she suggested. “It will be easier to go through everything there.”
For the next hour they worked side by side at the table.
“I see,” Nat said at one point, “that Kelman left you two voicemail messages that you haven’t opened. “And he’s tried twice today to reach you without leaving a message. What’s that about?”
There was no way she could tell him about the Sasha development. That would only complicate matters, perhaps even cause the cops, as Nat had mentioned, to cast her as a spurned and vengeful lover.
“I gave Garrett Kelman plenty of time to go to the authorities ahead of me, but he hasn’t, and I can’t wait any longer,” she said. “I’m not interested in getting into another discussion with him.”
“Okay,” Naylor said, though Kit wondered if he sensed that she’d just done what he’d warned her against—shading the truth. “But you should listen to his messages before you speak to the authorities. So we know everything that’s going on.”
Next they ran through her story again. It was draining to repeat it, but at the same time she felt a fresh surge of determination. She was doing something finally, taking concrete steps to protect herself. The idea of Naylor’s fee made her cringe, but she could see how foolhardy it would be to act without an attorney.
When they’d finished their work, Nat took a minute to organize his notes. As he tucked them in his briefcase, Kit saw him look off, as if he was weighing something.
“I have a thought,” he said, looking back. “After reviewing everything with you, I’m wondering if it would be better to skip the police and go straight to the FBI instead.”
“I don’t understand,” she said, totally caught off guard again. “If you’re worried about me being entangled with the New York police, couldn’t the FBI be even worse?”
“I actually think they’ll be easier to work with. And besides, you’d have to deal with them eventually. Insider trading is a Federal offense and since the murder may indeed be related to that, the FBI will need to be involved. They’ll work alongside the cops but they’ll be the ones calling the shots.”
Kit exhaled slowly, considering his words. She hadn’t a clue what the best strategy was—how could she?—so it seemed like the smartest course of action was to follow her lawyer’s lead. At least this way she’d be able to avoid Detective Burke’s squirm-inducing stares.
“If you think that’s the right move, fine,” she said.
“I’ll call you this weekend and let you know for sure. I just want to give it a bit more thought before we pull the trigger.”
Love the analogy, she thought grimly as they both rose from the table.
Once she was alone again, she plunked down on the sofa, allowing herself to decompress and relish the relief she felt. Naylor, despite the blond surfer locks, seemed very together, a good hire. And though the idea of speaking to the authorities on Monday—whether it was Burke or the FBI or whoever—wasn’t pleasant, she would get through the experience. And there’d be no more endless fretting about whether to do it or when.
She knew, of course, that instant results were way too much to hope for—she might be stuck hibernating at Baby’s for days more, and it would be a long time before she stopped looking over her shoulder—but she was now at least setting events in motion that would begin to free her from the cordoned-off disaster area her life had turned into. And if she were lucky, any damage her business sustained could be managed.
Unbidden, Kelman muscled his way into her head. Though most of her two-hour conversation with the lawyer had focused on Kelman and the events that had unfolded because of him, she’d stayed fairly detached, as if she were discussing a character she’d only read about in a book. But now she couldn’t help but think about him. Her decision to go to the authorities was going to impact him big time. They would want to know where he was staying and she’d have no choice but to tell them.
What if he wasn’t involved in the insider trading activity or any other crime? What if the only thing he was guilty of was being a player and using her as a fount of information? Well, there was nothing she could do about it at this point. His lies about his romantic entanglements had made it impossible to trust him and she needed to look out for herself.
And if