this new little theory of mine, it’s hard to believe the cops can do much. No one has any idea who this guy I call X really is or how to find him. And there isn’t a shred of proof he’s behind this.”
“So what recourse do you have? What if this Mr. X decides to—I don’t know, come back and look for more?”
Kit pushed herself off the sofa and began to pace back and forth in front of it. Something had begun to stir in her, but she couldn’t yet define it.
“I—I’m going to have to find out what I can myself,” she said finally.
Her words came only a beat or two after the thought had crystalized, catching her by surprise. Did she really mean what she was saying? Yes. She couldn’t sit around any longer, waiting for one devastating event after another to domino through her life.
“Am I hearing you right?” Baby asked. “You can’t get involved in this, Kit.”
“But I already am involved. From the moment I left the Ithaka offices that first time, I’ve told myself again and again, ‘It’s behind me now.’ And then there’s always been one more aspect I’ve had to contend with. This isn’t going to stop. For some reason I don’t understand, I’m smack in the middle of an ugly mess and it’s up to me to extricate myself.”
“Whoa, wait a minute. I hate to go all Judge Judy and get really tough, but you just can’t do that. Taking action could be terribly dangerous.”
Kit smiled wanly. “I know. And I’m scaring myself a little. But I feel even more frightened about the alternative: doing nothing and waiting for fate to play its hand. I have to look out for myself—and our business.”
“But how? You mean more security for the office and your apartment?”
Kit shrugged helplessly, still not certain herself. “What I think I need as much as security is information. I can’t begin to get out of the mess until I know what I’m actually up against.”
“I understand how you feel, but I don’t like the idea of you hunting down information,” Baby said, looking dismayed. “What exactly would that entail?”
“I’m not really sure.” Kit reached down for her cup and took a last swig of tea. “We’re both bushed. Why don’t we head to bed, and then tomorrow I’ll consider everything when my mind is fresh.”
“Well, I’m counting on the fact that at the first light of dawn, you’ll come fully to your senses.”
Baby led Kit to the guest room and they hugged good night.
After washing her face and changing into a nightshirt, Kit slid between the bed’s luscious percale sheets, hand stitched with custom embroidery. Her body ached with fatigue and she yearned for the release sleep would bring, but within seconds she could tell that her brain wasn’t going to cooperate. There were too many anxious thoughts—and unanswered questions—bouncing around in there for her to let go.
Despite Baby’s pleas, Kit was determined to secure information that could help reveal X’s agenda, and she knew that the first light of dawn wasn’t going to revise her thinking. The very first step, of course, would be following up with the New York detectives. But then what? A call to Molinari for starters, she decided. And this time she’d be less passive. She’d ask for more details about Healy’s death and an update on the investigation.
Healy. For the past few hours, all of her attention had been focused on X, but for the first time she realized that if she wanted to learn the truth, she needed to consider Healy, too. He’d been a victim of X’s as well, maybe in the most horrific way possible. According to Wainwright and Ungaro, Healy had headed to Miami on business. But Healy might have lied to them about the actual purpose of the trip.
And yet if Healy had gone in pursuit of X, the trip could hardly have amounted to more than a wild-goose chase. All Healy would have known was that X might be in Miami. Unless, of course, he’d somehow dug up additional info.
She thought back to their conversation at the restaurant bar. She’d given Healy a decent description of X. Perhaps based on that, he’d talked to the hosts of the party in Brooklyn and figured out who the pickpocket was, and from there, determined where X might be staying.
For the first time she realized how stupid it was of X to send her to the apartment that night. Surely