Graham shut the door behind him. The boom it circulated in the room snapped Larkin out of her stupor. She shoved out of Lucas’s arm and faced him. “Where’s Douglas?”

His nose crinkled. “How should I know?”

“Because he was coming to speak to you.” And she was supposed to meet him out front for their lunch date.

“I never saw him.”

It wasn’t like him to miss his man. Larkin grabbed her phone to text Douglas. At least, he needed to know she was running later than expected. Though he probably thought she was still entertaining the reporters’ questions. From the roar in the lobby, they’d yet to leave.

Lucas held her free hand, yanking her attention from the screen. His eyes were wet. Not from tears, but from what she didn’t know. “Larkin, after you left, I went outside to blow off steam. When I came back in, I heard your speech.”

“Oh.” She was surprised he’d cared to listen. Of course, Douglas hadn’t told him he was fired yet. The thought crossed her mind to tell him, but the instinctual part of her brain rebelled.

His hand closed around hers. “You’re right. I needed to hear it. You deserve to dictate your future. If your future is not with me, I realize, now, that it has nothing to do with me. It’s you.”

Larkin pressed her lips together to keep from saying something ugly. So many things came to mind, all in self-defense. There was nothing wrong with her. Well, maybe there was. Maybe she needed therapy. Regardless, it was hardly his place to say so. They weren’t friends. They weren’t lovers. But this was his attempt at an apology. A piss-poor one.

“I’m glad you understand.” She couldn’t muster more. Right now, none of the history between them mattered. Not even that he was fired. “We need to find Tarin.”

“Tarin?” The woman’s name was a bark from his lips.

He didn’t know what she knew. If he did, he wouldn’t be upset that she was bringing up someone seemingly unrelated to their conversation. She huffed. Despite his we’re all good speech, they weren’t all good. He still monopolized her attention for himself.

“Yes, Tarin.” She shoved her phone in the pocket of her suit and used both hands to speak. “That woman murdered Reagan.”

“What?” His eyes widened. The hinge of his jaw screwed tight.

“The detective said evidence in the burned garage linked her to the crime, and her apartment …” Larkin covered her mouth just imagining all those tiny cunts written across the walls. “She’s the one behind the threatening notes and flowers too. She’s sick. She’s crazy beyond anything you’ve ever imagined. Crazy.” Her mind drifted to the notes in her office and in her house. “I need to get the notes to Detective Graham. He’ll need my fingerprints, Douglas’s, Darren’s, and the girls’ for cross reference.”

“What?” Lucas growled.

She’d fallen into the trap of her own mind and forgotten she’d been talking to him. There were so many things to do. “First, we need to find Tarin.”

“She’s a crazy killer, and you want to find her?”

“The reporters are still out there. I can use them to get her image out there.” She headed for the door. “You have a picture of her in the security database, right?”

“Sure, but Larkin, stop a minute and think.” He stepped into her path with both hands wide.

Larkin had no choice but to stop. “What?” she bit out.

“If you go out there, you’re making yourself an easy target for her.”

“An easy target.” Her hands balled to fists. She fought the tears welling in her eyes. “Tarin was in the front row at the conference. If she was going to kill me, I gave her the perfect opportunity.”

“Then, no one knew Tarin was guilty. She was playing her part of trusted board member.”

“I waited to report Reagan missing because of you. I’m done waiting. Maybe I couldn’t have saved her, even by reporting it sooner, but I will help catch her killer.” Larkin bobbed under Lucas’s arm and grabbed the door handle.

The loudest boom she’d ever heard radiated from within her. It was as though she’d exploded. Not her heart this time, but her head.

In slow motion, the room tilted. The door handle moved farther and farther away until she stared at it from the floor. She reached for it. Nothing moved. Then the shutters closed, leaving only darkness.