My hands shook as I unlocked my phone again.

“Why would Lucas use your name?” I typed.

“To hide his assets,” the reply read. “And to make sure any paper trail led to me, not him.”

My chest tightened.

If Lucas had stolen Melanie’s identity to lease the house in Palm Springs, he was deeper into this than I had ever imagined.

And now Chloe was there with him, thinking she was living a romantic escape.

“Where are you?” I wrote.

“Denver. I’m still here.”

“We need to talk,” I replied. “In person.”

There was a long pause.

The gray dots danced, disappeared, and then came back.

“Meet me at the Bluebird Diner on Colfax,” she wrote. “Thirty minutes. Sit in the back.”

I grabbed my wool coat from the peg by the back door.

My keys clinked in my hand as I snatched them off the counter.

The cold air hit me like a physical blow as I stepped outside.

I got into my SUV, the leather seat freezing through my jeans.

I backed out of the driveway, my tires crunching on the thin layer of ice.