felt something snag in her mind and then let go, like a sleeve caught momentarily on a piece of brush. What was it? she thought. But she couldn’t retrieve the thought.
“I’m just trying to cover every base,” he said.
“The base I need to cover right now is that there was no reason for anyone to show up at my building to kill Avery. But there does seem to be a motive for people to want me dead. In the dim light of the stairwell, Avery could have easily been mistaken for me.”
Kelman crossed his arms, exhaling.
“It does sound like you may have been the intended target,” he conceded. “And Ithaka could be responsible, just as they may be behind Healy’s death. As I told you, these cases don’t usually involve violence, but the conviction rates are high and they may want to guarantee it never comes to trial. Since they couldn’t find the flash drive at your place, plan B was to kill you.”
“And by now they must know that they killed the wrong person,” she said. “Will they try again?”
“I’ve no clue, Kit. I assume it’s possible. But it depends somewhat, I’d guess, on who the hell is doing this. If it’s one of the two traders—Kennelly or Lister—going rogue and killing people in a panic, they may realize that the more havoc they create, the greater the chance of it pointing to them. So they may decide it’s best to back off, at least for now. But if it’s some kind of hired killer, I doubt he’ll panic.”
“Oh, brilliant.” Without warning, she felt anger overtake her fear. She’d done nothing wrong, nothing at all, and yet people were coming after her. There was no way she was going to sit around like a total wimp waiting to see what their freaking plan C turned out to be.
“How do you know for sure that she was pushed?” Kelman asked. “The news items I read said it hadn’t been determined.”
“I’ve shared enough. I’d say it’s your turn now.”
“Fair enough.”
He hoisted himself off the couch, crossed the room, and slid open the shoji screen. There was an aspect to the gesture that seemed to be out of a movie. A door sliding open. A revelation about to occur. But could she believe it? she wondered.
As she’d expected, on the other side of the door was a bedroom, one as sparsely furnished as the living area—a simple dresser and a duvet-draped mattress on a low, wooden platform. Kelman opened a closet and from deep inside pulled out a black knapsack. He walked back to the couch and this time sat within inches of her. He unzipped the main area of the knapsack.
“Here,” he said, tugging out a sheaf of papers. “Let me take you through parts of this.”
He started with the spread sheet on top, a list, he said, showing trades made by Lister and Kennelly. He dragged his finger down, explaining their significance. There were also several printouts of news stories. They reported on the disappointing results of tests on a highly anticipated drug meant to treat leukemia. As she listened to Kelman talk, she had a glimpse again of the confident, self-assured man she’d met in Florida.
“You’ve got clear links to Lister and Kennelly,” Kit said. “What about Wainwright? Do you think he’s involved?”
He shook his head. “That’s what Healy was supposed to be digging into. My assumption is that Mitch is involved. As they say, a fish rots from the head down. At the very least, he must have been suspicious when he became aware of these trades and the killing the firm made. But that doesn’t mean he’s in legal danger himself. It’s getting harder and harder to prosecute someone too many steps removed from the action. But still, he’d want to protect the firm’s reputation, and make sure no one had a reason to incriminate him”
He took the pages from her and stuffed them back into the backpack. If it was all a sham, she thought, he’d gone to elaborate lengths to fool her. So maybe it was the truth.
“So is that one of the reasons you’re delaying going to the SEC?” she asked. “Because you’re still trying to find proof of Wainwright’s involvement?”
“No, I have no way of doing that anymore. It’ll be up to the authorities. It’s what I told you the other night—I’ve switched strategies. The lawyer I’m working with has advised going to the U.S. Attorney’s office rather than the SEC. Things will