by Lynn Ames
“Dessert sounds good.”
“I’m glad you guys could make it.” Peter squinted up into the sky where the sun was playing peek-a-boo with some high, scattered clouds.
“You invite us out sailing on the lake on a beautiful day, who are we to say no?” Jay applied sun block to her face and neck. “Although you’re usually more meticulous about planning in advance.”
“That’s because he has an ulterior motive,” Kate said. “And you missed a spot.” She took some lotion and rubbed it at the base of Jay’s neck.
Peter wagged a finger at Kate. “I hate that you’ve known me so long that you know my tells.”
“Do you have nefarious plans for us?” Jay asked. “Did you bring us out here like Clyde Griffiths in Theodore Dreiser’s, An American Tragedy?”
Peter grabbed the tiller and gestured to Lorraine. “Prepare to come about.” He waited for her to get the mainsail ready. “Coming about.”
When he was satisfied with their course, Peter tied off the tiller. A turkey vulture swooped through the air above, capturing his attention, and Peter thought it the perfect metaphor for what he was about to say.
“I have some information to share with you and I know you’re not going to like it.”
“So you brought us out to this beautiful spot to soften the blow?” Jay asked.
Peter knew her well enough to recognize that the joke was Jay’s way of easing the tension. “I brought you out here so that you won’t kill me after I tell you what I have to say, since I’m the one who knows the way back to shore.” He winked.
“You remember that Kate knows how to sail, right?”
“I’m sure he does,” Kate said. She took Jay’s hand and nodded to Peter. “What’s up?”
There was no way to sugarcoat it, so he decided to go for the direct approach. “My sources tell me Michael Vendetti was released from prison.”
Jay’s face drained of all color, and she let go of Kate’s hand. “When?”
“A few months ago.”
“A few…”
Kate crossed her arms over her chest. “Before or after the leak?”
“Early March.”
“So, before.”
“Yes.”
“Anybody think that’s a coincidence?”
Lorraine shook her head. “It seems highly unlikely. Peter and I have someone inside the federal system scrubbing Vendetti’s prison files to see who visited him, who called him or corresponded with him, and who on staff might have any connection to the Commission.”
“Do we need to think about security for Kate?” Jay asked. Her voice was strained, fear written in every facial feature.
“Sweetheart—”
“No.” Jay turned to face Kate. “I’m not going to lose you…” Her voice faltered and a tear spilled onto her cheek.
“No, you’re not,” Kate said. “Nothing’s going to happen to me.”
Peter sat down next to Jay and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “I give you my word that Lorraine and I won’t let Vendetti anywhere near either one of you.”
“You can’t guarantee that. Nobody can.” Jay angrily scrubbed a hand across her face. “We know how this works. The Commission is everywhere. You can’t identify every threat. If you can’t identify them, you can’t stop them.”
“We are not giving in to fear,” Kate said. “Not now. Not ever. We all know Wayne Grayson was the power behind the Commission—the man who ordered every violent action the Commission undertook over the past thirty years—and he died in prison last year.”
Jay shook her head. “Somebody had to fill that power vacuum. What if it was Vendetti?”
“Jay?” Lorraine knelt down in front of her. “I’ve had profilers put together a dossier on Vendetti. They are convinced he’s not interested in bloodlust. He’s a narcissist and a schemer. He’d want to regain his stature and a place at the table, not put himself in a position where he’d be the top suspect in a murder. We never had any indication that he was actively involved in any of the violence perpetrated against either one of you.”
“You’re assuming he ever lost his seat at the table in the first place,” Kate said.
“I don’t want to frighten you, but if Vendetti’s been in play all this time, and if he wanted to do you physical harm, he would’ve done it by now.” Peter checked the horizon to make sure they were still on course.
“I know you well enough, my friend. I assume you’ve got someone on Vendetti right now?”
Peter smiled. Kate really did know him like a book. “I might have a person and some technology in play.”
“Since when?” Kate asked.
“Since I found out a few days ago.”
“So not early enough to connect the dots to the leak.”
“Not yet.”
“Can’t Sabastien pull up his electronic footprint?”
“We talked about it. It’s too risky right now.”
“What do you mean it’s too risky?” Jay’s nostrils flared.
Lorraine stood up. “He means that if Vendetti is behind the leak and/or the framing of Sabastien, we don’t want to tip him off that we’re focusing on him.”
“Fair enough. What’s our play?” Kate asked.
Peter untied the tiller and made a course adjustment so that they were headed for a little inlet near the far bank. “We continue to work the Black Knight angle. If we can pin down who that is, we can make real headway into the question of whether the hack and the hacker are connected to Vendetti and/or the Commission.”
“In the meantime,” Lorraine added, “we keep close tabs on Vendetti and his known associates and we wait to hear back from our man inside the prison system.”
“And we enjoy an excellent lunch courtesy of Jamison Parker at this cozy little out-of-the-way spot up ahead.”
“Hey! How do you know I didn’t make the lunch?” Kate asked.
