up in a minute.” She waited until Julia rounded the corner, then set her jaw and turned back to the detectives. “If you’re trying to imply Ryan had anything to do with my accident—”
“The brake line was punctured,” Carson said.
“What?”
“Three holes. Too evenly spaced to be the result of a rock. We pulled the vehicle from the water this morning. You lucked out. If you’d gone in anywhere else along that highway, you’d have dropped right into the ocean, drown before help got there.”
Kate eased down to the arm of the sofa. Someone had tampered with the car. Someone had intentionally tried to hurt her.
And Julia in the process.
“Would have taken a little while for the brake fluid to drip out, which is probably why the brakes didn’t go out right away,” Peterson added. “Whoever punctured the line knew that.”
“Ms. Alexander,” Carson said, “Did you drive Mr. Harrison’s car Tuesday morning?”
Kate’s brain was a mass of confusing thoughts. “No.”
“Did Mr. Harrison?”
“Um.” Why was she having trouble thinking clearly? Tuesday… She’d spent Monday night here. In the guest bedroom. The next day, they’d gone out to see Janet Kelly. She’d had her CT scan. They’d gone back to her house in Moss Beach and made love. She swallowed. “Yes. He went in to his office for an hour that morning, I think.”
“Was he alone?”
“I think so. I don’t know.”
The detectives exchanged glances.
“Do you know this woman?” Carson asked, handing her a photo.
Kate studied the picture and shook her head shook. “No. Should I?”
“Her name’s Janet Kelly. Her body was found yesterday.”
Kate glanced up sharply.
“A black Jaguar matching the one we pulled from the bay was spotted in front of her house around the estimated time of death Monday morning, roughly nine a.m.”
No. That wasn’t right. They’d gotten a late start. They hadn’t reached Janet Kelly’s houseboat until after noon. She swallowed hard, unsure what to tell them, not wanting to give too much away. “You must be mistaken.”
Carson handed her another photo. “How about this man? Do you recognize him?”
Kate’s eyes grew wide when she looked at the photograph of Jake. Steel-gray eyes gazed back at her. Fear tickled the back of her throat. “Yes. Why?”
“Jacob McKellen was a silent partner in Grayson Pharmaceuticals, a Canadian company Harrison’s conglomerate recently acquired,” Carson said coldly. “We pulled his body from the bay last week.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Kate leaned against the counter in Simone’s kitchen and massaged her scar. Time ticked by silently on the clock above the stove. The only sound was the pounding in Kate’s brain.
She stiffened when Simone swept into the room. “Well?”
Simone set the cordless phone on the table. “Ryan and his lawyer are at the station. So far, they’re cooperating.”
Kate braced both hands on the counter. Her heart felt like it was being ripped to shreds. Everything she’d believed up to this point was turning out to be a lie.
“Richard Burton’s one of the best attorneys in the state, Kate. Their questioning won’t last long. He won’t let it.”
“Oh, God,” Kate muttered, unable to fight back the panic. “Ryan knew Jake didn’t die in that plane crash.”
Simone leaned back against the table and crossed her arms. “That’s yet to be proven. What can be proved is that Ryan’s secretary saw Jake in Ryan’s office the day before that crash here in San Francisco. And that Ryan appears to be the last person to have seen him alive.”
Kate’s eyes slid closed. “Why?” she whispered. “Why wouldn’t he tell me the truth?”
“I don’t know. But there’s more.” When Kate glanced up, Simone shifted. “Jacob McKellen, a.k.a. Jacob Alexander, and Walter Alexander were both silent partners in Grayson Pharmaceuticals, a Canadian company with a specialized drug portfolio. AmCorp recently acquired Grayson for a good chunk of change, alleviating some of their cash-flow problems. With AmCorp’s clout, they were about to push Amatroxin through for FDA approval, based on a series of clinical studies supposedly conducted in Canada.”
“Amatroxin is Tabofren under a different name, isn’t it?” Kate asked, already knowing the answer.
“There’s no proof as of yet, but that would be my guess. The detective in Canada I chatted with mentioned paperwork taken from Walter Alexander’s home referencing both drugs.”
“Ryan knew about the possible link between the two.” Kate drew in a breath to keep the tears of anger back. “He stood in Kari Adams’s living room and pretended like he didn’t know a thing about Amatroxin.”
“Jake disappeared just after the merger went through. Ryan’s secretary said she heard Ryan and Jake arguing that