the other was Michael Woo, Nat’s contact. Each looked to be in his mid- to late forties.
“As you’re aware, we’d already placed a call to the Bureau when Agent Taft reached out to my client,” Nat said after Kit had taken a seat. “Garrett Kelman had asked her to give him a chance to get everything on the table before she contributed what she knew, but she didn’t want to wait any longer. Now it appears you have had contact with Mr. Kelman.”
“Nat, as you know, we’re not at liberty to talk about other witnesses,” Woo said.
“Michael, my client’s life may be in danger. You don’t have to tell us what Mr. Kelman said in his statement—Ms. Finn is here simply to relate her side of events—but we’d like to know, for her safety, that Mr. Kelman actually made good on his promise to speak to you.”
Woo took a second and then nodded.
“I don’t see any harm in that. Yes, he was here. Now Ms. Finn, we’d love to hear what you have to share.”
She started at the beginning, with Islamorada, and worked her way from there to Avery’s death and the meetings she’d had with Kelman. Taft took notes, and while the two agents weren’t what she’d call friendly, they were polite enough.
It wasn’t until she finished that they asked most of their questions. They wanted her to go over every aspect of Avery’s visit and what she knew, if anything, about Avery’s personal life. It made sense—they were trying to determine if the murder might be unrelated to the insider trading.
“You don’t have a picture of Ms. Howe, do you?” Taft asked.
“Well, I can find one,” Kit said, taking out her phone and pulling one up quickly online. “Her hair in this shot is much fuller than mine, but it was straighter the night she came by. She was also around my height and build. And as I said, she was wearing my coat.”
Neither man registered any reaction to the photo, but Kit knew they must be recognizing how in the dim light of a stairwell, Avery would have born a resemblance to her.
Next they went back over each of her encounters with Kelman. She figured they were trying to compare what she said with what he’d disclosed, note what matched and didn’t. Any discrepancies would be telling. She’d told them on the first go-round that she’d been to bed with Kelman, and during the question period they asked if that had been the extent of her sexual relationship with him.
“Yes,” she said. She was taking the kiss in front of the shoji screen to her grave.
What threw her was how much interest they appeared to have in the mix-up with the pen. Taft asked her to describe more fully how she’d knocked everything to the ground and why she hadn’t realized her mistake. She read skepticism in his eyes. Part of him, she knew, was wondering if, just maybe, she had been looking for the flash drive after all.
“I shouldn’t have picked up the pen,” she said, keeping her voice even. “But I guess I’m more sentimental than I realized and I was struck by the fact that his was the same as mine. And then when I heard the key in the door, I was too flustered to pay enough attention.”
When they finished, both agents thanked her for her cooperation and stressed that they would be in contact with the homicide detectives. They also made clear that her discretion was of utmost importance. She was to discuss the case with no one, not even Mr. Kelman.
“Understood,” she said. She couldn’t imagine Kelman ever reaching out to her again anyway.
“We also need to discuss your personal safety,” Woo said. “That’s a priority.”
“I was just about to raise that,” Nat told him.
“We advise you to be extremely cautious,” Woo said. “Consider staying with a friend for the time being, avoid going places alone. And we’d like to schedule a weekly call with you, just to make sure you’re feeling secure.”
For some reason his comment almost made her laugh. His tips were about as comforting as knowing that when your plane crashed in the middle of the Atlantic, the seat cushion could be used as a flotation device.
“That’s it?” she said.
“I’m afraid there’s not a lot more we can advise.”
“But will it at least be safer for me now? I assume Ithaka will learn that the evidence has been turned over to you, and that I am not a