Ariel isn’t all talk. No, she’s downright terrifying with how fast she digs into Giles’s life.

“Widower. One son. Three homes. He pays his taxes, although he probably should be audited because his deductions are exceptionally high for his income. His credit card number has been stolen six times this year, which is impressive. Probably karma. He’s got a prescription for Viagra from his doctor. He buys some kind of stamina supplement from China on a regular basis too.” She talks as her fingers fly, unearthing everything she can on Giles, and I wait for her to hit pay dirt.

“What about criminal activity?”

“Nothing yet. I’m still digging, and there’s no way he’s good enough to cover his tracks when I’m on the hunt.”

She continues spouting off random facts about Giles’s life, but nothing that relates to anything I’m looking to find. At least, not yet.

“He had a really high conviction rate as a DA. Like freakishly high for the number of cases that were prosecuted.” Ariel pauses. “Ah . . . because his brother was the judge. Like that’s not a major conflict of interest. Jesus. Who allowed that to happen?”

“Crooked parish, apparently.”

“Whoa, the judge brother was murdered. Unsolved. Police suspected it was a hit related to a man he sent to prison whose exonerating evidence was ‘lost’ during the trial by the chief of police, who also died shortly after.” She lowers her voice. “The guy on trial was someone related to the Mount organization.” Ariel looks over at me. “But you knew all that already, didn’t you?”

I say nothing but my mind is whirring.

“Interesting . . .” She turns back to the screen. “Strangely enough, the judge’s stepson died six weeks earlier. Body was only identified by the dog tags they found on it. Nothing else was salvageable. He was an army sniper.”

Her fingers stop moving.

“No one thought that was remotely coincidental? I mean, I know I’m into conspiracy theories, but it sounds to me like—”

“That’s enough.”

Ariel lifts her hands off the keyboard. “Because you’re afraid of Mount . . . or is there another reason?”

“I can’t tell you.”

Her gaze narrows on me. She looks like she has a million and one questions she wants to ask, but she holds them in.

“Fair enough. Normally I’d be gung ho for digging into this, but when the name Mount comes up, I check myself. So . . . is this all you wanted, or is there another direction we can go to find out what you need to know?”

“Is there anything out there about a company Giles just bought a piece of?”

Ariel looks back to her computer. “He has a network of shell companies. It’s damn near untraceable . . . but I’m better than he is. There’s a bank account for one of them in the Caymans. It’s active.” She pauses. “Whoa.”

“What?”

“Do you know who Magnolia Maison is?”

Goose bumps rise on my skin. “Yes.”

“That company of his has been paying her on the regular.” Ariel leans back in her chair. “Is there a reason a guy you suspect of human trafficking would be paying a madam protected by Mount?”

“Fuck. Kane thought she was lying.”

Ariel’s gaze cuts to mine. “Kane, huh?”

Fuck. It’s the second time I’ve done it. First with Magnolia and now with Ariel.

“Please pretend you didn’t hear that.”

She crosses her arms. “I’m a hell of a lot more effective when I understand the big picture.”

“I can’t tell you.”

She studies me. “You don’t need to. I can read between the lines. But what does Magnolia have to do with it?”

I swallow. “I don’t know. But I need to know.”

“Isn’t she besties with Mount’s wife?”

“Yeah.”

“So . . . maybe we don’t touch her.”

“But if she’s human trafficking . . .”

Ariel releases a sigh. “You’re right. There’s a chance he might not kill us.”

“Wait, there’s one other name, or sort of a name we can look into.”

“I’m listening.”

“Lagarto. It means—”

“Lizard in Portuguese. Of course a human trafficker would have a slimy nickname.”

Then her fingers are off and moving again, and she’s digging in the dark web for the man Rafe and Kane are hunting.

Ariel is quiet for nearly twenty minutes. For a girl that I’m pretty sure wasn’t joking about disabling North Korean nukes, that seems like an awfully long time to have her digging for a piece of information.

“Anything?”

She shakes her head. “This guy’s a motherfucking ghost. Chameleon would’ve been a better choice than Lizard. His name comes up plenty of places where other people are talking about him, but I need a real name before I can find him.”

“Fuck.”

“Right . . . wait . . .” Then Ariel pauses, turning the screen toward me. There’s a black-and-white photo on the screen of a man wearing a big floppy hat.

“What?”

“Have you ever met a man who would wear a hat like that?”

“It’s stupid-looking but not unbelievable.”

“I know this is going to sound crazy, but what if . . . what if the Lizard isn’t a he?”

“You think he could be . . .”

Ariel and I lock eyes.

No fucking way. That would explain way too much. Why Kane and Rafe haven’t been able to track down the guy . . . because he’s not a guy.

Her expression turns grim. “I’ve had crazier theories.”

“Where is Magnolia right now?” I ask.

“Do you really want to go down this road?”

I think about my brother and Kane, and the lives we won’t ever get to live fully until this is over.

“I don’t have any other choice.”