Peter laughed. “In all the years I’ve known you, you’ve never once cooked for me. I think it’s safe to say that whatever’s in that cooler, you didn’t have anything to do with it.”
“Untrue,” Kate mumbled. “I purchased the raw materials.”
Peter peeked over at Jay. He could tell that she was far from mollified, but, at least for the moment, he’d done everything he could do to ease her fear.
Kate reached across the center console and stroked the back of Jay’s hand before entwining their fingers. They were nearly home and Jay had been uncharacteristically quiet the entire ride.
“Are you okay?”
“Not really,” Jay answered after a little while. “How can I be? How can you be?”
Kate squeezed Jay’s hand a little tighter. “I know that Peter and Lorraine are doing everything they can. So are we, so is Sabastien, and so is Vaughn. For now, that’s going to have to be enough. Worrying about it isn’t going to change anything.”
“I can’t seem to help—” Jay’s cell phone buzzed and she glanced at the display. She raised her eyebrows in surprise. “It’s Dara.”
Kate released Jay’s hand. “Better pick it up.”
“Is it okay if I put it on speaker? I don’t have my Bluetooth with me and you know how I hate holding the cell phone to my ear.”
“Sure.”
“Hi, Dara. This is Jay. I’ve got you on speaker. I hope you don’t mind. It’s just me and Kate.”
“No problem. Am I interrupting something? I can call back.”
“No, you’re fine. We’re just in the car on our way home.”
“Okay.”
“What can I do for you?”
“I’d like to sit down with you and have a business discussion.”
Kate kept her eyes on the road, but she could feel the weight of Jay’s stare. She hadn’t shared her conversation with Dara, and she could just imagine Jay putting two and two together—Kate’s rendezvous with Dara yesterday, and this call.
“S-sure. You mean in person?”
“I do.”
“Are you
still in New York? I could probably get into town tomorrow or the next day if that works for you.”
“Actually,” Dara said, “I’d love to come upstate to you, if you don’t mind, that is.”
Jay’s eyebrows shot up into her hairline. “You want to come to Albany?”
Dara’s laugh was rich and full. “Why are you so surprised?”
“I don’t know. I just…”
After a moment’s silence, Dara asked, “Would that be okay?”
Kate chanced a glance at Jay, who gestured with her hands, silently asking Kate if she had any objection. Kate indicated that it was Jay’s call.
“Of course.”
“I could catch the early morning Amtrak train tomorrow.”
“Okay. Text me the train number and your scheduled arrival time and I’ll pick you up.”
“Perfect.”
“Is there anything I need to do to prepare?”
“Nothing you need to prepare, no.”
Again, the line went silent. “Is there anything I need to bring?”
“We can talk about it tomorrow when I see you.”
“Okay. Is there anything more you want to tell me?” Jay asked.
“I’m looking forward to seeing you tomorrow, Jay.”
“Good enough. Text me the details and I’ll see you on the platform when you arrive.”
Jay disconnected the call. They stopped at a red light. Out of the corner of her eye, Kate could see Jay tapping the phone against her chin.
“Any idea what all that was about?” Jay asked.
“Dara wants to sit down with you.”
“You never told me how your day was yesterday.”
Kate smiled slyly. “As I recall, we had other, more important things on our minds when I got home. And this morning we were busy rushing around getting ready to meet Peter and Lorraine at the dock.”
“We’re not too busy now, so how was your day with Dara yesterday? What did you talk about?”
Well, Kyle? How much do you want to say? Despite last night, Kate wasn’t completely confident that they were on solid ground. Still, she always made a policy of being completely honest with Jay. Now was not the time to deviate from that.
“We had a good day. I got to know her a little better. She’s incredibly smart, thoughtful, and erudite.”
“You didn’t answer the second question.”
“What did we discuss?”
“Yes. That one.”
Jay’s body was stiff, her posture erect. Kate took a deep breath and forged ahead. “She wanted to know if you would be offended if she and Rebecca made you a business proposal.”
“And she needed to ask you that question first, before she approached me?”
Jay didn’t raise her voice, but Kate understood the importance of this exchange. What she said next could determine the difference between their new détente and a return to the discord and disconnect that had characterized their relationship over the past few months.
“She was very concerned that she didn’t want to be insensitive to you. She assumed that I would know you well enough to be able to give her good advice on that front.”
“And you told her, what, exactly?”
“I told her that your business affairs were yours alone and that she needed to discuss her proposal with you directly. If you chose to include me in such conversations, you would.”
That answer seemed to satisfy Jay, because her posture relaxed slightly.
“So you know what she wants to talk about.” It was a statement, not a question.
“I do.”
“Care to share?”
Kate pulled into the garage and cut the engine. She unbuckled her seatbelt and shifted to face Jay. “She wants to talk about turning your manuscript into a movie.”
Jay was thunderstruck. “She wants…”
“…to put the story on the big screen.”
“B-but we haven’t even been able to get a publisher yet.”
Kate smiled. “I think that’s her point.” She waited for her words to sink in.
Jay released her seatbelt, sat back in the seat, and stared out the windshield. She made no move to get out of the car. “She doesn’t care whether it gets published first.”
