Page 65 of The Note

“Because when the divorce was happening, she knew she’d need his permission to implant the embryos in the future. After he died, she wouldn’t be able to get his permission, so to her it was the door slamming shut. I told her she shouldn’t just assume that, so she called the clinic, and they told her the law gave her control over the disposition. It at least gave her some consolation, but she was still devastated.”

If it were true Kelsey didn’t realize how Luke’s death would affect the situation with the fertility clinic, it was a devastating blow to the case May had built in her mind against Kelsey—the case shehad shared with Detective Carter Decker. She felt her face begin to grow hot.

“She really did seem upset about David’s death,” May said, replaying the image of Kelsey opening her mouth wide and letting loose that full-throated, primal scream. Like May on the subway platform. Like May, alone in her apartment this morning, sending poor Gomez scattering for cover. When May had those outbursts, she knew they were uncontrollable. She couldn’t stop them.

She also wouldn’t be able to fake them.

“I’m telling you, May. She was even worse about Luke. I’m convinced she was in love with both of them. She had nothing to do with this. But Bill? He could have done it. And there’s no way he would tell Kelsey about it. That would be the way he protected her—to keep her completely in the dark. And here’s the thing: The night Luke was killed, Bill was the one who insisted that Kelsey go with him to that award ceremony. She canceled a date to appease him. She even tried to turn it into a joke.I never got a third date, but I did get filet mignon and an alibi.”

These were things that May would have known if she had never lost touch with Kelsey. If she had called her all those times she was in Boston for depositions when she was still at the law firm. If she had gone to the wedding. If she had gotten to see her in love with Luke, the man who knew the special spot to tickle as they stood for weddingportraits. If she had helped her after her husband was murdered.

She would have known Kelsey better. She wouldn’t have fallen prey to the uninformed speculation of strangers who posted at whim on anonymous message boards. She wouldn’t have teed her friend up to Carter Decker, a cop hungry for a suspect.

She had messed everything up. “Send me pictures of everything you got from the police.”

“So you’ll represent her tomorrow?” Lauren asked. “If not, I need to find someone else.”

Maybe it wouldn’t even come to that. “Let me make a call and get back to you.”

As May pulled up Decker’s number, Josh opened the office door again. “That didn’t sound like a ‘no’ to me. You really need to explain right now.” She noticed him clenching and unclenching his fists.

“Just give me a second. I messed up. This is an emergency.”

As he walked away, she reached over to slide the doors shut behind him. Two rings followed by an answer. “Decker.”

She was in lawyer mode, so she didn’t give him everything—just enough to negate the motive she had previously offered. “I know everything I said earlier, but I have new information. Kelsey didn’t even know she’d be able to use the embryos until after Luke died, so I was wrong. She didn’t have any motive to kill him.”

“People kill soon-to-be-exes without having baby problems all the time,” he said dryly.

“She didn’t do it—”

“Well, that’s not what you thought forty-eight hours ago. More importantly: I don’t care what you think, and she’s not charged with murder. Not yet. She lied to me, point-blank. And she’s not the only one—but, unlike her, someone else corrected the record before I took the case to the DA. You wouldn’t have stormed in to tell Kelsey to lawyer up if you didn’t know more than you let on.”

His point was not lost on her. He could have charged May, too. The call Josh encouraged her to make had saved her. “Does your DA know?” Even if he didn’t charge her, he could report her to the bar association.

There was a long pause at the other end of the line. His voice was gentle when he finally spoke. “No. And I didn’t call your investigator friend in the city either.”

She was worried he could literally hear her breathing. She was the one to break the silence. “Why didn’t you?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, thank you for that.”

“Don’t make me regret it.”

Her mind raced. She wanted to say so much, but it was clear she wasn’t going to be able to stop Kelsey from being charged. She wasn’t sure howmuch information to share with him at this early stage of the case. “Kelsey needs a lawyer for her arraignment attorney—one that isn’t paid for by her father.”

“Is that lawyer going to be you?”

“Probably. Will that change your mind about the other thing?”

He answered immediately. “No.”

“Can I ask why not?”

“Well, you just did, but does it really matter? Because I think you might be a good person who tries to do the right thing.”

She realized they were both whispering now. “I am.”

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