A Dangerous Widow (A Dangerous Series) (21 page)

After she’d wiped down everything she’d
touched, she dressed quickly, and then pulled on her coat and reached for her
handbag.
 
She looked at him for a
moment, and wondered how long it would take before someone found him.

When they start to smell
him
, she
thought.
 
That’s
when.

And then it occurred to her—he might be
dead, but he still owed her ten grand.

His pants were at the foot of the bed, and
in one of the pockets, she found a thick wad of hundred-dollar bills secured with
a rubber band.

She pocketed the money, and then left the
room with her hair hanging slightly in her face, just in case there were any
security cameras in the corridor.

When she exited the building, she ignored
the doorman who held the door open for her and then set off down the
street.
 
She looked around for a cab
and saw none, so she moved toward Park, where there would be plenty.
 

As she approached the thoroughfare, she
noted an elderly homeless woman sitting with her back against one of the
buildings to her right—her head was lowered, but the palm of her hand was
outstretched.

Jade stopped beside her, removed the ten
grand from her jacket pocket, and placed it into the woman’s hand.

“You need this more than I do,” she said
when the woman looked up at her.
 
“Use it wisely.
 
Get off the
street.
 
Good luck.”

As she walked away, Jade heard the woman
gasp and begin to thank her profusely.
 
A moment later, she came upon a cab, snagged it, and slipped away into
the night.

*
 
*
 
*

When she returned home, Jade dropped her
handbag in the entryway, took off her jacket and flung it over a chair, and
then stepped into her office.
 
She
woke her computer by jiggling the mouse and then called up an image of Kate
Stone.

“You’re next,” she said as she looked
straight into Kate’s eyes.
 
“I’ll
toy with you once, Kate—but that’s where it ends.
 
You’ve got two days left to live.
 
So, do your best to enjoy
them—especially tomorrow night.”

CHAPTER TWENTY

When I awoke the next morning with Ben at my
side, it was only a bit past five, but already he was wide-awake—and
looking troubled.

“Good morning,” I said.

He leaned down and kissed me on the forehead
and then on the lips.
 
“Good
morning.
 
Did you sleep well?”

“I’ve slept better.”

“Same here.”

“Are you OK?”

“I’m just hoping to hear from Nick soon.”

Tonight’s Red Cross event was being held at
the Four Seasons.
 
Yesterday
afternoon and evening, Ben, Nick, and I had poured through the guest list, but
because so many people were bringing a plus-one, there were dozens of names I
didn’t recognize—most of them female.

“I see that the Witherhouses are coming,”
Ben said.

“They’re rich.
 
I invited them months ago.”

“When we see them, we’ll need to make
certain that Bill is with Maxine, and not with somebody else.”

“I agree.”

“If Bill
is
with Maxine, then ‘W’ could be someone else’s plus-one,” Nick said.
 
“
If
that’s even how she plans on getting inside, which we don’t know because there
are other ways to get inside.”

“What other ways?”

“Take your pick.
 
Through catering?
 
Through the bar staff?
 
Through a breach in security?
 
Or maybe through somebody who works at
the Four Seasons who would consider taking a substantial bribe.
 
With so many people invited and so many
others involved in tending to the event, anything is possible.”
 
He looked at me.
 
“How many people on this list did
Michael have business dealings with?”

“Plenty.”

“Then take this pen and put a check by the
names of each person who you know for certain Michael worked with—in any
capacity.”

“But there are going to be people on this
list who worked with him that I know nothing about.”

“We’ll do our best.
 
When you’re finished, I’ll take the list
back to my office, and my team and I will start doing background checks on each
person.
 
If we can link any one of
them to Michael in such a way that looks questionable, then we’ll dig deeper.”

When Nick left, Ben urged me to cancel the
party.

“I can’t,” I said.
 
“This is the single largest event the
Red Cross will hold in Manhattan this year.
 
There’s no cancelling it.”

