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By Root 782 0

She glanced through his personal document files and her pulse quickened when she saw one labeled Malone. She opened it and skimmed the contents. It was another travel itinerary. Was this a copy of the one she'd found at the house? No, it couldn't be, because it showed travel to New York. Hadn't Drew gone to New York last month? The dates seemed to coincide with her memory. She scrolled down, hoping to find something more, but there was nothing. Closing out that file, she went back to the main document fist. She ran her finger down the list of files. Most of the names meant nothing to her. Until she came to SC. Wondering if SC meant Santa Cruz, she opened it. A fist of names and phone numbers jumped out at her. She recognized every single one.

Jessica Holbrook, Emily's big sister.

Connie Richmond, their sorority housemother.

Diane Thomas, the pledge adviser.

The list went on and on with names of girls who had lived in the sorority house at the time of Emily's death. Laura stared at it for several long minutes. Why did Drew have this list? And what had he been researching?

Did he want to find out who had written the book?

Or had he used these people to get information to write the book?

She shook her head, trying to rein in her imagination. Drew was an attorney, not a novelist. He had not written that book. He had no motive— except money. But he made plenty of money at the firm, obviously more than enough to move large amounts in and out of their bank account. Unless that money hadn't come from the firm.

Laura turned off the computer and stood up as Pamela appeared in the doorway, an inquisitive expression on her face.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Pamela asked.

"I did. Thanks."

"Laura?"

She heard his booming voice even before he entered the office. Her father, Thomas Hart, was a big man, six feet three inches tall with a large, square face and an intimidating manner. He'd always scared the hell out of her, and now was no exception. She might be almost thirty years old, married, and the mother of two children, but when it came to her dad she felt like an uncertain little girl. "Hi, Dad," she said, forcing a smile on her face.

"Pamela said you were here, but she didn't say why."

So Drew's secretary had already reported her presence to her father? She sent the woman a pointed look, and Pamela backed out of the office with a muttered, "Excuse me."

"One of Jennifer's permission slips got mixed up in Drew's papers. I came to retrieve it."

Her father moved into the office, shutting the door behind him. "Is that really why you came?"

"What else could it be?" she asked nervously.

His dark eyes bored into her and she had the terrible feeling he could see right through her.

"Drew has been out of the office a lot lately," her father said. "Is there a problem at home, a reason why he needs to be out of town so frequently?"

She looked at him in surprise. "He's out of town on business. I'm sure you know better than I do what that business is."

"I'm afraid I don't. Drew has been taking a tremendous amount of personal leave. He said he was having personal problems. I've tried not to interfere, Laura, but this is becoming a noticeable problem to the other partners. I can't cover for Drew forever."

Drew was taking personal leave? Was he lying to both of them?

"Look, Laura, I don't give you much advice, but I'll tell you this. If you want to keep your husband home, make sure he has something to come home to."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You know what it means. Men who are happy at home don't look elsewhere."

Her father left the office, and she was tempted to run after him and ask him if he'd used that same excuse to cheat on her mother. She'd always suspected he'd had more than a few affairs over the years. But no one ever said the words out loud.

Was she behaving just like her mother—looking the other way, pretending things were all right when they were all wrong? Was Drew having an affair? Was that why he was taking so much time off? She needed to talk to him. She needed to ask those questions straight