almost felt bad for the rookie cop who’d been stuck with us for the past hour and a half, but we were at T-minus thirty minutes until the start of the ball, and I was fairly certain that if we were even a second late, Lillian would murder us all.

“Come along, girls.”

It had taken a bit longer than expected to get things sorted out, but once it had become clear that there was no record of our arrest, they had no choice but to let us go.

Free and clear.

We were halfway out the door when the cops brought someone else in. Like Boone, he was wearing a long-tailed tuxedo. His eyes were glassy, and his speech was blurred.

“Do… you… any idea… I am?”

My grandmother startled. “Sterling Ames!” She glanced between him and the officers holding him upright. “What is the meaning of this?”

“Found him by the side of Blue River Road,” one of the officers said. “Clear case of drunk driving. Bottle of scotch was still open beside him.”

Thank you, Sadie-Grace.

“He had this gripped in his hand.” The other officer held up a plastic bag. Inside was a pet tag. “Can’t make hide nor hair of it yet.”

Nick froze beside us. He’d known we were up to something. We’d brought him here so that he would have an alibi. The fact that he was present to tell the cops exactly what they had in that evidence bag?

That was an unexpected bonus.

“That was my brother’s,” Nick said, his voice throaty and low. When no one replied, he looked up. “Hit and run,” he told the cops. “Last May.”

“I remember that,” one of the cops said. “It was over on…” He stopped talking, his eyes going wide.

Nick finished the sentence for him. “Blue River Road.”

Senator Ames picked that moment to attempt to focus his gaze on his daughter. “Campbell?” he said, belligerent and bewildered.

She leaned toward him and murmured her reply. “See me now, Daddy?”