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yes. The only requirement is youth. They have to be eighteen. The younger looking the better. Pretty. And he prefers them desperate or destitute, so he shops the Downtown Eastside. It’s how he gets his rocks off. And good publicity to boot—employing the unemployable. His Fresh Beginnings Program sound familiar?” Her forehead shone with perspiration. She wiped it away with a shaking hand.
    Caleb kept his mouth shut and shoved his fists into his front pockets. A public relations mess? If it was true it was a whole lot darker and dirtier.
    “Starting to read between the lines yet, Counselor?” Her agitation picked up. “Your friend likes them young, but this is how he keeps it legal. He brings in temps. He picks one, he screws them in style, he pays them well for the privilege, and when it’s over they still have a job. Of course, it’s a different job far, far away from him and his precious reputation. Maybe in Calgary or a place like Toronto.”
    “Marnie, calm down.” Sophie stepped in. Kellie fought back tears, which woke the baby who whimpered out a warning. Sophie reached for a tissue, handed it to Kellie. Then she reached for Marnie who backed up, tripping over her own feet to get away. Sophie froze.
    Caleb wanted to throw up. Like Lot’s wife, he couldn’t resist the urge to flash a look back. To Kimberley, her outrageous accusations. The hardening started in his gut, calcifying his organs. Until his thoughts were heavy as stone. He fought to focus on the truth. Details could be manufactured. But it was her certainty, the fanatical crush of it that put him on the defensive. “I’m supposed to take your word for it?”
    “That must be some world you live in? Where honesty doesn’t count for shit?” Marnie’s words sliced through air contaminated by the humiliation of confession.
    Before he thought the motion through Caleb crowded into her personal space, put a toe over the line of his own private rules of confrontation. He spoke without weighing the consequences. “It’s been a long night. I’ve had it with your assumptions and your attitude. You don’t know jack about me, lady. So back off.”
    “You think I’m lying?” She spit out a laugh. “I could make you a fucking list. This time he’s left a kid behind to prove it. Go ahead. Ask her how he plans on dealing with a child.”
    “Okay, everyone back to their corners.” Sophie pushed her way between them. She put one hand on his chest, her eyes pleading.
    “It’s true,” Kellie whispered from her makeshift hospital bed. Half cooing and half sobbing, clutching her baby to her chest. “All of what she says. I need to know how to protect my baby.”
    Caleb closed his eyes. He was supposed to be at a party drinking wine, eating off china plates, and impressing Sophie. Instead, he was here. He was tired. Angry. Sickened.
    And forced to ask a question he didn’t want an answer to, “Has he threatened you or his child?”
    “He saw me. A couple of months ago. He was with his wife.” Kellie’s eyes filled with more tears. For the first time her voice was harsh. “They were slumming it at a charity event at the Carnegie Centre. Lots of cameras. Lots of press. I was working the event. Part of the wait staff.”
    “Did he approach you?”
    “No.” Kellie shook her head. “I stayed as far away from them as I could for the rest of the night.”
    “But he contacted you after the event?”
    “Yeah, he sent two guys to our apartment. They handed me an envelope and told me to leave Vancouver behind. Said if I spread lies about Jason Drummond bad things would happen.”
    “You said ‘our apartment.’ Who do you live with?”
    “I was renting with another girl.” Again she checked in with Marnie before proceeding. “Um, we went to school together.”
    “What was in the envelope?”
    “An eviction notice.”
    Caleb’s hands tightened into fists. “What happened next?”
    “A week later I got fired from my other part-time job. No