“Please don’t go.”

“I have to go—I’m the one giving the
speech.”

“Can’t somebody else give it?”

“I suppose that somebody could, but what you
don’t understand is that I’m the one who’s key to earning as much as we can
tomorrow night.
 
I
invited these people.
 
They’re
expecting me to be there.
 
And when
I approach them, they’ll know that I’ll be expecting a healthy donation from
them.
 
Without me there, tomorrow
night is a fail, and I can’t let that to happen.
 
We need that money.
 
And besides,” I said, “you’ll be at my
side throughout all of it.
 
And Nick
said he’s going to have thirteen of his own men and women there, including an
armed female agent who apparently will follow me into the restroom should I
need to use it.
 
There won’t be a
moment when I’m not protected.”

“I still worry about you, Kate.”

“I know you do.”

“Aren’t you worried for yourself?”

“Yes.
 
A part of me is scared.”

“Just a part?”

“The other part knows that I’ve got you, and
because I do, I know that you’ll do your best to let nothing happen to me.
 
When it comes to tomorrow night, the
odds are stacked in our favor.
 
If
this ‘W’ woman does show and if she sees you at my side—which she
will—what’s she going to do?
 
Act in a space filled with hundreds of people, some of whom are
armed?
 
She knows that because she
threatened me with that bird that I’m going to be surrounded by security, so
what’s she going to do?
 
And how
will she even do it?
 
People are
going to be screened before they’re allowed inside.
 
If someone is carrying a knife or a gun,
the metal detectors will call them out.”

“Not necessarily.”

“What does that mean?”

“There are all kinds of knives on the market
made of materials specifically designed to not set off detectors, Kate.
 
And then there’s the Glock 7, which is
made entirely of porcelain so it also won’t set off a detector.
 
If ‘W’ is an assassin, she likely has both—and
she’ll be carrying them on her.”

“If she has either and if she does try
something, how is she going to push her way through that crowd without somebody
taking her down?
 
Rhoda said she’s
smart.
 
She’ll know that her chances
for escaping are next to impossible.”

“If chaos is allowed to erupt, nothing is
impossible, Kate.”

*
 
*
 
*

After Ben and I had our coffee, the morning
and afternoon went by so quickly, I thought for sure that I’d never get
anything done before we needed to leave at six.

Since I needed a dress for the night and
because nothing in my closet came even remotely close to the Valentino I’d worn
at the Witherhouses’ party, I knew that I needed to step it up, particularly
because this event was being held at the Four Seasons and a good deal of
society had been invited.
 
So, I
called Chloe at Bergdorf and asked if she’d mind sending over several gowns and
a few pairs of shoes that she thought might fit and look flattering on me.

“I’ll bring them over myself, Kate,” she
said.
 
“Give me a couple of hours.”

“Do you have anything in mind?”

“Just you wait.
 
See you soon.”

While I would have loved to have had Bernie
work his magic on me again, this event wasn’t the place to wear mink eyelashes
or a bold red lip.
 
It was subtler
than that, so I knew that I could handle my hair and makeup on my own.
 
As for Ben, he called and asked for Nick
to stop by his apartment to pick up his tux and a pair of shoes before coming
here.

“Has he learned anything?” I asked Ben when
I went into my office, where he was using my computer.

“He has a few questions for you, but he
didn’t elaborate on what they were—he said they were still working to get
through the list.
 
But they’re close
to finishing it.
 
He should be here
by three with his entire team.
 
He’ll introduce you to them, and then he’ll lay out specific
instructions for everyone to follow.”

Later, when Chloe arrived, I admired the
gown both of us agreed I should go with.
 
Since Valentino seemed to work best for me when it came to fitting my
height and shape, I chose the lavender silk cape gown that Chloe said was her
favorite.
 
When I put it on with the
matching lavender Dior pumps, I was sold.

“It’s beautiful,” I said as I turned in
front of her.
 
