Every transfer had been made within one month of a wedding.

The final slip was blank except for a typed name.

TABITHA VALE ASHFORD.

A line beneath it read: TRANSFER DUE FRIDAY.

Tabitha heard a floorboard creak behind her.

Tyler stood in the doorway.

“You weren’t supposed to find that yet,” he said.

“Yet?”

His face went pale.

Tabitha held up the blank slip.

“What are you taking from me on Friday?”

Tyler did not answer.

She closed the book and rose.

“Then I’ll find out without you.”

By dawn, Tabitha had dressed in her navy suit. She placed the black book on the kitchen island before Evelyn and Tyler.

“I read your rules,” she said.

Evelyn lifted her coffee.

“And?”

Chapter 2 - The Missing Brides

Tabitha worked as a forensic accountant for the state attorney general, a fact Evelyn had always dismissed as “office bookkeeping.”

At eight, she entered her supervisor’s office and locked the door.

Mara Singh looked up.

“You were married thirty-six hours ago.”

“I need a favor.”

“That sentence never ends well.”

Tabitha placed photographs of the deposit slips on the desk.

“Can you trace this account?”

“Not without a case.”

“Then help me find one.”