to be in good shape. His black hair was slicked back and his pale skin suggested he didn’t get outside a ton. Jessie guessed that he was in his early thirties.
He motioned for them to sit on the plush love seat while he sat in a high-backed wooden chair across from them. As she sank into the deep cushion, Jessie couldn’t help but chuckle at the overt attempt to use room décor as strategy. Though he wasn’t a tall man, sitting in a chair that looked more like a throne while his guests submerged into a sofa theoretically gave him a psychological advantage. But for Jessie, who wasn’t negotiating a deal, it was more amusing than intimidating.
“I can guess why you’re here,” Morant said once they had settled in. “But rather than make assumptions, why don’t I let you tell me?”
“Sure,” Trembley said, taking the initiative he was missing yesterday. “We have some questions about your client, Corinne Weatherly, who died on Sunday night.”
“I’ll do my best to answer everything I can, within the bounds of attorney-client privilege.”
“Wait,” Trembley said. “I thought you were her agent.”
“I am. I’m her lawyer and her agent,” he said, smiling before adding, “She’s my sister and my daughter.”
Jessie got the reference but pretended not to. She didn’t think it was all that funny.
“You must have been very upset when you heard about her death,” she said, reminding him of the seriousness of the situation.
“Oh, yes, unbelievably. It’s awful. She was a genius at what she did—underappreciated too. I think people will look back in ten years and realize what a momentous loss it was.”
“You were her agent for how long?” Jessie asked.
“Four months,” he said. “But I was a fan for many years prior to that. And we had a very close working relationship. I feel it here.”
He tapped his chest dramatically.
“You were her entertainment attorney only?” Trembley asked. “Or personal as well?”
“Well, if she had faced some kind of criminal issue, I would have obviously farmed that out for her. But in general, I was all-purpose. And in light of that, it will be doubly painful for me, having to unravel her estate while in mourning.”
Listening to Morant go on, Jessie suddenly reached her limit at putting up with his performative shenanigans.
“Can we cut to the chase here, Mr. Morant?” she asked. “I’m sure your time is valuable and we don’t want to waste it.”
“Of course,” he answered. As he did, Jessie noticed his body language change. His whole demeanor went from friendly and expansive to coiled and closed off. It was like he was waiting for the bell to start the first round of a prize fight.
“We know about the list,” she said simply.
“What list is that?” he asked, officially perplexed.
“The blackmail list. Listen, Mr. Morant. We’ve talked to Phil Reinhold and we’ve also spoken to Corinne’s husband. It’s pretty clear that the former didn’t have the chops to use the list the way she wanted. And I’d be surprised if she even confided in Willem that it existed. She needed a shark to help her use the list the way she wanted. And you’re a shark. You work at the agency where the list was first generated. You were mentored by the very man who created it. You probably have every name on it committed to memory.”
“Do you have a question for me, Ms. Hunt?’ Morant asked, appearing uninterested.
“I do,” she replied. “I want to know who on that list was aware that Corinne Weatherly was using it to extract better contracts, and who among those folks was especially upset about it.”
He sat quietly for a moment, twiddling his fingers as he sat on his silly faux throne. Even before he spoke, she knew he would be lying. Though she’d never met the guy before, she was already picking up his tells, one of which was an almost vibrating sense of excitement when he knew he was about to try to pull one over on someone.
“I have no idea what list you’re talking about,” he said with a wide smile stamped on his face. “It sounds like something illegal. And I’d never associate myself with illicit activities.”
“We have a copy of the list,” she said, ignoring his protestation. “Our tech people are working at accessing it as we speak. They may have already cracked it. So denying your awareness of it won’t help. The information is coming out no matter what. But you have the opportunity to be on the side