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In the end, the core group had been five—Eduardo, Gabrielle, Merton, Ingrid, and Chris Eduardo had wanted to do everything online Make the threat online Reveal the secret via an untraceable e-ree What they were doing, like it or not, was devastating people You were changing lives in a flash You could dress it up all you wanted, but the person was one thing before his visit, and so entirely different after You needed to do that face-to-face You needed to do that with compassion and with a human touch The secret protectors were faceless websites, machines, robots

They would be different

Chris read Adaain: HE KNOWS

In a sense, the shoe had been put on the other foot Chris now had a secret, didn’t he? But no, his was different His secret was not for the sake of deception but protection—or was that just what he told himself? Was he, like sothe secret?

Chris had known that what they were doing was dangerous, that they were ood and want to retaliate or continue to live in their “secrets” bubble

Now Ingrid was dead Murdered

HE KNOWS

And so the response was obvious: He had to be stopped

Chapter 46

Kily ultrahip section of Greenwich Village in New York City Beachasn’t Hicksville, not even close Many of their residents hadto escape the hustle and bustle and live a somewhat more financially comfortable life in a place with lower property values and tax rates But Beachwood certainly wasn’t Manhattan, either Johanna had done enough traveling—this was her sixth time here—to know that there was no place like this isle The city did indeed sleep and rest and all that, but when you are here, your senses were always alive You were plugged in You felt the constant surges and crackles

The door flung open theby the door, hand on the knob, waiting

“Oh, Aunt Johanna!”

Tears streamed down Kimberly’s face She collapsed onto Johanna and sobbed Johanna held her up and let her cry She stroked her hair down to her back the way she’d seen Heidi do a dozen times, like when Kimberly fell at the zoo and scraped her knee or when that jerk Frank Velle down the block had taken back his invitation to the pro” to Nicola Shindler

Holding her friend’s daughter, Johanna felt her own heart start to break anew She closed her eyes andsounds She didn’t say, “It’s going to be okay,” or offer false words of comfort She just held her and let her cry Then Johanna let herself cry too Why not? Why the hell pretend that this wasn’t crushing her too?

What Johanna needed to do would coh Let them both have their cries in the meantime

After soot ht?”

“Let’s sit and talk first, okay?”

They looked for places to sit, but since this was a dorm room, Johanna took the corner of the bed while Ki chair It was true that Johanna had coate Adam Price, but she was here for more than that She’d promised Marty that she’d accompany Kimberly back home for Heidi’s funeral “Ki alone, you know?”

Johanna knew

“I need to ask you so,” Johanna said

Ki her face “Okay”

“The night before your ht?”

Kiain

“Kimberly?”

“I miss her so much”

“I know you do, honey We all do But I need you to focus for a second, okay?”

Kih the tears