“That’s not exactly true,” Kate said. “I think she wants very much for you to get your book published. She understands how important this story is to you. That’s why she’s offering you an alternative.”
Jay scrunched her face up in puzzlement. “What am I missing here?”
“Dara and Rebecca are concerned that you’re being blackballed in your attempts to find a publisher to take the novel. They want to propose that you take the manuscript in its current form directly to film instead of getting the book in print. That way, you could still get the story out and made.”
Jay shook her head slowly. “Why did she think that would offend me?”
“I think she was worried that you’d perceive their offer as their having lost faith in your ability to get the work published.”
“Oh.” Jay tucked her phone in her purse. “What advice did you give her?”
“I told her the truth—that I couldn’t answer for you. But I also told her that I didn’t think the question would offend you.”
Jay nodded. “All right.”
“Was I right?”
“Huh?”
“Was I correct? The question doesn’t offend you, does it?”
“Of course not.”
“Are you upset that she came to me first?” The edges of misery crept into Kate’s gut. Before this recent spate of events, such a question never would’ve crossed her mind.
“No.” Jay took Kate’s face in her hands. “Sweetheart, I don’t want you to walk on eggshells with me. Not anymore. You can’t control the fact that Dara approached you and not me. She asked you for your opinion. You answered honestly.”
Kate kissed Jay’s palm. “Let’s not forget that I also told her any business discussion would have to be with you.”
“No. We can’t forget that.” Jay leaned in and kissed the tip of Kate’s nose.
“So you’re not mad?”
“I’m not even close to mad.” Jay let go of Kate and picked up her purse. “I would, however, like to go in the house.”
“Good plan.” Kate opened the car door and stood up. “What do you think?” She pulled out the house key and unlocked the door from the garage to the mudroom.
“I think I’m intrigued.”
CHAPTER TEN
Dara stepped off the train at the Albany-Rensselaer station and scanned the crowd. The platform was packed with men and women in business suits. Dara gathered from the conversations on the train that they were all lobbyists or others with a vested interest, swarming the Capitol in Albany at the end of the legislative session to try to effect a favorable outcome for their causes or companies.
“Dara! Over here!”
Dara noticed a hand bobbing up and down in the air behind most of the throng. She headed in that direction. Jay met her part way, fighting her way through the bevy of taller bodies until they were face to face.
“Hi there. Good to see you again.” Jay gave her a warm hug. She was dressed in a pair of stylish gray slacks and a forest green silk blouse with the sleeves rolled up.
“Good to see you too.” Dara held her at arms-length. “You look fabulous. I love that color on you.”
Jay smiled sheepishly. “I didn’t know how formal you wanted the meeting to be, so…”
“As you can see,” Dara pointed to her designer jeans and short-sleeved, v-neck shirt, “this is as formal as it gets in Tinseltown.”
“My car’s in the parking lot.” Jay motioned for Dara to follow her. “How was the train ride? Have you been to Albany before?”
Dara was aware of several people staring at her, some gesturing and talking behind their hands. She didn’t mind; she was used to being recognized and considered it an occupational hazard. Unlike so many celebrities, she made n
o effort to disguise herself. Such tactics rarely worked and, in her opinion, usually resulted in unflattering pictures on the front pages of tabloid newspapers.
“This is my first time. The scenery along the Hudson river was gorgeous.”
“Here we are.” Jay unlocked the car, a late-model BMW convertible.
“Nice wheels.”
“I call it Kate’s mid-life crisis car.”
Dara laughed. “The other day I told Kate I’d read about the Hyland affair in the history books when I was in college. I think I gave her a coronary.”
“That was cruel.”
“She said as much.”
“I’m not sure where you wanted to go…”
“Just someplace quiet where we can talk. You pick it.”
“Okay. It’s a beautiful day and it’s not yet lunchtime, so how about if I take you down to the Empire State Plaza? That way, I can give you a little tour, we can sit outside undisturbed, and then, if you’re hungry afterward, we can get something to eat.”
“Sounds perfect.” Although Dara was somewhat surprised that Kate apparently would not be joining them, she refrained from saying so. She thought back to the conversation in Carolyn’s office and Kate’s evident discomfort about speaking for Jay. Whatever was going on between them was none of her business.
They drove in silence for a short time until they reached an area populated by a series of larger buildings.
Jay pointed to her right. “That odd-shaped structure that looks like a flying saucer is called the Egg. It’s a performing arts space.”
“It really does look like something from outer space.”
“The Empire State Plaza, the configuration of state office buildings and open space you’re looking at, was Nelson Rockefeller’s dream child.” Jay slowed the car. “It’s impossible to find parking around here.” She scanned the street. “That building on your left is the Capitol. It’s where Kate once worked and where the bombing that brought us together took place. Of course, it’s long since been repaired.”
“I like the archways.”
“It’s an impressive place.” Jay sighed in exasperation. “Do you mind walking? Looks like we’re going to have to find a spot a few blocks away.”
“I don’t mind at all. The exercise will do me good after so much time sitting on the train.”