Still, I didn’t want to believe that Matthew would have invaded my privacy without telling me.
Suddenly my chest felt like it was made of ice.
Matthew shook his head. “We’ve been tailing him for a while, watching your building and his office, yeah. But nothing tapped. So far.”
I sighed with relief. The idea that he might have seen anything that went on in that apartment…and said nothing…it was unbearable.
“You can expect the apartment to have eyes and ears after Monday, though,” he continued. “I’m supposed to confirm that you’re here or when you leave.”
I stepped farther away, leaned against the old oak tree, and wrapped my arms around my middle before I started shaking. “What—what—what does that mean?”
Matthew watched me sadly. “It means no privacy, baby. It means they’ll be planting cameras and audio in every room.”
Oh, God. The things he would hear there. The things he would see.
“I don’t understand,” I said. “I thought you already had the evidence to indict. I thought the discovery or whatever it’s called was so Calvin’s lawyers could prepare.”
“Nina, we need more than just part ownership in a Brooklyn safe house and a sighting outside,” Matthew said. “But just between us, the investigation sort of hit a dead end a few weeks ago. That’s until my tail found out about—you know what? Never mind. The point is, we’ve been waiting for this, and we need it.”
Something else he probably wasn’t supposed to tell me. And yet, I was glad he did as a single, guilty thought rang through my mind: He doesn’t know.
Maybe he never would.
“Something on your mind?”
I blinked. “What?” Lord, how did he always manage to do that? “No.”
Matthew peered at me a moment more. “You sure?”
I considered coming clean. But then, he had explicitly said not to, hadn’t he? I had to figure this out on my own.
“I’m all right,” I said as another plan fell into place. One I hadn’t even realized I was contemplating with Coral until just this minute. “I can make that work.”
“It’s just for the fall, now that we know the trial date.”
I looked up with surprise. “It’s been set?”
Now it was Matthew’s turn to look surprised. “You didn’t know?” He sighed. “Yeah. The judge wasn’t willing to give us another extension beyond that. Sixty days, and we head straight to trial, whether we have what we need or not. Which is why I’m here, obviously. Not just to…” He worried his jaw, clearly mulling over something. “Look, you wouldn’t happen to know who a Kate Csaszar is, would you?”
I balked. “Now you’ll take information from me?”
“Just answer the question, please.”
But I shook my head. “I’m sorry, no. I’ve never heard the name before.”
He studied me for a moment, then seemed almost relieved. But he didn’t tell me why he was asking.
“No one else I talk to back there knew her either,” he said. “So I’m back at square one.”
“Did Caitlyn?” I asked before I could stop myself.
“I didn’t ask,” he said evenly. “I was too busy trying to talk to her husband, who had no clue.”
“Well, that’s too bad. She’s the biggest gossip in New York. She probably knows something.”
But Matthew just sighed and shook his head. I couldn’t lie. I was pleased he didn’t want to interact more with Caitlyn.
“Nina, bottom line: we need that surveillance. I’m sorry, but it’s our only other shot before the trial starts.”
The despondency in his voice was clear, and it affected me too. I wasn’t used to Matthew like this. Here was a man so full of swagger, so usually confident, that generally he seemed like he would take on the world rather than admit defeat.
That was when I knew I’d do anything to prevent it. Even sacrifice myself.
I took a deep breath.
“There’s a company,” I said. “An LLC.”
Matthew frowned and shook his head vigorously. “Nina, I told you, I can’t hear any of this from you—”
“You can pretend you heard me mention it to Jane or someone else,” I rattled on, no longer caring what he said. “It’s called Pantheon.”
Matthew froze. “How—how did you know about that?”
Now it was my turn to be shy. “I just do. I know it’s registered anonymously in Delaware. I don’t know everyone who owns it, but”—I swallowed, weighing my words carefully—“Matthew, one of them is Calvin.”
Perhaps I should have told him the rest right then. But when I opened my mouth to do it, he just shook his head vigorously.
“That’s enough, that’s enough,” he said. “I appreciate what you’re doing, Nina,