street. A man with a bulldog approached on the sidewalk, practically dragging the dog behind him. “Max, for the love of God, come on,” he implored. “You’re going to tear all the skin from your paws.”
Behind him a row of taxis idled in the street, waiting for the traffic light to change. From the third taxi in line, a man probably in his fifties let his eyes linger on her. Then he quickly glanced away. Was that just a New York moment? she wondered. Or something to be freaked about? She wouldn’t be able to stop questioning everything around her until she figured out the truth.
She moved a few yards up the block to the corner and stepped out of the sun, under the awning of the same Italian restaurant that she had gone to with Healy. Because of the fairly mild weather, the front door had been left ajar, and a sweet garlicky scent wafted outside. Kit dug into her purse for her phone and called up the number she had programed in for X. Her heart raced in anticipation.
He answered on the third ring. Just “Yes?” in that deep, sure voice. She had a memory suddenly of hearing it during her car ride to the Miami airport, and the erotic rush she’d experienced from knowing she’d be granted another chance to taste his mouth again and feel his body press against her. But what difference did any of that make? He’d never been the man she thought she’d made love to that night.
“It’s Kit Finn,” she said. “You said you’d be willing to talk again. I want to do that.”
A pause.
“Why the change of heart?” he said finally. “You seemed awfully eager to get me out of your apartment and be done with me.”
“I know now that you were telling the truth yesterday, about who you are. I checked it out.”
“Okay. But why am I suddenly supposed to trust you?”
“You just are,” she said, anger swelling. “I didn’t take your pen on purpose. There’d be no reason in the world for me to do so, and I think you know it now.”
“Is that right?”
How nervy, she thought, as she heard the tinge of sarcasm in his voice. It was Kelman who’d upended her life, not the other way around.
“What are you getting at?” she demanded. “Are you still trying to suggest that I’m some kind of Bond girl, someone who set out to double-cross you in a tropical resort?”
She heard him chuckle lightly, which only riled her more.
“The bottom line is that you’ve endangered me,” she said. “By sending me to Matt Healy’s apartment for what I thought was a date, you’ve made me an accomplice and it’s put me at risk, and my business, too. I wish I could just tell the police about you and walk away, but if what you said about these other people is true, that’s not going to help me. I can’t extricate myself without you. Besides, I have information that could be of value to you as well.”
He said nothing for a moment and she wondered if, miffed by her tone and her comments, he’d disconnected the call. She briefly pulled the phone from her ear and saw there was still a connection.
“I want the truth,” she said. “You owe me that.”
“All right,” he said finally. “But I can’t meet you until tomorrow night. Pick a bar or a restaurant near you, where we can sit in the back and not be seen.”
“There’s a place called Jacques on Prince Street, and it’s fairly dark inside.”
“Seven o’clock.”
“All right.”
And then the call disconnected.
So it had worked. She had challenged him and he’d bitten, and she finally had a shot at learning what she was really ensnared in. Their meeting, however, was over twenty-four hours away, and until then she would have to find a way to make her heart stop hurling itself against her chest—but without ever letting down her guard.
It was nearly four by the time she climbed the steps from the Spring Street subway station and began the short walk to her building. To her relief she heard music when she reached her floor, coming from apartment A. One of her neighbors must be working from home.
She reached the entrance to the office, turned her key in the lock, and pushed open the door.
And then she saw the man. He was standing just beyond the entranceway, where it opened onto the main room. A total stranger. He turned and looked at