Kit ran through the story quickly, leaving out any mention of going to bed with X, and feeling a twinge of shame as she described how she’d been tricked.
“Can you just tell me,” Kit said at the end. “Was he badly hurt?” She couldn’t help it. She felt the urge to know.
A pause.
“The hit and run was a fatality,” Molinari said finally. “And it may have been premeditated.”
Kit tried to respond but no words came out. X was dead. She could still see his face in her mind, feel his naked body next to hers, feel him inside her.
Maybe he’d been entangled in something bigger than pickpocketing and it had led to his death. The detective was talking, but Kit could barely hear the words.
“Ms. Finn?”
“Yes, I’m sorry. It’s just a shock. Can you repeat what you said?”
“You mentioned that you were going to be in the area this week. I’d appreciate it if you could meet with my partner and me while you’re here.”
“But I’m only flying through Miami,” she protested. “I’ll be connecting there for a flight to Key West.”
“Could you allow a few hours between flights so we could meet at the medical examiner’s office?”
“You want me to look at the body?” Kit said, stunned. That would be horrible. X had duped her, but that didn’t mean she wanted to see him lying lifeless on a slab in the morgue.
“You wouldn’t be looking at the actual body. Only a photograph.”
“Is it possible to just email the photo?”
“No, that’s not allowed unfortunately.”
“But I wouldn’t be able to identify him regardless,” Kit said. “I have no idea who he is.”
“You’d be able to confirm whether or not it’s the man who misled you. We have to solve this case, and you’re one of the few leads we have. The ME’s office is just fifteen minutes from the airport.”
She scrambled for a response. The way the detective had phrased the request made it sound as if there was no actual requirement for Kit to acquiesce. But something told her it would be smart to be helpful, to appear willing to cooperate.
“I was thinking of flying down Thursday or Friday,” she said after a moment. “Would that work for you?”
“Could you make it tomorrow instead?”
“Tomorrow?”
“We need to move quickly.”
“Uh, okay,” she stammered. “Let me see about flights and get back to you shortly.”
Before signing off, Molinari provided her contact info.
The call over, Kit just sat there, too stunned to move. X was dead, possibly murdered. And the whole ugly mess seemed to be blowing back on her.
After a minute, she forced herself out of her chair and into the galley kitchen, where Baby and Dara were leaning against the counter, silently sipping their cappuccinos.
“Dara, could you give Baby and me a minute,” she said.
“Sure,” Dara replied, agreeably, but Kit could tell she was wigged out about what was happening. As soon as Dara had closed the kitchen door behind her, Baby grasped one of Kit’s hands.
“What’s going on?” she asked. Her pale blue eyes had darkened in worry.
Kit spilled out the story, her voice catching at moments.
“Do you think the body they found is definitely the man you met in Florida?” Baby asked.
“The description fits and the only other man I gave a card to was a sixty-something shop owner who wasn’t an inch over five foot four. And my infamous one-night stand said he was headed toward Miami. Of course, now I have no reason to believe that detail, but I suppose even liars tell the truth sometimes.” She covered her face with her hands. “I can’t believe what I’ve gotten myself into.”
“They can’t force you to identify the body, can they? It’s not like you’re a relative of the man’s.”
Kit sighed.
“I just don’t want the cops mistakenly thinking that I played a role in anything he was up to, especially if he was killed on purpose. Talking to them in person should help them see me for who I am.”
“You may be right,” Baby said. She tapped her nails on the countertop a few times. “And once you’ve met with them, you can put this crazy thing behind you.”
“Yes, hopefully.”
“I know this is going to sound awful—and as my mother always advised, one should never speak ill of the dead—but I’ll say it anyway.” That was another thing Kit loved about Baby, even though it occasionally caught her off guard, Baby told it like it was. “At least now you won’t have to worry anymore that this man could