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relationship. It was because of Tom, as much as the town, that I'd decided to stay on initially. And now that part of the equation had changed. Tom and his wife had decided to reconcile.
    Or, rather, she'd decided and he'd acquiesced.
    I felt the familiar welling up of heartache and anger in my chest. It wasn't as if Tom and I had talked seriously of the future, or made any promises to each other. I'd known about Lynn from the beginning, and Tom's devotion to his kids. So why did it hurt so much?
    Stop it, I told myself, dumping my briefcase onto the bed. Time to let go of what you can't change.
    I set my plate and wineglass on the dresser and kicked off my shoes. Feeling guilty about the exercise class I'd skipped, I did a hundred sit-ups, thirty push-ups -- women's variety -- and touched my toes, barely. Then I plopped on the bed, picked up my wine, and called Marc.
    "Did you happen to catch the evening news?" I asked without preliminaries.
    "Yeah, I saw it."
    "Quite a show, complete with footage of Ms. Deirdre Nicholas herself."
    "They didn't waste any time, did they?" His voice sounded more nasal than usual, and he was breathing quickly, as though he'd been doing exercises himself.
    "What did you think?" I asked.
    "About the news? It was hardly unexpected."
    "About Deirdre."
    "She's a flake." Marc stared coughing and turned away from the phone so that his voice was faint.
    "You got a cold?"
    "Allergies."
    "What makes you say she's a flake?"
    "She just is. You saw her, she's not going to have any credibility at all next to a guy like Grady."
    I wasn't sure I agreed. "Nina knows her. Turns out their daughters go to school together. Nina says Deirdre has a good heart."
    "No offense, but Nina's not the best judge of character. She thinks everyone's a saint." A pause for sniffles. "How'd it go with Madelaine Rivera. You weren't by any chance able to convince her to drop the case?"
    "Not a chance. No plea bargain either, but I'll try again. Maybe we can settle on sexual misconduct."
    "Grady won't go for it. If the charges aren't dropped, he wants to go to trial. Clear his name."
    Or wind up behind bars. "Did you talk to him this afternoon?"
    "Yeah. I set up him up with Salmon & Sexton. They're nervous as hell over this."
    Salmon & Sexton was the venture capital firm that had funded ComTech's most recent expansion. They stood to lose even more than Grady if the stock offering tanked.
    "We're going to issue a press release aimed specifically at the investment community. Hopefully we can contain the damage by taking action up front."
    "Did Grady say anything more about the rape charge?"
    Another cough. "We didn't get around to that."
    "What do you mean, didn't get around to it? Isn't he worried?"
    "Right now he's more worried about the company." Marc's voice was throaty, as though he were congested.
    "Maybe you should see an allergist," I suggested.
    "It comes and goes. Why don't you tell me about Madelaine Rivera? I'll pass the word along to Grady."
    I filled him in on my conversation, and on the contents of the police reports. "I'll go over things again tonight and get them in order for you. I've got a few ideas, avenues you might want to pursue. I'll get a summary to you by morning if I can."
    There was a moment of dead air. I waited for another fit of coughing, but instead Marc's voice was smooth as silk.
    "Actually, Kali, I was thinking it would be better if you took the lead on this."
    "Me?"
    "I'm going to be tied up with the Siefert case as well as running damage control on the ComTech offering."
    "But I'm -- "
    "There's the woman angle to consider as well. Those things count, especially in a rape case."
    "I'm not the right attorney for this. Nina is my friend."
    "And you won't be helping her by keeping her husband out of jail?" He didn't wait for an answer. "With Madelaine Rivera on the other side, we need a visible female."
    I started to protest again, but Marc cut me off.
    "I'll help out. Give you all the support you