slayton. I don’t know where she went when she left here, though.”

“Do you have a home address?” Emma inquired, knowing that even if Betty had it, she couldn’t give it out.

“Well, now, I do. But you know how they are about things like that. I’ll tell you what, though. We were talking, and I think she mentioned her family was from Springfield, Virginia. Had a place on Donset. We remarked on it, because I have some friends out that way. Might be a place to start.”

Emma wrote down the city name and smiled. Without actually telling her anything, Betty was saying that Violet Slayton was living with her parents in Springfield. With that plus the street name, she could find Slayton easily.

“Thanks, Betty,” she said sincerely. “I really appreciate this.”

“Well. It was a terrible thing what happened to Lacey. So young . . .” Her voice cracked a little and she sniffed discreetly. “You let me know if you need anything else, you hear, Emma?”

“I will,” Emma said, feeling her own chest tighten with emotion. “Thanks again.”

Not wanting to dwell on the reminder of how much she missed Lacey, Emma clicked off and immediately opened her laptop. Still sitting in the parking lot, she was close enough that she could access her office Wi-Fi. She checked out Tammy Dietrich first, because that was easiest. The address Betty had given her was in Alexandria, Virginia, but chances were Dietrich was a member of the D.C. bar, as well. Even Emma was licensed to practice in D.C., and she had no intention of ever standing before a court here. It was just something one did if working in or near the District, especially if one was as compulsively organized as Emma. If nothing else, it gave her access to things like the bar association membership directory, which came in handy at times like today. She typed in Dietrich’s name. There was no picture, which wasn’t that unusual. Emma didn’t have one with her listing, either. There actually wasn’t much information for Dietrich at all, just her law school alma mater, which was Georgetown, and the business address that Betty had already given her. Dietrich’s was the only name listed for the firm, which probably meant she had a private practice, maybe with one or two other lawyers.

Still, the Alexandria address was very pricey. She was either doing very well for herself, or she came from money.

Emma called up a map and decided to at least drive by and check out Dietrich’s office. Maybe she’d walk in and ask for directions, just to get a look around. Chances were that since she didn’t know Dietrich, Dietrich didn’t know her either. Besides, she probably wouldn’t get past the front desk anyway.

Alexandria was close enough that under normal circumstances, it would have been faster to take a cab, or even the bus. But Emma still hoped to get out to Violet Slayton’s house this afternoon, and she couldn’t afford to waste the time it would take to track back to the Capitol parking lot for her car. She sighed. It was going to cost a fortune to park in Alexandria.

Emma lucked out and caught a parking space a couple doors down from Dietrich’s office. It was only a ten minute slot, but she already knew it wouldn’t take any more time than that to check Tammy Dietrich off her list. For one thing, Dietrich was listed as a partner on the discreet plaque outside the door of the office building. Victor’s taste in women for his parties leaned more toward secretaries than law partners. And for another, the law offices were located in an Old Alexandria brownstone, which screamed money and lots of it. This was almost certainly a dead-end, but since she was already here, she would check it out anyway.

The receptionist looked up when Emma approached the desk. The woman was maybe ten years older than Emma and dressed far better. She was doing her best to look down her nose, even though she was looking up through a pair of very traditional tortoiseshell glasses.

“Hi,” Emma said, pretending to read the several pieces of paper she’d folded and now carried in her hand, as if for reference. “I’m supposed to meet some friends at . . .” she peered at the papers, “Waterfront Park, and I can’t seem to—”

“It’s on the water,” the receptionist said frostily, with a heavy dose of my God you’re stupid thrown in for good measure. “The water is that way,” she added, pointing with one perfectly manicured finger in a direction that just happened to be out the office door.

Emma gave her a friendly smile. “Well, of course it is. Where’s my brain this afternoon? You’ve been very kind,” she added, although it wasn’t true. Robots had more human kindness than this woman. But Emma didn’t need any warm fuzzies. She’d already gotten what she came here for. On the wall behind the frigid receptionist’s desk were professional portraits of Tammy Dietrich and her law partner. And Tammy Dietrich was most definitely not one of Victor’s playthings. Emma didn’t have names for the women in Victor’s peep show videos, but she definitely had faces. And Dietrich wasn’t one of them.

Emma didn’t waste any more pleasantries on the unfriendly receptionist. She left the office and hurried back to her car with two minutes to spare on the meter. It hadn’t been a total waste of time. She hadn’t found one of the women on Victor’s list, but at least she’d eliminated Dietrich. That was something. Not much, but something. And she still had Violet Slayton, who definitely had worked with Lacey.

Emma pulled her laptop over and piggybacked onto someone’s unsecured Wi-Fi connection. She logged onto her office network and accessed a listing of households in the Springfield, Virginia area. Using Slayton’s last name and the street name Betty had given her, she soon had the address of Violet Slayton’s parents. She clicked over to her favorite map site, typed in the address, and scrutinized the directions. She nodded to herself. She could definitely get out there and back to Duncan’s place before his one hour after sunset deadline.

She had a fleeting thought that Duncan wouldn’t be too happy about her going to see Slayton without him. Especially after her armed intruder last night. But they didn’t know for sure yet that the guy last night had anything to do with Victor. He might simply have been a burglar caught in the act. And, even if someone was keeping track of her investigations, they’d hardly be following her every move. She hadn’t known herself that she’d be driving out to Virginia this afternoon, so how could anyone else know? Besides, Violet Slayton could turn out to be as big a dead end as Tammy Dietrich. The men responsible for Lacey’s death were probably sitting back and laughing as Emma raced around, chasing shadows.

She sent the directions to Slayton’s house to her cell phone, then started her car and pulled away only seconds ahead of the parking meter guy.

Chapter Nineteen

Violet Slayton was as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs, as Emma’s Grandmama had been known to say. Slayton was pale and too thin, but Emma had the impression these were both recent developments. Her clothes were too big, and her skin had that parched look of someone who wasn’t eating or hydrating properly. But none of that, not the clothes and not her pallor, could conceal the fact that she was beautiful. Her eyes were deep brown and luminous, surrounded by long, black lashes, and her dirty hair was thick and wavy. Violet reminded Emma of the women she’d met while doing an internship at a rape crisis center during law school. The thought of what could have made Violet react that way had Emma’s blood running cold, and she knew she’d done the right thing by coming out here.

“I was sorry to hear about Lacey,” Violet said, settling into the corner of a large, overstuffed couch. She spoke so quietly Emma had to lean closer to hear. It was as if Violet was afraid someone would overhear, even though Emma knew there was no one in the house but the two of them. Slayton hugged herself, wrapping her too big sweater nearly double around her body. “Lacey was a good person. Brave. I felt I had to go to the service, had to pay my respects, even though—” She stopped abruptly, and her beautiful eyes were filled with fear when they flashed up to stare at Emma.

“Even though what, Violet?” Emma asked gently.

Violet looked away. “I haven’t seen anyone since I left the firm. I left kind of suddenly. I didn’t give them proper notice, and they weren’t happy with me. I didn’t know if I’d see anyone I knew at the funeral. I didn’t want to see anyone, but . . . Lacey was kind. I couldn’t let them . . .” Her mouth tightened, her lips rolling under until they disappeared entirely.