need to rush, and yet her feet seemed to have a mind of their own.
She didn’t see him inside the restaurant, but when she gave his name to the hostess, the girl said, “This way,” and led her outside to a garden lined with a wooden stockade fence and pots bursting with pink geraniums. Archer was sitting at an umbrella-shaded table, working his iPhone. He was dressed casually-jeans and a faded purple polo shirt that looked as if it had been left to dry, over the years, on endless docks and porch railings.
“Hey,” he said, lifting his butt briefly off the chair as she took the seat across from him. He smiled broadly at her. “I barely recognize you without the mud mask you were wearing Saturday night.”
Lake smiled back at him. “I actually think that did something nice for my pores.”
“How’s the cut on your head?”
“Better. I had my own doctor check me out and he said I probably did have a mild concussion.”
“Well, I hope you’re allowed to drink because I ordered a bottle of rose for our celebration.”
Lake nodded enthusiastically. There were indeed a few things to celebrate. As soon as news of Rory’s death got out, the lab supervisor at the clinic had panicked and come forward to the authorities, admitting that some couples’ eggs and embryos had been transferred to other patients without permission. There was now a full-scale inquiry into the clinic. And there had been good news for Lake as well. Preliminary drug tests had revealed the presence of a sedative in the bottom of the teacup she’d drunk from, backing up her story. And Madelyn had learned from a friend in the NYPD that toll records had shown that Rory had driven into Manhattan in her car early on the morning Keaton was murdered and left the city shortly after four a.m.
Archer pulled the wine bottle from an ice-filled bucket by the table and poured Lake a glass.
“First and foremost, to your survival,” he said, raising his glass. “I keep thinking you’re going to confess that you’re a former Navy SEAL and that’s why you’ve been able to escape raging rivers and pathological killers and…”
Lake grinned. “And avoid the world’s worst case of freezer burn?”
“Exactly.”
“I think I owe it all to pure adrenaline-and to the fear that I’d never see my kids again if I didn’t
“I’ve got something to take your mind off that-another reason to celebrate. I just heard from my producer that Hoss cut a deal. She obviously saw that it was all coming down around her and decided to save her ass. She admitted that Levin had hired that guy who followed you, the one who attacked you in Dumbo. Melanie apparently let Levin know that you’d called and he sent the guy there after you. Hoss is claiming it was only to scare you. Regardless, this ties up some loose ends-and it also means you’ll be safe. As soon as the police have him in custody, you can make an ID.”
Lake let out a ragged sigh of relief. It meant that there wouldn’t be lingering questions or suspicions about what she’d told the police. They would have no reason to ask for her DNA.
“I guess it’s no surprise that Hoss was in the thick of it,” Lake said. “She oversaw everything that went on in the lab. But what about Sherman? Was he in on it, too?”
“Apparently, yes.”
“And the associates and nurses?” she asked, dreading the answer. “I’ve been worried about the guy who recommended me-Steve Salman.”
Archer shook his head.
“No, it doesn’t look like it went that far down. At least from what the cops can tell right now.”
Though Steve had offered her no support, she couldn’t bear the thought of his life being ruined. He was her friend’s brother, after all.
“There’s one more person I’m curious about,” she said. “The therapist, Harry Kline. He wasn’t involved, was he?”
Archer scrunched his mouth. “No, I don’t think so,” he said. “If it’s the guy who I think it is, he’s been nothing but cooperative. I hear he was pretty shocked.”
She thought of the story Rory had told her about Harry and his daughter. On Sunday, as she’d lain in her bed recuperating, she decided that there must have been a grain of truth to the tale. Keaton had possibly flirted with Harry’s daughter-rather than the other way around-and Rory most likely saw the daughter as a real threat. She’d probably gone to Harry and claimed Keaton was after the girl. That would have resulted in the daughter being removed. Harry had left a message for Lake this week, but she hadn’t wanted to return it until her own situation was more settled.
“The bottom line is that the clinic is being closed,” Archer said, interrupting her train of thought. “With the top people implicated, there’s no way it can go on right now.”
Lake smiled ruefully.
“Of course, that doesn’t help Alexis Hunt,” she said. “She still has no rights to her child.”
“I know. And according to what the technician told the cops, embryos from at least thirty other couples were used fraudulently. And a fair number of embryos were sold for research without permission.”
“Once that news gets out, so many former patients are going to wonder and begin to freak out,” Lake said. “It’s just so awful.”
“And yet think of what you did, Lake.” Archer said. “You spared countless other people the same fate.”
“It was hardly heroic. I just sort of stumbled onto the truth.”
“You did more than that and you know it. Speaking of stumbling, here’s an interesting tidbit. Apparently part of the reason why the lab technician gave it up so quickly was because Keaton had recently asked him a few probing questions about some of the procedures. This lab guy was already worried the lid was about to blow off.”
That could explain why Melanie Turnbull’s name was in Keaton’s apartment, Lake realized. Something had pointed him in that direction-though Lake would probably never know what it was.
“Anything new from your end?” Archer asked.
“I told you about the drug test. The DNA test on Rory’s baby should come back soon.”
“Madelyn said you handled yourself really well with the New York City cops.”
Just hearing him reference that meeting made her stomach clench. The session with Hull and McCarty had been terrifying-though at least Madelyn had been at her side, looking ready to bite if either one of them stepped out of line.
Lake had relayed her story to them, just as she had to the Bedford Hills police and to Archer later in the car that night. There had been moments when she worried that it sounded rehearsed, overly polished, but if Hull and McCarty had thought so, they hadn’t let on. Maybe because they had no apparent interest in all the details about the clinic and the files Lake had been driving up to see-in truth, that part had seemed to bore them altogether. What they wanted was the stuff on Keaton and why Rory had killed him. When Lake reached the part where she had to lie-and skip much of the truth-she had heard her voice catch just a little. Hull had stared at her so hard it hurt.
They fired a barrage of questions at her then, all about Keaton’s murder. But there wasn’t anything she could add, she told them. Rory had said she was carrying Keaton’s baby, that she’d had copies of his keys made-obviously from the set in Maggie’s drawer-and that she’d killed him. And nothing more.
Then she told them about the incident in Brooklyn-Madelyn had insisted on it-and they weren’t happy.
“You’re chased into the East River at knifepoint and you don’t bother calling 911?” McCarty said, not disguising how stupid he thought she was.
“I was afraid to,” Lake said.
“‘Afraid’?” he said, his large brown eyes nearly lunging from his head. “I would think you’d be afraid
“It’s because of what I shared with you in my apartment that day,” Lake said softly. “I’m in the middle of a very difficult custody situation. My husband would use anything against me.”
“He’s gonna have a field day
“That’s out of line, Detective.” Madelyn retorted. “My client was supposed to remain in bed today because of her injuries but volunteered to speak with you. She has been more than cooperative. Now, if there’s nothing else, I’d like to see that she gets home.”
The two men just sat there, McCarty running his eyes over the last page of notes and Hull flicking a pencil back and forth, back and forth. Finally Hull spoke.
