It was five-sixteen p.m., fourteen minutes to go, and May was telling Kelsey that, no, she absolutely could not make herself a martini. Lauren had lost count of the number of times they had played out this argument in the past half hour.
“I’m freaking out right now, May.” Kelsey was massaging her temples with her fingertips, pacing behind the living room sofa. “I don’t know if I can do this. I mean…it’s Nate. I feel like I’m setting him up.”
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 confirm that Nate wasn’t involved 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’s important. 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. She would not be happy. And she 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 play her role. 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—if we 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 to wait 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.