Page 74 of The Note

She was most definitely setting him up, but as far as Lauren could tell, May had convinced Kelsey to think of the plan as a way to confirmthat Natewasn’tinvolved while the police continued to investigate her father.

From the moment May had agreed to represent Kelsey at her arraignment, Lauren noticed the ways May kept putting herself on the line. Offering up her apartment in the courtroom to keep Kelsey out of custody. Working incessantly as both lawyer and investigator once she suspected Nate. Devising this entire plan. Calling in law enforcement favors to make it happen, despite the dangers involved. After watching May sacrifice time and again, it was impossible for Lauren to stay mad at her for a mistake she’d made fifteen years earlier.

“Okay, but drinking is not going to help.” May interrupted Kelsey mid-pace and held her by the shoulders. “This is really important.”

“Master of the understatement,” Kelsey snapped. “Of course I know it’simportant.You guys think my brother murdered a bunch of people because of me, and what if we find out he did? And frankly, after the past few years, if Nate gets here and I’m not already drinking, he’ll definitely be suspicious.”

Lauren had initially tried to find a way not to be here for this. Being here made her relevant. It would make her a witness to whatever was about to be said. She’d probably eventually have to testify. The symphony would not be happy. Thomas would not be happy.Shewould not be happy. Andshe really couldn’t help anyway. She wasn’t Nate’s sister, and she wasn’t a crafty little lawyer. Her ten-day trip to the Hamptons was supposed to have ended with her flight back to Houston yesterday, but she couldn’t imagine letting the two of them do this alone. She told Thomas a friend needed her help in the city so she was extending her trip. He said she was a good friend and that he’d meet her at the airport when she said the word.

Now that they were about to follow through on their plan, Lauren could see her role clearly. She had to get Kelsey to playherrole. And Lauren was one of the few people May and Kelsey would allow to boss them around.

“No time for bickering, you guys. Here’s what we are going to do. We will make one very small martini and place it in three glasses. That gives you a little nip to calm your nerves, Kelsey, and Nate will think we’re already one round in. Fair enough?”

The lack of an argument felt like a consensus.

“And, May, everything is all set upstairs?”

“Yeah, they’ll text me as soon as we have enough—ifwe get enough.”

May had met Carter Decker and Danny Brennan in her hallway after the doorman let them up. It had only taken a few minutes for Decker to place the recording equipment in her living room before proceeding to the roof to make sure the sound came through clearly. They had wanted towait in the bedroom in case things fell apart, but after Nate had refused to help her fold the laundry in his apartment, May was worried that he might find a reason to scope out her place for any surprises. The rooftop garden was only three floors up, accessible through a staircase directly across the hallway from May’s apartment. It was close enough if anything went wrong.

The doorman called May at exactly five-thirty. Nate was right on time.

44

May kept her well-practiced smile pasted to her face as Nate fumbled with the lock to the terrace door. “Wow, we were all too shell-shocked the first time I was here to pay much attention to your apartment. This view alone is worth the price of admission.”

She reached past him and flicked the latch to the left. “It’s sticky.”

He took a quick step outside before turning right back. “And, yep, I’m still weird about heights.”

“This was my sanctuary during the shutdown,” she said, allowing herself a few breaths of fresh air from the twentieth-floor view.

“I can imagine,” he said.

He was wearing a lightweight button-down, khaki shorts, and loafers. Kelsey had been the first to greet him, welcoming him inside with a classic Kelsey hug. Watching her arms wrapped around Nate was different now, and May had tried not to think of the two of them together. She was, however, confident that Kelsey had accomplished goal one with that hug—make sure there was no gun in his waistband.

It was a good thing that Carter and Danny hadn’t parked themselves in her bedroom. The first thing Nate asked for once May poured him a glass of red wine was the tour he didn’t get when they’d come here after Kelsey’s arraignment. She could feel him studying her during the quick walk-through. Did he know she suspected him?

That moment when he walked into his apartment with Kelsey’s laundry—she was replaying it another time, questioning every second of the interaction. SayingDon’t you need to get that?when her phone rang. Was that a normal thing to say? His keys in the lock only seconds earlier. It took time to put a key in a lock, and she had been talking to Kelsey’s father until that very second. He could have heard her.

That was the phone call that broke everything open for May, when she asked Bill Ellis why he and Jeanie had gotten divorced. He didn’t wantto answer at first. “Not everything has to become a public matter, May. Some families have secrets.”

She told him she thought she knew what their secret was. Kelsey and Nate.

“Jeanie and I … well, we would find them. At first, they were just little kids, holding hands and rolling around together. We were thrilled the children loved each other. It was everything we hoped for—a way to make a family after we’d each lost a spouse and our children lost a parent. But then we saw them kissing in the backyard, and not like siblings. They swore they were just curious. Jeanie’s therapist friend said it wasn’t unusual, even for real siblings, to experiment out of curiosity. We were told that it might be scarring if we made a bigger deal out of it than it was. So we kept an eye out for any other warning signs, but over the years it didn’t really seem to be an issue. Then one time when Kelsey was staying the weekend to get a break from her freshman roommate, Jeanie and I came home early from some horrible movie. We heard them in Kelsey’s room. Then saw them. We were horrified. I still feel sick when I think about it.”

“And that’s why you got divorced?” He was confirming what she had suspected about Kelsey and Nate, but it didn’t fully explain how it split up the family.

“I blamed Nate because he was the boy and Iknow how boys are. He took advantage of his own sister. But Jeanie blamed Kelsey. Apparently she had known that Kelsey had been sexually active for years already. I most certainly wasn’t aware of that. She made Kelsey out to be the predator. After something like that—it just changed how we saw our children, and that had been a big part of what made us a family. There was no fixing it. Why are you digging all this up?”

She had started to explain when she heard Nate’s keys in the door and hung up. How much—if any—of that phone call had he overheard?

Nate bent over and scooped Gomez from his dog bed. “Hi, Mr. Gomez. Nice to see you again, pudgy puggy.” Gomez began wiggling and jumped back to the floor. “I guess someone’s not a cuddler.” Nate took the seat next to Kelsey on the sofa, setting his glass of wine on the coffee table. “Kelsey said your fiancé’s out of town?”

“Yeah. Corporate boondoggle in Napa.” She was becoming an excellent liar.

“Nice.”

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