room. I tried to fight him off, but he clocked me and managed to take my laptop, phone, iPad, anything that might hold data. I’m pretty sure the guy must have been hired by Ithaka. Up until that point, I didn’t know how far they would go to protect themselves.”
“And the magic pen?”
“They didn’t get it. It was on my bedside table, and as far as I knew at the time, it was still the right one. After that night I was scrambling. It didn’t seem smart to go back to New York then. I’d tossed your card and programmed your info into my cell so I didn’t have it anymore. I had the same problem with Matt’s cell number. I finally reached him Friday morning and explained what had happened.
He looked pained as he uttered Matt’s name, as if the death was still weighing on him. But she wondered if it could all be an act in order to keep her quiet. Matt had been up to something and he’d tried to throw Garrett under the bus. What if he and Garrett had been partners on the insider trades and had decided to quit the firm while they were ahead. They might have eventually ended up at cross-purposes, one threatening to betray the other. There was still a chance that it had been Garrett who had killed Matt.
“Did you know Matt was coming to Miami?” she asked.
“Yes. I switched to a cheap hotel after the break-in and when we spoke on Friday, he volunteered to fly down and meet me so we could strategize. He said he’d be staying at a friend’s—someone who was out of town—so he’d be under the radar as well. By then I’d checked the pen and realized you’d taken mine. I felt like a fool telling Matt you’d absconded with the flash drive. But at least he had access to the system at the firm, and I could help him duplicate my efforts.”
“What could you possibly think I wanted with the flash drive?”
“I figured the break-in had been round two of Ithaka trying to get their hands on any evidence I had in my possession, and that you had been round one. Though what I couldn’t understand was how you knew the flash drive was hidden in the pen because I’d kept that detail to myself. Needless to say, I was flabbergasted when I heard you’d shown up for the dinner. Neither Matt nor I could guess what your game was.”
“Did you ever see Healy in Miami?”
“No. He was supposed to come by my place. When he never showed, I was in a panic wondering what had happened. He didn’t answer his phone. The next day I heard that a man fitting his description had been killed. I was almost positive it had to be him.”
If he was telling the truth, he had no idea that Matt Healy might have betrayed him.
“And you think his death could be related to all this?”
“Yes,” he said solemnly. “Yes I do. And now I’ve shared plenty. You said you had stuff to tell me.”
“Just one more question. When you finally talked to Healy, what did he reveal about the encounter with me?”
“Since he hadn’t heard from me in a few days, he was worried something had happened. Said he realized the person you’d met must have been me and that there might be a message he was supposed to interpret from your visit, but couldn’t decipher what it was. And that he’d tried to make it all seem like a bad misunderstanding.”
She shook her head.
“That’s not what happened. Healy told me his wallet had been stolen and the person I’d met in the Keys was probably the pickpocket.”
Kelman frowned. “Maybe that was the first story he could think of. Don’t forget, he had no idea why you’d shown up.”
“But then explain this to me. Healy had me go in to Ithaka and tell both Mitch Wainwright and the head of security the whole story.”
“That doesn’t make any freaking sense,” he said, taken aback. “Why would he open a huge can of worms that way? That was practically confirming to Wainwright that I was up to something.”
“I have to ask you, Garrett.” It was the first time, she realized, that she’d said his real name. “Are you sure Matt Healy didn’t turn on you?”
He brought his fist up and held it to his mouth. Either truly perturbed by the revelation—or just brilliantly pretending to be.