Page 46 of Unlikely Guardian

“I was going through some old files I had from when I worked for Lilly. I found some e-memos that Raymond Klein sent to Lilly’s father.” Her words were suddenly rushed, as if she was trying to hurry. “They seem to suggest that they were about to do something illegal. Something to do with paying off a city official so they could undercut other bids for a building project. One of those other bids appears to belong to your brother, Greg.”

Jason met Lilly’s gaze. She didn’t appear surprised, but concerned. She pulled Megan protectively closer to her.

“I’ll want to see these memos,” Jason told Corinne.

“I thought you would. But there might be a problem. The files might have been tampered with.” Corinne’s voice dropped even lower. She was either very nervous and frightened about this call, or else she was putting on a good act. “I can’t verify that this e-memo even came from Klein. I’m usually pretty good at unraveling the e-mail addresses and identities of the senders, but this one has been blocked. I can’t be sure if this information in the memo is correct or if someone planted it to make it look as if something illegal was going on.”

After hearing that, Jason had a dilemma of his own. Was Corinne up to something? He certainly didn’t trust the woman, and that lack of trust cast some serious suspicion on what she was saying. However, he couldn’t just dismiss potential evidence either, especially if that evidence could be used to convict Raymond Klein.

“Take what you have to police headquarters,” Jason instructed Corinne. “I’ll pick it up there.”

“I can’t do that.”

“And why not?”

More hesitation. Jason could practically see the woman wringing her hands, or else pretending to wring them. “I think someone’s watching me. Maybe it has something to do with what happened to Lilly. The shooting, I mean. I don’t want to go walking into police headquarters because I believe someone will try to stop me from doing that.”

Well, he could understand her concern. Jason could also understand his own concern. “You can fax or copy the files and e-mail them,” he suggested.

“No, I can’t. Some are handwritten, and the ink is very pale. I tried to copy a few, but they’re barely even legible in places.”

Oh, man. He didn’t even want to know where this was leading.

“I want to meet with Lilly and you so I can give you the files in person,” Corinne insisted.

Lilly made a frustrated sound and shook her head.

Jason agreed. “It wouldn’t be safe for Lilly to be out in public.”

“I can meet you someplace safe,” Corinne insisted.

But Jason knew there were no real safe places. Especially not for a meeting with a suspect.

“You choose the location,” Corinne continued. She no longer sounded just afraid. She sounded desperate. “You bring along extra cops. Guns, whatever. Do what you need to do to secure the place, and I’ll give you what I found.”

Jason quickly thought that through and came up with a solution. “All right. Let’s meet in the parking lot of police headquarters, but Lilly won’t be coming with me.”

“She has to, or else I’ll call the whole thing off. I don’t really know you, Detective Lawrence, but I know Lilly, and I know she wouldn’t do anything to hurt me. That’s why I insist that she be there.”

“Okay,” he heard Lilly say.

Glaring at her hardly seemed enough to convey his displeasure for her okay. “Lilly won’t be coming with me,” Jason insisted.

“I’ll be at the parking lot of the downtown police headquarters at 8:00 p.m.,” Corinne said. “If Lilly’s not there, I won’t be, either.”

And with that ultimatum, she hung up.

“We have to meet her. You know we don’t have a choice about this,” Lilly said immediately.

“Oh, but we do, and that choice is for you to stay put. I’ll go to the meeting and get those memos and files from Corinne while you stay here under police guard.”

Lilly’s frown probably meant she didn’t agree with his plan. “What if she means what she said? What if she won’t meet with you if I’m not there?”

Jason considered that, and dismissed it. “What if she’s up to something?”

“What if she’s not?” Lilly argued.

He huffed. “How long are you going to keep countering a question with a question?”

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