Page 64 of The Note

Lauren’s screen shifted for a brief shot of Nate, who looked exhausted. “Hey, I know things got weird the other night, but Kelsey really needs your help.”

As far as May was concerned, Kelsey was on her own, but she didn’t want Lauren to be stranded without a place in East Hampton. “The owner of the rental just called me,” May said, making her way to the office. “Are the police at the house? Did they arrest Kelsey?”

Once Lauren spelled out the charges listed in the arrest and search warrants, May could see the logic of the prosecution. “My guess is they’re looking at her for murder but don’t have their case together yet,” she said. “Going after her for lying to the police gave them leverage for the warrants. Technically, they’re searching for evidence she lied about her ties to David, but if they find anythingrelated to his death, they can use it against her. And even a misdemeanor charge could be enough to hold her if they’re worried about her fleeing the country before they get the evidence they need.”

“They’re allowed to do that?” Nate asked. “That doesn’t seem fair.”

It’s exactly what May would have done as a prosecutor. “I was calling because the homeowner terminated the rental agreement. She’s notifying the police that you can’t stay there anymore, effective immediately.”

“We were already eighty-sixed for the night because of the search warrant,” Lauren said. “We’ll figure something out, but we were about to call to ask you—beg you if necessary—to represent Kelsey tomorrow at her court hearing.”

The office door slid open. Josh looked incredulous. She didn’t need to be a good lip-reader to make out his mouthed words:What the fuck?

She shook her head and made a slashing gesture across her throat.

As the door slid closed again, she told them that she couldn’t possibly do that. She had hung up her practitioner hat when she joined the academy.

“But you still have a bar license,” Lauren said. “You even told me that Fordham gave you permission to work on pro bono cases if you wanted.”

“Kelsey’s not exactly pro bono.”

“My point is you could represent her if you wanted.”

She couldn’t bring herself to lie to Lauren—not after being caught in the big lie she’d been holding on to for fifteen years. “Yes, I could. But I won’t.”

Nate leaned into the screen. She felt like she was looking directly into his eyes, even though she knew it wouldn’t look that way to him on camera. “Please, May. You’re the perfect person for this. You made it clear you know these laws cold the other night, and, most importantly, you wouldn’t be beholden to Kelsey’s dad.”

“Why would that matter?”

“Hey, let me call you right back on a regular line,” Lauren said, ending the FaceTime stream abruptly.

As May walked through the living room to get her phone, Josh blocked her path. “Do not answer that call, May. They’re trying to pull you into something really stupid, just like they did before. Do I have to remind you that you lied to a police officer because of them?”

“They were saying something about Kelsey’s father,” she said. “Let me just hear them out.” Her cell phone was already ringing on the kitchen counter.

“I’m telling you—”

She picked up anyway. “Hey.” As she made her way back to the office, Josh began walking toward the bedroom.

“Sorry about that,” Lauren said. She could tell that Lauren’s phone was no longer on speaker. “The police told us the landlord called them.Nate’s going to go pack up our stuff, but here’s the deal. If there really is a connection between Luke’s murder and David’s, it could be Kelsey’s father—not Kelsey. Think about it. He’s super protective of her and is used to getting his way. You should have heard the way he talked to Nate tonight when he was only trying to help. Nate thinks Bill has this weird hang-up where he wants Kelsey to depend solely on him. There’s always been rumors that he was mobbed up.”

“Kelsey’s pretty damn used to getting her own way, too,” May said. She explained what she had figured out about Kelsey’s motive to retain control over the embryos, plus the possibility that David and Luke were both killed after someone initiated a fake traffic stop.

“There’s no way Kelsey could be involved,” Lauren said. “The police think David was killed Saturday night. We were all together that whole time.”

“And Kelsey and her father were both at that Golden Plate Award banquet when Luke was killed. Whoever pulled the trigger was hired.”

“But by her father, not Kelsey,” Lauren said. “Nate told me that when Luke was first killed, his mother even said she thought Bill did it. She said he’s mobbed up and knows the kind of people who can have someone killed.”

“Which means Kelsey probably knows them too. She’s the heir apparent.”

“No way. You saw the way she responded when you told her David had died. She completely broke down.”

“Because she realized the police had connected the two of them. She knew she was busted.” May couldn’t believe how callous she sounded. They were talking about Kelsey.

“No, you’re wrong about that, May. I’d bet my actual life on it. You weren’t close to Kelsey when Luke died. I was. She was a complete mess. She had truly been hoping that Luke would change his mind about the divorce. And she definitely assumed at the time she wouldn’t be able to use the embryos after he died, so that added to her depression. She only found out later from the clinic she’d be able to use them as she wanted.”

“How do you know that?” May asked.

---