Page 119 of The Woman with the Handcuffs

Yeah.

Like choose your girlfriend over your own kid. A kid who, up until this point, thought you hung the moon.

It was no wonder Caitlin was so bitter.

I’d been shocked at how she spoke to him in the car. I guess some part of me thought she’d exaggerated when she’d told me about the confrontation with him in her apartment the day before that.

But now I was sure she had every word right.

She had a lot of feelings toward him. And I guess because she was so comfortable with him, it was easier for her to let loose on him than she would be able to do with anyone else.

As strange as it was to think, I wanted her to get to that level of comfort with me. I wanted her no-holds-barred. I wanted her secure enough in how I felt about her that she knew she could say what was on her mind without making her sick with anxiety over how I might react.

I knew Caitlin pretty well at this point.

Which meant I knew she would work things out with her father. Maybe they wouldn’t be as close as they once were. Maybe there would always be some sort of wedge between them. But they would reconnect. She would even be able to get along with Mona if her father continued to see her.

That was just who she was.

Kind.

Selfless.

“I’m assuming Ira has been… taken care of.”

“Taken care of. Disappeared. And the cabin has been emptied and cleaned. Did a sweep of the cabin to make sure there were no hidden cameras. We should be good.”

“What about Daniel? He is not a missing person. How’s he gonna handle that?”

“Well, he committed no crime. People are allowed to disappear. And reappear,” Leo said. “He will essentially just have to walk into the police station where he went missing from and tell them he isn’t missing, he left voluntarily, and that he’s okay. There are no consequences for this kind of thing.”

“Good. So he can just go back to life. Well, maybe not work.”

“Yeah, how’s that gonna work?”

“Get this. Mona is Ira’s office manager. So the job will keep going for a few days. Until she would reasonably realize Ira is missing and then have to file a report.”

“Is she capable of it?”

“She managed to lie to the man she supposedly loved for weeks. She can lie.”

“Well, then it’s all settled then.”

“Daniel wants to pay us back from his stash.”

“For money we didn’t even know was gone?” I asked, shrugging.

“Here’s what I’m thinking,” Leo said. “We wait out Ira’s life imploding. Then snatch that business up before it hits the market. Use Daniel as our face of the business. He would have the inside, knowing who to tap to work for us and who to avoid…”

“And we also have a way to wash our money.”

“Exactly.”

“I like it. You think Daniel will agree?”

“I don’t see how he would have much choice.”

“Works for me then.”