“And I think it
fits.”

“That’s two in a row,” she said.
 
“You must be his muse.”

“Thanks for doing this, Chloe.”

“It’s my pleasure,” she said.
 
“You look like spring, Kate, and since
this gown is meant for a spring event, I’d say that you’re about to win the
night.”

“Let’s hope that I do,” I said to her.

On more levels than one…

*
 
*
 
*

Nick and his team arrived at three.
 
There were thirteen of them, so I could
only imagine how they were met by the door staff, and what gossip would come
from that encounter.

“Thank you all for coming,” I said to Nick
after everyone stepped inside.
 
“Let’s go into the living room, but first let me take Ben’s tux and
shoes from you.
 
You were good to do
that for him, Nick.
 
Thank you.”

“My pleasure.”

“Can I get anyone something to drink?”

“We’re good,” Nick said as we moved into the
living room.
 
There, he introduced each
member of his team to me by name—not that I’d ever remember their names
because there were so many of them.
 
Most were male, all of whom rivaled Ben and Nick in size, and looked
handsome in their tuxedos.
 
The
three women he’d brought with him were just as formidable-looking, regardless
of the fact that they’d dressed beautifully for the evening so that they’d
blend in—black dresses on all of them, along with full hair and
makeup.
 

“Kate, this is Catherine,” Nick said when he
introduced me to one of the women.
 
She was a bit taller than me, with dark hair that was cut short, and
eyes that were so blue, they popped.
 
I thought that she was lovely, but when we shook hands, her grip was so
firm, I could tell that she was no one to be fooled with.
 

“Catherine will be at your side all night,”
Nick said.
 
“Though you likely can’t
tell by the way she’s dressed, she’s armed, as is everyone else.
 
Catherine will be the one who will
escort you to the restroom should you need to use it.
 
Because you need to be protected there
as well.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Catherine,” I
said.

“The pleasure is mine, Kate.”

“Thank you for doing this.”

“There’s no need to thank me.”

“But there is.
 
In fact, I want to thank all of you for
having my back tonight.”

“And we will,” Nick said.
 
“Do you mind if we go over the guest
list?
 
I have a few questions.”

“Of course.
 
But I’m afraid that I don’t have seating
for all of you.”

“My team is happy to stand and listen in
while you, Ben, and I go over the list.”

“All right.
 
Let’s go into the living room.
 
Ben?” I said.

“Right with you.”

When we sat down and Nick’s team filed
around us, Nick pulled out the guest list from his inside jacket pocket.
 
He unfolded it, placed it between us on
the coffee table, and pointed to a name I knew all too well.

“Bill Witherhouse,” he said.
 
“While there are many others on this
list who have undesirable ties to Michael, he’s perhaps the stand-out.
 
Beyond the fact that Lydia died at his
home while he was there, did you know that Bill was one of the investors
involved in trying to buy StoneTech from Michael before his death?”

That surprised me.
 
“He was?”

“He was.”

“Michael never told me that.
 
He just mentioned that Mark and Tom had
a team of investors behind them.”

“Bill was one of those investors, as were a
few others on this list.
 
What I
want you to consider is this—Michael prevented them from taking StoneTech,
and also all of the money that would have flowed into their pockets when they
took StoneTech public.
 
Because,
that’s where they thought the real money in acquiring StoneTech was.
 
Didn’t they, Kate?
 
Those investors knew that once they took
it public, there would be a fortune to be made.
 
Going public would have turned their
three-billion-dollar investment into ten, fifteen, or even twenty billion
dollars.
 
Likely more.
 
But just before they would have achieved
that dream, and without warning, Michael pulled the rug out from beneath
them—and in the process, he crushed their dreams.
 
He made his enemies.
 
He also created a motive for each of
them.”

I absorbed all of that with a hard swallow.

“Who were the other investors?” I asked.

He ticked off the names, some of whom I knew—and
some of whom I didn’t.